Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-09
day. with unflinching honesty Of pur-

! LdN. Will uHIlELithtbS hOhSSty VI pun
pose.
The results in this almost unbeliev-
ably short time are a gain of fifteen
pounds in weight. hOllOws in neck filled
out. cheeks rosy and rounded, poise.
lack of which was n of her Eialn
drawbacks, and a delightfully."- pleas
! lny grace OF manner IN both carriage
and speech. Happy. She certainly
looks IT. acts it. and is all of it! One
look would convince the most doubtful
Thomas in my audience. Then her
doctor would bear me testimony, should
it be required.
First thing / did was to send her to
a physician to be treasured there was
! nothing chronically wrong with the
girl. His pronounccment was under
! weight, undernourished, nervous, but
heart. lungs. etc, in fairly normal
condition." He found no chronic ills,
which frequently are at the bottom
of the skinny" girls troubles. lie
was vastly surprised at the general
health Improvement in Miss Ruth when
she reported to him at the end of our
five weeks experiment.
When she got down to work. which
we did without delay. the beaches were
not open for outdoor work. So. with
TIE illtSt dbiiiiS ldith III SNihihiihS'
as the exercise is without rival for de-
v~eloping IA figure. l enrolled her in a
gymnasium. which allowed her the
daily instructions of an expert. She
never had swum a stroke before.
On the fifth week we went down to
Brighton Beach, where she put on a
good imitation of a swimming exhibit
ton for me. That gives you an idea
of how in earnest the girl was.
Swimming Gives Mental Control
| really do not believe any other
exercise would have worked as quick
magic as swimming, together with the
deep breathing | ordered. But you
must fill your lungs with one stroke
of the arm. and empty them with the
other. Or Davy Jones is apt to grab
YOU for his locker. And you need pre-
liminary instruction on how to couple
breathing with strokes in order 10 ac-
quIre any swimming ability at all.
When you get an exercise which forces
you to use your lungs along with legs
and feet and every single muscle of
the body. as swimming unquestionably
does. and coupled with that have good
fun. YOU are bound to benefit in nu-
merous ways.
lbh' " fhhNh NhhtNo
10 acquire the mermaid's art all in a
first lesson. They are rare water
sprites who manage that. The degree
of speed with which one learns to
swim corresponds. | am told by in
structors. with the mental control over
the body; that is. if n masters fear
of the water Immediately, or has had
systematic gym work, arms and hands
and lungs respond at once to the
mental command. This strengthens the
claim | hold for swimming-that it
gives sureneSs and p0ise to a person
which she may carry right out on dry
land.
Taught Dead Mans Float
SO the first thing Ruth had to learn
was that water would not do any more
harm to her in Il tank than in II tub or
wash basin. Before breathing or leg
and ann movements were discussed,
she was introduced to the dead mans
float. which means living face down in
the water. face immersed to the ear
levels. arms straight forward. and feet
straight out behind. A little prelimi-
nary work on this was to hold on to
the side ropes with the hands until
it could be done and until she did not
mind getting her face wet.
You cant go down on the dead mans
float if hands are straight out and feet
straight back. You may try and per-
haps succeed if you direct the legs
down toward the pool floor. But that
doesn't matter if you come right up
and try all over again. During this.
Ruth was told to hold her breath and
keep her mouth tight closed.
The next step was to sit on the edge
of tho nno1 with I,,oc ,t;uL. L..
not rigid. and '%'flutter kick feet flut-
tering up and down alternately, allow
ing three or four inches distance for
length of kick. That learned. she COM
blned the fluttcr kick with the dead
mans float, feet just breaking surface;
as they say, making the water boil"
Crawl suppIants Breast Stroke
The arm stroke was then rehearsed
on land drill-which naturally means
out of water. zone arm at a time"
she was instructed, starting forward
at shoulder level. pulling arm down
past side and almost up to back shout
der level without turning the palm;
then turn palm as arm is swept out to
side. crooked at the elbow and carried
forward over the surface for another
After rehearsing each arm
separately they were done together.
starting with right arm forward and
left back. These mechanical move
fairly well in mind. combining
arm and leg movements was her next
job.
Last of all the breathing was taught
her. This in the water when the
breath was taken through the mouth
and exhaled through the nose. When
her left arm was coming out of the
water and back her face was turned
toward the lcG side, with right cheek
on water, a fnl gust Of air was taken
open mouthed, then head turned for
ward. and, face down when the air was
forced out through the nose with
mouth closed.
This. you see, is the crawl, which |
told is the stroke nov completely
s%upplanting the breast stroke because
it accOmplishes more speed with less
effort than the latter.
1t took six or seven lessons before
perfectly harmonious cooperation be-
-