 There are more married men in the United States than married women. Four people are arrested over a penny's worth of pickles. A young man spanks his father. Can you imagine that? This is Lindsay McHurry, ladies and gentlemen, and my cohorts and I are back with you once more to present an amazing collection of odd facts and unique human interest news stories. We're going to be with you to give you the first one in just a moment or two, and until then, will you please stand by? Did you know that when the boys and girls of the Census Bureau finished their tremendous task of counting noses in the United States in 1930, they discovered that there were more married men in the nation than there were married women? Oh, Lindsay, how could that be? There would have to be the same number of married men as married women. No, ma'am, that's where you're wrong. There were 156,353 more married men than married women with living spouses. I don't understand. Well then, did you ever realize that many more married men migrate to America leaving their wives behind in foreign countries than do married women? And that's why there are more married men in the United States than there are married women. Can you imagine that? Now, here's a question for you. Just what does the word achieve mean? Yes, that's right. It means to do or to accomplish. But do you know where the word came from? It has a very interesting history, and if we go back to the French language of Norman times, we can discover its origin. The scene, a small village in Normandy, there seems to be some sort of a dispute going on. You'll get away with that. That's all there is, of course you can't. It's mine, I say, it's mine. Are you to claim every cow and every sheep that wanders into your farmland? Give me back my sheep. I won't. The sheep is mine, I say. What claim have you to it? The claim that I own it. And I say the same, and I have the fact that the sheep is on my land to back it up. You lying swine! You lying swine! I own it in the name of the chief. Now then, what call is this? The sheep is on my land. Hold, hold. One at a time. Gilbert, what is your claim? My sheep wandered on his land. Now he claims it. He lies, the sheep was mine in the first place. You both have claims then. Take them to the chief. Achive, achive! Aye, that's it. Achive, to the chief. That's right. Achive, achive, achive, achive. And there you have the origin of the word achieve. The word achive, a-c-h-e-v-e-r, you heard in our little sketch, was a Norman French verb, which meant to bring to the head, literally to bring things to the chief. Disputes were brought to the chief, or head, for judgment. But nowadays we have the descendant word achieve, which means to bring things to a head or to accomplish. Great oaks from Little Acorns grow. Yes, and great catastrophes from Little Errors grow. This little yarn begins as a mother living at the corner of Hester and Dallas streets in New York City, says to her small daughter one day in May 1914. Darling, you see the nice peddler down on the corner? Yes, ma'am. I want you to go down there, darling, can find me a penny for the pickles. Pick out the big ones. Yes, ma'am. And here's a dime. Be sure to bring back the change, darling. Nine pennies. Yes, ma'am, I'll bring them back. Such a sweet darling. Well, darling was gone for a few moments, and in the meantime, mama conversed with several neighbors. At last, her little daughter returned. Hey, mama, here to pick them. Kind of little, ain't they? Oh, well, I don't think so different. All right, darling, give mama the change, please. The man didn't give... Don't joke with mama about such things, darling. Give mama the nine pennies. No, mama. It's me. That's Slamier. Rachel, I think maybe you should see the man, huh? Yeah, ma'am. I'll kill him. Come on, Mrs. Rabinovitz. And you too, Mrs. Moithy. And you, Mrs. Maya, maybe I should need some help, yeah? That's terrible. Cheating a poor little kid like that. Parable, huh? Parable, is it true? It ain't justice. Nice pickle, Harry. Nice shoe, Mrs. Rabinovitz. Ah, good morning, lady. Something you want from me, huh? Something I should want from you, huh? Nothing but nine cents. There is the change from the dime my little girl gave you for the pickles. Dime? Dime? What time? She'd give me only one cent. Oh, you Slamier. You liar. You cheat. Give me back my nine cents. Stop it. Stop it. Let go of my girl. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Break it up. Break it up. What's going on here? Stop it. Stop it, I say. You want me to run you all into the station house? Stop it. Well, then tell me, what's that all about? Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Officer. So what do you know about this? Were you here when it happened? No, I wasn't here so to speak. But I heard me. Oh, you heard her. Well, go on. Move along with you. Don't be pushing me, please. I'm going to stay right here. Oh, you are, are you? Yeah, this is a public sidewalk, ain't it? I pay taxes, ain't I? I will stay. And I say you'll run your arrest for disturbing the peace. Shady, what's happening? What's the matter? Mother, mother, she says, I'm going to arrest for disturbing the peace. And there ain't any. