How many of you remember some of our old favorites, like, "Gift of the Magi" and "The Last Leaf?" One of the things I always liked about O. Henry's short stories was the surprise endings for which he became so noted

Come and join us in a month-long discussion of this prolific writer's various stories, eight of which will be chosen to discuss. We need a quorum here, so let us know your intention! This will be in January, and all of the stories will be available online!

Lorrie

I should be back in January but not for the first few days Lorrie - of course since O'Henry lived in Austin, worked at the local bank and was jailed while here I must join this group...

Okay, that's one away, towards getting our quorum, Harold, will we be hearing from you?

Barbara, I hope you can provide us with some facts about O. Henry's stay in Texas, and you, Harold. There isn't as much written in his biographies about Texas as much as his residence in New York.

Lorrie

This sounds like a good discussion topic. Count me in!

Marilyn

Hey, Marilyn! Good to hear from you. we're getting there--one more name and we will have a quorum. Anyone?

Lorrie

I bet it is a go Lorrie - it is just that we have started the prep for the holidays and this being scheduled for after will be a nice heartwarming read and conversation when all the bells and whistles have quieted.

Lorrie... I not very good at posting... But had to tell you I inherited a 2 Volume sets of O. Henry's stories from my father..... and I think I have read thru them at least 2 or 3 times in the last 50 years.

Oh Wow with your having read O. Henry's short stories that many times you will have so much to share and add to this discussion so may we add you to the list of posters here? I will for one be watching for your posts.

Pat, that is a real treasure trove of stories. I will be looking for you to say something when we get going, even if it's only a sentence of two.

Lorrie

Andy! It's so good to see you here, and a pleasure to know you will be joining us.

We have now gotten a quorum, so we can be moved into the "definitely it's a go" category. We have decided to limit the stories to only four during the month, some of us feel that with eight we can't really do justice to the story. That's one week on each story, which should be enough, don't you think?

But choosing these four will be difficult. That's why we want your help. Later on I will put up a list of potential short stories, and we can all choose which ones we will discuss.

Lorrie

Lorrie: Will you be providing a URL link to these 4 short stories?

You bet. I want to make it as easy as I can for you all to access these wonderful tales.

Lorrie

I would like to join, too. The library here is too far from the house. Please give webpages with the stories. Thank you!

This is going to be so great!

Welcome bluebird!

It's so good to see your post. I will be putiing up, soon, the names of the four chosen stories with their links to the pages where they can be read, plus any comments about these particular stories. This will all be in the heading, and will be up in plenty of time for people to read them before the New Year.

Barbara, I have written you an email. It's interesting that O. Henry spent so much time in Austin, which you surely know much about?

Lorrie

I want to be in too. I have just introduced my daughter to Steinbeck and intend to introduce her to O Henry once the discussion is done. Daughter has rushed off to order Cannery Row now - she is hooked. Great the stories are available on line!

Yes, Caroline, it helps to have access to the books online, especially for you folks "down under" who have to pay such exorbitant prices for your books.

Looking to see you in January!

Lorrie

I remember The Last Leaf, it left quite an impression on me in grade school when the teacher read it to us over a period of time. Can I join too?

Of course you can, Annie3! We will be putting up the names of the four selected stories soon, with their links, so that people can read them at their leisure, or not. Good to have you!

Lorrie

The stories that have been selected for discussion are in the heading. They are:



Discussion Schedule
(click on the links to read the stories online)

January  2:  MADAME BO-PEEP OF THE RANCHES
January 10:  THE COP AND THE ANTHEM
January 18:  TWO THANKSGIVING DAY GENTLEMEN
January 25:  THE LAST LEAF

Oh that's wonderful, and I can read them right on line too. No problem with blizzards preventing me to get books back to the library on time.

That's right, Annie3! And it's also such a relief not to have to worry about getting the darn book back by a certain time, isn't it?

Okay, everybody, time is getting short! Are we all reading our first story about Madame BoPeep of the Ranches?

Several people have written that they read O. Henry's Gift of the Magi every Christmas---it's almost traditional now with some people. That's why we didn't include it in this discussion. We wanted to talk about different and lesser-known types of O. Henry stories.

I'll be looking for you all on New Year's day, if you are not too hung over from all the New Year's Eve champagne!

Lorrie

I just read Madam BoPeep, and I liked it a lot. I was surprised I had never heard of it before.

