the swimmer actually supports a considerable weight in the air, and might just as well hang some four or five pounds weight of lead round his neck. In the second place, he tires his arms most needlessly by forcing them to perform a totally unnecessary action. They will have quite enough work to do in making the ordinary stroke, without adding to them the labor of supporting the head above water.

The very principle on which all swimming is founded is that of making the water support the body, and, therefore, of supporting every part of the body by the water. If even a finger be lifted above the surface, the unsupported weight of that finger tends to press the body under water. A showy or "high" swimmer may look very well to an inexperienced eye, and may take the fancy like those lofty-actioned trotting horses, which are so appropriately called "flat-catchers."

But there is no endurance about either one or the other; and it may be assumed as a self-evident fact that if two persons of equal strength enter in a match of any athletic exercise, and that one uses exertions which the other does not employ, the former will be tired sooner than the latter.

So our advice to our readers is: First practise the stroke quietly and repeatedly, putting down the feet after each stroke is completed. Then try to manage two strokes without putting the feet to the ground. Then try three strokes, and so on, until you can make some four or five strokes without distressing yourself.

Having achieved thus much, make your mind easy. You have conquered the art of swimming. If you can make five strokes, you can make fifty, provided that you do not hurry them in trying to cover too much water at each stroke. Should you feel yourself getting tired, or if a feeling of nervousness should come over you, the remedy is easy enough. Turn on your back, and paddle along quietly until your arms are rested. Then turn over and proceed on your course. So important is this one rule, that we repeat it again: Do NOT HURRY YOUR STROKE. It is hardly possible for the learner to be too slow. One very good plan of learning a long and steady stroke is to try in how few strokes a given distance can be traversed.

In connection with the ordinary breast-stroke we must mention one very important point, namely, the manner of taking breath. If the swimmer lies, as he should lie, as low as possible in the water, he will find that at each stroke the water reaches to his lips, and will sometimes curl even over his nostrils.

If, therefore, he were to take an inspiration while he is making the stroke, he would immediately draw some water into his lungs, and the only result would be that he would begin to choke and to cough, and would probably sink.

But, if he makes a habit of expeiling the air from his lungs as he makes the stroke, he need fear no danger of the kind, for the expelled air will drive away the water, and even if his nostrils should be covered, they would not take in one slight drop. It naturally follows that the proper time to take breath is while the arms are just beginning to make the stroke, and when the force of the leg-stroke is almost expended.

The Side Stroke.

This is so called because the swimmer lies on his side. There is no stroke that enables the swimmer to last so long as this does, and for this reason: instead of employing both arms and legs simultaneously in the same manner, the side stroke employs them simultaneously but in different manners; so that when the swimmer is tired of exercising one side, he can just turn over and proceed with the other, the change of action resting the limbs almost as much as actual repose would do.

The side stroke is thus managed.

The swimmer lies on his right side, stretching his right arm out as far as he can reach, keeping the fingers of the right hand quite straight and the hand itself held edgewise, so as to cut the water like a shark's fin. The left hand is placed across the chest, with the back against the right breast, and the swimmer is then ready to begin.

He commences by making the usual stroke with his legs, and the right leg. being undermost, doing the greater share of the work. Before the impetus gained by the stroke is quite expended, the right arm is brought round with a broad sweep, until the palm of the hand almost touches the right thigh. At the same moment, the left hand makes a similar sweep, but is carried backwards as far as it can go.

The reader will see that the hands act directly upon the water like the blades of a pair of oars, and do not waste any of their power by oblique action.

In ordinary swimming we seldom use the left arm, but allow it to hang quietly in the water, so that it may be perfectly ready for work when wanted. Then. after some little time, we turn round, swim on the other side, and give the left arm its fair share of labor.

There is a modification of swimming on the side, which is sometimes called THRUSTING, and sometimes the INDIAN STROKE, because the North American Indians generally employ it.

These terms are rather vaguely employed, but the former is generally used when the swimmer thrusts his arm forward, and the latter when he swings it. In performing this stroke, the swimmer starts upon his right side, and sweeps his right hand through the water, as above mentioned. While that arm is passing through the water, the left arm is swung just above the surface with a bold sweep, the hand dipping into the water when the arm is stretched to its utmost. This movement brings the body over to the left side, when the two hands change duties, the left being swept under the body while the right is swung forward.

Treading Water.

This is employed when the swimmer wishes to raise his head as high out of the water as possible, and is particularly useful if he is reconnoitring, or if he ist trying to save a drowning person, or if he wishes to grasp a bough or a rope above his head. The best method of making the stroke is as follows: Keep

the body perpendicular, and make precisely the same stroke with the legs as is done in ordinary swimming. This action will keep the head freely out of the water, and if assisted by the hands the body will rise as far as the shoulders.

Some persons literally "tread" the water, striking each foot alternately as if they were ascending a staircase. We have thoroughly tried both methods, and much prefer the former.

Swimming Like a Dog.

The name of this method explains itself. The swimmer lies on his chest, and moves his hands and legs alternately, exactly as a dog does when swimming.

The chief use in this stroke is that it affords a change of action to the muscles, and if the swimmer has to traverse any considerable distance, say a mile or two, he will find that a few occasional minutes employed in swimming like a dog will be very useful in relieving the strain on the muscles of both legs and arms.

Having become tolerably expert at these exercises, the young swimmer should now learn to support and propel himself, first, without his hands, and next, without his legs.

