Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,
An' when he went to bed at night, away upstairs,
His Mammy heered him holler, an' his daddy heered 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 get you—Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!
THE LIMITATIONS OF YOUTH.
BY EUGENE FIELD.
I'd like to be a cowboy an' ride a fiery hoss
Way out into the big and boundless West;
I'd kill the bears an' catamounts an' wolves I come across,
An' I'd pluck the bal'head eagle from his nest!
With my pistols at my side
I would roam the prarers wide,
An' to scalp the savage Injun in his wigwam would I ride—
If I darst; but I darsen't!
I'd like to go to Afriky an' hunt the lions there,
An' the biggest ollyfunts you ever saw!
I would track the fierce gorilla to his equatorial lair,
An' beard the cannybull that eats folks raw!
I'd chase the pizen snakes
And the 'pottimus that makes
His nest down at the bottom of unfathomable lakes—
If I darst; but I darsen't!
I would I were a pirut to sail the ocean blue,
With a big black flag a-flyin' overhead;
I would scour the billowy main with my gallant pirut crew,
An' dye the sea a gouty, gory red!
With my cutlass in my hand
On the quarterdeck I'd stand
And to deeds of heroism I'd incite my pirut band—
If I darst; but I darsen't!
And, if I darst, I'd lick my pa for the times that he's
licked me!
I'd lick my brother an' my teacher, too.
I'd lick the fellers that call round on sister after tea,
An' I'd keep on lickin' folks till I got through!
You bet! I'd run away
From my lessons to my play,
An' I'd shoo the hens, an' teaze the cat, an' kiss the girls
all day—
If I darst; but I darsen't!