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- Squire Higgs was the busiest man in Dogs' Corners. He was fire department, minister, doctor, constable. Postmaster, everything, in fact, in way of a public official. One hot day, returning from sundry was duties he summoned to stop a street fight. He put on his police hat, but had scarcely arrived upon the scene when the fire bells began to clang. Tearing back to the office, he hastily exchanged police hat for fire helmet and rushed to the burning property. But no sooner was he getting the flames under control than he was pulled off the job to prevent the fighters murdering each other. A lightning change of hats saw the squire separating the bloodthirsty combatants, when the fire broke out afresh. The helmet hack in vogue, he was handling the conflagration heroically when he was attacked by a love-sick young man who insisted that he perform his marriage ceremony on the spot. Back to the office flew the first citizen of Dogs' Corners, hustled into his clerical hat and was about to pronounce the matrimonial blessing, when the town arrived in a body to drag him back to the fire. The lovesick young man and his bride went too, clinging onto the squire's coat tails. Higgs put the bridegroom in the bucket brigade, swashed out the fire called in the erstwhile fighters to stand as witnesses, married the young couple, and collected his fee.
- An imaginary war is caused by an imaginary grievance. The excitement opens in the war office where a fiery speaker is trying to wake his slumbering companions. At last they are thoroughly aroused by the arrival of an elderly courier who has taken twenty years to deliver the war message. One army is composed exclusively of married men, who are willing to die, and the battles are fought under the rules and regulations of the union. It is treason to fight after 5.30 on weekdays, and every soldier must be off the field by 1 p.m. Saturdays. Cannon balls are borrowed by one army of the other, and the climax comes with the breaking up of the death struggle by the wives of the married contingent.
- An elderly grouch needs an operation, which requires a transfusion from a young, vital person. Mr. Grumps advertises for blood and selects a prize fighter as the donor. The young, fresh blood makes Mr. Grumps feel frisky, and he goes out on the town with a lady young enough to be his daughter.
- A messenger is entrusted with the delivery of a famous gem, which he puts in his pants pocket. While taking a bath in his hotel, a crook enters and steals the pants. The messenger, clad only in the shower curtain, must chase down his wayward pants as they pass from burglar to tramp to old clothes dealer to actor, none of whom know about the gem in the pocket.
- The cooking in Kentville is bad. Just one woman, the Widow Kearn, can prepare a meal fit to eat. Husbands and fathers protest at a public meeting, and the women persuade the Widow Kearn to start a cooking school. The after effects of the first dinner, however, are terrible. As the undertaker boards with the widow, she is suspected of being in league with him, and the women rush to the school to get their revenge. A tramp, who has been trying to get a meal all through the story, at last succeeds as a savory plateful comes flying through the window.
- A young man, rather lacking in enterprise, falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy businessman, who believes that no human being is worth his salt except he "makes good." He gives his daughter's suitor a sum of money with the understanding that to every dollar he makes, he will add one thousand dollars. The chap buys a photograph gallery. His experiences with "subjects" are many and amusing. At last his sweetheart comes to the shop. Prevailing upon his office boy to pose as a burglar, the lover rescues her thrillingly before the camera. Later, they bear the photographic evidence to father, who gives them his blessing.
- A very charming young woman opens a beauty parlor in the small village of Koskob. The villagers flock to her for treatment, but are very careful not to let each other know of the fact. The treatments often are severe. However, the attractiveness of the beauty doctor offsets all that. One farmer has his nails manicured. The town belle, becoming jealous of the newcomer, buys her out. Meanwhile the farmer's fingers have become so sore that he vows vengeance. He sneaks into the beauty parlor and mixes the contents of all the bottles. When the town belle, now the owner, treats her friends, the results are horrible and unexpected. The villagers raid her establishment, drench her with her remedies and leave her to her fate.
- Ike Lew, hatter, finds business dull. He is raving up and down in front of his store, when two Irishmen get into an argument across the street and one of them throws a brick. Ike is hit in the back, which doesn't improve his temper, until he is seized by a bright idea. He calls his son, Sammy, and arming him with the brick sends him up the street to break some gentleman's hat. The scheme works. A tall silk hat is sacrificed, and the owner hurries to Ike's shop to buy a new one. Sammy doubles his ammunition, with a brick in either hand, proceeds far and wide to demolish headgear and to drive the trade into the parental establishment. There is such a thing as choosing one's victims sagaciously. When Sammy, who is not an infallible marksman, bricks a celebrated pugilist in the chest, his little game abruptly comes to a close. The prizefighter rounds him up in Ike's shop and by the time he gets through with the place, the hatter has decided that honesty is the best policy.
