The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-02-16
PROUD OF THEIR
ARTIFICIAL LIMBS
From Reciprocal News Service.
IL Queen Anne's Gate, London, :. W. l.
BY MARGARET WALTER.

lie down or run upstairs without TAX.
ing thought, is in certain place /
know to be reduced to the condition of
bloated plutocrat Of physical resour.
ces.
At Roehampton, a beautiful country
house built by Sir Christopher Wren
in the late seventeenth century, no such
vulgar millionaires are seen in these
war times. On the terrace above the
sunken gardens, where peacocks and
painted ladies used to parade, wounded
men pace up and down in the winter
sun; soldiers. doctors, orderlies, instruc-
tors-all men who have been at war
and have. to the last man, literally given
bone and flesh Tor their king and coun.
try.
1t is curious TO lnd that men who
are under treatment in any of the mill.
tary hospitals in this country will not
tolerate attendance OF any sort from
able-bodied civilians, men who have not
been to the front. Down to the most
humble assistant in the bathing estab
lishment to the barber and the shoe
black, they have got to be soldiers; the
more they are mutilated the greater
their popularity.
Soldiers and sailors who have lost
their limbs in this war are first sent
to convalescent hospital at Brighton
where they regain their strength and
acquire new outlook, the outlook OF
man recreated. From the moment
he enters the first stage of this prepa.
ration for his future every individual
man receives the personal attention and
advice Of succession of experts in
different lines, and as the time goes on
and he RECEIVERS his strength, his bent
whatever it may be, is encouraged and
he finds himself in surroundings where
every effort he makes is looked upon
as distinct achievement.
No wonder that by the time he
reaches Roehampton he is not only
ready to be fitted with new limbs but
his mind is prepared for process OF
education, which, before the war. would
have been considered utterly impossible
for mature men. Little by little out
side interests begin to rival in impor
tance his preoccupation with his own
misfortune. lie sees every hour Others
more unfortunate than he, others doing
work in which he becomes ambitious t1
excel. And here the Englishman's
sporting instinct stands him in gallant
service. He begins to take pride in
his handicap, begins to exercise the
same ingenuity which has for centuries
led him to create obstacles only for the
joy Of overcoming them.
One boy, he could not have been
more than twenty, who came back from
the Somme with one arm, delights tc
embroider regimental flags with the
mechanical fingers of his left hand
But why does he not learn something
that he can do with one hand-treadle
work or store keeping or accounting?
l protested.
ASK him." was the reply.
why, | took up embroidery ma'am
just because my pal who has both his
hands was such a rotten needlemar
that had to show him how"
But embroidery is only his recreation
his hobby He is taking a special
course in gymnastics with the intention
OF becoming an instructor. Another
man before the war was Il platter; he
has continued his training and will be
ready to take a position as commercial
Instructor as soon as he is released
Jobs are waiting for every man who
goes out properly equipped. The whole
industrial facilities of the country are
open TO these men, SO great is the neet
of them. Many employers are training
manned men for special work and pay
ing them while they are being trained
Scientific market gardening is OTTER
taken up by men who have lost theiI
legs in the var and who went from the
farm to the barracks. Thus instead oil
the wages Of farmland they will carr
the pay OF a skilled workman, plus the
the pension allowed by the govern
ment.
There is an employment bureau al
Roehampton conducted in the inter
ests OF the patients, but, unlike the or
dlnary commercial agency, this burear
Keeps in constant touch with its mem
bers after they have left the hospital
The elaborate indexing OF the men,
records helps TO check the danger OF
their being imposed upon by greedy
employers. The medical authorities keer
in touch with them, overhaul them from
time to time lest they be sacrificed tC
the growing demand for heavy workers
The London Polytechnic is working
in close collaboration with the Roe
hampton Hospital. While convalescent
and during the long period of becoming
accustomed to the use of their arti
fetal limbs, the men take any branch
OF training their desire, with the priv
lege OF years free instruction after
they leave the hospital.
And the limbs themselves. Science
and experience have accomplished such
miracles with steel and rawhide. with
rubber and springs and cords, that al
most every action Of hand and foot
can be reproduced mechanically. So
long as there is an available muscle
on which to build, a man may be taught
to walk, to run, to use his arms, his
hands his fingers. BY slight con
traction Of the powerful cords of his
neck and the muscles of his back and
breast he may be able to pick up a
pin with his perfectly moulded wooden
fingers set in their pneumatic sockets
with rubber tendons and covered with
cuticle of enameled rawhide as wash,
able as living skin.
Not week goes by that the manu-.
facture of these limbs, on the premises,
does not receive some important limo.
II Stock in the SDrinp Piv-