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Sarah Josepha Hale's second book of poetry, Poems
for Our Children, published in 1830, contained one of the most famous
poems in the English language - “Mary
Had a Little Lamb.”
The
poem became even more famous when it was republished in Juvenile Miscellany (an interesting note, the editor of Juvenile Miscellany
was Lydia Maria Child, who would later write a famous Thanksgiving
poem that began “Over the river and through the woods, to
grandfather’s house we go…”)
A
question that is still debated is: Did Sarah Josepha Hale actually
write the poem?
It
has been claimed that there was a real Mary (Mary Sawyer of Sterling,
Massachusetts), who actually had a lamb who followed her to school,
etc., and that a young man named John Roulstone wrote the famous
beginning verses of the poem, Sarah merely adding extra (and lesser
known) verses.
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Sarah
Josepha Hale herself said that the poem was her own composition and
was based very roughly on an incident from her own childhood. She also pointed out
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incident of an adopted lamb following a child to school has probably
occurred many times."
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| This woodcut,
illustrating the
story of a blind girl and her pet lamb, is from an 1830's
"toy book." |
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Even before Sarah had published her famous poem, however, she had written a
novel, Northwood, published in Boston in 1827.
Northwood, which was descriptive of New England character and manners, first
introduced to the American public what would become one of Sarah’s
life-long obsessions: the promotion of the holiday of Thanksgiving.
In Northwood, she gave the first detailed description to be found
anywhere of this
New England tradition:
”The
table, covered with a damask cloth, vieing in whiteness, and
nearly equaling in texture, the finest imported, though spun,
woven and bleached by Mrs. Romilly’s own hand, was now
intended for the whole household, every child having a seat on
this occasion; and the more the better, it being considered an
honor for a man to sit down to his Thanksgiving dinner
surrounded by a large family.
The provision is always sufficient for a multitude,
every farmer in the country being, at this season of the year,
plentifully supplied, and every one proud of displaying his
abundance and prosperity.
The roasted turkey took precedence on this occasion, being
placed at the head of the table; and well did it become its
lordly station, sending forth the rich odor of its savory
stuffing, and finely covered with the froth of the basting.
At the foot of the board, a sirloin of beef, flanked on
either side by a leg of pork and loin of mutton, seemed placed
as a bastion to defend innumerable bowls of gravy and plates
of vegetables disposed in that quarter.
A goose and pair of ducklings occupied side stations on
the table; the middle being graced, as it always is on such
occasions, by that rich burgomaster of the provisions, called
a chicken pie.
This pie, which is wholly formed of the choicest parts
of fowls, enriched and seasoned with a profusion of butter and
pepper, and covered with an excellent puff paste, is, like the
celebrated pumpkin pie, an indispensable part of a good and
true Yankee Thanksgiving; the size of the pie usually denoting
the gratitude of the party who prepares the feast.
The one now displayed could never have had many
peers…
Plates of pickles, preserves and butter, and all the
necessaries for increasing the seasoning of the viands to the
demand of each palate, filled the interstices on the table,
leaving hardly sufficient room for the plates of the company,
a wine glass and two tumblers for each, with a slice of wheat
bread lying on one of the inverted tumblers.
A side table was literally loaded with the preparations
for the second course, placed there to obviate the necessity
of leaving the apartment during the repast…
There was a huge plum pudding, custards and pies of every name
and description ever known in Yankee land; yet the pumpkin pie
occupied the most distinguished niche.
There were also several kinds of rich cake, and a
variety of sweetmeats and fruits.
On the sideboard was ranged a goodly number of decanters and
bottles; the former filled with currant wine, and the latter
with excellent cider and ginger beer – a beverage Mrs.
Romilly prided herself on preparing in perfection.”
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Although Sarah gives the credit for the “first American Thanksgiving” to
the settlers of Massachusetts Bay and not the Pilgrims of Plymouth,
she ends her description in this way:
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gratitude to God to set apart one day of Thanksgiving in each year;
and autumn is the time when the overflowing garners of America call
for this expression of joyful gratitude.”
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Several
years later, in 1835, Sarah Josepha published a book of short stories entitled
Traits
of American Life. In
one of those stories, “The Thanksgiving of the Heart,” she wrote:
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”Our
good ancestors were wise, even in their mirth.
We have a standing proof of this in the season they chose for
the celebration of our annual festival, the Thanksgiving. The funeral-faced
month of November is thus made to wear a garland of joy…
There is a deep moral influence in these periodical seasons of
rejoicing, in which a whole community participate.
They bring out, and together, as it were, the best sympathies
of our nature. The rich
contemplate the enjoyments of the poor with complacency, and the poor
regard the entertainments of the rich without envy, because all
are privileged to be happy in their own way.”
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In these two books are the beginnings of what would grow to be one of Sarah Josepha Hale’s
lifelong crusades.
The platform from which she would wage her holy war was that of editor of Godey’s
Lady’s Book.
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