Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-12-25
LITTLE GIRLS SPINE MENDS AGAIN
90 % 90 20 90 90 90 90 90
IN CASTS YEARS-SHE DANCES NOW
% % % % % 90 % o. o.
MOTHERS PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

To lie on ones back on a board,
with a plaster cast all around ones
little body, the rough edges push
ing w under ones arms and cut
| ting ones legs, no matter how
skillfully and carefully the kind
doctor arranges it; for even Grip
pied little children grow. and. Go
look out of the window and see the
other children skip and play all
sorts Of delightful games; to smile
through all this, and then, one day,
| as If in a dream, to come float
ing out on a stage, the tips of ones
| pointed toes barely touching the
| boards; gauZy ballet skirts teeter-
| ing-that is quite a wonderful
thing for a little girl to have hap
pen to her, isn't it? And that is
exactly what did happen to a little
| Albuquerque girl,
| She is brave, smiling little
girl, and those who remember her
small, white face, drawn with pain,
! just few years ago, could not
| keep back tears of emotion when
they saw fairy like child come
tip-toeing from the wings right to
the footlights and kick and pirou-
cite there, just a few nights ago
Who could be insensible to the APP
peal if he knew her story? So
| here it is;
Playmate Injuries Her.
1t was a birthday party and
some rolicking little boy jumped
from the steps and struck four
| year-old Elizabeth in the back. 1t
hurt her and she did not play for
the rest of the afternoon, and not
long after that. as she became
sicker day after day, the doctors
examined her and We're not quite
sure what the trouble was. But
that it had something to do with
her spine was sure, and they
! thought perhaps it was tuberculosis
Of the spine
And she was an only child. SO
| they took her away and q specialist
| put braces on her, and then she was
wrapped in a plaster cast, and laid
flat on her back. And her mother
said, 'she will get Well" and her
mothers friends thought she must
be willing ii. and it seemed rather
hopeless, for one year, and two
years passed, and the baby body
lengthened, and that awful plaster
shirt" had to be changed many
times. There were strips of cloth
left with ends protruding so that
mother could scratch her back,
And the small face was a little
white between the yellow curls.
And the little legs that We're never
used looked quite pitifully frail,
and no one ever really thought
they would be used again, except
the mother.
Mothers Faith Ever Strong.
But she knew they would he
used. And she made paper dollies,
and thought up every kind of diver
sion and amusement for a very
good little girl who always
smiled, and was. pleased, and made
a joke of it when the doctors hurt
her, and laughed when the cast
was being changed. And after two
years the doctors said she might
sit UP, and then it was much more
fun. because you could do so much
more that way; it was easier TO
look at pictures, and to cut out
things.
And after three years and a little
more, the doctors thought she
might try to walk a little, still with
the cast on. And by now Elizabeth
was quite a big girl. but she had
forgotten how to walk The first
miracle happened right then,
however. for when she stood upon
her feet at the second trial, she
walked straight across the room in
to her mothers arms. Walked on
swift and unsteady feet, but walked
a distance of from six to ten feet,
Still Wore the Cast.
OF course the cast had TO be worn
to keep the growing spine straight
and well. But eXquisitely dainty
little frocks covered the queer hard
cast, and Miss Elizabeth herself
made fun of it. and would sur
prise new friends by knocking on
her own chest and responding glee-
fully. to, the queer hollow sound,
"Come right in" But by the end