Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1876 — Going in Swimming. [ARTICLE]

Going in Swimming.

As the warm weather raises the waters of the creeks and rivers of lowa to the temperature so inviting to the boys of the Republic, a few instructive and general suggestions relative to bathing in the streants may prove the means of saving some juvenile lives. Boys are proverbially ask and reckless in almost everything they do, and are so apt to overdo whatever they undertake, except sawing wood or listening the front gate, that tooraoch wholesome advice on the great benefits of abstinence can never be amiss in their cases. And especially is such advice necessary in regard to bathing, for when a hoy makes tip Ms mind to “go swimming,” he thinks of nothing in the world except getting into the water. And every year so many precious lives are endangered, and so much pain and misery, caused by boyish carelessness and thoughtlessness in this respect, that it h

a Solemn and important doty of Journalism to warn the boy* Of the dangers that wait upon bathing parties, and Instruct them how to avoid them. We therefore give a few rales, culled from the pages of personal experience, which. If properly observed by the bo vs of Burlington ana vicinity, may save them, no one can toll, how much misery and suffering. Always ask your motner if you mav go down to the river with the boys to hunt for oorneliana. Mention the names of Johnnie Hildmay, and Willie Simpson, and Albert Bliss, and Theodore Remington, and one or two other notoriously good boys, who always keep their noses clean and wear white collars and have no warts on the back of their hands, as the young gentlemen who are to comprise the party. A judicious and strict adherence to this rule has often obtained the necessary parental permission to visit the river shore, which would otherwise be sternly denied, especially If It should appear that Bill til&mp, and Tom Dobbins, and Jim Bikes and Butch Tinker were the alternates who were expected to represent the delegation first named.

Avoid putting a bar of kitchen soap in vour pocket before you leave home. It frequently gives the oatber away entirely, being quickly missed from the sink, and readily detected about the person. And even if you get it safely to the river, and the first boy who “ soaps himself” does not lose It in twenty feet of water, the “strocky” appearance of your hair, on your return home, instantly betrays the recent and extravagant use of rosin soap, and grave consequences are apt to follow. Besides, you do not really need tne soap, as is attested by your well-known aversion to it at home. If you desire to get up a crowd to go swimming, signify your wishes by holding up your right hand, with the first and second fingers erect and spread apart like a letter V, and as many good boys who are ready, willing and anxious to run away and go with yon, will respond by the same sign, all in the presence of the unsuspecting preceptor, who is a graduate of a private scnool and never had any fun. ..i.: . ..... i Should any boy be so lost to honor as to desire to leave the water before the rest of the crowd wish to do so, he may be easily induced to return to the liquid element by gently tossing a handful of dry sand or dust upon his back, as nearly between the shoulders as may be. If there is a really good, unsophisticated boy in the crowd, the bad boys, by getting dressed first and judiciously applying the sand to him as often as he'“ comes out,” can keep him in the water until his father comes to look for him. Then the next afternoon he goes down with you to the river, you can look at his back, and have your revenge.

If a boy lingers in the water too long, it is sometimes advisable, in order that he may learn to abstain from indulging himself to such an intemperate extent in the future, to tie each sleeve of his shirt in a most terrific hard knot, right at the elbow. When this knot is dipped into the water, and one boy at each end ot the sleeves, braces his teet and pulls for life, it may be drawn so tightly that it cannot be drawn out with a stump machine. „ The boy who belongs to that shirt, after many vain endeavors, is either compelled to cut off the sleeves, or muUit cum lachrymit, go home with it buttoned around his neck and hanging down his back like a drunken apron. This gives him away, had, and the appearance of that weeping boy, plodding timorously and apprehensively homeward through the gloaming, and the variegated aspect of his back the next night, produces such a pleasant impression upon you that for two weeks afterward, as your dear mother looks in at your room door, and sees you smiling in your sleep, she thinks the angels are whispering to you. The most approved method of drying the .hair is to shake it up rapidly with a pine stick. Never comb your hair smoothly before going home, no matter who offers to loan you a pocket comb. A slick head of hair excites suspicion in the family circle on sight. If, at the supper table, the dreadful discovery is made by your mother or sister that your shirt is wrong side out, the bests way to do is to own right up. Excuses are useless, and no mother or father of ordinary intelligence was ever misled by the assertion, however solemnly made, that the shift was turned by reason of the boy too suddenly climbing a fence instead of going through the gate. There are some other rules which might be added to the above, but they are comparatively unimportant, and are so generally known that you can learn them by applying for information to the first bad boy you meet.— Burlington Hawk-Eye.