Mary Had a Little Lamb and the Fascinating Woman who Wrote It

You've probably heard the nursery rhyme and perhaps even sung the song:

Mary had a little lamb,

   Its fleece was white as snow,

And every where that Mary went

   The lamb was sure to go;

He followed her to school one day—

   That was against the rule,

It made the children laugh and play,

   To see a lamb at school.

Did you know it is based on truth?

In May of 1830, a woman by the name of Sarah Josepha Hale published the three verses, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," in her collection, Poems for Our Children. 

Sarah Josepha Hale, 1831, by James Reid Lambdin. After her husband died, Hale wore black for the rest of her life. Public Domain.

Mrs. Hale had been publishing poetry and fiction since 1823, a year after her husband David's untimely death. With five small children to support, the former schoolteacher took to writing. Her late husband's Freemasons lodge supported her in her fist publication, a poetry collection called The Genius of Oblivion.

After the publication of her novel Northwood: Life North and South in 1827, making her one of the first female novelists in America as well as one of the first authors to write about slavery. After this publication, she was invited to move to Boston to become editor of Ladies' Magazine.  

It was during this period when she wrote "Mary's Lamb" (the original title), drawing on her experience teaching school before she married. At a small school near her home of Newport, New Hampshire, Hale was astonished one morning when her student, Mary, came to school followed by her pet lamb. 

1902 Mother Goose by William Wallace Denslow. Public Domain.

Hale couldn't allow the distracting lamb to stay in class, so Mary had to place it outside until school was dismissed for the day. When Mary came outside to collect it, it ran to her. Hale admired Mary's devotion and care for her pet.

The final two verses in Mother Goose, 1902. Public Domain.

A few years later, Mason Lowell turned the verses into the song so many of us have sung over the years.

Meanwhile, Hale continued on with her work. When Ladies' Magazine was purchased by Godey's Ladies' Book, Hale was requested to stay on as editor, a position she held for forty years until she was 89 years old. 

Throughout her career, she continued with other projects, as well, and one of the things she was most passionate about was ensuring Thanksgiving became a national holiday. She sent letters to Presidents Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan on the topic, to no avail, but her letter to President Lincoln helped him decide to support legislation establishing it as a holiday in 1863.

Hale's letter to President Lincoln urging him to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, 1863. Library of Congress, Public Domain.

No one ever forgot "Mary's Lamb" and in 1877, the year of her retirement, Thomas Edison chose Hale's poem to be the very first thing he ever recorded on his new invention, the phonograph.

Hale died in 1879, but is remembered for her role as a proponent of women, a historic preservationist, and the woman who persuaded President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. 

***

Susanne Dietze is the award-winning author of stories with Timeless Heart, including The Blizzard Bride from Barbour Publishing. You can learn more about her on her website, www.susannedietze.com.

Ring around the Rosie-Plague or Romance?

By Alanna Radle Rodriguez

Pretty much all of us have played the children’s game “Ring Around the Rosie” when we were younger. Probably even as adults, many who are parents have played it with their young children.

Ring around the Rosie
Pocketful of posies
Ashes, Ashes
We all fall down

For all of you youngsters who have no idea what I’m talking about, the game is where a group of children join hands, dance around in a circle, and at the last line of the rhyme, depending on the version, they either fall down or curtsey. The one who is the last to do it or does it before it everyone else, takes the place as the “rosie” in the center of the circle. And the game starts again. While doing research, I found different versions of the rhyme. In some, the poises weren’t portable. The flowers were in a pot or bottle. Still others, have for the last two lines A Curchey in, A Curchey out, And curchey all together. A curchey is another word for curtsey. The version that I grew up with is the one I put in earlier. So what about the words: Ashes, ashes, we all fall down? Where in the world did that come from? What story of history does this child’s nursery rhyme retell? 


Many have heard the explanation that it is about the plague. And it makes sense! The bubonic plague started roughly in December of 1665 in Britain. The rhyme does seem to describe what happened. Ring around the rosie is the rash on the skin. A pocketful of posies was the package of flowers and herbs kept in the pocket in a superstitious effort to ward off the plague, and yes, they did have pockets in the medieval period. Ashes, ashes, referred to the burning of not only home, house items, and clothing, but the cremation of the dead. We all fall down is talking about those who contracted the sickness, and quite often, died. That explanation doesn’t account for the other versions, including the ones with curtsies in them.

