The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-14
EASY FOR HIM.
How Johnny Learned to Swim With
One Lesson.

This boys mother took him down tC
the bathing beach the other afternoon
He had never been in swimming be-
fore. Why, of course not She had
corralled him just as he was edgine
away to play ball on the lot'-thats
what he always told her he'd been do
ing away the whole afternoon, and she
said to him:
Son, I'm going to take you down to
the bathing beach. Your pa will meet
us there about four o'clock and give
you swimming lesson. Boys ought to
know how to SWIM
The boy surveyed his mother out Of
the tail Of his eye. He twitched.
The fellers'll be down there, and
they'll put her on to me- he was prob
ably thinking.
Il don't want to learn how to SWIM"
said he.
ooh. but you must learn, you
know" said his mother. at is not
wants. / warn you that you had bet
ter try to learn, too, when your pa is
teaching you"
Even in the teeth of calamity the boy
had to turn away to hide his grins.
J Five or six of his boy friends were
| already splashing around in the water
| when Johnny arrived at the bathing
beach with his mother. When they
| saw Johnny and his mother they looked
at each o-her and winked solemnly.
Johnny before he went into a cell to
put on his trunks tried to catch their
eyes so as to scowl at them warningly,
but they studiously avoided his gaze.
why how sunburnt your back and
arms are. Johnny" said his mother,
when he emerged in his trunks.
"Yes'm," said Johnny. Was playin
ball 'ithout my coat in yistiddy and the
sun burnt through my shirt
Then Johnny looked at his mother
slantingly to see if he had made his
yarn stick. He had,
"Well, did you ever!" exclaimed his
mother. Il do declare."
If Johnny was not thinking Women
Is easy marks he certainly looked as
If he were.
He stood on the shore and looked
wistfully at the water.
Come on in Smoke yelled his boy
friends to him. Come on out to the
raft
Don't you dare to try to do any
such thing, Johnny" his mother called
to him, Just you wade around until
your pa comes. He'll teach you, and
after a few weeks you'll be able to go
out where those boys are"
Johnny" vas pretty disguised
looking boy. The other boys sat on the
raft and grinned at him, He padded
around in water up to his ankles, and
when he suddenly slipped and tumbled
into knee-deep water his mother
screamed
Come right out Of that water at
once, Johnny, and wait till your pa
gets here"' she exclaimed.
johnny" caught the eye of the
bronzed man who looks after the kids
and fishes them out when they get to
fooling rislly. and winked the eye fur
therest removed from his mother The
beach guard put his outstretched fin
gers over his face to hide his grin,
Then the boys father arrived. He
looked sidewise at the red peeling skin
on the back and arms of his son and
heir, and twinkling light came into
his ewes.
Just think how tender skinned John
ny Isl" said his wife "The sun burned
him that way through his shirt when he
was playing ball without his coat yes
terday afternoon. Isn't his back
sight?"
"Um-m," said he, and he went into
one of the bathrooms and rugged him
self out in a bathing suit. AS he came
out he caught the boys eye. The boy
looked at his toes and grinned.
"I'll bet I can teach the kid to swim
in one lesson" said the boys dad to the
boys mother. He's got the look of a
natural born swimmer about him"
Has he really, JACKIE she asked.
isn't that remarkable"
I'm onto you with both feet, son,
said the boys father when they got into
the water together. # suppose you
can swim across the river and back,
can't you?"
II never tried so far as that" replied
the boy He and his father were pref
ty thick pals anyhow, and he could see
by the twinkle in his dads eye that
there wasn't any trouble in store for
him.
They fooled around for a while in
shallow water, the boys father pretend
ing to teach the kid the rudimentary
motions in swimming Then they
struck out together and swan out to
the raft They swan all around the /
raft for half hour or So When they
came out the boys mother was up in
the clouds over the aptitude of her Won
derful boy.
Did you ever in the world see any |
thing like it," she asked her husband, |
enthusiastically. Johnny swimmingI
just like a dolphin the very first time
he ever goes into the water! Isn't that |
simply phenomenal Jack?'
ooh, | don't know" he replied, gaz-
ing across the water with a humorous
PARKWAY expression in his eyes. He
takes after me. | could swim the first
time my father took me into the water"
Which was probably no lie, for the
and going of generations
not the nature of the boy