3 i 4 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FARM 



shoals where beginners may learn, and a deep hole for the 

 skillful to plunge in, and a clean bank on which to come out 



and dress. The only 

 necessary artificial 

 equipment is a spring 

 board, to aid in making 

 spectacular plunges. 



FIG. 138. Poor modern alternatives. i +''* 



And if it have, slop- 

 ing into the water, a soft clay bank down which bare feet 

 may slide, or a black sticky mud, suitable for bodily 

 decorations, it is especially well endowed by nature. 

 Where else on earth is there so simple an equipment capable 

 of fostering so much unalloyed pleasure, or of so effectively 

 putting "every care beyond recall?" 



There is so much to learn at the swimming hole ! Floating, 

 and diving, and ducking, and staying under, and springbroad 

 plunges, and swimming in all positions and with all the 

 strokes ; and every new feat mastered and well and publicly 

 performed, adds so to one's standing and respectability and 

 influence in the swimming-hole community it must be 

 real education! 



FIG. 139. "Every care beyond recall" 



