The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-11
UNCHALLENGED CHAMPION, SHE
WOMAN WHO HOLDS WORLDS
RECORD FOR SWIMMING.
Mime. Marion Liljenstolpe's Aston
ishing Performances In the Water
decorated By Royalty.

Nine. Marion Lilijenstolpe, just en-
tering upon her work as professor OF
swimming at the New Athletic club for
women at Chicago wears two beautiful
gold medals of which she is deservedly
proud. One bears testimony to. her I'M
challenged championship of the world,
so far as women swimmers go, and the
other was given her by the hand OF
King Oscar of Sweden himself at her
graduation from the Royal Swimming
association of Stockholm.
Few men, indeed rival Nine. Lilijen-
stolpe in her aquatic featS. Diving
backward from a height of eighty feet
and turning a SOmerSault before strlk-
ing the water is just little trick to be
INDUCED in by her upon any casual &C.
casion. From a height of fifty feet she
goes through the same performance
with a depth of only six and ii half
feet of water to recover herself in In
deed, she has made successful dives
from the same height into sheetiron
tank containing but three and a half
feet OF water.
One of her prettiest feats, however,
is to lie gracefully on her back, hold
a Japanese parasoI in one hand, and
fan herself with the other. while she
propels herself forward with her feet.
\ still more difficult one is to make Il
dive with both hands and feet tied to-
gether in hard knot. unite them under
water and proceed on the even tenor
of her way. Fol. this trick she prac-
ticed a long time al her home. simply
untieing her hands after they had been
secured by a hard and fast knot. Once
she had become expert in this ma
neuver, the rest was easy
1t is, indeed, hard for madame to
understand why so many people drown,
when, as she says floating Is an es
pecial arrangement of Providence for
mars benefit.
Everyone floats naturally" says she,
IF he will just let himself alone and
trust to the water to carry him.
could live on top of the water, / am
sure, as long as did not become faint
through hunger or thirst. But then, I
may almost be said to have been born
swimming. My early years were all
spent on the banks of the Weichsel in
eastern Prussia, a great flax-growing
country. Here the river frequently
overfiows its banks. flooding the whole
region round, SO that the people are
sometimes obliged to gather their fax
really cannot remember when / was not
as much at home in the water as on
land
After her marriage to a Swedish Of
ficer, Nine. LilijenstOloe became ambi-
tious to take degree at the Royal as
ISOLATION, and went in for the examina-
tons. In order to secure a professor
ship at this institution, it is necessary
to show oneself a master of twenty one
points. One must tread water. dive
twenty feet, swim prescribed course
completely dressed, even to hat. boots
and gloves, rescue a drowning person
that is to say, a sham victim makes
himself as heavy, unwieldy and difficult
to manage in the water as possible,
and is brought safely to the shore by
the candidate, etc, the most difficult of
them all hand movement. Nine. Lilijen-
stolpe, to swim Swedish mile (six and
three-quarter English miles) with the
plain breast stroke instead of the usual
professional overhead movement. Mime.
Lilijenstolpe, however, went beyond the
required twenty-one points, covering
twenty-three, twenty-four being the
greatest number ever achieved by man
or woman at the institution.
Her phenomenal strength and abso-
lutte fearlessness make learning to swim
a royal road to her pupils. One or two
dives in her powerful arms, and fear is
annihilated-the alpha and omega of
swimming. With so adequate a teacher
and magnificent pool Costing not less
than 100000, swimming promises to be
OllC VI the IIlOSl SUCCESSFUL COuIStS III
the only athletic club for women, as
yet, in the world If anything could add
to the popularity of the course it would
be Nine. Llijenstolpe's superb figure
and radiant complexion, which say
everything for her mode of living One
might as well try to dent an iron post
as her contracted muscles and though
confessedly So years of age, her COM
pleXion still retains the bloom of the
early twenties. This happy combina-
ton is, without doubt, due to the exer-
else which she never relaxes, and to
the strict regime which she observes in
her diet.
Il never drink tea nor coffee. and, in
deed. take no liquid with my meals.
We have nothing in the way of hot
breads, and confine ourselves almost
exclusively to rye. Sweets are, of
course, debarred, and we do not have
the superfiuity of dishes usual with
American families. Good meats. fruit,
rye bread and a. vegetable are the chief
of our diet: wholesome, simple fare,
without the sweets. starches and
liquids, whose only office is to fatten,
stiffen and clog
DELLA T. DAVIS.