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- Who has reared the perfect child? Who has successfully combated the destiny-shaping factors of heredity and environment with a theoretical code of child-raising warranted never to fail? Mrs. Gretchen Jans, mistress of millions, failed. Her two pretty nieces, Frances and Clarice were taught to sew and mend, economize and retrench, not alone in clothes and money but in thought and emotion as well. "Plug up the fountain of youth," was the harsh, Puritanical code of Gretchen Jans, and Frances paid the penalty with her heartaches. Hence, when Richard Ward fell in love with Frances and Mrs. Jans refused the parental blessing, the young couple did what most young couples do, set off post-haste for the nearest parsonage. And then into the life of Frances came the great change. A comfortable allowance didn't reach. Money ran like rays of sunshine in a golden stream through the fingers of both hands. Richard couldn't keep up the gait. Bills payable increased with a monotonous regularity only equaled by the decrease of his bills receivable. Credit weakened, the specter of poverty grinned through the office door and the riotous waste of the girl who had been denied continued unabated. And then came the second man with his offer of money and the trail of suffering and self-abasement that followed in its wake. It seemed all very innocent to Frances but it was tragedy to Richard.
- An adventurous young girl in Florida gets herself lost in the Everglades and finds terror and excitement, as well as the rivalry of two men in love with her.
- The true story of Lord Francis Hope, who inherits the Hope Diamond and marries showgirl May Yohe'. Lord Francis Hope gambles away the family fortune and May Yohe' leaves him--another suspected curse of owning the Hope Diamond.
- The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony.
- Upon Ruth McAllister's return with her father from a Western trip, John Gilbert calls to renew his attentions. He immediately notices a change in her and is greatly pained when she refuses him, not because she does not care for him but for reasons that she will not divulge. A stranger, in the meantime, calls, and rushing past the maid, stops breathlessly in the presence of Ruth and Gilbert. Astonished at the intrusion, Gilbert is more amazed when Ruth, seeing the intruder, faints. Asked to explain, the stranger tells Gilbert to ask Ruth. Regaining her composure, the stranger tells Ruth that he will not leave until he has had a talk with her, whereupon Gilbert, furious, is about to attack him as Professor McAllister enters. To Gilbert's surprise, Ruth introduces the stranger as Mr. Gerald, a friend whom she met while traveling and then excuses herself while the men chat about things in general. Upon the entrance of Wilkins, the butler, Gilbert is quick to discern the expression of fear that comes over the countenance of the stranger as a half smile curves the servant's lips, who, after making an unimportant announcement, retires. Then, with the excuse that some very important letters require his immediate attention, Gerald announces his intention to go, but the Professor, now suspicious, insists that he use his library for his correspondence. Alone in the library, Ruth enters and upbraids Gerald for coming to the house. He tells her that his life is in danger and begs her to help him escape. This she promises and leaves to call a taxicab. Dinner is announced and the Professor, opening the library door to call Gerald, is shocked to find him dead, and a green silken tassel, similar to those which adorn Ruth's cloak, clasped in his hand. Shortly after the arrival of the police, Ruth returns in the taxicab and entering the house, utters a shriek of laughter, not hysterical, but a laugh of savage joy, as she beholds the dead man. Questioned as to the man's identity, Ruth at first refuses to answer but finally admits that she had married him while in the West. With a strong case of circumstantial evidence against her, she is arrested and taken to headquarters, where she is held for trial on a charge of murder. Who Gerald really was and how the tangled skeins of destiny were finally unraveled make a charming, convincing and intensely interesting mystery story.
