Dear Sir, - Whether my first letter addressed to you has appeared or not, I have not yet been able to ascertain, and I was away from town the last two weeks of August, and the three copies I have bought of this month have not contained it.
I was greatly interested in the splendid letter and the accompanying sketch, over the signature of "One of Each." She, like me, realises how easily our individual condition might have been worse than they are, however bad, in the deep recesses of our hearts, we may actually believe them to be. There is an old saying that things are never so bad but that they might be worse. And that is so; and it is the best way to look at it. It is a very serious matter for all those concerned, nevertheless. I rather like that idea of hers in regard to the wooden-leg kind of gadget she refers to in her letter, and I shall certainly make use of that idea when wearing my single leg if I have occasion to want to stand in one place for some time. I heartily thank "One of Each" for the idea. I had never thought of it. She is practical and to the point.
But over the initials of C. D. B. in your current issue appears a letter of an entirely different kind, wholly imaginative, and not a little extravagant in its ideas. It may have given some pleasure to the writer to draw upon his imagination then illustrating his point of view in the execution of the sketches that accompany his letter. But why should the misfortunes of our sex be travestied in such a manner?
I can assure C. D. B. that there is really no thrill in being the subject to such physical depletion, if he thinks there is. And, to judge by what he has written and sketched, one would certainly think he had an idea there was. I have not found it so. And I have endured enough of it to be able to speak with some authority upon the subject. What we depleted ones are interested in are the thoughts, feelings and experiences incident to the depletion that is the misfortune of these ill-fated sisters of ours to undergo, and how they face up to the repercussion of after-effects. They have plenty of water upon their wheel, as I know only too well.
If ever it happens to fall to his lot to become the subject of such depletion, he will be better able to realise what I mean and understand more fully the reasons for my protest. He will realise then, that there is neither thrill nor glamour in a condition that places such drastic limitations upon one's actions and movements. And I feel almost equally sure that he will find that the psychological effect upon the female is altogether different to that which the same condition seems to have upon the male. There are exceptional cases that might possibly be cited, I know. The female says, "Pity the poor chap;" but she is not likely to be carried away into ecstatic flights of imagination merely because a man happens to have one arm or leg, or none at all. I need say no more upon that point, I am sure. The explanation seems to be obvious.
Why he should want to depict one of his heroines with her long plaits blowing about in the wind may be a matter for some conjecture; but it certainly spoils the artistic effect of the drawing.
Long and luxuriant hair is by no means as rare as he, or others, might suppose. I know an old lady of 77 years of age with a head of hair as luxuriant as that on the young lady he has sought to depict. And there is not a grey hair in it. My own reaches well below that is left of me that is not artificial, when it is let down, and my ear-pendants are sufficiently long for me to feel them as they swing to every movement of my head. I like them long and fairly large, but I hate those so-called modern things that look like buttons stuck on. They are certainly not artistic. Now, I think I have said enough. I feel sure that C. D. B. won't misunderstand me. I know he has no wrong intentions in writing as he does.
If he sees, and sketches, his ideal lady and presents it to your readers - whether she be monopede or not, his delineation, both literally and artistic - will afford readers of "London Life" possibly as much pleasure as it does himself.
Now, thanking you in anticipation for this insertion, I beg to remain.
Monoped Extra-Ordinary