Regeneration: Hunter Ross deserts his wife and child and she is driven to the extremes of poverty, being obliged in sell pencils to keep the spark of life in herself and little one. Fearing the worst, she writes a note, saying, "I am the wife of Hunter Ross, and this is our child," pinning the note on the child's dress in the hope that someone will find and care for the little girl, in case anything should happen to herself.