Marietta Holley was an American humorist and satirist who has been compared to Mark Twain in her ability to depict and scrutinize the American scene. Her acerbic description of married life as she followed the travels of Josiah and Samantha Allen is excellent. The syntax and spelling are unchanged from the time the book was written, which can add to the enjoyment of the sincerely funny antics or it can cause confusion at the mental somersaults needed for translation.