WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What's the Controversy Behind 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbaumb here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 2>from the vault. In this one, we explore the perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>surprisingly tangled story behind the common nursery rhyme Mary had

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<v Speaker 2>a Little Lamb, proving that even before the Internet, people

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<v Speaker 2>would argue about anything.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey Brainstuff, Lauren vogelbaumb Here. If you visit the town

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<v Speaker 1>of Sterling, Massachusetts today, you'll find a small copper statue

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<v Speaker 1>of a wooly little creature meant to be a replica

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<v Speaker 1>of the original lamb that followed nine year old Mary

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<v Speaker 1>Sawyer to school in eighteen fifteen. Below the statue is

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<v Speaker 1>a plaque inscribed with the famous opening verse and an

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<v Speaker 1>inscription Mary had a Little Lamb. Its fleece was white

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<v Speaker 1>of snow, And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was

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<v Speaker 1>sure to go John Ralstone. So who exactly was Mary Sawyer?

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<v Speaker 1>And who was this John Rawlstone who allegedly wrote to

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<v Speaker 1>the original poem, According to a sixty page book titled

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<v Speaker 1>The Story of Mary and Her Little Lamb and published

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen twenty eight by none other than car Mogul

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<v Speaker 1>Henry Ford more on that later Mary Sawyer was a

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<v Speaker 1>typical New England schoolgirl who nursed a starving lamb back

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<v Speaker 1>to health, winning a lifelong friend. In this book, an

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<v Speaker 1>adult Sawyer recounted, I got the lamb warm by wrapping

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<v Speaker 1>it in an old garment and holding it in my

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<v Speaker 1>arms beside the fireplace in the morning. Much to my

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<v Speaker 1>girlish delight, it could stand, and from that time it

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<v Speaker 1>improved rapidly. It soon learned to drink milk, and from

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<v Speaker 1>the time it would walk about, it would follow me

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<v Speaker 1>anywhere if I only called it. The books behind the

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<v Speaker 1>Music story of the song explains that before leaving for

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<v Speaker 1>school one morning, Sawyer whistled for the lamb and it

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<v Speaker 1>came faithfully trotting over, at which point her brother Nat suggested,

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<v Speaker 1>let's take the lamb to school with us. She tried

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<v Speaker 1>to hide the lamb in a basket under her chair,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was discovered when she stood up to recite

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<v Speaker 1>a lesson and the fluffy critter started to bleat her.

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<v Speaker 1>Teacher Polly Kimball laughed outright, which caused sawyer somembarrassment, so

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<v Speaker 1>she took the lamb out to a shed until school

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<v Speaker 1>was over for the day. John Ralstone was a local

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<v Speaker 1>boy preparing for college who happened to be visiting the

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<v Speaker 1>old Red schoolhouse that day and was, according to Sawyer,

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<v Speaker 1>very much pleased with the incident of the lamb. So

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<v Speaker 1>Ralstone went home, wrote a three stands a poem, and

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<v Speaker 1>returned the next day on horseback to hand deliver the

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<v Speaker 1>original verses of Mary had a little lamb to Sawyer herself,

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<v Speaker 1>or so the story goes in Sterling, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, in Newport,

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<v Speaker 1>New Hampshire, the folks celebrate hometown hero Sarah Josepha Hale

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<v Speaker 1>as the author of this beloved nursery rhyme. Hale is

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<v Speaker 1>also famous for her role in creating the modern American

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<v Speaker 1>Thanksgiving via a long running letter campaign to five US presidents.

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<v Speaker 1>As a young poet and writer, Hale moved to Boston

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<v Speaker 1>in eighteen twenty eight to become the editor of the

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<v Speaker 1>first women's magazine in the United States, later known as

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<v Speaker 1>Goody's Lady's Book. It was in Boston that Hale met

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<v Speaker 1>Lowell Mason, a young musician and composer intent on bringing

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<v Speaker 1>music education into America's public schools. Mason and Hale shared

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<v Speaker 1>the belief that simple children's poems set to music could

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<v Speaker 1>be used to teach good Christian morals to kids that

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<v Speaker 1>would help them grow into productive and upright citizens. At

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<v Speaker 1>Mason's request, Hale wrote a short book of fifteen poems

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<v Speaker 1>called Poems for Our Children, which was published in eighteen thirty.

