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- The fact that an Indian tribe is eating puppies starts an action-packed battle in a Western town.
- Mr. Norton discovers his wife in the arms of his neighbor, Captain Roberts, a married man. His first maddened impulse is to kill his faithless wife, but on his way for the gun his little child runs to his arms to say good-night. The incident unnerves him and his wild determination is destroyed. He decides upon another course. He goes to Mrs. Roberts and tells her that he intends to ruin the Captain's home as her husband had ruined his, and that unless she consents to elope with him at ten o'clock that night he will shoot her husband on sight. Mrs. Roberts, in grief and despair, premises to elope in order to save her husband's life. That evening, when the Captain returns, she accuses him of his sin, and he makes an earnest and effective plea for forgiveness. Meantime the grim hour for her decision is past, and with the strength of woman's devotion, she determines to sacrifice her life for her husband, rather than stain his name. Donning his military cap and cape, she walks out on the veranda, just as Mr. Norton has accepted her absence to signify her refusal to elope. True to his threat, when he sees the figure on the veranda, he mistakes it for the Captain, and shoots. The Captain realizes the bitter fruits of his sin, but the wound is not fatal, and the courageous wife's nobility and bravery inspire an admiration in her husband's heart that completely resurrects the old love. Mercy is mightiest in the mightiest.
- 191114mNot Rated5.1 (653)ShortA Confederate officer is called off to war. He leaves his wife and daughter in the care of George, his faithful Negro servant. After the officer is killed in an exciting battle sequence, George continues in his caring duties, faithful to his trust. Events continue to turn for the worse when invading Yankee soldiers arrive to loot and torch the widow's home. George saves the officer's daughter and battle sword by braving the flames.
- Two business partners pursue the same woman. She accepts the marriage proposal of the irresponsible partner, much to her later regret. He squanders money on gambling, as his interest in her gradually wanes. One day after losing the company money in a card game, he decides to commit suicide. He telephones his wife from the office, as he puts a revolver near his head. The wife tries to keep him talking while the reliable business partner races to the office in an attempt to save his old friend. Will he make it in time?
- A young girl looking for work, is hired by a farmer's wife to work as a maid. A smooth talking peddler comes by the farm, and flirts with the young maid. He gives the naive girl an engagement ring and promises to marry her. When the peddler runs up some gambling debts, he visits the maid again and tells her they cannot marry until he has enough money to pay off his debt. While the farmer and his wife are asleep, the maid foolishly steals their money. The peddler takes the money and leaves on a train to get out of town. Overcome with guilt, the young maid runs away from the farm. Meanwhile the peddler gets into a fight and is thrown off the train. The maid stumbles upon him by the railroad tracks. She finds the money on the peddler and returns it to the farm couple before they even knew it was missing.
- A potentially violent patient in an insane asylum is calmed when he hears a nurse playing the piano. But shortly afterwards he breaks free, eludes his pursuers, and acquires a gun. He soon comes to a house where a young wife is home alone, and there is a tense confrontation.
- After her mother's death, Ruth struggles to support herself as a seamstress. While Ruth delivers shirts to the factory owner, the owner's son steals some money and Ruth is accused of the crime. She flees the ghetto of New York's Lower East Side and hides in the country where a young farmer takes her in and they fall in love.
- Oftentime it has been proved that the own children of a family have proved less loving and considerate than those who have been adopted. And so it was in the case of the adopted brother of this family. He became the sole support, while the old gray-haired father sat by the fire, the young daughter looked after the house and the degenerate brother went off to the saloon with his questionable companions. The money for his debauches was often supplied by the adopted young brother. The brother has just left for the saloon, and the adopted son follows him to the village, just in time to see the drunken crowd throw a stranger out of the saloon. He is jestingly known as the "book-writer," and his drunken debauches are the talk of the good people and the abuse of those of his kind. The boy befriends the author by taking him to his cabin. Here while he sleeps off his drunken stupor, the boy reads some of the manuscripts lying on the table. When the author awakens the boy seeks to encourage him into a fresh start and begins to arouse new courage in the writer. Meanwhile back in the saloon there is another fight. A drunken farmer coming out is met by one of his former hands who demands the pay that is coming to him. The farmer underpaid the man. There is a struggle between the two and a large roll of bills is displayed. The degenerate brother and his friends coming out of the saloon see the money and decide to follow the man and rob him. They do this. The boy returning home from the author's cabin comes upon them and is an unwilling witness to their crime. They see him, and pursuing him into the nearby bushes they threaten and abuse him until he agrees to keep silent. As he is passing the sheriff's house he sees the man who had been robbed on the porch while the hand who had previously quarreled with him is also there and being accused of the crime. A strong sense of rebellion against his degenerate brother arises in the boy's mind. All his life the other man has made people suffer. The boy decides to stand by the truth and he goes to the sheriff and tells him the true story of the crime. Thus the degenerate brother and his friend are brought to justice. Some time later while they are working on the stone heap not far from the prison a fight arises between an unruly prisoner and a guard. It is an opportunity they have long been looking for and they make good their escape. Successful in evading the guards, they hide under a rocky cliff. Presently upon the height above they see two men fighting; one renders the other unconscious and the two convicts see in this a chance to cover their own tracks. They steal up behind the two men and rob them of their clothes. In their new garb their first thought is for vengeance on the adopted brother who had been the cause of all their suffering. They seek him at the home, but he is bidding goodbye to the author, who is leaving that locality, a changed man, due entirely to the boy's influence. They intimidate the girl into telling his whereabouts, but on their departure she goes to the house to find the boy. She meets him on the street returning from the author. The two convicts, however, had seen him from a distance, and jumping on two horses they find by the roadside they follow in quick pursuit. The girl runs for the sheriff and the chase continues. The author on the outside of the town, however, had stopped to rest. The boy, followed by the two convicts, pass by on their horses. He takes in the situation at a glance and following after the two he reaches them just as they are about to fall upon the boy. In the struggle he kills one and he himself is shot by another. The other convict falls into the hands of the sheriff. Thus the good done another returns to the boy and frustrates the evil design that was to be perpetrated against him for the price of a life.
