His Ideal of Power
Directed by Edwin AugustThe two children, Martin Steel and Helen Weston, are of totally different natures. Martin is a masterful, headstrong little fellow, who overrules his gentle playmate. He will not permit any other boy to hurt her, however. One day they are playing with their toy boats. Martin finds them too small for his ambitions. He tires of the game, and smashes Helen's little boat, and when she cries, he comforts her and tells her that when he grows up they will have great, big powerful boats and not "play" ones. He shows his gambling tendencies, for when his father gives him money, he matches him double or quits, and takes his losses or gains as a matter of course. The children grow. The headstrong boy becomes a masterful, somewhat overbearing man. His love of gambling and big stakes leads him to the stock exchange. He loves the gentle Helen: he always loved her. He proposes and is accepted. Steel puts through one of his tremendous coups, and with its complete success, his prospective father-in-law, Weston, is forced to the wall. The sudden fall from affluence to ruin is too much for Weston, but his foolish aim to destroy himself is stopped by the sudden presence of Helen. She goes to Steel's office, and with a new courage and a breaking heart, she throws down the roses he sent to her, and with them her engagement ring. She leaves him to face a dilemma for the first time. It is a fight between the love of power and the love of a girl. He meets the difficulty halfway. He tells Weston to enter the market again and to sell. Steel boosts the market by buying at inflated prices and Weston regains his losses. Again Steel has a mental struggle. He knows weariness now. He closes his eyes and sees a vision of himself on the stock exchange smashing fortunes and accumulating them with cold indifference, a man feared. The mystic presence of Helen forces this from his mind. He opens his eyes to see Helen. She sees a new man. She shows her empty finger, and he puts the engagement ring on again.
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