WHERE THE NON-SWIM MER CAN SWIM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7731, 15 June 1903, Page 2

WHERE THE NON-SWIM MER CAN SWIM.

A TOPER'S PARADISE.

You need no knowledge of swimming to be able- to swim in the Droitwich baths (says a writer in "Pearson's Magazine"). The trouble is how you are to rink, paradoxical though this may seem.

You can sit on the water, floa.t on it, almost rest your elbows on the top and go to sleep, as though you were in a hammock beneath, an apple tree. The better swimmer you are the worse you will fare, for the moment you try to show off your feet fly up, and it is a hundred to one that you will receive — well, to put it mildly, a not too gentle emetic. And woe betide you, unhappy wight, if you get the briny fluid in your oye. You will at once make the best of your smarting way to the side- of the 'bath, and tip a can of fresh water over your head to take the aforesaid teye out of the pickle. The authorities are kind enough to shed cuns for tipping all round the margin of the baths.

On emerging from the bath, if you wish to try the strength of the brine, do not dry yourself. Let the brine crystallise oil you. This is snid to he excellent in the case of those suffering from aneemia or neuralgia. Most elaborate patterns can be worked out in a network over the face. Droitwich is fast becoming like Nantwich, its Cheshire rival. That is to say, in the lower parts of the quaint- old-fashioned town the foundations of the houses are sinking beneath the ravages of the mines. Salt "is the toper's ally. Perhaps that accounts for the fact that there are a great many publichouses in Droitwich. .To those desirous of cultivating a really useful thirst we can giv-e no better advice than to visit Droitwich with all speed.