Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1886-04-08
CRIPPLED SOLDIERS.
Dancing with n Wooden Leg-The
Itching of an Absent TOe-One.
Legged Men ON the March.

One OF the most remarkable things tt
me, said physician of prominence, il
that the old soldiers of the war bear the
mementoes of hot conflicts, the remem
brances of days or weeks or months o.
suffering and misery with such unconcern
Most men who wear wooden legs or corl
legs do it with the impression that the
limbs lost in battle are still part o.
themselves. The other night at dance
one of the most graceful walters on the
floor was man who had lost his leg at
New Hope Church, and yet there was
probably not lady in the room vino
thought for moment that she danced
with wooden-legged man.
There are other remembrances of va
rious conflicts that can not escape obser-
walton. A closed eye, an ugly scar, a
clipped nose, a broken jaw, or a distorted
chin are not the sort of things to make
any man cheerful, and yet 1 never heard
any soldier thus disfgured complain or
grumble in public, and 1 have known
cases in which the bearer of such dis
figurement was accused of carrying his
mark through some disgraceful brawl,
rather than as memento of the struggle
in which he played the part of hero.
THE ITCHING OF AN ABSENT TOE.
There is one man insthe city who, in
the second year of the war, had the tip
OF his nose and his middle toe carried
away by one shot. He had thrown him
self down for rest on side hill just in
side the skirmish line, when stray rebel
bullet took him lengthwise, as it, were,
went through his cap brim, clipped an
eighth of an inch ofhis shapely nose, and
went through the end of his shoe, cutting
OFT squarely his middle toe. His nose is
all right now except persistently pale
speck on the end, but the missing toe
comes back like a ghost to make him
nearly frantic at times.
have seen him jump from his chair
IN the office, unbutton his shoe, kick it as
high as the ceiling, and dance around
like mailman. People who do not know
the story of the missing toe are very ant
to Jump to the conclusion that my friend
is cratic as we'll as eccentric, and it is
not very often that he makes an explana-
ton. He says it is bad enough to have
= finger or toe itch when you can get at
It, but to have toe take an itching spell |
and know that it isn't there and that YOU
can't get at it even if you could reach
HOO miles, and to have it keep up that ir-
ltatlng, tantalizing, exasperating Itch
ng tor ten OF fifteen minutes and to have
10 chance of getting at it is too much for
human nature
oNE-LEGGED MEN ON A MARCH.
The funniest thing in the business said
! one-armed stalwart, is to see a lot Of
'ne-legged fellows on march. Not lone
go at regimental reunion a squad Of
'eterans, each Of whom had lost a leg or
'art OF leg, determined to march in the
procession. They had all sorts of appli.
noes, and each one was proud of his own
ubstitute for the leg that nature had
wen HIM. When the band struck I'D
ne OF the old marching tunes we were
n level ground, and all these lame vet
rams moved off with as stately step as
they had never been wounded. I re-
need greatly in the thought that thew
ouid demonstrate that cork legs and
OGDEN stubs answered all the purposes 5
soldering.
But there came change in the eleya- :
on OF the street, and my one-legged |
luad were in disorder at once. In going !,
the incline more than half the wood n
or cork appliances got out of order,
I'd the spectacle of these old fellows trv- I
g to keep time was ludicrous enough to
axe any man laugh and pitiful enough &
make most people cry, but they joked al
a laughed, dropped out for minute,
Justed their wooden legs, and were :
am IN the ranks. They really believed
at they, could march as we'll as any =
e could, and 1 note that most of the [
Ter boys, now gray-headed and rheu- II
'tlc, believe they can march fifteen or v
enty miles at stretch without fatigue.
all event whenever occasion offers -
y attempt an exploit of the kind and :
IKE believe that the sickness that fol- =
vs. is caused by the weather ~