A Piece of Ambergris (1912)

A common trait of the uncultivated mind is the mistaking of base metals for gold. So that Captain Binks when he read in the newspapers that a chunk of ambergris had been accidentally found by a workman could be excused for losing his head when in the course of his love making with a laundry woman, he fell into the mistake of supposing that a strange mass of manufactured soap, which he by chance discovered on the lady's premises must be ambergris. So as his ship was under mortgage and he had not the money to ward off the disaster, he married the widow, who is delighted to become the wife of a sea captain. Of course, the ambergris is stolen. It is recovered by Binks after a series of amusing adventures on land and sea, but lo! And behold! when he attempts to realize upon the precious substance an expert quickly deceives him as to its real value. So Binks goes from bad to worse; he is still in debt in regard to his ship; he is wedded to a very unattractive laundry woman and he has no money. All because of fundamental ignorance of the real value of a misleading mass of soap.

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Summary Details
GenresDrama Short