LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE
James Whitcomb Riley
Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house
to stay,
An’ wash the cups and saucers up, an’
brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’
dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread,
an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
An’ all us other children, when the supper
things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has
the mostest fun
A-list’nin’ to the witch tales ‘at Annie
tells about,
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
Onc’t they was a little boy wouldn’t say
his prayers,—
So when he went to bed at night, away
upstairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy
heerd him bawl,
An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down,
he wasn’t there at all!
An’ they seeked him in the rafter room,
an’ cubbyhole, an’ press,
An’ seeked him up the chimbly flue, an’
ever’wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found was thist his
pants an’ roundabout:—
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘II git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
An une time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh
an’ grin,
An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her
blood an’ kin;
An’ onc’t, when they was “company,” an’
ole folks was there,
She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said
she didn’t care!
An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’
turn’t to run an’ hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin’
by her side,
An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’
‘fore she knowed what she’s about!
An’ the Gobble-uns ‘11 git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
An’ little Orphant Annie says, when the
blaze is blue,
An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind
goes woo-oo!
An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the
moon is gray,
An’ the lightnin’ bugs in dew is all squenched
away,—
You better mind yer parents, and yer teachers
fond an’ dear,
An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry
the orphant’s tear,
An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters
all about,
Er the Gobble-uns ‘11 git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
Thanks to Nancy McGrath for
supplying the third verse
to this poem and the Author's
name.
Grandma only knew the first
three verses and never said who wrote it,
but it gave me something
to think about!!
Return to the Childhood
Poems Page