The story
Although the young man was a prosperous storekeeper in a little country town, he was not contented with his lot in life, for his ambition was to be rich and to have a handsome home in the city. And when uncle died, his desire was gratified, for he was left a large fortune and a city home. The young man left the little town, but told his pretty fiancée that he would soon return to wed her and bring her to his handsome home. But when he arrived at the city and was launched in the gay social life, he soon began to feel that the little country belle would not make a fit wife for him, so he wrote to her, breaking the engagement and brutally telling her to seek ‘a husband in her own station in life.’ The girl was heartbroken for a while, but soon a manly farmer won her heart and made her forget that she had ever cared for her unworthy suitor. The rich man became engaged to a beautiful girl, very prominent socially, who professed to care very much for him. He made her many handsome presents and looked forward to the time when she would be his wife. But his dream was rudely dissipated when news was received that his trustee had lost his fortune in speculation, for his fiancée promptly cast him aside. None of his city friends cared for him, now that he was penniless, and he steadily sank in the social scale. Several years later, a tattered, weary tramp stopped at a little farmhouse to ask for food. The farmer’s wife, a pretty young woman, came to the door, and the tramp, in surprise and shame, recognized the girl whom he had once spurned. She did not recognize the natty storekeeper in the dirty vagrant, but gladly gave him food. As the tramp shuffled slowly down the road, he saw the young wife run joyously from the house to greet her husband. Happily they entered their home, and the tramp sadly continued his journey, realizing that if he had been loyal he would not now be a homeless wanderer.
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 19 April 1913
