The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-06-30
HOW TO PREVENT DROWNING.
A Timely Article that ought to be Read
by EVERYBODY.

wish to show how drowning might
be avoided under ordinary oircumstan-
ces, even in the case of persons other
wise wholly ignorant of what is called
the art of swimming. The numerous
frightful casualties render every work
ing suggestion Of importance, and that
which | here offer venture to think is
entirely available.
When one of the inferior animals
takes the water, falls, or is thrown in,
it instantly begins to walk as it does
when out of the water But when d
man who cannot ''swim" falls iuto wa
ter he makes few spasmodic struggles
throws up his arms and browns. The
brute, --on the other hand, treads water,
remains on the surface, and is virtually
insubmergible. In order, then, to es-
cape drowning it is only necessary to
do as the brute does, and that is TO
tread or walk the water. The brute
has no advantage in regard to the wa
ter, over man, and yet, the man per-
dishes while the brute lives. Neverthe-
less, any man, woman, or child who
can walk on the land may also walk
in the water just as readily as the ami
NAL does, if only he will, and that
without any prior instructions or drill
ing whatever. Throw a dog into the
water and he treads or walks instantly
and there is no imaginable reason why
a human being under like circumstan-
ces should not do as the dog does.
The brute indeed walks in the water
instinctively, whereas, the man has to
be told. The ignorance of 30 simple
a possibility-namely, the possibility
of treading water, strikes me as one of
the most singular things in the history
of man, and speaks worry little indeed,
of his intelligence. He Is, in fact, as
| ignorant on the subject as is the new
born babe. Perhaps something is to
he ascribed to the vague meaning that
is attached to the word swim. When
man swims it means one thing, when
dog swins it means another and quite
different act. The dog is wholly in
: capable Of swimming as man swIms,
but nothing is more certain than that
man is capable of swimming, and on
= the instant, too, rs a dog swims, with
, out any previous training or instruc-
ton, and that by 50 doing without fear
or hesitancy. he will be just as safe in
, the water as the dog is.
r The brute in the water continues to
t go on all fours. and the man who wish
es to save his life and cannot otherwise
t swim, must do so too, striking altern-
e ately, one, two, one, two, but without
t hurry, or precipitation, with hand and
: foot, exactly as the brute does
: Whether he be provided with paw OIL
: hoof, the brute swims with the great
4 est ease and buoyancy. The human
: being, if he will, can do so too, with
t the further immense advantage oi
e having a paddle-formed hand, and Of
being able to rest himself when tired
" by floating, thing of which the
animal has no conception. Bridge
l. Money, poor Irish emigrant, saved
S herself and her three children's lives
when the steamer conveying them tool
d Ere on Lake Erie, by floating hersel
V and making them float, which simply
r consists in lying quite still, with th'
mouth shut and the head thrown vel
r back in the water The dog, horse
d COW, swine and even the cat all tax
TO the water on occasion and sustail
% themselves perfectly without any prio
1t experience whatever. Nothing Is les
is difficult, whether for man or for brute
= than to tread water, even for the frs
J. time. have done So often, using tn
,e feet alone or the hands alone, or tn
re whole four many times, with perhap