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're arrest. You can't arrest me. Here, stop it, stop it. You don't get paid for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can't do that. When the melee had been cleared by the reserves, it was discovered that Abraham Strauss, his 17-year-old daughter-in-law, his son Charles, and Isidore Myrowitz were all under arrest. And all that over one penny's worth of pickles. Can you imagine that? Well, you know, they say like father, like son. But here's one case where it was like son, like father. And you can take it or leave it. Dad got spanked for it, and dad took it. On, in Chicago, on February 3rd, 1930, 21-year-old Albert Feemerman suddenly discovered that his best girl Sharon Daniels, his automobile, and his father, David Feemerman, were all missing at the same time. Albert waited. Oh, yes, the trio returned presently. And Albert proceeded to turn his father over his knee and give him a sound spanking. The trouncing ceremony attracted so much attention that they were all arrested. And at the police station, the difficulties, the atmosphere, and Albert's mind were all cleared when Albert gave his dad a rousing good piece of his mind. Can you imagine that? You've all heard the old bromide honesty is the best policy. Here's one time when the efficacy of such a doctrine was to say the least slightly dubious. On November 29th, 1938, 30-year-old Glenn Graham walked into the courtroom of Superior Court Justice Maxwell McNutt in Redwood City, California to receive sentence. As Graham stood in front of the Justice's bench, Judge McNutt looked down upon him. How many days have you been in jail? Uh, let me see, uh, 1421, uh, 45. You see, Your Honor, I've been in jail so long, I sort of lost count. Go ahead and figure it out. Yes, sir. 45, 16, 15, 17. Uh, 97 days, Your Honor. Very well. I'll sentence you to 97 days and count the 97 days you've already spent in jail is fulfilling their sentence. Oh, thanks, Your Honor. Next case. Case of the people versus now, let me see, 1421, 45. And Glenn Graham walked from that Redwood City court, a free man once more, but he seemed to be still bothered about his mental accounting methods and centered across the street from the courthouse, still checking in his mind the actual number of days he had spent in jail. Suddenly he stopped, turned about face and re-entered the courthouse and proceeded to the courtroom of Judge McNutt. Just a moment, just a moment. Are you back again already, young man? Well, you see, Your Honor, I got to thinking about the number of days I spent in jail and I found out I made a mistake. Oh, is that so? Yes, sir. I wasn't in jail 97 days. I was only here 95 days. Very well. Your sentence, too, stands at 97 days. Report to the custody of the sheriff and remain in jail two more days. Continue with the current case, please. And so poor Glenn Graham, because of his own honesty, had to spend two more days in the Houskow. Can you imagine that? Now for another little session of melody sleuthing. First, listen to the old U.S. Army bugle call assembly. Did it ever occur to you that upon those four notes of dough, me, soul, dough, hundreds of melodies have been constructed? It's true, ladies and gentlemen, it's true. Of course, the bugle is so built that it will only play those four notes. So all bugle calls contain only those four and no others in various combinations. But out of the classics, folk music, and popular songs, you can find many, many melodies which have as their basic pattern the four notes of the Army bugle call. For instance, this old sob song, The Soldiers Farewell. And another old timer, Good Night, Ladies. The old Scotch tune flow gently sweet afton. Canada's national anthem, The Maple Leaf Forever. You'll find that many, many national anthems are constructed basically upon the dough, me, soul, dough pattern. The Star-Spangled Banner, Divach, Tamrine, and the French La Masseillez. Even Wagner stole the idea for Tonhoiser. And the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, well, he too recognized the inherent beauty in dough, me, soul, dough. You'll find it in Ai Nostre Monte from Il Trovatore. Yes, we could go on and on discovering myriads of melodies based upon the four notes of the tonic chord. Try it yourself after our broadcast and see how many you can add to the list. Even in popular music, you'll find many tunes using this pattern. For instance, Well, I'm sorry that we're going to have to leave you for a while, friends. But we'll be back soon on this same station with another session of Can You Imagine That? And when we are, we'll be hoping that you'll be with us. And until then, this is Lindsey McCurry saying goodbye now.