If we take up fast swimming, we must learn one of the various overhand or overarm strokes.  The chief difference between these strokes and the simple breast stroke is that the arms as well as the legs are used to propel the body through the water, and this power is applied so steadily and uniformly that instead of moving by jerks we move with a continuous motion and at a greater speed.  The single overarm is easier to learn than the double overarm or “trudgeon” stroke.  This latter stroke is very tiring and while undoubtedly faster than any other when once mastered, it is only used for short sprints.  Most of the great swimmers have developed peculiar strokes of their own, but nearly all of them have adopted a general style which may be called the “crawl.”

There are many fancy strokes in swimming that one may acquire by practice, all of which require close attention to form rather than speed, just as fancy skating is distinguished from racing.  One of the simplest tricks to learn is called “the rolling log.”  We take a position just as we would in floating and then exerting the muscles first of one side and then the other we shall find that we can roll over and over just as a log might roll.  The idea in performing this trick successfully is not to show any apparent motion of the muscles.

Swimming on the back is easily learned and is not only a pretty trick but is very useful in giving us an opportunity to rest on a long swim.

Diving is also a branch of swimming that requires confidence rather than lessons.  A dive is simply a plunge head first into the water.  A graceful diver plunges with as little splash as possible.  It is very bad form either to bend the knees or to strike on the stomach, the latter being a kind of dive for which boys have a very expressive though not elegant name.  Somersaults and back dives from a stationary take-off or from a spring-board are very easily learned.  We shall probably have a few hard splashes until we learn to turn fully over, but there is not much danger of injury if we are sure of landing in the water.

[Illustration:  A perfect dive]

Water wings and other artificial supports are very useful for the beginner until he has mastered the strokes, but all such artificial devices should be given up just as soon as possible, and, furthermore, as soon as we can really swim, in order to gain confidence, we should go beyond our depth, where it will be necessary to swim or drown.

A swimmer should always know how to assist another to shore in case of accident.  It is not nearly so easy as one who has never tried it might think.  A drowning person will for the time being be panic-stricken and the first impulse will be to seize us about the neck.  Always approach a drowning person from the rear and support him under an armpit, meanwhile talking to him and trying to reassure him.  Every year we hear of terrible drowning accidents which might have been avoided if some one in the party had kept his head and had been able to tell the others what to do.