- The deacon and Mrs. Brown quarrel when children. The breach never is closed, and years later when they meet again, she a widow and he a widower, they strenuously object to the affection which has sprung up between their son and daughter. Tom, the deacon's son, induces Lillian, Mrs. Brown's daughter, to pose as a cabaret dancer. He gets his father to the café and Lillian flirts with him. Tom notifies Mrs. Brown. While she and the deacon are fighting it out in the restaurant, the young folks run away and are married. When the belligerent parents see how happy their children are together, they are inspired to follow suit.
- Two young married couples find life intolerably dull. Even Rose, the maid of one of the couples, unable to endure the tomb-like gravity of the household, gives notice and leaves. Just after this, Eddie Rose, an old friend of the bridegrooms, invites them to go with him to a prize fight. There is considerable confusion over the name Rose, and the two wives learning of an appointment at the Litte Café, conspire to entrap their faithless husbands. They bribe the janitor to act as their escort. He shaves off his precious beard and is struggling into evening clothes when the husbands unexpectedly return. In trying to escape, "the escort" is forced into the dumbwaiter. He pulls himself up and down until he is exhausted, but at last is captured in the cellar.
- Frank, a ne'er-do-well, receives a letter from his fiancé's father advising him to cut out an imaginary fast life or be left penniless according to the terms of his father's will. That evening the girl asks him to get her a dog. On the way home he picks up a stray canine and carries it to his room. The girl's half-witted brother who has studied burglary by mail, breaks into Frank's room, and is caught, first by the dog and then by Frank. In exchange for his freedom he agrees to pry open Frank's father's safe. He is captured by the father, but not before the son has found a clause in the will granting him unconditional rights to the estate.
- Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Brown each have twins. They meet one evening to prepare a paper for their Mothers' Club, and their husbands also convene to play cards in the opposite apartment. Two burglars enter the house. The women are warned by the cries of the twins. Rushing to the rescue, they are held up by the thieves, who then escape across the way over an ironing board, carrying the babies with them. They stuff the infants into the kitchen cupboard, but their cries penetrate to their fathers, who, in their turn, are held up by the crooks. The women follow their children over the ironing board. Policemen are called to the rescue by the yells of the twins. The burglars are arrested, and twins, fathers and mothers are reunited.
- Mrs. Biddle's husband does not like her new hat so, to get rid of it, he gives it to his stenographer. Mrs. Biddle, however, comes to the office unexpectedly and seeing her headgear on her husband's employee, accuses Mr. Biddle of duplicity. She leaves in a huff, and, entering a café, orders luncheon. When she has eaten, however, she discovers that she has forgotten her purse. Percy, the milliner, from whom she bought her hat, and the one at the bottom of all her troubles, happens to be in the restaurant. He comes to her rescue and pays the bill. Supposing his attractive customer to be a widow, he decides to call the next evening. Meanwhile, Mr. Biddle has fired the stenographer and he and his wife have become reconciled. Percy calls, and Mrs. Biddle, supposing he is after his two dollars, allows him to come in. He begins immediately to make desperate love to her, and. hearing her husband coming she hides Percy in a closet. The way in which the milliner contrives to make his escape caps the climax. Using an umbrella for a parachute he soars out of his difficulties, leaving the Biddles once more a happily reunited pair.
- Grandpa doesn't wish Harry to marry because wives are too expensive. Knowing the old gentleman's weakness for children, Harry persuades Harriette, his sweetheart, whom Grandpa never has seen, to borrow a baby and fall fainting on the front porch. The old gentleman immediately falls in love with the infant, and induces the mother to stay in his house until she is fully recovered. When she announces her intention of leaving, Grandpa proposes to her. She pretends to accept. On the day of the wedding, while the aged groom is pressing his trousers, Harry is married in his place. Grandpa comes in just in time to witness the tail end of the ceremony. He discovers the whole conspiracy. His heart softens, but while he gives his blessing to the young pair, he refuses to shake hands with the minister.
