The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-11-01
One Lesson Enough for Him.

his boy mother took him down to
the bathing beach the other afternoon.
lie had never been in swmnin. be-
fore. Why, Of course not She had
corallcd him just as he wa cdging
away to "play ball on the lot that
what he always told her he'd been
doing when he came in anyhow, after
being 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 abou. + o clock and give
youa swimming lesson. Boys ought
to know how to SWIM
The boy surveyed his mother out Of
the tail Of his eye. He twitchcd.
The fcllers' II be down there, and
they'll put her On to me-, he was prob
ably thinking.
Il don't want to learn to swim"
said he.
"Oh, but you must learn, you
know, said his mother. "It is not
what you want. 1t is what your pa
wants. warn you that you had
better try to learn, too, when your pa
is teaching you
Even in the teeth of calamity the
boy had to turn away his face to hide
his grins.
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 look
ed at cacll other and winkcd solemnly.
Johnny, before he went into 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.
eyes M" said johnny. "Was
playin ball 'ithout my coat on yis-
tiddy 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, II do declared
If Johnny was not thinking
Women is easy Marks he certainly
looked as if he were
He stood on tho 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 70 do any
such thing JOHNNY" his mother called
to him. "Just you wade around until
your pa comes. He'll teach you, and
after few weeks you'll be able 70 60
out where those boys are"
Johnny was a pretty disgusted
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 tumblcd into kneedcep water his
mother screamed.
"Comc right out of that water at
once, johnny, and wait till your pa
gets hcre!" she exclaimed.
johnny" caught the eye of the
bronzed man who looks after the kids
and fishes them out when they get
to fooling risky, and winked the eye
furthest removed from his mother.
The beach guard put his outstretched
fingers over his face to hide his grin.
Then the boys father arrived. He
looked sideways at the red peeling
skin Oh the back aud arms Of his son
and heir, and twinkling light came
into his eyes.
"Just think how tender skinned
Johnny isr' said his wife. "The sun
burned him that way through his
shirt when he was playing ball with
out his coat yesterday afternoon.
Isn't his back a sight?"
"um-m,' said he, and he went into
one of the bath rooms and rigged him.
self out in bathing suit. AS he
came out he caught the boys eye.
The boy looked at his toes and grinncd.
His father looked across the stream
at the fats and grinned.
"1'll bet 1 can teach the kid to swim
in one lesson," said the boys dad to
the boys mother. "He's got the look
of natural born swimmer about
him."
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