3) A Horse Is a Senator Of Course

Before his murder, the first century Roman caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, also known as Caligula, may have planned to make his favorite horse (named Incitatus) a senator. There are many allegations about this infamous ruler, however most of them come from sources written many decades after his death.

Via/ Wiki Commons

If it’s true about the horse then it was most likely intended to insult the other senators and elites- the implication being that even an animal could have done a better job.

Via/ Wiki Commons

2) A Best-selling Book of 1919 Was Written By a 9-year-old

Author Daisy Ashford was 38 at the time, having re-discovered her pencilled and misspelled childhood manuscript in her mother’s house. The manuscript was circulated amongst her friends until it finally reached the hands of a publisher, who loved it. Ashford wrote much in her childhood, but strangely gave it up after the age of 13. Her novel which highlights the awkwardness of Victorian manners and class mobility, The Young Visiters, or Mr. Salteena’s Plan was a smash hit.

Ashford the year her first book was published. Via/ Library of Congress

The book was published as-is, with all the spelling mistakes and blind enthusiasm that 9-year-old Ashford poured into it. You can read the full book here.

Ashford as a child. Via/ Wiki Commons

1) Mary Might Have Really Had a Little Lamb

The poem which became the beloved nursery rhyme was first published in 1830 by Sarah Hale. There is some dispute about who wrote the poem, with one version of events stating that the Hale only added to an existing poem written by John Roulstone, who witnessed Mary and the lamb firsthand on a fateful day in 1816.

Via/ Wiki Commons

Mary was actually a girl named Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, who was born in Sterling, MA in 1806. The story goes that she had hand-reared a tiny lamb from its first day and so the lamb truly would follow her anywhere she called it. The lamb reportedly preferred the company of cows and humans over its fellow sheep. The poem became a song and the rest is history, even if we don’t know exactly who wrote which parts.

The schoolhouse where the lamb incident is believed to have taken place. The structure was built in 1796 and was moved from Sterling to

Sudbury, MA. Via/ Wiki Commons

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