Sometimes the pond was like glass, mirroring the sky and the still trees. Sometimes light breezes swept over it, and sailboats rode the dancing waves. Then there were the evenings, when clouds of the loveliest colors floated over it, and the moon rose and silvered it; and the mornings, when all the splendors of the new-risen sun were reflected into Lawrence's chamber.

3. Whenever he had a leisure hour-for he went to school, and worked in the garden—he was to be seen rambling by the shore, or rowing away in his uncle's boat; and he found that the faithful performance of his tasks made his sports all the sweeter to him.

4. As children who play about the water are always in more or less danger of falling into it, Lawrence's uncle had lost no time in teaching him to swim. "The first thing for you to learn," said the doctor-for his uncle was a physician— "is confidence. Plunge your head under water.”

Lawrence did So, and came up with dripping hair and face, gasping. The doctor made him repeat the exercise until he neither gasped nor choked.

5. "That does not hurt you, does it? No. Neither will it hurt you if you sink to the bottom, for you can hold your breath; the water is shallow, and, besides, I am here to help you. Now try to take a single stroke, just as the frogs do. Throw yourself boldly off your feet, and don't be afraid of sinking."

Lawrence, after considerable hesitation, tried the experiment, and found that he could swim a single stroke, and come down upon his feet again without drowning. He tried it again and again, delighted at his success.

6. "That will do for this lesson," said his uncle. "You have been long enough in the water. Swimming is a fine exercise for boys, and the bathing is good for them; but they often make the mistake of staying too long in the water. Especially at first you must be careful; after you get used to it, you can stay in longer. Never go in when you are heated; or if you do, come out again immediately, and continue exercising, so as to keep the pores of your skin open."

7. Lawrence learned, in his next lesson, to swim two strokes, and in a few days he could swim a rod. His uncle then taught him how to dive.

"You must avoid falling flat on the water; for if you do so, from any great height, it will beat the breath out of your body almost as suddenly as if you struck a board. Learn to keep your eyes open under the water. Some people's nostrils are so large that the water gets into their heads when they dive; if that is the case with yours, it will be well to stuff a little cotton into them."

8. Lawrence found no trouble of that kind. He was soon able to dive, and pick up pebbles, and to swim beneath the surface. His uncle then taught him how to save a drowning person.

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"If he is still struggling, you must not let him get hold of you, or he will very likely cause you to drown with him. The safest and readiest method is to pull him up by his hair. sure and keep behind him as you bring him to the surface. Do not try to do more than to lift his face out of water, as you swim with him to the shore. The human body is so light in the water that it may be supported at the surface by a very slight effort; but it is hard to keep any portion of it much above the surface."

9. "But what shall I do after I get him to the shore?" asked Lawrence.

"That is something very important to learn, which you will very likely find useful some day, if you live near this pond. Three young people have been drowned in it within five years, two of whom at least might have been saved from death, had the persons with them known how to get them out of the water, or what to do with them after they had got them out.

10. “I wish you would teach me that," said the boy.

"Very well; I'll give you a practical lesson before long." Accordingly, a few days afterwards, the doctor met Lawrence and his companions as they were coming up from the water, and, seizing his nephew, exclaimed, "You have been drowned, have you?"

"Not to my knowledge," said Lawrence laughing.

11. "Yes; you fell from the boat just now, getting waterlilies. You know how to swim, but you got tangled among the weeds, and were three minutes under water. You have just been fished out, and brought to shore. Lie down, sir, for a drowned boy has no business on his feet."

12. Lawrence, who understood very well what his uncle meant, dropped down on the grass, and tried to play the part of a drowned person seriously; but he couldn't help laughing, and all the while he watched closely to see what was done for him.

13. "What shall we do, boys?" cried the doctor, "for not a minute is to be lost."

"Carry him home, the first thing," said Tim Hooper. "No, we haven't time for that,—so many precious minutes would be wasted. "

"Put him in a warm bath," said Jake Thomas.

