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- Shakespeare's tragedy of the Scots nobleman whose ambition leads him to betrayal, murder, and damnation.
- Grinde is a junior partner of a pottery firm. An old chemist, Benjamin Lord, discovers a formula for glazing pottery that is designed to revolutionize the industry. The chemist's grandson, David, takes a sample of the new process to Grinde, who says he will give it consideration. He delegates his foreman, Mole, to steal the formula. Mole kills the chemist, and he and Grinde frame an explosion to conceal the crime. After David refuses to sell the formula, Grinde and Mole lock him and his sweetheart in a vault with poisonous gas. Grinde then tries to kill Mole, who knows too much, and take over the firm from his elderly partner at a directors' meeting.
- John Howard Payne at his most miserable point in life, writes a song which becomes popular and inspires other people at some point in their lives.
- John Morton, who loses his eyesight, discovers that his wife loves another man, who returns her affection. Rather than spoil her happiness and realizing that she no longer cares for him, he goes away, that she may get a divorce and he free. Alone, he wanders into the mountains, where he is found by a girl named Jess, who, seeing that he is blind, takes him to her father's cabin. Morton develops an ability to cure the poor simple mountain folk by praying over them. They have faith in him and his prayers and he never falls them. He becomes famous all through the mountains as the Faith Healer. Richard Mason, the man Morton's former wife is now married to, is stricken with paralysis. His wife takes him to a sanitarium in the mountains in the hope of having him cured. It so happened that this place is located very near where Morton is performing his wonderful miracle. Jess, seeing the sick man, suggests to his wife that she send for Morton. Without knowing whom it is, he is called upon to heal. Morton starts for the sanitarium. His former wife recognizes him, but fearing that he will recognize her voice, she keeps quiet. But the Faith Healer soon finds out his patient's identity. He opens his Bible and prays, but the man, who was not a believer, and whose life was not simple and good like the mountain people, dies as he reads the last verse.
- Romeo and Juliet type story loosely based upon the famed Hatfield/McCoy feud.
- Elaine, a well-known lecturer, hates men. John, who has written a book called, "Women, the Silly Sex," cannot bear the sight of a woman, and to avoid them all in general, he arranges for the purchase of a deserted island where he will be able to write in peace. Elaine goes to the home of a friend in the country, near John's island. One day, out on the lake, she starts to rehearse her speech with such feeling that she falls overboard. She swims ashore and there finds John's clothes, he having gone in for a swim. She hurriedly changes her dripping riding habit for his things. Seeing him coming out of the water, she runs up the path. He finds the wet suit and thinks some boy took his clothes. He races after Elaine, and catching up with her grabs her by the collar and announces his intention of thrashing "the boy." But luckily her cap comes off and he sees that it is a woman who has invaded his island. She calls him a brute and tells him she wants to get back to the mainland. He suggests she wait in his cabin until a boat passes. An hour goes by and Elaine commences to feel hungry. She summons John and tells him that she is hungry. He points to the icebox and bids her cook what she wishes. She is furious at the idea, but later hunger gets the better of her pride and she manages to prepare lunch. Five o'clock arrives. She tells John that he will have to swim to the mainland for a boat. He cannot swim well and is not anxious to take a chance. She insists. He finally goes, and as she sees him dive into the sea she gets frightened and begs him to come back. But he does not listen. He encounters a rowboat with Elaine's friend and a couple of fishermen looking for the missing girl. He takes them to the island and Elaine is taken aboard, but not before she has shaken hands cordially with the woman hater, who finds himself wishing that he might see her again. In the pocket of her riding suit he later finds her card and calls upon her. They become great friends and a double conversion is affected when he persuades her to burn her lecture with a copy of his book.
- Dr. Watson, on his way east, gets off the train to stretch his legs at a way station, and being called to the aid of a section boss, who has broken his arm, he finds there is no other train east till morning. He gets a room at the Red Horse Hotel and to while away the time joins in a faro game, winning all the money in sight. Bland, the gambler, and his assistants, Jack and Bill, hate to think of the doctor getting away with so much cash, so they conspire with the hotel keeper to drug Watson's drink, intending to rob him later. The doctor, however, only pretends to drink the doped liquor, and when the gambler attacks him in his room he overpowers him with his hypodermic needle and succeeds in escaping from the hotel, pursued by Jack and Bill. Watson finds refuge in the cottage of Granby, the section boss whom he has doctored. Already he has become much interested in his patient's pretty daughter, May. That night, in an attack upon the cottage by Watson's enemies, the gambler's accomplices, May is instrumental in saving the doctor's life. The rest of the story is eloquently implied.
- The old Kentuckian, Colonel Goring, is loyal to the Union cause. His son enlists in the Confederate army. The Union spy is ordered into the enemy's lines to secure some drawings, and to accomplish his purpose is compelled to kill young Goring. Pursued and in danger of capture, he takes refuge in Goring's home, and the Colonel hides him in a large basket. The searching party fail to discover him, and as they depart the body of the dead soldier is brought home on a stretcher. The Colonel is horrified at the realization that he has protected the slayer of his son, and is rent by conflicting emotions. His love of country bids him protect the Union spy, and his paternal love cries out for vengeance. The latter overcomes him, and quickly closing the cover of the basket, he locks it securely, and piling it with a mass of inflammable material he touches a match to it and rushes out. In a few moments the entire house is a seething cauldron of flame, the pyre of the unfortunate spy.
- Belle Gordon, an orphan, finds an advertisement in the papers for a governess to apply to the Rev. Strong, at Cripple Creek, Col. She writes and has her fare advanced. Upon arriving there she finds the place consists of a crowd of disreputable miners and dance-hall girls. She learns that the advertisement was merely a trap to lure her out into the dance-hall of Martin Mason. She tries to get away but cannot. Dynamite Ann, one of the worst women of the place, remembering the time that she first came to Cripple Creek through the same sort of an advertisement, wishes to help the girl. Joe Mayfield, the United States Deputy Marshal enters, and, seeing Belle's plight, rescues her. He takes her away with him, and also Maggie, Mason's young daughter. He asks Dynamite Ann to go to his cabin to look after the girls. She accepts, grateful for the trust reposed in her. Reginald, a young dude from the east, dances attention on Maggie, while Joe Mayfield loses his heart to Belle. Joe is interested in a mine called the "Last Dollar" which is reputed to be worthless. Mason and his partner, Alvarez, discover gold in the mine and try to bargain with Joe for its possession. Joe refuses to relinquish it, and for revenge the Mexican takes up Joe's adopted child who is walking on the rocks and throws her down. As he goes up again Wahketa swings out on a grape vine and catches the child in midair. The next day Mason and Alvarez go down into the mine. Joe and Belle, coming down later, are surprised by them and tied hand and foot. Wahketa, who is also tied, manages to burn the cords off his hands and releases Belle and Joe. The three make their escape. A short time later, on the wedding day of Joe and Belle and Maggie and Reginald, Mason and Alvarez come and look in at the festivities. The wedding takes place and just as the guests are leaving the room, the Mexican shoots through the window at Joe, but Ann jumps forward and receives the bullet in her own heart. She dies in Joe's arms.
