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- Mr. Grayson's claim to greatness lay in his invention of a magic hair restorer; Mrs. Grayson was remarkable for the curious manner in which her brain worked. She was never able to set her mind on whatever she happened to be doing. One morning, she took her small son, the pride and hope of the family, off on a shopping tour. After making a few purchases in a drugstore, Mrs. Grayson opened her pocketbook and took out a roll of bills. Then she looked in the pocketbook again: her money was gone. The excitement which intervened between the time that she made this horrifying discovery and the time that the clerk pointed out to her that she was still holding the money in her right hand, was so intense that Mrs. Grayson swept out of the store with never a thought about her son. By the time she reached home, she had completely forgotten that she had taken him with her, so when she looked for him upon her return and found no trace of him around the house, Hence when she looked for the infant upon her return and found no trace of it about the house, she immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had been kidnapped. Hectic times followed. While Mr. and Mrs. Grayson tore frantically about town, the baby was found by one of the policemen who had been detailed to search for him. To keep him out of mischief until the family returned, the Graysons' maid placed him in a large packing case. A considerable quantity of Mr. Grayson's wonderful tonic had been spilled in the packing case that very morning. When the boy was restored to his mother's arms, he rejoiced in a mustache and beard that a man of 40 might have envied. It was a great advertisement for the hair tonic, anyway.
- This tale is filled with human love and tenderness of the hearty frontier man for his girl wife and shows the tender struggle of the woman to be a helpmate to the man she has followed into the wilderness, where together they build their little home and fight that awful struggle of isolation and loneliness, where it means miles and miles to their nearest neighbors. Together they fell the first log of their little home and so on with patience and love each one carries out his daily work, and at eve by the campfire with the wife's head resting upon the husband's knee they talk and plan of the future of their little home, which is in the building. At last it is finished and the rough interior is made beautiful in a simple way, by the hands of the woman. Never a cloud has entered their lives until one day the cows go astray. The husband comes home wearied with his daily toil, harsh words are spoken, supper is eaten in silence; it is their first quarrel. What a tragedy it is to those who love. So through the long night and at the breakfast table the silence between the two continues and when John leaves with never a good-bye kiss the wife's heart is wrung and it is little that John knows that it is the last chance that he will ever get to kiss the woman he loves in life. That eve when he returns from work he finds a tender little note saying the cows have gone astray again and that she had gone to bring them home. A fire breaks out in the forest and so through smoke and flame and burning brush she searches and finds the stray cattle and brings them home, but when he finds her she cannot answer to his call, nor feel the kiss that she so longed for at the morning hour. The flames had done their work; the cattle were safely home and the dead body of his young wife lay cold and still in his arms and so the picture ends with the First Settler telling his tale of tender human pathos.
- Mrs. Wethersby comes to the police station with the complaint that several thefts have been committed in her house, and Detective Kate Kirby is allowed to undertake the investigation as her first case. Accordingly she enters Mrs. Wethersby's house as her private secretary. She subjects the inmates of the house to a severe scrutiny. Besides Mrs. Wethersby, the household consists of a dissipated son and three servants of suspicious appearance. While writing invitations to a house party in Mrs. Wethersby's room. Miss Kirby discovers a revolver in the drawer of the desk, which Mrs. Wethersby explains she keeps on hand for protection. An inspection of the desk and the wall of the room causes a peculiar expression to pass across Miss Kirby's face. With the aid of a piece of chewing gum, she takes an impression of the key to Mrs. Wethersby's room, and has a duplicate key made for herself. The guests arrive at the house party and go to their rooms to dress for dinner. Miss Kirby, sitting at Mrs. Wethersby's desk as the hostess makes her preparations, is aware of a subtle delicate perfume, which is markedly different from the odor of the cologne with which Mrs. Wethersby is liberally spraying herself. Immediately the girl's suspicions are confirmed, and she sends immediate instructions to the police. That night after the guests have retired, Miss Kirby steals along the dimly lighted hall, and listens with her ear against the wall outside Mrs. Wethersby's room. Suddenly she glides to the door, unlocks it with her duplicate key, and enters. Taking the revolver from the drawer of the desk, she waits quietly. After a few moments, the wall of the room slides out of place without a sound, and Mrs. Wethersby, herself the thief, enters through the secret panel, carrying the jewel boxes of the young heiress, whose room is next to hers. Confronted by the quiet figure of her secretary, Mrs. Wethersby rushes to the desk drawer. The discovery that the revolver is missing leaves her no other alternative than to await the arrival of the police, who quickly answer the young detective's signal.
- At the express wish of her father, Lucy Martin marries Leo Noakes, a stingy man and one twice her age. When they are at church one Sunday a fire breaks out and everybody manages to escape with the exception of Lucy, her husband and her former sweetheart, Walter. While Noakes sinks tremblingly upon the floor, Walter seizes Lucy and brings her to safety. Regardless of his many burns, he dashes back into the roaring flames and drags out old Noakes, But upon investigation it is discovered that he is dead. Even though he had been cruel and harsh to her, Lucy bewails his loss. Some time after the obsequies Lucy succumbs to the wooing of her former sweetheart.
- The theft of an important document from the ambassador's residence leads his daughter to investigate the crime.
- This is the fourth story about "What Happened to Mary." When Mary walked into the office of Raynor and Jones she basically caused a magnetic disturbance: Raynor badly needed a stenographer, and his trusted clerk Wilson instinctively disliked Mary. Wilson had been losing steadily at the stock game until he was almost wiped out, and his last hope lay in somehow securing enough money to carry his margin. He knew that it was customary for the collector to allow himself a half-hour to get to the bank, so at first chance he stole over to the collector's coat and set back his watch 30 minutes. As a consequence, the collector arrives at the bank after hours and is compelled to return with the money. Mr. Raynor is forced to put the money into the safe, and, watched by Wilson, he now proceeds to put the safe combination memorandum in his pocket, which hangs on the rack. Later, Wilson, in helping Raynor on with his coat, drops it. Wilson apologizes, takes the coat to the outer office to brush it, and steals the memorandum and hurriedly stashes it behind the washstand. Later, after Mr. Raynor has gone and Mary is preparing to go home, she chances to see the stolen memorandum, and like a flash Wilson's intention dawns upon her. Quickly she makes another memorandum, and changing the figures, replaces it. Wilson unsuspectingly gets the changed slip and asks Mary if she is going home. She makes an excuse about working late, and Wilson leaves. Mary now prepares for her vigil by procuring a revolver and switching off the lights. Hour after hour drags by and Mary gets weary. Suddenly she hears a key in the door and sees Wilson's shadow; she starts up and darts behind the screen. Wilson stealthily enters and Mary, tensely grasping the revolver, breathlessly waits. Swiftly he gets to work; back and forth the combination knob turns and now he tries the handle. Locked. Again and again he tries, the while feverishly consulting the false memorandum. He is beginning to despair. Suddenly he gets up and rushes into Raynor's private office. He must get that combination. This is Mary's opportunity. Stealthily she reaches the telephone and calls up Raynor's club. Explaining hurriedly the situation, she gets back behind the screen just in time to avoid Wilson, who rushes in like an infuriated beast. Again he tries the safe and again he is unsuccessful, and ripping out an oath, clenches his fists. This so startles Mary that she inadvertently makes a noise, which Wilson hears. Quickly turning, he rushes to the screen, only to find a revolver poked in his face. Nonplused for the moment, now he begins arduously to plead, but the revolver never wavers. Becoming frantic, he beseeches and implores. Mary feels that she cannot hold out much longer. She throws the screen toward Wilson and the fight is on. Suddenly the door is thrown open and Mr. Raynor, his brother and an officer rush in. Mary collapses. Wilson is arrested and the next morning Mr. Raynor's brother, whose admiration for Mary is unbounded because of her pluck the night before, succeeds in getting Mr. Raynor's consent to her going to Europe on a private diplomatic mission for him.
