"Ready," the umpire, who is on the shore or at some convenient point,
throws an inflated bladder between the opposite sides. The object of
the players is to send the bladder over the enemy's goal, and the
rules are very simple. It is foul to interfere with an opponent by
putting your hands on him, it is foul to use more than one hand in
handling the bladder, but you may swim in front of a man, dive under
him, in fact "interfere" in every way you can. Each goal counts one
point, and five points make a game.

TUB RACES

One might suppose that this would come under the head of boating, but
one would be mistaken, for it properly belongs to swimming, as any one
who has witnessed or taken part in such a race will tell you.

Each contestant supplies himself with an ordinary washtub. At the word
"Go!" he places it in the water, climbs in as best he can, and paddles
with his hands for the taw line. This is great fun, and if one out of
ten gets through he may count himself fortunate. He may not succeed a
second time and will not if the others can help it.

When I was a boy we had no end of sport in running and diving from a
springboard. This, as you know, is a long, strong board--the longer
the better--one end of which is firmly fixed in the bank and weighted
with logs or stones; but no matter how weighted you must see to it
that it does not get out of balance.

The free end projects over the water at any desired angle, and care
must be taken at the start to see that there are no stones or snags
from which harm may come below the surface.