Children's Rhymes from Missouri
by Ruth Ann Musick and Vance Randolph
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 63, No. 250 (Oct. - Dec., 1950), pp. 425-437
CHILDREN'S RHYMES FROM MISSOURI
By RUTH ANN MUSICK AND VANCE RANDOLPH
MISSOURIANS HAVE LONG CONTENDED that they are a peculiar people, somehow different from other Americans. Some of them claim that this distinction is evident in their songs and folk tales and traditions generally. So far as children's rhymes are concerned, we find little evidence in support of this thesis. Children in bordering states know the same chants and singing-games, and it may be that the general trend of such rhymes is similar all over the United States. We purpose to set down some
items collected from Missouri school children, and leave comparison with out-of-state material to others. School authorities are hated and despised by youngsters everywhere, and uncomplimentary chants about teachers are universally popular. Near Joplin, Mo., the children used to sing:
Peanuts and jelly-cake,
Teacher's got a bellyache.
Up around Kirksville, Mo., we hear this:
Teacher, teacher, I declare,
I see bedbugs in your hair.
Sometimes it goes:
Teacher, teacher, I declare,
I see holes in your underwear.
In a village near the Missouri-Illinois border, the children made up a rhyme about a teacher named Wesley, who was particularly disliked because of the severe punishments he inflicted:
The Devil flew from north to south
And caught old Wesley by the mouth;
But when he found he was such a fool,
He left him here to teach our school.
In McDonald county, Mo., the "scholars" at a country school loved to sing:
Mister Kelley aint no good,
Chop him up for kindling wood,
Put him on the fire and let him burn,
Set right down and watch him squirm.
Written admonitions to discourage the theft of textbooks are common, usually scribbled on the flyleaf or endpapers. This one is from northeastern Missouri:
If by chance this book should roam,
Box its ears and send it home.
Forty or fifty years ago the following inscription was written in books around Kirksville, Mo.:
Don't steal this book, my little lad,
For fifty cents it cost my dad.
Here's one from St. Joseph, Mo., which seems to be known in many parts of the country:
Steal not this book, my honest friend,
For fear the gallows will be thy end.
Rhymes involving the name of the owner are found in old schoolbooks, in many different sections of Missouri. On the title-page one often sees:
If my name you wish to find,
Turn to page 109.
Turn to page 109, and read this:
If my name you wish to see,
Turn to page 203.
This may go on and on, with crude rhymes for the other numbers. Sometimes it stops abruptly, with:
Just keep on looking, you d---- fool!
Or a long trail may end with the bald statement:
John Simpson is my name.
We have seen a copy of McGuffy's Reader with the final couplet:
Are you tired of this game?
Betty Dickson is my name.
This familiar verse is sung by school children at Kirksville, Mo.
Teacher, teacher, don't whip me,
Whip that nigger behind the tree;
He stole money and I stole honey,
Teacher, teacher, aint that funny?
Here's a rhyme known to youngsters all over southern Missouri:
I know something I won't tell,
Three little niggers in a peanut shell,
One could read and one could write,
And one could smoke his daddy's pipe.
A bit of childish day-dreaming from a little boy at Kansas City, Mo., in
the 1890's:
If I was the President of the United States,
I'd eat molasses candy and swing on all the gates.
Counting-out rhymes are well known everywhere, it seems. Perhaps the
commonest counting-out rhyme in Missouri is the familiar:
Eeny, meeny, miney mo,
Catch a nigger by the toe,
If he hollers let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miney mo.
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Children's Rhymes from Missouri
Sometimes the last two lines are changed to read:
If he hollers make him pay
Fifty dollars every day.
Another old favorite from northeast Missouri is this:
Monkey, monkey, bottle of beer,
How many monkeys are there here?
Count and see, one, two, three,
Out goes he!
Some children add another line:
Right in the middle of the deep blue sea.
Here's a slightly different text from Springfield, Mo.:
Monkey, monkey, bottle of beer,
How many monkeys are there here?