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<v Speaker 1>Mason then wrote simple melodies to accompany each poem, including

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<v Speaker 1>these six verse poem, then known as Mary's Lamb. Interestingly,

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<v Speaker 1>the tune Mason wrote for Mary's Lamb, which was included

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<v Speaker 1>in his eighteen thirty one book Juvenile Liar, likely the

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<v Speaker 1>first public school songbook, sounds nothing like the melody we

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<v Speaker 1>know today. That melody was borrowed later from the course

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<v Speaker 1>of a popular minstrel show song called good Night Ladies.

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<v Speaker 1>So which story is true? Sawyer claimed that the first

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<v Speaker 1>three verses of Hale's poem were identical to the one

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<v Speaker 1>written by young John Rowlstone, although the piece of paper

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<v Speaker 1>gifted to Sawyer had long since disappeared, and Ralstone tragically

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<v Speaker 1>died while a freshman at Harvard, so he wasn't around

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<v Speaker 1>to corroborate when Hale's version was included in school readers

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<v Speaker 1>nationwide in the eighteen fifties. Sawyer assumed that the author

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<v Speaker 1>had simply expanded on Ralestone's original three verses, but Hale

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<v Speaker 1>denied ever seeing another version of Mary had a Little Lamb,

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<v Speaker 1>and swore she had conjured the story wholly from her imagination.

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<v Speaker 1>Both Sawyer and Hale signed letters and sworn statements in

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<v Speaker 1>their old age, Hale just days before her death in

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen eighty nine, professing that they were telling the truth

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<v Speaker 1>of the origin of what had already become a classic

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<v Speaker 1>nursery rhyme. Enter Henry Ford, after both of the women

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<v Speaker 1>were long gone, automobile magnate Henry Ford stepped into the

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<v Speaker 1>fray in nineteen twenty seven, he took up the cause

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<v Speaker 1>of Mary Sawyer, moving the wooden frame of Mary's original

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<v Speaker 1>red schoolhouse from Starling, Massachusetts, to the nearby town of Sudbury,

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<v Speaker 1>where Ford owned an inn, and then in nineteen twenty

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<v Speaker 1>eight he published the aforementioned book, which gives Ralhstone full

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<v Speaker 1>credit for the original verses, and asked why a respected

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<v Speaker 1>local woman who served as a matron of the local

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<v Speaker 1>hospital make up such a wild story and repeat it

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<v Speaker 1>her entire life. Hale's defenders asked the same question. Sandra Sonison,

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<v Speaker 1>volunteer archivist of the Sarah J. Hale Collection at the

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<v Speaker 1>Richard's Free Library in Newport, New Hampshire. A writing for

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<v Speaker 1>the library's website said, the story of Mary Sawyer implies

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<v Speaker 1>that somehow Sarah Hale came across this never published schoolhouse

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<v Speaker 1>poem and plagiarized it. How could she have come across it?

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<v Speaker 1>Henry Ford's book explains that the two towns where Sawyer

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<v Speaker 1>and Hale lived were close to each other. They are

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<v Speaker 1>ninety miles apart over the most direct route that would

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<v Speaker 1>have been followed in eighteen fifteen. Henry had not yet

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<v Speaker 1>invented the automobile, so the distance was considerable. In a

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<v Speaker 1>Baltimore Sun story from nineteen ninety eight about the ongoing

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<v Speaker 1>feud between Stirling, Massachusetts and Newport, New Hampshire, a Hale

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<v Speaker 1>supporter and Newport librarian weighed in let's face it, Henry

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<v Speaker 1>Ford made good cars. I don't think he's a good historian.

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<v Speaker 2>Today's episode is based on the art of the surprising

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<v Speaker 2>controversy behind Mary Had a Little Lamb on how Stuffworks

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<v Speaker 2>dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>Written by Dave Ruse.

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<v Speaker 2>Brain Stuff is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks.

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<v Speaker 2>Dot com and is produced by Tyler Playing. Four more

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<v Speaker 2>podcasts from my Heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 2>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.