Mary Elizabeth Sawyer once owned a little lamb. If followed her to school one day, which was against the rules. So she hid the lamb under her shawl, under her desk, but everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.

When it followed her to spelling class, it was discovered and thrown out by the teacher. It made the other children laugh and play to see the lamb at school, and it made one of the children, named Rawlston, write a rhyme.

Rawlston, sadly, died shortly after the incident, but Mary's Little Lamb and Rawlston's poem about it live on.

Sawyer, who by then had the married name of Tyler, went on to sell pieces of wool from the little lamb at 10 cents each to raise money for the Old South Church in Boston.