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How to Manage the Legs

The legs, which should be moved alternately with the hands, must be drawn up with the knees inwards, and the soles of the feet inclined outwards; and they should then be thrown backwards, as widely apart from each other as possible. These motions of the hands and legs may be practised out of the water; and whilst exercising the legs, which can only be done one at a time, the learner may rest one hand on the back of a chair to steady himself, while he moves the opposite leg. When in the water, the learner must take care to draw in his breath at the instant that his hands, descending to his hips, cause his head to rise above the surface of the water; and he should exhale his breath at the moment his body is propelled forward through the action of the legs. If he does not attend precisely to these rules, he must invariably have a downward motion, and, as the boys say, swim furthest where it is deepest.