In Deep Water

Swimming lessons had us at the pool more often this summer, and the most common phrase I heard there was “Don’t go so deep!”

Why are children allured by deep water? They splash and play happily, all while edging closer and closer to that moment when the level of the water will be above their noses. Mothers may issue cautions aplenty, but children still drift ever closer to the deep end.

In E.B. White’s classic children’s tale The Trumpet of the Swan, the main character Louis contemplates ...