Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-27
HOW NOT TO DROWN.
"A Few Words of Advice from One Who
Knows All About 1t,

a Few Words of Advice from One Who
KEows All About 1t.
-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, l essayed
to stand up, but failed for the yery ex.
cellent reason that l had nothing to
stand on. I had, without noticing it,
foated out beyond my depth. am a
very indifferent swimmer and make it a
rule not to venture into the water
where l can not secure a foothold when
l need one. Yet l found myself, NOT
through any foolish venturesomeness.
beyond the furthest line of bathers. OF
course l Immediately struck out for
shore. After swimming until I felt
thoroughly exhausted Ifound that I
mad made very little pro gress, and I
also discovered hat the bottom of the
ocean was too far beneath me to be of
any practical benefit as u basis of trav-
ellng. Now what would You do under
such circumstances? Shout for help.
you say: Exactly! That, l suppose, is
what any well-conditioned sensible hr-
nan being would do, and yet I found
myself actually ashamed to do it. l
was positively morally weak enough to
permit a consideration Of what nv fell
low man would think of me to over
power the natural sense of self-preser-
vatlon. l fancied that l might be
laughed at for crying out for assistance
oe1ore was actually sinking beneath
the waves, and so l struggled on until
a sudden convulsive twitching in the
calf OF my left leg told me that I had a
!cramp. Then l shouted 'Help" quite
Justify and shouted thrice. Nobody
heard me and nobody paid any atten-
ton to ME. Thanks to nv good fort
une, however, I remained perfectly
cooi' else l would not be talking to you
now. l was able to recognize on the
shore the faces of people Iknew, and.
although I experienced no sense of
fear, 1 felt fully satisfied that 1 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 q 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 l am iconoclastic and
cruel enough to say that I had no such
experience. 1 found that nv 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 UNDECIDED cries for help l
again felt ashamed to call again, but
made another effort at swimming. In
my cramped condition I found this
fruitless, and so l again cried out for
assistance, but kept perfectly still in
the water while l did it. Had 1 strug-
gled I would have lost breath, and
with it my life. My last shout was
heard, l saw a sudden excitement on
the beach. Isaw men point their arms
toward me. / saw others u into
the water. l say a man bringing q
coil of rope. I could identify the indi-
viduals who were doing these things. !
watched t].em coming toward me and
simply ~endeavored to keep az quiet as
possible. In this way 1 managed to
keep atioat until they got to me and
dragged me to shore.
WhatI wish 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 wher
nothing is to be gained by such efforts.
philadelphia News.