For Love of Mary Ellen

Little Rex McKnight, the precocious son of snobbish parents, does not like to play with the children of his mama's rich friends. Every chance he gets he runs away to enjoy life with little Mary Ellen Rafferty, whose widowed mother keeps the newsstand and tobacco shop at the corner. Mrs. Rafferty's bills for food, fuel and rent accumulate faster than the profits of the shop. Her creditors become insistent. Mrs. Rafferty falls ill. At last, Mary Ellen pours their woes into the sympathetic ear of her playmate, Rex McKnight. Rex racks his brain to think of some way to earn money for those who are in danger any hour of being thrown out on the street. An old blind woman gives Rex his inspiration. He gets the grocer's boy to paint him a sign reading, "Pity a Blind Widow with Six Children." This he hangs about his neck, and taking a tomato can to catch the bounty, he stations himself in a busy street. A few coins and much laughter come to Rex's share, until Chief Justice Jones happens along. The justice wins from the small boy with the "Blind Widow" sign the whole story of the Rafferty's distress. Judge Jones visits the sick mother of Mary Ellen. He arranges to satisfy her creditors and give her a new start in business. Meanwhile, Mrs. McKnight is in hysterics over Rex's disappearance. But Judge Jones makes that all right too.