- This is the first of a series of stories concerning a girl called Mary, and it shows her first adventure at the age of a few weeks, when she is brought in a basket and secretly left in the store of one Billy Peart. The note which accompanies her, promises Billy that if he provides for her and finally sees her married to some village boy, a thousand dollars will be sent to him in addition to the five hundred which is left with the child. Of course the note is unsigned and of course Mary's parentage is therefore in doubt. After this prologue the story takes up this action. Mary is eighteen years of age and Billy has made up his mind that it is about time to fulfill the suggestion of the note and marry her to some village chap. He finds a young country lad, Tuck Wintergreen, who shows a decided preference for the girl and invites him to go ahead and win her, promising his own influence as backing for his suit. But Mary has become a dreamer and is in no mind to marry. She has made a friend of an old fisherman and sails with him in his boat, listening to tales of the great world. On one eventful day a magnificent yacht anchors in the harbor and Mary hears of the life of people who own such boats. The old fisherman, gives her a twenty-dollar pocket piece of his, telling her to keep it until the time comes when she goes forth to see the great world, and that it will help her on her way. When she returns to the ice cream parlor kept by Billy Peart, she finds the yacht people to be served with ice cream and while admiring their smart yachting suits and good breeding, she thinks of the twenty-dollar gold piece. Billy Peart sees her fondling it and takes it from her, the result is a quarrel which drives the yacht folk away from the store and sends Mary, hot for revenge, to the sitting room upstairs. There she remembers seeing Billy lock something in a drawer and in her frenzy she tugs at the drawer until the front, which has not been firmly glued, comes off and she finds herself in possession of a roll of money and a note. The note which she reads, makes her realize that she does not belong to Billy Peart, and that she has a right to flee from the life of the little country store. She defies Billy and runs to the wharf, where she begs the old fisherman to take her to the mainland. When Billy follows her, her staunch friend holds him on the pier while Mary sails away with the boat to freedom and the future, which will be told in some other stories.
- When young Jean Germaine's father decreed that his son should not marry Lizette Rouget, unless the girl brought with her the sum of ten thousand francs. Jean, bowing to the inherited custom of generations, would as soon have thought of flying to the moon as of disobeying the parental command, Lizette was somewhat downcast when she learned the size of the required dowry, but soon brightened up and assured Jean that she would surely have it within a year, as a result of her clever embroidery work. But the end of the year found poor Lizette in a sorrowful state. Only a fifth of the required sum had been earned and Monsieur Germaine was beginning to grow insistent that his son should choose another bride. At her wits' end, Lizette readily accepted the offer of her brother, Paul, to increase the money to the proper amount by means of a certain investment. Unknown to his sister, Paul was an habitué of the gambling dens of Paris. With his sister's money in his charge, he betook himself to a somewhat shady resort, where, owing to a streak of exceptional luck, he succeeded in winning the required stake within half an hour. But although winning the money was easy, taking it away was attended with serious difficulties. The proprietor of the den was distinctly unwilling to have so much money taken away. Paul escaped after a scuffle, only to be held up on the street and stabbed. Desperately wounded, he took refuge in an inn, staggering up to a room, and died after he had concealed the money in a crevice in the floor. From that date, Paul's ghost kept watch in the room and faithfully guarded the money from unworthy hands. Soon the room acquired the evil reputation of being haunted, and was shunned by all. Poor Lizette's hopes expired with the disappearance of her fortune, and nothing was left for her to look forward to but a life of poverty and despair. One day an Englishman came to the den, and, laughing at the landlord's explanation, engaged the room. The ghost recognized an honest man. Under its mysterious influence the Englishman found the money and the paper with Lizette's address upon it. Still under the ghost's guidance, he carried the money to Lizette and changed her sad despair to hopeful joy.
- A Dutch romance. Hulda and Heintz are bashful, giggling lovers, hut their spooning opportunities are few, as well as being forbidden. One day they get a chance to spoon, but the village gossip sees them and hastens to Hulda's mother, exaggerating what she saw. Hulda gets a curtain lecture, but pleads for Heintz. Heintz is then allowed to call. The lovers become engaged. As the wedding day approaches Hulda dons her wedding dress and goes to show it to her lame grandmother, who cannot be present at the ceremony. The village gossip's husband is a dike-tender. A great storm is raging while he lies drunk. The land is in danger of flood. Hulda disappears and the village gossip starts another scandal about her eloping with a minister. When the wedding hour arrives Hulda is missing. After a search she is found, bedraggled and covered with mud. While the dike-tender lay drunk she had been stopping a hole in the dike with her hare hands and thereby saves the country.
- At the end of a long, tedious day, Doctor Strong was just preparing for the relaxation of the evening when a costermonger burst in upon him and begged him to come to his dying child. The doctor went with the man, to his son Jackie's disappointment; he had wanted his father to stay and play with him. After his father left, Jackie decided to give his toys a dose of medicine. He abstracted a bottle from the doctor's laboratory, and to show the toys just how it should be done, took a generous spoonful of the medicine. His mother entered at that moment, observed her son's action, and looked at the bottle: the dreadful word "Poison" stared up at her. In a frenzy of fear she dispatched a boy for the doctor. At the moment the boy arrived the doctor was fighting with all his strength for the life of his little patient. A terrible spasm of emotion shook him as he read the note. His son was in danger, perhaps dying. The coster's child would certainly die without his aid. A moment sufficed to show him clearly where his duty lay. He dispatched a hurried note to his wife and remained at the bedside of the poor man's child. Mrs. Strong called in another doctor and prepared a glass of mustard and water for Jackie--but he had suddenly, mysterious disappeared. Shout and hunt as they did, all was in vain. After a long hunt the frantic mother discovered him in the preserves closet, eating jam in an endeavor to "take the nasty taste out of his mouth." The poor man's child passed the crisis and the doctor hurried home in his car and found the other doctor and his wife engaged in a struggle with the mutinous Jackie, who exhibited an unexpected distaste towards the mustard and water. The doctor seized the bottle from which Jackie had taken the medicine. A great sob of relief burst from his throat, and turning to the doctor and his wife he showed them that he had scratched out the lower label with ink, but had omitted to cross out the poison mark. The medicine Jackie had taken was harmless.
- Private Stanley is saying good-bye to his wife and daughter when his tent-mate calls him to join the regiment, which is about to go into action. Just before the advance, Stanley notices that the heavy firing is in the direction of his home and he leaves the firing line, going to his home in order to save his family. A shell hits and bursts in his home and sets it on fire. He carries his little daughter to his mother, who lives in the same town. When the roll is called Stanley is missed and the Sergeant's squad start out to learn his whereabouts. Stanley, from his mother's window, sees the soldiers coming and his old mother tells him to exchange clothes with a civilian who has just died. He does and thereby effects his escape, but is caught in the woods and brought before the Sergeant. As they are unable to learn his identity, they send for his daughter; but the child intuitively realizes that something is wrong and says that the dead man in that house is her father. The Sergeant departs with his men and Stanley goes to the general's headquarters, tells the true story and is restored to his place in the company.
- A prince among good fellows is John Northrup, who loves his club, but never forgets he has a home and a fond, loving wife. He keeps good hours notwithstanding the jibes and jests of his fellow club members. One night, he is pleased to find his wife preparing a Welsh rabbit for him. After finishing the rabbit he sinks into the old armchair at the fireplace to smoke a cigar and soon dozes off to sleep and has a most remarkable dream. He sees himself about to die, supposedly of having over indulged in Welsh rabbit. The doctor at the bedside pronounces his case beyond hope; he bids his wife and friends goodbye and dies. His spirit is transported Heavenward by an angel, who guides him to the golden gates of Heaven. Here he meets unexpected obstacles, and plead as he will, he fails utterly in gaining admission. Finally in despair he inquires for Tom, Dick and Harry, who were his pals at the club and learns that they have been sent to the world of darkness, so sadly he begins his journey on the downward path and finally reaches the domain of his Satanic majesty, who gives him a royal welcome and bids him enter, assuring him that his friends Tom, Dick and Harry are inside. Upon reaching the depths below he finds it uncomfortably hot, owing to the fact that the Satanic stokers are working overtime. He meets his friends, Tom, Dick and Harry and a devilish bartender serves them with fiery drinks after which they initiate him by roasting his feet in a blazing furnace. At that moment he is awakened from his nightmare and is overjoyed to find himself in his own room, so close to the grate fire that his slippers are scorching. At that moment he espies his wife, who looks askance at her chuckling hubby. Describing his dream, she laughs heartily as he declares no more Welsh rabbit at midnight for him.