- Mrs. Thurston, a socially ambitious widow, is holding one of her famous Bohemian parties. To these functions are invited the leading lights of the several professions, actors, artists, musicians, etc. Surrounded by these men and women of art and letters, she was at first entertained, but they soon palled and bored. On this evening in particular, she is especially possessed of ennui, until the appearance of Raymond Hartley, a wealthy young bachelor, who is introduced into the circle by a newspaper man. An attachment immediately springs up between the widow and Raymond, and it must he said that the latter is more sincere than the former, for Raymond calls upon her and proposes marriage, which she is only too willing to accept. His friends, however, upon finding out the seriousness of the situation, go and warn him against her, accusing her of being a flirt. He, of course, will not believe until he himself later finds their accusation true. His friend and chum suggests a stay in the country to cure him of this ominous infatuation. Selecting a quiet out of the way place they go, enjoining the valet to keep secret their whereabouts. Almost upon their arrival, he meets Grace, the daughter of the farmer. Her simple, artless manners, with her rustic beauty, fairly captivate him and make him forget the widow entirely. He now experiences a higher and holier love, so he sends word to his valet to send on his trunks as he intends protracting his stay indefinitely, and later proposes to Grace and gains consent. The widow, meanwhile, has waxed uneasy, as she is most anxious to make this rich match, realizing what Raymond's wealth would do for her. At his residence she gets little information from the valet, but espying the trunk tagged, she slyly notes the address. Off she goes in her auto, and funds Raymond on the roadside in a state of elation over his prospects. Feigning illness, she elicits his sympathy, and soon the old infatuation possesses him. Back to the city he goes with the widow, after dispatching a note to Grace of his departure. What a shock this is to the poor girl, and her little sister, while she doesn't quite understand why, feels that the return of Raymond is urgent. The trunks have arrived and the little one finds the return stub still intact. Getting her toy bank, she extracts her savings and finds she has sufficient to pay the fare to the city. Surreptitiously she starts, and when in the city a policeman directs her to Raymond, whose valet states he is at the widow's. Here the child enters into the midst of a Bohemian gathering. The look into the child's sweet face, so much in contrast to the features around him, and but the sound of one word of her pleading, is enough to decide him, so picking up the child in his arms he dashes from the place, hurling aside the widow, who would detain him. Back to the farmhouse he rushes and throws himself appealingly at the feet of the poor heart-crushed Grace.
- A feud began with a political argument. Then the justice declared if granddad did not pay up he would attach his household goods. Granddad was that mad all he left of the furniture was kindling. When he learned his act had made him liable to the law he fled with his family, but came back after a lost baby, now in the hands of the enemy.
- Continuing where His Trust (1911) leaves off, George, a slave, takes care of his deceased master's daughter after her mother's death. He sacrifices his own meager savings to give the girl a good life, until the money runs out and he tries to steal money from the girl's rich cousin.
