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- Thornton Darcy, an idealistic poet, is at work upon an allegorical poem which he calls "Virtue." He devotes the first part of it to picturing the idyllic state of the earth prior to the advent of evil in which Virtue is the world's guiding spirit. Virtue is represented by a nude female figure, artlessly adorned with filmy drapery. In the second part he introduces the Greek myth of Pandora, who releases Evil on the world. Finishing his work for the day, Darcy falls into a light doze and upon awakening discovers that his dream girl, Virtue, has come to life in the person of a young woman clad in a simple homemade dress kneeling on the bank of the stream gathering flowers. They become acquainted and he learns that her name is Purity Worth, and that she lives near the woods in a humble secluded home. She makes an instant appeal to Darcy as he does to her and they repeat the meeting in the woods, with the result that they fall in love and are engaged, in spite of the fact that there is no immediate prospect of marriage, owing to Darcy'e reduced circumstances. Darcy is unable to sell his poems, and the publisher will not print them for less than five hundred dollars. Claude Lamarque, a painter, strolling in the woods, sees Purity bathing in a stream. He later succeeds in meeting Purity and makes her an offer to pose for him. She refuses, but accepts his card. Purity receives word from Darcy that he is ill in bed and begging her to come with him. His final effort to publish his book of poems has met with refusal. Unselfishly seeking t aid him, she goes to Lamarque, secures five hundred dollars in advance with a promise to repay him by posing for him, and earning money from other artists, and at once turns the money over to the publisher to bring out Darcy's book. She binds the publisher to secrecy. Darcy is confined to his bed with a siege of illness, and is only saved from death by the happy turn. Purity guards from him the secret of her share in it. In the meantime, she poses regularly for Lamarque. Through his interest in her he secures an engagement for her to pose in imitation of marble statuary at a fete given by a fashionable young widow, Judith Lure. No sooner is Darcy's book published than it excites instant attention and praise, and he becomes the lion of the hour. In the meantime, Luston Black, an acquaintance of Lamarque, having caught a glimpse of Purity posing for the artist, has become infatuated with her. He assumes that because of her position as a model he will have an easy conquest. But Purity, despite her innocence, sense his base motives and spurns him. Darcy, accepting an invitation to visit Lamarque, comes into the studio while Black is pressing his attentions upon Purity. He thrashes Black, who taunts the poet with the fact that his fiancée is posing in the nude. Darcy will not believe it. Purity acknowledges the truth. Darcy will not listen to Purity's explanations and casts her off. A short time later the poet sees Lamarque's finished picture of "Virtue." Darcy is quick to read the great truth that the picture is intended to convey and upon learning that Purity was the instrument through which his poems were published, hastens to her. They are happily reunited.
- John Montgomery, young, rich and of fine family, is eagerly sought after by the elite of old San Francisco. He and Ellie Fenwick meet for a moment at a hall, and are mutually attracted. Montgomery's impulsiveness and generosity cause him to fall an easy prey to Willie Felton, leader of a fast set, who introduces the young man to Martin Rood's gambling house. Rood, seeing in Montgomery a lamb to be shorn, quickly fleeces him of a large part of his fortune and then persuades him to invest the rest in a bogus mining deal. The young San Franciscan finds himself penniless. Meanwhile, he has met Carlotta Valencia, mistress of Rood, who develops for Montgomery the first real affection she has ever felt for any man. He is infatuated with her beauty and cleverness, and when he begins to hear evil stories against her, he stoutly defends this Spanish woman of doubtful arts. Montgomery's own reputation is sullied because of his associates, and only Ellie Fenwick continues to have faith in his inherent nobility. She believes Montgomery more sinned against than sinning. Her father, however, will not permit her to have anything to do with the man she loves. Montgomery, denied the companionship of the one woman who might have redeemed him, turns for consolation to Carlotta. One morning early, Ellie is returning from the market to prepare a birthday breakfast for her father. Passing Rood's gambling house, she hears a pistol shot. Through the swinging doors of the bar-room, the proprietor of the resort falls out dead. Montgomery, with a smoking revolver in his hand, leaps out after him, and the next instant, flinging away the weapon, has fled. Ellie, panic-stricken, hurries home, where she tells her father and District Attorney Dingley what she has seen. Nobody else has witnessed the incident, and Ellie, violently against her own will, is obliged to serve as chief witness for the state. Carlotta lures the girl to her house and tries to bribe her into silence. When this fails, she attempts to induce her to drink a cup of poisoned wine. Ellie, however, is on her guard. Her father has made her feel that it is her duty to God and to society to testify against the man she loves. Montgomery is convicted of the murder. As he is leaving the courthouse a band of Mexican horsemen, hirelings of Carlotta, enact his rescue. He and the Spanish woman plot to flee the country together. A chance meeting with Ellie, however, causes Montgomery to resolve to leave the city alone and start life over again. He writes Carlotta his intention. Ellie is driving him in her carriage to the borders of the town when both are arrested by the sheriff's posse. The girl flees, taking refuge in Carlotta's house. She finds the beautiful Spaniard sitting erect in a chair, dead. A written confession in her own hand reveals that it was she who murdered Rood. Later, Perez, Carlotta's servant, corroborates the story, throwing light on Montgomery's heroism in shielding the guilty woman. Montgomery is exonerated. He begins life anew, with Ellie as his wife.