- Brownell, a wealthy young man, marries a beautiful girl. Miss Jennings, a dashing artist who loved Brownell, is moved to bitter jealousy. Mrs. Brownell secretly arranges to have her portrait painted intending to present it to her husband as a birthday gift. While she is posing Miss Jennings tells Brownell his wife is carrying on a clandestine love affair with Jackson the artist and that she is at that moment in his studio. Brownell goes to the studio, but Miss Jennings has preceded him and stolen the canvas. When Brownell finds his wife the explanation of her presence there is made ridiculous by the loss of the portrait. Brownell refuses to believe it, and sues for a divorce. A pathetic courtroom scene is shown as the husband is granted a decree. The broken-hearted wife seeks refuge in a monastery. Some time later Miss Jennings has a gathering of artists in her apartments, and one of the girls rummaging about finds the stolen portrait and shows it to Jackson. A dramatic situation ensues, and Jackson hurries to Brownell with the evidence of his wife's innocence. Brownell rushes to the monastery and is granted an audience with his ex-wife by the kindly monk. She is inclined to reject his pleading for a reconciliation, but the kindly priest gently joins their hands and again makes them man and wife.
- After John Nicholson, engineer of the fast express, is killed in a wreck after he remained at his post, saving a score of lives by his bravery, he leaves a widow, who is pensioned, and one son. Jack. The son becomes telegraph operator and agent at Tropico. S.F. Hooker, superintendent of the road, who has a charming daughter, was an old friend of Nicholson's and is interested in the latter's son John. Time elapses and because of his services in saving a large sum of money from theft, he later becomes train dispatcher. Here he makes a record and becomes friendly with the superintendent's daughter. Young Nicholson, because of the mental strain from his duties, takes to drink. He becomes lax in his duties, makes several mistakes, and although the superintendent shuts his eyes to young Nicholson's shortcomings as long as possible, the latter is finally discharged. Young Nicholson becomes sick, and upon his recovery goes west to visit an old friend of his father's, who owns a ranch. He recovers rapidly. The rancher, who knows of young Nicholson's fondness for drink, sends him out quite a distance from the ranch, away from all temptation. The railroad passes this point and it is here that young Nicholson finds an old discarded railway station. A telegraph instrument is located inside. The fondness for his former life comes upon him and he listens to the telegraph messages flashed back and forth. Above the station is a switch. Young Nicholson hears a message that a heavily loaded passenger train and a string of box cars, which has broken loose, will reach the switch at the same time. The message reads that a big wreck is bound to occur. Young Nicholson rushes to the switch, side tracks the runaway cars and the passenger train passes in safety. Young Nicholson then wires the dispatcher, who is expecting to hear of the wreck, that the runaway cars were checked at the switch. At the dispatcher's side is young Hooker, who has risen to be general superintendent of a big system of railroads. Hooker calls on young Nicholson, sees that the latter has been cured of his drink habit, and the two start back to young Nicholson's home where Hooker has left his daughter with young Nicholson's mother.
- The story of "Curfew" tells of a soldier who deserted his post during wartime to keep a tryst with his sweetheart. Having left his post of duty, he was considered to be a deserter and was court martialed forthwith. The soldier was condemned to die. His sweetheart endeavored to intercede for him with the commanding officer, but the commander was firm and austere. To set the soldier free would have been, a bad example; therefore, he was condemned to die at the ringing of the curfew bell. Having exhausted all means of securing a pardon for her lover, the maiden resorted to a last desperate chance, which, though seemingly futile, was a chance. She climbed to the belfry of the tower where the curfew bell hung, and there by hanging upon its huge clapper prevented it from sounding when the old deaf bell-ringer came to ring the parting day. The bell-ringer bad officially rung the bell and yet it had not sounded. Therefore the young soldier waiting to be shot was legally dead, although he still lived, when the old sexton had finished his work.
- The suffrage workers are vainly endeavoring to win over Senator Herman to their cause as his vote on a certain bill they favor means its passage. May Fillmore, one of the most ardent of the workers, discovers that the father of a little motherless tenement brood has died of tuberculosis, after having vainly importuned the owner. Senator Herman, to make building alterations that will remedy unsatisfactory conditions. She goes to the Senator's fiancée, Jane Wadsworth, and succeeds in securing her help. Jane accompanies May to the poor bereaved family, and she is shocked at the terrible lack of sanitation. They find three little girls and a baby left to fight the world alone. Elsie, the eldest, is doing embroidery sweat-shop work at home, and minding the baby, while Hester works in a department store. The other tot is a half-time scholar, and in the afternoons assists her sister working on corset covers for another shop. All these fearful conditions are pointed out by May and have their desired effect upon Jane. She is further shocked upon learning that her fiancé is the negligent owner. Jane goes to him and pleads that he do something in the matter. He waves her away and treats her like a child. Angered, she joins the suffragists and assists in bringing both her father and the Senator to terms. Hester is insulted by a floorwalker in her father's shop, which proves another shock to Jane, when her father does nothing in the matter. Later she is stricken with scarlet fever, which she contracted from the embroidery on one of her trousseau gowns, which came from her father's store. The father and Senator, upon learning that they were in part guilty, as the embroidery was made in the Senator's unsanitary tenement, gives in and most enthusiastically joins the suffrage movement. They are seen with the girls at suffrage headquarters, at the Men's League, and finally in the parade.
- In the reign of James the Second, in England, Carlos, a rover of the Spanish main, on a visit to Provincetown in the New World, meets Prudence, daughter of Captain Josiah and Temperance Hafley. He falls in love with the maiden, who is suffering from a strange malady which Carlos cures with precious herbs from his own realm, the Ever-Living Isles. The Puritan selectmen believe the Spanish tradesman to be a sorcerer, and banish him. Prudence runs to the edge of the shore, and as her lover's galleon sets sail, flings herself into the sea. Carlos turns back the ship, rescues Prudence, and tries to persuade her to go with him. But she wins him over, and together they go back to Provincetown. Carlos is captured, sentenced and is about to be hanged, when a messenger from King James brings a proclamation stating that no magician or sorcerer may remain within the colony. The Spaniard seizes his opportunity to escape. He claims Prudence as his bride.