- A Lord's disowned nephew takes the blame when his cousin steals a brooch.
- Mary Randolph has a hard time supporting herself and her little sister with the money she earns in a department store. Driven to desperation on rent day, she summons all her courage and goes to the store's proprietor and asks for a substantial wage, but her pleas meet with stern refusal. Haunted by the stricken look in the girl's eyes, the proprietor's daughter Kathryn Dolby, who has been listening, determines to investigate conditions by becoming one of the salesgirls. Unknown to her father she obtains such a position in his store. On the afternoon following the unsuccessful interview with the proprietor, Mary, exhausted by the grind, faints as she is leaving the store. She is caught by a nice young man who, after accompanying her home, pays the insistent rent collector what is due him. Several days later, owing to the increasing rush of customers, Mary again faints from exhaustion, and after a stormy scene with her father, Kathryn takes the weakened woman to her squalid home, where she learns of the discovery of a note from her brother Jack, urging the woman to accept the money. Misunderstanding the note, Kathryn takes it to her father, upon whom dawns the true state of things. Through parsimony he has made himself a virtual instigator of his son's evil intentions. Whereupon an immediate raise of wages is given all employees.
- George Trent is the son of a widowed mother. He is engaged to marry Sylvia Bennett, and is a cock-sure egoist. An old clergyman, his mother's friend, gets him a chance with a prosperous architect in a large city, but his faults get him into a nest of trouble. He is careless with his work, unwilling to take advice and consequently his downfall is brought about. At the same time Sylvia gives him the mitten because he has displayed before her a bad trait. He has seen part of a letter from his employer to the Rev. Mr. Roberts in which the assertion is made that "he has a bad enemy." He goes to the clergyman and demands to know who his enemy is, for he has concluded that his downfall is due to this mysterious person, and in answer the clergyman leads him to a mirror. To his surprise and consternation he learns that his enemy is none other than himself. The result of realization is regeneration. His entire attitude changes and he is given another chance with his old employer. At the end of the picture we see that he has learned his lesson well.
- In a small seaport town, Mary boards a train to New York. On the train she attracts the attention of a flashy-looking individual who starts a conversation with her. Unused to the ways of the world she does not know whether to resent this or not. However, the conductor interferes and tells the young man to go about his business. He has managed to give Mary his business card. On arriving in New York, Mary is completely puzzled and she feels the loneliness that comes to any stranger in the midst of a great city. She reaches one of the parks and proceeds to look up advertisements for a lodging. Sitting next to her is a chorus girl, entirely out of money and facing eviction. She watches Mary nervously, and as Mary gets up and drops her purse, the temptation is too strong for the chorus girl: she quickly seizes that purse. Mary inquires the way to one of the addresses of a policeman, but upon discovering the loss of her purse they go back to the bench. The chorus girl is still there and during the conversation the policeman discovers that she has the purse folded in her handkerchief in her right hand. He is about to arrest her when Mary catches her look of appeal and with the terror of the law and imprisonment felt by anyone in her station, she tells the officer that the purse does not belong to her at all. Therefore the chorus girl is released and Mary leaves. Evening is coming on and Mary walks through the streets of New York without money. The strains of an organ coming from a church attract her and she goes in. Here she spends the night. In the morning, hungry and tired, she starts out to find work. Suddenly she remembers the card given her by the young man on the train and decides to apply to him for employment. He greets her enthusiastically and proposes something to eat and drink. He takes her to a Bohemian restaurant. The chorus girl is sitting nearby and immediately recognizes Mary. Grasping the situation she takes Mary by the hand, tells her that this is no fit place for her, and despite the young man's protests, takes her from the restaurant. She confesses her own fault, takes Mary to her humble lodging, where she is refreshed by something to eat and a place at least to lay her head and here we leave them for the present.
- Pat Clancy was perfectly contented with his life until a singular occurrence took place at the quarry where he worked: Just after a blast was set off, a strange, white-bearded little man arose from the smoke and dust. He told Pat that he had been imprisoned in the rock for a million years, and offered to grant any wish he might make, as a reward for having released him. Pat, stunned with joy, wished to be a millionaire. The strange figure waved its arms and vanished. At the beginning of the glorious period of prosperity, Pat rolled down to a mahogany-lined office in a princely limousine to his friends' and neighbors' utter amazement. At the office he found that a rich man's labors, though different, are no less arduous than those of a day laborer. Importunate stenographers, anxious clerks, and a constantly-ringing telephone served to throw Pat into a state bordering on nervous prostration. At last he seized a fire extinguisher as the only solution, and drove the entire force out of the office. Nor was his experience at dinner with his wife and her new fashionable friends any more restful; he was unversed in the devious ways of salad and oyster forks, and his shoes were far too tight. He removed his shoes to relieve that anguish, but the inevitable discovery of his action did not make matters more comfortable for him or his wife. His new friends' attempt to initiate him in the mysteries of the ancient game of golf proved the final straw. Pat's shoes still hurt him, and, "Begorra, he could not hit the little white pill wid th' funny lookin' stick at all." Utterly tired and disillusioned, he went down to the seashore intending to end his troubles forever. Just as he was about to throw himself in the water, the Earth Gnome appeared and restrained him. Pat prayed that he and his family might be restored to their former blissful state of poverty. The gnome consented, and Pat happily returned to his old surroundings to contentedly devour an appetizing mess of corned beef and cabbage.
- Professor Mysterio, the noted hypnotist, disagrees with his assistants to such an extent that they all quit in the middle of a rehearsal. No assistants mean no performance and consequently no money. The professor and his manager start in search for new ones. They enter the telegraph office where Andy is employed and decide Andy would make a good subject. After satisfactory terms have been made, both with Andy and his employer, Andy consents to take the job. At the hall, during a matinee performance, Andy is hypnotized and told he is "Sitting Bull," the Indian chief. Andy immediately follows in the footsteps of that noted warrior and starts to massacre the pale faces. All would have gone well, had not a Children's Society agent interfered and arrested Mysterio, which left Andy free to wreck vengeance upon the unsuspecting public, which he does, first by a fight to the death with a cigar store Indian, which he mistakes for the foe of another nation. He next discovers four girls coasting down a hill on a sleigh and kidnaps them for squaws, making them do all the work as squaws should be made to do, build snow houses, carry wood, supply provisions, etc., also do a war dance for the entertainment of their Lord and Master, Big Chief Andy. The neighbors crowd around but dare not interfere. Finally his chum, Lanky, takes his courage in both hands and enters. Andy pounces upon him, tomahawk in hand, but recognizes his old friend and they agree to smoke the pipe of peace. Not liking the taste of the pipe, Andy swaps one of his squaws with Lanky for a cigarette. In the meantime Mysterio learns of Andy's plight and comes to the rescue, but after Andy's mother gets there he decides to be "Sitting Bull" no longer, as he is obliged to eat his meals from the mantel.
