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- In the days of Oliver Cromwell, justice was swift and merciless. The poem, "Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight," concerns the adventures of a young follower of King Charles, who was captured, tried and sentenced to die "at the ringing of the curfew," the bell which announced that the day was over. The young man had a sweetheart, Bessie, who failing to win over his stern judges, finally appealed to the village sexton, urging him not to ring the curfew, hoping that thereby the execution would not take place. The aged sexton loved her as though she had been his own child, but refused to shirk his duty, although he knew it meant her lover's death. At the last moment inspiration came to the girl. She ran into the church, and by a ladder "none had trod in hundreds of years," reached the belfry. To silence the bell she seized the iron clapper, and desperately clung to it while it swung her far out into space. Plans for execution were all made, but the bell did not ring. The puzzled officers waited, and while they conferred, Cromwell arrived. Bessie ran to him with her story, and when he realized what she had dared for love, the stem old protector told her that she would have nothing to fear. He freed the prisoner, telling him he did it because of the love and faith displayed by the heroine, who at the risk of her own life had silenced the curfew bell.
- Unable to find help to work his farm, a farmer gets a bright idea--he advertises that any man willing to work on his farm will be permitted to court his two daughters. The girls and their mother don't take kindly to being offered as an "incentive", so when some college boys show up looking to take advantage of both offers, the girls come up with a plan of their own.
- The Princess Priscilla of Rurilia was a refined and dainty young woman, and had never worried about love or sweethearts. It came as a shock to her when her uncle, who presided over the small country, announced that she was to marry Prince Wilhelm of Ogram, one of their neighbors. Perhaps the princess might have acquiesced had it not been that she took a great dislike to Prince Wilhelm, a man of bad habits and n terrible reputation. Anyway, the princess told her uncle she would never marry the prince, and the king retorted in a way purely regal; he ordered his niece to remain a close prisoner in her rooms until she was prepared to obey his commands. It never struck the king that the princess would run away, but that was precisely what she did. So, aided by her faithful nurse, they arrived in America in course of time, and as they had money and jewels, the problem of high cost of living did not bother them at first. At last their money did run out, and the old nurse, becoming sick, had to be removed to a hospital. The doctor who attended her was a kindly old man, and he secured the princess a job as maid in the home of a wealthy family, never suspecting that she was of royal blood. The real man arrived in the shape of the wealthy brother of the mistress. He fell violently in lore with the maid and proposed to marry her, but at first she coyly refused him. Womanlike, she wanted to appear her best on such an occasion, and her chance came. The minister from Ruralia called upon the mistress of the princess, and to his surprise met one of his royal house in servant's garb. The princess induced him to keep her secret, and also to get an invitation for her to the ball, which was to be given at the house. There the princess appeared in all her splendor. The diplomat accompanying her expected that she would announce her intention of returning to her home; to his surprise, however, she took this occasion to accept her lover, remarking that she preferred an honest man's love to a throne.
- In this adventure the diplomatic free-lance and his brilliant aid in war, Nan Tremain, are again pitted against their relentless enemy, Pfaff. England and Japan have entered into a secret treaty, and extraordinary precautions are taken to prevent anything about it leaking out. The Marquis Yato, the Emperor's diplomatic adviser, brings the treaty from England, but comes in the guise of a captain of a cruiser which forms part of a squadron dispatched to Great Britain. The arrangements are that the message shall be delivered to a cabinet minister. Lord Faresdale, whose comfy home is near Clovelly, where the squadron is to anchor. Lord Faresdale goes aboard the cruiser, receives the copy of the treaty and then places it for safe-keeping in a safe in his library. In some way Pfaff has learned about the treaty and just the manner in which it would be delivered. Two of his spies are in Lord Faresdale's home as guests, one an Austrian general and the other a young noblewoman. These two dragged into the plot Capt. Mandeville, an Englishman, who is in love with the girl. By tricking him in cards and telling him false stories concerning Lord Faresdale, they secure his aid, he believing that the package he is to steal from the safe contains love letters foolishly written by the noblewoman's sister. Fortunately for the cause of England, Lord Trevor and his ward are at Faresdale's house during this time and their suspicions become aroused by certain peculiar incidents. In the end the diplomatic free-lance and his ward give aid in the nick of time and even Mandeville, the poor cat's paw, did not suffer while Pfaff and his conspirators are driven from the field.