I have a couple collections of O.Henry's stories. They make good re-reading once a year or so. They seem refreshing after the gutter language of so much current literature!

MOre and more when I go to the library, I check out older books - they are a welcome change.

Marilyn

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Are we all set to go? Has everyone read this first story about Madame Bo-Peep and the Ranches?

I liked the story, especially the clean-cut writing, and the way the author describes the relationship between the Madama Bo-Peep and her Manager, without resorting to gutter language, as Marilyn pointed out in her above post.

I thought that the expressions, (turn of the century examples) were really quite quaint, and I’m still at a loss to explain what is meant by “gasolined gloves, and one o’clock dinners?” (Page one, paragraph 5)

O. Henry wrote many stories about his life in Texas, and this is one of the lesser-known. Some people have said that it is too sentimental, but others have praised it for the accurate description of a sheep ranch life. How many of us knew that he was the originator of “The Cisco Kid?”

O. Henry’s life in Texas was a sad one.
Henry and his beloved wife and daughter suffered from tuberculosis. Adding to his difficulities was his indictment on charges of embezzlement at an Austin bank. After spending time on the run in Honduras, Porter returned to Texas to stand trial, witnessed the death of his wife, then served his prison term. It seems the events in Austin had done Porter in. He moved to New York City after his release from prison. His stories of life there and elsewhere earned him the "master of the short story" moniker. But despite his eventual and singular success, Porter, a broken man, fell into debt. He drank too much. The author died an alcoholic in 1910 with just 23 cents in his pocket.

He was a very young man, only 48, I believe.

Lorrie

Personally, I love short stories because every little phrase and paragraph is important to the story. I find myself really dissecting a short story more carefully than I do any other form of writing. The author only has so much room to make his/her point, causing the story to sound a bit fractured in places.

Notice the contrast here as we’re introduced to a young, “modishly donned” destitute, insolvent young widow who portrays just the opposite picture. She even has a dignified Persian cat to throw her kid gloves at. She’s a VAN DRESSAR, full of joie de vie who could want for nothing. She’s even had “lessons in elocution” and climbed the social ladder with the De Peysters, who introduced her to the recently deceased Colonel, (the fraud.)

Our protagonist appears to be up the proverbial creek with the Colonel’s estate, or shall I say “lack of.” She mentions that she’d prefer to strike bottom “like Beelzebub.” Wasn’t Beelzebub the Hebrew prince of demons, the evil spirit possessed of lust? Was does O.Henry mean by that?

Disbelieving Aunt Ellen discounts her pretty young niece’s ramblings, at first, but then gasps as she realizes Octavia is telling her the sad truth.

Octavia—you are the grand winner of “The Rancho de Las Sombras-“ a six room brick ranch on 7,680 acres of well watered land and 14,080 acres partly under yearly lease and partly bought under Texas twenty-year purchase act. Sheep horses, vehicles and general ranch paraphernalia, included. Oh yeah, and barbed wire fence, to boot. (No pun intended.)

Lorrie, Thank you for enlightening us on the background of O. Henry. Several years ago on Christmas night, there were 3 O. Henry stories on t.V. - The gift of the Magi, The Ransom of Red Chief and the Last Leaf. This was my first introduction to O. Henry and I was immediately taken in by his superb story telling. The Ransom of Red Chief was so funny! We have a cairn terrier who could play that part! I love his descriptive phrases - do his stories always have a happy ending? Just wondering. Joan in PA

Lorrie:

About O.Henry's expressions, I think the "gasolined gloves" might refer to the way people used to clean kid gloves - not 100% sure. Sounds dangerous, doesn't it?

And the l:00 dinner may indicate that in some places, the middle of the day meal was referred to as dinner, rather than lunch. In the middle west even now the evening meal is called supper instead of dinner. I hear lunch mostly used for the middle of the day meal here in the south.

Re your biography of O.Henry, I believe he is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, NC. A sad, short life for one so talented.

Marilyn

You can tell that O.Henry loves the wild west just by the narrative that Octavia utters to her aunt about galloping over the prairies. After the narrative she breaks out "with turbulent sobs"-- the poor honey. what does she mean when she says I could bless Colonel Beaupree for that ranch and forgive him for all his bubbles? What the heck? Bubbles???

Alf, you have really gotten into the characterizations here, good for you! I love the way you describe our heroine, and really, your take on the Colonel is very good. I wondered also about those "Bubbles."

