Judge, 1920-05-15 · page 11 of 36
Judge — May 15, 1920 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Prunes" — A Satire on Disagreeable Men This is a humorous moral essay illustrated with a cartoon. "Full of prunes" is period slang meaning someone is full of complaints, negativity, or hot air—likely referencing prunes' well-known laxative properties. The piece catalogs three types of objectionable men: 1. **Bunkinson**: A perpetually gloomy pessimist who complains constantly and tries to regulate others' fun with restrictive laws. 2. **Jephson Jinks**: A newly wealthy social climber with "cheap pride" who boasts about his money and dismisses anyone without wealth, despite his own lowly origins ("tinhorn mutt, a human hand-me-down"). 3. **Ganderson**: A perpetual office-seeker who chases political positions he doesn't deserve while his hardworking neighbors build real lives. The cartoon depicts society literally ejecting these men—"sorting out his stocks"—for their tiresome, disagreeable natures. The satire suggests that character and temperament matter more than wealth or ambition; complainers, snobs, and chronic failures become social pariahs.
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“We See His Sorting Our His Stocks—Tiat May Is Fur. or Prunes!” Prunes By War Mason Jilustration by Raven Barton OMES to me little Guy, eftsoons; questions Guy; what does that signify?” ve blue prints would doubt What mean you? “you say some men are full of prunes I tell him that to less be in vain; perchance by parables and hints Vil make the meaning plain. We meet obnoxious men each day, who make our spirits sad; from them we cannot get away’; they throng in every grad. There’s Bunkinson, the gloomy wight, who never wore « smile; he hates himself by day and night, and cultivates his bile. He bores his children and his wife, with talk of doubts and fears; he hates to think there’s joy in life, or anything but He hands out protests by the ton, and snivels by: the hour; he'd like to regulate our fun with drastic laws and dour He thinks that groaning has more charm than whistling merry tunes; and so we view him with alarm, and say he’s full of tears. prunes, And when this judgment is pronounced on any dreary male, from all good circles he is bounced—he is without the pal From joyous haynts he’s shooed away to roam the windswept dunes; it is the worst thing we can s that one is full of prunes. You know our neighbor, Jephson Jinks; cheap pride s his face; he is the biggest thing. he thinks, that ever vet took place, He goes around with pompous strut as though he owned the town; and yet he’s but a tinhorn mutt, a human handme down. He made a lot of greasy cash in some unholy biz, and thinks that every man is trash who has no roll like his. He thinks that moncy rules the earth, and merit is a fake; he has no use for sterling worth unless it has a stake. He talks of wealth in strident tones, as to the bank he recls; he bores us with his song of bones, of roubles, bucks and wheels. We see him sorting out his stocks, and counting his doub Joons, and we denounce him in our walks: “That man is full of prunes.” And now there is a frosty air, for him there is po smile; he gets the icetongs everywhere, from gents who are worth while. And now there's sadness in his glee as o'er his wealth he croons; the town has sprung its stern decree that he is full of prunes. And Ganderson, who yearly runs for offices galore, who asks his neighbors and their sons to vote for him once more! His neighbors know he is no good, an idle, windy chap; while they are busy sawing wood, he trails some public snap. He'll always be an also ran though alw: he'll aspire; for offices should seck the man, and chronic seekers tire. And so the neighbors, while they ply their hard-earned forks and spoons, regard him he’s full of prunes. with disgusted eye, and say