Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-16
BY DAY ALLEN WILEY

stituted for hinge. Then piece of round
or square rubber cord IS fastened IN the
lower part of the leg and passed up into the
part above the knee. This is the leg muscle.
Strange that it should be an improvement
on the human muscle; but this is fact, for
the man with the artificial limb does not
need to exert himself to straighten it. The
muscle, naturally contracting, keeps it
straight except when he wishes to bend it.
The flesh muscle will not act in either way
except by an effort of the person.
With its joints of steel and muscle of rub
Der in place, the leg is covered with rawhlde
or leather, which IS stretched tightly over
the surface, keeping the wood from being
cracked by changes of temperature or too
much strain The skin is coated with flesh
tinted preparation which renders it as
smooth as celluloid.
Now the leg is ready to slip on, and is kept
in place by wide elastic suspenders slipped
over the shoulders. 1t is dressed in the usual
way, and when the stocking is drawn on and
the shoe tied the keenest vision could not
detect which is the true and which the false
member.
MEN are daily working, some with only
~ one of their natural limbs, some with
neither, and yet they are performing their
duties as rapidly and skilfully as their fellows
who are made up entirely of flesh, blood, and
bone. In fact, some of the @cripples. if
they can be called such, excel Others IN their
vocation. The smarteSt and most energetic
men are in the ma jority among those who
have met with accidents. Frequently the
misfortune stimulates them to greater effort
and to perform deeds that seem almost i'm
possible House painting, for instance, is not
a Yer q
when man has to remain four or five hours
on a ladder thirty or forty feet from the
ground, or swinging from scatfold sixty or
seventy feet IN the air; yet in Boston there
IS legleSs man who supports himself as
roof painter. Climbing about buildings and
going up and down ladders, with two arti-
fetal limbs, he covers as much surface in a
day as any of the others working with him.
On the St. Lawrence River there is boat
man who makes business of rowing fisher
men to hooks among the Thousand Islands
where they can fill their baskets. He pulls
against wind and current, jumps in and out
of the boat, moors and shoves it off, as if he
were complete in all his natural. members;
yet his left leg is wood below the knee.
1t would appear as if bicycle riding would
be almost impossible with wooden leg; yet
]. A. Nilsson is a man who finds it easy and
says he gets as much assistance from this
member as the natural one. He is Swede
who met with an accident that required am
putation close to the body. He rides forty
and fifty miles daily on smooth roads with
out being overfatigued.
Blacksmiths machinists, woodworkers,
engineers. and railroad men generally make
up in themselves a small army of unfortu-
mates who have held their employment by
wearing substitutes for natural parts of the
body. The cab of many locomotive con-
tains a man at the lever who has lost a limb.
WELDING the blacksmith's hammer and bel
lows and holding lumber under the saw re-
quire assistance from the limbs, for man
must be well braced to exert the strength of
his hands and arms; but the leg of wood
gives as good foundation as the real, say
mechanics who are obliged to use the sub
stltuteS.
The idea of a performer on the tight rope
having an artificial leg seems almost lncredi-
BILE; yet such an American has been giving
exhibitions for several years. Sometimes he
appears fully clothed, walking, dancing. and
even turning somersaults on the rope. Again
he exhibits in tights, surprising the audience
by revealing the fact that he is using his sub
stitute leg almost as much as the other in his
various featS.
PUT even this man is eclipsed by Charles
i L, L., L.