Dear Sir, - I was exceedingly pleased to see in your delightful paper two letters from one-legged girls who signed themselves "Elsie C." and "High-Heeled Monoped," respectively, and also a letter from a girl who has lost an arm, who signed herself "Interested." It also gave me great pleasure to see in your short replies one to "Modern Woman," who wants you to give us some more adventures of "La Belle Monopede. "
This latter is an excellent suggestion, and by the amount of the interest that is being taken, I should venture to believe that you will do your level best to satisfy the desire for more and that you will, as usual, cater for the wishes of readers which, when cut short, means that you will, I hope, publish some more stories an the fascinating subject of one-legged girls.
A girl friend of mine has come to stay with me for a week or so. Her home is at Manchester, and it would probably interest your incomplete readers that she has only one leg.
But there is a certain strangeness about her lack of a second lower limb - this is the fact that her only leg grows from the centre of the base of her trunk. Also, her foot is made to fit in with the unusual way Nature has asserted herself for she was born in this condition, and her single foot has seven toes. The big toe is in the middle, and there are three toes on each side of it.
This makes the buying of footwear a little more difficult for her, as she cannot get on either a right or left shoe. This difficulty is overcome by having her shoes or boots made to measure, and I might add that often envy her when out together, as it looks most fascinating to note how her single leg emerges from the centre of her knee-length dress.
The tables are reversed, though, when my dress is disturbed by the movement of my stump, for Freda cannot boast the slightest trace of a stump, while I have a beautifully rounded plump specimen.
We have great fun together now. We played a game of tennis together yesterday and I just managed to win.
It is rather amusing to us to note the great interest which we arouse when we go shopping together in the town.
We both wear short skirts, barely reaching to the knee, a nude silk stocking, and the daintiest of shoes - mine is a black patent one-bar model, and Freda's is a lovely Oxford style in red kid - both having 4 « inches heels.
Of course, Freda has to use a pair of dainty crutches; and I might add she does that with a deftness which is rather surprising - though, of course, she has been one-legged all her life; and I use a very delicately fashioned aluminum leg, very slender indeed as I find that I can get on much better by this means. Well, you may be sure that when thus attired we cause rather a sensation between us, for although a one-legged girl is no unusual sight, when two are together, openly flaunting their incomplete charms, the population are sure to sit up and take notice.
To get back to the readers' letters in your paper, I should like to offer my congratulations to "Elsie C." for the way she has overcome the loss of a leg and an arm through her motor mishap. I cannot offer her my sympathy, as that is not needed: for a beautiful girl need never be disheartened by the loss of a limb. I am sure, by the way she writes, that she has missed none of the good things in life through her loss. Indeed, I will go to the length of saying that she has entered a realm of glorious and thrilling experiences since the accident.
As for "High Heeled Monoped," one can judge from her remarks that she has never regretted having lost a leg, for although most people will admit that there is something fascinating in a pair of silk-clad legs, I can assure you that there is a subtle fascination that appeals to something bizarre in one's nature, in a beautiful girl, perfect in form and figure, who possess only one shapely leg and, possibly, the neatest of stump.
I wonder if you could obtain any photos of charming girls who are in this category? Perhaps you will try. And might I suggest that the illustrations by E. H. Stanton be possessed of a little more detail? For although they are really very fine works of art they leave a lot to the imagination.
I should esteem it a very great favour if you can oblige me with further stories of Sonia Merrill, or other one-legged girls in the near future; and may I be allowed to congratulate Will Stort on the masterful way in which he tells the story?
Hoping to see a favourable reply to my request soon,
Yours truly,
Only A One-Legged Girl