- Lord Trevor and Nan Tremain, his ward, were prominent figures in London society, and were really among the most prominent of the diplomatic agents of the government. Usually Trevor did most of the work, but in one particular instance Nan proved her ability to handle a problem single-handed, and from that time on ranked equally with Trevor, the famous "Diplomatic Free Lance." On the street back of Trevor's home was a house supposedly occupied by a wealthy East Indian, Abdul, who was in reality Trevor's body servant. The two houses were connected by a tunnel, through which visitors to Trevor could secretly make their way without being spied upon from the outside. On one occasion a well-dressed woman was injured in an accident outside of Abdul's home and was carried into his house to be attended to. While she raved in delirium, Abdul learned enough to satisfy him that she was a spy under orders to assist Col. Pfaff, the Kaiser's chief representative in London. She spoke constantly of her ring, stating it would identify her. Abdul reported to Trevor, who was in consultation with Sir Edward Wray, and Nan boldly told them that she thought she could solve the problem better than they could. The men laughed at her, but a little later when she came in through the secret passage dressed as a foreign noblewoman they were compelled to admit that probably she was right in her claims. Nan made good and after a series of exciting adventures recovered the plans of certain coast fortifications which had fallen into the hands of Col. Pfaff, and would have been of irredeemable loss to her country had they reached another country. Both Trevor and Wray frankly admitted that they had made a mistake and honestly assured Nan that her debut in the secret service was a triumphant success.
- Longfellow's beautiful poem tells of the children's hour, that time of day when the little ones are permitted to meet their elders on equal ground. He describes the love that exists between the grandfather and his three little granddaughters, who each night insist upon coming into his study, where, for one golden hour they reign supreme, and he is their willing, devoted servant. As the poet says, speaking of his hero: "They climb into my turret, O'er the arms and back of my chair, If I try to escape they surround me, They seem to be everywhere." The grandfather entertains the children with fairy stories that never grow old, and the evening passes as happily for him as it does for them.
- Mr. Henpeck was a hod carrier who could always be depended upon to put in his regular hours each day. His wife encouraged him to keep on working, but she herself spent most of her time looking up bargains and attending the meetings of various societies in which she was interested. One day Mrs. Henpeck had a quarrel with the janitor and decided to move. She found a "perfectly darling flat" in another street, and that evening told her long-suffering husband that the following day he would have to stay home and pack. He obeyed because there was nothing else for him to do, and in the morning had several hours' hard work arranging their belongings for shipment to the new house, while his wife gaily wandered out to attend a bargain sale. Mr. Henpeck moved into the new house all right, and found that the paperhangers had gone on a strike; so in addition to his regular work of setting things to rights he was compelled to paper the house. It was a good hard day's work he had and he was just resting up at night when his wife appeared, told him that he had made a mistake and had moved into the wrong flat, and that it was absolutely necessary that they get into the right apartment before dawn. It was tough on Mr. Henpeck, but then, of course, he should not have made the mistake.
