When I was in the first grade in 1965, I got the lead in the first grade play. All the students in our school and all the parents and everybody in the PTF (Parents/Teachers/Friends) were there. Our play was Nursery Rhymes. Most kids got something short to recite—Jack and Jill or Simple Simon or Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.
But I got “Old Mother Hubbard,” a very long poem; in fact the longest one in the whole play. A little classmate named Jeffrey, was costumed as my little dog and he had one line near the end of the poem. He said “Bow-wow.” I was filled with pride, knowing that I had gotten the longest poem, that I would stand out there, front and center, for the longest, and that Jeffrey would only get to say two syllables, while I would get several verses—verses that had various actions that accompanied them. I could not say it, especially to my mother, because she would put me in my place quickly. She would say “The Bible says that pride goeth before a fall.” But, in my haughty little heart, I knew I had gotten the longest poem because I was the smartest. A star was born. A prideful one.
My mother made me the best costume. It was a floor length prairie dress with a white apron and a bonnet. I had a wonderful basket for the dog’s bone and my dog had a newspaper and a flute…all the things in the poem. But he would only get to say “Bow-wow!” I memorized and practiced enunciating. I was prepared and I was so proud.
And I delivered. I gave it everything I had. I was loud and I had great diction. And my parents were out there beaming. At the end, I executed that poem’s curtsy just perfectly. I was proud.
Then I walked gracefully over to the stage steps, stepped right on the hem of my new dress as I stepped down onto the first step, and I fell down all the rest of those steps while that apron flew over my head and that skirt twisted more tightly around me with every step of that horrifically embarrassing (and loud!) descent.
Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Here are my last words before I had my mother’s oft-quoted Proverbs truth indelibly etched in my soul!
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to her cupboard
To give her poor dog a bone
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare
And so the poor dog had none.
She went to the baker’s
To buy him some bread
But when she came back
She thought he was dead.
She went to the joiner’s
To buy him a coffin
But when she came back
The sly dog was laughin.
She went to the cobbler’s
To buy him some shoes
But when she came back
He was reading the news!
She went to the barber’s
To buy him a wig
But when she came back
He was dancing a jig.
She went to the fruiter’s
To buy him some fruit
But when she came back
He was playing the flute.
She went to the hosier’s
To buy him some hose
But when she came back
He was dressed in his clothes.
The dame made a curtsy
The dog made a bow
The dame said, “Your servant,”
The dog said “bow wow.”
