Father and Son (1912)
A poor woman, hugging her infant son closely to her breast, staggers into Sing Lee's laundry. As the laundryman hastens to her assistance, she slow tells him that she's deathly ill and requests that he place her boy in the care of some home. As soon as he assures her that he will care for the child, she suddenly passes away. Tenderly Sing Lee cares for the child, loving him more day by day. When little Jack is older, Sing Lee places him in school and toils to support and educate him. The boy is very fond of his foster father and often speaks of his kindness to the neighbors, some of whom object to the Chinese man's care of the child and report the matter to the Juvenile Society, which sends one of its workers to Sing's laundry to remove the boy, against the protests of the boy and his good, fully capable guardian. Jack runs away from the Society and returns to Sing; the case is then taken to court. After listening to Sing Lee's story, the judge returns Jack to his foster father. Some years later, Jack is a successful lawyer, engaged to the daughter of the judge who had ruled that he could stay with Sing years before. Sing is attacked by a Chinese criminal who tries to stab him; Sing secures the knife and pursues him to arrest him. A policeman arrests Sing Lee with the knife in his hand, accusing him of being a bad character. He is brought into court and defended by his adopted son Jack; the judge is the father of Jack's fiancée. Jack tells how Sing Lee cared for him and brought him up to manhood, an honored and desirable citizen. The jury acquits the Chinese man without leaving their seats. Jack's fiancée is in court with her mother. They are astonished. The judge's wife asks him to give up either his foster father or their daughter. Jack replies that it would be base ingratitude to forget the sacrifices made in his behalf to deny the man who made them. The judge grasps Jack by the hand and tells him if he were a man to forget the kindness of the Chinese man, he would not be a fit husband for his daughter, and he is glad to have him for his son-in-law.
All Releases
Domestic
–
–
International
–
–
Worldwide
–
–