- John Deacon is sentenced to fifteen years in prison for a crime committed by his employer, Graham. From his cell he tells his wife to go to Graham and get a written confession from him. She calls upon Graham, but he laughs at her and gives her a large sum of money, telling her to leave the town. She foolishly consents and goes. Later, when her daughter asks for her father, the mother tells her that he is dead. When Deacon's term is ended he is released, and sets out to find his wife and daughter. About this time Graham dies, leaving his son, Dick, with the knowledge of his crime. The boy vows to right the wrong done the other man. Deacon searches everywhere, but his wife and daughter cannot be found. His daughter, now a young lady of seventeen, receives an invitation to a ball. She attends and there meets Dick. They are mutually attracted. Mrs. Deacon recognizes Dick as the son of Graham, but decides to say nothing. In the hope that a match may be made between Dick and Grace. One day Deacon, who has become an ordinary tramp, meets his wife. He wants to see Grace, but she tells him to go away. He refuses. She tells him to hide in the next room, as Dick and Grace are coming, and if Dick were to know that he was Grace's father, he would never marry her. When Dick and Grace enter the room he realizes that he might be in the way of his daughter's happiness. He leaves, taking with him only a photograph of Grace. That night he is walking along the road, and is run over by Dick in his motor. Dick takes him to his home. Grace's picture drops from his pocket and Dick recognizes it. When Deacon recovers consciousness he sees a picture of Graham, and recognizing him, accuses the dead man. Dick, knowing the truth, shows shame and sorrow. He shows Deacon Grace's picture and asks who it is. Deacon says, "It is my daughter." Dick brings Deacon to Grace's home the next day. She ignores her mother and goes straight to her father's outstretched arms. Later she effects a reconciliation between her father and mother, and she and Dick are married.
- On the outskirts of the village live siblings Tom and Ethel Brandon. Tom is going to town to spend the evening at his club. The two servants also go out to spend the evening, leaving Ethel alone. Tom has told her that he will be back at 11:30. Ethel spends the evening reading. At 11:00 she picks up the paper and reads an account of a burglar who has been breaking into houses in the village. She goes to the window, pulls down the shades. The paper describes the robber as being tall, good looking and quite gentlemanly appearing. Tom is at the club playing billiards. Bob Gordon, an old friend of Tom's whom he has not seen for several years, enters and Tom invites Bob to visit him. Bob consents. As he has been traveling all day he is quite tired, and Tom tells him to go on up to the house and he will follow shortly. Ethel hears the front door unlock and picks up an old sword and an old pistol, which are need as wall ornaments and, with assumed bravado, faces the door. Bob enters, advances toward her and, she, much afraid, backs away, dropping the weapons as she does so. She mistakes him for the robber, as she has never met Bob before, and he looks very much like the man described in the papers. Ethel goes to the dining-room to get him something to eat, as she is going to try and detain him until Tom arrives. While she is out of the room he picks up the paper and be sees the article she has been reading. He catches on at once, and decides to play it out until Tom arrives. Ethel enters with the lunch. He eats. Ethel sits and talks with him and decides to give him some silver and jewelry. She goes to the dining-room and filling a tablecloth with stuff takes it to him. She hears Tom at the front door and fearing that Tom will be killed by "the burglar," she bustles him out of the window, just as Tom enters. Tom asks her where Bob is, and she tells him that she had seen no one. Just then the bell rings. Tom goes to the door and a policeman enters with Bob. Tom explains everything and at the end we learn that Bob is in love with Ethel.
- Marie is a very religious village girl. Her mother, fearing that some man will make her unhappy (as she had been made by a man) made her promise on her deathbed that she would enter a nunnery. Marie considers that promise sacred and will allow nothing to interfere with her keeping that promise. Her grandfather is charged with seeing that she keeps her word, and his advice having been refused by his own daughter, Marie's mother, he intends that this time it will be heeded. Meeting and loving a young man visiting her village (a nephew of the village priest), Marie rebels against giving him up and, sealing herself up in a nunnery for life. But her promise to her mother stands between and her grandfather chides her and tries to force her to a realization that breaking the promise she made would mean everlasting damnation. She is still undecided, however, and grandfather, to save her soul, falsely accuses the young man of being untrue to her and by a ruse proves it to her and she is forced to believe. The crafty old man also falsely proves to the young man, by a forged note, that she is untrue and is going into the nunnery to expiate her sin. Broken-hearted, the young man goes away and equally broken-hearted, Marie goes into the nunnery and is on probation until she is considered fit to become a full-fledged nun. Later, she becomes a nun in full orders, the youngest of the convent. The young man, a musician, writes a great opera and marries the star as a marriage of convenience, and lives not far from the convent. His wife does not love him. He realizes her motive for marrying him and is unhappy. He lives only in the dear, dead past and in dreams of Marie, whom he has never ceased to love. He has hidden away the forged letter the uncle wrote and often takes it out and weeps over it. Marie, too, even in full orders, cannot always forget him. At night in her cell she weeps and pours forth her agony of soul and heart and prays for peace from its suffering, and finally finds it completely in her religious life and affairs and puts the man out of her heart completely. One day the uncle dies and tells the priest of his act in separating Marie and the boy. The priest tells Mother Superior, who is afraid to tell Marie, but she has overheard and realizes the position she and the young man are in, but is content, although sorry for the young man. Later, the young man's wife lies ill and is dying. A nun is delegated to nurse her and Marie is sent. The young man and Marie meet face to face across the bedside of the dying wife. Marie tells the young man of the truth of the affair, and he urges on her that her vows were taken under a misapprehension. The wife dies; Dorothy refuses the love and happiness thus offered her, and finally renounces her love and goes back to the convent. Some years later, show Dorothy in the garden of the convent, telling her beads. Outside is the young man, alone, walking past the walls of the convent. He goes on and up upon a hill which looks down upon the convent. The garden can be seen from there. Dorothy can see the hill from her garden spot. She sees a figure on the hill; it holds out its arms to her; she gazes, then turns away; he, too, turns away. And so they live their lives apart.
- A murderer is haunted by the spirit of his victim.
- 'Our Mutual Girl' was unique. Not quite a serial, not quite a newsreel, and not strictly an advertisement, it combined elements of all three. In 52 weekly one-reel episodes, running from January 19, 1914 to January 11, 1915, the Mutual Girl outwitted villains, saw the sights of New York, met with theatrical and political celebrities (who frequently helped her out of trouble), and tried on fashionable outfits in chic stores. The fashions were an early example of product placement--although, apparently, not paid placement.
- Stock broker Albert Lowden is in danger of losing his business if he can't soon pay his creditors. His wife throws a party for her socialite friends, where a greedy maid steals a guest's necklace and hides it in a tin of soft soap on her mistress's vanity desk.The mistress herself, now aware of the missing jewelry, suspects her husband took it when she finds a letter dunning him.
- While with the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, Lt. Dubois seduces the lovely Zora, leaving her with a child and his medal for bravery. Sheik Achmed generously befriends Zora, and when she is killed in an accident he raises her son, El Rabb, as his own, and soon El Rabb and Achmed's biological son Bel Khan become best friends. Years later Lt. Dubois, now a general, is dispatched to Algeria to crush a revolt led by El Rabb and Bel Khan--and he doesn't know that El Rabb is his son--who wears his father's medal around his neck.
