On the first day of June the public swimming-baths in New York city were opened for the season. It is only a few years since the "City Fathers," as the Board of Aldermen are sometimes called, came to see the advantage of providing places where those of their children whose lives are passed in crowded tenement-houses and hot, dirty streets could wash and be clean. The aldermen built schools and paid teachers, and thought they had done their duty; but cleanliness is next to godliness, and health is even more important than reading and writing. The bath-tub is not in great favor with persons who have not been brought up to it, but every boy and girl likes to paddle about in the water in hot weather; and where there is a chance to swim, very few will long be content with paddling. Swimming is natural to most land animals, and a man could swim as readily as they but that he lacks confidence. It is very easily learned, however, and when learned, how delightful and healthy an accomplishment it is! and to what noble deeds does it not open the way!

You will read in the newspapers from time to time of persons who have risked their lives to stop runaway horses, or to rescue helpless persons from an awful death in a burning house; but the heroes who have distinguished themselves by saving life in the water far outnumber those; for among a travelling people such as ours, danger by water is much more frequent than fires, or any other situations where the act of a single person may save life. Prince Bismarck, the great German Chancellor, may cover the breast of his uniform with medals and stars and orders of knighthood; but the decoration which he wears most frequently, and values more highly than all, is a medal which he received for rescuing his groom from drowning many years ago.

There is a story of a loving and overcautious mother who forbade her children to go into the water until they had learned to swim. Of course it is impossible for any one to swim before he has had an opportunity of trying; but in the absence of a teacher, a beginner will learn much more easily if he studies the positions and movements as given in the following hints. The first rule in learning to swim is, take things coolly. Remember that you can swim naturally if you can only put aside all nervousness and excitement.

Salt-water is the best to swim in on account of its greater buoyancy, but it is very difficult to learn in the surf. If you bathe in still or running water, be careful to choose a place free from weeds, and with a hard bottom, sloping gradually down to deep water. Be cautious about holes which would take you over your head, especially when bathing in an unknown place. Never venture out into deep water trusting to corks or life-belts to keep you afloat. Such help will never teach you to swim, and may lead you into danger. You need have no fear of taking cold in the water; but if you stay in long enough to get chilled, you will most likely take cold when you come out.

If you find that you do not get warm as soon as you are dressed, you may be sure you have staid in the water too long, and your bath has done you more harm than good.

It is a great mistake to think that swimming is a sport solely for men and boys; for not only do those girls who learn to swim enjoy doing so, but it is quite as important for girls to know how to swim as for boys. Nearly every large city is provided with swimming-baths, private and public, where every facility is afforded for swimming and learning to swim. In New York city there are seventeen of these baths, nine of them private, to which a small admission fee is charged, and eight of them public. In the private baths certain compartments are always reserved for women and girls, and the public baths are devoted to their use on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

On the preceding page are a number of sketches made by Mrs. Shepherd in one of the largest of these public baths. Some of the girls who visit these baths become very expert swimmers, and think nothing of taking a flying leap from the roof of the bath-house, swimming the entire length of the bath under the water, and doing other feats that appear very wonderful to the little ones just learning to swim by the aid of lines made fast to their waists.

ENTERING THE WATER.

Enter the water until as deep as your waist, when you can stoop and duck your head and the rest of your body; then advancing until the water reaches to your breast, turn your face toward the shore. This direction is given to increase your confidence, as you must remember that as you advance you are getting into shallower water.

Leaning gradually forward, extend your arms, keeping your hands together sideways, the thumbs close together, and the palms slightly turned from you; and just as your chin touches the surface of the water, draw a long breath, at the same time bringing your hands round toward your sides. If you do this steadily and regularly, you will find your feet leave the bottom, and that you have succeeded in supporting yourself. You may not do this at the first attempt, or even at the second or third; but that will be because your heart has failed you, and you have made the motion too quickly or irregularly.

If you have not yet acquired that perfect confidence necessary to enable you to become a swimmer, you may at first allow one foot to touch the ground; but if you find you can manage without doing so, so much the better.

THE STROKE.

At the same time that you bring your arms back to your sides, you must draw up your legs, and extending your arms again as in the first movement, strike your feet out steadily behind you.

The action of the legs in swimming is most important. The strokes should come from the knees, not from the hips, the feet spreading wide apart, and striking backward and downward, in order to obtain the greatest amount of resistance from the water, and the ankle-joints firm.

When you have learned the stroke with the arms and that with the legs, you are able to swim. Always make your strokes with steadiness, and not too rapidly, taking a fresh breath every time you strike out. After all, you will find hard-and-fast rules on this subject are not of much use, as you will soon naturally breathe at the right time.

SWIMMING ON THE BACK.

In order to swim on your back, you must, of course, first turn over. This is done exactly as you turn in bed. Drop the arm and leg opposite to the side to which you turn, and embrace, as it were, the water with the other. This movement seems very difficult, but it is a perfectly natural one, and you have only to obey the impulse of your will in order to perform it.

Having turned over, let your head lie well back, no other part of your body being out of the water, the hands close to the hips, and then strike out with the feet as directed in your first lesson in breast swimming.

In swimming on your back you can use your hands in various ways, as you may desire to go faster or slower. If in no haste, merely paddling with them by the sides of your hips will greatly assist, or you can push them down from the waist toward your thighs, bringing them back edgewise, so as to offer as little resistance as possible to the water. But the greatest speed while swimming on your back is to be attained by stretching both hands as far as possible out of the water behind your head, and bringing them with a rapid sweep edgewise into the water again, opposing your palms to the water, so as to get as great a pressure as possible. You can, of course, at the same time use your legs, though you can progress by the use of your arms alone, but with nothing like the same speed.

RESTING—FLOATING.

In swimming you often want to rest yourself, and this is done by change of action. It is surprising the amount of relief a tired swimmer finds by merely changing the manner of progression; the different sets of muscles it brings into play afford ease to those he had hitherto been using; in fact, in long distances this is one way in which a swimmer has moments of rest.

The greatest change is naturally that from vigorous exertion to perfect repose, that is, floating. In order to float, keep your head well back, and straighten your legs, which will naturally drop a little downward; you can either stretch your arms behind your head, or if you are really floating to rest yourself, and not merely trying to lie flat on the water, you can cross them behind your back.

In this latter position they give increased buoyancy to the head and upper part of the body, and you will find it also enables you to breathe more freely, and to look around you.

SIDE SWIMMING.

For a short distance the greatest speed can be attained by swimming on the side.

Start in the usual manner on your breast, and, when off, incline to your right side, presenting that side of your head and that arm to the water, striking out with it to the full extent, the motion of your legs continuing the same as when starting; but your left shoulder being now out of the water, your left arm must be used by being thrown out as far as you can, without stretching, and drawn back as you make your stroke, the hand being hollowed; the action is, in fact, that of pulling yourself through the water.

If you follow our directions, and keep up your courage, you will have gained such confidence that you will no longer have any dread of the water, and will be able to swim on your face, your back, and your side, as well as to rest yourself by a change from one style to another, or by floating.

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[Continued from Harper's Young People No. 92, August 2.]