Old Mrs Leary or Mrs O'Leary

5 nights ago, while we were all in bed,
Old Mrs Leary left a lantern in the shed,
And when the cow kicked it over,
He winked his eye and said
There's gonna be a hot time in the old town tonight
Fire, Fire
Pour on water, Pour on water
Save my children, save my children
Jump m'lady, jump

We've been singing that song for years at Guiding units I've been part of.  It's a good one, easy to remember, easy tune, good actions and participation. What's not to love.

But it was only recently that I learnt it should be Mrs O'Leary and it about the story of how she, and her cow, started the great Chicago fire in 1871.  It destroyed three and a third square miles of the city, 300 people died, 100,000 people were mode homeless and $192,000,000 of property was destroyed.

Apparently Mrs O'Leary's house wasn't destroyed and actually the inquiry never determined the true cause of the fire but  guess Mrs O'Leary will forever get the blame!  Despite the usual 'big fire destroys town' story of dry weather, high winds, wooden building all squeezed close, no building control and little provision for fire control.  Poor Mrs O'Leary!