- When Myron Sawyer, an old widower, is left two thousand dollars by his uncle's will, the gossips who had criticized him become very friendly and one old maid determines to marry him. But Myron fancies another, a blooming young lady, beloved by a young chap, who sends her a note asking her to wear a red, red rose in her hair if she reciprocates his affections. The note, by a series of extraordinary mishaps, travels the rounds of the village, with the result that everybody wears a rose in their hair, including the old maid and Myron. The widower plunges into the mill pond to escape, but is pursued by the determined spinster and the parson. The latter then and there ties the nuptial knot.
- The Smiths have living with them a niece who attracts many suitors. Among them are a young broker and an absent-minded Jap. The young broker and Smith, also a broker, take opposite sides of the market on a certain stock. They need money badly. Mrs. Smith loans her niece's sweetheart a diamond necklace of hers with which to fight the market, planning to cover the fact with a duplicate necklace. The husband is reminded of the valuable jewels and starts home to get them. Meanwhile, the Jap, who is calling on the niece, in looking at the paste necklace, drops it down his collar. The husband arrives and demands the jewels. The Jap at last manages to extricate it. But Smith recognizes it as a fake. Calamity all 'round is averted by the return of the young broker with the real necklace and the money which Smith had lost in the exchange.
- A young couple living in a boarding-house are about to be married. The girl shows her wedding present to the boarders and is advised by the landlady to lock them up overnight, as there have been burglars in the neighborhood. That same night she dreams that her gifts have been stolen. Waking, she thinks she had better go downstairs and see if the things are safe. A young man, hearing her in the parlor, and supposing she is a thief, sneaks to the other side of the parlor portieres, and when she comes within reach, grabs her, portieres and all. He then ties her up in the draperies. The house is aroused and the police sent for. Meanwhile, the fiancée is beside himself because he cannot find his prospective bride. When the police arrive and force the captor to untie the portieres, the whole mystery is explained.
- Kitty, an actress, is stranded in a small town, when she receives a telegram urging her to come home for her sister's wedding. She gets into her trunk and bribes the porter to take it to the station. The bridegroom is leaving from the same station and has a trunk like Kitty's. So she changes the check from his baggage to hers and is put on the train. Thus she reaches home. The ceremony takes place, and Kitty from her hiding place, plays innumerable pranks on the unhappy couple, almost alienating their affections, until she is discovered.
- Max and his wife are employed as butler and maid in the home of a wealthy banker. The banker and his wife go to a summer resort for a short stay, leaving the servants in charge of the house. Max finds his master's wallet containing many good-sized bills, and his wife persuades him to take her for a vacation on the money. Meanwhile. Max has fallen heir to a huge fortune on the other side of the water, and a law firm has detectives hunting him. The banker and his wife discover that they have left the wallet behind and wire for it. They find that their house is empty. Returning by the next train, they collide with Max and his wife, who have squandered the money wildly and have been evicted from their last stopping place. The detectives also arrive upon the scene, and Max thinks that he is to be arrested. He runs for his life. But after an exciting chase, he is captured and hauled back, when he and everybody concerned learn of his amazing good fortune.
- Mrs. Acres, a widow with ten children, answers a matrimonial ad, but everyone mistakes her name for her landholdings. When she brings home her new husband he's expecting a large estate, but gets 10 stepchildren instead.
- Howard Melross, believing that his wife is untrue to him, wishes to die. He lacks the nerve to pull the trigger, so he tries to bribe the butler to do it. The butler, however, takes to his heels. And the maid, when called upon, also runs away. Melrose visits a Black Hand den, and upon the payment of a liberal sum of money, they agree to kill him before the last day of the month. Returning home, he finds that he has entirely misjudged his wife, so he changes his mind about dying. But, as he has paid the Black Hand to end his life, for the balance of the month he is kept busy dodging their repeated attempts to fulfill the contract.
