The Little Father; or, the Dressmaker's Loyal Son

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Mrs. Northfield has been left a widow with three children to support. Only the eldest, Robert, is old enough to aid her in her struggles for existence, and he makes precarious earnings delivering papers on a newspaper route and running errands. Mrs. Northfield is a dressmaker, and in an early scene sets out to deliver a dress to a fashionable patron. Some minor changes are required to be made and the tired seamstress works on the finishing touches in her patron's room. The latter, Mrs. Aldcorn, wife of a wealthy broker, hides her jewels and forgets that she has done so. That evening she is dressing for a theater party and cannot find the gems. She remembers that Mrs. Northfield was in the room alone for some time and her husband swears out a warrant for her arrest. On purely circumstantial evidence, poor Mrs. Northfield is sentenced to a prison term and is led to a cell weeping, but finding some comfort in Bobby's promise that he will look out for his little sister and the baby. It is a tremendous responsibility for a ten-year-old boy to face, but Bobby is a plucky lad. The newspaper route which he serves is for sale, together with the newsstand. Bobby sells most of the furniture to a second-hand dealer and with the proceeds becomes the proprietor of the business. With his childish enthusiasm and courtesy he builds up a large trade. Some time after Mrs. Aldcorn discovers her jewelry and she and her husband lose no time in obtaining Mrs. Northfield's release from the remainder of her sentence and with many abject apologies escort her to her home. On the way they pass the new and prosperous stand which Bobby has had built, and the mother's delight at the bravery and success of the Little Father are so great that Aldcorn induces her to let Bobby accept a substantial sum of money with which to still further enlarge his interests.