- Bert Stafford is in love with his mother's ward, Sylvia Randolph. She does not reciprocate his feelings as she is in love with Duncan Irving, son of Old Irving, the store-keeper of Pine Level, South Carolina. Although Mrs. Stafford has a daughter, Phyllis, Bert is her favorite child and she has spoiled him by her indulgence of his every whim. Duncan Irving, on the contrary, is a manly chap but unfortunately his father is a habitual drunkard. On account of Sylvia's preference for Duncan, Bert is jealous and tries to pick a quarrel with him, which results in Duncan being ordered from the grounds by Mrs. Stafford. Duncan passes his entrance examinations for West Point and before leaving home tells Sylvia of his ambitions. His father resolves to stop drinking which he realizes might disgrace his son. Two years later Duncan writes his father of his promotion at West Point and the old man shows the letter to Sylvia. When Mrs. Stafford hears of Duncan's success, she decides to send Bert to West Point. A year later the cadets are shown preparing for their annual dance, to which Mrs. Stafford, Sylvia and Phyllis are invited by Captain Lane. Duncan is now a first class man while Bert is a plebe. Bert naturally resents being compelled to take orders from Duncan or Duncan's friend Dumble. Dumble falls in love with Phyllis but she does not give him much encouragement. Duncan's father also goes to West Point but does not attend the dance, fearing his clothes might embarrass Duncan. Bert asks Sylvia to marry him but she puts him off. Bert becomes furious when he sees her talking with Duncan and resolves to get Old Irving drunk in order to humiliate Duncan. When Bert takes Old Irving to his tent he is seen by Duncan's friend, Dumble, who reports the matter to Duncan. As Sylvia has previously asked Duncan not to be hard on Bert, he resolves to respect her wishes and keeps from her the knowledge of Bert's cowardly act. Duncan finds his father in a drunken condition and Bert gloats over Duncan's humiliation and insults him. Duncan demands an apology and when Bert refuses to retract his accusation, Duncan knocks him down. When Bert is picked up he is blind and Duncan and his friends, Dumble, Clay and Lindsay, are put under arrest. Duncan and his chums are court martialed and suspended, despite the fact that Duncan declares he alone is to blame. The Staffords move to New York and although Bert recovers his eyesight, he is declared ineligible for further military service. He again proposes to Sylvia and this time she consents to become his wife. They quarrel as to when the wedding shall take place and Bert accepts an offer from an engineering concern to go to South America. Duncan goes to Washington hoping to induce the President to lift the suspension of his friends. Their reinstatement is made subject to Mrs. Stafford's signing the petition which she refuses to do. Nothing is heard of Bert and Mrs. Stafford is led to believe that he has died of fever many miles up the Amazon. When Duncan and his friends are informed of this they offer to lead an expedition in search of Bert. Mrs. Stafford agrees to sign the petition on condition that they bring her son back with them. Phyllis agrees to marry Dumble and have Duncan act as best man if he finds Bert. Duncan wishes to save Bert in order to win back Sylvia's respect. She gives him a message for Bert which discloses to Duncan her engagement to Bert, but he refuses to give up hope as he believes she is still in love with him, despite the engagement. The relief party arrives in South America and are soon in the heart of the jungle. As their supplies are running short, Lindsay volunteers to return for a fresh supply. During his absence, Duncan finds Bert, who is in a half-crazed condition, and delivers Sylvia's message to him. Bert curses Duncan for his failure to arrive sooner. Lindsay tries to locate his friends by calling them but is unsuccessful. Duncan gives up all hope of being rescued. He climbs a tree in a final effort to let Lindsay locate him and while there receives a message that Lindsay is on his way to rescue them. Duncan urges Bert to keep up his courage. Lindsay arrives and succeeds in rescuing the party, who are now on the verge of collapse. The scene shifts back to New York again where Bert is just recovering from the effects of his trip and although Sylvia nurses him she does not show any affection toward him. Dumble, Clay and Lindsay receive commissions as lieutenants. Dumble cannot understand why Duncan has not received a commission. Preparations are made for the wedding of Dumble and Phyllis. Bert goes away on business and cannot understand Sylvia's change of heart. Sylvia reminds Mrs. Stafford of her promise to Duncan and secures his commission for him but does not want Duncan to know of her part in the matter. When Bert returns he finds Clay and Lindsay thanking Sylvia for securing Duncan's commission for him. He tries to get Sylvia to make up with him but she evades him, having realized that it is Duncan whom she really loves. Bert informs Duncan that Sylvia has secured his commission so that she will be under no further obligation to him. Duncan refuses to accept the commission and tells Bert of his love for Sylvia and Sylvia overhears this. Duncan insists that Bert shall tell the truth in reference to getting his father intoxicated and as Bert is about to strike Duncan, Sylvia appears and sides with Duncan. Bert pleads with her in vain. Following the wedding of Dumble and Phyllis comes the engagement of Duncan and Sylvia, thus showing that virtue will always triumph in the end.
- A Confederate soldier shames his mother and sister by going AWOL during battle. His sister takes his place, with tragic results, leaving him to live out his life in shame, hiding to protect his family name.
- Called away on a deal, the ranchero left the foreman in full charge of the round-up. That was the opportunity the stranger and his accomplice were seeking. The girl's determination to recover the money at all costs resulted in a daring rescue on the part of the young foreman, who registered another triumph at the final round-up.
- He was one of a league whom society thought honest. The little French lady who became his wife believed him a diplomatic spy for her government, so she sailed quite contentedly off to America to work with him. Far from home and friends, she learned his true character, but the crisis was met.
- They were two hobos, black and white, master and man, a regular slave driver white, while black went off for the eats. But Cleopatra and her sweet-potato pies ended the despotism. She saved the "lovin' man" of her race. Tabasco and an officer of the law did it, while white made a fast retreating speck up the track.
