Known for Acting
Annie, left orphaned after the death of her mother, goes to live in an orphanage where she tells her fellow orphans stories of ghosts and goblins. The matron of the orphanage finds Annie's closest relative, the abusive Uncle Thomp. Her uncle who puts her to hard work doing hard labor on his farm, belittling her all the while. Big Dave, a neighbor and tough cow-poke sees this and comes to her aid. Dave becomes her protector. Eventually Annie goes to live with Squire Goode and his large family. There, she entertains the children of the household with her stories, but sees her abusive aunt and uncle as her chief tormentors. She tells stories of how the goblins will take away the children if they are not good. Each story she tells is illustrated. War breaks out and Dave, who Annie adores, enlists. Uncle Thomp, hearing that Dave has been killed in action, takes pleasure in telling Annie the news. Broken-hearted, Annie falls ill and dies in bed, surrounded by family.
Mary Beth rents an attic room to Richard, a composer. Frustrated with the publishers demands for cheap, trashy songs, Richard, penniless, tries to asphyxiate himself, but Mary intervenes, encouraging him to go on. Mary finds his song, and secretly sells a song she finds of his, "The Rainbow Girl", to a publisher, later finding out that she, herself, is the Rainbow Girl he wrote about.
Widow Catherine Winship cherishes the memory of her late husband so greatly that she has given up her life to the adoration of his memory. However Catherine's idealism is rudely shattered when she discovers a package of love letters in a secret drawer in Winship's desk.
After an argument with his father, in which he is accused of stealing, Bill Carmody leaves home. His girlfriend Ethel is mad at him because of his carousing. So he heads out West, but he gets in a railroad accident and saves the life of Appleton, who owns a lumber mill. To reward Bill, Appleton gives him a job, and it doesn't take him long to discern that Buck Moncrossen, the camp boss, is crooked.
John Cranford is a U.S. customs agent dedicated to stem the activities of a gang of opium smugglers. After successfully closing the case, Cranford takes a vacation on Pidgin Island, near Kingston, Ontario. Here he meets the beautiful Diana Wynne, whose mysterious behavior both fascinates and attracts him. It turns out that Diana is herself a secret service agent, bent on trapping notorious pearl smuggler Michael Smeed.
When Cindy Lane becomes pregnant, Mark Brierson, the father, refuses to marry her. Instead, Brierson romances Azalia Deering, whose father, General Deering, owns the town bank. Brierson misuses bank funds, but the bank is saved by Jack Rose, a wealthy farmer. Cindy's father Zeb vows to kill her lover, but she refuses to reveal the man's identity.
John Grant, capitalist, is devoted to his wife, but is obliged to curtail her weekly allowance because of her fondness for cards. Robert Baker, a wealthy bachelor, is a great admirer of Mrs. Grant and calls frequently. Finding that her allowance is not enough for her losses at cards, Mrs. Grant, incited by society friends, deceives her husband in the hope of gaining more pocket money. Mrs. Grant loses a hundred dollars at cards, and she gives her I.O.U. to Mrs. Condon, the hostess.
Nadia, a stenographer, must give her meager earnings to her drunken father. When he shoots his wife's lover, Nadia decides to move in with her flashy girl friend Mabel, who soon introduces her to the fast life.
When Jasper Leigh calls on Professor Hunt to ask for his daughter, Mary's, hand in marriage, the Professor tells him that the girl is too young. He also tells Jasper that Mary believes her mother dead, but that she had eloped with another man. Leigh encounters a ragged and worn woman, who proves to be Mary's mother.
I.M. Mann, millionaire president of a large corporation, is known as "the man with the iron heart." James Boyd, cashier for Mann's corporation, is delayed one morning because of a dying mother, and is discharged. Then Boyd goes to Union headquarters with his story. The thousands of workmen employed by Mann finally reach the limit of endurance, and at a union meeting, resolve to demand increased wages, a cessation of child labor and other benefits, or strike. He refuses to hear a committee of workmen and says, "I'll close up the factories and let you starve."
Archie Sheldon, determining to go to New York City, is given a letter by his mother to Thatcher Thole, Gotham's most unscrupulous financier. She tells her son that Thole is an old friend of the family, and will undoubtedly give him a start in life.
Robert Barker, the newly arrived missionary, bears gifts to King Lomba of the Bartosi tribe. The king accepts the gifts, but tells Barker, "The bones of our ancestors have told us that white men are traitors." Kahma, King Lomba's younger brother, is being educated at the mission. While hunting one day, he sees Grace, the daughter of the missionary, in line of fire and saves her life. The witch doctor decrees that Kahma be thrown into the jungle stockade.
