Tales of O. Henry

by O. Henry

The gift of the Magi --
A cosmopolite in a café --
The skylight room --
Man about town --
The cop and the anthem --
The love-philtre of Ikey Schoenstein --
Mammon and the archer --
Springtime à la carte --
From the cabby's seat --
An unfinished story --
The romance of a busy broker --
After twenty years --
The furnished room --
Hearts and crosses --
The ransom of Mack --
Telemachus, friend --
The handbook of Hymen --
Hygeia at the Solito --
The hand that riles the world --
The exact science of matrimony --
Conscience in art --
Roads of destiny --
The enchanted profile --
The passing of Black Eagle --
A retrieved reformation --
Friends in San Rosario --
The renaissance at Charleroi --
Whistling Dick's Christmas stocking --
The lotus and the bottle --
Shoes --
Ships --
Masters of arts --
"The Rose of Dixie" --
A poor rule --
The last of the troubadours --
Makes the whole world kin --
Jimmy Hayes and Muriel --
The adventures of Shamrock Jolnes --
The friendly call --
Sound and fury --
The theory and the hound --
The ransom of Red Chief --
The whirligig of life --
A blackjack bargainer --
One dollar's worth --
A lickpenny lover --
Doughterty's eye-opener --
The defeat of the city --
The shocks of doom --
Squaring the circle --
The memento --
The trimmed lamp --
Two Thanksgiving day gentlemen --
The making of a New Yorker --
A Harlem tragedy --
The last leaf --
The count and the wedding guest --
The robe of peace --
A ramble in Aphasia --
A night in New Arabia --
Proof of the pudding --
Hearts and hands

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Literature, Humor, Classic Literature, American

565 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Such volumes as Cabbages and Kings (1904) and The Four Million (1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.

His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.

Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.

In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.

He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.

In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.

Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .

In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.

In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.

Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.

People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.

Reviews

[kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

My usual approach to short story collections is to do minor reviews of each one in order to provide a more comprehensive summary of my reactions. But I'm not going to do that for each of the 62 stories compiled in this collection because that would be ridiculous.

Instead, my general thoughts are these: O. Henry likes his twists and is prolific af; he likes America and the growing identity of (white) America. His settings range from New York to Texas to New Orleans to a small island named Coralia. He's also racist and colonialist and sexist, so.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I admit, I write. And it was the ‘surprises’ in O’Henry’s short stories that inspired me. I’ve written and told stories all through elementary through to today which is a l o n g time. Now, there are dry spells that come along and no ink stains the page. Old friends, like the shorts by O’Henry are great to revisit for a boost of motivation. Favorite shorts of course include The Gift of the Magi. . . A great Christmas tale worth sharing. Some of his stories lend themselves nicely to oral storytelling. . . And yes, I do some of that as well.
Read a short story today and see how long the character lives in your head or picks at your sub conscience pestering you because that IS how characters remain alive, existing in our thoughts. Then you too can write a short story of your own to keep secret or to share. Entertain yourself, read; entertain others, tell a story..

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these 62 stories at the rate of one story a night, which might be the perfect way to consume O. Henry's tales. I was vaguely familiar with O. Henry from his famous stories like Gift of The Magi but I had no idea he was considered one of the fathers of the short form. His shorts are the perfect length, ranging from eight to twenty pages apiece. The protagonists, setting and themes for each are wildly different. This guy could really write everything from a stockbroker to frontier cowboy and make it authentic.
O. Henry's personal story is also intriguing. He was like the American version of Rimbaud. He led somewhat of a drifter's life, stole money from a bank he worked at and fled to Honduras. After surrendering, he spent several years in prison and then started furiously writing. He eventually drank himself to death.

[Luke Soto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guy was a comedic genius!

what a writer. everytime you think you figure him out and get how the story is going to go BAM it changes.

this is the writer who wrote

"the gift of the magi" one of the best Christmas stories of all time.

the stories get better and better as you read on, you are so missing out on one of the best wrtiers of the past century, if you have never read him.

this writer was a great story teller one in which many can only hope to be inspired about and try to emulate in their writings. i hope we all start picking up and writing like a man like this the common man with a flare for bringing the humor of life into the pages.

