Miss McCleary Solved the Puzzle

OVER A LONG PERIOD of years, one of the summer residents of Fair Street was Miss Helen C. McCleary, a retired school teacher from Brookline, Mass., who was a descendant of Nantucket families. Through the 1930's she often appeared as an entertainer during the popular Main Street "sings", when the Square was crowded on Sunday evenings and such people as "Billy" Fitzgerald would lead the assemblage in familiar songs, including current popular melodies. Miss McCleary's contributions were unique. When Herbie Brownell, the Nantucket accordionist, would play some of the older tunes, Miss McCleary would accompany him by playing the "bones", hard-wood pieces held in both hands, which would keep perfect time as she swung them between her fingers in rhythm to the notes.

As Miss McCleary was customarily a person of dignity, her playing often gave rise to many queries. In reply to a rather blunt question, one day, she stated, firmly: "I do not believe my playing the 'bones' is at all undignified! I enjoy it, and wish that some of the young people would learn to do it, also."

It was at this time that she won a most unusual newspaper contest, one of a series of puzzles which appeared in a syndicated form throughout the country. This particular puzzle had to do with Nations, and Miss McCleary was the winner. Having had many pleasant conversations with her over the years, especially in regard to her famous aunt, Phebe Ann Hanaford, I asked her to explain how she had won the contest.

Her reply was typical. "Puzzles are great fun", she said, "and because my eyes are now a problem, I have to rely on my memory. After all, one is allowed to guess, you know. Perhaps I had an edge on some of the other guessers, because I happen to be a teacher of Latin. Many school children do not like to study Latin but a large proportion of our English words are directly derived from Latin." "Then, in this puzzle, you relied on such memories?" I queried. "Why, yes, almost entirely so. When I noted the suffix 'Nation' was a Latin suffix, I knew that all the words would have Latin roots, and so I worked on that basis. There was a term in the puzzle, 'linked together,' that at first stuck me until I recalled that 'catena' was the Latin for a chain or link, and that 'con' meant together. The term 'darting of lightning' bothered me a lot, (as coruscation and scintillation would not do), until I recalled that Jupiter's thunderbolt was fulmen. An electrical word did bother me, and I asked some electricians about it, with no result, and so I decided the word was 'alternation', which was correct. Had there been Greek words I would have had a more difficult time." "Then, there was a sort of rhythm to the Latin," I said, "not at all unlike the bones rhythm."