Olive Drake

Wheeler Oakman

Bessie Eyton

Gilson Willets

Lily Vale&apos;s gentle ministrations to the poor folk of the mill town where her family lives ever makes her presence a benediction. She has a passionate love for flowers, particularly for wearing lilies-of-the-valley, which has won f...

Colin Campbell

The Lily of the Valley

Lily Vale's gentle ministrations to the poor folk of the mill town where her family lives ever makes her presence a benediction. She has a passionate love for flowers, particularly for wearing lilies-of-the-valley, which has won for her the appellation of "The Lily of the Valley." Her brother Philip is a lieutenant in the National Guard. When a strike breaks out in the big mills in Commercial Valley, the governor issues a call for the militia to repair to the scene of violence, and Philip's company leads the way. Foreman Bill has felt the pinch of poverty so long he is blindly enraged against the capitalistic class. He is the leader in this strike, and what is more, he is incited by his fiery daughter, Anna, who never ceases to aid the strikers' cause and urge them on. The soldiers, after firing several volleys over the heads of the strikers, aim low with bullets and rioters fall before them maimed and wounded. The "Lily's" heart is wrung by the scenes of suffering as she goes about among the strikers in her efforts to do what she can in relieving their ills and ministering to their wounds. She does not reveal that her brother is an officer of the troops, but points to the lilies-of-the-valley that she carries and pleads with the warring men to heed such a symbol of peace and love. The rough workmen are much impressed by her message. Even the fiery Anna softens, but their wrongs are too deep and they demand absolute redress. Anna forces a paper into Lily's hands, telling her that if she will get old man Winter to sign the document, that peace will be assured, as it was his former refusal to sign the pact that caused the riot. The fair evangel visits the hard, unyielding man in his office at the factory, presents him with a symbolic flower, and is on the point of winning him to favor the workmen and sign for peace, when a riot breaks out afresh. Stones shatter the windows of the room where they are talking, so that Winter, enraged beyond reason, throws away the document and swears to fight his employees to the bitter end. "The Lily of the Valley" turns sadly away and then visits her brother, who is in charge of the deadly machine gun. While she is arguing with him, a stray bullet enters the watch tower where they are stationed and kills the girl. Philip, frenzied with grief over his personal loss, heedless of the consequences, without orders turns the machine gun loose and it cuts a bloody swath in the close ranks of the workers outside. Among the victims of this fire are the father and brother of Anna. The men are terribly incensed over this tragedy. Anna comes to the front and takes a solemn oath to find and slay the soldier who robbed her of father and brother. The men, fairly frenzied, arm themselves as they can and line up for desperate battle. In the pause in hostilities that follows, a young officer, a friend of Philip's, rushes up, tells him of the terrible thing he has done without orders. Then Philip awakens from his dreadful dream, and realizes that the consequences are something for which he is personally responsible. To avoid further bloodshed, he takes the crumpled agreement from his dead sister's hand, and rushes to Winter's office. He asks him to sign. That captain of industry refuses; thereupon Philip draws his gun and threatens him with death unless he immediately puts his name to the document. Regardless of the protests of the guards, he rushes out of the factory gate into the midst of the strikers, and shows them the peace pact with Winter's signature, just as the battle is about to begin again, so a truce ensues. In the interim, Winter rushes to the commander to complain against the officer who forced him into signing the agreement, having no knowledge of the conditions that brought it about. Philip has been arrested and makes a clean breast in the matter, and asks both the colonel and Winter to see why he cranked the gun. Thereupon he takes them into the room, showing them the dead body of his sister, and the pair are so deeply moved they agree to jointly ask the governor to keep his name secret. Philip is released on parole to take the message to the governor, which he does, and is pardoned. With a cessation of hostilities, Philip decides to devote his life to bettering the conditions of the working people in Commercial Valley, and becomes a day laborer in the mills. Philip secures work in a big factory. Anna, orphaned and alone, left to her own resources, secures work in the same establishment. Philip has the next lathe to Anna's sewing machine. They soon become acquainted; he is infatuated and she coyly reciprocates. He becomes interested in all her doing, and anonymously supplies her with funds to help her fellow-workers, as they club for humble charity work. Eventually, friendship ripens into love; Philip marries Anna and takes her to his palatial home. Here she sees for the first time a portrait of "The Lily of the Valley," and then it is revealed to her by Philip that this gentle girl was his sister. One evening they are to dress for a social function when Anna discovers in the dresser Philip's old uniform, and then through a chain of singular circumstances, suspicions that he is the very man that killed her father and her brother. All at once the fire of the old vow flames within her, and she takes a revolver, intent upon shooting him. In the interim, troubles have again commenced at the factories; there is a riot in the streets similar to the one that had almost wrecked Commercial Valley years before. Anna enters the room to kill Philip, with murder in her heart and the weapon for it in her hand, but love overcomes her hatred. She casts aside the weapon and holds out her arms to again embrace him. As he turns about from the open window, a wild bullet fired from the street pierces his breast and he falls dead at her feet. Then in a "dissolve" is revealed the doubly grief-stricken woman, who has assumed the sister habiliments as the symbol of the lily-of-the-valley, and devotes the remainder of her days to helping the working people.

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The Lily of the Valley

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