The Farmer’s Daughters

THE HARDUP COLLEGE BOYS SEE A CHANCE FOR CASH AND ROMANCE

Two men (a bit old in appearance to be college “boys”) are seen sitting on a stone wall, one of them (Billy Noel), is reading a newspaper. Billy shows the other man an article which begins with these titles: “FARM HANDS CAN COURT THESE PRETTY GIRLS. Shoshone, Neb. Farmer, In Effort To Get Help, Offers to Accept Workers As Sons-In-Law.”

The two discuss and ponder the article. They then go to a building (a hotel per the synopsis, but this is not indicated), where they are directed by bystanders to an old gentleman, smoking a cigar, sitting on a front bench. The two college boys discuss the article with the old man, and the man takes from his pocket photographs of his two daughters and displays them. The college chaps indicate their approval. The father pats each of them on the back and shakes their hands. A deal is made.

THE GIRLS AND THEIR MOTHER ARE INDIGNANT.

Jean Darnell goes to the metal mailbox on a post in front of her farm home and extracts a handful of letters, looking at the return address on each. On the way to the house she pets a light-colored cat and smells flowers on a bush. Entering the living room of her home, she hands a letter to Muriel Ostriche, on the right, and then gives the rest of the mail to her mother, except for one letter which she opens and reads. The mother unfolds a newspaper (an out-of-state paper, or did a local paper print the same article with exactly the same headlines and type style?) from her bundle of mail, sees the article about the farmer seeking help and offering his daughters as an inducement, and expresses her indignation. Jean rushes to look at the article over her mother’s shoulder, and Muriel gets up from her seat to come over and read it as well. All three women are angry.

TWO DAYS LATER.

Muriel and Jean are feeding piglets in the farmyard when their mother arrives with a Western Union telegram which reads:

“Mrs. Henry Triel.

“Shoshone, Neb.

“Two new farm hands arrive today. See that the girls look their best. I’ll be home next week.

“Henry.”

The mother and her two daughters express indignation and frustration at the telegram’s contents. Muriel cries. Then the girls have an idea, discuss it with their mother, and laugh. The girls, quite pleased with the scheme they are about to hatch, return to the front of the house and point to their attire, gesturing. Entering the house, Muriel finds an armful of old clothing, while Jean leaves to visit a horse stall. Jean leads the horse from its enclosure, pulling a buggy in which her mother is seated. The mother drives alone to the railroad station.

The scene cuts back to the living room in which Jean and Muriel are fitting themselves with shabby old clothes.

The mother, having arrived at the station, meets an incoming train. Soon she finds the two college chaps, each attired in straw hats and carrying suitcases. She bids them to enter the back seat of her buggy and instructs the horse to start moving.

“THE GIRLS ARE PRINKING UP.”

In the living room the girls continue to put old clothing on. They style their previously-attractive hair in a frowsy manner, and make up in a generally unattractive way.

Mother and the two eager college chaps come down the driveway. An interior shot of the living room shows the two girls peering out the window to watch the arrival of the visitors.

The action then shifts to the exterior shot as the two boys walk across the lawn toward the two-story wooden farm house.

Back inside, we now see Jean opening the door for the visitors and Muriel welcoming them, both frumpy-appearing girls laughing heartily and flirting in a mocking way. The men hastily consult with each other, put their hats back on and attempt to leave. Muriel turns away from the group, and along the living room wall, to the left of a parlor reed organ, finds a rifle, which she picks up and aims at the visitors.

“YOU’VE GOT TO WORK OUT YOUR FARE ANYWAY.”

The two chaps reel backwards with fright as Jean, also with a rifle, joins Muriel in taking aim. The men back away and make a slow retreat, under guard, up the stairs, apparently to their sleeping room.

FOUR O’CLOCK THE FOLLOWING MORNING.

Scene of both men in a double bed, Billy Noel on the left and Nolan Gane on the right, both fast asleep under a patchwork quilt.

Outside the door Muriel and Jean knock vigorously and shout, awakening the visitors. Obviously, it is time to get up and start working! Nolan gets out of bed, while Billy, thoroughly disgusted, falls back on the pillow, only to be shoved out of bed by Nolan. Billy stretches and puts his shoes on.

Downstairs, mother sets places for an early morning breakfast. The two daughters arrive and tell their mother the success of their plan. Upstairs the men, still sleepy, resign themselves to their fate, and exit the room.

The two college chaps arrive at the breakfast table, where mother points to the places where they should sit, and serves them food. Jean heckles them from across the table, and Muriel seems to do likewise. Both girls get up, get their rifles, and take aim at the boys, who wolf down their breakfast, having been given hardly more than a few moments to eat, and who are then trooped outdoors at gunpoint. With the girls marching behind them they are directed toward what seems to be an area with small logs and a few barrel parts, with two chopping blocks and axes. Apparently, wood needs to be split.

“COLLEGE WAS NEVER LIKE THIS.”

Under the watchful eyes of the girls the men begin splitting wood.

SUNDAY. THEY DO NOT FEEL LIKE COURTING.

A Sunday dinner(?—time of day is not clear) is served. The two college chaps are dressed in suit jackets, while the two girls maintain their frumpy attire. Mother, seated, stands up and takes a teapot from the table. Jean arises, finds the newspaper with the article about the farmhands, and hands it to Billy. An argument ensues, and both men leave the table in disgust, while the girls laugh.

Upstairs in their room, the men consult with each other, obviously at a loss as to what to do. Nolan hands Billy a cigarette case. Billy lights up, and Nolan does the same.

Meanwhile, in the living room the two girls transform themselves, and are now seen in beautiful dresses and attractive hats. They giggle and laugh.

The girls are now shown coming through the front door of the home, walking across the grass. Both look behind toward the house to be sure that they are not observed. Excitedly they talk with each other.

In their upstairs room, the two college men continue to talk. They are obviously perplexed. Billy looks out the window and sees something.

“GEE! THERE ARE SOME REAL GIRLS.”

Billy excitedly points toward the yard, and Nolan rushes to join him at the window.

The scene shifts to two pretty girls, Muriel and Jean transformed, walking near a stone wall.

Now we see the two men, who have come outdoors and are walking along the same wall, obviously seeking the girls, not recognizing them as their former overseers.

The scene changes to show the girls are seated next to each other on the stone wall.

The two college men see the girls and discuss between themselves which girl should be for each of them.

RECOGNITION.

The two girls, laughing, pretend not to notice the men. The men approach, doff their hats, and make conversation, and all exchange pleasantries. Billy sits on the wall near Jean, while Nolan sits near Muriel. Then both college chaps get up, talk to each other, gesture toward the girls, and all have a hearty laugh. Billy holds Jean’s hand and Nolan holds Muriel’s. They continue talking in an animated manner. The men resume their seats on the wall next to the girls.

The scene shifts to the girls’ father walking up the road to the farm house, carrying a suitcase. He is greeted and embraced by his wife. The wife laughs, and pats her husband on the back as they walk arm-in-arm toward the house.

AND THEY NEVER LEFT THE FARM.

The scene changes to Muriel and Nolan and Billy and Jean seated on a bench, each holding hands. The two couples are obviously in love. From behind a large flowering bush the girls’ mother and father emerge, smiling, and indicating their approval.

Q. David Bowers, from surviving print, The National Film Archive, London.