Marilyn:

Your explanations make very good sense. I had forgotten that in some parts of our country, "dinner" is at noon rather than in the evening, especially in farm country, where they are all really ready for a huge meal at noontime.

Edith Ann:

As you can see by our schedule, we are going to be doing "The Last Leaf" during the last week of this month. I am not sure if you would call it a happy ending, I feel that it more a bittersweet one, so to speak.

Lorrie

I read his biography using the link at the bottom of the website. Very interesting. My thoughts regarding the term "gasolined gloves" are the smell of gasoline on gloves used by the driver or passenger from the early automobile about 1897, during O'Henry's lifetime. My thoughts about "bubbles" are bubbles are like dreams that lack substance, dissipate and burst. Unfullilled desires? I too found the story old fashioned and too romantic. but his description of the Texas landscape surrounding the ranch was excellent. I could easily visualize the setting. I owned a complete volume of his short stories at one time but later donated the book to my local library.

One of the things most admired about O.Henry's writing is the way he used descriptive adjectives to portray his various characters, and this he was able to maintain story after story.

In this one, I like the way he depicts our heroine, Octavia, who despite her financial setbacks, is a plucky young woman determined to make the best of it, and even little Aunt Ellen, with her kind offer to give Octavia her "little three thousand."

One cannot say that the author's characters are flat, and one-dimensional. I sometimes wonder if we all realize how very difficult it is to write a really good short story. To be able to tell a complete story within the confines of a few thousand words is not an easy task, not and still keep the story comprehensible. I truly admire O. Henry.

Lorrie

Not only has he told us a story of certain characters but he's shown us their growth, especially our handsome young cowboy, who "recites the whole code of driving rules" to Octavia as she attempts to drive the wagon. We know that he is loved by Mrs. MacIntyre, the "fixture" on the ranch , much like the lake or the live-oaks. (I loved that description.) We know that Teddy was artistic, with cultivated tastes,read wonderful new releases in his library and even had written and painted some-- yet Octavia questions where the old Teddy has gone. The sentimental Teddy, with varying moods sounds like a young school boy. Perhaps Octavia hasn't realized our Teddy has grown up emotionally, as well. the manager of the Rancho de las Sombras was no dilettante. He was a "hustler." My kinda guy.

My favorite paragraph is when O.Henry portrays Octavia being fatigued by her long journey, retiring early and then laying there listening to the "yelping" of the coyotes and the wonderful sounds that are heard over the ranch.

"There were many conflicting feelings in her heart- thankfulness and rebellion, peace and disquietude, loneliness and a sense of protecting care, happiness and an old, haunting pain."

You can feel the changes about to transpire.

One of the definitions Meriam-Webster gives for bubbles is: a delusive scheme. This would seem to be an acceptable definition for the way the word is used in this story.

Hi, SoliQ!

Are you new to our page? Welcome.

Yes, that definition could well apply. Do you have a favorite O. Henry story?

Lorrie

Alf, I like the way you point out those significant passeges in the story.

Some may say that O.Henry's writing is too romantic, etc. but to me, it speaks of a time that was more innocent in many ways.

I suppose this ages me, but it's a pleasant change from today's gritty and graphic fiction.

I agree that it must be difficult to tell a whole story in this form, as compared to a novel. His descriptions are awesome.

My favorite: That's a hard one - maybe "The Last Leaf" or "Gift of the Magi".

Marilyn

I don't blame Teddy. The social climbing, little twit looked him right in the eye, after he proposed to her and told him it was nonsense and to never speak such drivel again. He knew he never again would and continued to keep those fences up. I don't blame him a bit when he plays with her mind and tells her he's thinking of resigning his position. How different these two appear to be.

I'm not quite sure that I understand the connection between 'Tav and Little Bo Peep. She didn't lose her sheep, she knew where to find them... "Madama" I understand but not the Bo=Peep part.

I understand that Chloe was a shepardess but who in the world was Strephon?

Nopal Texas

mapquest Nopal Texas from San Antonio

This area is now mostly cotton...

Barb- there you are, you little stinker. Can you tell me who the heck this Strepon is/was?

Cool! The name of the town means cactus your link says.

BARBARA!

