Dear Sir, - It was with great interest that I read the letter by "R.A.D." in the September Double Number of "London Life". This ought to be pretty good evidence to you Mr. Editor, that there would be a keen demand for a number containing special fare for your obviously large circle of one-legged girl readers.
"Lawless," who seemed to have replaced Wallace Stort, is congratulated on his story some weeks ago. I hope he will write again soon.
"R.A.D." does not seem to be very happy with her single leg.
I have been amputated only one year less than she has, but have already adapted myself to the greatly changed circumstances, and am to-day almost as happy as ever. I realise that a stump a few inches in length is but a poor compensation for a sound limb, but I have also realised that no amount of fretting or moping will bring that leg back.
Undoubtedly, having to hobble through life on crutches and minus a leg is not a very alluring prospect, but at the same time it is not worth while letting the loss of a limb spoil one's entire life. I have grown to ignore the stares of curious people, and turn a deaf ear to all unflattering remarks, which in my experience have been very rare.
As for the wearing of an artificial limb, by being derived of wearing one I can assure "R.A.D." that she has not missed much. I wore an artificial limb for some months. The leg was quite stiff and rigid, the shortness of my stump preventing the successful manipulation of the articulated knee-joint, and I could only walk at a very slow rate.
Progressing through the streets in this painful manner I was stared at more than at present. The inability of "R.A.D." to acquire an artificial limb is therefore almost a blessing in disguise. However, she is well advised to use two crutches instead of a solitary one. A single crutch gives one a clumsy, unattractive gait, and one can certainly walk much faster and easier with a pair of crutches.
I am just 26 now, and it is about nine years since my leg was amputated. I have thus been a monopede for what is actually the best period of any girl's life. Nevertheless, I make bold to say that these years, despite my crippled state (awful words!), have not been unhappy ones. I have at all times earned my own living - a great factor in assisting one to forget the numerous disabilities one must undergo. At all times I have taken a great pride in my own personal appearance, paying particular attention to shoes and stockings. For, after all, if one has only one leg, it stands to reason that the gaze of most people will be cast at that single nether limb, so it may as well look attractive as high-heeled shoe and fine silk stocking can make it.
My advice to "R.A.D." is to teach herself to ignore the fact that people look at her, to find something to make her forget that she has only a stump where her left leg should be, an in general to make the best of those opportunities which life offer even to the woman who through a cruel fate finds herself deprived of a leg.
Yours truly,
One-Legged Ursula.
Cape Town.