OLD MAN SNUCKLES
Reading edition
One night after saying her prayers before going to bed, a nine-year-old girl astonished her mother by innocently asking:
“Mother, who is Old Man Snuckles?”
“Why, my child, I never heard of a man by that name.”
“Oh, yes, mother,” said the child, “there must be some such man, for I pray for him every night.”
“Pray for Old Man Snuckles, my child? Why, what do you mean?”
“Why, yes, mother. You know I pray for God to bless father and mother, brother and sister and ‘Old Man Snuckles.’ Who is he?”
Her mother saw by and by that it meant “All my aunts and uncles!”