- Mary Ann was the motherless daughter of Janitor Madigan. One day Mrs. Waring's maid upstairs hurt her finger and was sent home. There was no one to fasten the gowns of her mistress and Elizabeth Waring, when they came to dress to go out that afternoon, so Mrs. Waring telephoned down to Madigan and he sent them Mary Ann. The little girl looked with amazement upon the lavishness and finery she beheld in the Waring apartment, and when she went back to the basement it was with glowing thoughts of beautiful things to wear. On their way out, the Warings left the key to their rooms with Madigan, so that Franklyn Gilbert, Mrs. Waring's brother, who lived with them, might get in during their absence. Mary Ann, succumbing to curiosity, went upstairs and let herself into the apartment. There Gilbert, who was something of an old reprobate, found her, and instead of chiding her for trying on Elizabeth's clothes, brought her another and finer gown, bidding her put it on. The unexpected return of Elizabeth and her mother precipitated matters, and Mary Ann was somewhat sadly disillusioned regarding "the world upstairs." But Bobby, her sweetheart, soon restored her faith in life.
- Jim Miller lives in a cheap tenement with his wife and his sister. They had been in a better position in other days, but Jim has developed into a morose half-drunken character, suspicious and high-tempered. The sister leaves her own husband and comes to live with Jim. However, she is jealous of her sister-in-law and goes out of her way to be mean to her, and to poison Jim's mind against the weak, pretty thing who is his wife. One day Jim gets out of a job and while he is out looking for work and the sister is away at her work in the factory, Mary, the wife, steals out determined to add to the common share, while her husband is in hard luck. She finds work painting clay figures, an art for which she shows some talent. But she is afraid of Jim's wildness and as soon as she collects money she secrets it for a rainy day. One day after she has worked hard and hoarded some money, the sister comes in unexpectedly upon her, and when Mary goes out of the room finds the money in an old vase. They watch Mary go out after that and Jim's sister poisons him against his wife and at the same time shows the accumulation of money. Mary is suspicious of being watched and so to keep them from learning about the money she paints at home and has a young man from the factory call for the work. The young man, Willard Meeks, does this because he is attracted to the pretty woman. However, he is a rough sort of fellow and one day he catches her and tries to kiss her. She fights him off and he says if she does not kiss him he will make her lose her position. She is a weak-minded woman, and with starvation staring them in the face, she braves herself to endure his embrace. As it happens at that moment, the sister has been watching and although she knows the true state of affairs, she runs into another room and gets Jim to look just at the moment of the embrace. Jim tries to rush in to kill her. The sister suddenly divining his state of mind begins to confess and at last does hold him off until Mary repulses the boy, denounces him and shows the true state of affairs to her husband. The sister is repentant and the husband begs forgiveness.
- Mae is a girl of the slums. Her antecedents are unknown. She works as a dancing girl around a rough dive where her sweetheart Bob is a waiter. Graves, a cheap sport, takes a fancy to Mae and asks the bartender who she is. The bartender tells him that nobody knows where she came from. When Graves becomes fresh with Mae, Bob warns him off. On their day off, Bob and Mae go walking in the park. They see young couples with their babies and long for a decent married existence. Judge Lewis, in his courtroom, is sternly sentencing a criminal who is pleading for mercy. A second judge enters the room and is invited to the bench as a matter of courtesy. He whispers to Judge Lewis in favor of the criminal, but Lewis is firm and sends the prisoner away condemned to the limit. Court adjourns and the two judges depart. They go down the courthouse steps and walk away to the park, where they see Bob and Mae. The second judge recognizes Bob and stops him. The judge asks him questions and Bob replies that he is behaving himself. Bob is eager to get away. Alone with Mae, Bob explains that the judge is the one that paroled him after his last fight. Back at work in the dive. Graves becomes offensive to Mae. He follows her to her room and is followed by Bob. A fight occurs in which Mae shoots Graves. Bob disappears, fearing the result of his parole if he should not obey the judge. Mae is to be tried before Judge Lewis. She is assigned a young attorney to defend her. The attorney sees her in her cell and gets her story. He can find no trace of Bob, who, however, keeps himself posted in hiding. The young attorney has secured from Mae, however, a locket given to her by her dead mother when she was a little child. The locket has a photo of her mother with the address of a photographer in a country town. The attorney visits the town, finds the old photographer, and is directed to Old Man Aitken as one who can tell about the woman of the photo. Aitken shows great emotion when he sees the photo, and on being told of Mae's coming trial before Lewis, shows great eagerness to go with the attorney. The trial is commenced, and the attorney admits the killing, but pleads self-defense and the girl's irresponsibility. He places her on the stand, and she tells her story. The judge is cold and relentless. She is asked on cross examination, "Where is this man Bob?" She doesn't know. Bob, however, has crept into the back of the courtroom. He presents himself and is examined. He corroborates Mae, but the judge, recognizing him as the boy of the park, discredits his testimony by asking him, "Are you not a paroled prisoner?" Bob admits it, and the effect on the jury is obvious. Mae is found guilty, with a recommendation for mercy. On being brought up for sentence, the attorney calls Aitken to prove the girl's irresponsibility. The prosecuting attorney jumps to his feet and objects. The judge is about to rule out Aitken's testimony, when Mae's attorney interposes, "It will not be necessary to mention the name of the father of this defendant, but I will ask the witness to identify this photograph as the girl's mother." The portrait of the locket is passed to the judge. He conceals his emotion with difficulty. Mae's attorney proceeds, "I will prove by this witness that the defendant's birth and early life are responsible." Aitken then tells his story, fading back to Mary Alden and Lewis, their love, the locket, Lewis' desertion to follow his career, sending her a letter telling her of his decision, the baby's birth, and the disappearance of mother and child. After the story the judge faints, court is adjourned, and the judge is carried out. The next day another judge is on the bench: he who had paroled Bob. He suspends sentence on Mae and she and Bob go away free. Judge Lewis is convalescent at his home in the country. Aitken brings Mae and Bob to him and he expresses his interest in them and determination to devote his life to his daughter.
- A nun, dreaming in a convent cell, her rosary between her fingers, thinks of a day now passed, when she and her boy lover roamed the fields. Throughout this picture the beautiful words of the world-famous "Rosary" are introduced at appropriate intervals. While on the lake, she drops her necklace into the water and pleads with the boy to get it. He says he cannot swim; she accuses him of cowardice and he dives. But he does not come to the surface of the water, and in answer to her cries the peasants recover his lifeless body, which is laid reverently upon the bank of the stream. The girl flings herself on her knees beside him and finds the necklace clasped in his hand. After visiting the boy's grave, the girl goes to the convent, knocks upon the gate and is admitted. Time passes and alone with her rosary, she sees this dream each time she tells the beads, "I kiss each bead and strive at last to learn to kiss the cross."