[Nate izzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

O'Henry is a master of setting. He finds a way to express social and cultural environments using nuance and small details from everyday life. The woman dressed as a socialite is betrayed by a tattered rag holding a piece of her dress together, revealing her to be a shop girl trying to fit in with the upper class. These little details show O'Henry's ability to see and interpret both the upper, middle, and lower class. What makes him a great writer is that he finds the lovable and human side to each. He appreciates people despite their flaws and hang-ups...which is useful for someone who may not be perfect.

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

O. Henry is the master of the short story. This book is full of genius stories. I loved every Tale.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to short stories in elementary school so I will always remember how vivid the tales were!

[Bill Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’m not tied Down to anything that isn’t 8000 Miles in Diameter”
- E. Rushmore Colgan “A Cosmopolitan in a Cafe”

Great words do live by.

Lots of great stories and memorable lines.

[Troy Stauffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite short fiction author...

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a retelling collection of stories quite entertaining and amusing. Interesting background on the author.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a few of the O. Henry short stories in school. So, I enjoyed this collection of stories that I had never read. His endings are always something to look forward to.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read this in ages. Known for his mastery of irony, O. Henry is always entertaining. Many are feel-good stories, and the sad ones leave an almost satisfying bitter-sweet aftertaste. The irony, though, gets predictable when one reads over sixty in a row. So… just don't read more than a few before going on to something else. One other small criticism. O. Henry seemed to fall into the same trap as Twain and Dickens in their later careers: they took themselves too seriously. In O. Henry's case, he didn't get political, but philosophical. He wrote irony for so long, he began to write stories that seemed to portray life in inescapable fate. The most notable was his novellette "Roads of Destiny," in which he crafts his story in four different versions with the characters making different decisions, but in the end, the result was always the same. "Bravo" to execution, but I still resent free will's being denied. Again, for enjoyment of plot technique, Henry's a must-read.

[Robert Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

O.Henry was the pen name of William S. Porter . I don't know how many short stories O.Henry wrote, only that this book contains sixty two. I started reading this collection early this year,,reading a few stories a week. The first story in the book was "The Gift of the Magi"it is one of his most popular stories and as Christmas is coming and the Goose is getting fat, I thought it would be a good time to re-read it. The story tells of a young couple " Jim and Della " who are short of money and both want desperately to buy each other a special Christmas gift. Della sells her most valuable possession,her very long and beautiful hair,to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch. Meanwhile Jim sells his most valuable possession, his watch,to buy a set of jeweled combs for Dellia's hair. In the end they still were able to laugh about it and have a very Marry Christmas. The story is a far cry from the way many of us go into debt to buy far to many gifts in the present time.

[Dale Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are amazing! I am not typically a big fan of the short story but this collection by Mr. Porter has made me a fan of his. The wit, the unexpected twist and turns always leaves you with a surprise ending. This is one of the great story tellers and should be an inspiration to anyone who wants to write and does not have a higher education. O. Henry or William Porter never went to college and yet his star shines equal to a Hemingway, Stevenson, or Dickens.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not all of the stories are great. Go to the Wikipedia page of this book and only read those. Would also recommend "The Last Leaf" and "Springtime á la Carte". Other than that, the other stories are hit-and-miss. There's a Sherlock Holmes parody, if you're interested.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is to stories what Norman Rockwell is to paintings - that innocent charm of a bygone era (but with a twist).

OK, how about Twilight Zone, minus eerie and disturbing.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

O. Henry's strange dialect left my head spinning at times, but I did enjoy a couple of the 60+ stories.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE master of irony. Fantastic!

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice short stories, all with a clever little twist at the end. Light, enjoyable reading.

[Pitbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

The expert at story prestidigitation. Very entertaining.