The Frock Coat

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The play opens in the home of a poor family in England. The head of the house, the father, is without work, and searching in vain for a means to provide a decent living for his little family. The wife is ill, leaving the care of the house to a little daughter, the older of their two children. As the little girl takes her brother to his school she sees, posted in a conspicuous place, a placard advertising for a man to fill a place as secretary. This announcement she carries to her father. He fears it will be too aristocratic a position for him because of his ragged appearance. However, the need of his little family is so great that no chance can be missed so he answers the advertisement. He is informed that his recommendations are satisfactory, while his qualifications are excellent, but his dress is not correct, a frock coat and a silk hat being necessary. In order to obtain these pieces of clothing he is forced to sell a large part of his furniture, even to one of the beds. We next see him, clothed in his new attire, at work in the office of his employer. Then we watch him at lunch during the noon hour, bothered by the workmen because of his fancy clothes. After his lunch, as he rests in a public park awaiting his return to the factory, the same workmen are seen near him visiting gaily with some girls. Noting the object of their jests at the restaurant, they, entirely in a spirit of mischief, creep to the bench upon which the poor gentleman sits in the garb which has cost him so dearly and has been the means of securing his work. They cut one of the skirts from his long coat. Through the illness of the poor wife, who appears while he is bewailing the loss of his only uniform, the workmen find the condition of poverty in which he has been living, and forthwith repair the damage they have done by securing new apparel, which they present with profuse apology.