The record-union., 1899-12-06

lished during the present summer is a
treatise by Captain Davis Dalton,
champion long distance swimmer of
the world, called How to SWIM" The
author earned his title by swimming
sixty miles on a stretch and by saving
PSI persons from drowning, for which
he has received 1853 medals, and he is
at present the chief inspector Of the
United States volunteer life saving
corps. So he knows what he is talk
ing about when he recommends swim
ming as one of the finest recreations in
the world, apart from the usefulness
of it, and its value both to those who
understand and practice the art and
those who are thrown in contact with
them upon occasions of watery peril.
If it is a noble thing to save human
life there is nothing which can be
learned so likely to bring about this
end as knowledge of swimming. In
fact, there is probably not q. person in
America who has not acquaintance
with some one whose life might have
been saved had he only known a little
about the methods of swimming
Captain Dalton describes all the
strokes in use and sets forth in detail
the manner of acquiring them. He
does not pretend that this will serve as
useful a purpose as personal instruc-
ton by a competent teacher, but he
might have added that his descriptions
are excellent for the correction Of err
rors in practice, should any one be
taught a less useful method than his
own. In any event. he is as explicit
as possible about the details.
Vel ~
this, that reasonable strength and prac-
tice enable one to traverse great dis
tances with little fatigue and much
benefit. But swimming has the advan-
tage in the exercise it gives the arms
and chest muscles, and, above all, in
the improvement Of the staying powers,
based upon the wind. 1t is safe to
say that there were no expert SWIM
mers in the American University teams
recently beaten by the Englishmen at
long distance runs or the outcome
would not have been so uneven To be
in the water at all one must learn to
breathe quick and deep and to use all
OF his lung capacity-that is, unless he
means to bask on the surface and never
leave the seclusion of some quiet and
untroubled lake.
The most useful of the swimming
motions is the ordinary breast stroke.
In this the arms are used merely for
the purpose of keeping the head above
water, the legs affording the propell-
ing powers. They do this in two ways
one by the direct thrust of the sole
of the foot against the water, the other
by the bringing of the heels together
at the end of the stroke. thereby push
ing the body forward on the wedge of
water between the legs at the Begin
ming of the stroke. The arms come
more into play in the easiest method
of swimming, called dog fashion, but
rather less when swimming on the
back. In the swifter strokes the extra
speed depends almost entirely on the
arms and they are consequently much
more exhausting to the swimmer
The secret of traversing distances in
the water, when time is not a feature
of the performance-that is, when one
is swimming for recreation merely and
not in race-lies in the ability to rest
before fatigue comes on. This is done
IN two ways-by the repeated change
OF stroke, breast, side and back, and
by learning how to rest on the water.
Floating is practically impossible in
fresh water, except in the case of per-
sons with small bones and a great deal
of flesh. But it does not require much
practice to acquire a very slow method
of swimming on the back, whereby any
loss of breath can be made UP. 1t is
we'll to watch the action of the heart
also. and to rest whenever one becomes
conscious of it's beating :
The manner Of breathing is of the
first importance, and to this end the
mouth must be used A very small
quantity of water in the nose leads to
strangling, unless it is forcibly expelled
Immediately. But water drawn into
the mouth inadvertently can be eject
ed or swallowed without evil results
and quite by instinct It is we'll to
keep the mouth closed, except when
breathing, until the swimmer has fair
ly well learned the knack of keeping
enough air in the open mouth to pre-
vent the water from coming in. Above
ALL the thing to be in the water is
cool and collected. A moments furry
or indecision may result disastrously.
and undue haste is always worse than
no progress at ell. In this. as In every
thing else in life, the battle is to those
who have their wits about them, and
the discipline of swimming Is, there
fore. the discipline of life.