Australian Tales - Setis

“Old Bogies.”
NOT long ago I overheard a mother thus address her little daughter,
who had strayed from her side, and with childish curiosity was peeping
into an open door-way. “Come hither, Minnie! you little monkey! Do
you hear me, miss? Old Daddy Longlegs will catch you in a minute, if
you don't mind what I say to you. Here he comes! My goodness! he'll
catch you!” The dread of Daddy Longlegs had an immediate effect upon
Minnie's short legs, and away she ran towards her mother, who seemed
much pleased at the manifest alarm of her offspring, and at the success of
her own silly expedient.
I do not refer to that occurrence on account of its novelty, for it is not
uncommon to hear mothers call their children names, even less
complimentary than “little monkeys,” and to consign them to powers
more terribly real than “daddy Longlegs.” I wish to make a few remarks
on the folly and danger of exacting obedience from children by operating
on their fears; and I would commend my subject to the consideration of
mothers and of nurses in general.
I was recently conversing with an intelligent lady friend upon various
matters connected with the training of children, when she related the
following facts, and gave me permission to make what use I pleased of
them. She said that when about eight years of age, she was on a visit at
the house of a relative; and during her stay there she shared the bedroom
of two adult female cousins. One night she had been rather tardy in
disrobing, and her cousins were in bed before her, so the duty of
extinguishing the candle devolved upon her. “If you don't make haste and
put out the light, Annie,” said one of her cousins, “old Bogy will catch
hold of you as you are getting into bed.”
My friend said that she put out the light instantly, and sprang into bed
with a palpitating heart, and there she lay conjuring up a hideous array of
images, which scared away sleep, and filled her mind with horror. The
next morning she was in an unusually excited state. In the course of the
day she went shopping with her cousins, and while in the city she
suddenly left them and ran as fast as she could to her home, which was
some distance off. When she arrived there, she rushed up to her mother,
flung herself into her arms, and burst into an hysterical fit of weeping.
“Next day,” my informant remarked, “I was seized with an attack of St.
Vitus's dance, which baffled all the remedies of the doctor for several