- Roy Wilson, an ungovernable youth of fast habits, owes considerable gambling-debt money to Graham Madison, an architect of doubtful morals. Roy's father is a competing architect and his sister Jessie is the sweetheart of Carew, Wilson's chief consulting engineer. In addition to his gambling debts, Roy forms an attachment for Madison's mistress Cleo, which involves him more deeply with Madison. Both Wilson and Madison prepare to submit bids for an important railway contract, and Madison, after getting Roy well in his power, compels him on pain of exposure to steal his father's bid. That night Carew asks for Jessie's hand and is refused by Wilson on the grounds of Jessie's extreme youth. When the loss of the plans is discovered Wilson promptly accuses Carew and discharges him. Meanwhile, Roy travels at a fast pace with Cleo, of whom Madison, having gained his end, has tired. When the fastidious lady fancies an expensive necklace Roy, after trying unsuccessfully to borrow the money to purchase the necklace, rifles the wall safe in his father's library. Unluckily, Carew calls at this moment for a clandestine meeting with Jessie to show her a letter he had just received from Madison in which the letter offers him a position. In leaving the house Carew fails to take with him the envelope bearing Madison's name, and this is left on a table where Wilson finds it on his way upstairs to the library. The shock of the robbery kills the frail, old man, who falls to the floor with the envelope clutched tightly in his hand. This, coupled with the word of the butler who had seen Carew leaving the house, weaves a strong chain of circumstantial guilt. Immediately after the theft Roy hurries to Cleo's apartments and offers her the spoils of his shame. She divines the truth and indignantly sends him home. He arrives in the parlor a moment after Carew, who has been quickly apprehended and brought back. The knowledge of his father's death proves too much and Roy breaks down, confessing the whole story. The following day the law lays a heavy hand on Madison, and Carew and Jessie look hopefully forward to a better day.
- When Bill Fowler decided to wed wealthy widow Isabel Dare of Rye, New York, he gave a bachelor dinner. And the dinner degenerated into a quiet game with sugar for dice until Constable Zack arrived with sleuths galore and landed them everyone safe and sound in the local calaboose. So Christopher Cutting, Bill's friend "The Fixer" put his brain to work, chloroformed Zack and hustled Bill home in time for the wedding. Meantime, Isabel's daughter Dorothy bids her sweetheart Lieutenant Ned Hemmingway, U.S.A. a tearful good-bye; he was going away with William Fowler on a dangerous mission to Mexico. (Diplomat William Fowler and bridegroom Bill Fowler are two different people.) But that didn't deter Bill. He stole the identity of Wm. Fowler and when Constable Zack arrived Bill told his bride that Zack was a special messenger from the President come to escort him to Mexico. Zack escorted him to the calaboose and "The Fixer," fixed it again, this time with cash, not chloroform. One lie begets another. Bill couldn't go home so soon, so "The Fixer" found a scheme. They went to Mexico and sent letters home from Laredo telling of their thrilling adventures and their diplomatic triumphs. Unfortunately, they are captured by bandit general Gomez, and treated ignominiously. They escape and find the real Wm. Fowler is famous. Bill wires the folks back in Rye and they send him a telegram inviting him to a reception in his honor. Unhappily for Bill, the real William Fowler gets the invitation and accepts. Meantime Isabel receives word her former husband may be alive. The former husband looks like the real diplomat. When Bill arrives and gets the ovation the diplomat is left in the cold. Bill is dressed like a major general and no one believes the real agent who is plainly dressed. Isabel, seeing the agent, believes him her former husband and drops at his feet pleading for mercy. Bill sees her and challenges the agent, who accepts. In the course of the duel, "The Fixer" saves Bill by hitting the diplomat with a brick from behind. Isabel then discovers the absence of a birthmark which proves he is not her husband, and the party are faced by the problem of which is the real government agent. Lieutenant Hemingway settles the matter by persuading the diplomat to see Bill's predicament and he departs without disproving Bill. Lieutenant Ned and Dorothy embrace; Bill and Isabel are reconciled and Cutting gets what all good fixers get: nothing.