He should therefore place the hands along the sides of the body, sink the legs much deeper than in ordinary swimming, and make a succession of strokes with the legs. These strokes should be much shorter and quicker than are used when the hands are at liberty.

Next, suppose that the hands are tied at the wrists, and that the swimmer is a manacled captive trying to escape across a moat. Press the hands tightly together, with the fingers close to each other, and the whole hand made as flat as possible. Turn slightly on the left side, making the ordinary stroke with the legs, and bring the hands towards the left hip with a quick sweep, taking care to part them from it as soon as the stroke is made.

Then, try to swim without the legs. Allow the feet to hang as low as they like, keep the head well back, and make the ordinary stroke with the hands. But, instead of merely bringing them back, press them down at every stroke, so as to lift the chin well out of the water. This is a very slow business, but still it should be practised, as the swimmer may happen to disable his legs and ought to know how to manage without them.

Lastly, he should learn to swim when both hands and feet are tied together. This feat is a very superior one, and always elicits much applause from spectators, being what is technically named a "gallery" stroke. Yet it is really very easy, and can be performed by any one who has practised the two former exercises. Hold the hands together, as already mentioned, and press the feet together at the ankles. Then, giving short, sharp strokes, the hands and feet working about, but not quite simultaneously.

If you are performing this feat before spectators, add to the effect by tying the hands and feet with handkerchiefs. Swimming is not made more difficult by the ligatures, while the appearance of difficulty is very much increased.

Diving.

Having now tolerably mastered the surface of the water, the learner must proceed to explore its depth. It is, of course, a great thing to be able to support the body in the water; but the swimmer's education is only half completed until he knows how to dive. Many lives have been saved by the ability to dive, many have been lost from its absence.

The first object is to keep the eyes open while under water. In order to do this, sink yourself well under the surface, hold your hand before your face, and try to look at it. Don't be afraid of water getting into the eyes. A chance drop of fresh water flirted into the eyes will make them smart, but you may keep your eyes open even in salt water as long as you like without the least irritation.

When the young swimmer has learned that he really can keep his eyes open under water, he should drop to the bed of the sea or river, where it is about four feet in depth, some white object-one of the well-known alabaster eggs used for deluding sitting hens, is as good an object as can be found. Still, a lump of chalk, a thick gallipot, or anything of a like nature, will do very well. Now, try to stop and lift the egg, and you will find two results. The first is that the egg will look as large as a hat, and the second is, that you will find very great difficulty in getting to it.

Now, try another way of getting to the egg. Drop it as before, spring up as high as the waist, bend your body well forward, throw the feet in the air, and try to reach the egg, head foremost. At first you will find this rather difficult, but after a little practice, it will come easily enough. Be careful to stand at

some little distance from the egg, or you will overshoot it. Next drop the egg, go back some eight or ten yards, swim towards the object, and dive for the egg, from the swimming posture. This is not very easy at first on account of the difficulty in getting the chest below the surface. If, however, the legs are thrown well up in the air, the weight forces the body under

water.

The next object is to try how far the swimmer can proceed under water. Swimming under water is managed in nearly the same manner as swimming on the surface. But in order to counteract the continual tendency upwards, the swimmer must always keep his feet considerably higher than his head, so that each stroke serves to send him downwards as well as forwards.

One of the chief difficulties in diving is to keep a straight course, because there is seldom anything under water by which to steer. In a river, when the water is clear, it is generally easy to look upwards and watch the trees, posts, or other objects on the banks; but in the sea it is very different business, and the swimmer must have learned to make his stroke with great regularity before he can dive in a straight line.

It is hardly possible to give too much time to diving. The learner should

frst take nothing but easy diving, such as have been mentioned, and then try to achieve more difficult feats. He should learn to dive at a considerable distance from any object, swim towards it by guess, and try to bring it to the surface. He should throw two, three, or more eggs into the water, and try how many he can recover at a single dive. When he has attained a sufficient mastery over the water, he should stand on the bank, or in a boat, throw an egg into the water, dive after it, and catch it before it reaches the bottom.

IN-DOOR AMUSEMENTS.

HAVING given practical instructions respecting the principal out-door games and sports, we will now call the reader's attention to a few of the most interesting in-door games and plays.

Chess.

Chess is one of the most ancient of known games of skill. Mr. Drummond, a writer on the game of draughts, asserts that draughts is the "elder sister of Chess," which he properly describes as "the thinking game;" but, however that may be, there is indisputable evidence that Chess was known in the most remote periods. Various theories are advanced as to its origin. One account states that the wife of Ravan, King of Ceylon, devised it in order to amuse her royal spouse with an image of war while his metropolis was closely besieged by Rania. There are at least a dozen claimants for the honor of the invention, but all the accounts of the origin of "the thinking game" are attended with more or less uncertainty. This much, at any rate, can safely be said: that it originated in the East many hundreds of years before the Christian era, and that, like civilization, it travelled westward. The date of its introduction into Europe is involved in almost as much mystery as its origin. Some writers suppose it to have been introduced in the twelfth century, while other very respectable authorities inform us that the Emperor Charlemagne, who died in the early part of the ninth century, was a chess-player. The game was much practised by the monks of old, and one can imagine that it would serve to pass many solitary hours away in a pleasant and beneficial manner. To the monks, by the way, we owe the fact that our chess-boards are still made in the form of books, with the mock-titles of "Rollin's Ancient History," "History of China," etc., etc. Chess was forbidden in the monasteries, but the monks, ir order that they might clandestinely indulge in their favorite game, and at the