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Mr. Poole’s “Beggar's Gold” is in point of literary quality and human interest on a par with his best work. It is simpler in its lines than his more elaborate novels —that is, there are fewer characters and less divergence to the study of momentous questions. The title is explained by the little parable of the beggar who was sitting on a bag of supposed trash that turned out to be gold. It is expressed in the story of the life of a young married pair who are thwarted in their thirst for adventure in the Far East, but find as that dream recedes the true gold of work, love, and deep interest in what is near them. Yet at the very end events lead them to fare forth with their daughter to China to help—so they hope, at least—build a great nation. Possibly some readers may misinterpret two episodes in the husband's life—one when he, a New York City teacher, is interested in Socialism; the other when, after the armistice, he urges the right of liberty of speech, and loses his position therefor. But he is not at all a Bolshevist nor a pro-German. The author is not writing propaganda, but describing the man's development and intellectual biography.

New Outlook, 1922.