14. "We could'nt do that without carrying him home, or bringing the warm water to him. Besides, the warm bath is hurtful under such circumstances. A person will drown quicker in warm than in cold water. The reason seems to be, that cold water strikes a chill into the blood, so that its circulation is impeded, and less air is required for it in the lungs. The blood goes to the lungs to throw off carbon, and to get oxygen, which is breathed in with the air, of which you know it is a part.

15. "When a person drowns, the supply of oxygen is out off, and the carbonic acid, retained in the blood, poisons it. A person in a swoon may live half an hour under water; for his blood moves so slowly that very little oxygen is required for it, and there is but very little carbon to be thrown off. Now if we stimulate the circulation before we manage to get fresh air into the lungs, as we should do if we put him into a warm bath,—you see we should increase the difficulty."

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16. "The first thing I would do would be to go for the doctor," said Lawrence.

"No, you wouldn't, for you are drowned, and have no voice in the matter. Besides, I am five miles away, attending to a boy who broke his leg falling from a beam in a barn. But fortunately a boy comes up who has been told what to do in such cases,-fortunately indeed, for already too much time has been lost while we were considering what to do, instead of doing it.

17. "This boy knows that the first thing necessary is fresh air in the lungs. To make sure that the passage to the lungs is open, he turns the patient on his face, in which

position any water that may have lodged in his mouth and throat, or any thing that may have risen from his stomach and choked him, drops out."

The doctor at the same time turned Lawrence on his face to illustrate his method.

18. "In this position, the tongue also falls forward, and opens a passage to the windpipe. But sometimes the tongue is so much swollen that it is necessary to put the finger on the roots of it and press it forward. This should be looked to, and where there is a hand to spare it will be well to keep the tongue in place in that way. Act promptly and don't be afraid of hurting him. In this case, however, the tongue will take care of itself.

19. All this must be quickly done; and the new-comer hastens to make the patient gasp. He places him on his side, thus. He rubs his forehead smartly, to bring warmth and sensitiveness to the skin, then dashes cold water upon it. If he has any snuff about him, or hartshorn, or spirits of any kind, he applies them freely to the nostrils. But the drowned boy does not gasp. Then what?"

"Blow in my lungs," said Lawrence.

20. "But my own breath is exhausted of oxygen, and charged with carbonic acid; and what we want is fresh air. While one of the boys runs for the doctor, and another for dry blankets, this is what the boy who knows does. He loosens your clothes, then turns you down again upon your face, completely upon your breast,—with one wrist under your forehead, thus, and passes his other hand with a gentle pressure down your back. That compresses the lungs, and drives the bad air out of them. Then he turns you again on your side, and partly upon your back, in which position the lungs open again of themselves and draw in fresh air.

21. "Repeat this process six or eight times a minute,—not too often, for the low circulation requires but little air, and too much cools the body. What we want now is to keep the body warm, and excite circulation. As soon as we have got the artificial breathing started, we strip off all the wet clothes; wrap the body in the blankets which have been brought; let the fresh air blow upon the face and chest; rub and slap the body until it is dry and sensitive, and dash cold water upon

it; then rub and slap again. If the blankets do not come, throw off your own coats to wrap the body in.

1. "How long will it take to bring me to?" Lawrence anxiously inquired.

"That depends upon how thoroughly drowned you were. I should not give you up for an hour; but I should not have much hope of you, if I could perceive no movement of the heart, by putting my ear to it, after a quarter of an hour. In five or ten minutes I should expect you to make a little gasp; and after that I should consider you safe.

2. "Now, boys," the doctor continued, "remember that, as long as nothing is done to put fresh air into the lungs of a drowned person, it is just the same for him as if he remained all that while in the water. So you must be prepared to do all these things with the utmost promptitude.'

He then made them take little Tim Hooper and go through all the movements with him, as he had done with Lawrence, and repeat the process until they were perfect in it.