Welcome, welcome! I was hoping you would join us. This lady, ladies and gentlemen, is from Austin, Texas, which was O. Henry's old stomping grounds at one time, and she knows a great deal about the history of this prolific writer.

Marilyn, I agree that his writings, although some people would say are "old-fashioned", really are quite charming in their own way, not like some of the hardened characterization we find in so many modern stories.

Alf, I love the way you can dig into a story and discover all the pertinent thoughts within. Now I am going to go back and reread that part about the Shepherdess, etc. Good for you!

Lorrie

cute story but like most written during this time in history there seems to be no place for an adventurous women other than managing tricks to the heart so the man can be the master of her domain...centipede is right - a centipede sting that numbs a women into dependency...I could feel my anger as I learned of the secret sale - here she bravely thought she was acting as a free agent but all the time she was powerless...ahhrrrr - I'm berating my self for being pulled in - I should have guessed - Po-beep for sure - how trite

don't you just hate it when you write out a post and loose the whole thing ---

Thanks for the Welcome Lorrie - hope you are feeling well if not great - got back yesterday and couldn't move all day - drove straight through without an overnight - 16 and 1/2 hours - of course my heavy foot was in steady use...but neary a state trooper on the roads.

I was linking the finds on Strephon and Chloe that I am not sure how alluding to the Johnathan Swift poem is furthering the story.

There are many essays furthering how Swift uses women in Satire to further his themes and others that go into the shock of "bathroom imagery."

Maybe the allusion is forshadowing what is to come --

There is also a short play written by Jane Austin that I have not read to understand if this is the allusion O'Henry is making but, since the Johnathon Swift way of writting influenced so many writers I am thinking that is the allusions rather than this Jane Austin play

Simply out of curiosity, I Googled "Stephron" and this is what I came up with. I was really intrigued because I love Gilbert and Sullivan, anyway:

IF YOU'RE a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan then you're bound to love this enchanting show.

After 25 years' banishment to the bottom of a stream for marrying a mere mortal, Iolanthe returns to the Queen and her band of fairies with her half fairy (from the waist up) shepherd son Stephron.

Stephron is in love with a beautiful mortal girl called Phyllis, but so are two of the Earls from the House of Lords, and with the Lord Chancellor's permission needed for Stephron to wed Phyllis and Iolanthe quietly being the wife of the Chancellor, the story becomes a comical romp with eternal youth, wand waving and magical misunderstandings.

Director Barry Hill pulls it together nicely adding plenty of mischief along the way with overdone fairy exclamations and well worked out movements cheekily highlighting the style of this sometimes naughty operetta.

Fairies flutter in fabulous flower frocks, Lords in velvet King costumes gloriously make their way down the aisle to the stage, and a nanny written in for some fun fusses furiously over the Lord Chancellor, while the orchestra directed with precision by James Pratt accompanies the songs perfectly

Yes, there is something sort of fairy-like about some of O. Henry's stories, isn't there? Hahahaha

Lorrie

Barbara, I like your interpretation better.

aha - I like your allusion much better LORRIE - it makes sense - although I wonder now after reading several essays if even Gilbert and Sullivan was somehow using Swift's thinking and furthered the idea...

Barbara, I read Jonathan Swift's poem, and really, I am still laughing so hard that tears come, even though I usually don't care too much for bathroom humor. But this struck me so funny, for some reason, I know it's exactly the opposite of our fastidious Octavia, but judge for yourselves:

Her dearest Comrades never caught her
Squat on her Hams, to make Maid's Water.
You'd swear, that so divine a Creature
Felt no Necessities of Nature.
In Summer had she walkt the Town,
Her Arm-pits would not stain her Gown
At Country Dances, not a Nose
Could in the Dog-Days smell her Toes.

Lorrie

Oh yes - perfect - and that was what 1750 something and O'Henry is 1850 or so - not much changed really did it - she was a Bo-peep for sure with her "Her Arm-pits would not stain her Gown" - in the hot Texas clime long before air cooling even with a swamp cooler -

Don't you just love this sentence dripping with allusion

There were centipedes in this country, she felt sure; and Indians, and vast, lonely, desolate, empty wastes; all within strong barbed-wire fence.

Yes, especially the barbed wire fence, which O. Henry refers to often in the story.

Lorrie

We must just stop meeting like this - Keep having to change my posts to answer - hehehehe

There are many, many articles about O. Henry, and some of them even theorize about his jail stay for embezzlement. One extremely interesting theory on this was put forth by a Tom Dodge, an ardent O. Henry enthusiast.

