Three Thanksgivings

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This film tells the story of an ambitious young countryman who is the oldest son of his widowed mother, and is the chief worker on the farm. The principal business of the farm is raising poultry and shipping it dressed to the New York market. We are introduced to the family circle at a Thanksgiving dinner where all is peace and happiness. Mrs. Jones sits at the head of the table, and John carves the turkey at the other end; while on the right sits his younger brother, and on his left the two children of his widowed sister. Also seated at the table is Aunt Jane. Eliza Wilton, a beautiful girl, the daughter of a neighbor, calls toward the end of the dinner with some dainties for the children. John and she are sweethearts. From this picture of happiness the story takes us to the great metropolis, where John has gone to improve his fortune, after a pathetic parting from his mother and the old home. In the city he falls into evil ways, but is suddenly recalled to his better self when, in a café where turkeys are being raffled on Thanksgiving Eve, he sees on one of the birds a tag, which shows that it came from his mother's home. As his gaze rests upon the tag, the vision of home without him on that day rises before his eyes and he goes to his lodgings in a remorseful mood. A notice of the discovery of gold in the west catches his eye as he glances at the newspaper. He determines to go to the gold fields. There he prospects and finally "strikes pay dirt." Returning to his eastern home on Thanksgiving day, he persuades his Aunt Jane to help him disguise himself, and, pretending to be a friend of his from the west, he meets the family and is seated at the table. He becomes so familiar that his mother and sweetheart are about to resent his intrusion, but when he removes his disguise joy fills the home that for two years has not known his presence.