A flat iron for a farthing, or, Some passages in the life of an only son

the long version

The narrator of this book is asked by his wife to tell their children the tale of how he once bought A Flat Iron for a Farthing, and he does so, along the way recounting his motherless childhood in the countryside, education and upbringing at the hands of the steadfast Nurse Bundle, friendship with the neighborhood Rector, boundless love for his red and white spaniel Rubens, and antics with his five female cousins from London. These musings on youth are at once poignant and humorous, and show their owner to possess an inquisitive mind and sympathetic spirit. The reader also comes to learn that, despite the seeming insignificance of a flat iron, it is an object that may hold far more meaning than one might at first have guessed.