Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-02-20
HOW M ~ DROWN.

-
-Four years ayo VS. A,nting In the
surf at Atlantic CITY. .az,ny up into
the sky and thinking oulv of its brau-
ties. when. feeling somewhat iirrd.
essayed to stand un. but fM.et for the
very excellent reason tina, | had no.h-
Ing to stand on. l had. without mo-
ticing it, doated out beyond my depth.
l am q very Indifferent swimmer, and
make it a rule not TO venture into the
water when l cannot secure IL foothold
when l need M Yet l found myself.
not through any foolish venturesome-
ness. beyond the furthest line IF bath
ers. OF course l Immediately struck
out for shore. After swimming until
l felt thoroughly exhausted l found
that I had made very little progress,
and I also discovered that the bottom
of the ocean was too far beneath me
to be of any practical benefit as Il basis
of travelling. Now what would o 10
under such circumstanccsp Sa, 1t for
help, you say. Exactly! That. l sup
pose. is what auy aforementioned.
sensible human being would do, aud
get l found myself actually ashamed
to do it. vas positively morally
weak enough to permit q consideration
of what my fellow-men would think Of
me to overpower the. natura! sense of
self-preservatiou. l fancied that l
might be laughed ut for crying for as
sistance before l was actually sinking
bsneath the waves, and so l struggled
on until a sudden convulsivc twitching
in the calf OF my leg told me that I
had a cramp. Then / shouted "lIelp!'
quite Justify, and shouted thrice. No.
body heard me, and nobody paid any
attention to me. Thanks to my good
fortune. however. remained perfectly
cool, else ! would not be talking to
you now. was able to recognize on
the shore the faces Of people I knew.
and, although l experienced no sense
of fear, 1 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 in.
Simultaneous roview. III guarantee
that you mover read q novel but that,
when the hero or villain was sinking
beneath the waves. he thinks with
lightning-like rapidily. of every act in
his career. "And. as r ,yinald felt the
cruel waters closing abuve him. all the
deeds Of his life. both good and bad,
passed before him as though q PIANO.
rama was being moved by some magic
hand" That is about the way it gen.
orally reads. you know. aud that is
what should have happened to me.
But am %iconoclastic and cruel enough
to say that ! had no sucA experience.
l found that my mind was ubsorbe,
with but one thought. to the cxclu.
sion of all other sensations. thought
of absolutely nothing but Of getting
ashore just rs soon as possible. Atlol
my first UNDECIDED crios for help
again felt ashamed to call again, 6u,
made another effort at swimming. l,
my crampcd condition l found thi.
ruitlcss. and so | again cried O II TO.
assistance. but kept perfectly still in
the water while l did it. Hud ! stru.
gIed | would have lost breath, un>
with it my life. My last snout WA,
heard. | saw q sudden excitement Ut
the beach. saw men point their arm,
toward me. eaw others run into lh,.
water. l saw y man bring Il coil o
rope. could identity the individual,
who We're doing these Things. | watch
cd them coming toward ule ami sim
ply c%ndeavorea 10 keep as quiet us
w'ssIb.e. In th.s wayl managed I.
heep aloat until they got mo and drag
Xed me- ashore.
What l wish to demonstrate is tina,
the very poorest swimmer among 20,
Is perfectly safe in the wafer il he only
keeps cool aud does NOT struggle wuol
nothing is to be gained ny such efforts
-pit11el hin Ncms