- John Rogers, a young chemist, is sincerely loved by the eldest of two sisters, but in a state of infatuation prefers the younger girl, fascinated by what he would call vivacity, but which is nothing less than frivolousness. He marries her, and she soon tires of a life of domesticity. He tries to interest her in his chemical experiments but they simply bore her, although they are interesting to the sister, which interest is born of a pure love which she still holds. While he is working in his laboratory, the wife is either entertaining or being entertained by friends. She is in her element at a dinner party, when an explosion takes place in her husband's laboratory, apparently destroying his sight and hearing. It is a sad house she returns to after her evening's pleasure. There is her husband, deaf and sightless. You may imagine her lot is now more repugnant, as his helplessness annoys her, so she eagerly accepts diversion. This comes in the form of an offer from one of her friends, a theater manager, to shine on the comic opera stage. She accepts the offer and on the persuasion of this friend decides to leave her husband and get a divorce, leaving her wedding ring on the table for her sister or father-in-law to find. The sister sees her action, and tries to dissuade her, but in vain. The thought of this second and worse blow to the young man moves the sister to wear the ring, deceiving him until his affliction has passed, for the doctor is sure of restoring his sight and hearing. This deception is easy, as he can neither see nor hear and is ever under hands of the nurse. The operation promises to be successful, so the sister goes to the green room of the theater to bring the wife back. After a heated argument the wife consents to go and see him at least, arriving just as he is placed in a darkened room to have the bandage removed. When the bandage is taken off, the young man sees in the dim light of the room the figures about him. He turns from one to the other until he sees his wife and makes a move towards her, but she with guilty mien recoils and as she does, clutches the portieres nervously. Down they come, letting in a fatal flash of light from the outside, striking the poor fellow's eyes, causing now incurable blindness. Realizing what she has done, she rushes horror-stricken from the house. The young man's hearing unimpaired, he learns the truth and now feels in his heart what he failed to see with his eyes.
- With her uncle she visits the seashore and goes bathing with a party of her brother's friends. Uncle also takes a dip and is annoyed at the perilous performance of the girl. He orders her from the water and locks her in her room, but brother releases her. He finally concludes that home is the best place for her, for there she will run no chance of drowning.
- 'Twas Sunday in the park. "I bet she's worth a million," he murmured to silent exultation, as he slipped on the ring. 'Twas Monday morning. She was a "stingy-grafter" and he a lawyer with a bad case of pawn or starve. Who would a thought it? But it takes a lawyer to start things. He did with the office across the way, where his "stingy-grafter" grafted. He reached rock bottom.
- All her life the old teacher had been smoothing over the rough places, but when the great need came in her own life all forgot her except one; that was the little girl whom she had last befriended. What mattered then the dastardly plot of the scheming brokers?
- Hard indeed it is to break a bachelor's habit, but this rural comedy proves that persistency must win out if right means be adopted. '"You must be tired of your own cooking," said father after church. "Dinner's ready," said Lucy Ann, and, well, she got him.
- Don Packard, an artist, forgets his country sweetheart, Martha, and falls in love with his model, Linee. The boy marries Linee and takes her to his home. Martha conceives a hatred for Linee when she discovers that the girl has robbed her of her lover. Don's father, a parson, is horrified when he learns of his son's worldly wife. When Linee realizes the trouble her marriage to Don has caused, she runs away, Martha does her utmost to stir up trouble. For two years Don searches in vain for Linee, who has become a cabaret dancer. Dupree, a Frenchman, falls in love with the girl, but she repels his advances, Don enters the restaurant just as Dupree, mad with jealousy, attempts to shoot Linee. Don saves her life, but loses his sight. Linee assumes charge of the stricken man, but takes care to conceal her identity. Her voice is familiar to Don and he gradually suspects the truth. Rev. Packard, summoned by Linee, comes to the city, accompanied by Martha. Linee learns that they propose to take Don away from her and spirits him away. Certain that his devoted nurse is Linee, Don removes the bandage from his eves. By a clever ruse. Linee makes it appear that the mistress of the boarding house is the woman who is taking care of him. The bandage is replaced. Disappointed and heart-sick. Don determines to do away with himself. Fate, however, frustrates his attempt and Linee resumes her place as her husband's nurse. Don's father and Martha finally discover his whereabouts. Linee is seated near Don, reading one of David's Psalms to him, when the minister and Martha enter. Don learns that it is his wife who has attended him so faithfully. Touched by the girl's devotion to his son, the old minister takes her to his heart.
