Gould was the editor of the newspaper in Lisbon Falls, Maine when he was sent the misbehaving high school paper editor for tutoring.  Stephen King turned out to write OK and claims that Gould taught him everything he needed to know about writing.  Gould also wrote a column for the Christian Science Monitor for more than 60 years featuring the essays in this best selling volume from 1945 in which he tells the tales of his wife’s orientation to the Maine farm after her upbringing in Massachusetts.  The tales are full of great humor and commonsense about the residents of this Maine farming community where talk is minimal and neighborliness consists of mostly minding your own business.  Colorful characters abound and laughing out loud occurred with regularity.   This volume is a delightful antidote to the heavy non-fiction and dystopian fiction that are so common today.  Highly recommended.