- In Rorke's Drift in 1879, eighty men, under Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, of the British army, were attacked by four thousand Zulus, and held their pitifully weak position despite the tremendous odds. Our story of the fight centers about the person of Tommy Brandon, a young soldier in the British army. Tommy was very much in love with Grace, the sister of Kenneth Linden, a brother soldier. Since Ken Linden was pitifully weak, Tommy had promised Grace to watch over him, and keep him out of scrapes. Hence, one evening when Ken cheated in a card game, Tommy allowed the guilt to rest upon his own shoulders. His generous effort cost him Grace's affection, as well as the contempt of the entire company. Tommy regained his good name when the Zulus commenced an active campaign. The message of the impending danger to Rorke's Drift was telegraphed to Tommy's company by Grace, who had seen the Zulus massing for the attack. Tommy begged his commander to allow him to ride to Lord Chalmsford for reinforcements. The commander consented and Tommy started on his perilous journey. On the way, he came upon a band of Zulus who had captured the colors from the cowardly Linden. Tommy recklessly charged them, and rescued the flag. Then he continued on his way through the midst of peril, and reached Lord Chalmsford in time to send the relief expedition to the gallant little hand at Rorke's Drift. Meanwhile, Grace had found her dying brother, and had learned from him the full story of Tommy's generosity. At Rorke's Drift, four hundred dead Zulus bore witness to the prowess of the desperate band. Chalmsford's expedition arrived in time to complete the rout of the savage natives, and when Tommy returned to Grace, he came as a hero without spot or blemish on his good name.
- A toff is attacked, has amnesia, is cared for by a coster girl, and recovers when his fiancée visits the East End.
- When tired Bill came upon a suit of clothes on the bank of the river he apparently did not realize that they belonged to somebody else. Accordingly he discarded his own disheveled garments, put on the suit of clothes, and hearing a wild shout of protest from the water set off hurriedly up the road. In the pocket of the suit, Bill found a note recommending the bearer as an expert butler. Bill went to the address given in the note, and readily procured a position. Dressed in the ornate clothes of a butler, Bill felt that earth could hold little more of grandeur for him. Gregory, the real applicant for the position, arrived in Bill's clothes and told Bill the story of his misfortune. Bill unsympathetically kicked him down the steps. It can hardly be said that Bill was an entire success as a butler. To begin with, he insisted on smoking his clay pipe while serving dinner. Also, Bill was not exactly a picture of grace and he had a mind above small details. For instance, if out of a dozen plates of soup he only dropped two he considered it a very fair average indeed. After a few incidents of a nerve-wracking sort, the Melville family decided that Bill's services could be dispensed with. Then the Melville family departed to seek a less frenzied dinner in a restaurant, while Bill donned his new clothes, and departed for pastures new. Unfortunately, Gregory, the disappointed applicant, was still larking about the premises. When Bill sauntered forth Gregory recognized the clothes and had Bill arrested. After that to Bill's sorrowful amazement Gregory pulled a large roll of bills from an unsuspected pocket of the salt and set off to explain matters to the Melvilles while Bill was marched protestingly to the station house.
- Mary, the fascinating little heroine of many adventures, learns that kinship does not necessarily mean friendship. We find her in the house of her uncle, who, with his son, have misappropriated the funds of the bank of which they are president and cashier. They possess a knowledge that Mary does not, namely, that her grandfather has left a fortune to her when she marries. This will save her uncle and his scapegrace son and they decide to marry her to the boy. There is a young secretary in the bank who accidentally overbears a conversation which indicates their misuse of the bank's funds but like Mary, he knows nothing of their plans to recoup their fortune. But when Mary scorns the young cashier and they find her on rather friendly terms with the young secretary they manufacture a forged check, charge him with the crime and dismiss him from the bank. This is too much for Mary and she undertakes to get evidence of the falseness of the charge. In so doing she learns of the other crime. The evidence is obtained by making a phonograph record from a telephone conversation between the father and son, and the scenes in which Mary gets this record are very exciting and intensely dramatic. Of course, in the end the uncle and his son are taken away to prison and Mary finds herself again face to face with the great world without a home or friends to care for her. This is the seventh story of "What Happened to Mary."
- In a small-sized city, two brothers, lawyers, are practicing. The younger one is wont to go astray. Gambling is the dissipation and he even brings his gambling chums to his office. It is on one of these occasions that Eric, the older brother, comes upon them and discovers a dice which had fallen to the ground. The two brothers, Bob and Eric, love the minister's only daughter. Jean Lindsay. The first sight of love is seen when Mr. Lindsay with Jean calls on the brothers to get the elder one, Eric, to call for a small legacy left him. Here Jean goes at once to Bob and the first sign of love appears. Later Eric tells Jean of his love and is refused. This is seen by Bob. The minister comes upon a love scene between Bob and his daughter and he at once asks Bob to go. The boy is desperate and pleads with his brother to help him. This is where the elder brother shows his true worth. He pleads with the minister to consent to the union between Jean and Bob but it is useless. The father is obdurate. Bob goes from bad to worse and forges his brother's name on a check to obtain money to elope. The elder brother discovers it and just as Bob and Jean are about to board the train he and the minister arrive on the scene. The minister makes Jean return home and Bob goes to make a man of himself. A year passes and finally Bob writes to his brother telling of having seen him propose to Jean and suggesting that he propose to her, since in all probability he, himself, has been forgotten. The letter pleases Eric. He shows it to Mr. Lindsay and is told that Jean had just left for his office with a document. In the meantime Bob's longing to see the old home town is too much for him so he comes back, finding no one in his brother's office he waits and soon Jean comes to deliver the document. The meeting of the two sweethearts is too much for them. The old love still lives and, just as they are in each other's arms, Eric appears, realizes Bob is the one, yields and as Jean's father comes in, begs him to bless them.
- The president of a suburban bank refuses a loan asked by one of the citizens of the place and "to get square" the man circulates a rumor that the bank is not in safe financial condition. The plan is so successful that a run is started in spite of the president's assurances and knowledge of his solvency. A young clerk in the bank, anxious to do something which will make the president favor his suit for the latter's daughter, hits on a plan to restore public confidence. With the girl he goes to an old nail mill and fills the empty coin bags from the bank with nails. Just as the last money is being taken from the vaults and the depositors are frantic, they see the youth and girl drive up guarding with shot guns an express wagon apparently loaded with bags of bullion. Confidence is restored by the sight of so much ready money and, of course, the president feels enough of the same quality to endorse the young man's aspirations cordially.
- Of all the outlaws of the desert, none could compare with Abdullah, the Great Chief. From Gishon to the River Oualeh his light-fingered men plied their trade, pillaging men of all races, so that none of the ways were safe. When Suleiman, the King, commanded that the wrong-doing should cease, Abdullah laughed scornfully. Nay Moye, capturing a certain rich caravan leader, robbed him and sent him to Suleiman with a scornful message of defiance. Now Suleiman, the King, was on in years, when the caravan leader stood before him and spoke the haughty words of the bandit, the great King laid his hand on his heart, bowed his head and died. For the great soul of the King could not endure the mockery. But the King's daughter swore by her father's dying breath that Abdullah should die for the wrong he had done. In the month of roses, as the King's daughter, now queen of the land, sat in the garden, that she heard a man's voice singing in the night. And when she answered his song, the man climbed the wall and spoke with the words of a lover. They soon fell deeply in love. And neither knew the other's name or rank, and neither cared. At the arrival of summer there came men to the Queen from the West, bringing with them a bound man, saluted the Queen, and told her that the bound man was Abdullah, whom they had captured. When the Queen looked upon the face of the bound man she trembled. For it was the face of her lover. Nonetheless, she commanded them to slay the outlaw.
- When his daughter, Fanny, married George Archer, Edward Thornton, the wealthy connoisseur of gems, shrugged his shoulders. Archer was a nice enough chap, to be sure, but he was actively engaged in business. Thornton always felt somewhat suspicious of business men. His suspicions were brought to a certainty when his son-in-law asked him for a loan of $30,000 some months after the marriage. Thornton refused him the money. He believed a man should stand upon his own feet, and he suspected Archer of speculating. Archer had long been interested in a risky western land venture. The venture failed, and he found himself deeply in debt to one of his business friends, Paul Bruce. Unknown to Archer, Bruce had fallen in love with his wife. Although the affair had never gone as far as an open declaration on Bruce's part, Fanny sensed his feeling toward her, and feared him. When she learned that her husband was in debt to Bruce, and that Bruce refused to grant him an extension on his loan, she realized that a net was closing about her. When Thornton refused to give Archer the money. Fanny decided on a desperate plan. She stole eight valuable fire opals from her father's collection and sold them. But because the jeweler would not give her quite enough on the opals, she added to them a valuable ring of her own. She gave the money thus gained to her husband, lightly passing off her means of getting it. The desperate Archer took it gratefully, but after he had paid Bruce, was tormented with doubts. Who had given Fanny the money? Long brooding on the subject at last convinced him that Bruce could have been the only source. Confronted by the angry husband, Bruce neither admitted nor denied his guilt. Meanwhile Thornton, by accident, had recovered possession of the jewels and had recognized Fanny's ring. He arrived at Archer's house in time to interrupt a strong scene between Bruce, the husband, and the wife. For when the anguished husband, after denouncing wife and friend, demanded that the stricken Fanny confess where she got the money, Thornton entered and said quite simply, "Why, from me, of course."