- Mrs. Herton, a widow, lives in comfortable circumstances with her son, Roland. Over forty years of age, she is still an attractive woman, but lacks self-reliance and is greatly impressed by Geoffrey Stern who seeks her hand. Roland objects to Stern and endeavors to convince his mother that the selfish and unscrupulous suitor has been attracted by the comfortable home and timber lands owned by the widow. But the good woman is deceived by Stern's well-feigned devotion and agrees to marry him. Shortly after the marriage a violent scene takes place between Roland and his stepfather. Seeing that his mother has, in a manner, become estranged from him, he leaves home and finds employment in a sawmill. Roland, through his industry, wins the esteem of his foreman and meets his employer's daughter, Martha. An attachment springs up and the young couple become engaged. Roland, wishing to introduce his fiancée to his mother asks her to accompany him to his old home. When Martha and Roland enter the cottage a pitiful sight confronts them. Geoffrey Stern, in an attempt to realize on his wife's property is on the point of securing her signature to a mortgage. Roland roundly denounces his stepfather and takes his mother to his sweetheart's home. Stern determines to be revenged, as he sees that Roland stands between him and the accomplishing of his designs. He therefore goes to the sawmill when Roland is alone and through an act of startling boldness places the young man in peril of his life. Martha, disturbed because Roland has not come to the house for lunch, visits the sawmill and Stem is turned over to the authorities.
- The woman of the camp implores her lover to marry her, and he promises to do so, but goes away and does not return. Target of the camp's jeers, she lives alone until her child is born dead. The doctor fears for her reason if she discovers that all her shame and anguish have been in vain. He has another maternity case on the outskirts of the camp, where the Saint, as the trapper's wife is known, dies in childbirth. For the sake of the baby and the bereft woman, the doctor gains the trapper's consent to a plan and brings his two patients together. The woman's quarters being squalid, the doctor insists that she go to the trapper's cabin, and the trapper moves out to make room for her. The sight of his child drawing life from an alien breast has awakened the trapper's soul. And the touch of baby hands the strangeness of human kindness, stir the God within the woman. The doctor hopes to see her marry the trapper. At this moment the woman's former lover returns, bent on making such amends as he can. He, too, has discovered the living God within him. At the doctor's suggestion the woman chooses between the two men. For a long time she hesitates, then places her hand in the trapper's palm.
- A party of friends goes to the seashore to enjoy a day's outing. To get rid of the womenfolks, the menfolks induce them to take a plunge in the ocean before luncheon, so that the men can enjoy a quiet little game of cards. But the game does not prove to be very quiet; it terminates in a duel, which the women strategically avert in the nick of time.
- In this story the young wife concerned is called upon to solve a rather momentous question. After separating from her husband, whom she has discovered to be a brute and a criminal, she is about to give herself to another man, believing her husband dead, when he appears before her fleeing from justice. Shall she deliver him to the law or surrender to his claims? She yields in one instance, but not in the other. Then justice intervenes.
- The young man has been deceiving his mother in his letters home and upon the reception of a letter from her his better self is for the moment aroused, but only for the moment, as he finds evil associates hard to ignore. But it seems that the letter has brought with it a blessing and his mother's prayers have been heard because his meeting with a young woman in the tenement district proves to be his moral uplift. She, by a clever scheme, prevents him from committing a crime which would have been his irretrievable downfall.
- Prof. Howe knows more about antiques than he does about love affairs and consequently he declares that Dick, his daughter's sweetheart, is a nuisance. Howe purchases an ancient Egyptian mummy and Dick observes the delivery of the huge case. A daring scheme occurs to him. With Arvilla's assistance he takes the place of the mummy and when Howe opens the case he hears a sepulchral voice exclaim: "Let your daughter marry whom she chooses. Rameses demands it." Arvilla says she chooses Dick, and Howe, grasping his daughter by the hand, hastens to Dick's house to satisfy the mummy. Dick has the time of his life in making a wild dash to his home before the arrival of the professor. Then he is induced (?) to listen.
- It was on the night of the Italian ball when Maria, to tease her sweetheart, Tony, indulged in a mild flirtation with Joe, his enemy. At first Tony's jealousy was aroused, but reasoning that it was no time nor place for anything but enjoyment, he smothered the feeling. However, Maria carried the flirtation too far and a tragedy was imminent. This tragedy, though, was averted through a small boy's daring, the girl fully realizing what might have been the result of her thoughtlessness.
- Hans keeps a saloon in a mining district. Things get too warm when the boys, refusing to pay for drinks, shoot up the place. To get even he schemes with a horse trader to buy up all the boys' horses. This done, he starts a gold stroke rumor, feeling sure the boys will bite and want their horses back to get to the place. To get their horses they have to pay about five time what they sold them for. By the time they find out how they have been stung, Hans and the horse trader are far away enjoying the fruits of their little joke.
- They were on their summer vacation at the time, and eats were decidedly scarce. Muggsy was for robbing a hen roost, but Larry spied the Holy Groaners. With open arms they received the new prophet into their midst. He declared that the end of the world was at hand. It was Larry who collected the Groaner's worldly goods, which they now no longer needed. He lingered for more graft. The real prophet appeared. Poor Larry.