- When the soldiers attacked the old home of the Von Hirschsprung family, the father buried his family treasure in the garden. In the fight that followed he was killed but his two sons survived. Having no money, and supposing their fortune stolen, the sons sell the old home to the Hellwig family. Cordula, daughter of old Hellwig, falls in love with Joseph, the younger Von Hirschsprung brother. He returns her affection, but her father will not permit the marriage because of Joseph's poverty. One day Cordula, digging in the garden, unearths the Hirschsprung treasure and tells her father, who makes her vow never to tell of the finding of the money chest. Joseph deprived of his sweetheart, dies in poverty. Broken-hearted Cordula removes her things to an upper apartment and vows she will never enjoy any of the ill-gotten wealth. Years later, the only surviving member of the Von Hirschsprungs marries a strolling player. Ten years later she is killed by accident during her act in the circus and her husband, to save his child from a similar fate, puts her in the care of Cordula's brother Nathan. The child, Fay, finds no welcome in her new home until she meets Cordula, now known as Old Mam'selle. She and Old Mam'selle have adjoining attic rooms and spend much time together. Everyone knows that Old Mam'selle has a secret, but no one knows what it is. The years pass. John, son of the Hellwigs, returns from the Medical University to fall in love with Fay. He is expected to marry Hortense, a rich widow with one child. Fay saves this child from an awful death by fire and wins John's admiration as well as his love. His mother refuses to accept Fay as a daughter. In the midst of all this confusion Old Mam'selle is taken ill. Before she dies she tells Fay that her diary contains her secret and it must die with her. Fay promises to destroy the little book. After Old Mam'selle's death, Fay finds the book and is about to destroy it when John enters the room and sees her. He demands that she give him the diary. She refuses at first but finally yields. Then she goes to her room to pack her things. Feeling herself very unwelcome at the Hellwigs she thinks she had better go away. John opens the little book and reads the whole story of the Hellwig wealth and how it all belongs to the Hirschsprung family. He rushes out of the room with the book and finds Fay ready to leave. She has her grip in her hands. He takes it from her and begs her to remain. As he takes the grip he notices the name Meta Von Hirschsprung, with a crest printed across it. He stares at Fay and asks her whose grip it is. She replies it belonged to her mother who took it with her when she ran away to he married. Then John knows that Fay is the sole remaining member of the once famous Von Hirschsprungs and that the money being enjoyed by the Hellwigs belongs to her. He tells her and she realizes that she is rich, feels free to accept his heart offered to her in the days when he did not know she had a single penny to her name.
- This is a pictorial dramatization of the well-known nursery rhyme, "Ten Little Niggers," which is faithfully followed. The adventures of the ten little darkies are depleted in a most laughable manner, making a unique and entertaining subject.
- Nancy Hall, the village belle, and Jack Fisher, a farm hand, are sweethearts. Ernest Ashe, Jack's employer, a wealthy grower, chances upon them and is taken with Nancy's beauty. Ashe pays court secretly to Nancy, until Jack, stumbling upon them, learns the truth. They quarrel and Jack is discharged, infuriated. Ashe continues his work of collecting rents. Old Tom Moore is in arrears in his rent and trembles at the approach of Ashe. Spying his tenant's horse, Ashe insists upon its surrender for debt. Moore has to submit and tries in vain to subdue his grandson, Teddy, who is heartbroken at the loss. Next day Jack goes to collect his wages from Ashe. Directed by his fellow workers, he meets Ashe coming out on Beauty, Moore's horse. They settle their account. Two bright eyes are watching them, for Teddy is trying to enter the stable. Looking after Jack in vile temper, Ashe returns to the road, where Beauty has wandered to the field to graze. This provokes him to brutality. As Teddy sees him lash his pet he is seized with blind fury, and picking up a rock he hurls it at Ashe, who falls. Horrified at his act, Teddy dashes across the fields and to the railroad crossing, where he crawls inside a freight car, crying himself to sleep. Five minutes after directing Jack to Ashe, the farmhands find Ashe unconscious. Jack is suspected. Meanwhile Jack meets Nancy and is reproaching her, when he is interrupted by the law for the murder of Ashe. Protesting innocence, he is dragged to jail, while Nancy flees to the Ashe borne. Ashe regains consciousness and sees Nancy enter his chamber. Fearing death and believing her the cause, he denounces her. Nancy is turned out of doors. She realizes her folly. Teddy, in the meantime, is carried off in a western-bound train. He is found and cared for by trainmen who finally return him to his home, where he is snatched to his granddad's breast and sobs out his tale. Nancy happens in to console the old man and hears the tale. Grabbing Teddy, she dashes off to the jail, where all may learn of Jack's innocence. Nancy then turns away very sorrowfully, but is followed by Jack and all is forgiven.
- Little Marie, the daughter of a rancher, is left alone for the day. Her chief plaything is a little gold watch which her father has recently given her. She is heart-broken when she breaks the chain of this prized trinket and weeps bitterly. Billy, a traveler, stopping at the house for a drink, learns the cause of her tears and agrees to take the watch and chain to be repaired. At the jeweler's where he takes it to be mended while he waits, the jeweler recognizes it as one he had sold a few days before to Marie's father, whom he notifies. Meanwhile, Billy returns to the ranch and gives the watch back to Marie, returning at once to town. Soon after his departure another wayfarer appears at the ranch and when he finds little Marie alone, not only takes away her newly- recovered watch and chain but also her father's revolver. Marie, frantic over the loss of her precious watch, resolves to set out on foot to the town to tell her father of the theft. She soon tires, however, and lies down by the roadside to sleep. Meanwhile. Billy getting into an argument with the bad man in town, wounds and disarms him and starts on his way again. The sheriff who is on the look-out for an outlaw, who is supposed to be in the vicinity for whom a reward is offered, hearing a shot comes on the scene. Previously he had heard of the alleged theft of the watch and the two circumstances putting Billy under suspicion, the sheriff sets out to arrest him. A running fight ensues. Just as Billy is down to his last cartridge, he comes across the sleeping child, near whom a rattlesnake is coiled. There is but a moment to decide whether the last shot in the gun shall be used to defend himself or to save the child from the snake and without hesitation, Billy uses it on the reptile. Marie soon clears Billy of all suspicion and the party returning to town meet the bad man, whom Marie at once recognizes as the man who stole her watch. During the struggle to arrest him, the man loses his false whiskers and wig, disclosing the outlaw for whom the sheriff had been in search. After some discussion the reward is given to Marie.
- Biff Dugan, the eldest son of a poor family living in a tenement on the squalid East Side of New York, leads a gang of hoodlums, among whose members is his brother Porky. Their sister Jess is a consumptive whose health was ruined in a sweatshop. During a melee in a mission run by reformer Henry Davis, the Dugan gang encounters Billy Drew and his sister Cora, newcomers to the city. Porky saves Cora from the unwelcome attentions of Biff's rival, Spike Golden, and the two fall in love. Later, when Spike is killed in a gang war, Biff is wrongfully convicted of the murder and executed in the electric chair. Porky, who served a short term in prison for his part in the crime, comes back to the city to find that Jess has died and Cora has returned to the country. When his gang delivers the man who betrayed Biff, Porky, whose heart has been softened by Cora and Billy, lets the man go. Finally, Porky retires to the country to lead the quiet life of a farmer with Cora as his wife.
