The story
“The Royal Squashmere was a typical summer hotel. It was located some miles from a branch of the Erie, in a particularly hot and uncomfortable locality. The building was cheap, the food was bad, the golf course was so crowded with assorted insects that there was scarcely room for the guests, and worst of all, there were no ‘chickens.’ The women guests were veritable antiques and spent their time in rocking chairs, talking about the Civil War. Four bachelors had marked these conditions, and each was planning to move, when joy came into their lives. The first man was the proud owner of an auto. His car broke down in front of a shabby farm house, all four tires blowing out. From the far house came a beautiful girl, who invited him to sit in the shade, while the chauffeur was putting in new inner tubes. She talked, oh, so sweetly, to him, and gave him a drink of cool well water. He did not know that she had scattered tacks in the road, just to force the meeting. Two of the other men made the girl’s acquaintance while golfing. A long drive by one of them hit her on the head, at least she told them so. They took her home with many apologies. Both were greatly impressed. The fourth man met her while fishing (a purely premeditated meeting on her part).
“The girl’s father hung out a sign, ‘Farm Hands Wanted.’ All four men applied. They all gladly agreed to work for their board. Each ‘hand’ courted the girl, and in turn the tragedy happened. One by one, the men saw their charmer in tears. She explained to each, after much urging, that the cruel man who held the mortgage on the farm was about to foreclose. Each of the infatuated ones pressed money upon her. She accepted only after much urging, and with a flood of grateful tears. That night when the men returned to the farm, they found the place closed. Upon the door was this note: ‘Dear Farm Hands: Pop and I have left the farm to go back on the road. We star in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and thanks to your generosity this year, we can play the big time.—Bessie Blinn.’ The bachelors looked at each other and fainted.”
Summary from Reel Life · 25 September 1915
