The Iola register., 1891-10-16
HOW 70 KEEP FROM osowsrNo
Ooe Needn's Knew How Co swim-Sim-
ply Tread water"


I To keep from drowning it is not
necessary to know how to swim, says
the N. Y. Advertiser. This may seem
at first a strong assertion, but much
depends on the meaning that Is at
tached to the word swim" A man
may be able to ''tread water, yet he
may not know how to swim. When
man swims it means one thing; when
a dog swims it means another and
somewhat different thing. In the
main, the difference is one of position
of standing upright or of sprawling
iu the water. OF course the dog can
not swim as the man can and does. but
a man may swim on the first trial as q
dog swims, if he will only do as the
dog does.
In what follows the object is to show
how drowning may, under ordinary
circumstances. be prevented even in
the case of persons wholly ignorant of
what is called the art of swimming.
In the first place it is perfectly nat
uraI for every human being to float.
With the lungs inflated and the body
below the water. one can not possibly
sink. There is no easier method of
keeping afloat than by simply treading
water. The operation is just like
running upstairs, and about as diff
cult. 1t is perfectly natural for ami
mails to swim" Throw a dog into
the water, and at once he begins to
walk the same as when out of water.
Why should man. woman or child
do differently under like circumstances?
Clearly there is no good reason why
any human being who can not swim
should make a few helpless struggles,
raise an outcry. throw up the hands,
and sink out of sight.
The trouble is that nine persons out
of ten lose their presence of mind when
for the first time in water beyond their
depth. If. instead of struggling. peo-
pie would do more thinking, fewer
would be drowned. Oddly enough.
people have to do just what the ami
NAL does instinctively in the water.
The dog. the horse. the deer, and even
the cat tread or walk the water at first
attempt. Mans ignorance of so SIM
pie thing as treading water is little
remarkable. 1t is nonsense to say
that animals have anv advantage in
the water over men. On the contrary
man has the further advantage of pad
die formed hands, and of being able to
rest himself when tired by floating. q
thing which the animals never do.
The man who can not swim must fol-
low the example of the animal, and
should go on all fours. He must
strike alternately with hand and foot,
exactly as the dog does-one, two, one,
two.
All the human beings can walk in
the water without any preliminary
practice if they will simply keep cool
headed. In order. then, to keep from
drowning it is necessary only to tread
or walk the water.
The most simple way to preserve
life if out of your depth is to float
which consists simply in lying fiat on
your back. This is easily accomplished
by keeping the lungs inflated, the head
thrown well back. the limbs extended,
but flexible. the arms placed close to
the ears. with the hands over the head.
The majority of people prefer to float
on the back rather than to stand up
right. Yet any man. woman or child
who can walk on dry land can also
walk in the water with safety.
1t is surprising how long animals
and human beings are capable of sus-
tanning themselves in water. In one
well authenticated instance q dog
swan ashore with q letter in his mouth
at the Cape of Good Hope. while the
crew of the ship to which the dog be-
lopped all persisted. The sailors need
not have been lost had they treaded
water as the dog did. Although un-
able to rest by the way animals swim
immense distances. Last year . dog
was washed overheard during q gale
off Cape Hatteras. and yet made his
way safely to shore. Only q week or
two ago some cattle were swept from a
vessel during a storm of the Maine
coast. and more than half of them were
saved.