- The young man had been used to hard work all his life. From his childhood days he had labored steadily, and now as a young man he owned a large marble quarry, which supplied him with a small but steady income. The quarry was located in a section where many society people made their country homes, and a number of them visited the quarry at different times, merely out of curiosity. In this way the young owner met a wealthy society girl and they soon fell in love, and after a brief courtship were married. The husband had planned to continue his work, but he soon found a wealthy wife had first claim upon her husband. Gradually the business was turned over to subordinates while the young people lived abroad in luxury and idleness. What might have been expected, happened. The hired manager wrecked the business of the quarry and ran away with all the funds he could lay his hands on. At first this was a bitter blow to the husband, but as his wife said, there was no real reason why he should worry, as she had more than enough for both. He had been idle long enough to accept this view of the situation, and as time passed, became more and more worthless. Fortunately for him, his wife's money was swept away during a financial panic, and this reverse brought the young man to a realization of what he had become and what he should be, and told his helpless wife that the time had come when he should be the bread winner. He forced her to return to America and revisited the quarry, which had once been his pride and joy. The place was now abandoned and fast going to rack and ruin, but the owner was again energetic and optimistic and cheered his wife with the prediction that he would soon show her that the blight of wealth had passed, and he was again a self-respecting man who could support in comfort those dependent upon him.
- The head waiter was thoroughly impressed with his own importance and he ruled the fashionable restaurant, where he was employed, with a rod of iron. He knew he was brilliant, he realized that he was beautiful and he was thoroughly convinced that the majority of the women who dined at his establishment were very much in love with him. There was one lady with whom he was particularly impressed, a Mrs. May Maverick, but was not only beautiful, but a prominent figure in society. The head waiter paid her all the court he could and dreamed of the day when he might he on the level of the quality with her. One eventful day when she dropped in to luncheon, he believed that his dream had come true, for she gazed at him approvingly and finally slipped him her visiting card with the instruction, "Call this evening at eight." The head waiter called, arrayed in his best and convinced that he made a conquest. He was surprised when she summoned other members of her family to look him over, and dumbfounded when he discovered that he had been summoned for business reasons, and not for love. The society leader needed a new butler, and had picked out the headwaiter as the man for the place. It was a terrible shock to him, but one disappointment cannot destroy the faith of a head waiter in his own ability, and in a very short time he was as proud and self-important as he ever had been before.
- May drops her purse and Percy follows her to the theater to return it. May likes him. but Jim, who secretly loves May, doesn't, and conspires with a gang to get rid of him. Jim doesn't want him killed, but simply taken out of the way. May and Percy became engaged, to Jim's chagrin, and the gang gets after Percy. Delayed one day, Percy fails to keep an appointment with May to purchase a trunk and follows after. Whitey and the gang closely pursued him. and the gang leader, finding Percy sitting on the edge of May's trunk, pulls him over and into it, locks it up, and goes for a team to take it away. An observing woman sees the act and hastens to the police station to start the machinery of justice going. In the meantime, May exits from the store, and an expressman is given orders to deliver the trunk at her house. The storekeeper puts another trunk in its place for a possible purchaser, and this trunk the gang takes, believing Percy is inside. The cops chase the gang and catch them with the trunk on the rail of a bridge, just about to heave it over, but May, opening her trunk, discovers Percy, and so not to lose him, she agrees to keep him for life.
- Tubby is sent to a rural sanatorium, where, as the only man under 70, he finds himself popular with the local land girls. Then his wife pays him a surprise visit.
- A one-reel crime drama with crooks, ruses, kidnapping, escape and a twist, all wrapped in a coherent narrative. Screenwriter Lloyd Lonergan's amazing versatility served equally well in several genres. There is successful pictorial telling of the setup and attempted theft, and a little cross-cutting as the police come to the rescue (rescue of the rock, as the resourceful heroine obviously needs no rescuing). Thanhouser's popular Mignon Anderson's climactic stunt work shows that the stock players were remarkably versatile.