One an' two, red, white an' blue,
Three, four, five an' out goes you!
The "wire, briar, limberlock" piece has some interesting variations. Here's
a sample from the village of Mincy, Mo.
William May Trimbletoe
Is a good fisherman,
Catches fishes,
Puts them in dishes,
Catches hens,
Puts them in pens.
Wire, briar, limberlock,
Ten geese in a flock,
Flock fell down,
Mouse run around,
Scared all the people
Out of town.
O-U-T spells out,
You dirty old dish-clout.
Another version from Taney County, Mo., goes like this:
Wire, briar, limberlock,
Three geese in a flock,
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest,
Little Poodie killed the rest.
This one was sent us by a lady in Verona, Mo.:
Wire, briar, limberlock,
Three geese in a flock,
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
The clock fell down,
The mouse run around,
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O-U-T spells your name out,
And to be gone out Buck!
Here's a variant from children at Kirksville, Mo.:
William O'Trinity
He's a good waterman,
Catches his hens, and puts 'em in pens,
Some lay eggs, and some lay none.
Wire, briar, limberlock,
Three geese in a flock,
One flew east and one flew west
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
At Caverna, Mo., down near the Arkansas border, the youngsters say:
William B. Rickmanee
Catches fish in the sea,
Catches hens, puts 'em in a pen,
Some lay eggs, some lay none.
Wire, briar, limberlock,
Set and sing till four o'clock,
Clock fell down, mouse run around,
O-U-T spells out to William's house,
Dirty dishrag in his mouth.
Children in Rolla, Mo., seem to favor "Rickety rickety" as a counting-out
rhyme:
Rickety rickety rickety rye,
Two fat cheeks and one black eye,
Rickety rickety rickety rout,
Whoever I touch next is out.
From Barry county, Mo., we get this one:
Eekery eckery moony mike,
Barricky rarricky stucky strike,
Fillicy fellicy wee wo wack.
The boys and girls in Kirksville, Mo., contribute an interesting item:
Trovan, tovan, tin-tin twire-lire,
Maxfield, northfield, rode on whack!
A lady in Springfield, Mo., sends us the following, which she says is "an old
choosing-up rhyme" from Stone county, Mo.
Onery, orey, ickry Ann,
Fillison, follison, Nicholas John,
Queevy, quavey, English Navy,
Stinklum, stanklum, buck.
At Kirksville, Mo., the children used to chant:
One-er-y, ore-y, ickory Ann,
Philison, pholison, Nicholas, John,
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Children's Rhymes from Missouri
Quevy, quavy, English Navy,
Stinktum, stanktum, buck.
This one is heard also in southwest Missouri; a lady at Anderson, Mo., told
us that it was originally known as "Indians counting to ten."
From McDonald county, Mo., comes this fragment of a counting-out rhyme:
Ithery tithery tetherum tit,
Out goes he!
Here's a similar piece used on the school playground at Lanagan, Mo., in the
I920'S:
Ikkery ekkery catamaran,
Fillisy follisy mend a tin pan,
Peevy pavey English Navy,
Stacky stooky Buck.
A girl in Pineville, Mo., recalled this fragment of a party-game chant, which
she said was used as a counting-out rhyme:
Chickee chickee ma craney crow,
Went to the well to wash my big toe,
When I got there one of my blackeyed chickens was gone,
What time of day is it, old witch?
Here's a fragment of the same verse, from Springfield, Mo.:
Chickamy, chickamy, craney crow,
I went to the river to wash my toe.
This is a rhyme from southern Missouri that is not known in the northern
section, evidently:
Apple core,
Bite no more,
In the snout,
Point him out!
In northeast Missouri the following jingle functioned as a counting-out
rhyme:
Engine, engine number nine,
Running on the Chicago line;
How she sparkles, how she shines,
Engine, engine number nine.
People in Joplin, Mo., tell us that "Engine Number Nine" was formerly
used as a rope-skipping chant:
Engine, engine number nine,
Running on the Frisco line.
