The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-06-26
Women as Swimmers.

The proverbial endurance OF women
stands them in good stead when 1t
comes to swimming. That is how 1t
happens that in Australia, which has
produced the champion woman SWIM
mer of the world, Miss Annette Keller
mann, it Is common thing for girls
to swim five miles, while not one boy
in hundred ever does It.
"But sometimes" said Miss Keller
mann, In talk at the New Grand ho-
tel, "a man has as much endurance as
a woman, and, with his superior brute
strength no woman can hope to COM
pete with him. | don't like to say 1t"
concluded the fair champion, but II
is So"
Miss Kellermann does not look as II
she could swim any further than any
other young woman who has haa an
opportunity to form aquatic habits.
She is very slight in figure, not par
ticularly tall, and in smart tailored
suit of dark red cloth there was moth
ing about her to sugge st the profes-
sional athlete, yet she Is the victor OF
many battles. She has won 40 long
distance contests, from one mile up 10
30 miles. and she has almost swan
the English channel, q feat that no
one but Captain Webb has ever ac-
complished. She might have got all
the way across had 1t not been for sea-
sickness and storm, and she means to
try again.
'It Is like hunting for the North
Pole" she said. You get fascinated
with 1t and always want to try again.
But I want to walt awhile, till l get
over the horror Of the mal-de-mer, for
the fear Of 1t helps to bring 1t on It's
a dreadful experience, though, to swim
the channel and very weird one. You
start at 1 o'clock in the morning amid
wells and shrieks and Pickering lights.
Your ewes are covered with black gog-
giles fastened down with collodion, SO
that when you take them off at the end
Of the swim a lot of the skin comes
with them. You wear coatlnS OF
lanoline about an inch and nan
thick all over your body to keep Out
the cold. and the little swimming cos
tune is as light as possible, leaving the
limbs and neck bare, as every atom
of weight is a burden. l have only
tried to swim the channel twice, while
the two men who got further than
| did have made half dozen attempts
and once when swan with them go'
further than they did. So l dom
think did so badly"
Miss Kellermann says that she JUS
drifted into swimming. She has beer
perfectly at home in the water eve'
since she was seven, but until she wa!
IA swimming shared equally in her ia
vor with riding, tennis and dancing
Then she happened to see Fred LEI
swim.
"I thought his stroke the most beau
tiful had ever seen," she said, "ant
7 began to initiate it. 1t was the dou
bile oyer-arm stroke, and | have uset
II ever since, though other swimmer
think it only suitable for short swims
Well, in a few weeks I found | coult
swim better than any girl OF my ac
ouaintance. Then l entered contes
and won it, and my career as swim
mer had begun"
Miss Kellermann is now looking 10
new worlds to conquer. She talks o
swimming from the Narrows to Gone.
Island, and will try some Of the grea
rivers. She is greatly desirous ais
of meeting some American woma1
swimmer of importance. Sheis alread
in love with American women whethe
they can swim or not
81 think they are absolutely the love
liest in the world" she declared. the
are so well made, and they dress s
we'll and walk so we'll. In other coun
tries you may see one women in te
who walks we'll, but here it Is 10
10."-New York Tribune.
Fashion Notes.