- Harry Tremaine, a clean-living youth of twenty-one, spends his leisure hours in perfecting an aeroplane motor which he has invented and which he hopes will eventually make his fortune. In his ambition to make his mark in the world, he is encouraged by his mother's old friend, Mrs. Holbrook, to whose daughter, Alice, Harry has been engaged almost since childhood. One night, when Harry is working late at the office in which he is employed as bookkeeper, a telegram arrives for the manager of the concern. Harry learns that the manager is dining at the Café de Paris and takes the message to him there. Thus Harry is first brought in contact with the gay night life of New York. There, too, he first sees Betty Belgrave, a cabaret entertainer, and her dancing partner, Wilbur Lorimer. It is not long afterward that Harry Tremaine receives word that his father, who for a number of years has been leading a hermit's life in the mining country out west, has suddenly died. Still later he learns that instead of using the money which he had thought he was contributing to his father's support, the hermit had saved all of it, and in addition left him a fortune of nearly $200,000. Harry's first thought is that there is no longer any bar to the marriage of himself and Alice, and the wedding day is set. Circumstances again bring Harry into the sphere of Betty Belgrave and her dancing partner, this time as a bashful, awkward youth, but as a young man about town who has plenty of money to spend. The woman has little trouble in conquering Harry. The consequence is that with her wedding day approaching, Alice finds herself more and more neglected by her fiancé. Day by day she sees him less frequently and day by day he becomes more thoroughly enmeshed in Betty's net of fascinations. Finally, on New Year's Eve, comes a complete break between the engaged couple as the result of Harry's escapades. Then, after a few short weeks of riotous living, during which he spends money like water to gratify Betty's whims, and buys thousands of dollars' worth of worthless stocks offered by Wilbur, Harry suddenly awakens to the fact that he is "broke." Naturally, he is deserted by his gay friends, first of all by Betty and Wilbur the parasites. Unable to obtain employment, he is soon reduced to desperate straits. One day Harry calls upon his father's lawyer who gives him a letter left by the hermit "to be delivered to my son when he shall have dissipated his fortune." The letter explains that the father has foreseen the follies of the son and has provided "a way out." Harry is instructed to make his way to the hermit's cabin in the western wilds, and told that there he will find a solution of his problem. After many weeks of weary search, Harry finds the cabin. He is startled to find that from the ceiling of the hut there dangles a hangman's noose. This, then, is "the way out" promised. The shock of this discovery makes the boy a man. He resolves to go back to New York, to fight it out, to show his father's grim old ghost that Harry Tremaine is a man. In New York he rescues a little girl from drowning. She proves to be the daughter of a millionaire and the grateful father helps Harry in the latter's effort to interest capital in his aeroplane motor. A company is formed to manufacture the device, and some time later Harry is in possession of another fortune, but this time it is a fortune which he has earned. Betty learns of his new opulence and again tries to ensnare him, this time without success. In his environment, Harry finds his thoughts by day and his nightly dreams haunted by visions of the noose, that grim bequest left by his prophetic-souled old father. Finally he determines to go to the hut and destroy the noose, to gloat over the memory of his cruel legacy now that he has proved his father's estimate of him wrong. Once he finds himself in the cabin he taunts the memory of his father and then, in a burst of anger, tears the noose from the ceiling of the hut. To his surprise a shower of golden coins pours from the ragged hole thus made in the plaster above his head. In a moment his father's plan is clear to him; when discouraged, he should have tried to take his own life, this second fortune would have come to him. Chastened in spirit, he returns to the city. Again in New York, he learns that Alice is seriously ill. He hurries to her side and they are reunited. The last scenes show us their home some time later. We see them drive happily through the park in their splendid limousine, while from a park bench, Betty, now a derelict, sadly looks after them as the picture fades.
- Musty enjoys all the comforts of a fine home during the owner's absence, and is happily snoozing when band of desperate burglars arrive, bent on pillaging the mansion. With them they bring a huge packing in which to carry away their loot. Unable to escape through the door, Musty hides in the packing case. Very soon he is smothered beneath a large cargo of pillows, draperies, rugs, furniture, bric-a-brac and other various and sundry articles. The case is then nailed up and carried, Musty and all, to the burglars' den. There Musty is discovered and held a prisoner till morning. The leader of the burglars runs across Willie Work, another hobo, and conceives the idea of a prize-fight between the two. They are taken aboard a large barge and told: "Youse guys are going to battle, and the loser gets shot at sunrise." A three-round bout then follows, during which Musty and Willie introduce a number of bits of pugilistic strategy never before seen in the prize ring. The fray ends at the finish of the third round, and the two battlers leave the barge together.