- Bertie is an embryonic botanist. He is pottering with some flowers in the garden, when Nell, the idol of his dreams, passes. He runs out and escorts her home, pleading soulfully with her to marry him. Nell is a full-blooded western girl, and while she admires Bertie for many things, she prefers a real man for a husband. News comes from Nell's uncle, in Red Cloud, that he is going to sell out his store, and go back to Vermont. Nell and her mother set out for Red Cloud, and Bertie, determined to prove himself a man, accompanies them. At Tucson the stage is late, and growing impatient, Nell and Bertie start out for Red Cloud on foot. Bertie purchases a burro to pack their baggage, and it happens to be a burro formerly in the employ of "Tiger Jack," the lone bandit, who has caused the community to quake with fear. The Tucson, Red Cloud stage is held up by "Tiger Jack," and with the property of the passengers, he makes off into the hills. Bertie and Nell and the burro are plodding along toward Red Cloud. Bertie's time is divided between making love to Nell and rhapsodizing over the botanical specimens along the way. He does not observe the disappearance of the burro, and eventually is forced to desert Nell while he goes in pursuit of the wayward animal. Instinctively, the burro wanders into the hiding place of "Tiger Jack," and, a moment later, Bertie encounters the bad man. Bertie is timid until "Tiger Jack" contemptuously destroys Nell's hat, which is on the burro's pack-saddle. Then, the botanist loses his temper and wallops the bandit. He is putting the finishing touches upon the bandit, when Nell comes up. She is amazed at the powers of her lover, and lavishes congratulations upon him. He takes it in a matter-of-fact sort of way, and calls for a rope. When the sheriff's posse rides up, a few moments later, "Tiger Jack" is helplessly bound. The sheriff informs Bertie that he is entitled to the $5,000 reward offered for the capture of the outlaw, and the story closes with the botanist enriched by a bank roll and a bride.
- John Smith has devoted the best years of his life to an invention which he firmly believes will revolutionize the engineering world. His efforts to bring the people likely to be interested to his way of thinking have reduced him to a state of abject poverty, but never for a moment has it shaken his faith in the value of his invention nor soured his happy optimistic nature. Day after day he makes the weary round, hugging close to his breast his precious plans and each day getting nearer and nearer to the jumping off place, only to return each night to his garret near the roof, tired and footsore, but never discouraged. At last his efforts in the search for consideration are rewarded and Howard Livingston, a wealthy civil engineer, is interested to the extent of granting him an interview. He has adopted a family of waifs, as happy and hungry as he himself is and shares with them his " Chambers near the roof" and the few crusts he manages to absorb. He takes them with him when he goes to the rich man's house to expiate on the wonders of his life's work. He is kindly received by the daughter of the house, who, womanlike, at once recognizes the nobility of the character the shabby coat cannot hide. The children are taken care of and he is delicately offered the food he so much needs. His pride won't allow him to accept any well-meant hospitality, but the close proximity of real food is too much for his impoverished constitution and he collapses in a dead faint. In this unconscious condition his would-be benefactor's partner robs him of his precious plans. He is discovered by the daughter and duly revived but when asked by her father to produce his documents, finds that they have vanished. He is denounced as an impostor and leaves the house dazed and heartbroken. He wanders the streets all night and is found by a friendly policeman early the next morning asleep on a park bench. He is taken to what he is pleased to call his home. In the meantime, however, the kind fates have not neglected him. The unscrupulous partner was seen taking the plans from the fellow's pockets and is denounced. They are returned to their owner by Livingston who, realizing their value, is pleased to offer Smith employment and a just share in the profits.
- "Damaged Goods" pictures the terrible consequences of vice and the physical ruin that follows the abuse of moral law. It is a stirring plea for a pure life before marriage, in order to make impossible the transmission of unhealthy hereditary traits to future generations.
