It is a very fine method, yes . . . but . . . well, if it was
my boy I had just as lief he tarried with the little white monkeys
at the river's edge. Let him squeal and crouch and splash and learn
how to half drown the other fellow by shooting water at him with the
heel of his hand. Let him alone. He will be watching the others
swim. He will edge out a little farther and kick up his heels while
with his hands he holds on the ground. He will edge out a little
farther still and try to keep his feet on the bottom and swim with
his hands. Be patient in his attempt to combine the two methods of
travel. He is not the only one that fears to be one thing or the
other, and regards a mixture of both as the safest way to get along.
No, I cannot say that I wholly approve of the sudden method of
learning to swim. It has the advantange of lumping all the scares
of a lifetime into one and having it over with, and yet I don't
suppose the scare of being thrown into the water by one's daddy is
really greater than being ducked in mid-stream by some hulking,
cackle-voiced big boy. It seems greater though, I suppose, because
a fellow cannot very well relieve his feelings by throwing stones
at his daddy and bawling: "Goldarn you anyhow, you - you big stuff!
I'll get hunk with you, now you see if I don't!" Here would be just
the place to make the little boy tie knots in the big boy's
shirt-sleeves, soak the knots in water, and pound them between stones.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114