Annie by Jay Maeder and Alan Kupperberg for October 08, 2009

Very mysterious….

LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE

by: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

INSCRIBED WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION

To all the little children: – The happy ones; and sad ones; The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones; The good ones – Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely bad ones.

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!

“Little Orphant Annie” is reprinted from Complete Works. James Whitcomb Riley. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1916.

Now I want some Ovaltine.

Grammar, Dear.

Thanks for the poem, Margueritem! By the way…you didn’t tell us you’d found Xaxos! Did you buy him from the naughty little girl? Or…shudder…are YOU the naughty little girl?

So who built that bunker? And Why? Will this story soon circle back to the Blue Circle?

Margueritem,

Could this have been the inspiration for Harold Gray in creating Little Orphan Annie, now called Annie ?

it’s going to lead to Atlantis and Doris

Thanks Margueritem. I haven’t read that poem since I was about 13. I loved it as a child and it’s still wonderful. We used to have a collection of books called “The Children’s Hour” that included all sorts of kids stories. Each book had a different theme. Volume 5 was poetry and “Annie” was in there. (Volume 9 was sci-fi, and that was my favorite.)

One more of the things that make you go hmmm.

Excellent job of building suspense about what is underground. I can hardly wait.

As a former nuclear weapons technician I have some idea of at least some of the kinds of things that can be found in places like this. But usually the barbed wire and patrolling guards are a dead give-away, not to mention a deterrent.

So, they never built it, but just left a shaft and unopenable hatch there for fun?

No wonder the Pentagon doesn’t have money for Tom Short’s flying spies. They’re paying people who apparently have nothing better to do than to go through all the old dusty files.

So no bunker, just a ventilator shaft, and a hatch.

Is the Dharma Initiative part of the Blue Circle?

Sydney Phillips, yes, it was!

Ray C, no, the naughty little girl is my beloved niece, Rhoda. She let me borrow him for a while.

JanCinVV, I always loved this poem, too. I liked the Gobble-uns getting the naughty kids!

Doghollar, MrProngs, maybe that’s it, they never built an actual bunker so they put a faux bunker in it’s place to throw enemy nations off the trail of the real ones.

I don’t buy it either.

Morning, Anniephans!

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.