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Mrs. Elvira Wiggs has been rearing her children, Jimmy, Billy, Europena,
Asia and Australia, alone for three years since her husband Hiram left for
the Klondike. The family is destitute, living in the shantytown of
Cabbage Patch, and faces a dismal Thanksgiving. After a man leaves his
horse for dead, the Wiggs revive it, naming it "Cuby" (after Cuba).
Jimmy uses the horse to haul kindling to earn money.
To their surprise, Lucy Olcott, a wealthy young
benefactress, brings them two baskets of food for Thanksgiving. Lucy
shuns her boyfriend, Bob Redding, however, after he shows up late with
alcohol on his breath. She is unaware that he was attempting to assist
an alcoholic friend back to the hospital, and his friend slipped liquor into
his drinking water. Bob takes an interest in the Wiggs family, and
takes Billy to a charitable hospital after finding out he has been sick for
some time. Bob then buys tickets for the whole Wiggs family to attend
the theater.
In the meantime, Miss Tabitha Hazy, a spinster
and close friend of Mrs. Wiggs, has selected a husband from a brochure with
Mrs. Wiggs's assistance. The Wiggs are thrilled with the show, but
their joy is interrupted when Mrs. Wiggs is called to Billy's bedside at the
hospital. As she tearfully recounts the highlights of the performance,
Billy dies. Touched by the tragedy of her situation, Bob advertises in his
newspaper to locate Mr. Wiggs and bring him home.
Still in mourning, Mrs. Wiggs helps Miss Hazy
elicit a proposal from her demanding suitor, C. Ellsworth Stubbins, who
promises that if she can make a good mince pie, he will marry her.
Mrs. Wiggs exchanges her excellent cooked pie for Miss Hazy's terrible meal.
Stubbins and Miss Hazy are married the next day, and their wedding inspires
Lucy and Bob to reconcile.
When Mr. Bagby, who holds the mortgage on the
Wiggs home, demands final payment from Mrs. Wiggs by noon, Jimmy frantically
rushes to Bob, hoping to sell his horse to him for the funds. Mr.
Wiggs, responding to Bob's advertisement, slips in through the back door of
his home just before noon, and Bob slips the final payment into his pocket.
The Wiggs home is saved and their family reunited. |
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