Intrigue

There was Mikey O' Donovan, whose stubby little hands were always shoved way down into the pockets of his tattered trousers, with that defiant air which made patent the fact that he would one day be a policeman. Here was Gretchen Miller, whose golden hair and creamy skin were the envy of the other feminine members of the class and the objects of wholesale admiration from the male contingent, and little Mary Burke, the cripple, in whose wistful tiny face one could read the story of suffering and the record of stoic courage, and through whose eyes, despite her affliction, shone the sunbeam reflection of a happy soul; and there was Abie Rabinowitz, who always illustrated his mathematical problems by such objects as coats, trousers and suspenders, and who predicted every fire in the neighborhood by at least a week, and thin Annie Brown, who looked as though she was always cold and always hungry, because she was. And Marion Leonard, who it isn't necessary to explain was the teacher of this group of children of the tenements, loved them, loved them with a mother-love and a sister-love, and the warm love of suffering humankind. When their mouths hungered, she gave them food. When they were ill and their parents' destitution too great to help pay the doctor's rent, she brought the doctor and bought the medicine. The kids were her life, and the school room her world. Miss Leonard couldn't pay her rent. The landlady called and stated her wrongs to the principal, and Miss Leonard was told to go. It broke her heart to leave those she loved, and it nearly killed her. She stretched forth her arms to the empty seats, and her soul spoke to the souls of the absent children. The next morning the kids found that the world was a dark and dreary void. They went to the principal, and with warm tears in their eyes begged to have their savior back. They told him all she had done for them, and the principal understood. And the kids went back to their room with joy in their hearts and Miss Leonard in their midst.—Moving Picture World synopsis