When I was a child....

my mom and brother and sister used to frighten me with stories and such.
I used to get so scared I would rather wet the bed than get up during the night to go to the bathroom.
Here's the poem mom used to read to me at bedtime....


The Little Orphan Annie

by

James Whitcomb Riley



Little Orphan Annie’s come to my house to stay.
To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.
To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,
and make the fire and bake the bread to earn her board and keep.
While all us other children, when the supper things is done,
we sit around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun,
a listening to the witch tales that Annie tells about
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!

Once there was a little boy who wouldn’t say his prayers,
and when he went to bed at night away up stairs,
his mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
and when they turned the covers down,
he wasn’t there at all!
They searched for him in the attic room
and cubby hole and press
and even up the chimney flu and every wheres, I guess,
but all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!

Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned
and made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,
and once when there was company and the old folks was there,
she mocked them and she shocked them and said, she didn’t care.
And just as she turned on her heels and to go and run and hide,
there was two great big black things a standing by her side.
They snatched her through the ceiling fore she knew what shes about,
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!

When the night is dark and scary,
and the moon is full and creatures are a flying and the wind goes Whoooooooooo,
you better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear,
and cherish them that loves ya, and dry the orphans tears
and help the poor and needy ones that cluster all about,
or the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!!

[Renee750il]

Mine used to read that to me, too.

Somehow it never really fazed me though, lol.

(Now don't everyone act surprised )

And what's the deal with having children recite "if I should die before I wake" anyway? Right before bed? And then you expect them to go to sleep?

[~Jessie~]

Oh my gosh, my parents used to tell me a similar poem and it used to give me nightmares. I looked like Shirley Temple as a kid (super curly blonde hair), so it made it even scarier:

There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

They always added this to the end for some reason:

She went upstairs for bed one night,
her mother heard her holler and her daddy heard her shout,
and when they turned the covers down,
She wasn’t there at all!
All they ever found of her was just her pants and round-abouts
and the goblins will get ya if ya don’t watch out!!