The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-10
A YEAR UNDER THE KNIFE.
Patient skin Grating on a Little
Girl

] GIRL
Prom the Baltimore American
San Francisco. Aug. s-Over in san Ra-
I fael a stout-hearted doctor and brave.
I patient mother have been fighting Tor the
last year and ten days with all the
strength and skill and love and patience
that Is ia ehem 70 save the life Of a little
I girl Though there is still nearly year
/ OF struggling before them, they smile
cheerily on their Questioners and say; oh,
/ yes. We'll pull her through"
II Is little girl OF IL lying in a small.
clean white bed over whom the war Of
| life and death has been waged. On July %.
last year, she was playing about bonfire
IN her own back yard. There was breath
| from a wandering breeze a flicker OF a
I cotton petticoat, a curling yellow fame,
/ ana IN an Instant the terrible mischief
was done. Her whole right side was seam
| ed, SCARED and marked BY the cruel Grim
/ son fingers The delicate features were
| spared. but the body was roasted-nOt
| scOrched. Great pieces Of flesh fell out the
/ mp muscles were exposed, blood OOzed ana
| trickled from the veins whose ends had
| oeen burned away. Nobody thought that
! Jessie PrOuufOOt could live. A burn COW
/ ering such an area on so small a body
| was comparatively greater than burns that
/ had killed the strongest men. But the frail-
er the myers, the stronger the hold on life
| sometimes and it's a great thing to have
a mother and doctor who count no sac
/ rihce too great to be made.
| mere was a burn on the shoulder three
] inches oy four, one six by six on the side
/ ana a terrible one on the hip sixteen inches
| long and averaging nine inches in width
| though in places II was over foot wide.
] On the arm was a burn three inches by
Two and on the elbow one two by two
Inc red and quivering nip is stiA a raw
| sore, and the shreds Of skin that seem to
| De tnFusting out tiny tendrlls to Gasp the
next tendr1l near by. The child is as
much much heroine as the. girls who flag
| trains and rescue crowds from sudden
| death. She has fought the good fight, and
! Iought II without a whimper or a moan.
courage runs in the family.
Jessie Proudfott is a fran little thing,
| with white hands and fingers, slender as
! a Daby's Her face Is delicate oval pale
| with a faint wild-rose color at times, and
| IN II are set gray eyes, dark lashed that
| know more than childs need Of suffer
] ing. she is not a plaintive invalid, but a
| brave, hopeful lassie who, through these
| twelve months of almost uninterrupte,l
pam, has never been under the influence
! or anaesthetics but three timessand then
| was put to steep while her wounds were
| scraped Of the deadly proud flesh All
she says when they dress the raw flesh
| on her side is to moan softly, 1T hurts. -
| She does not cry for she has learned that
| tears cannot ease her endless pain.
| Inc girl Is going. TO get well Is the skin
| supply in San Rafael hold out
| 30 tar eighty persons, some few of them
I
| tlcle to Jessie's side. The smaller burns
on the arms healed themselves, but when
the girl is well one entire hip will have
| a SKIN OF shreds and patches. Almost all
heI httle school friends offered to help,
| ana young ladies'. men, old people and
| chudren have contributed. Her little sis
Ter Ethel, nine years old. has given twen-
| ty-three square inches of skin Ten times
| her 6-year-Old brother Joe has given three
| and one-hah and four inches without a
| tear, though the sister took ether when
she made her big sacrifice An aunt ana
| Mrs Proudfoot have very little more skin
| 70 give. But the kindly and personal Of
| Ierlngs have been by no means confined 10
| the family. The ages of the givers have
ranged IA from years TO AZ, and cuticle OF
| all ages and compilations has been adopr.
ed by the wounded child with equal IA,
| cll1ty. People who never saw Jessie have
heard OF the case and offered themselves
70 1T; Jones. Long thin strips of skin
nave been peeled from them, the opera
uoh always being performed in the room
next TO the little girl, for the human skin
= lelcate fabric, finer than silk ana
more neXtble than elastic webbing 1t Is
cleansed carefully and then cut with =
sterilized knife and laid on the canine
ourn while 1t is still warm with some.
Douy else IRE. Twice DR.. Jones has COW
ered the whole wound. and twice the CEN
ter-the deepest part-has rejected the
| alien tissue. Now he is grating AROUND
the edges, and the burn Is steadily grow
| ing smaller as little peninsulas Of slxJn
grow inward on the waste of uncoverso
flesh. At the past rate of progress II will
be eight or nine months before the ends
| meet.
There was an implantation a few DAVIS
| ago, and the new skin is struggling 10
get foothold. Forty-eight inches in inch
| VIDE strlps-over yard of human cuticle
was given last time. Before 1t could be
grated this shrinking delicate fiber had
curled Ike photograph film into half
ITS size on the little girl Nature, though
heroic can assimilate only a certain
amount Jessie went to bed for ten DAYS
and ten inches of the new skin is growing
The marvel of It is that the child is able
TO be out of bed between operations and
! walk with assistance. She iimps a. little
| put they say that the new skin. which is
| loose and elastic and wrinkled win allow
| the burned limb to stretch when 1t is well
and the limp will not be permanent For
| seven months Jessie lay on her right Sid a
almost without stirring but now she
| drives about San Rafael and take a liftie
exercise. The big burn is not nearly as re-
pulsive as expected. Her arm is disfg1red
with the smooth, poreless scar. but the
| MP Is going to be white and almost
smooth, and the seams and assures he
tween the strips of skin will be almost
| smoothed away.