- At the opening of the story we find Alice Paulton incurring the extreme displeasure of her father by rejecting the suit of the favored young man of her father for one of her own choice. Determined to marry this man she is disowned by her father, and so leaves his roof and is married. Mr. Paulton, being a widower, at first grieves over the loss of his daughter's love, but later becomes a monomaniac, money being his only thought, and to hoard this his only aim. He becomes a veritable tyrant, grinding his debtors most unreasonably. Thus things go on for several years. Meanwhile a girl child has blessed the young couple, and at the end of ten years the young father is in the last stage of consumption, with little strength left to work. Dire poverty reigns in the household, and in desperation the wife goes to her father to implore his aid. He is now in the extreme of money madness, and almost throws her from his house. The worst is to come, and it comes soon; the young father dies. Here the poor woman is left destitute, with her little girl to care for. Her attempts to secure employment are in vain and starvation stares them in the face. But the little child has faith in prayer. The old man's temper has now gotten worse and his niggardliness more excessive, until finally he sells his home that he may add the returns to his hoard and moves into cheaper quarters. Fate leads him to engage the squalid room directly above his own daughter and granddaughter, although he is quite unaware of it. He is at a loss to find a place to hide his money until he espies a stove-pipe hole in the chimney wall. This he reckons a safe bank, so here he keeps it. On the floor below we see the poor woman despairing, until when she leaves for the next room, the child kneels and prays for aid. At the same moment the old man is replacing his gold in his chimney bank, and shoving it in too far, down the chimney it falls, striking the fireplace below and rolling out in front of the kneeling child. She at once believes it came from the Heavenly Father, and so kneels in thanksgiving. The old man becomes a raging demon at the loss of his money, and when the janitor directs him to the apartment beneath he bursts in and snatches the money from the child's bands. The confusion brings in the mother, and a recognition occurs. The old man is adamant, however, and still refuses aid to his daughter. While in the hall on his way to his own apartment, the thought of the little child on her knees praying with such faith impresses him, and changes his entire nature Well, he returns to his daughter and granddaughter for good.
- Suspected of theft, the Indian was discharged on the ranch-hand's accusation, but the foreman's suspicions against the hand were confirmed in time to reinstate the Indian. In gratitude the Indian captured the thief with the ranchero's money and saved the girl as well.
- Hiram and Maria stop at a big hotel in the city. From the moment they arrive they are confronted by outstretched palms and compelled to tip every waiter, bellboy and porter in the house. Even a cabaret dancer, whose work captivates Hiram, places her open hand under his nose. In disgust Hiram and his wife decide to return to their room. Hiram makes a mistake, however, and finds himself in the room of an old maid who is performing her toilet. Maria enters what she supposes is their room and confronts a young man in rather scanty attire. The country people decide that the city is no place for them and return home. A week later, Blane, the manager of the hotel, finds himself stranded in front of Hiram's house when his automobile breaks down. He decides to stop at the farmhouse overnight. He is recognized by Hiram and Maria. The two determine to give Blane a taste of what they experienced at his hotel. Blane finds himself up against a tipping system that has his own beaten forty ways. He tips the hired girl, chore-boy, Hiram, Maria, hired hands and then is compelled to repeat the performance. To cap the climax, Maria and Hiram do a cabaret act, for which the amazed Blane has to pay liberally. The following morning Blane asks for his bill and is staggered at the amount demanded. He learns his lesson, however. Hastening back to the city, he lowers his rates and abolishes the tipping system in his hotel.
- From his hard and lonely life with his foster father, the adopted son finds solace in Cynthia, the neighbor's daughter. Father promises to give them money to start their happy married way, but forgets when a widow, with a little girl, comes home with him as a bride. Then it is that the abandoned well comes into play and father's eyes are opened to his neglect.
- Upon the arrival of a young girl from the city, Zeke and Jake, brothers, each determine to win her. For a time these rival brothers are amusing to her, but when her real sweetheart appears, she is at a loss to know how to get rid of them. Her city beau, however, wants to have some fun with them, so is introduced to the rubes as her brother. He pretends to be interested in the condition of affairs, and decides they must prove their love by chancing fate for her sake. He places three chocolates on the table, stating that one of the candies contains deadly poison. To the amazement of all they take a chance, but for naught.
- Jean, Grace and Mabel determine to cast off the shackles of domestic duties and do men's work. The three hire a farm, don overalls and turn their hands to the culture of the soil. The girls advertise for men to do housework, but not a single applicant appears. In desperation, Jean, Mabel and Grace capture Harold, Jack and Jim. The boys are imprisoned in the barn and are informed that they will be released upon promising to do the housework. The prisoners give one glance at their captors and promptly promise. Within an hour, Jim, Harold and Jack are scrubbing floors, preparing meals, etc. Meanwhile, the girls discover that farming isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Mabel is soon weeping over a collection of blisters as the result of using a hoe. Jean weeps because her spine feels like a rubber hose, due to bending over the garden track, while Grace sobs because using a hacksaw has made her arms feel like two billets of wood. Thus the boys find them. Unknown to the others, each proposes marriage. The girls sob their consent. Each couple steals to the minister, arriving at the same moment as the other two. Woman's emancipation is forgotten. The lovers stand before the Dominie and, with one accord, promise to assume their peculiar duties.
