The Stolen Father

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The early scenes show the struggle of a young woman in New York to obtain employment and support herself. It becomes evident that the search and the struggle are anything but easy for her, and that she is penniless and perpetually near the stage of desperation. Walking into the park, she sits down on a bench and tries to think over the situation and find some solution. As she sits there an old gentleman, evidently a traveler, comes along and being weary, perhaps not feeling well, sits down not far from her. In taking his handkerchief from his pocket a large and well-filled wallet drops to the ground. The girl observes it and, stooping, hands it to the old man, but not until she has noticed that it seemed to contain a very large amount of money. Not very long after, when she is again engrossed in her own thoughts, the old gentleman makes a desperate but vain effort to speak to her, and she only comes out of her reverie when he collapses in a heap against the back of the bench. Jumping up she goes to his aid but is unable to obtain any response. She calls for help, and some passer-by summons an officer who makes an examination of the man and assures her that he is not dead. He asks her if the man is her father. Seeing the helpless old gentleman there before her and knowing that he possesses the means to care for himself and for her, and knowing further that as he cannot protest no one else will be the wiser, the girl yields to the temptation and tells the officer she is the old man's daughter. They place the old man in the ambulance and she has him carried to the big front room in her boarding house. As she is in arrears already for her own rent the landlady naturally demurs at another member and demands evidence that her rent will be forthcoming. Having gone thus far, our little heroine takes the wallet from the old man's pocket and pays the rent for the two rooms, carefully returning the wallet to its owner's pocket thereafter. The latter scenes show how she cares for the old man, how he very slowly recovers and how his own funds provide for his own care and for the maintenance of the girl who has become his self-appointed nurse. One day while she is reading to him we see her start at some notice in the paper, and on the screen appears an advertisement from a man in England who is in search of his father, a traveler who disappeared shortly after landing in New York and with a considerable sum of money. Our heroine at once realizes that this must be the son of her helpless charge, and the temptation assails her to remain silent and continue to enjoy the prosperity which has meant so much to her and saved her from apparently impending disaster. After a short mental struggle she decides to be true to herself and write a letter calling the son to America. Now the old man who has been under her care so long has recovered more than she suspects, and has gradually passed from a stage of suspicion to one of regard and finally affection for the girl who has nursed him hack to a semblance of health. He sees the paper, understands what it means to her and sees her write the letter, thus triumphing over her temptation. And then the son comes, and she feels that her term of office has expired and that there is nothing for her to do but go back to the weary search for employment, the following of help-wanted ads, in the papers and the besieging of the offices where girls are employed. She hands him her account of the moneys expended and says "good-bye" to the old man. And then she gets a surprise, for instead of being helpless he comes and stands before her, shows her the result of her nursing in his recovered strength. She is glad but still feels that she has no longer a place in his life. They ask her to stay; she points to his son. Then the son, understanding the father's mind and perhaps seeing the beautiful face and sweetness of the girl who has done so much for his father, adds his own invitation to that of the old man. The picture closes with a happy trio and a promise of good days to come for them all together, perhaps of a love story which will grow to a wedding not so many days or months ahead.