The story
“Tommy found his fate in a boarding house, but fate was unkind to him. Tommy was one of a number of unhappy men and women who managed to drag out an existence in the establishment of Mrs. Miggs, where the company was bad and the food was worse. So it could be understood that the advent of a new boarder, the person of one Flossie Footlights, who elevated the drama by song and dance, pleased Tommy very much. It was love at first sight, excusable on the part of Tommy, but hard to explain, so far as Flossie was concerned. But Flossie had never seen anyone like Tommy before, and that may be the answer. In his wooing, Tommy showed himself a hero, although it hurt. He went on the stage once, and he dared the perils of a bargain counter rush, and won a smile from the one he adored.
“He proposed to her verbally, and was interrupted. Then he tried to express his affection by letter. He proposed an elopement, and that came off on the scheduled time. But—Well, Tommy won a bride, but it was not the one he wanted. And when he took his pen in hand to explain, he only made a bad matter worse. Tommy lost his beloved Flossie Footlights, but he still has his boarding house. And the thing that causes him sorrow is that his meal ticket in that unpleasant place is marked ‘FOR LIFE.’ It is a terrible thing to be the husband of a boarding house keeper, particularly when you don’t have any idea of applying for the job. And that was the fate of poor Tommy.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 25 March 1911
