by your sides and your legs close together and extended.

Don't expect to float like a life boat at the first try, for you are
not built along life boat lines; but if you stick at it, and make the
experiment at least once every time you go in swimming, you will float
well before the summer is over.

GOING IN

If you know the water, the best way to enter it is by a quick plunge
or a straight dive.

To walk into the water and "duck" is rather an ignominious proceeding,
only to be excused in the novice or the lady bather we see at our
watering-places bobbing up and down at the end of a rope. The swimmer
should not rest content until he is able to plunge in like a workman;
but first, a word of caution! Never attempt to dive unless you know
that the water is deep enough for the purpose.

Many serious accidents have occurred from this mistake, notably when
bathing at sea. An incautious plunge from the ship's side into the
sail bath extemporized overboard to ward off any danger from sharks
has resulted fatally to the rash swimmer, and at all times danger
attends rash plunging.

It is, nevertheless, astonishing into what shallow water an expert can
fearlessly dive from a height, his arms and head emerging almost
before the feet have disappeared beneath the surface. The diver needs
to be very quick of hand and eye, and many accidents attest the fact
of the game not being worth the candle.