Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1891 — A Trick In Swimming. [ARTICLE]

A Trick In Swimming.

Says an expert swimmer: “It looks very strange to see a man go under water with a lighted cigar in his mouth, smoke calmly at the bottom and come to the surface with the cigar burning as nicely as if lie were smoking in his easy chair. Apparently he defies all natural laws, but of course he doesn’t. It is a simple trick, but it requires practice. Just as I throw myself backward to go down I flip the cigar end for end wilh my tougue and upper lip and get the lighted end in my mouth, closing my lips watertight around it. A little slippery-elm juice gargled before going in prevents any accidental burning of the mouth. Going slowly down backward, I lie at fill I length on the bottom of thVtank and blow smoke through the cut end of the cigar. Just as I reach the surface again another flip reverses the cigar, and there I am smoking calmly. The r t versing is done so quickly that nobody notices it.”