 Grog was originally a British admiral an 11 year old boy goes 30 feet into a well to save a baby the composer of I'll take you home again Kathleen really meant what he wrote. Can you imagine that? Yes friends This is Lindsay McCurry back once more with another batch of stranger than fiction facts with which to astound an image We've dug up some more fascinating peculiarities of this old world of ours and in just a moment or two My cohorts and I will be back with you to present them These can you imagine that broadcasts? We're going to give you the picturesque origin of some word now in common usage in the English language The word Grog today means any hard liquor or alcoholic beverage now I wonder how many of you know how Grog came to possess its present meaning. Well, it goes away back almost 200 years to the year 1740 let's imagine ourselves back in that year on board an English man of war somewhere on the high seas Oh This is a night for work lady You'll be earning your pay in food this night when stirring up the sea like a witch's broth And look alive there. Oh Grog will be coming on deck soon. Oh look alive. Oh Grog You mean Admiral Vernon the same me lad Admiral Vernon. Him and his Grogrum cloaks Grogrum cloaks? Aye Grogrum cloaks half wool and half moe air so they say he wears it in foul weather We've caused him old grove, but the better sailor never set foot on oak decks and a tougher add will never commanded a ship Oh, well, let's go below and take on some vitals lad. Yes, sir Move over mighty that a man sit down to we suck on the wire that in here And arm thirsty and nothing like a panic in a woman run to take the chill out of a man's bones off His walk of wet and stormy deck. Here's to British rum And what's this? What's this? He don't like it. Who put water in my rum? Foul joke I caused it after a man has climbed over his sail. Who put water in my rum? Admiral Vernon, old grove. That's a lie and if I find the one what done it Now it's true mighty old grove's tough and expensive And cutting rum does a tricky thing. Well I'll be watered rum. Now ain't that the thing watered rum? Ain't rum in a tank water. It's half and half and not fit for either name. I know what we'll call it. Name it after him what thought of it. Grog. That's what it is. Grog. And so the word grog originally from the French language grograin Meaning a coarse grained cloth then into English as grogrum Then as a nickname for a famous British Admiral Then as his concoction of half rum and half water Now means any alcoholic beverage. Can you imagine that? Now, we're going to take you to Texas. To Eastland, Texas to be exact. On February 18, 1928 A group of workmen are busy tearing down the old courthouse To make way for Eastland County's new capital building. As the cornerstone is about to be removed One of the interested visitors County Judge Edward Pritchard looks on. Okay, man, she's on. Hey. Hey! Look at here. What's eating you, Spide? Seen a heel of monster? No. But look at this little old horned toe. Well, ain't you ever seen a horned toe before? Yeah. But this one was in that cornerstone. What is it, boys? What's the matter? Oh, hello, Judge Pritchard. Look what we found. Little old horned toe dead. Poor little fella. Oh, let's see. He's been buried there in that cornerstone for 31 years. That's how old this building is. Hey! Hey, you all see what I see? What's up now, Spide? Can't you see, Judge? That darn thing has opened its eyes. Yes, sir, the horned toes opened its eyes And in a little while began to breathe. Pretty soon, Old Rip, that's what they came to call him, Old Rip became a national institution. He was the living manifestation of the western Texas legend That a friend of Somo Cornutum, Horned Toad due, Could live a century without food, air, or water. As a matter of fact, Old Rip even visited Calvin Coolidge In the presidential mansion. The whole situation became such a national issue That when another horned toad was sealed in the cornerstone Of the new Eastland County Courthouse, A group of humane citizens obtained a court order To have him released. Can you imagine that? But, Lindsay, I can't understand how any living thing Could live for 31 years without air or food or water. No? Well, you know, that's just what a group of scientists Couldn't understand either. So some of them began to investigate. After experimenting, this is what two of them said. Dr. William W. Mann, director of the National Zoological Park. It's absolutely impossible for Eastlands Toad To have lived 31 years in a cornerstone. Dr. G. K. Noble, curator of reptiles In the American Museum of Natural History at New York. It's absolutely impossible for an animal To live without oxygen for any length of time. So there you are. Did Old Rip live 31 years Sealed in that cornerstone in Texas? Or didn't he? Well, I'll leave it to you because, Apparently, the scientists and the citizens of Eastland Can't agree. Can you imagine that? Well, now let's see. Oh, yes, here's an odd little story That I found in a newspaper of 1912. It was on May Day of that year in the town of Dothan, Alabama That a group of workmen had just finished lunch And were returning to their task of boring a well. All right, boys. That well. And it's a white baby. Come on, come on. It's white chud, don't fall in. Don't stand there, get him out. We can't go down there in that hole, boys. It's 30 feet down to the bottom. Only 15 inches across. But none of us can get down there no harm. Yes, you're right. We can't widen the hole of the dirt And fall down there on the baby. What's happened? Oh, run along. Young man, run along, run away. Of course you can't. You're too... Well, sure you can't. Will you do it, boys? Sure I will. Come on, tie a rope around my feet And let me down that way. Yeah, sure, go on, get a rope down. Well, sir, young Henry Matthews, A tailor's apprentice, 11 years old, Was lowered slowly down into that 30-foot well. Down, down, down toward the little Three-year-old Benny Grant he went. Twice he tried and failed. Twice he had to be drawn up without the baby. Then, on the third try, at last His voice rang up the narrow excavation. And the two were drawn up to the surface, Both safe and uninjured. When the baby's father, bank cashier B.J. Grant, Warmly thanked Henry Matthews. Henry said bashfully, I toward nothing. But the Carnegie Foundation and Mr. Grant Thought differently, for Henry received Not only a Carnegie Medal for valor, But a trust fund to provide him with a college education. Can you imagine that? You know, a great many of our popular songs Have had a strange inspirational origin. Most of the so-called pop tunes today Are written to fit a particular situation In a motion picture or a stage musical production. But some of the old ones can boast Of a much more romantic beginning. For instance, well, let's go back To a home in Louisville, Kentucky In the year 1875. Thomas Paine Westendorf, a native Virginian Is sitting in the parlor with his beloved wife, Reading. Tom. Yes, honey. Tom, I've been thinking. You know, the doctor says that since Our baby died, He thinks I should have a change of surrounding. Yes, Kathleen, I know. And I think you should go back to New York In the spring to visit your mother for a while. Would you like that? You know I would, but Well, I feel dread that long trip All alone. No, honey. You don't think I'd let you make that trip Alone, do you? Don't worry. In the spring I'll go with you, Kathleen. I'll take you home. Thank you, Tom. I think I'll go to bed. Good night. Good night, honey. After his wife had left the room, Tom Westendorf couldn't concentrate On his book. Something seemed to draw him to the piano. Music would prove a solace in the recent sorrow He and Kathleen had experienced. As he improvised on the ivory keys, His eyes fell upon an old song By George Parsley. Barney, I'll take you home again. The words of the title struck him. Immediately, a melody seemed to drip from his fingers. Suddenly, he left the piano And began to write words Versus flew across the paper before him. And within an hour, Thomas Paine Westendorf Had written the words and music Of one of our most beloved ballads. Tom Westendorf really meant what he wrote On the song, I'll take you home again, Kathleen. Can you imagine that? Well, I'm afraid it's time to bid you all farewell again. This is Lindsay McCarrie reminding you That we'll be back again soon on this same station With another batch of amazing facts and fancies In the next session of Can You Imagine That?