- Hal, the rich and good-for-nothing son of a rich man, is thrown out by his father after another night out. He ends up in the West and living with a gold digger. He'll help him with his daughter and they all will become fond of each other.
- An argument between Johann Wagner, a music teacher, and Henri Dupin, a fencing master, is the cause of blighting their warm friendship. Intending to separate their son and daughter, Karl and Elsie, who are in love, they both seek new quarters, but unknown to each other, come to the same boarding house. Thus reunited, Karl and Elsie determine to marry. The two young people follow the advice of Mrs. Flannigan. the landlady, and hasten to the city clerk's office and declare their intentions of becoming citizens of the United States. Next they proceed to the parson's and are made man and wife. Time passes very slowly for the two old fathers, but not even Mrs. Flannigan, the genial landlady, can effect a treaty of peace between them. Neither can she prevail on them to forgive their children. At last one day Mrs. Flannigan comes with the good news that an heir has been born to the young house of Wagner. Both fathers don their best clothes and go to their home prepared to forgive all. When they meet at the crib side of the infant, however, their animosity returns, only to be soothed away forever by their grandchild's gurgle. Deciding that the most fitting celebration they can indulge in will be to take out citizenship in the grand old U.S.A., Grandfather Wagner and Grandfather Dupin leave arm in arm for the clerk's office.
- Ward Curtis, president of a development company, comes to the western town of Los Huesos with his daughter, Wynne, to investigate a report made by one of his field scouts that there is a gold stream on the land occupied by the Bar C outfit. The Bar C people have no legal title to the land, but they have terrorized the neighborhood, and intimidated the government officials. The land is used for grazing purposes, and the Bar C people know nothing about the gold stream. There has also come to Los Huesos a cowpuncher known only as "The Stranger," the only man who refuses to be intimidated by Bar C crowd. Curtis meets the Stranger, who consents to assist Curtis in his undertaking, hoping to win favor with Wynne. She is mildly interested in him, but is disappointed and bored by the town and its people, and after a week or so packs her bags and leaves for home, saying that the Stranger is the only picturesque thing she has seen in this land of lizards. Near the Bar C holdings is a small sheep ranch operated by Dave Moore and his daughter, Bobbie, as a blind to cover more important operations, by moonlight Moore secretly pans the gold stream on the Bar C ranch. Bobbie maintains a disguise as a boy for her own protection from the lawless cowpunchers, and to keep them from becoming interested in her father's affairs. The Stranger sets out to investigate the placer site, and stops at the Moore cabin to make inquiries about the Bar C crowd. He meets Bobbie without suspecting her disguise, and she manifests considerable interest in him. The Stranger locates the placer stream, but is observed by Moore, who hastens to the land office and files on the creek bed. By moonlight Moore builds on his claim, but is discovered by one of the Bar C outlaws and killed. The Stranger, who has set up his camp in a blind canyon known as the "Cow's Mouth" near the creek, hears the exchange of shots, gets into the scrap and drives away the outlaw, then brings Moore's body to Bobbie. The Bar C crowd, led by Moran, set out to "get" the Stranger. They come to Bobbie's cabin, but she directs them to town. They search the town, then decide that Bobbie has lied to them, and start again for her cabin. The Stranger discovers that Bobbie is a girl, and falls in love with her. He leaves the cabin and goes to the Cow's Mouth to "hide out" from the Bar C crowd. The Bar C boys come to Bobbie's cabin, and she is handled brutally by Moran to get her to tell what has become of the Stranger. Her hat falls off, and her secret is discovered. Moran claims her as his personal prize, and they set off to pursue the Stranger. They see him enter the narrow passage into the Cow's Mouth. Inside he starts a grass fire, then slips out with his horse through a secret passage which is unknown to the Bar C fellows. Leaving one of their number to guard Bobbie, the others go in after the Stranger, but are soon driven out by the fire. As they come single file through the passage the Stranger picks off the first two or three with his gun; the rest surrender. Moran is one of the men who was killed. Bobbie is taken to the Bar C ranch house by the outlaws. The Stranger rides into town and turns his captives over to the authorities, and enlists the men there to go to Bobbie's rescue. Later, as Bobbie and the Stranger are about to board a train for their honeymoon, Curtis rushes up to them and announces that, by the death of her father, Bobbie is now the owner of the gold stream claim.
