- Due to the abuse Sandy Morley suffers at the hands of his stepmother, he leaves his home in the mountains of North Carolina. After wandering for a number of days, he falls exhausted in front of the home of Markham, a rich factory owner from the North. Sandy appeals to Markham, who offers to send the boy through college. After Sandy's graduation, he is sent to his old home to start building a new factory. Lansing, Markham's scapegrace nephew, becomes jealous of the position Sandy holds and in revenge steals Sandy's sweetheart Cynthia Starr away from him. After their marriage, however, a girl with whom Lansing had an affair while at college confronts Cynthia. A divorce is then granted and Cynthia returns to marry Sandy.
- Sandy Morley, a chore boy of seventeen, is ambitious to do something worthwhile for the downtrodden people among whom he lives, and with this end in view, secretly plans to obtain a college education. His playmate, Cynthia Starr, is a member of an aristocratic family. Unable to stand the tyranny of a cruel stepmother, Sandy finally runs away from home, but he falls ill from exhaustion and hunger and is taken into the house of John Markham, a northern capitalist temporarily in the South in search of a factory site. The boy wins the affection of his new friend and when Lansing Hartford, Markham's nephew, declines a proposal that he work a year in the shops of Markham's factory up north preparatory to entering college, Sandy eagerly embraces the opportunity. The boy works faithfully for a year and further endears himself to his friend. At college he continues to show his worth and finally is graduated with high honors. Markham's faith in Sandy becomes stronger than ever and he dispatches him to Lost Hollow to superintend the building and operation of a modern factory, designed to prove work for the poor hill dwellers under healthful conditions. Shortly after this, Cynthia's aunt dies and the girl is taken in charge by Marcia Lowe, a physician, who is a cousin of Cynthia, although the latter does not know it. Marcia informs Cynthia that she was not a waif, as she had supposed, but the daughter of her aunt Ann's sister and Dr. Starr, both of whom had died when she was a baby. About the time of Sandy's return to Lost Hollow, Lansing also returns to the South. Cynthia is impressed by the polished Lansing, who. during his college days, had a secret affair with a woman. He confers with Crothers. telling him that Sandy's factory will mean Crothers' ruin, and the slave driver stirs his own workers to a high pitch of resentment against Sandy. A mob goes to Sandy's office, intending to drive him out of the country, but Sandy turns the people against Crothers by telling them of Crothers' cruelty, low wages, and other crimes against him. He wins their confidence by telling them of his plans to better their conditions. Thereupon the mob vents its anger on Crothers and he is forced to flee the region. Lansing takes Cynthia out for a drive and on their way they are caught in a rainstorm. They seek shelter in an abandoned cabin and remain there all night. In the morning, Lansing convinces the girl that she will be the victim of unjustified scandal and she agrees to marry him at once. They are married and return home. When Sandy learns of it, he compels Lansing to promise that he will not exercise his rights as a husband until Cynthia learns the meaning of marriage. Lansing and Cynthia go north, she to live with his aunt, he to live away from her. She is introduced as his sister. Shortly after their arrival. Marion Spaulding, the woman with whom Lansing had had his affair, appears on the scene with a baby she credits to Lansing. She explains to Cynthia that her husband is dead and she has returned to Lansing. The latter, summoned, by Cynthia, gets a divorce. He marries Marion, and Cynthia, suddenly realizing that she really loves Sandy, returns to him.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content