The Magic Wand

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The widow Morton, wretchedly poor, is forced to secure an engagement for her little girl, Harriet, in the town stock company in order to pay the rent and satisfy the brutal landlord. Harriet is cast for the role of the little fairy queen in "Cinderella," but her meager earnings are taken by the landlord and the widow lacks the medicine for her illness. Little Harriet is soon the pet of the company, and all notice her abject poverty and poor rags as she runs away from the theater each night after the show. One evening, as Harriet kisses the wan face of her mother, she thinks of the wonderful wand she uses in the play that changes the dingy hovel into a beautiful palace, and a plan enters her mind. After the show Jack Bronson, the leading man, is talking with two friends at the stage door when Harriet runs by them into the night holding something under her shawl. Instantly the old character man suspects her of having stolen something. Bronson ridicules the idea but agrees to follow the baby and investigate. Through the moonlight streets they watch the little figure until she enters a wretched doorway. Climbing up the creaking stairs Bronson cautions his companion to be silent, then opens the widow's door and peers in. There stands little Harriet over her sick mother, pathetically waving the magic wand that fails to transform the dingy room into the palace she thought. Softly closing the door Bronson, with tears in his eyes, explains to his companions, and one instantly hastens out, purchases a huge basket of good things, which is given to little Harriet for herself and mother, together with a goodly sum of money. Tearfully the widow thanks them and little Harriet, patting her wand, believes it really possesses the magic charm after all.