Clothes Make the Man

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Harold and Kearney are rivals for the hand of Ethel, who apparently favors Harold. But Kearney is constantly on the job, and manages to take Ethel out rowing after she has made a date with Harold. Harold walks home, very disconsolate, planning revenge. He returns home and is about to have his lunch when he notices that his trousers, his one and only "good" pair, are sadly in need of pressing. Calling the colored janitor, he gives him the trousers, telling him to have them pressed and then bring them back immediately. Meantime Kearney and Ethel, on their way home, have met a boy and girl friend, and together they fix up a plan to pay Harold a birthday "surprise" visit. They ask the other two young people to help them in getting a party together for the "surprise" and arrange to carry out their scheme at four o'clock that afternoon. At four o'clock, in a half-starved condition, Harold is still waiting for the return of the janitor with his pants. He manages to get hold of a string of sausages by dropping the hook of his fishing line out of the window, and is about to devour them raw when he smells smoke. Mr. Clancey, occupying the room beneath him, has fallen asleep and allowed his pipe to drop into the waste paper basket. The smoke and flames are beginning to be seen on the outside of the house only a few minutes after the surprise party arrives and goes up to invade Harold's rooms. They cannot find him, for, on hearing their approach, he hides in an inner room, locking the door. They smell the smoke, and rush out of the house. In an upper window, Kearney sees Harold, and he and some of the other boys rush off for an extension ladder. This they raise to the window and then Kearney, closely watched by the hero-worshiping Ethel, mounts it. As he climbs in at the window, however, he is felled by a blow from a golf club in the hands of Harold. Harold quickly effects a change of garments and, once more fully attired, he backs out of the window carrying the unconscious Kearney on his back. Ethel stands in awe until he has reached the sidewalk and deposited Kearney on the ground. Then, with a cry of "My hero," she flies into his arms, and when Kearney presently comes to he realizes that his rival has permanently "beaten him to it."