Another skipping rhyme, popular in Joplin, goes like this:
Mamma, mamma, had a baby,
Papa, papa, he is crazy.
Wrap him up in tissue paper,
Put him in the elevator.
How many pounds did baby weigh?
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Then the rope-jumper begins to count one, two, three, four and so on, until she
misses.
Here is a rope-skipper's chant known in Kirksville, Mo., and elsewhere:
Down in the meadow where the green grass grows,
There sits Patty sweet as a rose,
She sang, she sang, she sang so sweet,
Until along comes Bob and kisses her on the cheek,
How many kisses will he give her in a week?
One, two, three, four, etc.
In Springfield, Mo., the best rope jumpers count their kisses by fives:
Ella, Ella, dressed in yellow,
On the road she met her fellow.
How many kisses did she get?
Five an' ten, ten an' fifteen,
Fifteen an' twenty, etc.
Here is a skipping-rhyme used by the children in Jefferson City, Mo.
Minnie Moocher and a ha ha ha,
Kissed her fellow with a ha ha ha,
I told Ma, Ma told Pa,
Minnie got a licking, ha ha ha.
The youngsters in West Plains, Mo., seem to do their rope-jumping without
any mention of kisses:
Johnny on the ocean,
Johnny on the sea,
I told Ma, Ma told Pa,
Johnny got a licking, ha ha ha,
Ha one, ha two, ha three, etc.
The following variant comes from northeast Missouri:
Johnny over the ocean,
Johnny over the sea,
Johnny broke a milk bottle
And blamed it on me.
I told Ma, Ma told Pa,
Johnny got a licking, ha ha ha!
A curious rope-skipping rhyme from Jasper county, Mo., runs like this:
Mamma, mamma, I am sick,
Get the doctor quick, quick, quick;
Doctor, doctor, will I die?
Yes, you will, but do not cry.
How many coaches do I get?
With this the skipper begins to chant five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, and
so on, counting five coaches to every jump, until she misses.
Here are some skipping-rhymes from northeast Missouri:
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Children's Rhymes from Missouri
Butterfly, butterfly, turn around,
Butterfly, butterfly, touch the ground,
Butterfly, butterfly, show your pretty shoe,
Butterfly, butterfly, you'd better skidoo.
Grace, Grace, dressed in lace,
Went upstairs to powder her face,
How many boxes did she use?
One, two, three, four, etc.
Margie ate some pickles,
Margie ate some pie,
Margie ate some sauerkraut
And thought that she would die.
Whoops went the pickles,
Whoops went the pie,
Whoops went the sauerkraut,
And Margie didn't die.
Settin' on the doorstep
Chewin' bubble gum,
Along comes a nigger
And asks for some.
No, you dirty nigger,
No, you dirty bum,
You ought to get a lickin'
For chewin' bubble gum.
Apples, peaches, creamery butter,
Tell me the name of my true lover,
A, B, C, D, E, etc.
A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go,
We'll catch a fox, and put him in a box,
And then we'll let him go.
Toots and Caspar went down town,
Toots bought herself an evening gown,
Caspar bought a new pair of shoes,
Buttercup bought the Daily News.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
All good children go to heaven,
Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one,
All bad children suck their thumb.
Twenty years ago every school child in Missouri had a rhyming answer for
most any leading question. One familiar dialogue went like this:
What's your name?
Puddin' Tame,
Ask me again
An' I'll tell you the same.
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At Kirksville, Mo., there were variations such as:
What's your name?
John Brown,
Ask me again
And I'll knock you down.
Naughty boys often offer mock blessings at table. These are recited very
solemnly, and ended with a chorus of fervent A mens. Here is one from Galena,
Mo.:
Bless the meat
And damn the skin,
Open your mouth
And shovel it in.
Another of these rhymes has been reported from Adair and McDonald counties,
and at various points between the two:
Good bread,
Good meat,
Good God
Let's eat!
