My granddaughter, Eliza’s birthday was yesterday. Tim and Tina threw a party and Lori and I
stayed until after Eliza and Oliver went to bed so we began talking about bedtime
stories. Tim explained that Eliza now
gives specific direction about her bedtime stories, telling her parents what
elements the story must contain, “I want a story with Elsa (from Frozen) an
evil queen and a dog.” Tim is then
required to tell a story with all the necessary elements.
As we talked, I had a flashback to my mother
reading us a bedtime story. I looked it up on
the internet and showed it to Tim who then read it aloud. It’s amazing how bedtime
stories have changed through the years.
As you can see, parents in the 50’s and 60’s thought nothing of using stories to terrify their children into submission. The fact that I remember the stories over fifty
years later is proof that it made a lasting impression.
For your reading pleasure:
Little Orphant
Annie
James Whitcomb Riley
Little Orphant Annie’s
come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups an’
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
childern, 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 up stairs,
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’ cubby-hole, 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’ll
git you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
An’ one 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’ll
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, an’ 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’ll git
you
Ef you
Don’t
Watch
Out!
