"The picture opens with a scene in the interior of a factory. Men, girls
and boys are employed. The foreman observes a warning crack in the wall
and calls the proprietor's attention to it. In this case the manufacturer
is the owner of the building, but he refuses to make repairs. His
argument is that the wall has stood for many years and so is likely to
stand for many more; it would be a waste of money to repair the old
shell. Next day the foreman shows him that the crack has spread and
extended along the wall in an alarming manner but still the owner will
not act. The workmen counsel together seriously. They dare not desert
their jobs, for they must have money to live. They send a petition to the
owner, who becomes angry and swears he won't be driven to a useless
expense by his own employees. In the next scene the manufacturer's
daughter--his only child--having heard that the building was unsafe,
comes to her father's office to plead with him to change his mind and
make the needed repairs. Although he loves this daughter next to his
money he resents her interference in a business matter, and refuses. Her
words, however, impress him so strongly that he calls her back from the
door to kiss her and say that he will give the matter further thought,
for her sake.

"As she leaves the office there is a cry of terror from the factory and
the working people come rushing out of the now tottering building. That
was when you two young ladies came walking up the street and were dragged
out of danger by the foreman of the shop--in other words, by myself. The
owner's daughter, bewildered by the confusion, hesitates what to do or
which way to turn, and as she stands upon the sidewalk she is crushed by
the falling wall, together with several of her father's employees."

"How dreadful!" exclaimed Patsy.