Children sometimes, when called upon in mock seriousness to say grace, clasp
their hands piously and shout:
Grace! Grace!
At Kirksville, Mo., if a child made the mistake of saying "April Fool!" on
any day after April ist, the others would cry:
April Fool has come and passed
And you're the biggest fool at last!
There was an answer to this:
April Fool's again a-coming,
And you're the biggest fool a-running.
In many parts of Missouri children about to perform some hazardous
"banner," such as jumping from a high place, often chant:
One for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to make ready,
Four to go.
An old corn-planting rhyme, repeated by little boys in the Ozark counties,
is apparently unknown to the youngsters in north Missouri.
One for the blackbird,
Two for the crow,
Three for the cutworm,
Four for to grow.
We are told that it was customary, in pioneer days, to plant four grains of
corn to a hill.
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Children's Rhymes from Missouri
Missouri children know a few old riddles, and some of them are in rhyme.
Here's one from Kirksville, Mo.
White as milk, but milk it aint,
Green as grass, but grass it aint,
Red as blood, but blood it aint,
Black as ink, but ink it aint.
Answer: A blackberry.
Another riddle-rhyme from the same locality was:
Twelve pears hanging high;
Twelve knights came riding by;
Each man took a pear,
And left eleven hanging there.
Answer: One of the knights was named Eachman.
There is a variant of this item, which goes:
Twelve pears hanging high,
Twelve knights riding by,
Each knight took a pear,
And yet a dozen left there.
Answer: Twelve pairs are 24.
Each knight took one pear,
leaving twelve.
This riddle was known in Kirksville, Mo., about the turn of the century:
Within a fountain, crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear;
No doors or locks to the stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.
Answer: An egg.
Here's another one from Kirksville, remembered by persons who learned it
fifty years ago:
There was a little green house,
And in the little green house
There was a little white house,
And in the little white house
There was a little red house,
And in the little red house
There was a whole bunch of little niggers.
Answer: A watermelon.
Several rhymes are used in connection with the game of "Hide and Go
Seek" as played in Adair county, Mo. After the child who is it counts to a
hundred by fives, he shouts:
A bushel of wheat and a bushel of rye,
All that aint hid, holler I.
If some players continue to "holler I" too long, the seeker may call out:
A bushel of wheat and a bushel of clover,
Who aint hid can't hide over.
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Journal of American Folklore
If the hiders are too well hidden, it issues his challenge:
Whistle or shout,
Or I'll send a man out.
After he has caught one or more, if the seeker is tired he may end the game by
shouting:
Bee, bee, bumblebee,
All's out's in free.
Skillful dodgers in these games call out such rhyming taunts as:
Can't catch a flea!
Can't catch a flea!
This one has some interesting historical references:
Charley over the water,
Charley over the sea,
Charley can catch a blackbird,
But he can't catch me!
All over the state children chant the old rhyme "One, two, buckle my
shoe." Here is a text from a lady in Morrisville, Mo.
One, two, buckle my shoe,
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them straight,
Nine, ten, kill a fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, dig and delve;
Thirteen, fourteen, boys come a-courtin',
Fifteen, sixteen, girls are a-fixin',
Seventeen, eighteen, boys are a-waitin',
Nineteen, twenty, girls are a plenty.
This is the way youngsters in Adair county, Mo., repeat this rhyme:
One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a big fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, let us delve;
Thirteen, fourteen, girls are courting;
Fifteen, sixteen, girls are fixing;
Seventeen, eighteen, girls are waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, the larder's empty.
The following stanza is part of a playground game in Kirksville, Mo.:
Tit, tat, toe,
Round I go,
If I miss
I'll stop at this.
Sometimes the last two lines become:
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Children's Rhymes from Mlissouri
Where I stop
Nobody knows.
At Rolla, Mo., the children still sing the verse about "Lucy's mad and I
am glad"-the names being changed to fit the circumstances, of course.
Lucy's mad and I am glad,
I know what will please her,
A bottle of wine to make her shine,
And little Jimmy Blunk to squeeze her.
