The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-10-06

temptuously, t" with that allowance we could dc
| anything. There is" said he, somewhere in
Ireland, gentleman born without limbs, who
| goes out hunting in a clothes-b basket strapped
on his horses back FIVE could only get hold
of him, his friends, in six weeks, would Rot
know him."
| An inspection of my friends ateliers certain
ly went far to justify the confident spirit in
which his assistant spoke. / soon found out
that there are first, second and third-class
limbs, however, as of everything else.
Whatl " said /, do you make banisters as
| well as legs" pointing to shelffull neatly
turned and painted.
| Banister! my dear sir" he replied, little
hurt, these are our Chelsea pensioners !"
| And, on a closer examination, such they
proved to be. Here was the hard third class
fact, simple and unadorned.
| "And these buckets ," | reioined, pointing
to some scores of hollow wooden cones, placed
one within the other.
| Buckets the word! said he, reaching one
| down, and screwing banister into its lower
end. These are our Chelsea pensioners COM
plete But this is nothing to what they have
in store at the Chelsea Hospital. During the
war we could not make them fast enough and
they were Obliged to apply to the mop-makers.
| Fact" said he, seeing the surprise in our eyes
{" and arms, too You should see the rows and
| rows stored on the shelves-ther hooks hang
ing out like so many hundred dozen of umbrel-
| las. Government can only afford hooks for SOL
ders and sailors; but officers who are not able
to pay can get new legs and arms of the very
best construction at the expense of a grateful
nation, by simply applying at the Horse
Guards"
All the while this seriocomic conversation
| was going on, workman In the coolest posi-
bic manner was working away at most deli
| cate little leg that would not have come off
second best in the Judgment of Paris-a fault
less Balmoral boot, and the dantiest silk stock
UNCOVERED proportions that Madame Vestris
| may have envied.
These" said my companion, care some of
our 6rst-class goods. Would you like to see
the mechanism =? GOODBYE, pull down the stock.
ing" With that the workman barred the limb,
whilst my Pes"iV- A. 81 .4-r---'
This you see, is our patent knee-cap and pa
| tella, and this the new vulcanized lndia-rubber
tendon. Achilles; here, in the instep, you will
observe spiral spring elevating the toes and
| if you will Just observe (opening little trap
door in the back of the calf here is an inge-
NOUS continuance by which the bending of the
knee elevates the front part of the foot, thus
allowing it full play TO swing forward clear OF
| the ground.
| Certainly it was an admirable continuance.
"And can man or woman progress easily
with that arrangement" | said.
Do you know Lady 10y" said he.
eyes"
"Nothing the matter there?" he rejoined,
interrogatively.
l was obliged to confess, not to my knowl
edge;
piled, triumphantly.
| 40
"Lord bless you look into that cupboard
/ have the spare members of half the town
there, duly labelled. Things will go wrong
with the best-conducted limbs; and to save
difficulties, we keep duplicates here which can
be applied at the shortest notice. A gen
tleman, whom we will call Mr. Smith, once
lost the pin out of his knee joint, and sent here
for his off.leg. A young lad, up from the com
try, sent him another Mr.. Smiths box, contain
ing an arm-very awkward"
will you allow me-" said ], trying to read
the names on the boxes.
Certainly not" said he, shutting the door
and turning the key "this is our Blue Beard
cupboard, and l wouldn't allow even my wife
to peep But come and look at our hands"
There they were-some clenched, some
spread out some in the act of holding, some
gloved, and displayed like Vandykes, as if tc
challenge attention.
"Now, what will they do?" said /, almost
doubtful whether the clenched fist wouldn'
strike.
"Do anything" said he "by means of the
hook inserted in the palm, it can lift, or hold
the reins almost as well as the natural mem
Der. Observe the beautiful operation of the
spring thumb initiating the grand privilege o
man and monkey, by means of which it car
grasp fork, or lightly finger a toothpick"
"Do you supply fingers and such small
deer2" inquired.
FINGERS, toes, noses, ips--we take them a.
they come. gentleman with but. one hnge
on his left hand came to US the other day, ano
. asked to have the complement made up. w
fitted on the rest, and attached them by means
of signet ring to the remaining fnger--move
ment perfect. You should see him pass hi
fingers through his hair, natural as life. The
hand is a wonderful thing-that beats me
legs are mere c, but the hand Here
said he, recovering from his momentary admi
ration of nature, here is drawing of
pretty thing. A Hudson's Bay trapper had hi
. hand bitten off by bear, and came to US t.
i replace it.
: "' Do you want something really useful,
!. said l.
II dyes said he.
|, $50 made him this dagger, fitting into hi
I and finds it particularly handy when there arr
= bears abont. Look at the action of this sprin!
. and ratchetelbow you have only to touch tn
= little button in the elbow, and the forearr
. closes as natural as life. Who~ould wear a
empty sleeve, when member like this can
obtained? We always recommend our arr
and hand patients to wear cloak neatly folde
f over it, as it prevents any attempt at hand
d shaking We don't warrant the shake-th
touch isn't quite natural
/. aBut how about the more delicate opera
5 tion-eyes and hosesG" Inquired.
; aOh, we do any feature at a moments p6
r tiee. Noses, for instance; the best Xo =
bring a patient to the modeller, WI de
signs the missing member in clay POI
trait or from instructions; from this india
rubber cast is taken, to which we "a
of spectacles, to break the flesh line
the superstructure is complete, an artise
the complexion"
"And eyes? 2" added, deeply Interested.
~Evoa uad a MT do az 7uuah m" he addeC