Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/175

 together closely. This is the best style for speed and can be acquired by any person who can swim in a very short time. A great deal depends on keeping time, the hands and feet moving together, or, to put it plainer, to kick the legs as the arms are being extended for the stroke and draw up the legs just as it (the stroke) is made. I have often thought that it would be much easier to teach swimming if good music was going on, for, like everything else it is best done to time.

—I believe many authorities advise breathing at every third stroke. My advice is to breathe just as naturally as at other times, and encourage your pupils to talk or whistle while swimming. The breath has a great deal to do with the bouyancybuoyancy [sic] of the body. For instance, boys often, just for fun, let all the breath out of their lungs to see how fast they will sink. The body goes down like a stone, and in teaching swimming the most difficult pupils are those who hold their breath. It is just as easy to breathe naturally while swimming as while running, though most beginners try to hold their breath, and for this reason I always tell them to talk or whistle in the water, as they then forget themselves. When beginning with a pupil place the right hand under the chest and let her use her arms and legs in that position right across the bath, you walking beside and keeping her perfectly level, not one moment higher out than another. The position should be pretty low in the water. A pupil is very much lighter and easier to manage low in the water. Indeed, I have held as heavy as fourteen stone and even more than that without the least exertion with the one hand. When beginning, say for the first two lessons, the chin can be supported by the left hand, but not after, because if given the habit the pupil gets used to it and holds her head badly. I never do it except in cases where they swim very low. Some people swim very high out of the water, caused through a particular formation of the neck or chest I think, but the lowest swimmers are, as a rule, the best for long distances. Once the pupil has mastered the stroke and leg action together, which should be in about four or five lessons, put her on the pole which is an excellent appliance for use in deep water. The pole is about five or six feet long, any carpenter can make one. It must be strong and light,fitted at the top with a ring and in the centre a small brass staple to which is attached a few inches of chain, steel or brass, the latter is best because it will not rust, but it must be strong. On to the end of a chain is a split hook or ring to snap into the ring on the belt. The belt is made of wide webbing, just like a saddle girth in miniature, with a strap in the middle of the back to hold a strong ring, so that when buckled in front and the chain snapped on to the ring the pupil represents a fish on a rod