WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:17.480 A bonfire was originally a funeral pyre. 00:17.480 --> 00:20.820 A constable chases a heifer and gets caught in a trap. 00:20.820 --> 00:23.320 Two famous women fight a duel with fingernails. 00:23.320 --> 00:27.100 Yes, ladies and gentlemen, those amazing statements mean that this is Lindsay McCarrie back again 00:27.100 --> 00:30.760 with another array of unusual news items and odd facts to make you say, 00:30.760 --> 00:57.820 can you imagine that? We'll all be back in just one minute and a half, so wait around, won't you? 02:00.760 --> 02:08.500 And after one and a half minutes, we're back with our first item, and here it is. 02:08.500 --> 02:13.300 In the month of November 1915, Constable Scaffington Kelso of Eddington, Maine, 02:13.300 --> 02:16.900 started out on a very routine matter of official business, with a writ of 02:16.900 --> 02:20.980 reploven in his pocket to take over a chattel which was involved in a civil lawsuit. 02:20.980 --> 02:26.100 The chattel specifically was a heifer, and as he approached the animal, she looked up and... 02:26.100 --> 02:32.620 Come on, come on, don't run away now. Nobody's gonna hurt you. Come on, 02:32.620 --> 02:39.440 let me put this rope around your neck. Stand still, darn you. Nobody's gonna hurt you now. 02:39.440 --> 02:44.420 Come here. With a coiness that would have done credit to the shyest of feminine wiles, 02:44.420 --> 02:49.660 the heifer edged away from Constable Kelso. Then as he reached out to put the rope around 02:49.660 --> 02:56.340 the heifer's neck... Come on now. That's it, girl. That's it. Come back here, darn it. 02:56.340 --> 02:59.500 Come back here. Come on now. Come back here, dear. Hear me? 02:59.500 --> 03:03.940 Well, that started it. According to the Harris Constable, the heifer ran four miles 03:03.940 --> 03:07.380 through a swamp, then decided to circuit a mountain with the constable 03:07.380 --> 03:16.260 grimly hanging onto the chase until... Now, almost... Gotcha. Oh, here. Get away. 03:16.260 --> 03:20.260 Get away. Go on now. Get away, doggy. Get away. Go on. A vicious dog held Constable 03:20.260 --> 03:23.860 Kelso at bay for two hours while the heifer placidly recovered her breath, 03:23.860 --> 03:27.980 protected by the snarling canine. Then the dog wearied of the game and went away, 03:27.980 --> 03:32.260 leaving Kelso to resume the chase. On and on went the constable and the heifer, 03:32.260 --> 03:41.620 then while racing across a field... I'll get you. Yeah. 03:41.620 --> 03:46.020 Constable Kelso stepped into a mink trap. He finally captured the ambling 03:46.020 --> 03:49.260 heifer, though, and then he appeared before Judge Blanchard to collect extra 03:49.260 --> 03:53.100 costs because of the extra trouble he had while serving the writ of replavum. 03:53.100 --> 03:56.980 Said the constable to the judge... And, your honor, I didn't only have all that 03:56.980 --> 04:02.820 trouble, but I lost my jackknife. A good one. I tore my clothes almost to rags. 04:02.820 --> 04:07.700 I ruined my shoes and ran myself almost to death. And that ain't the worst of it. 04:07.700 --> 04:11.700 At the grains meeting, one of the young ladies read a funny poem about the chase 04:11.700 --> 04:17.820 I had. She wrote it. Might have been funny to her and the others, but it wasn't to me. 04:17.820 --> 04:23.740 P.S. Constable Scuffington Kelso was awarded the extra costs. Can you imagine 04:23.740 --> 04:28.580 that? Well, here's an interesting little bit of phrase origin. Have you ever been 04:28.580 --> 04:31.860 accused of passing the buck? If you have, I'm sure you'll be interested in knowing 04:31.860 --> 04:35.660 the origin of the phrase. It comes from draw poker, as played in the days when 04:35.660 --> 04:39.780 stakes were high. During those card games, an object was passed around the table to 04:39.780 --> 04:45.380 mark the position of the dealer. That object was called a buck. B-U-C-K. Now, the 04:45.380 --> 04:48.940 dealer usually anted for the other players. That is, the dealer placed in the 04:48.940 --> 04:52.460 center of the table the number of chips, gold pieces, or coins to the number of 04:52.460 --> 04:56.700 persons playing in the game for their admission fee. Thus, the dealer paid for 04:56.700 --> 05:00.900 everyone. Regretfully, we must imagine that some dealers to whom the buck was 05:00.900 --> 05:04.380 passed wanted to shirk the responsibility of paying up for all and 05:04.380 --> 05:08.300 passed the buck to the next man, thus implying that there was where the deal 05:08.300 --> 05:13.260 belonged. And so, from the game of poker, we have garnered our phrase, passing the 05:13.260 --> 05:18.660 buck, which means the passing of responsibility to another's shoulders. 