The story
“A little old maid and a nice old bachelor live side by side. They do not know each other, though Dana Hood always lifts his hat to Miss Emily Bradbury when he passes her on the street, and she returns his courtesy with a demure glance. Both are devoted to flowers, and each has a back yard garden. Their little Edens are separated by a high board fence. Someone sends Miss Emily a rare specimen of cactus, and she places it in her open front window where it can get plenty of sun. The bachelor long has wished for a cactus. He does not happen to see the plant in his neighbor’s window. And that afternoon, when the very specimen he has coveted, falls in a litter of glass and dirt at his feet, he is completely mystified. By the time he can get his head out of his broken window, the naughty boys who committed the deed are far down the street. He plants the cactus in his garden. Miss Emily sees her lost plant over the fence. She completely ignores Dana Hood when he bows to her on the street. That same day, Tom and Ned, in the custody of their mother, are marched to the home of the old bachelor. They confess and Dana Hood digs up the cactus, repots it, and for the first time in his life goes to Miss Emily’s door. She is overjoyed to have her cactus restored, but even happier to find that her neighbor, after all, is not a thief. And now it is rumored in the neighborhood that the two gardens and the houses side by side are to be turned into one.”
Summary from Reel Life · 19 June 1915
