Deep Water

• William O. Douglas recalls a childhood misadventure when he was ten or eleven years old
• He decided to learn to swim at the Y.M.C.A. pool in Yakima, which had a shallow end of two to three feet and a deep end of nine feet
• The author had developed an aversion to water at a young age due to a frightening experience at the beach in California when he was three or four
• Despite initial fears, he gathered confidence and tried to learn to swim by imitating other boys at the pool
• During a misadventure at the pool, a big boy threw him into the deep end, causing him to struggle and nearly drown
• Despite multiple attempts to reach the surface, the author struggled with fear and panic, eventually losing consciousness and waking up vomiting beside the pool
• The traumatic experience left the author with a deep fear of water, affecting his enjoyment of activities like fishing, canoeing, boating, and swimming
• To overcome his fear, the author sought an instructor and practiced swimming five days a week for an hour each day, gradually overcoming his panic and fear of water
• After months of practice and guidance from the instructor, the author finally learned to swim and conquered his fear of water by swimming across Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire
• The experience of conquering his fear of water had a profound impact on the author, leading him to reflect on the nature of fear and the will to live
• The man who went around selling small rattraps of wire made them himself, but his business was not profitable
• He had to beg and steal to keep himself alive, his clothes were in rags, and his life was sad and monotonous
• He compared the whole world to a big rattrap, where people are lured by riches and joys, only to be trapped when they touch the bait
• One evening, he sought shelter at a little gray cottage and was welcomed by an old man who shared his supper and played cards with him
• The old man, a former crofter, had an extraordinary cow that supported him by providing milk for the creamery
• The man with the rattraps stole money from the old man but later felt trapped in a forest, symbolizing his realization of being caught in life's rattrap
• He sought refuge at a forge, where he was initially ignored by the blacksmiths until the ironmaster recognized him as an old acquaintance
• The ironmaster's daughter, Edla Willmansson, showed kindness to the man, offering him shelter and inviting him to spend Christmas with them
• The man, feeling guilty, left a package for Miss Willmansson containing money he had stolen, explaining that the world is a rattrap and he had found a way out by being raised to captain