The Stepmother

A poem by James Whitcomb Riley

First she come to our house,
Tommy run and hid;
And Emily and Bob and me
We cried jus' like we did
When Mother died, - and we all said
'At we all wisht 'at we was dead!

And Nurse she couldn't stop us;
And Pa he tried and tried, -
We sobbed and shook and wouldn't look,
But only cried and cried;
And nen some one - we couldn't jus'
Tell who - was cryin' same as us!

Our Stepmother! Yes, it was her,
Her arms around us all -
'Cause Tom slid down the banister
And peeked in from the hall. -
And we all love her, too, because
She's purt' nigh good as Mother was!