Harper's Round Table, June 4, 1895 Part 6

Let us look at what happens to the rash swimmer and diver. Probably every one of you has known or heard of some poor over-confident fellow who has lost his life by diving overboard without knowing the depth into which he was plunging. Nothing can be more dangerous. There is a fine swimming-beach at the upper part of the Harlem River, near Farmers'

Bridge, on the Manhattan Island sh.o.r.e. There are bath-houses in plenty, and a long stretch of firm sandy sh.o.r.e. One of the best oarsmen of his year went swimming there a few years ago. He had just come to the end of five months' hard training and racing. During that long period swimming had been forbidden to men in the crew, because it was feared that they might tire themselves out at it, and use up strength that should be applied to rowing. But now the restraints of training were off, and J---- was having a delightful frolic with his friends. He was a strong swimmer and a graceful diver. Running down the beach he splashed out until he was knee-deep in the river, and then gathered himself for a dive. He plunged head first on a sand-bar. His neck was dislocated. He did not live five minutes.

That young man had been swimming from the same place last year. He thought he was familiar with the sh.o.r.e. Really he had forgotten just where it was safe to dive. If he had been cautious enough to ask his comrades, or even to wade out a little further and learn the depth for himself, he would not have lost his life.

Do you think it childish to be cautious? Put away the idea. The bravest men are nearly always the most careful.

"Your Majesty knows not what fear is," said a courtier to King Oscar of Sweden, who had fought in many hand-to-hand battles with wonderful success.

"The man who does not know what fear is," replied the King, "is a fool."

And fear is only another name for over-cautiousness.

"No matter how well you think you know a swimming-place, take nothing for granted. So many changes take place in a year. Sand bars are formed by the tides. If you dive from a pier, how can you know without actually investigating what timber may have been swung loose by the water's action since last year, and be now lurking for you beneath the surface?

And as for swimming in strange water, never do it without learning all you can about the conditions. Henry Guy and I were chumming for bluefish in Fire Island Inlet recently. We had fine luck for a while. Suddenly the bluefish disappeared. After waiting idly a few minutes I began to yearn for a swim. The air was very warm, and the cool, green water was rippling a thousand invitations. Just as I was about to dive off the stern of our cat-boat the skipper touched my arm and shook his head.

"Don't!" he exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"Sharks."

That was all of the conversation. Before I was half dressed the skipper touched my arm and pointed at a long, dark gray object that loafed along against the tide six or eight feet below our keel. It was a shark. My hair bristled. You see it is advisable to know sometimes just where you are "at."

Diving is certainly the best way for you to enter the water--always provided that you know all about its depth. Nothing can be more unhealthful than the dawdling habit of wading out ankle-deep or knee-deep, and waiting to get your courage up. The hot sun beats down on your head. Your feet and legs are in the cool water whose temperature is anywhere from ten to twenty-five degrees lower than that of the air.

You can't remain long under these conditions without injuring yourself.

Nature's plan is to have the head cool and the extremities warm. Go contrary to this, and you are in trouble. Probably most of you can remember having had a headache some time or other from this very cause.

Indeed, physicians will tell you that many attacks of cramps in the water are due to the swimmer's foolish habit of wading in very slowly.

Deranged circulation causes cramps. In places where it is not safe to dive you can easily stoop over and throw a few handfuls of water on your head. Then hurry forward and throw yourself in--fall in. Will other fellows laugh at your precautions? Well, let them laugh, and pay for it with the twinges of cramps. I have been swimming twenty years, and I've never had a cramp, simply because I've followed the rules laid down here.

Never let yourself be frightened in the water. A boy I know found himself far outside of the breakers at Cape May. He swam deep--that is, with his feet far below him--and found that in spite of his efforts he was making no headway, or very little. Instead of howling for help, and using up his strength in struggles that would drown him before help could arrive, he put his wits to work. He soon found that the off-sh.o.r.e current was below the surface, and that at the very top of the water the flow was toward the sh.o.r.e. Thereupon he drew up his legs and swam as near the surface as he could. Even then it was a long swim for a twelve-year-old boy, but he got the beach under his feet at last.

