Saturday, November 5, 2016

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Well, we all know the nursery rhyme and most of us have taught it to our children. Did you know it was written May 24, 1830 by Sarah Josepha Hale. At the time she was a widow and had come to work as an editor for Ladies' Magazine in Boston. The title of the poem was originally Mary's Lamb.

Godey's purchased the Ladies Magazine in 1837 and she continued to work for Godey's Lady's Book and stayed in Boston while her youngest son finished college at Harvard.

She retired in 1877 at the age of 89. Another interesting tidbit, that same year, Alexander Graham Bell recorded the first phonograph speaking the first lines of Mary's Lamb.

She believed in higher education for women and helped form Vassar College. She published nearly 50 volumes of work in her lifetime.

Who would have thought a nursery rhyme would lead to such a prominent life in the 19th century?

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