Page:St. Nicholas, vol. 40.1 (1912-1913).djvu/103

When I 've been bad, my mother says,
"All right, son. Just you wait!"
And when night comes, we listen
For my father at the gate.
And if it 's me that hears him first,
I run to let him in,
And tell him all about it
'Fore my mother can begin.

And sometimes when I 've finished,
He looks down at me and grins,
And says that it reminds him
Of his own boyhood sins;
Then he leads me in to Mother,
And he says, "Poor little lad,
I really don't think, Sweetheart,
That he 's been so very bad."

But last night, by the window,
While I watched the shadows creep,
My eyes got very heavy,
And I, somehow, fell asleep.
I could have told him, easy,
Just why I screamed and kicked;
But Mother was ahead of me,—
And that time I got licked!