Another boy I know was dragged far out by a "sea-puss" at Long Branch--one of those deadly, swift, sudden currents that pounce on a bather unawares and carry him away from sh.o.r.e. This boy waved his arm and shouted for help. When he saw the men on sh.o.r.e running toward a surf-boat he calmly turned over on his back and devoted all his energies to floating. He had been carried nearly a mile before he was rescued. If either one of these boys had been frightened he probably would have drowned.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PUDDING STICK]

This Department is conducted in the interest of Girls and Young Women, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor.

I heard of a society the other day, a society which has a beautiful name. I am sure you will agree with me about the name when I tell you that it is called "The Cheer and Comfort Society." Its object is to send good reading matter, particularly magazines, papers, and interesting books, to people too poor to obtain them by purchase, and not likely to get them from lending libraries, and the lady who can tell you all about the society and its work is Miss Emily Campbell, of Short Hills, New Jersey.

The sweet words "Cheer" and "Comfort" are repeating themselves in music in my mind as I write. Perhaps you would like to know where I am writing this Pudding Stick letter to you, dear girls. Well, the place is in the country, in a lovely valley with green hills rising around it on every side, and standing like guardian sentinels about the pleasant homes which are scattered over the breezy fields and plains beneath them. The morning is very cool, and the blue sky is just breaking through the heavy clouds which a while ago threatened rain. Wrapped in a shawl, think of it you who are reading this on a day too warm for shawls, and established in a big easy-chair, with my paper resting on a book in my lap, I am thinking of you. I write these little letters almost always in this way; they seem more intimate and confidential than if I sat down beside my desk, and shut my door, and put on a sort of let-me-alone-if-you-please business air. I fancy that most of the letters I receive from you are written in this same easy and friendly way, and that you keep your note-paper in little boxes and portfolios, and perhaps sometimes in a dear old atlas, which makes a delightful portfolio.

To go back to "Cheer" and "Comfort." There are always chances in life to do both, for turn where you will, there are those who are in need of help. Not always bodily help. Often those who have every earthly thing they need--shelter, money, food, clothing, books, all sorts of opportunities--are in want of the heavenly things which "cheer" and "comfort" mean. They are depressed, low in their spirits, sad, and troubled. They are even cross and disagreeable because they are unhappy.

To such persons young people, with bright faces and light hearts, can bring both the cheer that gives courage and the comfort that takes away pain. You haven't to do anything in a grand and heroic fas.h.i.+on either.

Simply be yourselves, and let the gladness that is in you bubble up and overflow, and you will make tired people happier.

Two school-girls sat behind me in a car the other day, chatting together in low voices, and laughing immoderately every few minutes at the happenings of their day. Bless them, the sweet, gay, merry-hearted creatures! The car seemed lonesome after they reached their station, and went tripping along the road up the long hill to their home out of sight from my point of view. Just be yourselves, dears, and you will make older people happy. I sent a loving little word of thanks after my school-girls, for they had been a help to me. If they read the ROUND TABLE, here's a bit meant for them.

One afternoon, pa.s.sing a church on a city street, I read this announcement on a bulletin-board at the door, "The Pleasant Words Society will meet at four o'clock." Wasn't that fine? The "_pleasant_ words" society! Whatever we think of, however we feel, we may speak pleasantly, our words and our tones being in our own control. The effort to speak pleasantly will usually cause us to feel pleasant, and it is pleasant people--people who please--who get together and form societies and clubs. Who ever heard of a Fault-finders Society or a Cross Words Society? Fretful fault-finders have to sit in corners alone.

