The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-28

Sports
~ NJ mermaid Of fable and song
gracefully perched on top Of a
waye-lapped rock and Turing
mariners to their fate, has long
ia,-,a INTO the limbo of discarded
myths but there has arisen in her
stead modern prototype, the human
mermaid whose skill in the art of ndta-
'.r makes her mans dangerous rival
is a product OF comparatively
s'.,.. wars. When Agnes Bcckwlth
.H I.-.sh girl, swan the five miles
.''v,.a London Bridge and Greenwich
' 1870. people marvelled that one of
.,- 80 should perform such a feat
r. '.u,y, able women swimmers We're
JHku.wn at the time. Nowadays little
maids sill shy of their teens cover
'., miles. and people are hardly stirred
when the more mature among the fair
H.tato.s accomplish tasks in the water
worthy Of the hardest of mermen.
Miss Beckwith will go down in his
~ as the pioneer of the new school
women swimmers. 4 couple % sea-
ms after her notable debut she nego-
a,ed twenty miles in the Thames in
D. hours IS minutes, and this perform
',. was the more remarkable because
winning strokes used at the
.g.rd were rather crude and not
..as.y So effective as those which have
,.. been evolved.
>..rrly after Mss Beckwith's rise
20 fame. in the early sos, swim
n.G- suddenly took a leap in public
favor. Realization had come Of its
great value in physical culture and the
Protecting Of life and progressive
.our'r.es saw the ACCESSIBILITY of i'm
casting its principles to every boy and
sr' Gradually 1t began to be taught
~ al schools. both the stroke itself
and methods Of instruction were
rard'y improved, and interest became
general Results were rather uneN-
u,c'ed for girls soon demonstrated
clearly that although unable to vie
With bows Of the same age in tests OF
.r.,l hey could generally Guido them
,raIs Of endurance. The sex was
ming into its own.
Nearly two decades had elapsed after
',- T. ckwith's triumphs when Aus
.ra.a furnished new proof Of the
SION ,ling water stamina OF women
= 'H, person Of Annette Kellermann.
ua',v, II sydney, New South Wales
NJ, Kcllermann showed proficiency
la'a;.on from childhood. and at the
90, - - created n sensation by shat-
RIM. the ten and a haN mile record
Established ny the famous Capt. CaVili
%, sluggish Yarra River. she
ay,rol the course in hours SO min
U',- \ surprising feature OF this SWIM
va. Miss Kellcrmann's use OF the
.-uH-,.n from start to finish. although
his stroke was then deemed unaVaii-
.t'. ,yl,pt for sprint racing.
some Of Miss Kelermanns eXplots
nav, since been surpassed in one par
ocular case by Nine. Isacescu or Aus
. 80. who ls said to have swum forty
,ul. miles in the Danube. Neverthe-
-ao- -a, ranked supreme at the tune
and hor work will stand as one of the
nl.s'.nos marking woman's progress
n ra'a,ion. a., -,
A more recent addition to the list oi
Ing foreign mermads is Lily Smlth
Tr-and. a present candidate for In
.,rrr.unal honors. Miss Smith broke
NO 10, llmclght in 1907 by defeating
'w.u.-Gve Of thirty men rivals In
'r',.. mile race on the Thames,
En.and also boasts Of young CIR
! w.. .n,ms 10 Ice pointed straight al
/ signal ,aurels Vera Neave. So far sh'
as n.' undertaken unusually Ions
vim. nut her five and ten mile per
."rn.l,,s promise great things Tor her
'Ir .>.rp,onal speed is best appre
. ... through the official RECORDS
.w.s..d her at one and two miles. II
~ voter she has done 20 minutes o.
'r.E.. for the former distance, o.
Minutes u seconds for the latter l
W.. a.t so long ago that the tastes
mon we're travelling around thes'
fl.r-
'.poan women did not take NJ
swimming as a sport until their foreigl
.Na' .td enjoyed several years or de
'.".u'ut, hut they promptly made VI
."l w, lime.
Ia.r, Golding Of New York was tn
'!'' ~ he American mermaids to at
'"a marked proficiency. Some tel
N'.f' ua" she attracted considerable at
.'''..' by entering a four and one-hal
ne '""n race across the Narrows, u
Now York Bay Barely in her teens,
"s thought preposterous that sh
''0d ant 20 pit herself against tn
'"'''n rack men swimmers booked 70
n,cst, especially as the cours
.e " rough one, swept at right angl
~ wiring current.