The School Teacher and the Waif

Nora, 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.

• D.W. GriffithDirector

• Edwin AugustThe School Teacher
• Mary PickfordNora, the Waif
• Charles Hill MailesNora's Father
• Bert HendlerA Street Fakir
• Claire McDowellThe Street Fakir's Sweetheart
• William A. CarrollThe Street Fakir's Assistant
• Robert HarronSchoolboy
• Kate BruceCast
• Josephine CrowellCast
• Ella HallSchoolgirl (unconfirmed)
• Grace HendersonA Mother
• Mae MarshSchoolgirl