- The joy of living disappeared for Bob Sands when his baby brother came. Not that his parents purposely neglected him, but of course, the new baby claimed most of their attention. When Bob played noisily, he was warned not to wake the baby and was made to play far from the house. Expecting sympathy, he tells his playmate, Hilda, about the new arrival. Hilda's maternal instinct was aroused and, much to Bobbie's disgust, when she is taken to see the baby fondles it with great delight. Hilda as the proud possessor of a child's auto. So later when Bobbie offers to give her 25 cents and his baby for the auto, she gladly accepts his offer. Unseen, Bobbie manages to take the baby from the house and the trade is made. Mr. and Mrs. Sands are frantic when they discover the baby gone, and Sands hurries out to inform the police. Mr. and Mrs. Crane are also the parents of a new baby, and Crane is so joyous that when the doctor presents his bill he gladly pays it, although it leaves him with only one dollar in the world. He tells his wife to make the money go as far as possible. Mrs. Crane buys some potatoes from a peddler, who gives her a quarter with other change for the dollar. She puts the money carelessly on the table, then with the baby on her lap starts to peel the potatoes. The baby shows distress, and Mrs. Crane, seeing that the quarter is missing, thinks the baby has swallowed it. She hastily wraps the baby in a white shawl and sends her husband with it on the run to the doctor. Mr. Sands, on his way to the police station, sees Crane running with a baby. As his baby also had on a white shawl, he takes Crane for a kidnapper, takes the baby from him and beats him up, As Sands is on his way home with the wrong baby, Hilda, who has the baby with her and has been spending her money in the candy shop, comes out of the shop and puts the baby on the stoop while she opens the bag of candy. Crane, in pursuit of Sands, sees the baby in the white shawl on the steps and, thinking it is his own child, hurries with it to the doctor. Mrs. Crane finds the missing quarter and hurries to the doctor to prevent an operation. She arrives in time, but faints as she is presented with the wrong child. Mrs. Sands' joy turns to sorrow when her husband presents her with the wrong baby. She is hysterical and Sands 'phones for the doctor. A few explanations and the doctor understands how the mix-up occurred. He soon straightens out matters and everyone is happy except Bobbie, who expects to be punished for his misdeed, but his parents realize that he is only a boy and resolve in the future to treat him with a little more consideration.
- Father Walsh, a raw-boned priest, comes to a western cow town to preach the gospel. Aside from his calling, his appearance aroused the ridicule of the cowboys and they kid him. A fresh young kid slaps a girl of the underworld and makes his escape on a horse. Father Walsh chases him on another, drags him off the horse and carries him back to the crowd, where he forces him to apologize to the girl and then spanks him, in full view of the crowd, and drops him in the dust, much to the crowd's admiration. Among the lookers-on is a "bad man," who has been concerned with two other men in cattle rustling and stage robbing. He shakes the priest's hand and expresses admiration for him. Walsh sees a streak of good in him and determines to save him. If possible, he follows him into a saloon and prevents him from further drinking. While there the bad man's sister comes to get him to go home and the priest coaxes him to go, thus earning the gratitude of the sister. The priest is the only man that the bad man will listen to and he succeeds in getting him to give up his drinking, and is fast molding him into a better man when he is suddenly called away to administer to a miner, who has been hurt up in the hills. During his absence the two pals of the bad man call on him and kid him for allowing the priest to make a good man out of him. Taunted by his pals, he goes to the saloon, gets to drinking and rides away with them on a hold-up expedition. Their plans are overheard by the bad man's sister and when the priest returns she tells him of their scheme. Walsh rides after them, overtakes them in the mountains, overcomes the three of them and takes the bad man back to his home. The two pals go through with the robbery as prearranged, and the next day are captured and strung up. The priest shows the bad man the account of the matter and thus proves to him how lucky it was that he had arrived in time to take him out of such company. The bad man reforms for good and joins the priest in his campaign against the powers of evil.
- The spoiled son of an indulgent father gives up his home and career after a quarrel and leaves home. He drifts down the path of life with vice and degradation as his companions. He meets a girl in a saloon whose life has always been in the depths and falls in love with her. This girl meets a sister of charity, who tells her of "The Light About the Throne," and urges her to reform, giving her a card and telling her to call on her at any time she needs help. One day the rival of the prodigal son taunts him with the fact that he had the girl before he did and they fight, the rival being worsted and swears revenge. The girl is now repentant of her past and sets out to seek the Sister of Mercy, who secures her a position as maid in the house of the prodigal's father who, since his son left home, has been helping charitable organizations. The son follows the girl and finds out she has gone to the sister and has left her old life, and he gives her up, although he still loves her. The girl is at his father's home and the father of the prodigal, lonely for his son, falls in love with her. The rival of the prodigal follows the girl to the father's home and tells the father of the girl's past, which she admits. Despite her past the father still loves her and takes her in his arms. The prodigal returns just in time to see his girl in his father's arms and realizing that he has caused the old man enough trouble in the past and not wishing to spoil his new found happiness nor that of the girl, he turns away and goes back to the world as a real man.
- Young Gordon Grant, swindled out of his fortune by Cyrus Brooks, a wealthy financier, vows to get even. Gordon goes home to Virginia, takes his few belongings to a high mountain hut, and becomes a hermit. One day an auto is stalled on the mountain. In it are Brooks and his daughter, while Brooks and the chauffeur go for assistance Gordon carries the girl to his hut. There he tells her of her father's deeds, and notifies Brooks that his daughter is held for ransom. The girl rather enjoys the situation. One day on the mountain she and Gordon see a legendary apparition formed by mist. Gordon takes this as an omen that he has done wrong and sets the girl free. She goes and pleads with her father to make restitution and threatens to return to Gordon if he does not. The old man relents and gives her the amount, which she takes to Gordon. She and Gordon have learned to love each other and they return to the world together.