- Travers Gladwin, a young millionaire, returns incognito from abroad with his Japanese servant, Bateato, after cabling his chum Whitney Barnes to meet him that evening at the Gladwin mansion. Al Wilson, a picture thief, arrives from Europe the same afternoon. He has obtained keys to the Gladwin mansion from a dismissed servant of Gladwin's and, parading under the other's name, wins the love of romantic Helen Burton with whom he plans to elope at ten thirty that night. Bateato goes to the mansion at once and excites the suspicions of Phelan, "Officer 666," whom he finally satisfies as to his identity. A few minutes later Whitney Barnes reaches the home, followed shortly after by Travers. This visit is interrupted by the arrival of Helen Burton and her friend, Sadie Small, and Helen explains that she intends that evening to elope with her sweetheart, Travers Gladwin. Amazed at first, Travers scents trouble and then pretends an intimate friendship with Gladwin. Barnes, under the influence of a brilliant idea, takes Sadie aside and advises that she tell her aunt of the proposed elopement. Both girls leave, promising to return at 10:30. Gladwin at once determines upon a plan, brings in "Officer 666," borrows his uniform and, sending Phelan to the kitchen with Bateato, goes into the street, where he purchases a false mustache and returns. Sadie and her aunt call and Gladwin hides, leaving Phelan and Barnes to face the music. After threatening to have them arrested, the two women leave in high dudgeon, the house is darkened and Barnes and Phelan go into the kitchen to entertain themselves in anticipation of Wilson's visit. Promptly at ten, Wilson slips into the house and begins cutting valuable oil paintings from their frames. He is surprised by the sudden appearance of Gladwin in Phelan's uniform and immediately puts the pseudo-policeman to work helping him pack the canvases. Helen arrives and does not recognize Gladwin in his false mustache and policeman's uniform, but when Wilson goes upstairs for a moment, Travers quickly explains the situation, advising Helen to be quiet to avoid scandal. In the meantime the excitable Japanese, Bateato, alarmed at the strange doings, brings a captain and two patrolmen toward the house. Phelan enters the parlor and demands the return of his uniform, explaining the matter to Wilson. Travers dares not tell the truth for fear of implicating Helen for whom he has already formed a strong attachment. Thus Wilson easily brands Gladwin as the real thief. Meantime at Phelan's approach, Helen hides herself in the hallway clothes closet. At this juncture the police enter with the Japanese and Phelan denounces Gladwin. The captain praised Phelan and sends him on his beat. The Japanese, seeing a door partly open, reaches in and drags Helen into the parlor. Barnes, attracted by the noise, enters from the kitchen and a patrolman promptly claps the handcuffs on that unfortunate gentleman, much to his subsequent misery and woe. Helen takes advantage of the confusion to slip into the closet. The situation is further complicated by the arrival of Sadie and her aunt with a half dozen policemen. One of them takes a long look at Wilson, recognizes him as an old offender and steps forward to arrest him. Instantly Wilson throws the room into darkness and jumps unseen into a large chest. The police scamper in all directions, leaving Gladwin alone in the parlor. A moment later Wilson emerges, revolver in hand, and exchanges some pleasantries with Gladwin, who for Helen's sake is anxious that the thief should escape. A fresh wagonload of police arrive and among them Phelan, who, seeing Galdwin at liberty in the parlor, promptly leaps upon him. The captain enters and upbraids Phelan and leaves with Gladwin to search the roof. Wilson takes advantage of the opportunity to step from behind the portieres, chloroform Phelan, don his uniform and toss him into the big chest. Then he calmly walks into the street, informs the wagon-driver that he is wanted inside by the captain, and coolly makes his escape on the driver's seat of the empty patrol. Meanwhile in the library Barnes, still handcuffed, after failing in his desperate effort to embrace Sadie, brings her into the parlor where Travers and Helen are engaged in rescuing the unhappy Phelan. And when Sadie makes a promise to Barnes and Helen to Travers, that wealthy young gentlemen makes another to Phelan, that uniform or no uniform there will always be a job waiting for "666."
- Broadway actor Lyle, is playing one-night stands in the West. One afternoon he drops into a small theatre where a repertoire company of the 10-20-30 sort is playing. He is struck with the beauty and talent of Ruth Darrell, a young member of the company, and sees in her just the type demanded by a new play in which he is to be featured the following season. He takes steps to meet the girl, arranges with his New York manager for an interview with her, and the following autumn finds her playing in his support in one of the new Broadway successes. Here she is seen by Lord, a wealthy manufacturer of woolen goods, who falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, in spite of his maiden sister's protests. Ruth accepts him. Ruth is a happy, carefree woman, and has earned the title of "Our Lady of Laughter." Lord, who is a hard-headed business man, is in great financial difficulties because he has spent a huge sum in filling a government contract, for which he finds his business demanding most of his time. One night she gives a dinner to her former friends of the stage, including Lyle, Banks, the Broadway manager, and her old friends of the theatrical boarding-house, whom prominent among are the Marvelous Sylvesters. Lord and his sister Jane are shocked by the theatrical people's antics and insists that Ruth sever all connections with her former friends. This awakens her spirit and when she continues to find herself deprived