
"See this Picture-and peer into the Soul of Humanity"
In their farm house in a New York village, Ma Shelby prepares breakfast for her four children, Isaac, Tommy, Johnny and Susan, and then awakens them. The racket the boys make as they play and fight awakens their father, who spanks the eldest, Isaac. When a visitor chides Pa for not working, Ma sticks up for her husband, saying that he has a weak back and that he is waiting for a promised government job.
Ma Shelby

Johnny Shelby as an Adult

Isabel Potter as an Adult

Pa Shelby in Prologue

Thomas as an Adult
Phyllis Shelby, Johnny's Wife

Isaac as an Adult

Susan as an Adult

Isaac Shelby in Prologue
Johnny Shelby in Prologue

Thomas Shelby in Prologue
Susan Shelby in Prologue

Isabel Potter in Prologue
Minnie, Isaac's Wife

Ben Adams, Susan's Husband

Les, Wagon Driver

Stephen

Bill Collector

Shelby Boy (uncredited)

Detective Escort (uncredited)