- Hugh Conway, a young college student, takes Leone St. Regis, of doubtful morals, to a fraternity tea. He is requested to withdraw because of Leone. An argument follows and Hugh knocks one of his fellow students down, then withdraws with Leone. For his misdemeanor he is expelled from college. He goes to the home of Leone to say farewell. She uses every art at her command to persuade him to stay with her, but he remains obdurate. A heated argument follows, during which Hugh becomes so furious that he is about to strike Leone when the maid enters with the tea. Hugh orders her roughly from the room, then gives his parting words to Leone, that he is done with her forever, and exits. Leone, almost crazed by his desertion, goes to her room and seriously wounds herself with a pistol shot. A loud report is heard and maid and butler rush into Leones room. Leone, regaining consciousness, charges Hugh with the crime, to avenge herself for his desertion. The officers arrive, learn the supposed facts of the case, and later Hugh is arrested for attempted murder. The evidence being so strong against him, he is sentenced for seven years. Leone is jubilant over his conviction. Five years elapse. Hugh escapes from prison. The growth of a Vandyke beard and mustache, together with the prison pallor, effectually disguise him almost beyond recognition and he seeks solitude in his summer home. James Stark, a resident, receives notice that his note for $2,000 and bearing interest is due to Samuel J. Elder. His son, Dick Stark, an inveterate gambler, requires money. His father, unable to give him it because he has but half of the amount required for the payment of the note, is forced to refuse. Stark appeals to Elder for an extension of time, which is refused. Elder even refusing to take half the amount. The evil brain of Dick concocts a plan by which he may obtain the note for a sum of $500, to which his father reluctantly agrees. Hugh goes out for a ride, dismounts in the roadway near a mansion to remove pebbles from his horses hoof and is about to remount, when casting his eyes through an iron fence, he meets those of Ruth, the daughter of Elder, gazing upon him. In a shady lane, Hugh hears the approach of rapid hoof beats: he draws in at the side and three ruffians ride rapidly by. Hugh strikes off into the woods. Further on the ruffians dismount. Elder enters the scene on horseback and is waylaid by them. Hugh springs from the side of the road to the rescue and engages in a terrific battle with two of them, the third going through Elders pockets and taking all papers therein. The three men then escape. Hugh recognizes in Elder the lawyer who defended him at his trial and assists him to his horse and home, where it is discovered that a paper incriminating Elder has been stolen by the ruffians. Hugh makes known his true identity to Elder, who has all along believed in his innocence. Elder introduces him to his daughter Ruth under an assumed name. Thus the lovers are brought together. In the meantime Dick Stark hag received the papers taken from Elder and delivers them to his father, who finds not only the note but the incriminating paper which now gives him the greater power over the man who would give him no quarter. Hugh declares his love for Ruth. It is returned. Elder discovers them in embrace. Hugh asks for his daughters hand. Elder agrees to give it if Hugh will find the missing papers. Stark calls upon Elder and demands the hand of his daughter for his son, Dick. The scene is overheard by Hugh, who follows them to their home and locates the hiding place of the missing papers. The following day Stark takes his son to see his fiancée. Hugh obtains the papers during his absence and with a sheriff goes to the home of Elder, where Stark and his son are arrested. The papers are safely returned to Elder. Hugh claims his reward, Ruth. A month later, Hugh and Ruth, now married, attend a dog show, where he again meets his Nemesis, Leone. Upon their return home, he receives a telegram from her, demanding his immediate presence. Realizing that it is in her power to destroy his present happiness, he goes. Upon his arrival, she demands that he leave his wife and come to her. This he refuses to do, ignoring threats made by her to send him back to prison and to tell his wife. Excusing herself for a moment, she phones his wife to come to her home immediately if she would know the whereabouts of her husband. Her jealousy aroused, Ruth starts for Leones home. In the meantime, Elder calls on his old friend, Dr. Pierce. Ruth arrives in time to see that which convinces her of her husbands seeming unfaithfulness. A scene takes place, during which, in the presence of his wife, Hugh confesses all. The wifes heart softens, she takes Hugh home, leaving Leone to do her worst. Her final plan having failed, Leone goes mad, writes a letter to the police denouncing Hugh as an escaped convict. The servants discovering her plight send for Dr. Pierce, who responds to the call, taking Elder with him. The doctor, on his arrival, finds the note, calls Elder and shows him. The doctor administers an opiate which quiets the now mad Leone. Elder persuades her to sign a confession which win clear his son-in-law. She does so, then dies quietly. Elder and the doctor go to the home of Hugh, who is about to flee. Elder arrives arrives in time, and, producing the confession which clears his name, quiets Ruths suspicions and removes the tangle from the web of their lives. -- Moving Picture World synopsis
- U.S. Marshal Gridley, with his wife, Mary, child, and mother, reside on the United States border. He receives a letter from the man who gained him his appointment, asking him to take on as a Secret Service agent, Clarence Kirby. Gridley is forced to go away to look after opium smugglers. As soon as he is gone, Gridley's mother, who is jealous of Mary's influence on Gridley, vents her spite on her and makes the young woman's life very unhappy. Kirby arrives, meets Mary, falls in love with her, and tries to win her affection. Gridley's mother notices Kirby's attentions, and becomes greatly worried over them. Mary likes Kirby in an innocent manner, as he is the means of brightening her otherwise dismal existence, until one day she goes too far. Gridley's mother forms the worst suspicions from this and sends Gridley a letter by messenger, requesting him to return at once. He receives the message twenty-four hours later, and while at first scoffing at the mother's suspicions, he at last begins to worry over the situation and starts oft on his return. Next day Kirby calls again upon Mary and Gridley's mother being present, he writes and forces upon Mary a note, asking her to leave the front door open that night as he will call at midnight for he must see her alone. Mary is at first shocked and angry, then comes to a determination. Gridley's mother discovers the note and sets a watch upon Mary. Mary unlocks the door that night, and Mrs. Gridley slips out and waits for her son. When he arrives she tells him the painful news and shows him Kirby's note. Gridley, his trust in his wife utterly broken, lays in wait for Kirby, intending to kill him. Kirby arrives. Mary meets him with Gridley's deadly revolver trained upon him. As he is about to fire, Mary tells Kirby how much she despises him, and at the point of a revolver compels him to sign a confession of his evil intentions. Gridley then enters the scene and compels Kirby to drink to the health of "the best and truest wife a man ever had." Kirby slinks out. Gridley's mother, who overhears, enters and begs Mary's forgiveness, which is readily given.
- A woman is loved by two men and marries one. The disappointed suitor becomes the godfather of her baby boy and goes west, after depositing $5,000 to the credit of the baby, an amount won on a horse race. The husband's gambling proclivities cause the woman much sorrow, and after his death she is wrapped up in her boy. On his 21st birthday he receives the money, and against the entreaties of his mother, loses it gambling. Ashamed, he goes west and becomes involved in a quarrel in a card game with his godfather, whom he shoots in the arm. He is about to be lynched when a ring upon his finger is recognized by the man as one be gave the baby more than twenty years back. The youth's life is saved, and the terrible lesson makes them both renounce gambling. They go east to the boy's mother, who is overjoyed to see her boy again, and who looks with loving eyes upon her old sweetheart.
