Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-02-05
HOW NOT TO DROWN.
A Few Words Of Advice Rrom One VIII,
Knows All About IL.

A Fow Words Of Advice arom One Who
Knows All About IL.
Four years ago was floating in the
surf at Atlantic C;ty gazing up into the
sky and thinking only Of rs beauties.
when feeling somewhat tired, l essayed
to stand up, but ia he'd for ths very ex-
celeRS reason that | had nothing to
stand on. | had. without noticing 1t,
foatcd out beyond my depth I am a
very indifferent swimmer and make 1t a
rule not to venture into the wster
where can not securo foothold when
l need olc. Yet 1 found myself, not
through any foolish vcnturesomeness,
beyond the furthest line of bathers. OF
course / Immediately struck out for
shore. After swimming until 1 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 rs basis OF trav-
cling Now what would you do under
such circumstancesp Shout for help,
you say: Exactly! That, suppose, is
what any weli-conditioned sensible hui
man being would do. and y0t l found
my elf actually ashamed to do it. |
was positively morally weak enough to
permit con 4ideraton of what my fel.
low man would think of me to over
power the natural sense Of self-preser-
vation. fancied that l might be
lau3 he'd at for crying out for assistance
before / was actually sinking beneath
the waves, and so struggled on until
sudden convulsive twitching in the
calf of my left leg told me that | had a
cramp. Then 1 shouted "Help" quite
Justify and shouted thrice. Nobody
heard me and nobody paid any atten-
tion to me. Thanks to my good fort
une. however, l remained perfectly
cool, else | weuA 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, l felt fully satisfied that l 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 thai
you never read novel but what, wher
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 water,
closing above him, all the deeds OF hi.
life, both good and bad, passed befor,
him as though panorama was being
moved by some magic hand" That (
the way it generally reads, you know
and that is what should have happened
to me. But | am iconoclastic and
cruel enough to say that l had no such
experience. | found that my mind
was absorbed with but one thought, tc
the exclusion Of all other sensations
thought Of absolutely rothing but o
getting ashore Just as soon as possible
After my first unheeded cries for help
again felt ashamed to call again, bu
ma le another effort at swimming, u
my cramped condition l found thl
fruitless, and so | again cried out To-
assistance, but kept perfectly still II
the water while did 1t Had l strug
gled ] would have lost breath, AM
with il my life. My last shout wa
heard, saw a sudden excitement ol
the beach. Isaw men point their arm
toward me. saw others run inAo th
the water. l saw man bringing ,
coil OF rope. | could identify the indi
viduals who were doing these things.
watched them coming toward me an'
simply endeavored to keep as quiet q
possible. In this way l managed h
keep aaost until they got to me an
dragged me to shore.
! What Lwish to demonstrate is that tn
very poorest swimmer among you
perfectly safe in the water II he onl
, keeps cool and does not struggle whe
/ nothing is to be gained by such effort:
: = Philadelphia NeUs.