NEGLECTED SWIMMING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 55, 28 November 1907, Page 3

NEGLECTED SWIMMING.

'[ That every child should know how to "swim is the merest truism. Like many such, it is difficult to make those in authority, believe it. A. survey of any .crowd of working boys and girls giTes ns" food for reflection. Far too large.a percentage is undersized, anaemic, and nnbalanced.". . ,Tlie . encouragemont of , Bwimming would speedily effect improvement. 1 In one of the leading American colleges careful statistics of students who'have taken to swimming 'have.'b'een: kept. ■ It' was 7 found' after. • '?eyen '• "weeks!- work,- an . hour ■or so. four days a week being devoted to swimming, that these young men had gained, on the'average, a.'quarter'. of "an in'cn ill height, 'eight pounds in weight, ; and 24, cubic inches in lung capacity. Any visitfir: to 'tho local baths when oqhaticsportsifor'.girls; are in progress,' neter fads to ,be . impressed.-by the excellent physique of the competitors. In many instances, girls whose'condition, has bordered on invalidism ■ have into* strong arid comely young people! Every summer has its unliappy record, of: deaths' froiri drowning, deaths in most instances due to ignorance of the art of sfitriming. . Bad as that record is, however, it i 6 trivial - compared with the number of beys and, girls who fail of proper development be' cause.the matter of rational and natbnnl tx erpise is accorded such scant consideratbii., - ■ THE LOSS OF THE POCKET. In bygone'days, before the tyranny, of fa•hiori forbade'the luxury of pockets' to ladies,' iti iyas.,'customary for godfathers and godinothers to present children with coins that were to.-bp'-'kept as "pocket pieces." "Always keep it .in; your pocket, my dear, and v it will draw more,!'used to be:the sage admonition. ' • ; Women who livo only to. amiise themselves have;little need of pockets, though.even they must confess to a terrible luss of pockct-h'and-kercliiefs. wTiich. aro' only tucked into'sleeves' or vests by way of makeshift, but women who exercise a profession, or in any way have to earn- their own bread and butter, are ter-ribly-handicapped for want of pockets. The ever-handy little.bag does not supply the lack, bccauso'no-mortal can retain perpetual hold ph.it. Madame, leaves it on her dressing table, in.;ber "top drawer," on the ..dining-room sideboard, or in the comfortable Morris chair where she-rests after a' morning's shopping. Consequently her tools arc never at hand. And it is wel| if she does not drop it in train or street car, especially when it contains her railway ticket and all her available cash. But the woman who has a dress pocket is never at a loss for pen or pencil, or the wellnigh indispensable penknife. It may even contain her thimble and some apology for her grandmother's "hussif," which enables'her to sew on-a glove button when necessary She may not trust her purse to it, but i't holds her handkerchief and. somotimes her cardcase. The card-cases of the day are so limp that they take up but little .space, and the convenience of having a card always at hand is obvious. The country lady of a generation or two ago always had a silvor ..fruit knife in hor pocket, with a clasp like' a larger penknife and used it to peel the peach or apricot that she'gathered in her walks round the garden. It was a capital present, too, for niece or hor godchild. And long after the housewife abandoned" the nutmeg box and gr/iter which when nutmegs were costly and precious, was always, to be found in her pocket; she'eherished a gold or silvor vinaigrette, with its tiny sponge soaked in'aromatic vinegar, which was so useful when; a friend had "the megrims" or felt faint in a warm room or neverventilated church. And, by the'way, the vinaigrette has been revived in the present year of. grace, and is an extromely pretty toy," not without its uses, even though the up-to-date girl is an .-athlete and very liitlo given to faiiitiiig, as was the willowy maiden • of' for-' nior ana less strenuous clays.