1 88 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE . 
could give me greater delight than to accompany him 
in tliis way. 
,k During every year several large circuses visited 
our town. Every performance found me sitting in the 
front row, with my 
eyes sparkling as I 
applauded the 
prowess of the acro- 
bats and the riders. 
Those supple young 
girls who seemed to 
fly rather than leap 
through the air. or 
A SPLENDID DIVE 
to be carried on one 
toe, poised with grace 
and skill upon the 
horse’s back as on a 
pedestal — how 1 
e n v i e d them 
dreamed of them ! 
One day I begged my 
father to send me 
to the circus to take 
lessons, and — he was 
so good to me — he 
agreed. Every 
among the empty 
benches, I 
learned 
the secrets 
of the 
flight and 
the somer- 
sault. 
Then, 
waters of 
PUNCHING THE HALL. 
From Photographs by Rol and Brainier. 
SWIMMING ACROSS 
'1' H E GULF O F 
NAPLES. 
when summer came, the clear 
the Moselle attracted me, and 
1 was only a tiny tot when I began to 
bathe and swim. One day at Metz I was 
nearly drowned. I was only five years old, 
but 1 remember it as if it were yesterday, 
yet I did not feci any 
fear of the water in con- 
sequence. 
e< I hardly like to 
speak of my successes; 
it seems so vain. But 
since I am being inter- 
viewed, well, T suppose 
I must tell you all about 
them. 
“ In 1907, in the ten-mile swimming races 
in Paris, on July 23rd, I was able to beat the 
record n\ade by Miss Kellermann, at her first 
trial, of five hours ten minutes, for I covered 
the track in four hours eight minutes. In 
the following year I won the first prize for 
swimming at Toulouse. I have also to my 
credit the match at the lake of Gerardmer 
and the one at Pallanza in the Borromean 
Islands in two hours and three-quarters. 
The latter match took place at night, in quite 
unforeseen circumstances. The colonel of an 
Italian regiment stationed in this town heard 
of my project, and ordered out a number of 
gondolas, bearing the regimental band, to 
accompany me, and I shall never forget this 
swim on an enchanted lake under a clear moon, 
to the strains of inspiring music, both of the 
waves and of the military band. 
c * 1 heard another kind of music in the Gulf 
of Naples during the thirteen miles which 
it took me to cross from Capri to the Italian 
shore. For three days a great storm had 
prevented boats from entering the Grotte 
d’Azur in Capri. All tourists were kept back, 
and I grew tired of waiting. In spite of the 
terror of my Italian guide, 1 plunged into the 
Gulf and made mv way to the mysterious 
hollow of the Grotte d’Azur. 
I was always crazy about aquatic sports ; 
they are so good for developing the muscles 
