A One-Legged Girl.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 26, 11 May 1870, Page 7

A One-Legged Girl.

(By Frank Buckland, in " Land and Water.") After leaving the " Fire-eating Cafl're," we paid our admission fee of one penny to see the " One-legged Girl." This funny creature was sitting like a Chinese idol on a small footstool, placed on the middle of a small tea-table, covered with baize. She appeared to be about sixteen years old. She was in excellent health, rather nice featured, and always laughing. She had no arms whatever, and apparently but one leg. When the proper complement of people were assembled in the room, she begun her performance by stretching out her one leg, and picking up an ordinary quill pen between her great toe and the toe next to it. She then dipped the pen in ink, and wrote her name with her font. The autograph was a great deal better than that of many young ladies and gentlemen who write with their fingers, and not their toes. It was very funny to see her tear off the half-sheet of paper on which she had written. She did this by steadying it with her foot. Th order to test the delicacy of the touch of her toes, at my request she turned over some leaves of notepaper. It was marvellous to see how she never missed a page. She then took a needle from a pin-cushion, and placed it in her left foot; then unwinding some cotton from a reel, she bit off a length of it, and then £>assed the thread through the eye of the needle with the greatest exactitude and promptness, not once taking a bad shot. Reaching out her foot, she then pulled towards her a set of tea-things, and went through the motions of making tea and pouring it out into the cups, and lifting it to her mouth. The last two performances were the combing and brushing her hair, and showing us how she could use the scissors. "With her toes she put the scissors on the table, and then passed the great toe and the next one in the rings, holding some writing paper with her left foot, and twisting it about, she set to work cutting out imaginary portraits of people present, which she sold for what she could get. Some years since, I have been told, a man who had neither arms nor legs, beiug simply egg-shaped, used to exhibit himself in London. He used to fix a pen into a socket which he had fastened round his chest, and with this he used to write, and I hear even paint pictures. The great power of the human thumb depends upon the presence cf a certain large muscle which forms the ball of the thumb : it is called the opponens pollicis. By means of this muscle we are enabled to " oppose" the top of the thumb to the tops of all the other fingers. The monkey has not got this muscle—his hand is more like the foot. It was therefore very interesting to me to observe how this poor girl had managed to train the muscle of her foot so as to do the duty of the opponens pollicis. These muscles of her foot were very strong, and much developed. I think it is a great mistake to shut up the feet of children in tight shoes. When running about the house they should go barefooted; there is no fear of their catching cold, and they may as well be taught to use their feet as well as their hands. The Lascar sailors, I hear, can grasp a rope between their great toes ; they never wear shoes. Just as we were leaving the room the one-legged girl jumped up, and we had a good chance to see how terribly she was deformed. As I said before, she had no traces whatever of arms, and her right leg, though nominally present, was very short, the foot of it only coming down as far as the knee of the left leg. When she stood up she was about four feet high. She bore her whole weight on this one leg—a regular " monipede." Long practice had enabled her to stand quito firm upon it, and when she wanted to move she hopped about like a kangaroo, without any fear of falling, although she had nothing with which to balance herself

Krupp's steel foundry in Essen employed in 1808 about 6900 workmen, and produced 125,000,0001b5. weight of cast steel. The establishment possessed in the same year 418 smelting furnaces of various kinds, 249 puddliiig and other furnaces, 165 coke ovens, 322 turning-benches, 113 planing machines, 92 boring machines, 241 steam machines with 8213 aggregate horse-power, sftid 51 steam hammers, with a total weight of 2978 centners. In addition to artillery, the works produce objects required in industry. A priest who was examining a confirmation class in the south of Ireland asked the question, "What is the sacrament of matrimony?" A little girl at the head of the class answered—- " 'Tis a state of torment into which sowl3 enter to prepare them for another and better world." —"Being," said tho priest, "the answer for purgatory;"—" Put her down," said the curate, " put her down to the fut of the class."—" Lave her alone," said the priest; "for anything you or I know to the contrary, she may be parfitly right." A person asked a wag if the tolling of a bell did not put him in mind of his latter end. He replied, " No, sir, but the rope puts me in mind of youra."