Dear Sir, - AS a one-legged girl I was very interested in recent letters from monopedes. My left leg was amputated about 4 inches from the hip nearly two years ago, when I was 19, and after recovering from the first terrible shock of being a cripple for the rest of my life, I found it was quite possible to enjoy life with only one leg and a smart pair of crutches.
I had been intrigued by the photographs of two monopedes - one who had been without a left leg all her life and wore an Alice-in-Wonderland flat-heeled shoe; and the other, photographed only six months after her amputation, with a six inch heel on a black patent Court shoe, the top of the heel outlined in white. I have both these shoes, size 4, also one with a 7 inch heel.
On a 7 inch heel I can hobble about with difficulty, and could not go out wearing it; but I can wear a 6 inch heel in the street with ease and complete comfort.
Just before I lost my leg I tried a pair of 6 inch heels for the first time and, frankly, I could only just get along with my knees bent, taking very short steps, and didn't look too good, though I believe that with practice a girl can walk on 6 inch heels in a graceful way.
Your one-crutch correspondent, "Tory," asks for experiences with a wooden leg. I have one which is very neat and slender, and quite dainty, but the truth is that with a high amputation you can't wear a wooden leg just when you like. All the weight of one's body has to rest on the sharp edges on the leg, and it isn't pleasant until you have practised quite a lot. If you discard the leg for a week, you have to start all over again getting used to it.
When I got used to mine - it takes about a month - I was rather thrilled to have my hands and arms free again, but with a short stump the thing tends to come off every time you sit down, and I finally discarded it as a nuisance.
A single crutch is ideal when you get used to it, but it produces a definitely ugly walk, and you can't keep your shoulder down. Also I am sure it tends to distort the spine, which quite spoils the appearance of a pretty girl.
Like "Tory," I used a single crutch for some months, and hardly knew I was one-legged, until one day it broke - though I am as light as she - and I fell with my head in the fireplace, fortunately empty. That frightened me, and I have been on two crutches ever since, and shall be for the rest of my life.
When I tried an artificial leg I received no attention at all but on my crutches everyone turns to look at me and glance at my 4 inch and 6 inch heel - not always with approval in the case of catty women who resent the attention I receive and they don't.
Honestly, I don't think I should like to have two legs again, though I adored dancing. Few people looked at me when I was a normal girl with quite good looks and smartly dressed, but now if I enter a room or walk down the street on my black, brown, grey or scarlet - yes scarlet! - crutches, which are specially made and very slender, I create a sensation and I love it.
Incidentally "Tory," a pair of crutches can be made twice as slender as a single crutch, and I much prefer the type that go single just below the little cross-pieces for the hands. Mine taper to 5/8 inches diameter at the base.
Congratulations to "One High-heeled Shoe" on wearing a 6 inch heel so soon after her amputation.
Yours truly,
One-Legged.