Dear Sir, A few months ago a boy friend of mine showed me a copy of your novel and interesting journal. On opening it and reading it I was deeply surprised and most interested to see amongst the correspondence a letter from a young lady reader who only possessed a single lower limb.
I asked my friend about this, and he told me that quite often such letters appeared, and he showed me quite a collection of them which he had kept for curiosity, and alsa several stories written by wallace Stort, which I read with deep interest.
I have at last plucked enough courage to write about myself.
I am entirely legless, having lost both my legs from above the knee.
When I was ten, necrosis set in in my left leg, which necessitated its amputation at the point which left me with a small plump stump about 4 inches in length from the hip.
When I lost this leg I was, of course, rather too young to appreciate my misfortune to any great extent, and I managed to get about quite well on a pair of crutches, and after a few years of constant practice I was able to ignore my loss completely and accept it as quite a natural thing.
I took just as much care, as I grew grew older, of my remnant limb as I did of any other part of my body, and, in fact, I became quite fond of it, although this may seem strange to readers, especially girls, who still possess two legs.
Then came a terrible blow. When I was 18 my right leg became affected by the same malady that cost me my left leg, and this, too, had to be amputated. This time the amputation was carried out about two inches above the knee, leaving me with a rather long stump.
My second stump is not such a pleasant sight as the other. It is very long, thin and bony, but it serves one useful purpose, and that is I am able to use an artificial leg an it.
When I left hospital for the second time I was wheeled about in a bath-chair for nearly a year afterwards, but it was eventuafly suggested that I should be fitted with at least one leg.
I was taken to a well-known maker of limbs, and after stringent tests he made and fitted me with a beautifully constructed limb for my right stump, as he said that with the passing years my left stump had become practically useless for that purpose, and the right was the longest and gave more leverage for lifting the dead weight of an artificial limb.
I still have to use crutches, but after having used them for ten years they do not bother me in the least, so that although I am actually completely legless I still appear to the uniformed to be still one-legged.
I rather enjoy being one-legged, but I am not in love with being totally legless; but I nevertheless still get a kick out of life, and I am not a burden to my parents, as I am employed as a typist in a local office.
I am considered to be quite pretty, having naturally brown wavy hair, and quite good features. I manage to dress in the prevailing fashions, although I have my dresses made shorter, as I have found from experience that a long frock is rather an encumbrance with an artificial leg.
I have just bought and read your latest double number and read the letter by "Single Crutch," and saw her reference to a letter by "Matron," who evidently doubts the fact that we limbless girls are attractive to the eyes of some men. I have not read this letter, and would be grateful if you could let me know in which edition of your paper it appeared.
Trusting that I have not taken up too much time,
Yours sincerely,
Greta No Toes.