- Bill McCurdy, an outlaw, brings his second wife, a refined woman, to [his] ranch. Here, they meet Pat McCurdy, a brother of Bill, who reprimands Bill for his duplicity. The shock is too much for Bill's second wife and she collapses. Meanwhile, Pat has informed Bill's first wife of her husband's wrongdoing, and together they ride to Bill's ranch, where they are told that the doctor who attended her has escorted her to the home of her friend, the U. S. Marshal. A few minutes after the arrival of the doctor and Mrs. Mary McCurdy, Pat and Bill's first wife come upon the scene. Bill is about to shoot his lawful wife when the outlaws stop him and lead him away. The doctor and Mary plight their troth and soon are married.
- While passing over the palace of a king, the Spirit of Dreams discovers a troubled state of affairs. The people are poor and terrorized, the king is a lecherous tyrant, and love and happiness are nowhere to be found. So he picks out several people--including the king and his unhappy daughter, who is in love with a poor peasant boy that the king has thrown in prison--and casts a "dream rose" upon them. Each has a dream that gives them a different perspective on their own situation and a possible solution to them.
- Caleb and Blind Bertha are seen at work. John Perrybingle and his sweetheart, Dot, are seen at the May Pole dance. John takes Dot to see their future home. Old Tackleton, who wants Edward's sweetheart for his wife, is insulting in his action to May and is knocked down by Edward, who really fears he has killed him. This compels Edward to escape and we see Tackleton on his recovery avenging on the poor father the son's action. Caleb is rendered poorer and poorer, but through it all he maintains a stout heart in order to conceal the real situation of their poverty from his blind daughter. Dot and John are married and oh, what a wonderful baby Tilly Slowboy has to take care of, and my, how the cricket chirps in their happy home. May, to save her father, consents to marry old Tackleton, and we see them on the way to the church. Edward comes back, though, and old Tackleton turns out better than we thought. Edward and May are married and then what a homecoming they all have. And how happy old Caleb is to find his son has come home to him. And the cricket never stops his chirping. You know Dickens says, "To have a cricket on the hearth is the luckiest thing in all the world."
- Orphan Mary Wade is the ward of a family of farmers who keep her busy with drudgery. When Mr. Jenkins, the head of the household, makes advances to Mary, she flees to the city with her dog Zippy and lands in court for imitating a beggar who pretends to be blind. Harry Disbrow, a young millionaire in court for drunkenness, takes Mary home to his family, who take her in as a servant. Mr. Disbrow, a trust officer, has a partner, Horton, who has been stealing from the firm and who wishes to have his daughter Maud marry Harry to minimize the consequences of his crimes. Desperate to shore up his business, Disbrow demands that Horton reveal the whereabouts of certain securities, which fall out of Horton's pocket during the course of the confrontation. The struggle between the two men is resolved when Mary crashes a vase over Horton's head. Taken to the heart of the Disbrow family, Mary wins Harry's affections as well.
- This serial told the story of the diamond heir loom of the Stanley family.
- Dr. Charles Matthews, professor of philosophy in a small New England college, is dismissed, and though heartbroken he and his daughter, Prudence, start in a prairie schooner for the west. At St. Jo, which in 1850 was the outfitting point for the great west, they meet Calliope, so maned because of the vast carrying quality of his lungs. He accompanies them on their journey. On the way west, it falls to Calliope's lot to do them many little services, which, on account of the native modesty of Pru and the innate manhood of Calliope, are necessarily surreptitious. They lose one horse and Calliope saves the other from the hands of a thievish outlaw, compelling the latter to give up his own for the use of the immigrants. Later Dr. Matthews, spent with the exactions of a trip for which nature never intended him, dies, and is buried by Pru, alone in the wastes of the desert. In her great loneliness she feels the protecting presence of Calliope, who is always a little behind, yet ever in sight, and at length, in a moment of dread, when she seems but a little speck in vast expanse of the world, a note reaches her by way of a limb stretched across the trail, offering her the heart and hand and home of Calliope. The love situations are purely psychological, as the characters barely meet face to face, yet a love interest pervades the entire story, culminating in the complete surrender of Pru, to the happiness of Calliope.
