The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Christmas Story, by Samuel W. Francis

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Title: A Christmas Story
Man in His Element: or, A New Way to Keep House

Author: Samuel W. Francis

Release Date: July 6, 2006 [EBook #18770]
[Date last updated: July 8, 2006]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Transcriber's note: Irregularities in punctuation which were present
in the original have been corrected. Variants such as would'nt/wouldn't,
could'nt/couldn't, was'nt/wasn't, have been retained.]

A

CHRISTMAS STORY,

BY

DR. SAMUEL W. FRANCIS.

PUBLISHED BY
GEORGE H. MATHEWS,
929 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.

1867.

A CHRISTMAS STORY.

MAN IN HIS ELEMENT:
OR,
A NEW WAY TO KEEP HOUSE.

BY DR. SAMUEL W. FRANCIS.

PART I.

_A WOMAN'S PLAN._

'My dear Mary,' said I, one morning, to my widowed sister, as she sank
into an arm chair in front of my library fire, and heaved a sigh replete
with exhaustion and sadness:

'What is the matter?'

'Enough for a woman, William, but of course, nothing for an old bachelor
like you, who have only to pay your own bills, eat your meals without
the trouble of ordering them; lounge through a clean house with no
chasing after servants to sweep and wash and dust; sit in your study,
heaping log after log on your devoted andirons, and always meeting me
with such a provoking cheerfulness, while I have not a moment to myself;
am all the time running to give out stores to one girl; soap and starch
to another; candles and linen to the chambermaid, and orders to the
coachman; and, even then, I have no peac