of the company of her husband because of his application to business she goes back upon the stage and plays m support of Lyle. In the meantime, Lord, pressed more and more by his creditors, has made arrangements with bank president Robbins, for a loan to be made on the date when a number of his notes shall fall due. Cole, head of the woolen trust, sees an opportunity to wreck Lord's business completely. He brings pressure to bear on Robbins, and together they play to disappoint Lord at the last moment. When his notes fall due the loan from the bank will not be forthcoming. One night Lord goes to the theatre to see his wife play. Lyle notices him in the audience, and being half drunk, plays the love scenes with Ruth with more-than-ordinary ardor. Lord notices this and becomes furious. When the play is over, Lord makes his way to Ruth's dressing room. Meanwhile Lyle follows Ruth to her dressing room and has her in his arms when Lord enters; how they are positioned, Lyle is unable to see that she is resisting him. Mad with jealousy, he tears Lyle from her and knocks him to the floor. Ruth tries to explain, but he throws her aside and bursts out of the dressing room. Ruth, realizing that her love for the old theatrical life has come between her and her husband, deserts the stage and seeks forgetfulness in a new environment. Lord buries himself deeper than ever in his business affairs. Banks, who has taken a liking to Lord, learns from Lyle in one of the latter's tipsy confidential moods that Ruth was entirely innocent of any wrong in connection with the dressing room episode. He carries this information to Lord and finally succeeds in convincing him that she was not at fault. Sometime later we find Ruth a telephone operator. Accidentally cutting in on one of the lines, she hears one of Cole's henchmen talking to his chief, and in the conversation her husband's name is mentioned. She learns of the plot to double-cross him in the matter of the loan. She immediately sends him word of the impending disaster by messenger boy. Bank happens to be in Lord's office when the boy arrives with the news. He knows of a secret affair which banker Robbins had with an actress, and hastens to Robbins' office, threatening him with the exposure and scandal unless he carries through the loan as originally planned. Meantime, Lord has gone direct to Cole. Banks finds the banker more in fear of Cole and the money trust than he is of scandal. Robbins becomes defiant, and Banks is forced to leave without having accomplished his purpose. Lord, however, meets with better success at Cole's office. He threatens the woolen magnate with prosecution for criminal conspiracy unless he instructs Robbins to make the loan as agreed. Cole hesitates. Lord seizes him by the throat and makes him 'phone to Robbins to make the loan. This is done and the situation is saved for Lord. Naturally his first impulse is to thank and reward the unknown telephone operator who supplied him with a knowledge of the plot. He calls at the station mentioned by the messenger boy, only to find that her relief is on duty. The other operator, however, gives him the address of his benefactress and he seeks her there. When he is brought into her presence he finds himself face-to-face with his own wife, and they are reunited.
- Musty Suffer gets a job as caddy, but performs so poorly that he doesn't hold it long. So he decides to tee off on his own account. He finds that the clubs are too small and calls upon his famous lucky horseshoe for aid, wishing for larger clubs. A fairy tramp appears and grants his wish. Even then his game is not satisfactory, but he solves the difficulty by wishing for a larger ball, which he gets. He knocks the ball into the clubhouse, ruining the club members' dinner, and later on gets into difficulties with a waiter, who breaks one of the clubs across his fat body. Stomach pains naturally result, and when Musty sees an advertisement offering free treatment and free board to hook-worm victims, he applies for treatment and gets it. And it is some treatment. He is mauled, pounded, beaten, pummeled, kicked, thrown about, walked upon and otherwise maltreated until the "hook-worm" is forced to give up the ghost. Then, after trapping the hands of his "doctors" in the viselike fingerprint machine. Musty appropriates one of the chief doctors' cigars and makes his departure.
- Musty steals a ride on an automobile rumble and falls sleep as comfortably as if he were in a Pullman berth. All goes well until the machine runs over a rock and Musty is cast to earth. He rises and hurls away the offending rock, which strikes the bandaged foot of a gouty passerby. Musty then calmly resumes his nap in the middle of the road, undisturbed by the passing autos, which miss him by inches. Dippy Mary arrives upon the scene, and struck by Musty's unnatural beauty, falls in love with him. The result is that she gives him free reign in her employer's mansion during the latter's absence. A waiter arrives with a splendid lunch, which Musty would have enjoyed hugely had not an expressman dropped a trunk on one of the upper floors, causing the plaster to fall from the ceiling onto the repast. Musty tips the waiter with a large, juicy pie, which he hurls into the face of the menial. A downy bed in the room tempts Musty. He climbs in and falls asleep. His slumber is punctuated with beautiful dreams, during which he bathes in a bath-tub full of beer and makes the acquaintance of several charming damsels. The dreams are disturbed, however, by the serenades of a "little Dutch band" and Musty is forced to drop water, pieces of furniture and various other missiles to persuade the serenaders to depart. Resuming his slumber, he dreams of a beautiful maid who tempts him with a bumper of sparkling wine. While pursuing the illusion, he falls out of the second-story window and bounds into a passing ambulance, in which he is whisked away.
