Coals of Fire

The merchant had succeeded in business because he was utterly heartless and had ground down all opposition. His employees hated him, his competitors feared him, and the servants in his home lived in mortal dread of him. There was only one person in the world who was not afraid of him and that was his motherless little daughter, a mere baby, but who knew that her word was law with her father. One of the merchant's employees was a clerk who had grown gray in the service of the firm, and who in any ordinary business would have been regarded as a pensioner. In this case, however, he was brutally discharged for no reason other than age, and found it impossible to secure a place elsewhere. The clerk had supported his little grandson, his only surviving relative, but soon positions were reversed and all that the old man and the small boy had to live on were the pennies that the youngster made by selling newspapers. One day the clerk came home to find his grandson feeding a little girl whom he had picked up on the streets lost and not knowing where she lived. The clerk recognized her as the daughter of his employer, and his heart filled with rage. He ordered the child to leave at once and scowled angrily at her, but the little girl did not know what fear was, for in all her young life no one had ever spoken crossly to her or looked angrily at her. She thought the old man was trying to amuse her, gurgled happily when he frowned, confidently climbed into his lap and told him she liked him. Probably he would not have been cross to her under any circumstances, but the child was so sweet that no one could "stay mad at her," so the old clerk instead of throwing her out made her as comfortable as possible, put her to sleep in his own bed and watched over her while his son went to notify her father. The merchant came to the house post-haste to find his darling child guarded by the man be had turned out to starve. For once he was stricken with remorse when he realized how the man he had injured had done him a kindness he would never forget. Now the clerk is back at his old desk again and he knows he has a life-long job, for his employer, no longer gruff and bullying, has told him so. - IMDb