Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-04-17
Chr familp GJtrrlr.


Rul ! should ask the advice Of my elders
before taking my first lesson
Almost every hoy desires to practice
this manly art, which may he Of service
in some emergency of danger But hoy
who have loving fathers and mothers often
iind that their first splash In the river o.
the mili-pnnd is made against the protest,
/ if not against the commands of their nar-
nnts No one can greatly blame parents
for helnc frightened at the idea Of their
4 hevs incurrlno risk of drowning; nor, on
/ the other hand. do wholly blame the hovs
/ for thinking themselves able to take care
! OF themselves while in the water
J ! think the fault rests with both parents
! and hovs. Manly hoys ALWAYS desire II
1 learn 10 swim Such desire on tnell
/ part Is neither ahsurh nor rash Parent.
ought to aid IL gratifying il, either by act
/ inc themselves rs teachers, OF by securing
/ them proper instruction and guardian
shin.
/ A. was once standing on the shore o.
/ the beautiful Lake Como. my attention
was called TO Il French nohleman, who
with his two suns both quite Young, was
il Il boat anchored out q little distance.
The gentleman removed al his clothes
with the exception Of Il light bathing sui
which he wore under them, dlsrnbed hi,
hovs and then leHped into the water. Tht
hOvs were told To follow.
The father was an excellent swimmer
/ The hoys had never before heen in deel
water The f,lthe, instructed first one ant
then the other. ] watched them for neal.
IL an hour timid and cautious nj first bu
until nj length they seemed To have
/ learned the knack Of the art. and wert
/ lifted into the boat.
] ventured to say To the nnhleman rs ht
landed that his bows We're very Young II
learn IL swim.
/ None TOO young, he replied This is
/ their first trial, and they dc well They
will do hetter as they grow older ] at
with them fnr boys should he taught ant
not permitted to learn alone. That bad
very bad He declared that every father
if nc knew how to swim, ought 10 follow
his example
Thu, incident recalled my first cxperi-
ence il the water When ! was ten wears
OF age attended district school, and
one OF my mates was Frank ,1udsnn The
school WIS some distance from our hnuse
;'hu ll'f noon RECESS Only an hnuf lonS !
WIS therefore, III tlie l'Dl' o. taking
IL! uli''eA' IL li'e "se WIZ anu we useo
l" ol'ci' u"l "'SNc0S anu shirt lui'ci'eoiis
under the shadow Of al old hutternut tret
standing i'll one corner of the yard
You would have laughed think, II
have seen Us iunchinc together; our fee
Nc'l''iS t.ii.' wa o''' Jaws anu our iuh'
S 9''',; ,''''i''lS ul'e''u u our ulouSnV9
w., ''"s " '''''h s'','n'
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~ 'ii II iiiuH' - '''o LIN witt am
ahouN G'!lcN Il Ut Ai'e" 'l'' mac
u'1 9,,l, ili'l'- -..-.. w..
h"' S"u IL 'yII S"i'l- t" 'e"E"' II t
'lIiie u pe@ln' 'e'Il'eu 10 SWIM wv.
years ago AlNllo" Il you won 90
ASA - ,olleno''N e'Se'
llNeu fF:iiih very n''cl ~; ;til0 was illtlt
Jealous o. us company Inc thought o.
MS asking sohlt nlliel boy hiae mt more
eager 10 20 VIII NM
i Iuch Greek very deeps asked.
NO though Il 5 deep enough II drown :;
fellow Il he snt careful Come, won
Won 90:
uonl know.
The hell rang lust then, anu we went III
to Tie schnot-ronm
Through the whole afternoon, the desire
To learn to SWIM possessed my mind, anC
when Frank and ] were together again,
said
Are you going over to the creek?
! es are v0u?
Yes.
knew thai TINS was wrong. ! was do
INC what ! ought not to do,-consclOusly
yielding to temptation.
After walking about mile and quar-
ter, we reached the creek We crept down
through the bushes that fringed its banks
and skirted along until we came to hi
OF rocky earth projecting into tile water If
II on purpose 10 afford good diving
place.
The water was so clear that we could
see the pehbiy bottom. and was eager IL
Jump into Its slow moving current
We undressed and my friend LED tht
way ny diving III head-toremost. HI
made few movements III the water, tex.
planning every one of them ! looked on
most receptive pupil, but was afraid II
leap INTO the deep water. said ! wOult
Try To learn IRON the opposite bank.
| Pshaw you can only sCdao III shallow
water You can learn TO swim a great
deaI better in deep water. Why, ynu'd