, 1905-12-06

umD OF my Suuliuerb WAS 1WeiNc,
for some reason or other, which | can
not now even determine, [ became
possessed of the idea that | could swim.
Moore's swimming hole, back of
Moore's distillery, was the place where
the boys of that time used to assay the
art of swimming, and among a bunch
of them l had padded and spluttered,
kicked and struggled, until | verify
believed that | was a swimmer. Elated
with my apparent success, nothing
would satisfy me until l had coaxed
my father to accompany me to the
river on a Saturday evening to see me
swim. Now, my father couldn'tswi
a stroke, and for that reason he was
anxious to see how his son could cleave
imagining from my foolish boasting,
no doubt, that l could swim like a
duck and dive like a fish. Alas! and
yet alas, for human vanity, for it had a
terrible fall. While my father stood
on the bank, | o got rid of my
clothes, and fearlessly plunging in | was
soon out of my depth, and to my
horror 1 found that | couldn't swim,
even a little bit, and down, down,
down went | to the bottom of the
river. When my head appeared at the
surface again, l yelled Justify for help
and again went down, down, down.
Now l indeed thought of every evil
thing that | had ever done in my
twelve years of life and action, but not
a solitary good deed could | remember,
20 | must have been a bad, bad boy.
When my head next appeared on the
surface, the drowning cries were more
feeble than before, because l had swal-
lowed q considerable quantity of water,
and | went down for the third time
like a plummet. / do remember offer
ing up a prayer-a very shortone-and
then all was still and dark. To all in
tent and purpose 1 was drowned, dead
to the world and its fleeing pleasures.
The next scene of my eventful life was
when l opened my eyes on the bank,
saw a couple of cows grazing pacidly
on the green grass a short piece away,
with my father and all the boys stand
ing around me with frightened looks
and more frightened actions. Father
had rushed into the water when he
saw me sink for the second time, brave
ly wading up to his neck, then to his
chin-and the boys said to the top of
his head-and thus wading he kept on
till he caught me, and turning around
waded out with my limp and appar-
emily ~lifeless body on his shoulder. L
was turned upside down a few times,
allowing the water from the overfull
stomach to escape, and / was soon
breathing the sweet and precious air
naturally and easily. Fathers thoughts
were too full for utterance; he had like
wise swallowed a deal of water and he
was angry and wet, so he took me by
the hand and silently we trudged back
home. With dry clothes and supper
he recovered his power of speech, and
| came in for a lecture that was full of
ginger and sarcasm. l thereupon VOW
ed to myself that another Satur-
day night should not find me unable
to swim, and that if ] should drown in
the attempt, | Vas determined to make
one more bold effort to learn the illu-
sive art. In the few months of my life
time that l had been permitted to go
to school, | had never played truant
or even thought of doing so; but the
situation demanded unusual and
heroic action, and on the following
Friday afternoon l "mitched,o as the
boys called truancy. | went to the
'little swimming holeo below the Port
Stanley Railroad bridge. There L
found a plank, and, pushing the plank
into the water uutil l got u of depth,
| commenced kicking and pushing it
across the stream, until it BUM ed
against the bank on the other side.
Then the plank and l started back and
recrossed in safety. Now, then, for the
fateful attempt. Idiscarded the plank,
for having acquired the proper frog's-leg
motion in pushing it across and back,
/ boldly struck out alone and unaided
for the other shore. The trip was
made, it is true, but with many mis-
givings as to final success. After a
good long rest / started back again,
and when the bank was reached j