The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-21
How Not so Drown.
lPAaadelpAia News.l

Four years aga vas floating in the surf at Atlantic City, gazing up into the sky and thinking only of it's beauties, when feeling ssmewha, tired, l essAyed to stand up, but failed for the very excel, lent reason shssI had nothing to stand on, had, without noticing it, tioated out beyond my depth. am a very in- different s~immer and make 1t q rule not so venture into the water where cannot secure foo,hold when 1 need one Yet fouod myself, not through any foolish venturesomeness, beyond the fuIthest line of ba,hers, Of course Immediately struck out for shore. Aher swimming until felt thoroughly exhausted fownd that had made very little progress. and l also discovered that tue bottom of the ocean was too far beneath me to be of any practical beneht as bAsiS of travel ing Nov what would you do under such circumstancesY Shout tor help you say Exactly. That Is, suppose what any veil conditioned, sensible hum ln being would do, and yet found myself actually ashamed to do t. | was positively moT- ally weak enough to permi, a considera ton of what my ieiio~ man would ihink of me to overpower the natural sense of self preservation. fincied that might >e laughed &, for crying for assistance before was actually sinking beneath the ~aves, and so struggled on until sud- den eouvuls,ve of twi,ching in the calf Of my let, les told me tha, | had cramp.
 Then l shouted Help!" quite lustty and shouted three. Nobody heard me and nobody paid any attention to me
 Thanks 10 my good fortune. however, l remained pertecty cool, else l would net DC taking to you now. was able to re cognize on the shore the faces of people l knew and, although | experienced no sense of fear, felt fully saus6ed that would never see them again,
 Nov, by all recognized rules and regu. lations, n such cases made and provided the events of my entire lIie should have passed before me n instantaneous Tev,eS Il guarantec ,h 4t you never read a novel but what, when the hero or villain iS sinking bene Ith the waves, he th,nks with lightning hSe rAp,di;v. of every act in his career And as Reginald felt the cruel waters closing above hlm al the deeds of hts hie, both good an bad, passed be. tore han 4s though a panorama wAs be. lug moved by some mtgIc hand" That IS about the way II generally reads, you know. and that IS what should have nap pened 10 me. But am iconocia.tic and cruel enough to say that had no such experience found that my mind was absorbed with but one thought, to the ex cluslon of all other sensations. Thought of absolutely nothing but of ge,,lng ashore lust as soon as possible. Alter my hrst unheeded cries for help felt ashamed to call again, but made ao other effort at s~iufmlng In my cramped condluon found thls i'uitless and so | aga,n cred out for assistance, bat kept perfectly sull m the water while did IL
 Ii ad | struggled would have lost breath, and with it my llie. My las, shout was heard 1 saw A sudden excitement un the beach. saw men point their arms toward me. saw others Tun into the water. saw man bring coil $. rope.
 could identify the individuals who ~ete doing these thiogs. 1 watched them comug toward me and Simpy cndeav- oTed 10 keep as q1let as possible. In ,hIs way m indged to keep ahoa; until they tot 10 me and dragged me to shore
 What l wish to demonstrate IS that tho very pooTcs; swimmer among you is per feCiiy safe m the water fl he only keep, C ol and does not struggle when nothing is 10 be gained by tuch efforts.