- Kindhearted Charles Wendel, who has built his pushcart grocery business into a prosperous enterprise, adopts little eight-year-old Mary Brian after her mother dies in poverty. The little girl becomes the angel of the house, beloved by all. Wendel's dream is that his son Ralph will carry on the business, but when Ralph graduates from college, he decides that he is too good for the grocery business. Instead, he goes to work in a bank where he falls prey to swindlers who convince him to forge his father's name on a $100,000 check. When the forgery is discovered, the old man covers the check at the cost of his own financial ruin. Ralph, chagrined, leaves home to make good and soon after returns, prosperous, to wed Mary and restore the fortune and happiness of the Wendel family.—Pamela Short
- Mary's widowed mother dies and leaves her penniless at the tender age of eight. Charles Wendel, the kindly old corner grocer, after consultation with Mrs. Wendel, adopts Mary and she soon becomes the dominating spirit in the Wendel household, even inducing rather tough little Ralph Wendel, ten years old, to stop smoking cigarettes. Wendel opens a new store in honor of his son, Ralph's, return from college. It is his idea to take Ralph into partnership. Mary is delighted with the prospect of Ralph's return, for she loves him, but there is a disappointment in store for the Wendel household, for Ralph has changed from a likable, unassuming boy to a supercilious, high and mighty man. Wendel shows Ralph his new store and proposes the partnership, which is rejected by Ralph, on the grounds that he would much prefer something more genteel, say a position in a bank. Wendel's pride is hurt, but still loving his son, he takes Ralph to the president of the bank with which he has done business for years and secures a position for him. Ralph neglects Mary and takes up with Stella, who poses as a society girl, but who in reality is an adventuress. Urged on by Stella, Ralph introduces her and her friend, Oscar Learning, to his father. Learning proposes to Wendel that they incorporate his grocery for a big sum and sell the stock around to everyone and make a great profit, but Wendel scents that all is not well and rejects the proposition. Anxious to retain the good will of Stella, Ralph goes to her and proposes that she let him in on a good proposition, promising to get all the money she wants. Ralph forges his father's name to a check for $100,000 and gets the money, which he gives to Stella, who hands him a bit of paper as a receipt, and she assures him that he will get it back in a few days. Learning tries to get away with the money without dividing with Stella. Several days later the bank president calls on Wendel with the forged check and Ralph confesses. At first Wendel is of a mind to let Ralph go to jail, but after listening to the plea of Mrs. Wendel and Mary, he decides to make the check good, thereby being compelled to sell all he owns and start over again with a little pushcart carrying a little load of fruit and vegetables from house to house. He tells Ralph he must leave his house and not return until he has redeemed himself. Wendel suggests to Mary that she leave them and let them shift for themselves, as he does not believe it right that she give them some of her hard-earned money, but Mary is firm in her resolve to stay with them in their trouble, as they stood by her in her trouble. The days and months roll by until a year or more pass. Then to the farm where the family make their home Ralph comes one day, bronzed with hard work, his head held high through a consciousness that he was fighting to redeem himself and succeeding. Ralph's father is glad to see him, and when Ralph asks his father where Mary is, he is told she is out under the trees in the garden. Ralph goes to her, for he has come to a realization of his true love for her. And as the young people kiss, Wendel and his wife, watching them from the cover of nearby bushes, kiss too. And happiness comes to the Wendel family again.
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