05:19.460 --> 05:23.340 If this were television, you could see a band of students and merrymakers 05:23.340 --> 05:26.900 disposing themselves around a huge bonfire. They're all having a great time, 05:26.900 --> 05:31.300 enjoying themselves immensely, but as jolly as that bonfire is, it has an 05:31.300 --> 05:35.820 exceedingly gruesome history. It wasn't always a bonfire as we know it. Let's 05:35.820 --> 05:39.980 imagine ourselves in the Middle Ages. A plague is sweeping through Europe. People 05:39.980 --> 05:43.460 die faster than they can be buried. That fact is brought to the attention of the 05:43.460 --> 05:47.940 authorities, one of whom says, what are we going to do? We can't leave the dead 05:47.940 --> 05:52.020 lying about the streets and the gutters. They'll spread this pestilence to the 05:52.020 --> 05:56.020 very walls of the Palace of the King. One of the doctors suggests that we burn 05:56.020 --> 06:01.580 the bodies. Burn? Well, that would get rid of them, but how about the Holy Mass? 06:01.580 --> 06:05.060 The people won't give up their dead if they're told to give them up without 06:05.060 --> 06:09.180 Christian burial. Let a priest administer the last sacrament to those on the 06:09.180 --> 06:12.580 fires. That will do it. 06:15.420 --> 06:22.140 Those grisly fires were soon called bone fires. The reason is obvious, but later 06:22.140 --> 06:26.460 the bone fires were used for something different. The scene is a dungeon. The 06:26.460 --> 06:33.060 Spanish Inquisition holds trial. Listen. Raymond, the Casales, you have been tried 06:33.060 --> 06:39.500 and convicted of heresy. Therefore, it is the judgment of this most holy court 06:39.500 --> 06:46.820 that you are to be burnt at the stake in punishment for your most grievous crime. 06:46.820 --> 06:53.860 No, no. It was no crime. My political enemies did this to me. I've committed no 06:53.860 --> 07:09.860 crime. My enemies sent me to the bone fire. They sent me. 07:09.860 --> 07:15.260 And there is the origin of bonfire. The passage of time has taken out the E, 07:15.260 --> 07:19.300 shortened the O, and thus the word has lost its first grisly gruesome 07:19.300 --> 07:23.780 connotation until nowadays we think of a bonfire as a place around which gathered 07:23.780 --> 07:29.300 happy, joyous merrymakers. Can you imagine that? Here's an amusing little 07:29.300 --> 07:33.340 story I dug up. It's true and I think it'll give you a chuckle. A certain lady 07:33.340 --> 07:36.980 was staying at a German hotel. In the room next hers was a pianist who played 07:36.980 --> 07:41.460 and played and played. When he got tired he played a little more until he was 07:41.460 --> 07:45.820 rested enough to go on playing some more. The lady finally wrote him a bitter note 07:45.820 --> 07:50.580 and dispatched it by her maid. The note asked, No, commanded that the noise and 07:50.580 --> 07:54.540 racket stop. A few moments later the lady's maid returned with another note, 07:54.540 --> 07:59.500 this time from the pianist to the lady. It read, Madam, I'm sorry to have annoyed 07:59.500 --> 08:03.700 you. Your request is granted. But it wasn't the contents of the note. It 08:03.700 --> 08:07.500 wasn't because hers had been so high and mighty and his so humble that sent the 08:07.500 --> 08:11.460 hot blood to her cheeks in an agony of embarrassment. No, it was the signature at 08:11.460 --> 08:16.980 the bottom of the pianist's note, Anton Rubenstein. We wonder what the lady 08:16.980 --> 08:19.940 thought when she realized that she had called the music of one of the world's 08:19.940 --> 08:25.020 greatest pianists, noise and racket. Speaking of pianists, do you recognize 08:25.020 --> 08:27.220 this? 08:34.340 --> 08:39.860 Yes, it's Liebestraum, Dream of Love, composed by Franz Liszt. And speaking of 08:39.860 --> 08:43.100 Franz Liszt, I've dug up a very interesting story about the famous maestro 08:43.100 --> 08:47.020 who charmed all Europe with his artistry at the piano. We're going to tell you the 08:47.020 --> 08:51.700 story, then we're going to play detective with his Liebestraum. First, the story. 