Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1885-11-12

a rev words Of Advice nom one who
Knews All About n.


Knews All About It.
-Four years ago l was floating in the
surf at Atlantic City. gazing up into the
sky and thinking only Of Its beauties,
when feeling somewhat tired, ! essayed
TO stand up. but failed for the very ex-
cellent reason that l had nothing to
stand on. / had, without noticing II.
Hoated out beyond my depth. I am a
very indifferent swimmer and make IL a
rule not to venture into tho water
where can not secure foothold when
l need one Yet found myself Not
through any foolish vcnturesomeness,
beyond the furthest line of bathers. OF
course l Immediately struck out for
shore. After swimming until | felt
thoroughly exhausted found that l
had made very little progress, and
also discovered that the bottom of the
ocean was too far beneath me TO be Of
any practical benefit as a basis OF trav-
cling. Now what would you do under
such circumstances Shout for help,
you say; Exactlyl That, l suppose, Il
what any well-conditioned sensible hu-
man being would do, and yet found
myself actually ashamed TO do It l
was positively morally weak enough TO
permit a consideration of what my fel.
low man would think of me to over
power the natural sense Of self-preser-
vation. l fancied that l might be
laughed at for crying out for assistance
before was actually sinking beneath
the waves, and 50 struggled on until
sudden convulsive twitohing in the
calf of my left leg told me that l had a
cramp Then / shouted "Help" quite
Justify and shouted thrice. Nobody
heard me and nobody paid any atten-
ton to me. Thanks to my good fort
nne, however, l remained perfectly
cool, else would not be talking to you
now. was able to recognize on the
shore the faces of people knew. and.
although / experienced no sense OF
fear, felt fully satisfied that would
never see them again.
Now, by all recognized rules and
regulations, in such cases made and
provided, the events of my entire life
should have passed before me in instan-
taneous review. I'll guarantee that
you never read a novel but what, when
the hero or villain is sinking beneath
the waves. he thinks, with lightning
like rapidity. OF every act in his career.
"And as Reginald felt the cruel waters
closing above him, all the deeds of his
life. both good and bad, passed before
him as though panorama was being
moved by some magic hand" That is
the way It generally reads, you know,
and that is what should have happened
to me. But 1 am iconoclastic and
cruel enough to say that had no such
experience. l found that my mind
was absorbed with but one thought, to
the exclusion of all other sensations
thought Of absolutely nothing but OF
getting ashore Just as soon as possible.
After my first unheeded cries for help |
again felt ashamed TO call again, but
made another effort at swimming. In
my cramped condition l found this
fruitless, and so | again cried out for
assistance, but kept perfectly still in
the water while / did It. Had / strug-
gled ] would have lost breath, and
with II my life. My last shout was
heard, saw a sudden excitement on
the beach. Isaw men point their arms
toward me. saw others run into the
the water. saw man bringing o
coil of rope. 1 could identify the indi-
viduals who were doing these things.
watched them coming toward me and
simply endeavored to keep as quiet as
possible. In this way managed to
keep ahoat until they got to me and
dragged me TO shore.
What Iiwish to demonstrates is that the
very poorest swimmer among you il
perfectly safe in the water il he only
keeps cool and does not struggle wher
nothing is to be gained by such efforts
-Phfidde .phia NeVs