A Peaceful Victory

A wealthy manufacturer was a harsh and unfeeling employer. He regarded his men as merely a part of the vast factory whose products were distributed throughout the world. The men's wages were small, and as the employer refused to grant an increase, a strike was called. The working men were no match for their stern employer. Their places were filled by others and day after day the strikers saw their families failing in health of insufficient food. The manufacturer's daughter, who has just passed sixteen, had always been shielded from the world, and regarded her father as the kindest and best of men. She had reason for her belief, for the finest traits of his character were displayed to her. A glimpse of the real world which she had never known was revealed to her when the gardener captured a ragged child whom he found picking flowers on the estate. The girl witnessed the scene and took the child into the house. There she learned the story of a starving family whose means of livelihood had been taken away by the strike. She fed the famished little girl, and took food to the home. The rich girl was welcomed, for the striker and his family realized the spirit in which her gifts were meant. "My father will surely take the men back," she assured the striker, but her optimism was not justified, for when she spoke to her father, he sternly refused to grant her request. "It is business, my dear," he replied, "and you don't understand it." Worry over the problem, which she was powerless to solve, brought on a serious illness. Her father, business forgotten, was constantly by her side. In a moment of consciousness she pleaded once more with her father, and he yielded. The workmen returned to the factory, puzzled by the strange action of their employer, who had granted their demands as they were hopelessly beaten. The manufacturer was amply repaid for his action, for his daughter passed through her illness, and in her love and the respect and admiration of his employees he found greater happiness than he had ever known. - IMDb