El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-07-01
By George T. Holm,
Director of Swimming Of Columbia
University, Barnard College,
Teachers College and Hor-
ace Mann School.

leacnefs CoileGe ana Hor'
ace Mann School.
KTO student in Columbia Uni
versity, Barnard College.
l Teachers College nor the
Horace Mann School can graduate
without knowing how to swim, and
no one thoroughly knows how to
) swim unless he or she can dive, #
need be, in street attire. When the
unexpected moment suddenly comes
to save 2 drowning person somebody
usually has to plunge overheard with
shoes, hat and all clothes on. And
that is exactly the way to practise
and make sure you are at home IN
, the water with all your clothes on.
No young woman will go out Of the
Teachers College with a diploma
and the right 20 teach unless she
can teach her pupils to swim. The
test Of her expertness is made be-
fore Commencement Day, when in
the presence Of the Faculty and In
= .Tited guests she can swim twice the
A4ngth Of the sixty-foot pool IN
Thompson Hall. dressed as she would
ls COR q walk or for shopping.
7aere IS an excellent reason for
: this IS has been said, e reason OF
everyday expediency. Drowning
persons DO net wait until their res
cuers are arrayed in bathing COS
tunes. The Shrek. lie upfung
hands. the franticaIly tossing head,
do not wait on costume nor occasion.
Wherever there is water there is a
: risk Oh drowning. and the trained
, young man OF woman should be
ready 10 meet the emergency. Not
70 say. 81 hope that drowning wo-
man VIII wait until ! can find my
bathing suit" or. Please wait until
I've taken Of these things" but to
plunge into the water On the instant,
dressed as he OF she happens TO be.
There is q false idea about the
peril that turks in skirts for a swim
mer The trained swimmer can get
along IN them about as rapidly as
without them There is not a per
cepubie difference in percentage Of
speed or endurance between the
swimmer in or out of skirts. But
there should be practice in these
garments so nat there will be no
fear and no delay because Of them
I insist that my pupils take these
tests before I report favoTably on
their experiences in swimming. The
pupils are asked to come to the tank
4 Ia such attire as they might wear
Nduring a Spring or Sumner vacation
They may be in the same clothes
they would wear il making a tour Of
the Broadway shops, for in such
costume they might walk beside
lake or on a river bank or by the
beach Of a seashore resort. Or they
may wear the MILDLY blouse and linen
skirt,~Jr the flannel suit in which
-SsHey would row in a canoe or take 4
spin in a motor launch.
These are the chief perils Of q
Summer vacation, the canoe and the
motor launch. The canoe is a very
Insecure boat It is long and narrow
and usually has a round bottom II
tips easily Lively young persons,
moving about in one are more than
\ likely to make some incautious
Bnovemeut that viii upset it. The
students OF Barnard College, Teach
ers' College, the Horace Mann School
and Of Columbia University are
prepared for such emergency. A life
saving corps Of three thousand go
out Of these schools next June. They
are minute men and women, equal TO
any vacation emergency.
! They are minute men and women
! Of the waves, because they have no
fear Of plunging into the water IN
whatever they may be wearing. II
there is time to fling on coat and hat,
4 very well. They viii be by so much
less impeded- But they have learned
4 that they need not stop for that
The young women Of the Teachers
College know that when they spring
into the water they viii lose their
hats unless the hats happen to be
pinned on, but that doesn't distress
them. Generally after the tests the
tank is dotted with floating hats
The violent exercises losses them
OF. We practice at saving
sTdrowning" person. Either I OF one
of the students impersOnates the
drowning person weigh 1sS
pounds, but a little girl Of eight,
weighing SIS pounds, a pupil in the
Horace Mann School, saved" me the
ether day and did It expertly, by
towing me to the edge Of the tank
by my hair
A squad Of students form in line
Z beside the tank at one Of these
schools. and I instruct them briefly.
Get nd Of your shoes, 4 you have
time" 7 say. Shoes weigh more
than any other article Of clothing.
The shoes may be lOOsened by a deft
untying of the strings, and then
kicked OF in the water or they may