American Mutoscope & Biograph

In this story set at a seaside fishing village and inspired by a Charles Kingsley poem, a young couple's happy life is turned about by an accident. The husband, although saved from drowning, loses his memory. A child is on the way, and soon a daughter is born to his wife. We watch the passage of time, as his daughter matures and his wife ages. The daughter becomes a lovely young woman, herself ready for marriage. One day on the beach, the familiarity of the sea and the surroundings triggers a return of her father's memory, and we are reminded that although people age and change, the sea and the ways of the fisherfolk remain eternal.

On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.

Kenneth Marsden, a young artist in failing health is advised to go south to New Orleans, where he expects to find accommodation with an old-time friend of his mother. The old lady receives the son of her dear friend with open arms, but her two convent-bred nieces, Mary and Edith, are horrified at the thought of a man in the house. However, it isn't long after his arrival that he has made a decided impression upon the young ladies.

A man recognizes the thief who had previously robbed him as one of the men involved in an unrelated mob shootout.

Griffith adapts the story of the Apocryphal Book of Judith to the screen. During the siege of the Jewish city of Bethulia by the Assyrian tyrant Holofernes, a widow named Judith forms a plan to stop the war as her people suffer in starvation, nearly ready to surrender.

Ramona, residing on her wealthy Spanish adoptive mother's rancho in California, falls in love with the Indian Alessandro. When Ramona is denied permission to marry Alessandro, the lovers elope, only to find a life of great hardship and unhappiness amidst the greed and injustice of the white landowners.

At the Italian boarding house the male boarders were all smitten with the charms of Minnie, the landlady's pretty daughter, but she was of a poetic turn of mind and her soul soared above plebeianism and her aspirations were romantic. Most persistent among her suitors was Grigo, a coarse Sicilian, whose advances were odiously repulsive. The arrival at the boarding house from the old country of Giuseppe Cassella, the violinist, filled the void in her yearning heart. Romantic, poetic and a talented musician, Giuseppe was indeed a desirable husband for Minnie.

Griffith intercuts between the lives of two couples married on the same day. One couple is rich, the other poor. Time passes, and in desperation over joblessness, the poor husband attempts to burgle a home, only to be captured at 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 accidentally discovers evidence implicating her own husband in a bribery scheme.

Agnes, a singer in a country church, is practicing one day when a vaudeville manager hears her and offers her a job. Over the objections of the curate who loves her, she accepts the offer and goes to the city. Later the curate goes to hear Agnes perform and, fearing that her soul is being corrupted by show business, he asks her to return to the small town with him. When she refuses, he is prepared to kill her in order to protect the purity of her soul. This brings about her change of heart, and together they return to the little church.

Adonese is returning home from seeing the woman he is courting, and he is driving around a corner when his car accidentally brushes against the tramp 'Faithful' and knocks him over. Feeling sorry for him, Adonese helps him up and buys him a new suit of clothes. The naively innocent Faithful reads too much into this gesture, and he begins to follow his benefactor everywhere, expecting to receive future gifts.

The question is, would the young tramp really have fallen in love with the groceryman's daughter if he had not caught her in the heart struggle? Be that as it may, she could not find it in her to drown the unwelcome visitor to the pantry, so she let it go and the silent little drama witnessed by the tramp greatly impressed him. Not so the strict aunt, she declared the whole thing to be in exact accordance with everything else in the family. Their hearts ran away with their heads. That was why they lost money on credit, could not pay off the mortgage and send the sick sister to a better climate. As for the tramp, they had no business to take him in. He could not pay for his keep. But the tramp surprised them all.

Peggy is a high-spirited young woman from a poor family. One day she catches the eye of a wealthy lord, who proposes marriage and wants to introduce her into his social circle. But complications arise when the lord's nephew also becomes attracted to Peggy.

The orphan Dora is courted by two different gold miners.

John Holland, a planter in a small way, is devotedly attached to his wife and infant child. The wife wearies of the monotonous grind of farm life and is easy prey of a contemptible villain, in the person of Tom Roland, the ubiquitous "other man".

Mazie lends her necklace to Nellie, her guest. Nellie is asleep in a hammock when Sam, her sweetheart, arrives in his auto. He awakens Nellie with a kiss. As she starts up she drops the necklace in the grass and their efforts to find it prove futile. Sam promises to buy her one to replace it, thinking it was her own properly. He has her minutely describe it that he may get an exact duplicate. Meanwhile, the governess has found the necklace and given it to its owner, Mazie, who is unknown to Sam. He sees it on Mazie's neck and after a chase insists on purchasing it.

A Confederate officer is called off to war. He leaves his wife and daughter in the care of George, his faithful Negro servant. After the officer is killed in battle, George continues in his caring duties, faithful to his trust.

A wealthy, callous moneylender finds a terrifying way to learn about money's limitations.

Pippa awakes and faces the world outside with a song. Unbeknown to her, the music has a healing effect on all who hear her as she passes by.

Mr. Jones, since his last escapade, had made strenuous efforts to amend the reputation he had gained in the eyes of the ladies of the Temperance League. But Oh! the ordeal, for such it was, was telling on him, and his pent-up spirits were threatening ebullition, when at last the chance comes. The league arranges to attend a three-days' convention out of town, and when Mrs. Jones departs, Jones sends a note to Smith, telling him to bring the gang, and they would have a "Prayer Meeting," enjoining him not to forget the "fixings." Well, the gang are not long in putting in an appearance, for they feel that every minute's delay is a chunk lost from a golden opportunity for fun.

A little over six minutes survive of this Biograph short. Not to be confused with another Biograph short, Olaf- An Atom (1913, starring Harry Carey, later re-released as The Wanderer), a film not directed by Griffith.