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!
Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,--
An' 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 wuzn'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 wuz 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' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz 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 wuz 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 parunts, an' yer teachurs 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!
The poem we familiarly call "Little Orphant Annie" was first printed in the Indianapolis Journal on
November 15, 1885 as "The Elf Child." It appeared under that title in Character Sketches The Boss Girl,
a Christmas Story and other Sketches published by the Bowen-Merrill Company in 1886.
Orphaned during the American Civil War, Annie, whose name was actually Mary Alice Allie Smith,
came to stay with the Riley family in Greenfield during the winter of 1862.
She performed household chores in exchange for her room and board. Allie enchanted the Riley children
with tales, warning of the goblins below the stairs. When next published Riley altered the title to
"Little Ophant Allie," but a typesetting error turned Allie into Annie. Riley contacted his publisher about a
correction, but upon being informed that the edition was selling extremely well, he decided to leave
the error intact. Allie grew up, married a fellow named Grey, and moved to the Indiana town of Philadelphia.
When she was 74 she visited the Greenfield home. It was not until she was in her 70's that she knew that
she was the heroine of Riley's poem
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