Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 September 1888 — Hints to Swimmers. [ARTICLE]

Hints to Swimmers.

No sensible man would attempt to run as far as his strength would permit if, at the limit of his endurance, he knew that he must go through an equal amount of violent exercise to save his life. Yet foolish men and foolish boys daily try to see how far they oan swim, put their lives in peril, and alarm and worry the spectators on shore by their exhausted efforts to return. The first dip is especially dangerous, and the expert “who knows that he can make the second buoy because he did it last year” had better rest content in his confidence, and try some shorter and safer trip for his first dip of the season. The agitation to which sensitiveminded people are subjected almost daily on the beaches of our seaside resorts by the folly of bathers is cruel in extreme. To see a human being struggling in full view, in peril of his life, w’hile the spectator is helpless, is sufficient shock to ruin the pleasure of a hard-earned holiday. Perhaps thought for the feelings of others, if care for their own lives is not sufficient, may prevent a few of those foolhardy exhibitions with which the visitors to the broadwalks or the piers are entertained at the seashore. Almost all the deaths from drowning result either from heart failure or cramp, not from failure of skill or muscular exercise. To remain in the water till one is chilled through—blue, trembling, chattering—is to invite cramp. It is a signal that the blood from the surface has retreated to the central citadels and that the blood strain on these is at danger mark. Such exercise is not a benefit to the health, but a distinct harm. A sand bath for all who suffer thus is far more strengthing. When the internal organs are already congested with blood, is, of course, the worst possible time to expose them to the increased strain of bathing. The interior organs are gorged with blood engaged in the wonderful process of nutrition. To throw an extra pressure of blood upon them is not merely to stop these delicate processes, but, of course, to so disarrange the balance of the circulation as to put any weak point in the anatomy in grave peril.—Philadelphia Ledger. Berlin, it seems, has gradually become the headquarters of the carved wood industry, supplanting Switzerland. Six hundred artists in woodcarving, the same number of turners and 700 carpenters are engaged in manufacturing such articles as cigar cases, newspaper and picture frames, napkin rings, etc. The value of the annual export of these articles is given as 5,000,000 marks, and this is exclusive of the costly carved wood furniture, the manufacture and export of which are assuming large proportions. Edward Manning, who lives in the town of Keosauqua, near Keokuk, is the richest man in all Io wo.