- Ben Binks is such a favorite at the boarding-house in the country where he spends his vacation that on his departure he is presented with a can of strained honey. On his way to the depot, he stops in the village saloon to have a parting drink and to say good-bye to the boys. There he forgets the can of honey on the counter, where the barkeeper discovered it and puts it in the cellar for safe-keeping. A tramp, called Shifty Pete, is employed at the saloon as a roustabout. He wanders into the cellar, and after sampling several wines and whiskies, drinks the honey. Meanwhile, Binks, thinking to keep all hands off his delectable gift until he can come for it. writes the bartender that the can contains nitro-glycerin. Upon the revelation that Pete has consumed the contents of Binks' can, a doctor is summoned in great haste, who pronounces Pete highly explosive, and orders that he be handled with care. The police are notified and a special guard detailed to attend Pete. The tramp walks around, like some scared victim of the scourge of God in the ancient days, until a tough character who happens that way pitches into him without waiting for an explanation. It is sufficiently demonstrated that Pete is in no danger of exploding, and everybody in town turns in and finishes him up.
- Jones is a nervous wreck. Every noise he hears he thinks burglars are in the house. Mrs. Jones makes light of his fears, ridiculing him as a coward, and her husband thinks he will prove to her his bravery by having a friend pretend to burglarize the place. She also, to convict him of cowardice, invites a friend of hers to break into the house the same night. Before they arrive, however, a real burglar enters. He is encouraged first by the husband, then by the wife, to do his worst. Meanwhile, the two friends, masquerading as thieves, meet and attack each other. They are caught by the real crook and tied into chairs. As he is making off with the silver he is waylaid by the police, who relieve him of his booty. The thief tells the policeman that his two pals are still in Jones' house, and then escapes from the officer, who rushes to arrest the two friends. Husband and wife by now are more than satisfied, and the innocent masqueraders are acquitted.
- A widow and widower live across the street from each other. The widow has a daughter. The daughter has a white bulldog, which is the pest of the neighborhood. Next to the widower lives a young chap who plays the concertina, and he ranks second as a local nuisance. The widower loves the widow, but does not fancy the daughter. So the two of them scheme to marry off the second generation to the musician. The story of how this is accomplished is crowded with ludicrous situations.
- Harry stole Charlie's girl when they were children. After forty years enmity increases, though both have become ministers, Harry utterly refuses to let his daughter, Polly, marry Paul, Charlie's son. And Charlie is just as bitterly opposed to becoming the father-in-law of Harry's daughter. The young folks elope and wire their parents they are married. They send the message a bit prematurely, however, as the Justice of the Peace has refused to marry them overnight, and meanwhile the marriage license blows out of the window of the boy's room into the hands of a thief. The thief is arrested and the license restored the next morning to the distraught couple. By the time the fathers reach the court the ceremony is over.
- Hungry Hank wanders into a county fair and tries to climb the greased pole. He is not a success. But later, the Knock Out Kid failing to show up, Hank is engaged by the management to take his place. By means of electric plates fastened to the sole of his shoes, Hank's gloves are charged, and everybody he hits he knocks flat. At last, however, the manager who operates the electric switch falls asleep. Then Hans gets the worst of the fight. But he ends with getting even with the manager.
- Two men, both named Jones, and exact doubles of each other, live in adjoining towns. Neither is aware of the existence of his double. One is married and henpecked. The other elopes with his sweetheart. The two couples go to Cedarhurst for a vacation and a honeymoon respectively. There they become badly mixed. The wives can't tell their own husbands when they see them, and the father of the eloping Jones, who has pursued the runaways, vents his wrath on the wrong party. At last both wives and both husbands meet. And then matters get straightened out.
- Jones is so stingy and grouchy that he cannot bear to see anybody else happy. He mistreats his wife, his son and his horse. He opposes his son's marriage, and refuses to give his wife any allowance. At last, she informs him that she is ready to split their belongings and go on her own way. He testily agrees. Even the chairs and tables are sawed in two. But the couple are stumped when they come to divide the baby. Then it comes over Jones the sort of man he has been. He consents to his son's marriage and gives his wife all of five hundred dollars which he has inherited from his uncle.
- Howell and Rant, wishing to produce Shakespeare, advertises for amateur talent. They make up their cast with a laundress, a waitress and the grocer boy. Rehearsals almost wreck their boarding-house, but are duly put through. Three weeks later, the company disbands for lack of funds, and the players start to foot it back to their former jobs. Howell and Rant receive a telegram from the theater in the next town, stating that the house is sold out for "Hamlet" the following evening. Forced to fulfill the engagement they recruit a company, which is even more of a misfit than the first one. The performance ends in a riot, and Howell and Rant are ejected from the house.