Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-01

Prunes Are Rich in Galleries, but
Boys Don't Care--They
Prefer Ice Cream
for Dessert
By ROBERT HILpRETH

II
Il gether in Tommy's house when lunch
time arrived. SO Tommy's mother invited
Sammy to stay for lunch. Sammy de-
INJURED, saying:
II told ma I'd be home"
But" said Tommy's mother. suppose
telephone over7 I'm sure shed give her
permission IL ] asked her"
Sammy was thus driven to the wall.
II asked your maid" he replied. what
you're going to have for dessert, and she
said prunes, and we're going to have Ice
cream"
Only prunesi That settled It. Prunes
are humble articles of diet, but there are
those who love them. A big healthy
growing boy cannot always see It that
way. Sometimes he prefers ice cream.
Ice cream isn't to be sneered at, either. I
remember reading column editorial a
few years ago in which ice cream es.
peclally was highly lauded as dessert
on dietary and hygienic grounds. It has
It's scientific advocates, and so have
prunes, for that matter; but prunes, you
know, are prunes Ice cream, on the other
hand, is ice cream. Leave II to big,
healthy, growing boy to put the differences
on a pragmatic basis. He is the great dis
coverer of what is what. Leave It to the
boy.
We Live by Survival
Somebody objects, perhaps, that the
boys Judgment is not infallible. Whose
is7 Roosevelts? wilson's7 Even brokers
and editors land typesetters) mako mis-
takes. The fact ia we do not live by I'M
munity from error, but by survival. That
ought to be evident to any observer Of
his own progress from the cradle to the
grave. Life Is an isthmus between two
eternities-or a Panama Canal subject
to slides. And boys answer to a hard
and fast philosophy of life is very sim
pie and definite and emphatic-'Pruneor'
Yet, undeniably, there is much virtue In
prunes. They have the Endorsement OF
those physicians who are willing TO sac
rifce a little something for the good Of
humanity. They loom large on the printed
menu at Childs' and In the magnificent
hotel where 1 am writing this Macaulay
often concluded a sentence or phrase
with this" as II even he couldn't find the
word that belonged next. saw in the ele-
vator this morning a card indicating that
prunes headed the club breakfast served
In the main dining room from como IL.
I discovered on trial that prunes were In
deed the headliners of the bill OF fare. It
is now nearly dinner time.
At this moment am sharing my friend,
Heine Heiniger's fondness for "a nizs
goot beeze O. beezesteak." Heine says he
gets the same once a week at Tony's-for
mr. bo1A k<k kH..
laboring class, and as he can't afford
wife he lives at the Y. M. c. A. and goes
to Tony's once week for Sunday dinner.
Mashed potatoes and bread with all meat
orders until recently, when even Tony
began to charge extra for bread like the
other fellows.
But maybe Heine doesn't read the pa
pers as diligently as he ought to. If no
did maybe he would see his way clear to
the marriage altar and a few rooms for
light housekeeping. Tho lighter the
housekeeping the better for Tony. For
Heine earns only little above the aver
age wage of about threefourths of the
Industrial workers I'm this country. Yet
Heine's good fellow. His equipment in
some ways may be little deficient, but
I really can't ind It in my heart to blame
him for that. Heine is a good fellow
and I like him-but he ought to read the
papers more carefully. with a better COM
prehension OF their practical usefulness.
II he did he would discover the economic
virtues Of prunes and then he could
marry Bridget. Perhaps that's it-psr-
haps the article In question may have
struck him as too darned economic.
Menus From Hospitals
Be that as It may 1t has been proved
by tests-I think they were made in Q
hospital or had something somehow to
do with hospital-that $7.31 is enough
or sufficient-to feed a family of two
adults and three children for week.
With the help OF prunes. Ono pound Of
prunes Costing 16 cents) win provide
one breakfast and one dessert for the
family. The next week the family can
have stewed apricots or stewed peaches
either for breakfast or for dinner, or for
both.
There's nothing particularly objection
able about the sample menus. Good.
wholesome food providing $500 calories
day. Galleries are very important
They're very scientific. So scientific, In
fact, that they aren't real life. No more
are they real fun. There's no real life
without real fun. There's no Joy in life
without Joy in eating. Ask a dyspeptic.
Ask yourself If you enjoy being put on :
diet No. thousand times no. Ask ;
big. healthy. growing boy II he'd like u
make eats a science of calories. His an
swer? Huh, "Prunes!"
But somebody remarks that these sci-
entifc menus were not intended for big.
healthy. growing boys. No, quite true;
they weren't. More's the pity. These
scientific. statistical. calorio menus em-
anated from a hospital But can't We
somehow get our submerged so per cent.
out OF the ranks Of the socially sick into
and even beyond the stage OF eonva-
lescence? Is It worth thinking about now r
and then7 Is 1t not7 A hospital diet
even outside the walls OF a hospital has
its deficiencies. Like Heine. we all have
a fondness for "a nize goot beezs q
beezesteak" once in a while-eyen az
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