The weekly examiner., 1901-08-03

the guards begin diving and search- ing along the bottom. It is impossible
 for anyone te remain under long without being discovered. We have
 been very successful in saving those
 who have been taken from the bot tom by working on them ashore. Tn
 only a comparatively few instances
 has it been impossible to revive the bather. Of the drownings the public always hears, but the lives that we
 save at the beach seldom attract att tention. Day after day boys have been rescued who probably never even
 told their parents that they had been on the point of drowning.
 '"The first thing a boy does on be- ing rescued, if in a conscious condi-
 tion, is to tell lie. He will declare
 that he was not drowning, but was only trying to fool some other boy. It seems to be regarded as a rather disgraceful thing to be caught in the act of drowning. It doesn't reflect very much credit on the average boy,
 but it is a fact that as soon as he finds that a companion with whom he came to the beach is missing, the survivor begins to think of home and mother, and in nine cases out of ten will start for the bath house without giving the alarm.
 AS to how long it is possible for person to remain under the water and live I do not know The longest F hay e HyTs personal osyledee- ef is 15 minutes. This was the case of a colored man. He fell from steam boat wharf at summer resort in Maine. He came on the steamer which blew as it reached the wharf. Isheard the whistle and looked at my watch. It was four o'clock. Afterward I went to the wharf and was told that the man fell just as the whistle blew. No one had gone after him, so I dived in and brought him out of 20 feet of water. I looked at my watch and it was 15 minutes and some seconds after four. I had no hope for the man, but he was taken to the hospital and sur vived. I saw him often afterwards.
 Boys should always have elder brothers or fathers or guardians with them," very earnestly said the life saver. 'They will remain in the wa ter too Long, unless they. are re- Almost invariably when I command a lad to come out he prompt ly replies: T only just come in, mis- ter, deed I did. Jimmy, there, has been in for long time;' when, as a matter of fact, both little rascals have been in the water for two hours or longer. Remaining long in the wa ter weakens people, no matter how strong they may be naturally. The water opens every pore and sucks the l skin dry. The boys who are allowed | to stay in the water more than an hour are in fit condition to have l and drown. The youngsters 1 would stay in the water until they sprouted fins, but the beach attend l ants are watchful and compel them to 1 come ashore. Very often, after they 1 Ire dressed, they look so different l that they can come back inside of Is ] minutes and get into the water again. ]
 During the past week 4,873 people 1 5ook plunges from this beach, includ- ! ng men and strangers visiting the | ,ity, with boys or attendants. Some | of the boys have formed clubs for lquatic sports, and they contest as earnestly as the members of popu- ar organizations. They swim stated 1 distances, accompanied by skiffs and fife guards. They dive for depths or distances, but are carefully watched 50 that life-savers can dive after hem if they do not come up very promptly. Altogether, this swimming peach on the Potomac is one of the noste enjoyable and healthful of the summer resorts of the national capi- ! a1''
 And, he might have added, always 1 me of the most dangerous.
 n l