- He was a young clerk with very little ambition and even less money. In the directory he figured as a resident of the great and glorious metropolis, but his home was in a back hall room in a dingy boarding house. One morning fortune smiled upon him, for he received word from a firm of lawyers that his uncle had died, leaving a most peculiar will. Under its provisions the young man was to receive $50,000 outright, and if he succeeded in losing this money in foolish investments within six months, he would inherit $1,000,000 more. Why the old uncle made such a will is not explained, but as the lawyers said, he had a perfect right to dispose of his money in any way he saw fit. The young man believed it to be easy to get rid of $50,000 within the time limit, but the fates seemed to be against him. He made any number of foolish investments, but each time he scored success. Even when he received a straight tip that a plot was afoot to cripple one of the boats in an exciting yacht race, he was unable to lose money by following the information. Finally an excellent chance came his way, for in one of the city parks he met a tramp who had a borax mine to sell. The young man purchased a half interest in the borax mine, giving up all the money he had and was thoroughly confident that he would never hear from the tramp again. On the day that six months were up, he called up his lawyer and claimed to have fulfilled all conditions, but just as he was about to receive the legacy a telegram arrived from the faithful tramp, saying that while the borax had petered out, they two were the owners of a wonderful gold mine, which was worth millions, yet as the young man said himself, "He couldn't lose."
- The old elevator man had been employed in the office building for many years and was treated with much consideration. Like all of us, he had his likes and dislikes, and there were certain tenants for whom he always had a kindly word, while in the case of others he longed only to see them move away. A young stenographer and a clerk employed by one firm were the two persons of whom he was most fond, and he was pleased when they told him of their engagement. There was another clerk employed by the same firm, but the elevator man despised him. The young lovers quarreled, as young lovers will and it brought sorrow to the heart of the old elevator man. His sorrow turned to rage when the girl flirted with the clerk he despised, and he decided to take action in the matter. He knew that the clerk he did not like had a "yellow streak" and he determined to bring it out. He was able to do this by means of a little red fire and some unusual elevator running, and the young couple he liked were reunited while the old elevator man was convinced that life was worth living again.
- A working man in a large city saved his money and was finally enabled to send to his wife and daughter in Europe passage money to his new home. He arranged to meet them at the pier, but on his way there he was injured in an accident and taken unconscious and unidentified to a hospital. The two women arrived in America, to find themselves homeless and friendless. The daughter finally secured a position in a sweatshop, but her eyesight failed her rapidly, and she was soon thrown out of that position, blind and helpless. In her happier days she had been an amateur musician and now the violin, once a source of amusement, became the only reliance of these two women, for the daughter played the violin and the mother begged in the streets. In the meantime, the father had been convalescing in the hospital, and messengers he sent to seek his loved ones returned to report that no trace of the women could be found. One pleasant afternoon the convalescent was weakly reclining in a chair on the hospital grounds, and a blind girl staggered in and explained to the doctor, who was chatting with the patient, that she had lost her way. The kindly doctor questioned her and she told her story, not knowing one of the two listeners was her father, who at first had not recognized her. Her grief was speedily turned to joy when he announced himself and a fresh cause for thanksgiving came when the doctor told them that he knew the girl's sight could be restored. Thus after many tribulations was the family reunited.
- On a lonely lighthouse lived a keeper and his wife. They were devoted to each other and when the wife was dying her surest grief was she would be leaving her loved one alone. Just before she died, however, she had a dream and awakening, told her husband with a smile that God would send someone to comfort him. A few days later while the stricken man was praying at her grave his attention was attracted by a bundle which bad been brought in by the sea. He found it to be a little girl, senseless, who had apparently been swept ashore from some wreck. She was wrapped in a life preserver, bearing the name of a yacht. A few days later he learned that the owner of the yacht, a banker involved in difficulties with the law, had been lost with his child and crew while trying to escape on the yacht. There was no one to claim the child and the pious keeper accepted her as the gift from God which he had been promised. Years later, when the child had grown to be a handsome young woman, her aunt, a wealthy society woman, found and claimed her. The girl at first did not want to go, but the keeper persuaded her, believing that her relatives bad the first claim. Then sorrowfully he took up his lonely life again. One afternoon, while thinking of her, he fell into a troubled sleep. He awoke to find her beside him. She showed him a letter which she meant to send to her aunt, telling her that fashionable life had no charms for her and that she had decided to devote herself to the old man who had been a father to her for many years. So "The Gift of God," as he always called her, came back to home, never more to leave him.