Two Waifs and a Stray

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"The puzzling problem" of caring for his two motherless children and getting in his ten hours of labor each day without neglecting either his responsibility as a father and his duties as a bread winner, the poor man is absorbed with a mental conflict which might well tax a stronger and better equipped mind. In this subconscious state he leaves his little ones to get through the day as best they can, and while on his way to work is struck down by an automobile. His injuries are not apparent, and he refuses assistance, but the accident produces a concussion of the brain, aberration, and he loses consciousness of all preceding events. In this blank state of mind as to his individual identity he wanders from place to place until he reaches a farmhouse in the country, where he asks for food, secures employment and finds a home. His children have been waiting for their father's return until, exhausted and hungry, they appeal to a kind neighbor, who helps them from her scanty means, giving them a dollar to buy food until they hear from their father, or are taken care of by the children's society, an officer of which has called to look into their ease. The boy, Dick, a bright youngster, decides to go into business with the dollar and take care of his sister, rather than be separated from her in the care of the society. They start out to make their way in life, after establishing themselves in the back yard of a piano factory, transforming an unused packing box into a shelter. Grace purchases a stock of newspapers and disposes of them to the passengers and passers-by at the railroad station, while Dick starts as a bootblack. They manage to keep themselves in food and under cover in their improvised apartment. The good farmer and his wife, where the father of the two waifs is living, have a little girl whom the mother takes to town on a shopping tour. While in the city she loses the child and returns home heartbroken. The child wanders about, is picked up by the two waifs, who take her to their retreat and care for her. The Children's Aid Society announce their excursions and vacations for poor children. The farmer and his wife read about them, decide to visit the society's country home in search of their little one. They go and find their daughter, who tells them how she was cared for by Grace and Dick, and by them brought to the excursion. The man and his wife meet the little protectors of their child and invite them to their home for a vacation. They accept and when they reach the farmhouse they meet their father, whose mind is restored at sight of his children. They are given a home with the good people under the same roof and direct care of their father, who has made himself a valuable and faithful employee.