Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-03-26
THE WATER QUEENS STORY,
Learning to Stay Three Minutes and
EOrtI.flxe Seconds Under Water.

Learning to Stay Three Minutes and
FOrty.flve Seconds Under Water.
"a few years ago." said the Water Queen, the
other day, "there was a young girl going into
tank at the Aquarium In New York. Der ex-
self, and the proprietors allowed US 10 go into
the tank to practice. Capt. Beach was also
performing there He thought 1 displayed
peculiar aptitude for the business, and gave me
special lessons, so that In very short time
was able to give an exhibition, but 1Nwas fully
three years before obtained perfect command
OF myself under water, for it is water into which
l go, and not, as many people think, an empty
tank enclosed In double walls Of glass. about
three inches APART. the intervening space only
being filled with water. Mr.. Beach's tank, 10
and 219 wide. The temperature Of the water,
which is changed every other night. is IS de-
grees. Thls business Is not unpleasant In sum-
mer. when We perform al watering places and
amusement gardens, but In winter it ts very
disagTeeable and always dangerous"
in what does the danger consist ?"
:" You remember the old proverb, TOO much
OF good thing is good for nothing aud 1t is
so with water Too frequent dimensions are
in themselves injurious to health. They weaken
the strength ana wear the flesh away. OF the
few performers under water, there Is not
fleshy person to be found, but all are prone 10
leanness. We give many performances during
the Gay and night at the museum, and are
Obliged to alternate daily. We tried at first to
relieve each other by going In alternate weeks,
but found even that too wearing, and now We
change and change about every day and eve
ming. The only one idea the public have Of
danger connected with water is by drowning,
and they suppose that that could NOT possibly
occur where assistance could be Instantly OBJ
ta1nea. The principal danger is that of burst
ing blood vessel when holding the breath so
long under water. The strain Is terrible.
Another risk run ia that OF having my
hair catch fire from the great jets Of gas which
protrude out, Ike great tongues OF flame, over
the middle Of the tank, so as to light up the
water"
"Why do you wear you hair loose, when by
putting 1t up you might avoid this danger!"
81 wear my hair flowing down my back 80
that 1t will float, and therefore show our skep-
teal public that really am in water. used TO
plalt 1t. but plated hair soon becomes water
logged, and Will not float. Continued Wetting
TOts the hair, and the continual dampneSs-
go In too often to get it ever entirely dry
superinduccs neuralgia Of the head, aud from
this disease and rheumatism human fish suffer
fortunes.
"once hit on what l thought was splendid
Idea for avoiding wetting the hair. Il was a
wig. got an expensive and most elaborate
one. The water soon took the curl out, end on
retiring from the tank the 1nnumerable strings
have made me look Ike one Of the secret, black,
and midnight hays who so altered the original
current OF Macbeth's life. However, / tried it a
second time, when perfect roar OF laughter In
funny had happened, and sure enough it had.
My wig had got loose and was performing SUM-
1--WE are obliged to run from the tanks to the
dressing room in heavy, wet suits. This gives
cold, and, repeated 80 frequently, brings on a
numbness OF the entire frame, and generally
encs In paralysis. There Is no way of avoiding
this. Paralysis usually attacks the feet first,
as they are poorly protected. What sort OF
SHOES do human fish wear in the water? Only
canvas gaiter; anything else would be too
weighty. The suit OF an aquanaut is now in
VaT1ably made OF thick Worsted, covered with
spanges. suit Of this sort for man weighs
when wet, thirteen pounds, and he must have
several OF them for drying purposes, as to go In
In wet suit would soon disable him. Much
experimenting has been done in this direction,
India rubber tights have been tried, but they
were cold, chung toe closely to the figure, and
could not be ornamented. And, Dy the By. Of
all ladies In show life, water queens must de-
pend solely On the form nature has besto wed
upon them. as padding would never dry, and,
becoming sodden, would weight them down so
In the water that they would loose lightneSS.
and, consequently. grace
I'm order to staye Off rheumatism as long az
possible tank people rub themselves dry With
coarse towels anu then the entire body with
What are all these little wads OF cotton
for?n ''1
the ears brings on deafness, another one OF the
dangers of which spoke
"Are there any more %
''1eS. There Is danger OF drowning In the
very sight OF hundreds OF people. Once made
an almost superhuman effort to remain under
water longer than had ever done before. l
felt a soft droWsness steal over me- and l
thought If This Is drowning then such death
must be most delightful. But nature is strong
and she asserted herself opportunity with me-
/ gaSped for breath and rose to the surface on
describing my symptoms to my doctor he sald
that in another second | should have drownet,
and 80 easily and quietly that no one would
have been aware thar anything ba1 Happened
until my cody had been TAKEN out.
zone thing suffer much fiou1--the vitiated
atmosphere OF the !coker3-on. :! Ii!cn Is a5.
soibeo by the water, and which must breathe.
TIE most singular experience | ever hai sas
by absorption / Was performing one sumsler
on one OF the boats belonging 20 the y lnr8s6et
Beacn Company OF Boston. o. coming Oh of
the tank my head swan ana reei5d ani was
Obliged to sleep Off what seemed TO Dc the Eff
fectS OF int0Xtc2nts. | demand I'd an 6xamina-
ton OF the water. which showed that Il con-
tanned q considerable amount OF alcohol. It
was COchttuate water, which had been brought
to the beach in whisky barrels which had no
been cleaned, and had absorbed enough a!co.
h0l through the pores Of Tie skin to produce the
effect have described
What is your first feeling On going into the
water?"
Nothing different from that any oae expe.
rienceS after g plunge; but after have been
down about minute and half the whole
body seems to expand, the head In particular
appears swelled to bursting, and this is the
Identical moment when the powers OF endur-
ance are most severely taxed. There is Q roar
ing In the ears, the sight becomes dim, and 5uf.
location seems tnevitaple but so perfect does
these great physical discomfortS, can do any
thing under water that man can dO-eat and
drink, and one thing he CAN'T dol can sew"
And one thing more" said friend; you
can stay under water longer than any man has
ever done j. B. Johnson, the champion OF
England, remained minutes and SO seconds
out she frequently stays under 5 minutes and
40 seconds, the longest time on record."--N. 2.