- Lonely bachelor Mr. Carter is told by his doctor that he has heart disease, and that if he wants to live, he must quit smoking. But Carter, thinking he hasn't much joy in life, sticks to his old companion, the pipe. In an obscure part of town, Barry, a drunkard, lives with his 5-year-old daughter Ida. Barry comes home one night with not only a load but a bottle. Ida is old enough to know that that is the stuff that inebriates, but does not cheer, so she hides the bottle in the closet. When Barry wakes up next morning, he can't find his bottle, so he goes to the saloon for a bracer. He takes not one, but many of them, and staggers from the saloon into trouble. He is sent to the hospital. As time passes and her father does not return, Ida starts out to look for him. She wanders about until she is lost. Carter, who is visiting some friends, discovers Ida and comforts her. She wins his heart. He decides to adopt her, and now that he has something worthwhile to live for, he takes the doctor's advice and quits smoking. In a few days Barry is able to leave the hospital. He discovers the whereabouts of his child and claims her. Carter, who is now very much attached to Ida, is very disappointed and returns to his pipe for consolation. Barry, who is only weak, not bad, vows that he will quit drinking and bring up his child properly. But that night Barry finds the bottle that Ida hid in the closet. He struggles hard, but the desire is too strong. Then, realizing how helpless he is, he takes Ida back to the man he knows will care for her and wanders off into the night.
- When their mother dies, Donald and Doris fall into the hands of pawnbroker Levy, who is "fence" for a gang of crooks. Levy forces Donald to sell papers for a living and makes Doris his servant. The gang wants a small boy in a jewel robbery; the pawnbroker rents Donald to them. He is compelled to enter the home of Renwick Morris to open the door. Morris discovers the intruder, recognizes his newsboy, and wins from him his story. Morris phones police headquarters, and the waiting thieves are captured. Meanwhile, Doris has gone to the police, desperately determined to win help against Levy. Donald and Doris meet at the station. Levy has been arrested. Renwick Morris and his wife adopt the homeless brother and sister.
- Young Grace Harkaway, by her uncle's order, is commanded to marry Sir Harcourt Courtly, an elderly fop. She meets and falls in love with this gentleman's son, Charles, who has been posing as a student, but is in reality a roysterer and one of the gayest young bloods in town. Young Courtly and his friend, Dazzle, plan with Lady Gay Spanker, a belle and noted huntsman, to draw out old Sir Harcourt, who has fallen in love with her, so that Grace may be freed to marry the man she loves. Sir Harcourt, believing that Lady Gay reciprocates the affection, plans to elope with her. Grace's uncle overhears their conversation and indignantly changes his plans regarding Grace who is permitted to marry Charles. Sir Harcourt discovers that he has been made a fool of by Lady Gay Spanker, who returns to her husband with the combined thanks of the happy pair.
- The owner of the Pitchfork Ranch of which Thorne is manager finds that many of his cattle are disappearing. He orders Thorne to get the cattle back or lose his job. Thorne employs Bass, a gunman, to get the thief, whom he hints is Tom Farrell, his sister Mattie's sweetheart. Bass finds Farrell to be a square young fellow and Mattie, despite her rebuffs, an "up and up little gal." Incidentally Bass discovers that Thorne himself, has been stealing his boss's cattle and threatens to expose the rancher unless he makes good the stolen cattle and gives Mattie a piece of property for a wedding present. Thorne complies reluctantly and the gunman acts as best man at the wedding.
- David, a fisherman, is happily married to Joan. His partner, Galeb, is envious of David and covets Joan. David and Galeb leave for a fishing cruise and Joan prepares for the great event which is her one great secret. That night a storm arises suddenly and after a long night of watching and praying, Joan sees several fishermen bringing a body toward her house. She rushes to meet them and discovers that it is Galeb. When Galeb becomes conscious, he tells her that everybody has been lost at sea and that he was the only one saved. After the little stranger arrives, Galeb pleads with Joan to become his wife. She refuses, but finally consents to marry him. for the sake of her child's future, provided David does not return within a year. Three years later, Galeb and Joan are married. Galeb is seated near the window reading, when he hears a knock. Looking out, he sees a stranger who resembles David, who beckons to him. He goes out to meet the stranger and discovers that he is David. Fearful that Joan will see David, Galeb leads him to the beach where David explains that he was rescued by a whaling vessel and could not return home earlier. Galeb tells David that Joan thinks him dead and that they are married. He demands that David go away. They argue and start a fight. Galeb attempts to stab David. David disarms him and is about to kill him when the child, who has been looking for her "Daddy," rushes in, calling to David not to "hurt her Daddy." David is stunned and Galeb taking advantage of the child's remark, asks David to go away for the sake of his child and Joan's. David consents to go. Joan, who has been looking for the child, overhears the lie and rushes toward Galeb, demanding to know whom he has been talking to. She forces Galeb to admit that it was David and taking the child from him, she runs after David, calling to him that Galeb has lied. David hears her and stops. She tells David that the child is his and asks him to return. Galeb sees that he has lost Joan and leaves, as David takes her and the child in his arms.
- At the postern gate, Antoinette and Argyle meet in secret. There, also, twenty-five years before, Louise and Jacques, the mother of the girl and the father of the boy, kept their rendezvous. Then, on the eve of their marriage Jacques deserted Louise for a wealthy bride preferred by his family. Louise also married another. But always her heart has been filled with bitterness against her girlhood sweetheart. Louise now determines that Antoinette shall marry the rich young Philippe. Philippe warns the girl's mother that Antoinette is meeting Argyle in secret. Philippe, proving a coward, Louise garbed as a man, challenges Argyle to a duel. But the son of her old lover sees through her disguise and does not thrust back. Antoinette intervenes just in time to save her sweetheart's life. Louise, her vengeance spent, becomes reconciled with Jacques, and the young people are married.
- A circus clown promises his dying wife that their daughter will not grow up in a circus. The daughter is placed with guardians, and becomes infatuated with a worthless politician. She eventually realizes that she loves another man.
- Pat Flannagan, a department store delivery man, plans to retire and go back to Ireland and live on the money he has spent a lifetime of toil to acquire. On Pat's last day of work he delivers a package of toys by mistake to the miserable home of Mary, Dan, and Nellie, three children of the slums, whose mother has died and left them to the mercies of a drunken stepfather. Pat discovers his mistake, but the sight of the children's happiness over the toys, the most wonderful things they had ever seen, touches the soft spot in his heart. He pays for the toys out of the precious hoard and lets the waifs keep them. The stepfather loses his job, takes a doll away from the little Nellie, with the intention of selling it for a drink. In the meantime Pat, who has bought his steamship ticket for old Ireland, meets the stepfather, recognizes the doll, buys it back and takes it home to the children. At the close of his last day of work, when the ambition of his lifetime is about ready to be fulfilled, the thought of the three helpless children comes uppermost in his mind, and impelled by a splendid spur of self-sacrifice he gives up his cherished plans, hands over his steamship ticket and part of his savings to the stepfather, who agrees to leave the country and never return. Pat adopts the waifs, goes back to work at sixty-five dollars a month, but happy over his little family, that has found such a warm place in his heart that he could not give them up.