from Mother Goose rhymes

Mary  had  a  little  lamb,  Its  1leece  was  white  as  snow,  And  everywhere  that  Mary  went  The  lamb  was  sure  to  go.  

It  followed  her  to  school  one  day,  Which  was  against  the  rule.  It  made  the  children  laugh  and  play  To  see  a  lamb  at  school.  

Fleece Unusual word

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:

Fleece/flis/��� ▶noun 1 the wool coat of a sheep. 2 a soft, warm fabric with a texture similar to sheep's wool, or a garment made from this.

History History

 The nursery rhyme was first published by the Boston publishing firm Marsh, Capen & Lyon, as an original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was inspired by an actual incident.

 Young Mary Sawyer decided to take her little lamb to school one day at the suggestion of her brother.

 Visiting Mary's school that day was a young man that was very taken by the presence of the lamb.

 The next day he returned to the little red school house and handed Mary a piece of paper with the three original stanzas written upon it.

  In the first recording of the human voice in 1877, Thomas Edison recited Mary Had a Little Lamb

  The Redstone School is believed to be the one mentioned in the rhyme, it is now located in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

  There is a statue of Mary's lamb in Sterling, Massachusetts.

  This building incorporates the original “Redstone” schoolhouse, scene of the rhyme.

In the 1830s, Lowell Mason set the nursery rhyme to a melody adding repetition in the verses