Tess of the Storm Country (1914)

Tessibel Skinner, a wild, motherless little elf, lives with her father in a rude hut on the shore of Cayuga Lake, called "Storm Country" because of the sudden, regular squalls on the lake, while the poor, ignorant fisherfolk, including the Skinners, are generally known as "squatters." Tess, adores her uncouth father, who lives by poaching and the illegal netting of fish. One day he is found near the body of a murdered gamekeeper; close by is a rifle containing one empty chamber. Skinner is accused of the murder and convicted on circumstantial evidence. Tess is frantic with grief and anxiety, but handsome theology student Frederick Graves and his sister Teola befriend Tess. Tess. Frederick tells her of God, of Whom she has never heard, and His written word, the Bible, and bids her pray and have faith. Tess steals a Bible from the Mission Church, painfully spells out the lessons taught her by Frederick, and the untutored girl's faith brings her wonderful strength and hope. Professor Young, an eminent legal authority and an influence in the community, touched by her profound faith in a Power that will aid her father, intercedes for him. Tess is thrilled with this evidence of God's love for her, but she gives Frederick more credit for it than she gives the professor. Tess and Frederick meet again, and one day as they stand in the squalid hut, looking into each others' eyes, Tess innocently receives her first kiss of love. Frederick loves and reveres the little ignorant girl for her pure nature and strong faith, and Tess, who hardly knows what has come into her bleak life, puts Frederick upon her pedestal of faith and almost worships him as a symbol of the God she does not understand. Elder Elias Graves, Frederick's father, a religious but bigoted and narrow man, the relentless enemy of the "squatters," does his best to secure the conviction of Tess' father. Teola Graves is betrothed to Dan Jordan, who perishes in a fire and leaves Teola worse than widowed. Teola does not dare tell her proud, harsh father of her pitiful plight. Tess hears her weeping one day in the woods and takes her to the hut, sheltering her there when her baby is born; to shield Teola, Tess takes the baby and cares for it. Frederick finds the baby there on one of his calls, and circumstances force him to believe that it is Tess' child. Rather than expose and disgrace his sister, who is now very ill, Tess allows him to believe the child hers, and he denounces her as a worthless woman, taking her Bible from her. Tess, seeing his cruel anger and unfaith, knows that her idol has fallen also, but declares that though he has taken her Bible, he cannot take away her God; left alone, falls on her knees in prayer. Her life becomes truly difficult: her father is still in prison, Frederick avoids her, the other "squatters" comment openly on her "fall," and one of the fishermen persecutes and insults her; but she persists in her sacrifice for Teola and her faith in God. At last, in a tragically dramatic scene, Elder Graves publicly denounces Tess and the fatherless babe she holds to her breast. But Teola, roused by her father's denunciation of Tess, can remain silent no longer, and comes forward in the big assemblage and takes her baby into her arms and claims that it is hers. The proud Elder Graves is overwhelmed with shame and remorse, and Tess is freed from the shadow of disgrace. Teola and her sickly babe both die, and the Elder writes a pleading note to Tess for her forgiveness, which the humble Frederick bears to her. Tess, nobly understanding and forgiving all, goes to Frederick's waiting arms; another fisherman is found to be the murderer of the gamekeeper; her father is liberated; and Tess finds the reward of her faith in a great love and happiness.