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| Max about to be John Browned... |
This is not really about John Brown going to town but there is a reason I chose it for the title. You see, Max took his couch sitting game to whole nother level yesterday. The wife was sitting on the couch with the foot rest extended (like a recliner) when Max decided that looked like a good place to sit. I saw him pull the one leg up under him like he normally does but then saw he was struggling to get the other one up as well. He looked mighty proud of himself once he got situated but unfortunately, it did not last long. The wife decided she needed up so, without warning Max, she dropped the foot rest. He looked really surprised and bewildered but it reminded me of something from my childhood. My mom and dad would play a little game in which they would sit us (me, my brother and two sisters) up on their knees and bounce us (individually, not all at once) while singing this little rhyme.
John Brown
went to town
riddin a goat
and leadin a hound
hound give a yelp
goat give a jump
left John Brown
sittin on a stump.
But just as they sang the word stump, they would pull their knees
apart and let us fall. Of course they still had aholt of our hands and
we were not harmed and pretty much turned out OK...... I did it with our kids too, wonder if they remember?
My grandparents did the same thing with me. I played with my children the same way. I would love to know the origin of this rhyme. I have looked many places and this is the only reference I have found.
ReplyDeleteRiding a goat seems to be a Masonic reference
ReplyDeleteThe version that came down through my Southern family is: “John Brown went town riding a goat and leading a hound. The dog barked, the goat jumped, and landed John Brown straddle of a stump.” Because the rhyme is clearly a modified version of a verse in the song Ole’ Dan Tucker, I have always assumed that it was intended to mock the abolitionist and revolutionary John Brown after his raid on Harper’s Ferry.
ReplyDelete