- Magda, the daughter of Colonel Schwartz, a retired army officer, runs away from her home in Germany, and goes to Paris, hoping to gain fame as an opera singer. Her leave taking breaks her father's heart and brings on a stroke of paralysis, which almost results in his death. After months of careful nursing, he partially recovers, and thereafter, forbids even the mention of Magda's name in his presence. In Paris the years pass, and Magda failing to realize her ambitions, is reduced to abject poverty, and finally, rather than sell her honor, becomes a common beggar of the streets. Then, one day, penniless and starving, she enters a Bohemian café, in the Latin Quartier and sings for the price of a meal. Here she is seen and recognized by an old friend of her childhood days, Karl Von Kellar, who has come to Paris to study law. Learning the pathetic story of Magda's struggles and failure, he takes her to his apartment, and in the course of events she becomes his mistress. After months of happiness, Von Kellar begins to tire of Magda, and then, one day, he is called back to Germany by the death of his father. A few months later, Magda's child is born, but pride prevents her from communicating the fact to Von Kellar, who has apparently forgotten her. Again reduced to poverty, and cast out upon the streets by a heartless landlord, she wanders up and down the highways, singing, her baby clutched to her breast. Later, to save her child from starvation, and with the promise of attaining the goal of her life's ambition, a musical career, she becomes the mistress of Antony D'Arcy, a rising young operatic manager. Years pass, and Magda, now a famous opera singer, known as Maddalina Dall Orto, arrives at the principal hotel in her home city, to attend a big musical festival. At the governor's ball that night, which she attends, as the guest of honor, she is instantly recognized by Von Kellar, who is now a dignified and eminently respectable counselor of state. Meanwhile Colonel Schwartz, learning that the distinguished guest of the governor's is Magda his daughter, is prevailed upon to forgive her, and take her back. With her numerous servants and pets, Magda takes up her quarters in the old home, and bedazzles her bumble family with the wealth of her jewels and the magnificence of her wardrobe. At a loss to understand how she has attained so much good fortune and fame, her father becomes suspicious, and questions her persistently regarding her past life in Paris. Then Von Kellar pays a call, and learns for the first time of his child, now a youngster of seven, attending a private academy in Paris. Magda denounces Von Kellar. When Von Kellar has departed, Magda's father, who has overheard enough to confirm his suspicions confronts Magda and brutally forces a confession from her. In a towering rage, he writes Von Kellar a note, threatening to kill him, unless he consents to an immediate marriage with Magda. Fearing public exposure, and realizing that Magda's position in the world of art, will lend a certain dignity to his political prestige. Von Kellar calls on Colonel Schwartz and heartily agrees to an immediate marriage with his daughter. Alone with Magda, however, Von Kellar refuses to make her his wife, unless she agrees to keep all knowledge of their child a secret from the world. In a burst of outraged pride, she is furiously denouncing him, when her father enters, and learning what has passed between them, promises Von Kellar that he will force Magda to marry him as she is no longer in a position to choose the conditions under which she will become the honorable wife of her child's father. After Kellar has left, Colonel Schwartz locks all the doors, and arming himself with a revolver, threatens to kill both Magda and himself unless she consents to marry Von Kellar at once. She refuses to abandon her child, and as her father slowly raises the pistol to her heart, he is seized with a stroke of paralysis and falls back dead. Flinging herself upon her knees by her father's dead body, Magda sobs out her misery and grief, as the story concludes.
- Young Bettina Warren inherits a construction camp. She brings along her lawyer, Walter Daniels, to inspect the camp and to run it until Bettina gets married. However, Daniels' heavy-handed management style--which included firing popular and experienced foreman Herb "Overalls" Drew and replacing him with inexperienced and roughneck alcoholic Buck Savage and his cronies--results in tensions boiling up in the crew, who wants Savage thrown out and "Overalls" brought back, a sentiment shared by Bettina because she has fallen in love with him. Daniels, however, is determined to do things his way. Complications ensue.
