This volume is a collection of two books written by Ray Stannard Baker and published under his pseudonym David Grayson. After law school, Baker became a journalist, historian, internationalist, and a friend of Woodrow Wilson.

Adventures in Contentment and Adventures in Friendship were published separately in 1907 and 1910.

Both books share a similar structure, style, and tone. These are tales told in the first-person with "David Grayson" as narrator. He gives vignettes about rural living from the perspective of a city dweller. Grayson seems to live with his sister Harriet. (One or both may be gay and not even know it, as so many in their generation could not even describe the "condition".)

Thoughts on life, and advice to others considering moving away from urban areas. The details are real -- no unicorns or magic -- although the characters may actually be fictional. We have a sense they are inserted to dramatic effect in the telling of stories.

Baker writes with a dry wit -- he describes a judge as dry as a corn crib in July -- and with often profound sentiments. His neighbor is a "professor" of botany, carrying a collections tin:

"When the professor had spoken we stood for a moment silent, then he smiled and said briskly: "I have been a botanist for fifty-four years. When I was a boy I believed implicitly in God. I prayed to him, having a vision of him " a person " before my eyes. As I grew older I concluded that there was no God. I dismissed him from the universe. I believed only in what I could see, or hear, or feel. I talked about Nature and Reality."

"He paused, the smile still lighting his face, evidently recalling to himself the old days. I did not interrupt him. Finally he turned to me and said abruptly, "And now " it seems to me " there is nothing but God'.

As he said this he lifted his arm with a peculiar gesture that seemed to take in the whole world. "

These books call for introspection. A sweet read. ( )