Mother Love (1914)

A young girl is a talented violinist, and wins a scholarship in a school of music. In the village is a banker who is a deacon of a church of whom everybody is afraid. He convinces the father of the girl that music is leading her astray, and declares that the only way to save her is to make her his wife. The father falls dead at the wedding. A year later a child is born. The young wife leads a life of sorrow and abuse. The husband takes her violin away from her and refuses her girl friends permission to come and see her. When she rebels, he drives her out of the house. She goes to the city and makes a name for herself as a musician. Her husband, chagrined at her success, tries to worry her. He sends a box of crepe intimating that their baby is dead. Being unable to stand the strain, she hurries home. He refuses her any information but takes her to the cemetery where there is a freshly made grave and makes her believe her child is buried there. Friends intercede in her behalf and she finds her child is alive and well. The banker and deacon is a hypocrite. The climax of the picture is his denunciation in church by his wife. She is aided and her charges are proved by his housekeeper who, up until the last minute, had been a staunch supporter. The picture ends with him fainting on the steps before the congregation.