- John Wilson, in a New England small sized city, lived and carried on a manufacturing business. His family consisted of his beloved wife, Mary, his daughter, and a rather dissipated son, Jack. Things seemed to be growing worse with the boy, so, after due consideration, Wilson decided if his dissipation continued he would send him away to try and make a man of himself. It did continue and the night finally arrived when he was going to order him away. Mother and daughter had been told but their pleadings were useless. Jack came home under the influence of liquor and the father, unable to stand it longer, ordered him to leave and remain away until he amounted to something. As Jack started to go the mother's love for the weak one quickly showed itself. She begs him to do better, to redeem himself, not by word but by slipping an envelope into his hands on which were written words to that effect. Jack mistakes it for a check and gladly takes it. The next day we see him about to go away. He remembers the envelope his mother gave him and opening it he finds the mother's appeal just as a "down and outer" appears and begs for something. The thought strikes Jack, as a good joke, to give him the slip of paper and after doing so he boards the outgoing train for new fields. The "down and outer" reads the paper and it seems to give him a new lease on life. He obtains a position in Wilson's manufacturing plant, is well received and is greatly favored by Mary. One night while calling on her he tells of his past and shows the slip of paper that helped him to do better things. She recognizes the writing as her mother's, questions him and by degrees it dawns on the two that Jack must be found. Varick, the once "down and outer" starts to find him and does eventually in an awful condition of intoxication. Finally he makes him come to his senses and takes him home. All is explained and the slip of paper, containing the mother's message finally did as she had hoped it would, reforms him.
- The Giltons are next-door neighbors to the Biltons. The houses are exactly alike and adjoin each other; the back yards are not even separated by a fence. Gilton is a crabbed old money-maker and childless; his wife has grown submissive through years of continual nagging. The Biltons are a happy family of seven; poverty and scrimping have not soured them. The struggle to maintain his wife and the little ones has left Bilton threadbare, but the loving wife and five pairs of little arms that creep around his neck each morning and night are worth the fight. The fact that old Gilton fumes and fusses about the children sometimes stepping over the line of his back-yard bothers him only insofar as he dislikes discord. When Gilton's dog is poisoned, Bilton is as sorry as though it had been his own, yet old Gilton accuses him of being the poisoner. Even the heartbroken sobs of Bilton's sweet little daughter Cora Cordelia over the death of her canine playfellow fail to convince the crusty old man. When the grocer's boy delivers Gilton's order to Mrs. Bilton and she cooks the dinner thinking her husband sent the things, Gilton is almost ready to commit murder. As Christmas approaches, the Biltons are hard-pressed but give their little store to the children to buy presents, telling them that Santa Claus is too poor to leave them a turkey. On Christmas Eve, old Gilton staggers home in a blizzard, the turkey for Christmas dinner under his arm. On the porch that leads to the twin doors of his house and the Biltons', a terrific gust of wind and snow closes his eyes, and, horror of horrors, he enters the home of the hated neighbor. Blinded and cold, his entire figure snow-covered, he steps into the midst of the Biltons, gathered about the table laden with the cheap presents and listening open-mouthed to Bilton reading "The Night Before Christmas." The children's vision of cheery Santa is rudely interrupted by Gilton's snow-covered figure. To them, he is the real Santa Claus. In a beautiful closing scene, old Gilton's flinty eyes fill with tears and the breach between the families is closed as though the spirit of Santa Claus himself had welded it.
- Rev. William Wells, Dean of Cresswell, has two daughters, Bess and Louise. Bess wants to go to London to study art under a well-known master. Her talent as a painter, if she has any at all, is only passable. Louise, who really has the gift, sometimes gives two or three touches to Bessie's work that make them possible. One of these sketches decides the Dean to consent to Bessie's wishes and the sketch influences Harry Vane, the London artist, to accept Bessie as a pupil. This artist is successful and has many pupils. He has a gentle caressing way of treating the girls and Bessie, who is very much taken with him from the start, being young and impressionable, mistakes his manner and thinks that he is in love with her. This not being the case and Vane, seeing how matters stand, tells her that she has no talent and that she is wasting her time at his school. This is such a shock to Bessie that she breaks down and returns home in a hurry. When Louise hears her sister's story she believes that Vane has been trifling with her affections and she deliberately sets to work to avenge her. She goes to London and is admitted as a pupil to the school, under another name, and leads Vane on to fall in love with her. Her efforts meet with success. He shows her his masterpiece, tells her his hopes and ambitions and proposes. This is the chance she has been waiting for. She tells him who she is, accuses him of wronging her sister and cuts his masterpiece to shreds with the palette knife, leaving him dumb with horror for he really loves her. Poor Louise is full of remorse and self-accusation when she returns home and finds that Bessie has quite recovered. In fact has forgotten all about the artist. Louise has to admit to herself that she loves Vane but now that she has treated him so badly it is hopeless. However, Bess, for once in her life, thinks seriously of others rather than herself and takes in the situation. She writes to Vane and asks him to come and see them. When Vane arrives. Louise and he are left alone to explain away all difficulties.
- The pictures open in the camp of Chief Three Bears' tribe, near McDermott, in Northwestern Montana. Chief Three Bears is the last of the great war chiefs of the Blackfeet. Today, at the age of eighty-six, he is a good citizen of the United States. Chief Three Bears opens the picture by saying, in the picturesque sign language of the Northwestern Indian, that his tribe intends to break camp and to move to a new location. The chief is followed by Lazy Boy, Judge Wolf Plume, Mrs. Dog Ears and Medicine Owl, the medicine man, each of whom has something to say in this peculiar language. While the men ride ahead to the new site, the squaws remain to accomplish all the actual work of moving the equipment. Mrs. Dog Ears, an old lady of some eighty-two summers, exhibits an extraordinary degree of activity. On the way to the new camp, the men are obliged to pass across a ford just above McDermott Falls, which has a particularly dangerous reputation. Intimate views of the daily life and habits of these Indians are shown, the picture ending with a "heap big dance."
- After Andy made his startling, unexpected success on the stage, he received so flattering an offer from a theatrical manager that he decided to give up his modest position at the messenger office and cast his lot permanently with the stars of the dramatic world. The manager in question was not one of the aristocrats of the stage world with two or three theaters on Broadway and a "circuit." He was simply an ordinary man who borrowed two or three hundred dollars every once in a while and started out on the road with a show. Sometimes the show would go as far as Pittsfield, Massachussetts or Binghamton, New York. Ordinarily it walked back to New York from New Rochelle. The title of the manager's latest endeavor was "The Hero of Rattlesnake Valley." On the billboards, Andy was featured as the hero. The play opened in a small town not far from New York, under the most auspicious circumstances. The populace, excited by the none-too-modest advance notices, cheered the actors to the echo. Andy, with the first taste of public adulation in his mouth, found it all very gratifying. His opinion of himself did not shrink to any alarming extent. Whatever else may be said of "The Hero of Rattlesnake Valley," it must be admitted that it featured plenty of action. From start to finish, dull moments were definitely scarce. In the first act there was a fight between Andy and the villain, and a kidnapping. In the second act, Andy, concealed in a trunk, followed the kidnappers, and after two tremendous fights, was captured by them. They bound him to a tree, lit a fire, and left him, but he escaped from his dreadful situation by gnawing the ropes. In the last act, things progressed rapidly to the great climax, a revolver fight between Andy and the villains. Ever since the middle of the first act, slight sighs of restlessness might have been observed in the audience. In the midst of the revolver fight, a potato suddenly arrived on the stage, followed by a fusillade from a long-suffering gallery. There is little else to tell. They walked back to New York. The manager looked about for another $200 and Andy became a messenger boy again.
