Little Orphan Annie (and The Goblins)

Last night my best friend, Pov, and I were over at my parents' home for dinner. His daughter, "Bugs", was with us, and we sat around the table after dinner talking about many things.

At some point, I brought up an old poem my mother used to tell us when we were very little because I wanted Bugs to hear it. It always caused shivers to run up and down my spine. The new generation is much more jaded than mine, so I didn't expect that it would have the same effect, but Mom is a wonderful story teller.

Mom had learned the poem from a series of books my grandmother had (which have been passed down to me) called "The Home University Bookshelf". When I was little, I read through most of them, although the section on childcare bored me and I didn't bother with that particular volume.

The first of the 10 volume set is devoted to literature, and it's always been my favorite. The poem Little Orphan Annie is in there, among many others. This is the poem which my mom recited last night. It's made much more impressive when she grabs you after each paragraph. When we were kids, it scared the heck out of us!

What is also interesting is this reminder of our history. Before 1941, child labor was still possible and quite common in many areas. Orphans, by definition, were entirely alone and would often be left to starve to death unless they were "lucky" enough to be taken in by a charity (which would exploit them) or a family (which would exploit them) or a business (which... well, you get the picture).

This poem is actually about a relatively "lucky" orphan: Little Orphan Annie. The poem later inspired Harold Gray to create his famous comic strip character by the same name. The first Little Orphan Annie comic strip was published thirty-nine years later, in 1924.


Little Orphan Annie's come to our house to stay,
And wash the cups and saucers up, and brush the crumbs away,
And shoo the chickens off the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,
And make the fire, and bake the bread, and earn her board and keep;
And all us other children, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun
A-listenin' to the witch tales that Annie tells about,
And the Gobble-uns that gits you if you don't watch out!

Once they was a little boy who wouldn't say his prayers--
And when he went to bed at night, away upstairs,
His mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
And when they turned the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all!
And they seeked him in the rafter room, and cubby hole and press,
And seeked him up the chimney flue, and everywheres, I guess;
But all they ever found was just his pants and round about!
And the Gobble-uns'll git you if you don't watch out!

And one time a little girl would always laugh and grin,
And make fun of everyone, and all her blood and kin;
And once when they was company and old folks was there,
She mocked them and shocked them and said she didn't care!
And just as she kicked her heels, and turnt to run and hide,
They was two great big Black Things a-standin'by her side,
And they snatched her through the ceiling
'fore she knowed what she's about!
And the Gobble-uns'll git you if you don't watch out!

And little Orphan Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
And the lampwick sputters, and the wind goes woo-oo!
And you hear the crickets quit and the moon is gray,
And the lightning bugs in dew is all squenched away--
You better mind your parents, and your teachers fond and dear,
And cherish them that loves you, and dry the orphan's tear,
And help the poor and needy one that cluster all about,
Or the Gobble-uns'll git you if you don't watch out!