Sporting notions of present days and past

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174 SPORTING NOTIONS
for dear life. Oh, dear! what should I have
thought of myself if I had sat there and seen the
man drown,. when I could get him out of all
trouble by just lending a befriending hand ? But
it was not till his mate ran in—the drowner was
only seven or eight yards from the water's edge—
that I had the slightest inkling that anything was
wrong.
Swimming, a national need and asset, is
a matter where the State is concerned, and the
State ought to lend a hand; but I do not mean
that because swimming facilities are boons and
blessings people who are quite able to provide
these for themselves ought to sit down and
wait for the ratepayers or the charitable to treat
them. I remember being reproached for going
back on myself by opposing a proposition to
put a floating bath in the Thames somewhere
on the City shore. That shows how you get
misunderstood. I did not object to the purport
of the suggestion, but would have been glad
to see it carried out on what I consider right
lines. What I objected to, and do always dislike,
was the idea that the bath could only be—shall
we say?.—floated by means of sending round
the hat, which, in my opinion, is the last resource,
although it is so peculiarly popular, especially
with the professional philanthropist, always ready
to benefit his fellow-men at other fellow-men's
expense. So near as I can recollect, I took
exception to the prospectus because, after setting
forth that as so many thousands or hundreds of
thousands of persons wanted to bathe each day,
therefore the enterprise was sure to be a success
financially, it maintained that it was right and
proper that the capital required should be donated.
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