- Musty gets a job in a grocery store. A female customer makes him show her everything in the place, then buys a five-cent package of crackers. For revenge, Musty eats the artificial grapes on her hat. She catches him at it, throws a basket of apples in his face and leaves. Then a sissy-boy buys a ball of yarn for his knitting, and Musty, disgusted at the customer's effeminate qualities, puts a lit firecracker in the package, with startling results. He meets his match when a cowboy-desperado enters and forces him to give up half the contents of the store for five cents. Soon a drummer happens along. Musty advises the proprietor of the store not to buy from him. This awakens the drummer's ire and he throws a handful of crumpled crackers at Musty's face. Musty, however, has not been idle, and when the drummer puts on his hat to leave, he finds that Musty has filled it with milk. After the drummer's departure, Musty decides to have lunch. By mistake he fills his stomach with Tabasco sauce. Naturally he craves water. In trying to get a sprinkling can which is suspended from the ceiling, he pulls down ceiling and all and is consequently discharged. Leaving the grocery store, Musty goes to a barber shop for a shave where he is attended by the unconversational barber, who wears a gag for the protection of his patrons. Musty gets the shave, but the barber puts hair-restorer on his face instead of toilet water. When the barber learns that Musty has no money to pay for his services, an altercation ensues, during which the barber is arrested and Musty escapes. Musty next visits a thirst emporium. The proprietor chases a rough customer into the street, and Musty takes charge of the bar and free lunch counter. His attempts at serving free soup to a tough customer are disastrous, and he receives considerable rough handling. During his activities in the saloon he gets his beard saturated with gasoline, and when he gets too near the fire over which the free lunch is steaming an explosion occurs which causes him considerable discomfort, but which also rids him of the troublesome whiskers. Disgusted with his experiences, Musty goes his way.
- A comedy based on the mixing of two kidnapped babies; one white, one black.
- The flirty proprietor of the Outside Inn catches his bellboy laughing at him and throws him into the street, just in time to be caught by Musty, who is passing by. When Musty learns that the bellboy has been discharged and that there is consequently a vacancy in the hotel organization, he drops him to the sidewalk, enters the inn and applies for the position. Proving himself the lightning bell-boy of the world, he is accepted. Musty soon learns that the grand stairway of the hotel is a trick staircase and that by pulling a lever the stairs will straighten out, converting the stairway into a chute. After descending the incline on his own account, he tries it out on various patrons with satisfactory results. The elevator, operated by hand power, sticks when a corpulent guest acts as cargo and a horse is commandeered to raise the lift. All goes well until a passing farmer inadvertently cuts the rope with his scythe. Then follows a vivid illustration of the descent of man. Musty plays many tricks on the proprietor and the guests, and enjoys waiting on the whims of an actress who stops at the hotel. He explains how the room is lightened by drawing a flame on the gas-jet painted on the wall, and darkened by erasing it. When the actress complains that there is no chair in her room, Musty obligingly paints one on the wall. After numerous amusing episodes, the reel ends in a general scramble, in which, of course Musty gets the worst of it.
