An old man, weary of the city’s strife and disappointments, has betaken himself with his boy to the mountain fastness, from which heights he can scan the world below and still remain unseen and unknown. His books he has taken and some small means. There alone, with none to distract, he breathes the peace begot by seclusion. With patient care he moulds the mind and character of his son as he grows into manhood. Contentment reigns supreme in the mountain home. The boy, a giant of muscle and mind, is free and content, dreaming of naught beyond his little world, the well of his affections filled with the love of his father. What is it that one day suddenly attracts and absorbs his interest? In the far distance, away across the valley below, a city has been rising, until now the tall chimneys with their black smoke can be plainly seen through the early morning light. As we find him upon this day, he holds in his hand a book; he reads intently and then with yearning gaze his eyes look toward the distant city. Anon he reads upon the page: “The city is a place for strong men, for there a man must do a man’s work.” He rises and expanding himself in his strength, he repeats what he has just read. With hasty steps he is soon before the venerable father. When the father hears the boy’s desire to go to the city, he is sorrowful, warns him of its strife and its pitfalls, and counsels him not to go. The boy is determined. He leaves with his father’s blessing, a small bag of gold, and prayers for his safety and return. He enters the city in course of time and the many strange spectacles that assail him, reveals to him a new world. The first is a drunken creature; he staggers and falls helpless in the gutter. Our hero runs with human impulse to succor a brother. A lazy policeman approaches, throws the boy aside, and without a word drags the creature off to jail. In wonder at all he sees, he reaches a factory. He applies for work. The men treat him roughly, laugh at his grotesque appearance, jeer at him, and are driving him off, when the owner arrives with his daughter, who, struck with the wild and rugged child of nature, saves him from the crowd. He is put to work. Then follows a series of rows and riots because of this outsider coming and doing three men’s work. The crisis comes in a general strike instigated by a bully of a foreman who had aspired to the hand of the owner’s daughter. They demand to see the boy’s “Union Card.” In the fight that follows the owner expires from the excitement and shock. The girl is left an orphan. Some weeks later the inevitable has happened. The girl and the mountain boy are in love. The bully foreman has constantly nursed his wrath until finally unable longer to contain it, he plots to assassinate the intruder. The girl overhearing the scheme, warns her lover and admonishes him to fly. He refuses to go unless she accompany him. In a spirit of self-sacrifice she consents to go and together they flee into the foothills, followed by an angry and blood-thirsty mob. By a ruse the mob is outwitted and the lovers escape. The mountain boy takes the girl to his father’s home, and when the old man learns that the girl has saved the boy’s life, he receives her with open arms. Some days have passed and the mountain boy is waiting for the girl to suggest her return to the city. Finally unable to hold back his love he asks her if he shall escort her back home. She turns to him and answers, “No, your world is my world. Your home is my home. We will stay here together on the heights always.” Love has conquered and love and peace again reign in the mountain home. - The Nickelodeon, November 1, 1910, p. 260.