diff --git a/src/bank.rs b/src/bank.rs
index 64370355e7..c3f0fec8aa 100644
--- a/src/bank.rs
+++ b/src/bank.rs
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ mod tests {
     use hash::hash;
     use ledger::next_entries;
     use signature::KeyPairUtil;
-    use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, Cursor, Seek, SeekFrom};
+    use std::io::{BufReader, Cursor, Seek, SeekFrom};
 
     #[test]
     fn test_two_payments_to_one_party() {
@@ -807,9 +807,7 @@ mod tests {
         file.seek(SeekFrom::Start(0)).unwrap();
 
         let reader = BufReader::new(file);
-        reader
-            .lines()
-            .map(|line| entry_writer::read_entry(line.unwrap()).unwrap())
+        entry_writer::read_entries(reader).map(|x| x.unwrap())
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/src/entry_writer.rs b/src/entry_writer.rs
index 3b8a862a8f..2ded0bcebf 100644
--- a/src/entry_writer.rs
+++ b/src/entry_writer.rs
@@ -49,15 +49,12 @@ impl<'a, W: Write> EntryWriter<'a, W> {
     }
 }
 
-pub fn read_entry(s: String) -> io::Result<Entry> {
-    serde_json::from_str(&s).map_err(|e| Error::new(ErrorKind::Other, e.to_string()))
+pub fn read_entry(s: &str) -> io::Result<Entry> {
+    serde_json::from_str(s).map_err(|e| Error::new(ErrorKind::Other, e.to_string()))
 }
 
-// TODO: How to implement this without attaching the input's lifetime to the output?
-pub fn read_entries<'a, R: BufRead>(
-    reader: &'a mut R,
-) -> impl Iterator<Item = io::Result<Entry>> + 'a {
-    reader.lines().map(|s| read_entry(s?))
+pub fn read_entries<R: BufRead>(reader: R) -> impl Iterator<Item = io::Result<Entry>> {
+    reader.lines().map(|s| read_entry(&s?))
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]
diff --git a/src/fullnode.rs b/src/fullnode.rs
index e7a79abde3..41c4420ba6 100644
--- a/src/fullnode.rs
+++ b/src/fullnode.rs
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ use ncp::Ncp;
 use packet::BlobRecycler;
 use rpu::Rpu;
 use std::fs::File;
-use std::io::Write;
 use std::io::{sink, stdin, stdout, BufReader};
+use std::io::{Read, Write};
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 use std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool;
 use std::sync::{Arc, RwLock};
@@ -44,23 +44,14 @@ impl FullNode {
     ) -> FullNode {
         info!("creating bank...");
         let bank = Bank::default();
-        let entry_height = match infile {
-            InFile::Path(path) => {
-                let f = File::open(path).unwrap();
-                let mut r = BufReader::new(f);
-                let entries =
-                    entry_writer::read_entries(&mut r).map(|e| e.expect("failed to parse entry"));
-                info!("processing ledger...");
-                bank.process_ledger(entries).expect("process_ledger")
-            }
-            InFile::StdIn => {
-                let mut r = BufReader::new(stdin());
-                let entries =
-                    entry_writer::read_entries(&mut r).map(|e| e.expect("failed to parse entry"));
-                info!("processing ledger...");
-                bank.process_ledger(entries).expect("process_ledger")
-            }
+        let infile: Box<Read> = match infile {
+            InFile::Path(path) => Box::new(File::open(path).unwrap()),
+            InFile::StdIn => Box::new(stdin()),
         };
+        let reader = BufReader::new(infile);
+        let entries = entry_writer::read_entries(reader).map(|e| e.expect("failed to parse entry"));
+        info!("processing ledger...");
+        let entry_height = bank.process_ledger(entries).expect("process_ledger");
 
         // entry_height is the network-wide agreed height of the ledger.
         //  initialize it from the input ledger