West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-11-27
HOW NOT TO DROWN.
Few Words of Advice from Ono WI,
Knows AIl About It.

hNN NhtuN OF AuNtce from ono WHO
Knows All About nc.
-Four years ago | was floating i'm the
surf at Atlantic City. gazing up into the
sky and thinking only of ITS beauties.
when feeling somewhat tired, | cSsavcd
to stand mp, but failed for the very ex-
ce,lont reason that | had nothing to
stand on. | had, without noticing it,.
hoated out beyond my depth. am a
very indifferent swimmer and make il "A
rulc not 20 venture into the water
whore can not secure a foothuld whom
L need one Yet found myself, not
through any foolish ycnturrsomcness.
beyond the furthcSt line of bathers OF
course / immediately struck out for
shore. After swimming until | felt
thoroughly exhausted found that |
had made very little progress. and |
also discovered that the bottom of the
ocean was too far beneath mo to be of
any practical benefit rs n basis of trav-
cling Now what would YOU do under
such circumstances Shout for hclp,
you say: Exactly! That suppose, is
what any wcll-conditioncd sensible hu-
man being would do, aud vet found
myself actually ashamed Tn do it, |
was positively morally weak enough TO
permit consideration of what my fol
low man would think of me TO over
power the natural sense of sclfpreser-
vation. | fancied that | might be
laughed nj for crying out for assistance
before was actually sinking beneath
the waves, and so | struggled on until
sudden convulsive twitching i'm the
calf of my left leg told me that had n
cramp. Then ! shouted Help" quito
Justify and shouted thrice Nobody
heard me and nobody paid any attcn-
ton to me. Thanks to my good fort
une, however, | remained perfectly
cooi' else | would not be- talking to you
now. | was able TO recognize on the
shore the faces of people knew, and.
although l 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 i'm instan-
taneous review. III guarantee that
you never read a novel but what, when
the hero or villain is sinking beneath
the waves hc thinks, with lightning
ike rapldity, of every act i'm his career
And rs Reginald felt the cruel waters
closing above him, all the deeds of his
life, both good and bad. passed before
him as though a panorama was being
moved by some magic hand. That is
the way 1t generally reads, you know,
and that is what should have happened
to me. But | am icOnoclastic and
cruel enough to say that had no such
experience. ! found that my mind
was absorbed with but one thought, to
the exclusion Of all other sensations.
l thought of absolutely nothing but OF
getting ashore Just as soon as possible.
After my first unhecded cries for help
again felt ashamed to call again, but
male another effort at swimming. In
my crampcd condition found this
trultlcss, and so | again cried out for
assistance, but kept perfectly still i'm
the water while | did it. Had | strug-
glcd ] would have lost breath. and
with it my life. My last shout was
heard, | saw n sudden excitement on
the beach. lsaw men point their arms
toward ne. | saw others run into the
the water / saw m'n bringing
coil OF rope ] could identify the indi-
viduals who were doing these things /
watched them coming toward me and
simply endcavored TO keep rs quiet as
possible. In this way ! managed TO
keep aIloat until they got to me and
dragged me TO shore.
What llwish TO demonstrate is that the
very poorest swimmer among you is
perfectly safe in the water if he only
keeps cool and does not struggle when
nothing is 10 he "a ned by such efforts.
-IhtddCipbiu Nous