Dressing himself,
while Fred drew in his kite, he hastened to join his companions and
receive their congratulations. The boys were extravagant in their
expressions of delight, and some of them predicted that so "cute" a
mode of swimming would become universal, while others thought that the
lack of skill in the method would lead many to discard it. Benjamin
said:
"The motion is very pleasant indeed, and I could swim all day without
becoming fatigued. But there is no skill in it, as you say."
Benjamin expressed no opinion as to the adoption of the method by
others, and the boys separated to tell the story of Benjamin's
exploits on the water over town. Many years afterwards, when Benjamin
was a public man, famous in his own country and Europe, he wrote to a
Frenchman by the name of Dubourg, of both of these experiments as
follows:
"When I was a boy, I made two oval palettes, each about ten inches
long and six broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it
fast in the palm of my hand. They much resembled a painter's palettes.
In swimming, I pushed the edges of these forward, and I struck the
water with their flat surfaces as I drew them back. I remember I swam
faster by means of these palettes, but they fatigued my wrists. I also
fitted to the soles of my feet a kind of sandals; but I was not
satisfied with them, because I observed that the stroke is partly
given by the inside of the feet and the ankles, and not entirely with
the soles of the feet.
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