Evening star., 1926-08-09
FAME MAKES MISS EDERLE FEEL
DOUBT OF CHANNEL SWIM VALUE
Not Moment Left Her to Cable Mother of Success.
Never Felt Fear Of Failure in Water-Coing
to Germany Before Returning to y. ).

a nj W0Pn L dSkSu lVt pIilCdPPtC
in the last stages of the pull, l felt
half-starved.
NV tongue was badly swollen and
felt mighty uncomfortable in my
mouth. but ii was not so bad as | had
feared it would be.
After | completed the crossing and
had returned to the tug. | lay IN a
cramped position on small couch
until my arrival in Bower. Then When
| tried to stand up | scarcely could
The muscles Of my upper legs hurt
greatly then. but at the hotel in
Dover a hot bath before went to
he'd fixed that UP so that 1 was not
even stiff next morning.
IL was the first hot bath | had had
since our arrival at Girls Nez June lo
and the only Wetting all over had
had at any time since then except IN
the Channel. At Gris-NeZ. though
had never wanted Il hot bath. rear
ing that ! would he spoiled Tor the
cold Channel water.
That hotel bathtub felt simply heaN-
euly. | was starved after | had enjoy
ed that luxury, so l ate four nam
sa ndwiches.
thought / would sleep like a rock
then. after my long workout. nut
found then, to my amazement, Una
was too excited to find rest IN
slumber. 1t was the first time | had
come to rea aliZe that ] had been ner-
vously excited when 1T was all over
I'm sure | wasn't at the start. nor
was | at any time while L was on
my way.
ANYWAY. for the first time in my
life remained awake almost all
night. ] had another hot bath TINS
morning and a massage by Burgess.
After that | was feeling great, except
for a pain in my right wrist Where
had strained a muscle from meet
ing the necessity OF shaking ma
thnusa nd times or 80. A few thou-
sand more han shakes Saturday IN
creased the pain. but 1t was worm
while to receive so many felcl'a-
tions that seemed so sincere.
Praises Her Associates.
NV swimmer friends who came into
the water with me at different times
during the swim helped me consid-
erablv by their company. Lilllan n
Cannon. the Baltimore girl who was
considered a rival aspira Mt. proved
, herself splendid sport, and | llked
her singing as we'll as her swim
ming.
didn't know until after the swim
was completed that she and lShak
Helmv had been seasick. But 1t was
no wonder. for when they had t" BOD
about on that small tug when theH
Wern't in the water with me. ana
in that sea the Alsace was IKE CORK.
Even I got Seasick on the ride back
to Dover in the hot little cabin of
Louie COrteS' boat.
Everybody has been so good to me,
except the silly customs men on the
quay at Dover Friday night who held
us up as If we were criminals, delay
ing our entrance more than an houf'
But after we escaped them, Il great
crowd followed us to our cars, cheer
ing and making me feel fine.
We didn't arrive at Dover untll
about | O'Clock Saturday morning.
The swim brought me a wonderful
friend in Louis Timpson. the swimmer
from Lynn, Mass, who Will attempt
to make the Channel soon. l never
saw him before he boarded our tug
| from a little mOtorbOat in mid-chan-
mel Friday. after which he cheered
and sang and was great sport. He
seemed as happy as ! was when | had
succeeded.
Shippers Skill I.auded.
In fact, everybody on our tug con-
tributed to my success. j could never
have crossed if Sister Margaret had
not been there. Pop was wonderful,
| too, though my success costs him that
| roadster i had picked out.
Capt. Cortes is the most wonderful
skipper a Channel swimmer could
| have, He kept his tug alongside me
| every bit of the Way--and that was
not an easy thing to do, l know. in
such big seas.
The fact, too. that I had such per
feet faith in my trainer, Bill Burgess.
also helped me to-. succeed Every
time | looked up at him I became
more confident that we could put il
across. When I could see his hand
gently waving up and down, which
was the signal we had agreed upon
| that would mean | should slow down.
| would know everything was all right
and when he told me as we neared
the shore that victory was certain if
would just swim. knew he meant
I would have to swim fast. I remem-
hered how close Col. Freyberg was to
the English shore when he had to give
| up and thought. too, of the many 9th
ers who had been forced to abandon
their efforts when the shore was so
near. So l spurted ahead-for I still
had plenty in reSerVe-determined
never to lose unless l drowned in the
attempt.
didn't know then that was
buCking the third tide. as we had
counted on that tide helping instead
Of hindering us. Burgess explains
that the tide changed two hours too
early for our calculations because of
the strong wind. thus turning against
me instead of giving me aid. When
/ saw the crowd on the King sdown
beach ] knew / would never stop un-
til / got there. The reception Of the
beach was marvellous for its en-
thusia SIN. Their cheers and lighting
| flares and bonfires helped bring me in
] sprinted for all | was worth when
I was only few hundred yards from
the shore and the crowd awaiting me
| there.
The people of Dover Saturday were
charming They asked me to come
to the balcony Of our hotel under
which an enormous crowd was gath
cred, and they cheered me for long
time, and a band played in my honor
Later the mayor of Dover visited me
and congratulated me. many punches
of flowers were sent up to me from
strangers, and little girl came and
asked to kiss me when we were going
to the boat for Boulogne.
Crowd Waves Them or.
As we were leaving, the still tire
mendous crowd about the hotel
shouted and waved 1t was wonder
full. but | felt that ] would like to
steal off somewhere and hide, for that
sort OF thing is all new and strange
, to me. and. while | appreciated the
sentiment behind it. never could
care for the heroine stuff
Moreover, swimming the Channel is
easy. compared to making speeches.
The Channel water, most Of the
! time, was much warmer than | had
! expected. My costume OF narrow
| brassiere and short trunks was most
| com fort q lie l .:s..,