Another society of which I know is the T.M.D.S., which, being interpreted, is the Ten Minutes a Day Society. This is an a.s.sociation of young girls which requires of its members only that they shall devote ten minutes every day, or sixty minutes every week, to sewing, or in some other way working for orphans and the poor. It sends garments to hospitals and asylums, boxes to home and foreign missions, and accomplishes a wonderful deal of good, by simply using ten minutes of each day in a bit of unselfish work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Signature]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CAMERA CLUB]

This Department is conducted in the interest of Amateur Photographers, and the Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject so far as possible. Correspondents should address Editor Camera Club Department.

PAPERS FOR BEGINNERS, NO. 3.

GETTING READY TO DEVELOP.

If there is one place more than another where one needs to be methodical it is in the dark room. It is lighted but dimly, and groping about for materials or apparatus often results in disaster to that most susceptible of all things, the sensitive plate. One should have his materials so arranged that he can put his hand on any one in the dark.

Besides knowing where the materials are, and always having them in their place, the materials and apparatus used for developing should be placed the same way each time when arranging them for developing. Place the hypo-tray far enough away, and in such a position, that there shall be no danger of getting any of the hypo into the developer. If the water for rinsing the plates is at the right hand of the developing-tray, place the hypo-tray at the left hand of the water. Then in was.h.i.+ng the developer from the plate before placing it in the hypo it will be clear of the developer, and if one is unlucky enough to let the plate slip into the hypo, drops will not spatter into the developer.

Never, under any circ.u.mstances, set a vessel on the floor which contains any liquid beside water. The dismay which has followed an unfortunate step in the dark, when one has set the hypo-tray on the floor with a well-developed plate "fixing" in it, can only be understood and appreciated by the amateur who has been so rash as to invite such a disaster.

Get the water for was.h.i.+ng and rinsing the plates ready first, and if one has running water this means simply attaching the hose to the faucet and getting the was.h.i.+ng box ready. Next fill the hypo-tray and put it in its place, then the developing-trays should be placed in front of the lantern, and the developing solution mixed in the gla.s.s graduate ready for use.

Look at the lantern and be sure that there is enough candle or oil to last during the developing. To be left in darkness with a plate at its most critical point of development is, to say the least, a great annoyance.

See that the dishes are perfectly clean. This should always be attended to after each development. It not only saves time, but the possibility of fresh solutions being spoiled by the decomposing of chemicals left in the trays is thus avoided.

Having everything in readiness--the bottles of restrainer and accelerator where they will be at hand if needed--get the plates which are to be developed. These should be placed on a convenient shelf, or stand where they will be out of the way of liquids, but where they can be easily reached. If the plates are still in the holder, of course they do not need to be covered, as they are already shut away from the light, but if they have been removed from the holders and placed in a box, have a cover from a larger plate box to turn over the box after it is open.

This will prevent fogging the plates, and is easier to adjust than the cover which fits the box.

It is a good plan to provide one's self with light wooden covers a little larger than the trays. These can be made from cigar boxes, and a little white porcelain k.n.o.b, such as druggists use on small drawers, screwed on for handles. The cover for the hypo-tray should have a white band painted across it, or marked in some way by which it may be easily distinguished from the covers for the developing-trays. These covers are very convenient to place over the trays if one wishes to leave the dark room for a moment, or to open the door to admit a little fresh air. They can also be placed over a tray when the plate is first covered with the developer if the plate is extremely sensitive. A screw eye can be put in the end of the cover to hang it up by when not in use.

Having once decided on the most convenient way for arranging the materials for developing, stick to it. The task of finding and using what is needed will soon become mechanical, and the mistakes which occur from a haphazard way of arranging the developing outfit will be avoided.

In the next paper for beginners we shall suggest some home-made appliances for the dark room which have been designed by skilful amateurs for saving time, s.p.a.ce, and money. Any of our amateurs who have improved ways of doing things are requested to send descriptions to the Camera Club. We have already several on hand, which will be published in their appropriate places. When sending a description of home-made apparatus, send a photograph with it if possible.

KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS.

I.--UTHER PENDRAGON, THE FATHER OF ARTHUR.