The same jingle from Kirksville, Mo., has some ugly variations:
Lucy's mad and I am glad,
And I know what will please her,
A bottle of wine to make her shine,
A bottle of ink to make her stink,
And a little nigger boy to squeeze her.
Little children in Poplar Bluff, Mo., used to shout this cryptic taunt at each
other in the street:
Willie, Willie Weezer,
Pig-tail squeezer!
All over Missouri children chant:
Good night; sleep tight;
Don't let the bedbugs bite!
In Joplin, Mo., and other places in the southern part of the state, one hears
children singing:
Louie, Louie,
Fooey, fooey,
I think you
Are full of hooey.
A boy with red hair comes to dread the chorus:
Red head, gingerbread,
Five cents a loaf.
In many sections of Missouri little girls chant:
I love coffee, I love tea,
I love the boys and the boys love me.
This one is known around Kirksville, and elsewhere in the northern part
of the state. We have not found it in the Ozarks, or in southeast Missouri.
Nobody loves you, everybody hates you,
Down in the garden, eating worms.
Big fat juicy ones,
Long, slick, slimy ones,
And some wooly ones, too.
A boy whose too-brief shirt won't stay under his belt is greeted with the
chorus:
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Journal of American Folklore
Goody goody gout,
Your shirt-tail's out!
This childish taunt is reported from the Missouri-Illinois border. The
name isn't always "Ginny ma-Tinny," of course. If the girl's name is Ruth it
becomes "Ruthie ma-Toothy," if her name is Susan it is "Susie ma-Cusie"
and so on.
Ginny ma-Tinny,
Tee-legged,
Tie-legged,
Bow-legged
Ginny!
In all parts of Missouri the children know a sing-song chant:
Smarty, smarty, had a party,
Nobody came but a big fat darkey.
There are thousands of country children in the Ozark counties who have
never even seen a Negro, but they sing this verse just as loud as the youngsters
in "Little Dixie."
Little children often repeat jingles recalling superstitions which have been
more or less forgotten by their elders:
Find a pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck.
Find a pin and leave it lay,
Bad luck you'll have all day.
A rhymed collection of sneezing-signs, reported from northeast Missouri:
Sneeze on Monday, sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on Tuesday, kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on Wednesday, sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on Thursday, something better;
Sneeze on Friday, sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on Saturday, see your sweetheart tomorrow.
Many children know scraps and fragments of an ancient rhyme about eyecolor
and its significance. This one is from northeast Missouri:
Gray eye, pick-a-pie,
Run around and tell a lie.
Green eye, greedy gut,
Run around and eat the world up.
Missouri girls sometimes tell their fortunes by counting apple seeds. There
is some variation in the rhyme used in counting the seeds, after the apple has
been named for a boy and eaten. This is what they say in Kirksville, Mo.:
One I love,
Two I love,
Three I love, I say.
Four I love with all my heart,
Five I cast away.
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Children's Rhymes from Missouri
Six he loves,
Seven she loves,
Eight they both love.
Nine he comes,
Ten he tarries,
Eleven they court,
And twelve they marry.
Nobody seems to know what might happen if there should be more than
twelve seeds in the apple.
In some parts of the Ozark country, when two children happen to say the
same word simultaneously, they stop in their tracks and hook the little
fingers of their left hands together. Then very solemnly they recite the following
verse, speaking alternate lines:
Needles,
Pins,
Triplets,
Twins,
When a man marries
His trouble begins.
When a man dies
His troubles end.
What goes up the chimney?
SMOKE!
This done, the youngsters loose hands and go on with their play as if nothing
had happened. A schoolmarm in Stone County, Mo., noticed that many of
her pupils practice this even after they are old enough to attend the village
high school. Some children say that to perform the rite conscientiously means
that their secret desires will be gratified. "It's just a charm, so you'll be sure
to get your wish," a little girl told us.
Fairmont, West Virginia (Musick)
Eureka Springs, Arkansas (Randolph)