Suggested Value Points:
• William Douglas was the victim, writer, judge and friend to the President Roosevelt.
• In this essay he talks about his fear of water.
• It reveals how as a young boy William Douglas nearly drowned in a swimming pool and developed a fear of water.
• It had happened when he was ten or eleven years old.
• He had decided to learn to swim in a pool at the Y.M.C.A.
• The pool was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end and nine feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual.
• He was ready and got a pair of water wings and went to the pool.
• The Y.M.C.A. swimming pool revived unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears.
• But as he was sitting on the side of the pool a big bruiser of a boy picked him up and tossed into the deep end.
• He landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and went at once to the bottom, frightened.
• On the way down he planned to make a big jump as his feet hit the bottom, come to the surface, lie flat on it, and paddle to the edge of the pool.
• But nine feet looked long and before he touched bottom, he lungs were ready to burst.
• He made (three) attempts to come at the surface
• Meanwhile going down each time his physical condition worsened
• He was suffocated, he yelled but no sound came out, he swallowed water and choked.
• He tried to bring legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralyzed and rigid
• The sheer, stark terror seized him.
• At the third time he crossed to oblivion, and felt that even the curtain of life fell.
• Every time he wanted to come up and grab the rope, only water he clinched.
