Dear Sir, - I have been very interested in the letter of "Colleen on Crutches" and the answers she had from "Walking on Two" and "left Leg Only," but I have been waiting to see some more - hence my not writing this letter before. All these letters I read very carefully, and I am in entire agreement with "Colleen" that an artificial leg is a very graceless way for a one-legged girl to get about. As a man, perhaps my view will give "Colleen" a new angle, for I endorse nearly all that "Left Leg Only" said in her letter.
The inferiority complex appears to be "Colleen's" major stumbling block, for in other ways she is a brave, sensible girl.
She wishes to make the best of her appearance, and she had no qualms that, because she is minus a leg, she is at all unattractive.
There are many men (and I imagine women also) who think that a girl swinging along on slender crutches looks very attractive, especially if she is dressed well and wear a neat shoe on her one foot. "Colleen" wisely tries, and no doubt succeeds, to make herself to look graceful in spite of being a cripple. It is definitely her inferiority complex that makes her worry about her half--empty skirt and whether or not others walk faster than she does. All these little troubles will soon pass if she concentrates more on what she calls her "triumphs", and feels happy and grateful that she is able to da lots of things many one-legged girls cannot. She can swim and walk long distances no mean achievements for a monopede - and all this spells sound, good health; and surely that is a thing to be thankful for.
As a man, I say she would be wise to follow this advice. When they hear her story, they will most certainly sympathise, and they will then get to know her for herself.
She has written to your paper in the hope of getting helpful advice to enable her to overcome her complex, but up to now she has had only two ladies who have troubled who give her the help she needs.
May I, as just a man, add my own views by telling her to carry on as "Left Leg Only" has suggested, more particularly as to points two, four, eight and ten. I rather doubt whether she would be able to wear a false leg even if she wished to, as she says that her leg was amputated only 5 inches below the groin, so I do not think that there would be enough stump left, to which an artificial leg could be fitted.
She is overconscious of her skirt hanging loosely over the outline of her stump, which she pluckily calls her shortened leg.
She will add to her charm as she swings along on her one remaining leg by clothing it well in a silk stocking and wearing a high heeled shoe on her one and only foot.
Let her be resigned to the fact that she cannot walk at all without her crutches, and she will get a tremendous thrill in their use and in the fact that she is very different from mast girls and far more attractive in her one-leggedness than many with two.
Yours truly,
A Mere Man.