The Last Leaf ~ O Henry ~ The Gift of the Magi (96 of 2024)

Another Birthday boy born 11 September 1862 is O Henry, and his two sweet short stories.

William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Magi", "The Duplicity of Hargraves", and "The Ransom of Red Chief", as well as the novel Cabbages and Kings.

O. Henry was born William Sidney Porter on September 11, 1862, near Greensboro, North Carolina. He moved to Texas in 1882. He first settled in Cotulla, where he worked on a ranch as a sheep herder, before making his way to Austin in 1884.

There he met Athol Estes Roach, with whom he shared an affinity for singing and playing music. They eloped in 1887. That same year, Porter got a job as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office. During the four-year period he was employed there, Athol gave birth to a daughter named Margaret. In 1891, out of work at the Land Office, Porter was hired as a teller at the First National Bank of Austin. Soon thereafter, the Porter family moved into the Queen Anne-style cottage that now serves as the O. Henry Museum. 

Porter was convicted of embezzlement, and in 1898 he began a five-year sentence in federal prison in Columbus, Ohio.

During this time, Porter earnestly assumed the pen name O. Henry and set about transforming himself into the famed short story writer who would go on to author such universal classics as"Gifts of the Magi," "The Ransom of RedChief," and "The Cop and the Anthem."

Upon his release from prison, Porterrelocated to New York City, where heenjoyed a considerable amount of success before succumbing to cirrhosis onJune 5, 1910. 

SELECTED READING IN  CASE YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM:

Alias O. Henry, by Gerald Langford

Hard to Forget: The Young O. Henry, by Lollie Cave Wilson

Time to Write: How William Sidney Porter Became O. Henry, by Trueman E. O’Quinn and Jenny

Lind Porter

O stands for Olivier, the French for Oliver. His tales romanticized the commonplace—in particular, the life of ordinary people in New York City. His stories often had surprise endings, a device that became identified with his name and cost him critical favour when its vogue had passed.

 The Last Leaf

Sue and Johnsy are two young female artists who share a studio apartment in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. A pneumonia outbreak is spreading across the city, and Johnsy is one of its victims. Concerned about her condition, her doctor and Sue convene in the hallway outside the apartment to discuss it privately. The doctor gives Johnsy a one-in-ten chance of survival. Those odds, he says, are only if Johnsy has the will to live, which he believes she does not. He asks if anything weighs on Johnsy’s mind, and Sue tells him that Johnsy wants one day to paint the Bay of Naples. The doctor ridicules the idea; he suggests that her reason for living should be something more serious and important than art, like a romantic relationship with a man. Sue tells him that “there is nothing of the kind” to report.

After the doctor leaves, Sue cries hard into a napkin, alone. She composes herself before entering the room where Johnsy rests. She carries her drawing board and whistles a happy tune. Johnsy faces the window, motionless.

Believing Johnsy to be asleep, Sue works on illustrating a story for a magazine. Like many young artists, she must work commercially to earn money. When Johnsy mutters something, Sue rushes to her side to find that Johnsy is counting backward from twelve. Sue looks out the window to see what her friend could be counting. All she sees is an old, nearly bare ivy vine clinging to the crumbling brick wall of the adjacent building. Johnsy continues her countdown, informing Sue that the vine is losing its leaves, and that when the last leaf falls, she will die.

Sue calls Johnsy’s idea nonsense, then she lies and says that Johnsy’s doctor gave her a ten-to-one chance of recovery. She encourages Johnsy to eat some broth so she can get back to her drawing. Sue needs to complete and sell the drawing to buy necessities. Johnsy says she doesn’t need it since she will be gone soon. Tired of life, her only wish is to witness the last leaf fall before she dies.

Sue convinces Johnsy to close her eyes and rest. She then goes in search of their downstairs neighbor, Mr. Behrman, who models for her. Behrman is an aging, failed artist with a European accent. He has had a forty-year painting career, yet he has never achieved success. He has never managed to begin his “masterpiece,” and he now paints only occasionally, making money by modeling for poor, young artists. He’s cantankerous and drinks too much, but he feels protective of Sue and Johnsy. Behrman scoffs when Sue talks about Johnsy’s thoughts about dying when the last leaf falls. The two return to the upstairs apartment, where they look fearfully at the fateful vine. As Sue sketches, a cold rain mixed with snow begins to fall.

The next morning, one solitary leaf unexpectedly remains on the vine, despite the night’s storm. Johnsy repeats her claim that when it falls, she will die. She expects it to fall during the day, yet it continues to cling to its stem. That night, the rain and wind resume.

On the second morning, Sue raises the shade, revealing that the last leaf is still there. After staring at it for a long time, Johnsy begins to perk up. She tells Sue that she has been bad and that the leaf has persevered to show her the wickedness of wishing for death. Johnsy requests food and a mirror, and she asks to be propped up in bed. She talks again of traveling to Italy to paint.

When the doctor arrives that afternoon, he again confers with Sue in the hallway. He now gives Johnsy a fifty percent chance of recovery. As he leaves, he remarks that he must attend to Mr. Behrman, who has also contracted pneumonia. The doctor has no hope for his survival.

The next day, the doctor tells Sue that Johnsy is no longer in danger and that she will recover. Sue informs Johnsy that Mr. Behrman has died. The building’s janitor discovered him two days earlier, soaking wet and in extreme pain. The janitor had also found a ladder and a lighted lantern, along with paints, a palette, and brushes. Despite the cold and rain, Behrman had gone outside to paint the final leaf on the wall, since the last leaf had already fallen. Sue calls the painted leaf “Behrman’s masterpiece.”

The Gift of the Magi

Jim and Della are a husband and wife living in a rented room in New York. They are quite poor and recently Jim has had his salary cut back to only $20 a week from the $30 a week he used to make. After rent and groceries, the couple hardly have any money left.

Christmas is only a day away and, for a Christmas present, Della wants to buy Jim a gold watch chain for his gold watch. They do not have much to be proud or happy about, but Jim is very proud of that watch. And Della? Della is most proud of her beautiful long hair. But she really wants to buy that gold chain for Jim's watch. Too bad she only has $1.87. So, she decides to sell her hair to a woman who makes wigs and other hair articles. The woman pays Della $20 for her hair. The chain costs $21, so she now has enough money. She buys the chain to give to Jim. She goes home and prepares Jim's dinner and waits for him to come home, a little bit worried that Jim will be shocked when he sees her with all her beautiful hair cut off.

When Jim comes home, he does look shocked when he sees Della with short hair. He stares at her in a strange way and it scares her. She explains to Jim how she sold her hair to buy him  a nice Christmas present. Jim tells her not to worry and that nothing can change his love for her. The reason he is shocked to see her without her long hair is that he also wanted to get a nice Christmas present for Della. He gives her the present wrapped in paper and Della unwraps it to see that Jim had bought her a set of beautiful combs for her hair.

She had seen them in a shop before, but they were so expensive. How was Jim able to afford them? Suddenly, she remembers Jim's present. She gives him the gold chain. The chain is beautiful, but when Della asks Jim to put it on his watch, Jim surprises her. He sold the watch to buy her those nice combs.

Were they both foolish to sell their favorite possessions? O.Henry tells us that, no, they were wise. They were wise because they had each sacrificed their most valuable possessions for the person they loved. They were like the three wise men — the Magi — who brought presents for Jesus Christ after he was born. Keep in mind, that this is why Christians still give presents on Christmas Day: to remember the gifts the Magi brought Christ on that very first Christmas.