Dear Sir, - "Mere Man" asks why it is that so few one-legged girls are seen about the streets. The real reason is that so many who have lost a leg wear artificial legs, and it is very difficult to tell that they are wearing them.
I personally know two girls, one with her right leg off above the knee, and the other just below. Both wear artificial legs, and unless one knew, there is nothing but a slight limp to detect the loss.
I quite agree that a pretty girl on crutches with a single leg is a very attractive sight, but the girls themselves do not, in most cases, seem to realise this.
I sent some time ago a picture of a girl with a pin leg and her bike, which was published, but it is a very rare thing to see a girl about the streets with a pin leg.
Of course there must be hundreds of girls who have had a leg amputated, and the pity of it is that they do not know their own attractions. I tried to persuade one girl with an artificial leg to come out in the late evening with me on her crutches, but nothing would induce her to.
Another who was on crutches was quite unable to understand my admiration for her one-legged condition and, I am afraid, thought me quite "potty."
Personally I think the armpit type of crutch is safer than elbow crutches, and certainly very graceful if of the light French type of black polished wood.
Probably the girl your correspondent met, and who had the fall, had only been recently amputated, as most one-legged people can manage stairs and escalators with perfect safety, although it is more difficult to hop downstairs than up.
I hope any of your readers who are interested will try to introduce "London Life" to their one-legged friends and try to persuade them to send photos. Their actual identity is easily disguised.
Yours truly,
Lover Of Monopedes.