A Message from Home (1913)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Drama, Short
Release: 1913-11-27
Director: E.A. Martin
Writers: E. Lynn Summers
Language: None | English
Stars: Frank Newburg , Harriet Notter , Roy Watson , Lillian Leighton , Al Ernest Garcia , Edith Johnson
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: A Message from Home (United States of America) , A Message from Home
Plot: Jack Trask, a drinking and non-provident man, confers a hardship upon his wife, and an unenviable heritage upon his boy, Earl. This youth is jibed by his schoolmates because of his ragged clothing and his dissolute father, but he has a little champion in Gladys Hoffman, whose father, Judge Hoffman, employs Trask. The boy meets a friendly hobo and succumbs to the lure of the rood. He confides to Gladys that he is going to run away, but in spite of her persuasion to the contrary, he feels that he is driven from home, and disappears. Gladys tells the secret to his poor mother and then to her father, who calls Trask to account, but his reformation is too late. Earl has disappeared. The zest of the wondering life soon wears off, but the boy has practically become a slave and is forced to continue the horrid pace of the tramp. His poor old mother sets a light in the window each night, hoping for the return of her wandering boy, and Gladys never loses hope in her playmate, and one day, in a strange humor writes a message in chalk upon the door of a freight car, trusting that it will meet the eye of Earl, and bring him back again. One day the gang of tramps with whom Earl consorts, plan to loot a freight car, and that night they steal into the yards, hoist Earl upon their shoulders, to pick the lock. He lights a match and by its flare, reads the message that he recognizes is for him. Just then the detective who is watching the yards comes upon the crowd and captures them. Their case comes up the following day before Judge Hoffman, and the ragged boy seems to be singled out as the chief conspirator. At this moment, Gladys, the Judge's daughter, comes into the court, recognizes the boy, explanations are quickly made, the real culprits are passed on to save time, and the repentant Earl is taken home to his parents and starts on a new life.
IMDB:tt1164617