- The wife, put to the test of her love, supported her husband by singing at a local dance hall. The "puncher" found her fascinating. A brawl took place in the dance hall between him and her husband. Weary of life, the woman found a home, all unknown to herself, in the home of her husband's father. There her husband found her. Experience had brought him back to his father's house and its teachings.
- It was Christmas Eve in the south, but the spirit of peace and love did not pervade the northern girl's heart. The gallantry of the young southern swains, however, was more than manifest, when a drunken band of Unionists entered the house, among them her sweetheart. From him was protection needed most. His rival, a Confederate soldier, showed her that character is far above political principle, and true love came into its own.
- A bronze gate guards the entrance to the grounds surrounding the home of the high-born child. The little beggar maid peering wistfully through the bars, sees him, a hopeless cripple, sitting in his chair. Thus their friendship commences. As time goes on, the high-born child gives the beggar maid many of his toys. But of all his gifts, she prizes most a little white flower. A servant notices the intimacy between the two. She drives the beggar maid away. Because he is deprived of her cheery friendship, the high-born child pines away. The beggar maid learns he is ill. She creeps under the bronze gate and goes toward the house. As she mounts the steps, the doctor comes from the house and tells her the little cripple has just died. The beggar maid is hungry, weary and ill. She wanders toward the riverside and lies down to rest by the side of the stream. Then comes a dream. The high-born child beckons to her; she follows. Late that night, a policeman making his rounds finds a little form, clasping a withered flower, lying by the riverside.
- Johnny falls and is seriously injured. Marie, his little playmate, considers herself to blame. A doctor declares that although the boy will recover, he will be a hunchback. Marie becomes melancholy. Her parents take her abroad to make the child forget the incident. Fifteen years later, "Humpty" Johnson, otherwise known as "The Fiend," is the terror of his companions in the underworld. The man is wanted by the police. "Humpty" learns that "Rat" Donovan, his pal, has betrayed him to the officers. He follows the man home and strangles him. The crime is discovered. "The Fiend" resolves to commit one more robbery and escape to other parts. He breaks into a house that promises a rich haul. The man hears voices in the next room. Cautiously approaching the portieres, he listens. Marie cannot forget the terrible fate of her little playmate. Her sweetheart, David, finds her in a melancholy mood when he calls and learns the story. Marie tells him she is anxious to find her former playmate and do what she can to help him forget his affliction. "Humpty" overhears this with glee. Later, the man appears before Marie. He announces himself as the crippled Johnny and demands assistance. Horrified, Marie empties her purse in his hands. The man leaves. That evening he conceives the idea of compelling her to marry him. The following day, David meets the real Johnny. Despite the doctor's prediction, the boy had regained his health. David breaks the news to Marie, who realizes she has been hoodwinked. Meanwhile, the police run "Humpty" to bay. The man sees them approaching, and shoots at them through his window, until he has but one bullet left. When the officers break into Johnson's room, they find him lying dead.
- From the dungeon where the lean beasts prowled, Hassan Bey summoned from her young lover's arms the old rug maker's daughter. Still she was obdurate. In his madness, he had poisoned his other love with the deadly sting of a serpent. His fury spent, he fell from bey to man, and sought to atone according to his light.
- The old father in this Biograph story was possessed of such unreasonable pride as to cause much misery and heartache. We cannot consistently call it pride, but rather, narrow prejudice. Mr. and Mrs. Sonthcomb dearly loved their only daughter Ann, but, being Quakers, had set ideas. Ann was a pretty girl of twenty, bright, vivacious and romantic, and loved her parents devotedly, but she chafed under what she deemed almost parental despotism. They decried any ebullition her youth might induce, and frowned into silence her joyous ringing laughter. This condition told on her and she longed for life's radiant sunshine, love. It comes at last. Allen Edwards, a concert singer, while driving his auto in the neighborhood of the old Quaker's farm, meets with a serious accident, and is carried to the Southcomb homestead. He is in such a condition that he cannot be removed to his home for some time, and hence is cared for by the Southcomb family, although the old man openly expresses his aversion for the young man on account of the profession. An attachment springs up between Ann and Allen which ripens into sincere love. The old man is beside himself with rage when they broach the subject of marriage. But Ann is decided and the old man, though he loves his daughter, haughtily drives her from the house, for when pride begins love ceases. He stubbornly refuses to have anything further to do with her. He becomes so bitter that he erases her name from the family Bible. To him she is as dead. Many a heartache does the young wife suffer, though Allen has tried time and time again to effect a reconciliation, until one day they receive word that the old Sonthcomb farm had been seized for debt and the couple were forced to go to the poorhouse. What a shock this is to the young couple! It is the old story of pride defeating its own end by bringing the man who seeks esteem into contempt. The young people make their way to the poorhouse, where the old father is seen scrubbing floors, while the mother bends over a washtub. They are brought to the office to interview their disowned daughter, but the old man is still adamant and while the mother is inclined to accept Ann's protection the father stubbornly refuses, going back with hauteur to his scrub pail. Ann now realizes that something more than bare persuasion must be resorted to, and as she views through the half open door her parents' sad plight, an idea strikes her. Seating herself at the organ, she plays and sings her father's favorite hymn. The sound of the music halts the old man in his work, and he crawls sobbing to the door to hear the better. Ann continues to play and sing until it at last he staggers up to be folded in her arms. He now realizes how unreasonable he has been, not only to her, but to her mother and himself.
