The farmer and mechanic., 1915-10-12


tematically. When four years old, I
fell into the water, and after that / |
was instructed in swimming; at six |
years of age, / could undress myself. |
at twelve, dress myself as we'll. The |
first requirements Of independence |
were thus attained--I had become q !
human being.
81 have never worried myself with !
efforts to replace my hands and arms |
with my feet. 1t must not be con-
cluded, however, that my readiness
was acquired without effort. Lock
ing myself in a room, for fear Of be-
ing ridiculed l would rack my brains
and experiment. until finally after a
hundred failures. a possibility Of real
| ization appeared in sight. Patience
and again patience was my guiding
| star.
"Learning to play the violin was
| the thing that cost me the greatest
| effort. When. after endless attempts,
a road seemed to have been found,
made for a long time no perceptible
progress. Wilhelm Schuster in Ko-
! nigsberg and subsequently David in
Leipzig, took pains to teach me for
! three years. until I could venture to
make my first public appearance in
the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
| Count Zichy, one-armed musi-
clan of Budapest. is produced as eX-
| ID .
MY One-Armed Friends is the title
Of the Counts article, and in it he
sayr:
'T call these one-armed people my
! friends because l am sincerely at
tached to them; because, with the
llove Of a father, I want to come to
their aid. Perhaps this feeling was
developed from a purely personal cir
cumstance-namely, because l can
not expend pity upon myself. I want
to. will. l must convince them that
they are not to be pitied. Their fate
lies in their own hand. If they have
the desire to succeed they will Sue
ceed. I have instructed hundreds of
one-armed people and found just as
many dissimilar characters. But in
/ one point they are all alike; they sire
t all suspicious They think that one
wants to console them with empty
words and then leave them to their
= fate. 1t was always a very good sign
l when they turned to me with ques-
tions. These questions were invariab bly,
s directed to me only after I had given
8 them ocular evidence that certain
r things could be accomplished.
Most Of the tasks set me made de-
mands upon my manual dexterity.
t was asked to cut a very hard loaf o1
r succeeded, which 1 always did, the,
n shook their heads and smiled
e Necessity was my teacher" con
: tinues the Count. But I had still
y another, a Count Koloman Esterhazy
t who lost his right arm in tho Hunga
!! rian war Of liberation, and lived l,
h Transylvania at the time. The excel
h lent fellow travelled from Klausenbur,
g to Pressburg at the request Of my pa
3 rents, and the sight OF him brough
me comfort. My first pupil wa
t. Count Nikolaus Pejacsevich. who los
y his right arm in 1866. At the Casin
h at Budapest I often cut his food TO
: him. He was still. however. an ad
Is nirable horseman. but the ordinar
p manual requirements he found yer
~ difficult. The rank and file, who hav
Is never had a servant, will bear tn
a loss of an arm far better and acQuir
er the devices OF the one-armcd consid
is erably faster. 1t is by no means bene
'e fetal that they should be treated
'p with the best intentions on the pa,
D. OF the nurses-in special hospital
like princes. It makes them -effem
nate and dependent, and all the NOR
m unhappy later. by contrast.
ls " hove preached over and owe
sh again that the one-armed should /
e. .n.-armed instructors, and that tn
lie instruction should really be begun
ny the hospital. preferably while the p:
On tients are still confined to their beds
ny His father, the writer. continues
a sturdy old soldier. did not spoil hi1
e. Very soon after the loss Of his arr
IT. "a 'er~itted him to take daring rid
n about their estate. to the great col
ny ein OF his mother. After the fir
e- two months. he was not allowed
&C. have groom accompany him. and
I'M ! rode from one castle to another. Oft<
ut returning late at night, without su
re tanning any sort of injury. At tt
m age of seventeen. he repaired to Pres
lat burg to study law. His tender moth
rs. wanted him to take a mentor wi
be him, but his father forbade it, sa
ow ing in explanation: "Since he has b
clip one hand, he must all the sooner sta,
on his own feet"
my Work the Only Retleenaer.
nts And 1 very quickly learned to
ley so" he continues "IJnfortunate e