- Willoughby Whipple, son of a New Yorker, invests his all in a rundown country newspaper, after his father discharged him for writing poetry, instead of attending to business. The paper turns out to be a "lemon," but Willoughby is determined to make a success of it. With the assistance of Virginia Winters, a practical young woman of high ideals, and "Daddy" Eggleston, a tramp printer, whose worst enemy is drink, "The Bugle" finally shows signs of coming to life. Then, Squire Barton, who has announced himself as a candidate for mayor, and who owns the building in which "The Bugle" office is located, calls on Willoughby, and offers him rent free if he will agree to boost the Squire's candidacy. In the next issue of "The Bugle," Willoughby denounces the Squire a grafter, and exposes his attempt at bribery. Meanwhile, Willoughby has protected Virginia from the unwelcome advances of Spence, the Squire's son, and has gained his enmity. As a result the Squire calls on Willoughby and orders him to get out of his building. When Willoughby goes in search of a new location, he discovers that the Squire owns every other available store building in the town. Not to be beaten, Willoughby moves his print shop into a tent, and later, in a public encounter, threatens to get even with the Squire, and defeat his candidacy for mayor. To get Willoughby out of the way, the Squire plans to set fire to the old Bugle building, and to use Willoughby's threat as evidence that he committed the crime for revenge. The night that the Squire plans to commit the outrage, "Daddy" Eggleston goes on a spree, and through force of habit wanders back to the old Bugle office, now an empty storeroom, and falls asleep on an old abandoned couch. Later, he catches the Squire in the act of saturating the premises with coal-oil, and in a struggle that follows, is knocked senseless. Regaining consciousness, "Daddy" discovers the building on fire, and drags himself into an old vault, to escape the flames. The building burns down, and Willoughby, reminded of his threat to "get even" with the Squire, is arrested, charged with the crime. While an angry mob clamors about the jail, Virginia telegraphs Willoughby's father, who starts for Homeville. The mob has broken into the jail and are about to drag Willoughby forth, when a tramp, looking about over the ruins, discovers "Daddy" Eggleston's dead body in the old brick vault. "Daddy," who has died of suffocation, has left a chalked message on the vault wall, implicating the Squire. The discovery exonerates Willoughby, and the Squire and his son, Spence, meet with their just desserts. The citizens of the town nominate Willoughby for mayor in the Squire's stead, and are carrying him aloft on their shoulders, with shouts and cheers, when Willoughby's father speeds into Homeville. When Willoughby announces his engagement to Virginia, the old man is so proud of his boy that he promises to build him the finest newspaper office in the state for a wedding present.
- John Dale runs a small, decent road house on a main trail between distant towns. Nell is his right-hand man. Nell has a half-witted brother, Zeb. She keeps their house and tends the small bar in Dale's absence. Zeb is trusted only with simple, odd jobs about the place. Nell is self-reliant and well able to hold the guests of the place at their proper distance. She is devoted to her incompetent brother. Bart Trevis and young Remsen are rivals for her favor. Trevis is favored and Remsen is not. Through circumstantial evidence Trevis is involved in a crime, Though innocent, he dare not risk standing trial. He escapes to the road house, tells Nell of the fix he is in and asks her to jump the country with him. He remains hidden there for the day, Zeb nearly betrays him while the pursuing sheriff and his son also stop at the road house. But in the end Zeb makes a supreme sacrifice and Nell runs away with Bart at nightfall.
- Nell, the Mexican girl, trusted Ned, the young prospector. She trusted him with her honor and all that a woman holds sacred. She loved him. He was young and rash, but not bad at heart and he did not weigh sufficiently the seriousness of his relationship with Nell. Joe, Ned's partner, loved Nell too. He was an older, saner man than Ned, and in a spirit of noble-sacrifice, held back and encouraged the young folks in their love. But youthful love is sometimes impatient and that impatience conquered the discretion of Nell and Ned, and when the girl realized what she had done, she pleaded with Ned to marry her and save her honor. He bade her wait until he could take her back to his people in the East. Jose, Nell's brother, overheard the girl's plea and challenged Ned for an explanation. They were about to clash in combat when Joe interposed and learned the strained condition of affairs. He sent the Mexican on his way and broken-hearted, told his young comrade that they must part. This blow was terrible to Ned, for he loved Joe better than a brother, but his plea was in vain. Joe left all the gold to Ned, save one nugget and went away. No sooner had Joe gone than Jose stole in upon Ned and killed him. When Nell learned of her lover's death, she ran distractedly to his side and hysterically pleaded with him to come back to life and save her honor. A ranger found her beside the body and took her to her home. Jose confessed his crime and was arrested. Poor Nell was turned away from her home disgraced. A kindly neighbor took her in and reduced to an outcast, as subject of pity and charity, she began to pine her young life away. After a week of terrible suffering, she could stand it no longer and going to the grave of Ned, she bade him good-by and seeking a secluded spot, was about to plunge a knife into her heart, when she discovered before her the " Shrine of Lourdes." A new spirit entered her heart, and looking out across the desert, she saw the Mission blazing white in the sun, beckoning her to come, where rest was waiting. The Mother Superior took her in and the doors of the Mission closed on the suffering of the world. Then is was that Joe returned, and learning of the tragedy of his young companion, he sought the grave. Nell was there in the garb of a man strewing the grave with flowers. The Mother Superior was with her. Joe pleaded with her to give up her seclusion and come with him, but the Mother turned her away and led her back to the Mission. Joe followed, pleading for his love, but the church had taken the girl to the solacing comfort of its bosom. The big oaken doors closed up on Nell, and brokenhearted, Joe turned back to struggle on alone in the world.