08:51.700 --> 08:56.220 Franz Liszt, with his finely chiseled profile, his shock of hair that fell to 08:56.220 --> 08:59.940 his shoulders like a lion's mane, was a natural target for adoring women who 08:59.940 --> 09:03.420 fell under the spell of his playing. Among these were the gifted and 09:03.420 --> 09:07.500 fashionable Countess of Agu and the literary genius, Madame George Sand. 09:07.500 --> 09:12.260 Madame Sand and Madame d'Agou were great friends, perhaps drawn together by their 09:12.260 --> 09:16.980 mutual admiration of Liszt. All went well until Liszt toured Switzerland and 09:16.980 --> 09:22.140 Madame Sand toured Switzerland too. Madame d'Agou stormed, but there was 09:22.140 --> 09:27.380 nothing to do but wait until the two wanderers returned. When they did... 09:30.100 --> 09:34.940 Madame Sand is in? Don't lie to me now, she's in, isn't she? She returned this 09:34.940 --> 09:39.340 morning. Very well, I'll see her. But Madame d'Agou, Madame Sand is very busy. 09:39.340 --> 09:44.900 She's writing. Oh, is that so? Well, she won't be for long. In the library, I presume? 09:44.900 --> 09:48.620 But Madame d'Agou, I beg of you, please don't go in until I've announced it. 09:48.620 --> 09:51.180 But I have to say I'll announce myself. 09:51.180 --> 09:56.940 Ah! Well, well, well, Countess, this is a surprise. 09:56.940 --> 10:01.900 Is it? You! You! And you, Franz! 10:01.900 --> 10:04.140 My dear Countess, you are all out of breath. 10:04.140 --> 10:09.260 I have enough breath for what I'm going to say. You two betraying me like this. I... 10:09.260 --> 10:12.580 I think I had better wait in the other room. 10:12.580 --> 10:16.380 Oh, no, you'll wait right here. Madame Sand, I thought you were my friend. 10:16.380 --> 10:19.060 You have no right to burst into my house like this. Get out. 10:19.060 --> 10:21.500 I will not. I command you to leave my house. 10:21.500 --> 10:27.380 Ladies, ladies, please. No, quiet, Franz. Madame Sand, I challenge you to a duel. 10:27.380 --> 10:31.460 With bonnet feathers, I suppose. Now I know I'm going somewhere else. 10:31.460 --> 10:34.540 Fight it out, ladies. I can't listen to any... 10:34.540 --> 10:39.060 Now, again I say I challenge you to a duel. You fool. 10:39.060 --> 10:42.860 You're the fool to think you could pull the wool over my eyes. 10:42.860 --> 10:45.900 All right. All right, I'll accept your challenge. 10:45.900 --> 10:51.300 And I have the privilege of choosing the weapon. And I choose fingernails. 10:51.300 --> 10:53.540 Good enough for me. Defend yourself, Madame Sand. 10:53.540 --> 10:55.340 You defend yourself. Here I come. 10:55.340 --> 10:58.300 Oh, you! Ah! I hate you! 10:58.300 --> 10:59.620 Oh! Oh! 10:59.620 --> 11:04.540 That is probably the only duel ever fought by two women over a man with fingernails. 11:04.540 --> 11:07.220 Can you imagine that? And now, as I said a few moments ago, 11:07.220 --> 11:10.180 we're going to play detective with Franz Liszt's Liebestraum. 11:10.180 --> 11:13.380 I'll have the orchestra play a few bars of it, and you try to think of a popular tune 11:13.380 --> 11:16.980 of some years back that is almost identical in harmony and melodic pattern. 11:16.980 --> 11:30.940 Listen carefully now. 11:30.940 --> 11:32.980 Did you catch it? If you did, good for you. 11:32.980 --> 11:35.380 If you didn't, you won't have to tear your hair in exasperation, 11:35.380 --> 11:39.020 because here is the popular tune. It's crooning. 11:39.020 --> 12:05.700 We're cooling, just cooling, the nighttime away, planning and dreaming day after day, 12:05.700 --> 12:28.660 in our own little love nest, crooning lullaby. 12:28.660 --> 12:58.580 And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. 12:58.580 --> 13:01.380 Now it's time to turn you back to your own station announcer, 13:01.380 --> 13:29.540 and until we meet again, this is Lindsay McHarry saying goodbye now. 13:29.540 --> 13:51.860 Dear friends, good night.