money for "her family" of tenement schoolchildren, and Edith feels it's wrong of her not to devote her energies to the care of her niece and nephews. Edith is also very hostile to Deborah's "modern" ideas about women's suffrage, and the resulting arguments are very stressful on Roger. When Roger learns that Deborah has ended her engagement to Allan Baird, he intervenes, informing her that he is fatally ill, and pleading with her to make a life for herself beyond her school. He intends to sell the family home, use most of the funds to set up the family farm in New Hampshire so that George (now 17) can become a farmer and support his mother and siblings, and prepare for death. After she agrees to marry Allan, Roger finds good fortune at last: John, the Irish boy who works for him, discovers a new source of clients and saves the business (and with it, the family home). Roger lives out the end of his days watching Deborah and Allan settle down happily together and have their first child. John, who a doctor had said would never live past 30, falls ill and passes away suddenly, and soon thereafter, Roger falls ill for the final time himself. All of his daughters return to him to make their peace (even Laura, whose new husband allows her to find and reacquire Roger's prized collection of rings), and Roger dies feeling finally connected to his family, as his wife had hoped. Characters in His Family Roger Gale, a New York businessman in his early 60s Edith Gale Cunningham, Roger's oldest daughter, in her early 30s Bruce Cunningham, Edith's husband (a "financial surgeon" who manages bankrupt businesses) George Cunningham, Bruce and Edith's oldest son, in his late teens Elizabeth "Betsy" Cunningham, Bruce and Edith's only daughter Deborah Gale Baird, Roger's middle daughter, a school principal Allan Baird, Deborah's husband, a successful doctor who leaves his practice to treat families living in the tenements Laura Gale Sloane, Roger's youngest daughter Hal Sloane, Laura's first husband John "Johnny" Geer, a crippled Irish boy who comes to work for Roger Literary significance and reception His Family was praised by many critics at the time of its publication. The Oakland Tribune, in its review on May 27, 1917, said "in this story of Roger Gale's family, Ernest Poole has pictured remarkably well present-day Americans. It is significant, intellectual