Aunt Penelope's aspiration to be a Red Cross nurse fell short of fulfillment and she fondly hoped to realize her ambition indirectly through her niece, Janice. In accordance with her aunt's wishes, fun-loving Janice obediently went to training school. She soon managed to combine duty with pleasure by succoring an unfortunate youth who had burned his finger while looking too long in her direction. Janice finds it necessary to devote a good deal of attention to her patient and he shows no sign of recovering from his infatuation for his pretty nurse. One fatal night they linger too long on the wrong side of the hospital gates and are intercepted by the head nurse as Frank is helping Janice through a window, which leads to Janice's dismissal. Her spirits are unbroken and she suggests to her girl friends that they give a housewarming in her new apartment. It was some party while it lasted but awkwardly Aunt Penelope arrived in the midst of it. Janice, being a resourceful young person while Aunt Penelope waited below, bundled the boys into bed - clothes on - and dressed the girls in nurses' caps and aprons and was ready when Aunt Penelope confronted her with the charge of dismissal to explain that she had started a private sanitarium. Aunt Penelope is at once all sympathy and insists upon doing her share of the nursing. Colonel Austin-Austins, a southern gentleman in reduced circumstances, trails Frank to the apartment looking for a loan and he is persuaded to impersonate an "eminent surgeon and heart specialist". Janice plans to be rid of Aunt Penelope by suggesting that the Colonel take her to dinner which the Colonel gallantly agrees to do. Difficulties ensue when he fails to find the price of the dinner. However, Frank comes to the rescue of his finances and his honor. Later the nurses and their erstwhile patients are discovered in the cafe by Aunt Penelope. The Colonel calms her wrath and explains that he may not be a surgeon but he can carve a duck to perfection. Moving Picture World, January 22, 1916
"Mother Ashton" is listed in REEL LIFE as the player of Aunt Penelope. This is likely to be Sylvia Ashton but this has not been confirmed. - DD