Plot

In the quaint and happy little village of Cedarville there lives a prosperous miller names Morgan, who had inherited the property from his father before him. He was a kind and indulgent father and husband. Young Simon Slade was employed by Morgan. In order to improve the mill as circumstances required, Morgan was compelled to ask a loan, and same was supplied by Slade. Dark days came upon the happy family. Morgan began to drink and the indurating process sets in. Ill luck seems to meet him at every turn. Two years later we find the two men quarreling and the result was the old mill was sold out by the sheriff. The new miller was none other than Simon Slade, the once trusted employee. Morgan now pleads for a chance to work as a mill hand. Once back in the old familiar place, his little family are again happy, and Joe promises never to drink again. The new miller prospers from the start, but a short time finds Morgan back in the grasp of the Demon Run. The tavern known for miles around as the "Sickle and Sheaf," is for sale, and the dusty miller bargains for it, soon moves into his new home, and is congratulated upon the opening of the new bar. Romaine, the temperance lecturer, visits Cedarville, and is a guest at the tavern, expressing great surprise at the transformation of things. In cottage nearby, Joe Morgan, for whom he inquired, is bending over the sick bed of his little daughter, Mary. The good Rev. Romaine makes Joe and Switchell his associate, take the pledge together. He is in earnest almost to the point of anger, and Joe and Sample show the effects of Romaine's strong mind over their weaker ones. Fanny Morgan is apprehensive and shows how she appreciates Rev. Romaine's good offices. The great moral influence that was thrown around Cedarville through the earnest efforts of Romaine, shows plainly its uplifting effects. Even Sample Switchell, after taking the pledge, works himself into the good graces of the people to such an extent that he has been appointed constable and Joe Morgan is now one of the respected citizens of Cedarville, honored and looked up to by everybody. The tables have turned and Simon Slade, the once successful miller and later landlord of the "Sickle and Sheaf," is not a semblance of his former self. The old tavern is racked and ruined. The custom has drifted to more congenial places and the Slade family is broken up. Seated in his comfortable home, Joe Morgan and his devoted wife enjoy the results of the past few years. Experience has ever served as a beacon that constantly beset the pilgrim in his voyage through life, the death of Slade and the following in his footsteps of his son, Frank. Rev. Romaine again visits the village and finds Morgan and his happy surroundings as a monument to his energies, and the scene closing with offering of the family prayers, in commemoration of the guiding spirit that had pointed the way clear and that none may regret deducting from the calendar of their lives the "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." "A drunkard now no longer; that is o'er; Free, disenthralled; I stand a man once more."—Moving Picture World synopsis