- Musty is enjoying a nap in the middle of a country road when along comes Silly Billy with his wheelbarrow full of hay. He loads Musty into his one-man-power pushmobile, covers him up with hay and resumes the journey. Pretty soon he passes a well and stops for a drink. While he is drinking, Musty awakens and departs. Billy refreshed by his draught, is very strong, and when he seizes the handles of his lightened vehicle, it flies into the air, descending upon the head of the unlucky Musty and completely knocking him out. Musty is discovered by some passing soldiers and interned as a suspicious character, but when he sees that his guards pass through the grating of his cell by merely bending aside the flexible bars, our noble young hero loses no time in making his escape. Tired of aimless wandering, Musty seats himself on a convenient stump and wishes for a good "soft" job. A fairy tramp suddenly appears before him and leads him to a huge signboard which announces that Dr. Hickory and Dr. Nut are looking for a refined young man as a subject in their experiments with the power of imagination. After mysteriously changing clothes with a tastily attired clothier's dummy, Musty gets the job. Dr. Hickory and Dr. Nut, assisted by their charming young lady helper, put Musty through a fine course of sprouts. He is seated before a splendid dinner, but when he turns his head the plates become empty as if by magic. The two doctors congratulate Musty on his splendid appetite. "You've eaten it all," they say, "Now drink," referring him to a punch howl which fills automatically with tempting liquid before his very eyes. He fills one small glass and sees the punch bowl empty. While gazing in wonder at the bowl, his glass changes to a flatiron, much to his disgust. He is put to bed and immediately awakened, told that he has slept twelve hours and that it is now time for breakfast. Delighted, he takes his place at the table and seizes a coffee pot which suddenly takes on the appearance of a live goose. He is then treated to an imaginary game of pool, in which be shows great dexterity, and a psychological sleigh ride, which amuses him hugely, but nearly freezes him to death. Then Dr. Hickey tells him he'll show him his future wife. His hair is carefully combed and he is hit over the head with a stuffed club. While he is semi-conscious the imagination specialists urge him to look through a pair of field glasses. Through the lenses he sees a vision of his old friend, Dippy Mary, busily engaged in massaging a lawn with curry comb and brush. Then Dr. Hickory hits him in the head with an axe, and when Musty awakes he finds himself in the road beside the shattered remains of Silly Billy's wheelbarrow.
- Book-lover Ethel Lee lives with her father in a little fishing village on the Jersey coast. Beside her books, her only pleasure is the occasional visit of old Cap'n Judson, who brings candies and tales of the big city about which she has often read and dreamed. Ethel's father, Bill Lee, anxious to get her off his hands, forces her to accept the uncouth attention of coarse fisherman Big Jake. At this time, Dick Harvey, the dissolute son of a millionaire ship-owner, arrives home one night more drunk than usual. His father's patience exhausted, he orders Dick to report for work at the docks. Dick reports to none other than Cap'n Judson, and goes off with the skipper, arriving at the fishing village the next day. There the Cap'n makes his customary call on Ethel and her father. Dick and Ethel meet. While the young people are getting interested in each other, old Lee angrily interrupts them, and warns Ethel that unless she marries Big Jake at once, he will drive her from the house. Dick listens in amazement, then tells her that as his wife she'll have the finery and see the sights of which she has dreamed. Ethel and Dick leave for the city to be married. In Dick's apartment, Ethel asks him about the marriage, and he goes out, ostensibly to fetch a parson. He meets his friends and they enjoy a joke and offer to act as minister and witness. The "marriage" performed, Dick's toy is speedily gowned in resplendent city finery. Old Bill Lee finds Ethel's parting message, and asks faithful Cap'n Judson to investigate. The skipper soon acquaints Dick's parents of the "elopement." There's a hurried meeting, a stormy scene, and Dick, professing repentance, promises to restore the girl to her father. Dick's bosom friend Rupert enters the apartment. Ethel recognizes the "witness" of the "wedding ceremony" and welcomes him. He comes to the point rapidly, tells the startled girl he loves her, and attempts to embrace her. When she reminds him she's his friend's wife, he tears the mask of illusion off and recites the tale of the mock marriage. This only enrages Ethel the more, and when Rupert makes another attempt to overcome her, a struggle takes place. Dick enters the scene and strikes the assailant to the ground. He recognizes "his best friend," and sees the hopeless shame on the face of his poor victim, whose devotion he has rewarded with fraud and dishonor. Guiltily, Dick admits the whole truth, and declares that he loves her with his whole soul in spite of the deception, as he really does by now. As an answer to her look of reproach, he rushes out to find a real minister, and hastens back to find that his poor dupe has flown from her gilded cage. Ethel tries vainly to seek her father's forgiveness. The old man drives his daughter from the house. She wanders to a rocky eminence overlooking the sea and prepares to cast herself into it. Dick, rightly guessing that his little prize has returned home, follows her. A hurried glance into her cottage convinces him that she has walked down to the seashore, and he arrives there just as she plunges into the angry waters. He takes the plunge immediately after her. There's a struggle in the water, the lives of both hang on a thread, but with grim determination Dick strikes hard for the shore, where he folds the half-drowned girl in his arms. The marriage ceremony is performed that day, and Ethel's interrupted dream comes true.
