The School Teacher and the Waif
1912Nora, the waif, is forced to attend school. She warms to her teacher for the way that he defends her against the taunts of some of the students, but when she's made to wear a dunce cap, she flees the schoolhouse in shame. Unsupervised by her alcoholic father, Nora becomes a determined truant, wandering the town during school hours. There she catches the attention of a huckster, who convinces her that they will run away and be married. The schoolmaster, meanwhile, preoccupied by Nora's absence, leaves his other students to go find her. He encounters her at a crossroads, being spirited away by the huckster, and calls the man's bluff by saying that he'll find them a minister.
Acted in
Edwin August
as The School Teacher
Mary Pickford
as Nora, the Waif
Charles Hill Mailes
as Nora's Father
Bert Hendler
as A Street Fakir
Claire McDowell
as The Street Fakir's Sweetheart
William A. Carroll
as The Street Fakir's Assistant
Robert Harron
as Schoolboy
Kate Bruce
Josephine Crowell
Ella Hall
as Schoolgirl (unconfirmed)
Grace Henderson
as A Mother
Mae Marsh
as Schoolgirl
Frank Opperman
as At the Bee
Alfred Paget
as At the Bee
Jack Pickford
as Extra
Antrim Short
as Student (uncredited)