Dora Allen was fishing down near the old swimming hole, when Stephen comes from the hay fields to get a pail of water. It is a pretty place for the lovers to talk and mother Allen's voice calling Dora is unheeded. The half-simple Josh ...See moreDora Allen was fishing down near the old swimming hole, when Stephen comes from the hay fields to get a pail of water. It is a pretty place for the lovers to talk and mother Allen's voice calling Dora is unheeded. The half-simple Josh appears, but his love for Dora and Stephen makes him a willing slave to their wishes, and he tells Dora that her mother wants her, without carrying back any tales of the lovers' meeting. Father Allen wants Dora to marry old man Grimes, who is very wealthy. Stephen loses his position on the farm because of his love for Dora. With Josh's help the lovers elope and Dora is disowned by her stern old father. Even the coming of her first baby does not soften her father's heart. Josh makes a habit of leaving the baby on a haystack where Dora's father will see it on his way to the fields. Gradually the old man falls in love with the sweet little child, but he will not forgive his daughter. Stephen falls ill and poverty stares the young couple in the face, but father Allen refuses to aid them. Josh suggests a plan to cause the old man's heart to soften, and Dora, desperate and in despair, consents to try it. The little babe is placed in a rowboat with the hat and shawl of its mother by its side and the boat set adrift, so that it will pass the spot where old man Allen is working in the field. Dora watches the baby from a clump of bushes on the bank. Josh, who is near at hand when father Allen discovers the boat drifting down stream with its precious freight, quickly swims out and brings the baby safely to its grandfather's arms. The old man is bowed down with grief and remorse when he thinks that his daughter has been drowned and her sudden appearance brings about the reconciliation which completes the happiness of farmer Allen's daughter. Written by
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