The Helping Hand 1908

Directed by Georges Méliès

An impoverished father, with his young son and daughter, begs for food in a marketplace. When a merchant angrily turns them away, their plight attracts the attention of a woman of charity. Calling shame upon the unkind merchant, she buys the poor family some food, talks with the family, and adopts the two children. Marketplace workers, witnessing the scene, give the father work as a sign carrier.