The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-04-21

throwing down the newspaper he had
been reading aloud, and gazing off
upon the lake 81 insist that my boy
learn to swim, but right there stop.
j don't want him to be what they
call crack swimmer"
What are your reasons, Fred?" /
asked carelessly.
"The expert is too venturesome,"
he replied. "He overestimates his
powers, takes chances, gets exhaust
ed. or is seized with cramp, and goes
down. Every one should swim well
enough to keep afioat for time In
an emergency. That degree of skill
would save hundreds of lives now lost
through complete ignorance of very
useful art. But everyone also should
have a wholesome respect for the SUI
perior power of nature. The expert
loses that respect; the Indifferent
swimmer knows his limitations. and
keeps within the margin of safety"
Your theory is certainly plausi-
ble," 1 admitted, "but how about your
own experience? You're crack
swimmer, and you have never been
drowned"
ITO all intents and purposes have
been," he said, earnestly. True,
they revived me before life was quite
extinct, but had all the sensations
of drowning man, and lost con-
sciousless as completely, il not as
permanently, as If 1 had been dead.
And l also fully illustrate the fool
hardness of the expert, precisely as
did the lad mentioned in the article
have been reading.
"The thing happened nineteen
years ago this summer, while l was
here on visit to my uncle. had
won two swimming races that season,
and felt as much at home in the water
rs I did on land. think I can truth
fully say that had absolutely no
sense of fear when swimming-like
the young fool that was!
II heard that Davy Brown, father
Of Isaac Brown, you know, had set
number of lines for sturgeon out
there in the lake, and wanted to see
how that type of fishing was conduct
ed When he and his son-in-law,
Henry Simmons, went to visit them
one morning, / asked and received
permission to go along.
I'VE rowed out in heavy scow-
the kind they used to draw their
seine with = and the trip took some
time, deceiving me as to the actual
distance. l estimated 1t at less than
mile, because their boat rowed like
an ore barge; but we must have gone
faster than thought, for the distance
to the bar is approximately mile
and half.
'I had on swimming tights, and
the moment we reached the shadows
on the old blight beach, as they call
the bar-out where you see the waves
breaking-I sprang overheard, The
water at that point was not more
than two feet in depth, and ! waded
across to where they had spar as
thick as my leg deeply planted among
the rocks. 1t stood fifteen or twenty
feet out Of water.
"The fishermen had a guide line
leading straight out from the spar for
about forty yards, to where one end
of the set line was anchored. The
set line, kept afioat by kegs used as
buoys, extended along the deep water
outside the bar and parallel with 1t
for a hundred rods, to where there
was another anchor, similarly equip
ped with guide line and pole. Brown
and Simmons had three set lines,
fixed thus end to end, reaching near
ly mile, or most of the way across
the entrance of the blight.
There was merely a light breeze
at the time, and the low waves did
not break on the shadows as they do
now, so l was not bothered by them
as ! splashed along; but soon found
that where l had jumped from the
boat was the shallowest part of the
submerged beach. There also were
gaps In the bar, wide enough for
ship channels, where the water was
at least one hundred feet deep, per-
haps more. You can see three OF
four gaps in the breakers from here
now.
Well, ! swan across those places
and along not q few other stretches
TOO, FOR everywhere toward the north
east shore Of the blight the water was
at least breast deep. Finally. when
the end of the last line had beer
reached, l climbed back into the scov
and helped to row 1t to shore. Thus
my first trip to the drowned beach
was, as you see. without incident.
The second day following this triI
was q scorcher. The thermometel
registered ninety degrees in the
shade; and directly after my aunt'l
noon dinner l resolved to cool off II
tue lake.
Il walked the three miles to tn,
beach, and when reached there wal
dripping wet with perspiration. In
plunged, with the smallest possibl,
delay. however; and the only wonde
Is that ! didn't have cramp at tn.
outset.
Near shore the water was almos
TOO warm, but once out few rods
! had cnly TO lot my feet down Il
strike Temperature that seemed arc
NC by comparison. TIE depths o
the Great Lakes arc Always cold.