Evening star., 1909-08-29

The experiment Of segregating che
1eper in 1866 was a bold one. 1t was a Sc
rious undertaking for a weak and poor
country. Very little was known about
the cure and treatment of the disease,
but the king and government set resolute-
ly to work at the humane and benevO-
lent task before them. and their success
sors have kept on. untA now they have
organized an institution for the care and
treatment of lepers which stands unrival-
= : - W = ' EDWIN s. GEE.
father, before he could move hand or
foot, saw his daughter gone beyond his
reach. He was not a good enough swim
mer to go after her. but he noticed that
she could float, and that. although she
was being borne out to sea, her body was
floating buoyantly, going gracefully over
the waves.
Calling to her to keep on floating and
not TO turn over or attempt to swim.
the frenZied father dashed into shore
and rushed to the life station.
Here motor boat was quickly
launched, and in a few minutes they
were after the child
BY the time they got to her she had
been floating for nearly an hour, ana
had gone more than mile out to sea,
but she was all right, and within rev
hours was thoroughly restored. none the
worse for an experience such as seldom
comes to a human being. If, instead or
maintaining her GOODNESS, she had strug-
gled and sought to make her way ashore,
nothing could have saved her.
In many directions the need or teach
ing swimming has been recognized Every
army and college navy cadet, every
student in the larger colleges. is taught
to swim. The rule yet needs to be made
universal in the girls schools.
1t doesn't take a whole lot OF knowl-
edge to be immune from the perils of
the summer boating accident. The good
swimmer can get ashore without trouble.
in fact he enjoys the swim; fast swim
mer can keep his head above water till
help arrives.
But what is more astonishing that the
inability of the average pleasure-seeker
to swim is the fact that many sailors,
sporting guides and attendants on pleas
ure boats cannot swim.
This is nearly incredible, for the guide
should be the protector OF the nsning or
boating party. He should be able TO
readily fish out the unfortunate VINO tum-
bles overheard, yet in many such cases
it is the amateur who has to go TO the
rescue.
The system of patrolling beaches at
seashore resorts has been much improved
but it is yet far from ideal.
Careful reading OF tiie details or drown
ing cases will usually show this fact.
They take place on days when the SURF IS
so rough that it is impossible to launch
the boats in time to get to the victim
should be unnecessary, for the patrolilng
boats should at all times be outside the
line of breakers, and then at the first or
a struggle on part of an exhausted bath
er the boat should be able to come IN
with speed and certainty.
A careless and inefficient system Of In
spection for pleasure craft is another
fruitful cause of summer drownings.
Boats that are leaky, whose engines
are out of order, and which are likely to
capsize under any special stress of storm,
are permitted to go out, often overcrowd-
ed to the point where even a stanch craft
would be. in peril.
Then comes a blow or perhaps a rush
of the crowd to one side of the boat for
some reason, and then another harvest OF
death is added to the summers drowning
list.
1t is also worthy a word of note that
heart trouble is a contributing cause to
many droWnings.
diac region cannot observe their condi-
tion too carefully.
Just as soon as chilliness comes II must
be remembered that warning note has
been sounded. Then goodbye to the bath
till the next day.
More people will be drowned in 1909
than will die by railroad accidents. Near
ly one hundred times as many were
drowned last year as died from Fourth OF
been made of the peril that fnheres In
the patriotic gunpowder of the national
holiday.
Every one Of these deaths is preventa-
ble needless sorrow, an unforgivable
waste of the most precious of all things,
human life. The shocking total can %
lessened If people will but take thought