The Quality of Faith (1916)

Albert Richards, the young pastor of a fashionable and wealthy church, woos Louise Alford and wins her promise to become his wife. She is the daughter of a wealthy mill-owner, John Alford. Louise is a vain, pleasure-loving girl. Her love for Albert is only a passing fancy. After realizing the monotony of such a life as would be hers as his wife, the finally jilts him for Guy Carlton, a society admirer. In the meantime labor troubles arise in the mill owned by Louise's father. The leader of the mill workers is a home-loving, peaceable fellow, Baker, hard-working and reliable when unmolested, but a man of high temper when aroused. Baker is elected head of the first delegation sent to petition Alford not to increase the hours of their labor, as he proposes doing. The petition is denied. While visiting among the poorer classes of the city, Richard is called to minister to a factory girl who has been horribly hurt in Alford's plant. The dramatic story of conditions that exist in the factory told the minister by the grief-stricken father arouses in him the desire to investigate for himself. Later, the tragic squalor and privation of the working people is further revealed to the minister. These scenes confirm his resolve to make an effort in behalf of these unfortunates. On his way home after one of these visits Richards encounters a girl and man in combat, the bully beating the woman unmercifully. He goes to her rescue and assists the girl to her nearby home. The pastor learns that she is Marna, a woman of ill-repute. Struck by her apparent unhappiness and unrest, the minister succeeds in getting her to tell the story of her present life. Ill-health has incapacitated her for work in the factory, where there is no sympathy and had led her to a life of shame for a bare livelihood. Cheered by Richards' words of encouragement, Marna grasps eagerly at his offer to help her and later finds a haven through his efforts in the Salvation Army home. With the gathering of clouds on the factory horizon, Richards takes active interest in the cause of the workmen. His final break with the Alford family comes over his position in the matter. In a riot of the striking workmen, Baker is arrested for inciting it and is given two years in prison. Richards is dismissed from his church and comes under the influence of an atheist. He falls into debauchery, where the love and faith of Marna are the two abiding lights. His literary work also fails of success at the same time. Louise has married Carlton. But the bottom of the pit is finally touched by Richards, and success as a writer at last comes to the erstwhile minister. With renewed popularity, Louise, who has wearied of her husband, sets a trap to again catch Richards with her wiles, but he proves himself strong, and is rewarded by the love and devotion of Marna. Alford, the factory owner, succumbs to heart failure just before Baker comes from prison to kill him because he was the cause of the strife and tragedy at the mill.