Mrs. Ryan is one of those hard-working mothers of the city tenement districts, who work for their more fortunate sisters of the upper or moneyed class. Mrs. Ryan is employed in the home of Mrs. Martin. She is discharged by Mrs. Martin because of an accident in which a rug is injured. After a vain struggle to secure other employment by which she can support her little daughter and herself, she is taken sick and both mother and daughter face starvation. Myra, the child, starts out in a final effort to secure food. She tries every method that occurs to her little mind, but all of them fail to secure the necessary food. At last, she, in her necessity, yields to a strong temptation and appropriates a box of groceries intended for Mrs. Martin. On her way home with the stolen property she stops to listen to the exhortations of a street preacher, who has chosen for his sermon on that particular occasion, the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." The talk of the minister is so convincing that the child repents her action, and returns the box of eatables to the home of Mrs. Martin. That lady, on hearing the child's story, is also repentant and having heard the voice of warning, she accompanies Myra to the tenement building and after providing for Mrs. Ryan, assures her that her old position will he waiting for her when she is able to return.