Waifs
The waif came to live with the unsuspecting old shoemaker. Then a homeless newsboy followed. One friendly heart bred another. That was too much for the proud, wealthy widowed sister. She declared she would have no orphans wished on her. Stilling her conscience, she took the children's legacy, but one Sunday morning after the war, peace silenced all conflict.
Casts & Crew
Also Directed by D.W. Griffith
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
A naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.
A young couple struggle to get ahead, the wife always assuaging the troubles of her melancholy husband. As he climbs the ladder of success, he abandons the homely values and takes up with another woman. His wife leaves him, returning to her mother's home where she bears a child. When the husband is abandoned by his concubine, remorse drives him to find his wife.
A pair of young ladies cause trouble at the cinema with their lavish hats.
A man and three women leave an abandoned mining town travel across the desert. After the man's death, his wife plans revenge against her companion, whom the wife suspects had an affair with her deceased husband.
A gang of thieves lure a man out of his home so that they can rob it and threaten his wife and children. The family barricade themselves in an interior room, but the criminals are well-equipped for breaking in. When the father finds out what is happening, he must race against time to get back home.
An upper class drawing room. A gentleman breaks the curtain pole and goes in search of a replacement, but he stops into a pub first. He buys a very long pole, and causes havoc everywhere he passes, accumulating an ever-growing entourage chasing him, until he escapes them through a bit of movie magic, only to discover that the pole has already been replaced.
An anonymous donor drops a gold coin in the shoe of a homeless girl as she sleeps. A gambler with a 'sure thing' borrows the coin and wins a fortune, but he can't find her again to repay her.
An Indian village is forced to leave its land by white settlers, and must make a long and weary journey to find a new home. The settlers make one young Indian woman stay behind. This woman is thus separated from her sweetheart, whose elderly father needs his help on the journey ahead
Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other is poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured a gunpoint by the mistress of the house. It is the home of the rich couple. While holding the poor intruder at gunpoint, the rich wife accidently discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme . . .
Also Directed by Anthony O'Sullivan
The judge's young daughter championed the cause of Ching Fow against "The Bull." Kindness begot kindness again in a manner unlooked for and unusual. Ching Fow proved himself an unconscious humorist, but his very practical joke saved a life, making as well an exceptionally thrilling story.
The reporter assigned to obtain a copy of the message from the Japanese Government unraveled the mystery of its disappearance in a clever manner. Every foreign government naturally was eager for a copy ahead, while the meeting of the Japanese Ambassador and Secretary of State was surrounded with greater risk than they imagined.
The stakes were to go to the one who outlived the other two. In a quarrel one ended the chance of another. In the mountain the two survivors of the bet came together again, one now an outlaw but through a woman's subterfuge the money fell to the less likely of them all, Reed, declared to be "on his last legs."
Bessie, the bookkeeper, and Harry, the confidential clerk, are sweethearts. Harry does not fully realize the strength of Bessie's affection, but later, on the eve of a false step, he is made to appreciate her devotion and grit.
The girl's lessons from the young station agent on the manipulation of the telegraph code served her in good stead. By it, hemmed in on all sides at the lonely farmhouse, she was able to save both herself and her father's money from desperate tramps, an experience which is grippingly illustrated in this Biograph melodrama.
The brother at cards failed to make up the shortage at the express office, but the gambler determined to save him. His intention, however, was misconstrued until the sheriff's investigation brought the truth. The gambler then awoke to the justice of the girl's plea against his previous life and the tragedy of a dead brother's weakness was lightened.
Happy in her devotion to her unfortunate sister and the promise of honest love that had come into her life, the girl was perhaps blind to true values. She became indifferent to her life and its surroundings. Accordingly she accepted the stranger and his doubtful promises. Honest love and duty were forgotten, until, caught near life's uncertain edge, she was called back by her blind sister's peril. Thus was true love separated from blind infatuation and life's lesson learned.
After a lifetime of hard work, Dad consents to live with his married daughter in the city. The young couple try to make him forget work. Ill at ease under his enforced idleness, he makes a deal with a disabled old street cleaner to keep his job. Finding him out, the young folks give in, and it's "back to the farm" for Dad.
The new foreman falls in love with the ranchman's daughter, and notes with jealousy her joy over a letter which her father receives.
An early short film in which the young widow is protected by the employer of her recently deceased husband.