'If it were generally known that swimming is highly beneficial to the nervous system, and repairs the vital functions when a person is falling into a decline, it is safe to say that many of those thus afflicted would at once determine to learn and practice it.
'We are lamentably behind the Continental nations in recognising that every boy and girl at an early age should be compelled to learn. I do not mean to say that Britons are not fond of the water - the reverse is in fact the case. A visit to any watering place in the summer season will soon convince anyone that the people of this kingdom delight in taking a 'dip' wherever possible. But what I must lament is the deplorable number of people who are content to paddle in the shallows - afraid to go a foot out of their depth. For one bather who can swim you will find thirty who cannot.'
Montague A. Holbein