Plot

John Marsh is a farmer of Scotch descent. His wife is dead, but he has a son and a little daughter. The boy is in his teens and the father toils hard to educate the lad, sending him to an agricultural college away from home. The youth, Jim, who has never been away from home before, and who has known nothing but hard work all his life, begins his schoolwork by making every day a holiday. He soon finds that his small income is insufficient for his needs and he writes home for more money. The father draws from the bank and sends what his boy asks. The demands for money become more frequent, and at last he has to refuse his son. Jim, in debt from gambling, is tempted to steal, is found out and expelled from college. His father at this time decides to pay the boy a secret visit as a surprise. He arrives at the college the day the boy is expelled, learns the cause, pays the sum stolen and returns home heartbroken. He tells Jim never to set foot across the threshold of his home again. Little Margie and her big brother were always boon companions, and as soon as she learns how to write a little she begs her father to show her how to write "Bruv'ver Jim." With an aching heart the old man traces out the letter, holding to the baby's fist, and so it goes on week after week, the little girl writing to the brother, the old man putting the letter in the rural delivery mail box, and when the child is asleep, slipping into the box a letter in reply which he has written. Then he reads the letters to her, each telling how finely Jim is getting on and telling her he will "soon come home." Jim, on leaving college, loafs a little, despondent and hopeless. Then he goes downhill until he becomes a hobo. He wanders from town to town, taking odd jobs and drinking too much. The home instinct is too strong and memories of his father and sister bring back his manhood. He resolves to see the old home once again, even if he cannot enter it. He comes in the night, and as he leans against the old mailbox his hand opens it. He finds a letter in baby handwriting to himself. It is from little Margie, and in baby fashion tells him how much she loves him and wants him to return, and ends with a funny little P.S., asking him to "be sure and bring me home the pony you promised." The letter has a decided effect on him. He takes it and after leaving a reply, written in pencil on the back of an envelope. Thus the father learns that he has been home, for Margie finds the letter the next morning and runs with it to the old man. Jim goes to the nearest city, gets a job, works hard for a small wage, saves one hundred dollars and sends it back to his father in part payment for what the old man has done for him. The money is received at a time of particular need, when a bill for farm implements is received with a demand for remittance, as the account is long overdue. It also gives his address and that night the father and baby write him a real letter which he really receives. Baby's birthday arrives, and with it the anticipation of receiving the longed-for pony. But morning brings no pony, and the baby who expected the return of her brother is almost heartbroken. The father, too, is deeply affected and holds the weeping child to his Jim, meantime, has taken his entire savings, amounting to about fifty dollars, and has speculated with a bucketshop. He loses and later learns that the deal was a fake. He goes to the man and demands his money back, is refused, beats up the man, who forks over the money, plus what the stock, he was supposed to have invested in, really advanced on the market. Jim hurries out, buys the pony he had his eye on and rides him back to the old farm, arriving late the night of Margie's birthday. There is a happy reunion and the future seems bright for all.—Moving Picture World synopsis