Enredo

A dying mother bequeaths money in trust for her teenage daughter to the pastor. When he buys the girl an expensive new hat, scandal breaks out, as local gossips assume something fishy is going on between the pastor and the pretty girl.

The young village minister was not quite as discreet as he might have been in fulfilling the strange trust left by the dying mother, but it certainly worked for the common good. By the bequest the mother desired that her daughter possess some of the finery previously denied her. As a result the minister and Mary were linked in a scandal, with the church board in judgment. Gossip received the laugh, however, as it generally does, while the minister assumed a trust quite unexpected.—Moving Picture World synopsis

Before Mary's mother dies she gives to the minister a small pasteboard box, requesting that he open it in secret. At the parsonage he opens the packet and finds that it contains a few bills and numerous coins of various denominations. The minister also finds a letter which reads: "My Beloved Pastor: My husband worked me to death, but I have managed to save a little sum. Take it and from time to time buy my daughter the bits of finery she has always been denied. Let no one know. Mary Harding." Some time after her mother's death Mary becomes dissatisfied with her small old black velvet hat. She summons up courage to ask her austere father for a new hat, but is met with an emphatic refusal. After further inspection of herself in the glass, Mary decides to go out without any hat. She passes two girls of the village who receive her smiling face kindly enough, but refuse to accept her society. At the local millinery store there has just been received a hat from New York with the magnificent price of ten dollars attached. Mary is gazing fondly on the beautiful creation when the minister happens along. He and Mary admire the hat together, and after her departure, remembering the bequest left by the mother, he goes into the store to inspect the hat. The ladies of the church within are aroused to a high pitch of suppressed excitement. After bidding him a polite departure, they at once begin to speculate. Mary at home is dreaming of the hat, when the minister enters with a bandbox. He presents it to Mary with little comment, and goes. Mary is greatly astonished upon opening the box to find the object of her desire. The next Sunday morning Mary dons her new acquisition and marches off to church. On the way she passes and bows to other church-goers in her innocent endeavor to display the hat, but it is not until after church that the minister and Mary really are linked in a scandal. On her way out of church she passes the three ladies on the Church Board, the gossips at the store who witnessed the purchase, who show their disapproval. Later these three ladies meet the father on his way from church and acquaint him with the facts of the case. He arrives home before Mary. She enters guiltily, remembering the snubs received after church, and hides her hat behind her. He demands that she bring it forth, and in a tirade proceeds to tear it to shreds. He leaves Mary hugging the remains of the fond creation to herself, while he goes forth to seek reparation from the minister. When Mary realizes this she hastens after him and meets the Church Board on the way to the minister's to investigate the scandal. Mary intercepts them and arrives before them. In telling him she sinks on her knees before him and he lifts her face the better to hear what she is saying. The men and women of the board enter and demand an explanation. The minister shows them the request of the dead mother, and they are about to retire with apologies, when the father, having failed to find the minister at the church, comes. He also is shown the letter, and perhaps sees his character in its true light for a moment. The board departs, while the minister is suddenly filled with desire to assume another trust.—Moving Picture World synopsis

When Mrs. Harding dies, she leaves a mysterious letter to her pastor. The note tells how her cold, miserly husband worked her to death. She asks the pastor to administer a small trust which she has bequeathed her daughter so that the girl might enjoy some finery which her father has always denied her. The village milliner carries the latest hat styles from New York, one of which has caught the girl's fancy. The pastor, loyal to the dying mother's wishes, buys the young lady the hat. Soon gossip spreads through the village...—Thomas McWilliams <tgm@netcom.com>