Historians, folklorists and linguistics have found no record of the rhyme after the plague to link it. The first printed record of the rhyme didn’t appear until the late 1880’s. Over 200 years after the plague. The description of the rhyme being connected to the plague actually appeared in the mid-twentieth century. That’s mid 1900’s! So why the time gap? And how do we explain the many different variations? 

Ring-a-around o’roses
Pocketful of posies
A-tishoo!! A-tishoo!
We all fall down!

One explanation is that the rhyme was a fun game for courtship. Just like in almost all of the other beginnings, they circle around, but in this one, instead of falling to the ground, the children curtsey. The one who does that before everyone else, or is the last one, has to fess-up to their love or hug or kiss another child, then take the place in the center of the circle.

 

A ring, a ring o’roses
A pocketful of posies
One for Jack and one for Jim and one for little Moses
A curchey in and a curchey out
And a curchey all together


Round the ring of roses
Pots full of posies
The one who stoops last
Shall tell whom she loves best


The nursery rhyme has even had a parody of it referring it to the bombing of Hiroshima in 1949. “Ring-a-ring-o’-geranium, a pocketful of uranium”. So, is the theory of the rhyme connected to the plague true? If it is, there has to be some reason why it was not sung about for over 200 years. Or is it just people trying to give an explanation to ashes, ashes, we all fall down because they want one? Will we ever know? Probably not. But it’s a fun answer.

Did you grown up with nursery rhymes? Or did you have some parodies of rhymes? What were they? 

Born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, Alanna Radle Rodriguez is the great-great granddaughter of one of the first pioneers to settle in Indian Territory. Alanna loves the history of the state and relishes in volunteering at the 1889 Territorial Schoolhouse in Edmond. Her first published story, part of a collaborative novella titled Legacy Letters, came out September 2016. Alanna lives with her husband and parents in the Edmond area. She is currently working on a historical fiction series that takes place in pre-statehood Waterloo, Oklahoma.

Facebook.com/AlannaRadleRodriguez
Pinterest.com/alannaradlerodr/

 

Pease Porridge (Hot or Cold) Recipe

This article is brought to you by Janalyn Irene Voigt.

Pease Porridge Hot and Cold

Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold,

Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.

Some like it hot, some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot, nine days old.

In the pioneer kitchen, a large pot suspended over an open fire usually contained some sort of soup, and a savory porridge made of peas became a favorite. The soup would be consumed hot for the evening meal, and the leftovers cold at breakfast.

Food scraps might be added to the pot over the course of many days. Keeping the soup going like this meant that some of the ingredients could, indeed, be nine days old by the time they were eaten. Sausage or boiled bacon might be included in the soup or served on top. Pease porridge was often served with thick slices of buttered bread.

 

A nursery rhyme and popular singing game played by children featuring this staple of the pioneer kitchen carried into modern times.

Pease Porridge Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb. split peas
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1/2 lb. cubed uncooked bacon
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 Tbs. mint, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• water to cover
• salt and pepper to taste

Note: You can add other vegetables and herbs for different flavors. Sage is another herb that goes well with peas.

Optional Toppings

• fried and crumbled bacon
• diced shallots
• diced green onions
• chopped mint, mint leaves, mint flowers

Steps

1. Soak the peas according to the package directions.
2. Drain the soaked peas.
3. In a large pot, cover the peas with fresh water.
4. Add the salt, pepper, carrots, bacon, and shallots.
5. Bring the pot to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for about 2½ hours, adding more water as needed.
7. Add the mint in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
8. Ladle the pease porridge into bowls and garnish with mint leaves and mint flowers, if desired.
9. Serve this soup with optional toppings and buttered bread or rolls
10. Enjoy!

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt's unique blend of adventure, romance, suspense, and whimsy creates breathtaking fictional worlds for readers. This multi-faceted storyteller writes in the historical fiction, romantic mystery, and epic fantasy genres. Janalyn is a history enthusiast and romantic. These elements appear in everything she writes.

Beginning with DawnSinger, the epic fantasy series, Tales of Faeraven, carries readers into a land only imagined in dreams.

Hills of Nevermore, the first installment in Montana Gold, a historical romance series set during Montana's gold rush, releases in 2017.

Deceptive Tide (Islands of Intrigue: San Juans, book 3), the final installment in a romantic suspense series set in an island paradise off the coast of Washington state, releases August 1, 2016.

    Learn more about Janalyn Voigt and her books.