A TALK WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD.
G entlenzen,—I have frequently pointed out through the columns of the press the urgent necessity that exists for better facilities for instructing the public school children in the art of swimming. With this object still in view, .I address this chapter to you'in the hope iilltat you will give it your earnest consideration. I would respectfully suggest that a suitable building be erected in a central portion of the city, easy of access by the street cars, in which a stream of water will be constantly flowing in and out of the plunge-bath. The bath should be of a graduated depth —say three feet at the farthest. extremity— deepening to nine feet at the entrance to the building. The water could thus be run off into the street drain by the aid of a sluice-gate. By having life-lines stretched across the bath where the water would be five feet deep, novices could be kept in the shallow part until sufficiently accomplished to enter the deeper water. The city should furnish the water "gratis." The school children should come in classes in regular rotation, according to the seniority of the schools, Within specified hours ; girls and boys on alternate days. Private and shower baths could be provided for adults, with toilet requisites, on payment of a small fee. During the hours the baths are open the public to be also admissible on payment of the arranged fees. By this plan a knowledge of swimming would become very widely spread.
Swimming competitions should be held at frequent intervals, and prizes offered for proficiency in the art ; thus inducing perseverance on the part of the pupils to attain the greatest possible efficiency. The following incident will serve to illustrate the necessity of acquiring a knowledge of swimming : A Professor in an English college one day engaged a boatman to row him across a river. On the way he asked the boatman if he learned astronomy. The oarsman confessed his ignorance of that science, whereupon the learned Professor informed him that he had lost one-third of his life in consequence. Again the Professor inquired if he understood mathematics ; the answer once more being in the negative. This evoked the assurance of the Pro fessor that another third of the boatman's life was lost. The boat man becoming embarrassed at the enumeration of his losses in the past, neglected his duty, and the boat striking a hidden obstruction was capsized, and both its occupants were struggling in the water. The boatman now became the interrogator, and shouted to the Pro fessor, " Can you swim " "No, I cannot," he replied. " Then, said the boatman, "the WHOLE - of your life is lost." It is to be hoped that the boatman, after the learned Professor had become fully sen sible of the utility of a knowledge of the art of swimming, gave the necessary help to save his companion.