Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-08-13
A GIRL LIFE SAVER.
:Vassar Graduate Joins Corps at
Long Beach. N. Y.
LEARNED To SWIM WHEN A,oKIED

MISS NORMA AamAIIOn OK New AOEA
Is a Splendid Swimmer and Han
dies a Boat With q Master Hand.
Is Wealthy, Handsome and stFOng.
Modest In Her New Venture.
The summer colony at Long Beach.
n. Y, has received a thrill that should
keep it titillating for the remainder
of the season, says the New York Even
ing World.
A young woman has Joined the life
saving corps at the beach, and 1t is
said she is the first of her sex to I'M
dertake the heroic task of rescue work
from the line Of dangerous breakers
that pound the sands of Long Islands
southern shore.
The young woman life, saver is Miss
Norma Hamilton. She is nineteen
years old and a graduate of Nassar.
She Is spending the summer at Lyn-
brook In the winter she lives with
her mother in n fashionable part of
New York. 1t is said by her friends
that, she has made this departure in
the line of feminine effort simply to
prove what a woman can do in difficult
remuneration means nothing to her.
Her qualifications for the job OF life
saving are beyond question. Captain
Billy Leggett of the corps declares she
is n wonderful swimmer and can ham
die a lifeboat with master hand. She
can go through line of breakers like
u scared shark. and she has outdistanc-
ed the strongest men swimmers on the
beach in a half mile sprint.
It's really true that l am a member
Of the life saving corps" said Miss
Hamilton, who is as brown as a berry
and 1.-the and graceful of figure. Il
have been able to swim ever since L
can remember, and l don't see any
thing wonderful about il. When / was
n little bit of Il girl, we spent our sum
mers in Maine, and l learned to swim
in the lakes. OF course fresh water
swimming is much harder than salt
water, so it seems strange to me that
more women do not swim Mt Long
Beach
Il swim at Long Beach all thu time
and sometimes stay in the water all
day"
Strange to say, there is nothing of
the Amazon type in Miss Hamilton's
makeup. She has broad shoulders that
spread out on the shapely Gibson lines.
but wtthaI lrer figure is willOwy and
delicately nodded. Her features are
clear cut and her eyes of that gray
color that denotes untiinching deter
minatiOn and fearless courage.
In daintily cut bathing suit open at
the throat to show deep, nut brown
L Ag.rI.A
and her arms swinging free at her side,
Long Beach's new life saver patrols
her section of the long stretch of sand
with IL nonchaIant ease that shows her
independence of thought and her disre-
gard of what the Trailer of her sex
may regard as prodigious disregard
of the feminine conventions.
Before she was accepted in the role
of life saver Captain Billy Leggett
tried her out with a series OF tests
which would have stumped the major
ity of men who belong to the summer
colony. When the surf was running
high she was asked to test her speed
in getting to n buoy well beyond the
line of breakers.
MY eyes went popping" said Cap
tain Billy, "whcn l saw the way that
girl went through those waves. She
went over them like catamaran driv-
en- by a forty horsepower engine. and
she's got a stroke that beats anything
In the feminine swimming line / have
ever seen. She can handle boat like
a trained life saver, and l feel conf
dent that if she is ever called upon to
get real busy her work will be sort
of revelation"
Miss Hamilton is exceedingly modest
about her new endcavOr; also she won
ders that any one should think 1t
strange that she should wish to join in
so noble an effort as that of saving
lives.
Some may think it n bit out Of the
ordinary" she remarked, but as long
as I am fitted for the work / think
that clinches my argument as to why
enlisted my services. Though don't
call myself one Of the modern ath-
letic girls of the century, I neverthe-
less consider myself an athlete. l can
swim rings around a great many Of
the men who do the same work
am doing now, and I sre no reason
why should not employ my ability In
a good cause"