The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-12-20

the hospital did the same thing on
almost the same day.
Feared Loss Of Pensions.
The hospital staff could not under
stand IL. Later-much later-after a
good many of Jeans friends had per-
force been discharged from the hos
pital, the staff discovered the explana-
ton: Jean and his mates thought that
they had found the string tied to the
offer. 'AS soon as you learn n new
trade they'll take away your pension" +"
was the whisper that had run like
wildfire through the wards. Even the
most positive denials failed to coun-
teract its effects altogether, and good
many European soldiers still refuse to
learn, solely because they fear to lose
their pension. They have no desire to
lose one bone by swapping at its re-
fiectiOn in the water.
Jean, however, was convinced In
time. He learned to be n masseur-
as gymnast he had lerforce been
something Of a "rubber"-and is now
earning quite as much as he ever did
and has far steadier employment than
he ever had.
Tommy" in Despair.
Thomas Hopkins suffered in an
other 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 a
shrapnel mutllated his right arm so
badly that it had to be taken off.
Hopkins was in despair; gifted with
some ambition he had seen way out
of the Slums, and now he seemed about
to be forced back into them with an
added handicap. He would have
snapped at any chance to learn.
But the system was not we'll or
ganized in those days, and for weeks
Hopkins had to sit around In con-
valescent hospital nursing his despair
until he had slipped back into his old
indolent ways; his muscles had grown
feeble and his joints and tendOns stiff.
1t took long time to rouse his ambi.
tiOn again and still longer to educate
the senSitiveness of his stump and to
teach him how to use 1t and how to
use some Of the 40 and more attach.
mentS that have been devised for
use on stumps. He did learn, how
ever, and now runs a typesetting ma
chine in London newspaper office.
Hopkins was wounded, nearly two
years ago. Nowadays he-end OF
course any American-would start re-
education at the very earliest possible
moment. Nowadays, by the way, II
has been found necessary to restrict
the hours that convalescent may
work; or the great majority would
Overtax their strength.
| Disabled Men Best Teachers.
Another lesson that Europe has
passed on is the necessity of teaching
by instructors who are disabled in the
same way as those they teach. An in
structor with two perfect legs, for In
stance, cannot possibly understand
the despair that crusheS legleSs man
whereas a legless teacher by his owl
ability inspires his pupils with hope
and hope is the basis Of the whole
work. This fact, so obvious when 4
is once suggested, was discovered BY
accident. Rose lie Blanc, who had los
both hands at the wrist by an explo
sion in a munitions plant, applied Il
the orthopedic hospital for food wheT
starving in the streets of Paris. Al
table she showed such skill in using
the stumps of her arms that the pa
tients marveled and tried to initiate
her. The rest followed naturally
This one girl, who thought her life fin
ished, is now the best teacher for arm.
less men in all France. She has re.
created the lives of hundreds.
Many former soldiers are now teach.
ers. The fact that they have been
through the mill is an enormous en-
couragement to the injured.
Blind Taught Typewritinq.
Blind men have also u great range
of work thrown open to them. In
England all of them are taught to
typewrite; and each, on leaving the
school, is given typewriter, so that
he can also attend to his correspond
ence. To typewrite really seems to
come by nature nowadays. For q
trade they may choose either mas.
sage, machinery adjusting, net making,
piano tuning, brush making, pottery,
or any one Of many more.
It is, of course. of little avail to
teach q disabled man trade and then
to turn him out to seek an employer,
Employers are all "from Missouri"
and hesitate to employ disabled men.
Hence Uncle Sam, like his allies, will
have to find jobs for his pupils and
be able to guarantee that they can do
their work. Some of these pupils, by
the way, will be willing to work any,
where, some will work only near their
homes, and some will be outrageOuSly
persnickety both as to location and EN-.
ployers. Uncle Sam will try to satisfy
them all. Moreover, he is planning to
! establish, as none of the allies has yet
done, q follow-up system, by which, If
a man gets discouraged and quits, Un-
Gle Sam will know of it and will do
his best to start him upward and on
ward again.
Exerted Persuasive Power.
Roland was "native son" and had
taken heed of the conversations of his