Walt was preoccupied this weekend with the fight for democracy in Hong Kong. Agent 78 is helping with translation but the time difference is making it difficult to get blow-by-blow coverage. Yesterday it was pepper spray and tear gas. Today... rubber bullets? And tomorrow?
I'll get to the heavy stuff in a little while, but for the moment -- a warm-up exercise if you will -- the true story behind the creation of "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Walt names names and gives you the straight poop.
It seems there was a Mary, a girl by the name of Mary Sawyer, who lived in Stirling MA, not far from Boylston, Berlin and Bolton. Her father had a flock of sheep, one of whom Mary adopted because it was kind of sickly. She called it "Snow". Not very original and not very accurate either. Those who have seen them up close know that sheep are not even close to snow white.
One day in 1814, Mary's brother -- his name was Nathaniel -- left the gate open. Sure enough, the lamb followed Mary to school, where the kids were allowed to play with it before the teacher locked it in a shed.
One of Mary's classmates was a young lad (aged 13) named John Raulstone, a wannabe poet. He turned the incident into the now well-known and much parodied poem. Fast forward to 1830, when the children's teacher, Polly Kimball, sent the poem to Today's Magazine for Ladies. The poem was an instant hit, destined for immortality.
As for Snow, Mary's mother made a couple of pairs of stockings out of its wool. Then the family ate it.
Adapted from My Cross-Country Checkup, by Walter Stewart (Stoddart 2000) -- an account of the Stewarts' motor trip across Canada from sea to sea to sea, a little dated now but still a good read.
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