Father had been intending to give Johnnie Jones lessons in swimming and was only waiting for a warm, sunshiny day.  Such a day came very soon, and, about twelve o’clock, he and Johnnie Jones, dressed in their bathing suits, went in the water.  The little boy considered bathing great fun as long as he remained close to shore where the water was shallow but he did not like it so well when Father carried him out to the raft, where the water was so deep that it reached the shoulders of the grown people standing in it.

“Now, son,” Mr. Jones said, “I want you to stand on the raft, and jump when I count three.  I will catch you in my arms, let you go down under the water, and bring you up again.  Remember to hold your breath, so that you will not take any of the water into your nose or mouth.  Perhaps you had better keep one hand over your face for fear you might forget and try to breathe before you reach the surface.  Now jump, I am quite ready to catch you.”

Johnnie Jones stood on the raft and looked down at the water.  He did not want to jump into it, but neither did he want to disappoint his father.  Besides he wished very much to learn to swim.

“Will you be certain to catch me?” he asked Father.

“I promise you I will,” he answered.

Johnnie Jones knew that Father always kept his promise, so, after a moment or two, he said he was ready.

“One, two, three, jump!” said Father.  And Johnnie Jones obeyed.

As soon as he touched the water he felt Father’s strong arms about him, and then he did not mind going down, down, into it.  In a second he came to the surface again, of course dripping wet, but without having swallowed any water, as he had remembered to hold his breath.

After the first plunge, he enjoyed taking others, and jumped into the water as many times as Father would catch him.  Next day they went in bathing again, and Father carried Johnnie Jones out to the raft as before.  But when the little boy was ready to jump, Father said:  “To-day, I shall not catch you when you first touch the water; I shall wait until you come to the surface by yourself, and then I shall hold you up.”

After he had jumped into the water, Johnnie Jones was surprised to find that he came up again just as quickly as when Father’s arms had been under him.  Then while Father held him he lay flat on the water and paddled himself about with his hands and feet.

In a few days the little boy learned to swim a short distance, quite alone, although he was not allowed to go into the water unless an older person were with him.

One day, before Johnnie Jones had learned to swim very well, he had an exciting experience.  He was on the dock with his uncle, and a very high wind was blowing the water into waves, which dashed against the dock with a roaring sound.  Indeed the waves were so noisy, that when Johnnie Jones suddenly slipped and fell off the dock, his uncle, whose back was turned, did not hear the splash.