- A wandering cowboy is hired by a ranch owner. When the other cowboys show the newcomer their refusal he turns to his donkey pal and his usual loneliness. Then his boss'daughter comes home wanting to experience Western life and the pilgrim feels attracted to her.
- Old Ben Hoover, with his wife and two pretty daughter, managed to eke out a precarious livelihood, raking alfalfa and helping generally on the big ranch. John Rich, foreman, had long made love to Mabel, but she did not return his affection. A day came when Rich went to her parents. They readily gave consent. Out of the prairie rode a handsome young man, dressed in fashionable riding garments and mounted on an expensive, sleek-looking mare. He dismounted in the bushes and hastily changed his clothes, appearing before the foreman as a day worker in quest of labor. Rich eyed him carefully and finally handed him a rake. The young man proved a poor workman, however, for he soon found Mabel's company much too enticing for heavy work. On the way home that night he made love to her and found a not unwilling listener. Rich, also called, and finding but little comfort in Mabel's unresponsive mood, attempted to kiss her by force. Just then the newcomer stepped in and an inspiring fight followed. The following morning Rich peremptorily discharged father, mother and the two daughters, while the newcomer leaned on his rake and blandly smiled. Then Rich turned to him. The newcomer, with a well-aimed blow, laid Rich on his back in the alfalfa, and turning to the other workers, quietly drew a card from his pocket. Rich arose from the grass in time to hear the name of the ranch owner and to discover that he had been kicked about by that very person. Later the newcomer called on the old folks and formerly asked the hand of their daughter. The old man refused to hear him at first, believing him to cause of their trouble, but when his magic name was whispered in the old fellow's ear, a transformation tool place, and, you can easily imagine, there was but little trouble in convincing the girl that the time to marry had come.
- Brian Leonard is a millionaire whose sole occupation is the amassing of wealth. He is cold, hard, and the element of love has been almost extinguished. In this environment, his motherless, loveless daughter, Bona, grew up to womanhood. Ursula, Leonard's mistress, inveigles him into marriage, and when he learns that she is playing fast and loose with his affections, he makes a will in which he leaves the major portion of his estate to Bona, and bequeaths an income upon Ursula. Learning of this, Ursula plans to gain possession of his estate in the event of his death, and to further her ends she endeavors to bring about the marriage of her son, Neal, and Bona. But Bona detests Neal. Then Ursula recalls a remark of Leonard's that should Bona ever bring disgrace upon his name, he would disown her. She conspires with Caleb Giles, a society idler, to affect Bona's ruin. When she begs him to marry her, he refuses. Bona confesses to Ursula and Neal is persuaded to again ask her to marry him. Believing Neal's love to be sincere. Bona agrees. Shortly before the wedding Neal is killed in a gambling row. Disgrace now seems inevitable and Bona determines to commit suicide. She goes to the wharf, but is prevented in her purpose by the Reverend Lewis Dunstan, who takes her to her father. When Leonard hears her story he disowns her. Rev. Dunstan denounces him for his heartlessness, but this results only in his being forced to resign his pastorate. Dunstan takes Bona to his home, where she is cared for by his mother. The child dies and Bona enters settlement work. Giles, a fugitive from justice for the murder of Neal, enters the settlement home one day, in a dying condition. On his deathbed he sends for Ursula and Leonard and confesses the conspiracy. Bona is forgiven and both Leonard and Ursula see the folly of their pursuit of wealth. They begin anew to live for love, and it is obvious that Bona and Dunstan will eventually marry.
- At the death of her father, Viviana is forced to seek employment. She obtains a position in a photographer's establishment. There she meets George Perry, a wealthy young man about town, and he is attracted by the girl. When she leaves that evening, George in his high power car is waiting for her. Waiting for Viviana becomes a daily affair with George, and at length he succeeds in inducing the girl to accompany him to a café, instructing her to tell her mother that she must work that evening. Meanwhile George's sister, Adele, is flattered by the attention of Harry Fowler, a matinee idol. The two become constant companions. Drink and carousing cause Fowler's discharge. Reaching his bachelor apartment, he finds a note from Adele, in which the girl agrees to his suggestion that they elope. Perry receives a call from an old college chum, who is interested in uplift work. Personal aid of Perry is solicited. Viviana returns one night to the studio for her forgotten purse, and is asked to deliver a delayed package addressed to George Perry. She goes to his apartment, and Perry, delighted, induces the girl to remain for a time. Perry steps across the hall into the room of Fowler, where he finds the note that his Sister has written to the actor. Then he encounters Adele in the hall. Angrily he tells her that Fowler is married, and in reply to Perry's denunciation of him, Fowler taunts Perry about the girl in his own room. Adele has learned her lesson and so has Perry. As his sister leaves, George returns to his apartment, and takes Viviana in his own car to her own home. Perry awakens to a realization of his wasted time and misspent energies. He resolves to devote himself to the big work of human helpfulness. He joins his chum Howarth in his work at a mission, where he helps care for the poor, and among other things holds out a helping hand to a chorus girl, whom Fowler has started in a downward path. At length Perry proves to his own conscience that he is worthy of Viviana's love. He goes to her and asks her to become his wife, and in a burst of happy tears she gives her promise.