- Bessie and Jack are invited to attend the masked-ball and decide to keep their disguises secret from each other. Meanwhile, Edwin, a convict, escapes from prison, secures Jack's costume, and creates a real mix-up at the ball.
- In her youth the mother was saved from the fatal mistake by an accident, but it caused her years of separation from child and husband. It had occurred primarily through her self-righteous sister-in-law's domination and interference. A like fate and downfall threatened the daughter, now reaching maturity. The mother's insistence separated the child from her environment. Love and understanding did the rest.
- The maxim, "'Tis darkest just before dawn," was certainly verified in the case of the despairing prospector who is the subject of this Biograph story. All his searching for the coveted yellow ore has been fruitless, and he starts out to make his last effort to find pay dirt. The privations he has suffered do not affect him as much as the hardships endured by his patient wife with their little child, a boy of ten years. To see them subjected to hunger and exposure almost drives him mas, and this final effort is almost maniacal. As usual, his endeavors seem to be in vain, until in a fit of rage he hurls his pick away from him and sinks despairingly on the ground. Here he sits hopeless, when he sees something shining in the earth that the pick's point had upturned when he hurled it from him. He is dazed, and can scarcely believe his sight. However, a pan of the dirt taken to the brook and washed proves he has at last struck pay dirt. Wild with joy, he rushes to his camp to give the news to his wife. She reminds him of the importance of filing his claim at once, and to this end the three, man, wife and child, go back to the place and he stakes the claim, guarding it, while the wife hurries to the agent's office to file it, she taking the little boy with her. Two mountain reprobates from a distance see the staking of the claim, and knowing that the first one filing the claim may secure it, try to reach the agent before her, but as she is on horseback and they on foot, she reaches there first. When she arrives she finds the office not yet open and a line of prospectors awaiting the agent's arrival. The two scoundrels now scheme to get the wife's place in the line, and to effect this they play upon her sympathy by getting an unconscionable old woman to feign illness and ask to be assisted to her home. This the wife does, the scoundrels following and locking her in a room with her little boy. They go back to the agent to secure his recognition of their claim. After futile efforts to burst the door, the wife lets the baby through the transom on a rope, telling him to run for help. This the little fellow manfully does, and after a time engages the attention of a couple of ranchers, who release the poor woman, rushing her to the land agent's office just as he is about to sign the claim of the scoundrels. The agent listens to the woman's story, backed up by the ranchers and the baby, and signs the claim, handing it to her, at the same time pushing a pistol in the scoundrels' faces with the injunction, "Now, git," and they very wisely "got."
- Preaching religion to young Burton Harris has about the same effect on him as waving a red cloth in front of a bull. Religion to him is a species of hypocrisy and he knows no God. No church for him; he is going fishing. Coming home, he meets his mother walking with a neighbor and the minister, just as they are leaving church. The minister, seeing the fishing tackle in his hand, administers a sharp reproof to Burton, who, in a sudden storm of anger decides to leave for the big city, where he can do as he pleases. Several years speed by, and Burton, now a man about town, is leaving a gambling house where he has just made a "killing," when he drops his watch, the back cover of which flies open, disclosing his mother's face. The picture brings to his memory a letter he received that morning in which his mother requested him to come home before she dies. So Burton decides to return home. But he comes too late, and all the money he has won over the gambling table cannot bring her back to life. Overcome with remorse, he decides to earn an honest living and secures a position at a stone quarry nearby. Promotion comes rapidly, and with it as time passes, a wife and daughter. While at the quarries one day, an explosion which buries several of his men comes simultaneously with a message from his wife telling him their daughter is dying. Tom 'twixt love and duty he knows not what to do. Falling upon his knees he cries to Heaven, "God, save my child, give me strength," and rushes to help his men. When Burton finally arrives home, he finds that his prayer has been answered and that his daughter has returned from the edge of the Valley of the Shadow.
- A theatrical troupe is stranded in a little town, and among the number are two sisters who cudgel their brains as to how they are going to reach Broadway, New York City, ever again. They finally hit upon a scheme and that is to open a school for physical-culture training. Do they succeed? Better than they had hoped.
- A beautiful model brings fame to a struggling artist, who makes a noble sacrifice for his younger brother.