Swimming

My mother loved to swim and taught us all early. We went to Gage Park where it cost 10 cents. The changing rooms had no roof and were just boards. I sat on a wasp nest once which was not good. When I was 2 my mother thought it was time for me to learn to swim. We went to Gage Pool and I got a Hershey square every time I swam about ten feet. I didn't like to touch the bottom as it was mossy since they only cleaned the pool on the 5 of July. Later we swam in the Kaw River with my older cousin watching as the river was full of holes. She was teaching swimming at the YWCA and my mother enrolled me so I would swim correctly but I was a pain to her as I would go under water and grab her ankles. Later I took life saving class which I passed 3 times until I got old enough to make it count. My brother had a good friend who worked with kids. The Depression was on and Topeka decided to let poor kids swim for free in Garfield Park in North Topeka. They got to ride free on the trolley. We helped out. My sisters and brother were life guards. I had the showers. Every kid had to have a soap shower before they went in the pool and I supervised. Once they got in the pool they blew a whistle every five minutes. Each kid had a buddy and they had to hold up their hands together. No one drowned.