| Plot Summary |
This comedy, by L. Gaumont & Co., opens with a dining-room scene and family circle. The father, taking a shopping bag, bids his wife and children good-bye and goes off on a marketing tour. A street scene is next shown; a woman in front of her shop arranges the vegetables and other market goods, whereupon tears come to her eyes; taking her handkerchief, she tries to dry them, when our marketer is seen gaily strutting down the street and stops at the weeping woman's shop. After haggling a bit about prices he purchases a rabbit and a bunch of onions and takes his departure. Walking a little with his purchases, he begins to weep, and is brought in close view, showing the comical grimaces of his features; going on farther, he is almost blinded by his tears and sprawls on the ground. He rises with difficulty and starts out again, with the rabbit under one arm and the onions under the other, unconscious of the cause of his weeping. He goes on farther and meets a merry party sitting on a bench, joins the group in hopes of obtaining relief, and all commence to shed tears. Whereupon an old man, a young couple and an officer all in turn advance to make inquiries as to the cause of their weeping. They all immediately succumb to the same trouble. After which, the now large weeping party adjourn to a drug store. As the pharmacist is examining the marketer's eyes he, also, is attacked and chases the entire party out of his establishment. Still weeping, the sympathizing strangers grope blindly down the street, and hailing a cab, all pile into it to accompany the poor man home. The cabby gets it, as well as his horse. Observing the horse's plight, the cabby jumps off his seat and taking out his handkerchiefs, dries his as well as the horse's eyes. The party finally pull up before the unfortunate man's home, and the moment he leaves the party their tear-shedding comes to an end, not one of them suspecting the cause of their late affliction. The next scene shows the man staggering blindly into his apartment with his purchases still under his arms. Dropping them on the table, he leaves the room, and now his wife and children are the victims. Returning with eyes dried to his family, he observes their condition and is mystified as to the cause, when the idea dawns on him that the onions are at the bottom of all the tear-shedding; whereupon he grabs the bunch and fires it out of the room, and all resume their normal condition. One of the little girls dries the rabbit's eyes and wrings out her handkerchief, making the finish very laughable.
Written by Moving Picture World synopsis
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