HOW TO KEEP FROM DROWNING.
Every one knows that the body can be made to float by a competent swimmer, but not so many are aware of the fact that the human body will float by itself without assistance, if properly managed. The body is lighter than its own bulk of water, but only slightly lighter. If, then, it be allowed to sink as far as it will, some portion will remain above the surface. If all but the face be submerged, the nose and mouth will protrude. But if the arms be raised and flung about, the head will naturally sink. To properly balance the body in floating, the swimmer should lie on his back in the water, with his hands extended above his head in the line of the body; this serves to balance the feet, which would otherwise sink and bring the body into an upright attitude, making it necessary for the head to be thrown back in an excessively uncomfortable position in order to keep the mouth and nose above the surface. But if any small floating article can be gotten, floating is without difficulty. What country boy ever learns how to swim without a board? A little board, three or four inches wide and two or three feet long, under his chest, was ample to enable him to float as he paddled around and unconsciously acquired confidence in his own power and an acquaintance with the maneuvers of the swimmer. Anything that will float may be of advantage. The life preserver is the elaboration of the swimming board, nothing more. When a person falls into the water, he is ordinarily sure to rise again, and when he rises, he invariably grasps at anything within reach—“Drowning men catch at straws” is an old proverb that is always true. So, any available floating material, such as boxes, boards, oars, sticks of wood, etc., should be thrown into the water near where the drowning person has fallen. On shipboard the traditional conduct is to throw over a chicken coop. If the drowning person can be reached, the bystanders should extend to him an oar, a fish pole, a bough from a tree, or throw him a bit of rope or something of the kind. Professor Esmarch says that an old sea captain told him that he had saved many lives by pulling off his coat and holding it by one sleeve, throwing the other or the coat tails to the drowning person. If the accident is due to the breaking of thin ice, it is often possible to slide out to the sufferer something that will distribute his weight over the ice, such as a board or a ladder. In passing over thin ice it should be remembered that when the body lies flat on the frozen surface, it is much less liable to break through than when the weight is concentrated, as in standing erect.—Christian Advocate.