CHAPTER VI 



Edna Takes Swimming Lessons 



"Edna, can you swim? I was just talking to 

 William about damming up the brook and making 

 a good swimming-hole near the house. It would be 

 line to take a cool plunge and a few fast strokes in 

 the morning and late in the afternoon when we 

 stop work." 



*'No, I'm sorry to say I can't, but I'd love to 

 learn. I think girls ought to know how to swim." 



"That settles it, William, we'll build the dam at 

 once. The water is already three feet deep in that 

 level place we were looking at and it ought to be 

 easy to raise it a couple of feet." 



When it came to the actual building of the dam, 

 William found that his experience was much more 

 reliable than Henry's theory, but they got along 

 splendidly together, and soon had the work com- 

 pleted. Edna was a little timid at first, but after a 

 few attempts she became braver than her progress 

 warranted. Her example evidently had a power- 

 ful effect on Snowball, who stood watching her on 

 the bank opposite the deepest part. 



"Snowball sim!" they heard him exclaim, as he 



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