Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-02-11
UPON A DIET OF paunes.
Changes Worked in One Girl BY Simple Re-
medy.


the lunch counter. Has your best
beau enlisted or has some dear frienl
gone to Santiago?"
Neither" answered the short girl.
pulling herself up on the high stool;
.'hut why do you think I'm quiet?
Because you are. l never saw any
one so changed. The last time l saw
you was just after Christmas. and no
body could get in word edgeways.
YOU talked SO fast. Now you have next
to nothing to say. and when you 10
speak you speak SO gently that / can
scarcely hear you. The whole EXPIRES
sion of your face has changed. and !
must say IFS for the better. You COM
plexion is lovely. our eyes bright. and
there is such a spirit of content about
you. Is it love?"
NO" answered her. companion.
laughing. Guess again. But you
never could. SO I'll tell you what has
wrought this change in me. 1t ism
love; it's prunes''
"Pruncs." exclaimed :iie tall girl, or
dering an oyster pate, slice of straw
berry shortcake. with plenty of cream,
and bottle CT ginger ale.
Yes, prunes," answered the other.
Waiter. bring me Il big dish Of stcwed
prunes, some bread and butter, and 4
glass of milk
Mercy. what Il luncheon. cN-
claimed the tall girl. IF that's wha:
you like why don't you take your meals
at a second-ratc boarding house where
they have slowed prunes for the first
course at breakfast. the same for the
last course at luncheon. and prune pie
for dessert ut dinner? l can give you
the address of one.
Laugh all you want to-" rejoincd the
short girl. but prunes have made a
new girl of me. not only physically and
mentally, but morally
Serve as sort of atonement for
your past. do they?" asked the tall girl.
What mischevous rogue you used to
be. | can't believe that prunes are re-
sponsible for this change. No: go tell
that to the Spaniards. Out with it..
What has changed YOU"
Il tell you it was prunes." insisted
her companion. You remember how
nervous and run down | got last WIN
ter? i was either down in the depth
of despair or up on the mountain tops
of hilarty. Can't you call to mind how
was up to all kinds of pranks, teasing
everybody. making fun Of everybody
sparing nobodys feelings if could get
laugh and make others laugh: and
don't you remember how noisy l usel
to DE and how uneasy everybody fe!:
when was around. not knowing what
1 would do or say next? Yes. l though:
you would. Well. I'm completely
changed and prunes did it"
DO tell me all about it, urged the
tall girl. and a nervous woman sitting
next to her listened eagerly for the
reply.
We'll. l went out to Chicago about
that time-it was in February. / think
and l was in such state that my
friends sent me to a well known Chi
cago physician. He said at once You
need prunes, young woman. and I said,
You mean pruning?' for my family is
always insisting that l had grown wild.
1t all came from overwork.
NO he said, I mean prunes. You
need a prune diet, or rather to eat
plenty of prunes. They'll set you
straight: and then he told me that he
had proved the prune to be moral
agent. and that European authorities
on dietetics were discussing his dis
covery at that very time and making
experiments. l asked him to tell me
all about his discovery. and he SAID
that he had made the pruue a subject
of special study and knew it to be a
preventive of crime. He was at one
time connected with a reform school
for boys. and that's when he found tina !:
he was right in believing the prunc 20
be more efficacious than the gospel IN
moving the youngsters to obedience.
These boys were exceedingly unruly,
and had reDelled against everybody
and everything tending toward the
reformation of their morals. Finally
wv NoStoI leu tltHi once u1y on
prunes for d week. and at the end Of
that time they were well hammered and
docile He said that the change in
them was the most wonderful thing
| that he had ever witnessed, though not
hard to understand. l said that |
thought it was, but he explained tina.
the prune has certain medicinal
property. which acts directly on the
nervous system. 1t makes me laugh
to hear people say: She has a bad
heart or. He has a vitiated mind
When people aren't honest and true
and pure. the nervous system. nine
times out of ten. is out of order, and
prunes will cure Them
But how did You take the prunes ."
inquired the tall girl with a grea.
Show Of interest
Wei, 1 kept stone jar of stewed
prunes on hand. and five or six times
day would so to it and eat three or
four. In German households such
crooks Of prunes have stood for medi-
cine chests for hundred years. The
German housewife provides the jar of
prunes, and the members of the family
up into It at all hours of the day, jus,
as family of po' white trash in the
ttlt.