The School Teacher and the Waif (1912)

• 56%
• 1912
• Drama
• D.W. Griffith
• Edwin August
• Mary Pickford
• Charles Hill Mailes

Nora, a wild girl who lives with her alcoholic father, is forced to attend school. The untamed girl, who does not know how to socialize, is soon taunted by the other children. She warms towards the kind schoolteacher, as he befriends and encourages her, until she is told to wear the dunce cap at a spelling bee. She then angrily leaves the school and encounters a slick huckster. He convinces her they will run away and be married. Meanwhile, the schoolteacher, concerned over the waif's absence, goes looking for her. He encounters her at a crossroad, being spirited away by the cad. He calls the man's bluff by telling them he will get the minister to marry them at once. The huckster high-tails it out of town, leaving a rejected Nora. The caring schoolteacher, lovingly escorts her back to school.