- "Al" Spencer, a gambler not averse to cheating, occupying an apartment with his wife and infant daughter, deserts his family after attacking and robbing a card-player a confederate had brought to his place. Living in the same building is Nancy Springer, a shoplifter whose thief husband is in jail awaiting trial. His attorney, anxious to create sympathy for his client, urges Nancy to borrow an infant and appear with it in court during her husband's trial. Mrs. Spencer innocently lends her baby; the ruse works, and Springer is acquitted. Nancy, going to return the baby to its mother, finds the woman dead, so she and her husband informally adopt the child, naming it Nell. Fifteen years elapse. Spencer, former gambler, now known as Albert Sprague, is prosperous in business and apparently reformed. He marries a wealthy widow with a young son. They reside on Long Island on a very pretentious estate. The Springers, attracted by Mrs. Sprague's display of gems and jewelry, plot to rob the Sprague residence. Leasing an adjoining estate, they soon are on friendly terms with their intended victims. Nell, now a clever thief, is purposely seized with illness while visiting at Sprague's and cannot be removed for several days, during which time it is planned that she shall steal the Sprague diamonds, pearls and jewelry. She falls in love with young Sprague, confesses to him that she is a thief. Her adopted parents learning of this, and knowing the police will investigate, boldly rob the Sprague residence. While doing this, Springer kills young Sprague and his mother dies of shock. The adopted daughter Nell is locked up, tried, and found guilty of complicity in the murder. A thief turns state's evidence, the Springers are caught, and through her statements Sprague learns that Nell is his own daughter whom he deserted when she was an infant. He works for her release, finally accomplishes it, then discloses to her his identity, but she spurns him. Eventually they are united.
- Bickel is an Italian who marries, then is supposed to be killed while trying to blow a safe. His wife marries his nephew and he enters their room at the hotel as a burglar.
- Mr. Carr is a kleptomaniac and his two daughters, Madge and Joan, are to be married to Mr. Cluney and Dr. Willoughby, respectively. Pretty Nell Jones, a light-fingered maid, is engaged that afternoon by Mrs. Carr after promising her sweetheart, Jack Doogan, a crook, that she will assist him to do one last job. Peculiar and mysterious things begin to happen in the Carr home with the arrival of the happy bridegrooms-to-be. A ruby suddenly disappears from the library table, into Nell's shoe, but the empty box is discovered by Cluney in his overcoat pocket a few minutes later. The family promptly suspects Nell, and Cluney telephones for a detective. While he is in the act of 'phoning, Nell slips the jewel back into the box where it is discovered by Mr. Carr just as Cluney lays down the 'phone. Cluney is stunned by the discovery and confides in Dr. Willoughby, who unsympathetically informs Cluney that he evidently suffers from unconscious kleptomania. The situation is further complicated by the arrival of Nell's sweetheart, Jack, whom she tells of the expected detective. This dignitary is met by Nell who, after deftly stripping him of star and watch, introduces him to Jack as Mr. Cluney. Jack sends him away on a mysterious mission and Nell then introduces Jack to the family as the detective from central headquarters. Cluney confides to him that he suspects himself of being a kleptomaniac and asks that Jack keep a close eye on him. Complications set in thick and fast. With two kleptomaniacs and two real crooks and a double wedding pending. Mrs. Carr has her hands full. Wedding presents disappear and reappear in the most astonishing way. A burly investor leaves $10,000 in steel stock as security for a loan and when he returns with cash to redeem his collateral, both stock and money disappear into Jack Doogan's pocket. This leads to the visit of a wagon-load of police but before the captain can read his search-warrant, even that vanishes through Doogan's nimble fingers into Mr. Carr's side pocket. Ever cocksure Dr. Willoughby shares the general hysteria and finds himself possessed of the stock securities but unable to replace them without openly branding himself a thief. The return of the detective adds a touch of drama to the evening. With an automobile liberally filled with movable valuables of all kinds ready for departure, Jack draws his gun and under its cover makes his escape, hurrying to the upper rooms of the building with faithful Nell at his heels. Believing him to have jumped through an open window, the police scatter out-of-doors and a second later Dr. Willoughby stops Jack and Nell in a hallway at the point of his revolver. This Jack deftly wrenches from the doctor's hand and again has the company at his mercy. But Nell longs for peace and the good-will of her erstwhile employers and so prevails upon Jack to throw away his gun. Then follow explanations and forgiveness. Jack shows his marriage license and the minister ends an exciting evening with a triple wedding.