- When Robert Blair decided that his son, Bobby, should marry Grace Allison, he neither begged nor threatened. He simply told his son what he wished, and Bobby, who had learned the impossibility of defying his father, consented in order to avoid a hopeless quarrel. But Bobby had weak lungs and before the engagement had been announced, the doctor ordered him away to the mountains. In the mountains he met Joan. In a short time Joan meant more to Bobby than all the rest of the world. So they were married. When Bobby brought his bride back to the city Robert Blair was almost insane with rage. For the first time in his life he had been successfully defied. In the white heat of his anger, be forbade Bobby and his wife ever to speak or write to him again. Bobby obeyed his father implicitly. He died. Joan, left alone with a young baby, was at her wits' end. Dr. .Merrill, her husband's physician, came to her assistance nobly in the attempt to find employment for her, but without much success. Joan would not accept charity and there were few situations open to her which would give her enough money to support herself and the child. Finally, she resolved on a great sacrifice. Placing her child in a basket, she left her on Blair's doorstep, with a little note disclosing the child's identity and telling of her husband's death. It was as impossible for Blair to turn away from his little granddaughter as it would have been to forgive the woman he felt had ruined his son's life. So the little girl was reared in her grandfather's splendid home, while her mother worked as a nurse in a hospital where she had obtained a position through Dr. Merrill's kindness. One day, three years later, the little girl fell ill. The nurse summoned from the hospital was Joan. All unknown to Robert Blair, the mother nursed her child back to health and strength. Taken with the nurse's capable ways he asked her to become the child's governess. Then Joan disclosed herself. All Blair's former rage came over him. He could not forgive her and he would not give up the child. So affairs stood at a deadlock until Dr. Merrill came in and suggested a compromise. Blair should keep the child and he, the doctor, would take Joan. It ended by Robert Blair taking all three.
- A halfwit sees a foreman kill the owner of a copper mine.
- When a cradle arrived at the Powell's house one morning, Bobbie was deeply interested. Bobbie was six years old. The nurse and his father assured him that the cradle was not for him, and told him the beautiful old story about the stork who brings little children to deserving homes. Bobbie was much impressed. He wanted a brother, and he intended to have one. That afternoon while walking down town with his nurse, Bobbie observed a sign, "Boy Wanted," in the window of a store. Bobbie went home, inveigled some money out of his father, returned to the shop and bought the "Boy Wanted" sign. That night he slipped out of his room and nailed the sign securely to a post on the front porch. Next morning Bobbie was not at all surprised when they informed him that he had a baby brother. He inspected the infant carefully when it was shown to him. He informed his astonished father that he was responsible for the baby being a boy and led him out to see the sign. They arrived on the front porch just in time to assure an early applicant for the position that no more boys were wanted just at present.
- In the year 1830 a poor old wayfarer wandered into a village. He was a man well on to 70; his tattered clothing was vaguely reminiscent of the Revolution; he carried a battered old drum which he was beating with martial rhythm hoping to obtain alms. The villagers jeered and laughed in scorn. The village squire, who happened to be passing, ordered the tavern-keeper to drive the old man away. The squire, himself an old man, was very much feared by the villagers who mocked and taunted the poor wanderer until he was almost reduced to tears. They left him alone in the street. He made a few steps forward with the idea of leaving the village when suddenly a new expression came into his wrinkled face, his figure straightened, and with a firm step surprising in so old a man, he followed his persecutors into the tavern and commenced to tell them a story. Shaking with emotion he drew from his breast an old military gauntlet. "See," he cried, "This belonged to George Washington. He gave it to me and the other to my friend, young farmer Curtis. I saw the General and two aides coming towards the farm. I called Widow Curtis, who came out in a fluster to receive him. He asked if he could rest there for a few hours. Hodges led away the horses. Hodges was mean; I suspected him. He hitched the horses and ran through the pasture and over the fence. I called young Curtis and we ran too. I told him about the General as we ran. 'What's Hodges running for and why are we following him?' he asked. 'I don't know,' I said, 'but it's mischief; don't let him see us.' We followed for three miles and it is well we did. He came to the old mill and some Hessians gathered around him. They were all excited. Hodges pointed towards the farm. We knew the traitor was telling the Hessians how they could take General Washington. We ran back, told the General, took down old Curtis' drum and fife and musket that hung in the kitchen and ran to the barn just as the Hessians came to the house. I shot one of them. Curtis played the fife. I dropped the musket and beat the drum and yelled and shouted and those Hessians ran like rabbits. They thought the whole American army was after them. General Washington gave each of us a gauntlet and here is the one he gave me." The squire had entered during the story and like the villagers stood in silence. The old man had worn himself out. The squire gently offering his arm for support said, "Come home with me, old friend. I am Curtis. I shall show you the other gauntlet."
- Edward Burke and Jim Mercer were suitors for the hand of Edna Merrill. She liked Edward because he was breezy and full of life and the night he proposed she accepted him on the spot. Jim, on the other hand, was slow, old-fashioned and pokey. Just a station agent, the kind who would be at the same job all his life. Edward was an engineer on the same line, young and ambitious; the kind of a fellow who would appeal to Edna. This story really begins when Ed. Burke starts from the round-house on his daily run with local fifty-one. He reaches the station where Jim is agent and passes through. Then Jim heard the ticker calling frantically. It was from Orton Junction. The agent there frantically appealed to him for help. He had allowed a special freight to pass, having forgotten the orders to hold her up and give number fifty-one the right of way. Jim was terror-stricken. He flashed back to Orton Junction that number fifty-one had left his station, Fallonville, just four minutes before and that he could do nothing. Back flashes the Orton Junction agent: "Freight and No. 51 will meet at Smith's Crossing. For God's sake do something." Jim could do nothing. It wasn't his fault if Burke was killed. He hadn't made the mistake. It would give him a chance to win the girl. Then he realized all that the girl had meant to Edward. He saw in his mind's eye the trains coming together, the frightful crash, the mutilated bodies and the accusing finger of Edna. Yes, he could and would do something. Rushing like a madman to a grocery store in the village he telephoned to Edna telling her of the impending collision and to ride her horse. Rosy, like the wind to Smith's Crossing and stop the first train she saw coming in either direction. Now the great race for life is on. The trains are seen approaching. Edna is seen galloping nearer and nearer. Will she be in time? Now she reaches the track and places her horse across it, waves her hand frantically to the on-rushing train. It stops within four feet of her and she turns and riding on, stops the other. Burke's surprise when he runs forward and finds who has saved him is a thing to see in the picture. They all return to Fallonville and Jim, a real hero, is thanked by his rival. He takes Edna's hand and Edward's and tells them that he did it for her.
- The modest one is pushed into a ditch by an Irish laborer and ruins his clothes. The Irishman loans him his best suit and Bragg tells the boys at the club a romantic story about the new suit, but the real owner spoils it all.
