The Stepmother 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!