The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-11-06

ence." at the Palace Theater. I
| -~~~-~~~~~-~--~~>>--~- ~-~--~--~~~-~-~~~~~~~
vi!dfirc through the wards. Even the
most positive denals failed to coun.
| .eraot its effects altogether. and n good
| many European soldiers still refuse 20
| earn solely because they fear To lose
their pension They have no desire 20
.osc one bone 10y swapping at It's re.
| lection in the water
lean however. was convinced in
ime. He learned TO be II nasseur--
| rs gymnasi he had perforce been
umething of 'rubber"-and Is now
| earning quite as much as he ever did
and has far steadier employment than
he ever had.
The United States will OF course
| meet no such difficulty. our soldiers
yill know all about recducation long
before they are wounded: and they
will know that the insurance bill spe-
officially provides that soldier shall
! suffer no reduction in his compensa.
4! ton because he learns to work in spite
! Of permanent injury. They vii!
know that no person who had lost his
hand. for instance. was ever reduced
by Uncle Sam because he learned to
write with the stump.
Thomas Hopkins suffered in another
way. Thomas was an anemic down
and-outer from the London slums when
he squeezed. or was squeezed. into the
army. a year in the trenches built him
up and then shrapnel mutilatcd his
right arm so badly that 1t had to be
taken off. Hopkins was In despair:
gifted with SOM ambition he had seen
a way out of The slums. and now he
.cemed about TO be forced back into
them with an added handicap He
would have snapped at any chance to
learn.
One.Ar,Hed Type Setter.
ilut the system was not well o.
'anized in those days and Tor week
Hopkins had to sit around in con-
valosceut hospital nursing his despair
lntil he had Slipped back into his old
,ndolent ways; his muscles had grown
feeble and his joints and tcndors stiff
II took a long time to arouse his ambi.
ton again and still longer to educate
the sensltiveness Of his stump and to
teach him how to use it and how 10
use some of the 30 aud more attach |
ments that have been devised for use |
on stumps. He did learn. however, |
ana now runs a typesetting machine in |
London newspaper office.
Hopkins was wounded nearly two .
years ago. Nowadays he-and of .
course any American--would start re-
education at the very earlies possible /
moment Nowadays. by the way. it has
1een found necessary to restrict the
hours that a convalescent may work:
)r the great majority would oyertax
their strength.
Americans have one very great ad.
vantage over Europeans in that Ameri-
"A makes the best artificial limbs in
he world No country i'm Europe can
come anywhere near equalling them;
and all European countries seem un-
able to buy them from American MAX
srs because they are almost compelled
20 patrOnize home production. As the
European limbs are much heavier than
he American, most of the European
Wounded wear them only for show and
'evert to stumps and peg legs when
hey go to work
Another lesson that Europe has
1asscd on is tine necessity of teach.
ng by instructors who are disabled in
The same way as those they teach. An
instructor with two perfect legs, for
Instance. cannot possibly understand
he despair that crushes a legless man;
whereas "A legless teacher by his own
ibility inspires mis- pupils with hope
md hope is the basis Of the whole
work This fact so obvious when IL
5 once suggested. was discovered by
accident. Rose lie Blanc. who had lost
10Th hands at the wrists by an ex-
,losion in a munitions plant. applied i
o the orthopedic hospital for food |
when starving in the streets of Paris.
II table she showed such skill in using |
he stumps Of her arms that the pa
lent marVeled an dtried TO initiate
ne girl who thought her life finished. Il
s now the best teacher for armless men
u all France. She has rc-creatod the |
ives # hundreds. She and her wom-
n pupils 0Or there are not "A few
gomen victims Of frightfulnessi and
ONE of her men pupils learn to sew,
weave baskets. and dress
all without arms. Those
rhO prefer more masculine work are II
hunted off. when once well started, TO
lale instructors lalso arTnless1 who
each them carpentry, forge work. ag-
iculture. shoemaking and other
-ades.
Many former soldiers are now teach
rs. The fact that they have been
trough tho mill is an enormous en-
Duragement to the injured.
To Choose Own Trade.
SO far as possible an injured man II
llowed to choose which trade he viii
arm. but sometimes 1t has proved nee
ssary to persuade him TO undertake
mother. The vocation" directors ar,
len Of long experience who can often
idge more wisely than the patient
imself. For instance. some man may u.