The quest of the simple life

The book recounts the author's escape from an unfulfilling, monotonous, and artificial life in London. W. J. Dawson expresses his feelings of being in a "House of Bondage" and fears that his children are predestined to the same fate of a "narrow-chested, black-coated army" of urban toil. He uses economic calculations to demonstrate that the seemingly higher urban income is largely absorbed by the "tax to convention and respectability," including high rent and costs of maintaining appearance, making the income more nominal than real. He concludes that a simple country life, even with a much smaller income, can purchase the genuine happiness, health, and tranquility lost in the city's struggle against "artificial needs".