ep15 Ostracize

Ostracism was originally an oyster. A famous hymn plays an important part in the rescue of nine persons. A man lives for years in the palace without being discovered. Can you imagine that? Yes, you're right, ladies and gentlemen.

This is Lindsay McCarry back again with you to present, with the help of my friends here, another session of this series in which we give you a batch of interesting, strange facts and historical incidents.

We'll be with you to offer the first one in just a minute and a half. Can you imagine that story for this session? You've all heard the old mother Goose rhyme of the old woman who lived in a shoe.

It seems that she had so many children she didn't know what to do, you remember? Well, here's a little story about a king who had so much room he didn't know what to do. It seems that in the year 1880 an attempt was made on the life of Tsar Alexander II of Russia in his huge St. Petersburg winter palace.

Guards immediately rushed about the gigantic structure to find the person who had thrown the bomb. Through the more than thousand rooms they scurried, hunting frantically for the playful lad who had decided the Tsar's time was up.

up, but did they find him? They did not. Instead, in one of the many unused rooms on an upper floor, they found a bewildered, frightened out of his wits peasant, who admitted that he had taken over the room some years before, and had been living there unnoticed, not with his wife and family, but with his cow. Can you imagine that?

Now for another of those very interesting word origins that we've dug up foil. The class will please come to attention for a little lesson on the word ostracize, meaning to cast out from society. According to some advertisements, any number of things may ostracize us today, but in ancient times it had a much more serious meaning. So let's