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Show SWIMMING ALL THE YEAR. A lady writing to the Providence Journal on the art of swimming, says-"Every where in Europe it is becoming the custom for girls to swim as well as boys. At Trenville ??, and other places in France and at Civata Vecchia, and other watering-places in Italy, I have seen princesses swimming day after day as ably as the swarthiest fishing girls. In this matter of swimming, continues the writer, the banks of the Serpentine in Hyde Park London upon a warm evening, are an apt diversion of thoughtful indulgence for the boys. At a certain hour in the evening one bank of the Serpentine is crowded with hundreds of boys, eagerly watching for the signal to be given for bathing by the authorities on the opposite bank. They stand with everything stripped off except what decency requires, and at the signal the scanty remnant of raiment drops from each as if by electricity. A mad scamper and plunge, and the water is alive with rollicking boys. At another signal all must retire to give place to another crowd of impatient swimmers. The agents of the Royal Humane Society are at hand to prevent accidents, and the police see that good order is preserved. The upper Thames, also, is the happiest stream in the world; and the manly forms and magnificent color of young Englishmen attest the benefit of the swimming and boating of the summer season. In London, Brighton and other English cities and in San Francisco there are excellent swimming baths for both sexes which are open for the greater part of the year. The water in many of them, notably those of Brighton and San Francisco, is slightly warmed by storm during the cooler months so that a good swim may be enjoyed as well during the winter as the summer. The London baths are centrally located, are of one story in height and prettily designed." |