A Broken Foot, an Artificial Leg, and a Real Story

Before Lendall Hill was born, his father lost his leg in a farming accident. But that didn't stop the elder Hill from working at his saw mill -- or from bringing Lendall along on jobs.
Recording technology has changed a lot over the years, but you can still do one essential thing. You sit in front of a microphone and you tell a story, which here we are again this Friday morning because it's time for StoryCorps. It's an oral history project. It travels the country, recording the stories of everyday people. And today we hear one man's vivid memory of his father's artificial leg. Lendall Hill recorded this story in West Virginia.

My dad got his leg cut off in a farming accident. And at that time the artificial legs was made out of paper with varnish and they were put around a mold. And there was cables in the ankles that connected the leg to the foot. There were some interesting times with that old leg. One time, we were delivering mining materials. And there was a timber checker that was up on top of the truck. And he had to look at every timber that we were unloading . And dad had pulled one of those timbers out, and he stepped and got his artificial leg caught and as he turned, it let out a pretty loud pop and he said, “Oh Darn. I think I broke my foot." And he sat down on the running board of the truck. The foot was plainly broken; it was turned at the right angles to what it should be. And he caught that foot in his two hands and he straightened it up. And it cracked and popped something over, and he said, "Oh Darn. The thing is broke." And he climbed back up on the truck that timber checker had turned white as cotton. He wouldn't think anything about it.

Several years later Uncle Long , Dad's brother, had run into the guy. And he asked him, "Are you a kin to that Bomb Hill that used to deliver mining materials?" Uncle answered , "Sure," he says, "that's my brother." The timber checker said, "I'll tell you one thing, said that's the toughest man I've ever seen." He broke his foot and climbed back up and finished unloading that truck. Uncle Long was laughing so hard. Tears were rolling by his cheeks. But he never did tell the guy that it was an artificial leg.

Lendall Hill, with his daughter Lorry Fitzgerald in Charleston, West Virginia. StoryCorps interviews are archived at the Aemrican Folklife Center at the library of Congress. And you can hear more of them by going to npr.org.
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running board
n.（名词）
A narrow footboard extending under and beside the doors of some automobiles and other conveyances.
脚踏板：一些汽车或其他便利装置的门下边或旁边延伸的窄的踏板

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