- With the two principals in a ballet of forty dancers that is a feast to the eye. Back of this novelty there is woven a simple tale of an old fashioned dancing master, in his little garret room, who still clings to the old fashioned dances of grace and movement. Over his bowl of milk and crackers his head sinks to the table and in dreamland he becomes the dancing master of renown once again. At a great banquet table he meets his old cronies who have come together to discuss the progress of their art and thus, before these gray-haired men, we are shown the Dances of the Ages. On the table before them appear dainty, tiny figures who flit before their gaze; a corps of wonderful miniature dancers. They dip back in the annals of time to the pre-historic dance of primitive man, who creeps from his cave and delights his mate with his barbaric movements to the sound of her tom-tom. Now we have the slow, crawling incense and weird, snakelike movements of the Dance of the Priest of Ra, before an Egyptian temple, 1200 B.C. This fades away and time creeps down to 400 B.C. to the Grecian Bacchanalia, where garland maidens give forth their joy in the abandonment of youth and gladness. Then the ancient Orient of 200 A.D. comes before us with all the voluptuousness of that period of veiled maidens and Oriental splendor. Then the stately Minuet of 1760 is shown, quickly followed with the wild frolic of the Carnival period of France; then the Cakewalk in America and back again to France, where we see the Apache Dance, and now the dreamy waltz of all nations and finally we step upon the ladder of today and see the modern Rag. This delightful picture closes showing the old broken down dancing master trying to keep pace with the times and squirming himself into the inartistic movements and hops of modem Ragtime dances.
- John Hart, a counterfeiter, is arrested in a restaurant while dining with his fifteen-year-old daughter Mary. He succeeds in concealing the fact from her by excusing himself for a moment and leaves a note and money for her wants, to be delivered to her by Jimmy, the old waiter who had served them a long time. Some years later when Hart is released from the Federal Prison, his first thought is of Mary whom he seeks in the last place he saw her, the restaurant where Jimmy works. Fate favors him as Mary is there with her husband one Jack Hanley who has defied his father's will by marrying Mary who had become the elder Hanley's stenographer. Hart does not disclose his identity knowing the disgrace it would cast on his daughter. Things had gone poorly with Mary and Jack and they were reduced to sore straits, but Jimmy was their friend and often made their simple orders more sumptuous by strategy. Old Hart at once returned to his counterfeiting, and therefore Stoll, the secret service man was sent out to find him as before. Meanwhile old Hanley had relented having been so harsh and had a private detective looking for his son and daughter-in-law. Hart in disguise frequented the restaurant where Jack and Mary took their meals and tried to find a way of relieving their financial distress but without success. Stoll, knowing Hart's love for his daughter and remembering their former place of dining, sought the old counterfeiter there. The detective failed to penetrate Hart's disguise but Jimmy, the old waiter, had not, and gave Hart warning to go. The latter, in trying to bluff the detective stopped to light a cigar and in doing so used the peculiar mannerism of the engraver unconsciously rubbing the steel shavings from between his fingers. The moment he had gone Stoll remembered the mannerism and followed but Hart escaped through a ruse. Old Hanley, having located Jack and Mary, gives them a splendid dinner and incidentally a fifty dollar tip to old Jimmy of whose kindness Jack and Mary had told him. The closing scenes mark the end of Hart's misspent life and are full of tragic pathos.
- Now we meet Mary arriving in New York, going back to her old lawyer who promises to help her. He takes her to his home and leaves her there for the night in the care of his sister. In the back room of a little Bridgeport hotel, Richard and Henry Craig are deciding what action they should take, for on the following day, Mary will be of age and the money in trust will be turned over to her. They finally decide to hire an automobile and get to New York without attracting attention, and be at hand at the Occidental Trust at noon sharp. While all this action is going on, Mary is sleeping peacefully; on the other hand, Billy Peart receives a wire from Lawyer Foster to appear at his office and we see him sailing in his launch to the New York dock, to collect, as he hopes, the ten thousand dollars promised by Craig. So closer and closer all the people gather. It is morning and we see Mary enter the lawyer's office. Two plain clothes men are on hand as Peart comes on the scene. The two Craigs are hiding behind the stairs just outside the private office of the Occidental Trust, watching and waiting. If Mary does not appear, the money is theirs. Back in Foster's office the issue is at stake. Peart in handcuffs has confessed all. It is nearly noon. The two Craigs enter the Trust Company's office just as the telephone rings, Lawyer Foster is on the wire and he says he will be right down. The secretary then turning to the two Craigs, asks if he can be of service. They immediately get down to business, meanwhile watching the hands of the clock as they slowly turn around. They introduce themselves as being the rightful heirs. At the critical moment Mary enters and asserts her rights. She receives her fortune and bids her friends a fond farewell.
- A young man wants to woo the daughter of a suffragette so he visits a magician who gives him the power to stop time. He tries it out in London, and holds the city hostage until the Prime Minister agrees to favor votes for women.
- When the news was brought to Marian Percy that her husband had met with a hero's death, she did not weep. Her grief was too deep and bitter for tears because it was mingled with a very terrible regret. While he had lived, she had always believed that her marriage had been a mistake. He had seemed petty, ungenerous, cowardly. She had never suspected that anything fine or noble lay beneath the commonplace mask of his exterior, and now, at his death, she found that she had lost one man in a thousand, a hero. In the hours of her anguished self-reproach, George Harcourt, the friend who had been with her husband's detachment at the time of his death, did everything in his power to help and comfort her. When the doctor shook his head gravely, and said that Mrs. Percy would go mad if she did not weep, it was Harcourt who brought little Dorothy to the stricken woman. After the sight of her little daughter had brought the healing grace of tears to Marian, Harcourt returned to his quarters and puffed very hard on his empty pipe. Should he tell her how her husband really died? Captain Percy did not die a hero; he died a coward. Dispatched for reinforcements by the general in command of the English troops, Percy, once away from the battlefield attempted flight, and was shot as he rode away from his duty. Harcourt, informed of the full particulars by Ram Singh. Percy's servant, immediately set out on Percy's mission. He arrived at the main division of the army, hurriedly delivered his message, and rode on ahead of the reinforcements. He was captured by the Zulus and bound to a stake in the midst of a blazing pyre. When he escaped from his position of deadly peril, and returned to the British lines, he found that Percy's body had been found and that Percy was being hailed as the hero of the day. Rather than smirch the dead man's memory, Harcourt kept silent. Despite the fact that he loved her with all his heart and soul, Harcourt did not tell Marian, But two years later the news came out through Ram Singh, and Marian turned to the true man who had sacrificed all for his honor's sake.
- A mischievous little boy employed in a drug store, resents the clerk's domineering manner and vows he'll be revenged. His opportunity comes when the drug clerk compounds a cough remedy. As soon as the clerk has filled the prescription and the customer has departed with the medicine the boy exchanges a bottle containing syrup for one marked poison and then deliberately accuses the clerk of having poisoned someone. The druggist overhears the accusation and after a hasty investigation concludes his clerk is guilty of an awful mistake. The druggist, feeling the responsibility of it all, berates the clerk in loud tones, attracting a crowd of curious people. Great excitement prevails, the clerk is arrested and the customer, described as a man with a basket who bought the supposed poison, is eagerly sought for in all directions. The druggist is seen to run up one street and down another, accosting every man who carries a basket, but in each case he "gets in wrong," for it proves to be the wrong man. He is on the point of giving up the search when he espies a man with a man with a basket entering a house who answers the clerk's description of the customer. He makes a wild dash for the house but not in time to prevent the patient from taking several doses of the "poison." Consternation now reigns in the sick man's house and a mad rush is made for the nearest doctor. in the doctor's office the excitement runs high, but the doctor fails to discover any symptoms of poisoning and suggests they go to the drug store to make a thorough investigation. Arriving at the drug store the mischievous boy becomes frightened at the state of affairs and confesses that he is the cause of the disturbance and it wasn't poison after all. The collapsed sick man immediately regains his equilibrium. The crowd laughs and the chagrined druggist gives the boy "what Paddy gave the drum."
