Lander Evening Post

CROWD MEN FOR HONOR
Women No Longer Content to Allow the Sterner Sex to Take First Place in Swimming.

A dozen years ago a girl who could swim well was looked upon as unusual, or at least more physically proficient than nine out of ten of her sex.

Now, when a young woman is seen to enter the water, the speculation of the onlooker is not whether she is a good swimmer, but whether she is a better swimmer than her brother.

In no branch of competitive sport has woman advanced more in the last decade than in swimming, remarks a writer in the New York Herald. Ten years ago the gentle users of the overhand stroke had but a small place in the printed records of water racing.

English women held most of the records up to half a mile, the only American girl swimmer of distinction being Miss Elaine Golding.

But now in every almanac, every history of a year's contests, the women swimmers take up almost as much space as the men.

And in the picture parts of the newspapers they have left mere man at the starting place.

What chance has a man swimmer to get his likeness printed when there are a thousand mermaids for the camera to choose from?

Girls from four up to fifty dive and swim with a vigor that seems likely in time to drive men out of the swim.

They compete in Honolulu and Highlands, in the Panama canal or off Bailey's beach, in the cold Superior or the warm Caribbean. They know all the kickoffs and crawls of the expert.

Some grow thin at the sport, some fat; and more are made beautiful than homely by it. The pictures show a few venuses and many who hope to achieve perfection. Some get their pictures in the films through sheer beauty; others by breaking records.

There is always a reason for sudden popularity in sport or pastime.

Often it is hard to find. But in the case of women and swimming it is easy to trace the lure back to the wondrous grace and speed of Miss Kellermann. Many of the young ladies of today have outdone Annette in speed, but her grace remains the standard.