Here is a poem I memorized as a child, and it always reminds me of this time of year. It is the author's birthday today, too. Kids love to hear me recite this around Halloween time.

Little Orphant Annie
James Whitcomb Riley
7 October 1849 - 22 July 1916

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups and saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away.
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
To bake the bread, an' tend the fire, to earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other chillens, when the supper things is done,
We sets 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!

Onc't they was a little boy who wouldn't say his prayers,--
So when he went to bed at night, away upstairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Pappy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all!
Oh they seeked him in the rafter room, an' cubbyhole, an' press,
They 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!

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,
There was two big black things a standin' by her side.
An' they whisked 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 flickers, 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, and yer teachers fond an' dear,
An' cherish them 'at loves you, an' wipe away the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the poor an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you Don't Watch Out!