- A fly-by-night dramatic company playing all the "tank towns" on the map, finally comes to grief in Farm City, where they play to the smallest house of the season, receiving only four dollars and thirty cents gross. Having no money with which to pay their hotel bill or railroad transportation they are left high and dry at the mercy of a hard-hearted landlord who refuses to serve them any more meals until money is forthcoming. In the leading lady's room they hold council as to what course to follow. Finally the comedian, having discovered the hotel proprietor's fondness for the game of poker, suggests that they pool what little money they have left, give it to him and he will engage the proprietor in a game and thus enable him to win sufficient money to defray their hotel bill. This is agreed upon and accordingly a little game is started in the private office. The heavy villain occasionally pokes in his head and reports the progress of the game to the others. At first the comedian wins and the outlook is bright, but the tide turns and the comedian loses and is finally cleaned out. The actors are now worse off than ever and at their wits' end. The leading man has meanwhile made the acquaintance of Squire Mudge, a venerable and benevolent townsman who invites him and "a friend or two" to dinner. Quickly returning to the hotel the leading man imparts the joyful information to the rest of the company that at last a square meal is in sight. They lose no time in taking advantage of the offer and are soon seated in the Squire's dining room enjoying a hearty repast. Upon returning to the hotel that night they face a new complication; the cruel hearted proprietor now refuses them even a bed. However, they make the best of the situation by sleeping in the hotel office Where the following morning the good Squire hearing of their dire straits, settles their hotel bill and at the depot supplies them with transportation home and in gratitude the ladies of the company hug and kiss him to the utter disgust of the angry wife who happens upon the scene at that moment and soundly reprimands him while the happy actors are waving goodbye from the rear platform of the departing train.
- Wayne Barrow met Norah Everett in the swimming pool of a gigantic Florida hotel. Their meeting was entirely unconventional. Wayne, peacefully paddling about, was suddenly roused by a terrified shriek, and the spectacle of a young lady, fully dressed, floundering in the water. Norah had fallen overboard while watching the bathers. Wayne saved the young lady from her embarrassing position, and laughingly deprecated her exaggerated thanks. The unusual meeting led to a closer intimacy between the two. Wayne and Norah strolled about under the wonderful southern moon, and grew very fond of each other. Then suddenly Wayne discovered that she was engaged to Phillip Carew. Feeling that life held no more for him. Wayne immediately set off on a surveying trip in the Florida everglades. A short time after he left, Norah and her party went to Palm Beach. Near the famous winter resort, Carew met May Lou, the daughter of a typical Florida "Cracker." The girl's fresh, uncultivated beauty made a deep impression on the young man. He was very attentive to her, greatly to the displeasure of her father, and her sweetheart, Bat Peterson. One day Carew took May Lou out rowing. An attempt to change places resulted in the capsizing of the boat. Carew was rescued by May Lou's father; May Lou disappeared completely. Carew, handed over to the sheriff, speedily found himself in grave danger from the infuriated country folk, who held him responsible for the girl's death. With the sheriff's aid he took refuge in a shack while the sheriff held off the enraged people from the door. Norah and her chaperon, learning of Carew's danger, came to his assistance and managed to enter the shack. A moment later the flimsy building was in flames. May Lou had not been drowned. Washed ashore by the strong current, she had been found by Wayne Barrow returning from his surveying trip. Wayne and the girl arrived just in time to save Carew from a nasty position and then Wayne learned to his delight that he had no rival in Norah's affections.
- While their degenerate descendant sleeps, ancestral portraits come alive and admonish him.
- Mr. Buttinsky is a very benevolent sort of a chap and in trying to help his neighbors and friends who are in trouble gets into a lot of trouble himself. He nearly wrecks the automobile of one of his friends by pounding on a cylinder. Later coming upon a young man talking to his sweetheart at the gate, Buttinsky enters into the conversation and accompanies them into the house. Like a bugle call to his chivalrous soul he stops the leak in a water pipe by placing his hand in the hole and tells the family to send for a plumber. The plumber, who was born with humorous tendencies, instead of stopping the flow of water immediately, goes into the cellar and smokes his pipe. He at length turns the water off and returns upstairs to find Buttinsky about exhausted from fatigue. The astonishment of Buttinsky is supreme when he finds upon removing his hand from the leak that water no longer flows.
- The picture was taken in the Sierra National Forest in California and shows what a wonderful work the United States rangers are doing. We are first shown one of the principal causes of forest fires, that of careless campers failing to extinguish their campfire. Next we see the lone lookout on top of the mountain peak overlooking the entire forest area. He spots the white haze crawling up over the distant ravine and sends the alarm to the forest headquarters over the 'phone. From headquarters the alarm is sent to the nearest ranger and we see him mounting his horse and starting for the fire. In turn each ranger is notified and all arrive at the burning forest, and then begins a fierce fight against the fire. Not by water, but by rake, hoe, brush and most of all by fire itself. The fire getting beyond control, a general alarm is sent in and help is called from the power house, but the fire continues to resist their endeavors and more help is needed. The heliograph is called into play and a message is sent miles across from one mountain peak to another. As a result farmers are called out who, getting on a high speed truck auto, dash to the burning forest. We see a settler driven from his home and all his possessions lost in the flames. And when night closes around we see what a strong lesson has been taught to the few merry campers who left their fire burning by the roadside, never thinking of the future nor of the result. We are shown the pathos and the destruction caused by carelessness.
- Richard Garvie, a prosperous young boatman, owns a small pleasure craft on which he frequently takes his wife and son for short outings. Mabel, his wife, objects strenuously to her husband's disregard of the appearance of the boat. She holds Herbert Wayne, one of his business rivals up to him as a model and asks him why he doesn't buy a new boat and a fine yachting coat with brass buttons. Finally, after working herself up into a terrible fit of temper, Mabel vows never to set her feet in the dirty old tub again. To take a Sunday School class on an outing, Garvie's and Wayne's boats are both engaged. Mabel takes her little son, and true to her promise, refuses to go into her husband's boat. Instead she and her boy go on Wayne's speedier and more up-to-date craft. Suddenly the faster boat is found to be on fire. A dingy is lowered and filled with passengers while Mabel runs down to the cabin for her boy. The smoke pours out, and the boat pushes off without her. After they have left the ship, the crew of the dingy realize that Mabel has been left, but dare not return and endanger the whole boat load. Dick Garvie sees his wife's peril through a glass, and despite the protests of his passengers hurries to her aid. Mabel fastens a life-belt on her little son, throws him overboard, and sinks fainting on the deck. The boy is picked up by the other life-boat. Dick nearing his rival's boat, plunges overboard, climbs aboard the burning craft, picks up the unconscious Mabel and swims back to his own boat. In the last scene, Richard and Mabel are shown at the wharf. He steps into his boat, and reappears, dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons. She smiles at him a little wistfully, and then coming closer asks him softly to forgive her. Then, with the boy in her arms, she steps aboard the once despised boat.
- Annie, the janitor's 3-year-old brace-wearing daughter, is neglected by her quarrelsome parents. She finds the door ajar and crawls out and up the stairs. A young girl on the first floor is tempted to go out for a wild night; her mother has been unable to dissuade her. As she opens the door to go, Annie crawls in. In a few minutes the girl goes back to the mirror and takes off her finery. Annie, neglected again, crawls out and upstairs again. On the second floor an ex-convict is contemplating a burglary. He is making ready when Annie knocks at the door. When she comes in the man takes her up and kisses her. He puts away his burglar's kit and Annie crawls out and up again. On the third floor there is trouble between a pair of lovers. The girl does not want to marry, she wants a career, so the young man says goodbye, but as he opens the door, Annie crawls up. He picks her up, shows the lame leg to the girl. The girl hugs Annie and Annie hugs them both together. Naturally the young man puts her down and turns his whole attention to the young lady. Annie crawls out. On the fourth floor, a seamstress is sewing at the machine and her little girl, about Annie's age, is trying to attract her attention. The mother slaps the child, who cries; Annie crawls in and the two start to play together. The woman notices this, picks up her own child, hugs her and feels her little limbs which, unlike Annie's are sound and whole, and so neglected, Annie must go out and climb on. By now she is so tired that she can hardly crawl up the remaining stairs. On the top floor a young man, a stranger in the city, is contemplating suicide. He is alone, friendless, and in despair. Annie comes sleepily in. He picks her up and she falls asleep in his arms. Very gently he carries her downstairs again. The janitor and his wife are still quarreling, but when the young man appears with Annie fast asleep, they are silent, look at the sleeping child, and draw each other close.