. Evenings at home, or, The juvenile budget opened : consisting of a variety of miscellaneous pieces for the instruction and amusement of young persons . boat oversets with you both ina deep stream. You plump at once to the bot-tom, and infallibly lose your life. He rises likea cork, darts away with the greatest ease, andreaches the side in perfect safety. Both of you,pursued by a bull, come to the side of a jumps in and crosses it. You are drowned ifyou attempt it, and tossed by the bull if you donot. What an advantage he has over you! Yetvou are furnished with exactly the same bodil
. Evenings at home, or, The juvenile budget opened : consisting of a variety of miscellaneous pieces for the instruction and amusement of young persons . boat oversets with you both ina deep stream. You plump at once to the bot-tom, and infallibly lose your life. He rises likea cork, darts away with the greatest ease, andreaches the side in perfect safety. Both of you,pursued by a bull, come to the side of a jumps in and crosses it. You are drowned ifyou attempt it, and tossed by the bull if you donot. What an advantage he has over you! Yetvou are furnished with exactly the same bodilypowers that he is. How is this ? R. Because he has been taught, and I havenot. F. True—but it is an easy thing to learn, andrequires no other instruction than boys can giveone another when they bathe together ; so that Iwonder any body should neglect to acquire anart at once agreeable and useful. The Romansused to say, by way of proverb, of a blockhead, He can neither read nor swim. You may re-member how Ceesar was saved at Alexandria bythrowing himself into the sea, and swimmingwith one hand, while he held up his Commen-taries with the FLYING AND SWIMMING. 291 R. I should like very well to swim, and I haveoften tried, but I always pop under water, andthat daunts me. F. And it is that fear which prevents you fromsucceeding. R. But is it as natural for man to swim as forother creatures 1 I have heard that the young ofall other animals swim the first time they arethsown into the water. F. They do—they are without fear. In ourclimate the water is generally cold, and is earlymade an object of terror. But,in the hot coun-tries, where bathing is one of the greatest ofpleasures, young children swim so early andwell, that I should suppose they take to it almostnaturally. i?. I am resolved to learn, and I will ask John-son to take me with him to the river. F. Do; but let him find you a safe place tobegin at. I dont want you, however, to pro-ceed so cautiously as Sir Nichola
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdeca, booksubjectconductoflife, bookyear1839