- Captain Frank Marvin and Lieut. Bob Chase are army draftsmen in the Ordnance Department. Marvin is working on plans for a submarine that is expected to revolutionize warfare. One of the foreign governments is anxious to obtain the plans. Valpar, an agent of this government, attempts to bribe Frank but fails. Frank is in love with Bob's sister Ruth. Valpar learns that Bob's weakness is women, and inveigles into his scheme his niece, Zena. Bob becomes infatuated with Zena, and Zena puts Bob to the supreme test of his love. Although as she says she is engaged to another, she will flee with him providing he steals the submarine plans. He steals the plans and delivers them to Zena. She tells him she will be ready to go with him in one hour. When he returns at the end of that time, Zena has vacated her apartments. Bob realizes he has been tricked. In desperation he leaves a note for Ruth, confessing all and saying he is going to end his life. Frank in the meantime has discovered the loss. Aware that he alone is responsible for the plans he sends a note to Ruth telling of their loss, and declaring he is going to die. When Ruth receives the note she rushes into Bob's room to obtain his assistance, and there finds a note that Bob left. Rushing to the telephone Ruth attempts to call up Frank. The line is busy. Zena during this time has delivered the plans to her uncle. They attempt to catch a train but miss it. There is not another train until morning and they take connecting rooms at a hotel. Zena realizes that she really loves Bob and pleads with her uncle to allow her to return the plans. When he scoffs at her entreaty, she grabs the plans and runs into her own room, locking the door, and imprisoning Valpar. Frank has gone to the docks to commit suicide, but he determines to make a final search of the safe, thinking perhaps he might have misplaced the plans. Zena telephones to Frank's office, in hope of locating Bob. Her telephone call halts Bob's suicide, and he rushes from the office, leaving his revolver on Frank's desk. Arriving in his office, Frank again looks for the plans, but his search is futile. He sees the revolver and believes that Bob has learned from Ruth the loss of the plans and that Bob has invoked the code of honor of the army to save him from disgrace. Ruth dons one of Bob's uniforms and hastens to avert the tragedy, if possible. Bob reaches Zena just as Valpar breaks down the door connecting the two rooms. Valpar, seeing that the game is up, flees. As Zena and Bob embrace, Bob suddenly remembers leaving the revolver on Frank's desk. Knowing that he is bound to discover the loss of the plans and that in finding the revolver he will believe suspicion has been directed against him, he hurriedly returns to the barracks with Zena. Ruth in Bob's uniform is making her way to Frank's room, when she is jostled by an intoxicated soldier. Her hat falls off revealing her long hair. Quick explanations follow and Bob and Ruth hurry to Frank's office. Confessions and explanations are made, Frank forgives Bob, and two marriages follow.
- Jack Merrill was prosperous. He possessed, but did not wholly deserve the love of his patient little wife and daughter. His besetting sin was selfishness. The home which would have been beautiful and attractive to Jack did not mean to him what home implies to the well regulated mind. The club, with its poker game and convivial highball, occupied the evenings that should have brought happiness to the wife and baby, who loved and longed alone. Yes, Jack was selfish. One night, while keeping the lonely vigil, her heart aching with her husband's neglect, the wife resorts to strategy in the hope of regaining her loved one. Jack arrives at this home in a rather unsteady condition. On his library table he discovers the note. Alice secretly observes him from behind the portieres and feeling that his punishment has been sufficient, sends baby in to relieve the situation. Baby clasps her papa's knees just as he is about to fire the shot which would have ended his life. His hand is stayed. "Where is mamma?" he asks. Baby points to the bedroom. "Mamma and you have been playing a little joke on daddy, eh? Yes. Well, you go and tell mamma I want to see her." Baby runs out of the room to obey. Jack revolves the matter in his mind and determines to turn the tables.