I urge you all to read this one----It is extremely interesting. Too long to post.

http://www.texas-ec.org/tcp/499crime.html#top

Lorrie

That information is so sad Lorrie. Just to think what humiliation he faced saddens me. Who's to say? guilty or innocent? the saddest thing is that he died as a penniless alcoholic. What ever happened to his daughter, do we know? The article says that he always portrayed women other than they really are. Interesting, what type of childhood did he have? I know thru the autobiography link that he had an aunt and an uncle, but what about his mother? Was he orphaned young?

In our story he portrays Octavia other than she is too. She's a little social climber who speaks sweetly but is like the rest of us, she shows a very jealous nature as she "calculated to remove the barbs from miles of wire." Or was she just spoiled, wanting what she watnted when she wanted it?

I loved Teddys uninterrupted chatering discussing the Hammersmith's party and looking up to find that "Tav had left her spot. ([robably in anger.) The centipede, was "driven by destiny". Aren't we all?

Lorrie, thanks for the welcome. Sorry it took me so long to respond, but when I came in earlier, I forgot to subscribe and then forgot I had been in here. It just dawned on me tonight, so I came back to see what was going on. The other night was my first time in this discussion. I don't really have a favorite O.Henry story, I just like O.Henry. He was born in Greensboro, NC. That's my home town. I just took an interest in him over the years. The museum in Greensboro has (or used to) an entire wing devoted to him. I've always wanted to write short stories and I guess that is partly why I like him. I'm enjoying the opinions everyone has of this story. Someone said she got angry when she read that Teddy had bought the ranch for Ophelia. I just accepted it as his way of saying that he still loved her, and always had. He obviously left his way of life for life of a ranch hand because he felt it would ensure he would never run into her. I'm just a sucker for a romance!

Hi, SoliQ:

In the facts that you have read about O. Henry, in your home town, was there any information about his early childhood, as Alf has asked in her post #51? I'm curious, too. There is so little written about his family life, and I, too wonder about what happened to his daughter.

Lorrie

It's almost as if he didn't exist before he went to Texas. There were lots of things (hotels, streets, etc.)named after him. It's been years since I've been to the museum. Perhaps next time I'm visiting Greensboro, I'll go by and see what they have. I don't remember much of the display, only that it was the largest diplay they had.

Just read the link in your message. Very interesting. I'm a full time student working toward my Associates degree. I have an English class coming up that will require several essays to be written. I think I might just write my first one on O.Henry. The research should really be interesting.

That sounds intriguing. Will your contemporaries be able to dredge up some interest in O. Henry? It seems like every so often people dust off their copies of his short stories and bring them out of the closets where they've been sitting for a while. Anyway, it's a good subject. Good luck.

Lorrie

Oh I do hope you find some info SoliQ on O'Henry's childhood - so true Lorrie we never do hear anything of his childhood do we

All of a sudden It came to me that most say the entire theme is usually given by an author in the first paragraph - and so I went back to re-read and isolate the first paragraph - surprise to me it is short but maybe saying more than I realized...

"AUNT ELLEN," said Octavia, cheerfully, as she threw her black kid gloves carefully at the dignified Persian cat on the window-seat, "I'm a pauper."

she is cheerful when announcing her changed circumstances - then I realized she never moans or is in despair but continues to act like she is queen of her domain throughout the story - and her black kid gloves being thrown reminds me of arranging a duel - her duel being with a dignified Persian cat?

Aha could the cat be symbolic of the dignified well healed life of the society she is leaving - when she speaks with Teddy about their youthful experiences there is a certain nostalgia but also an undercurrent of superiority - and then there is the well healed Frenchman, a foreigner who she married and who disappointed her by not assuring her a comfortable lifestyle after his death - again a dignified fat cat that she throws her black (mourning) gloves carefully - hmm she is careful about the throw - nothing wild and untamed about this women - this is like the code of dueling where words like "honor" and "reputation" are part of the event.

With Octavia everything is carefully done, cheerfully done, and yet she is open to what ever life offers - she seems a true maker of lemonade until I realize, it she isn't a cheerful lemonade maker, it is really all about her retaining her honor and reputation isn't it. She will simply not demean herself by acting the poor helpless widow - she will be more noble than this man who mis-managed his fortune. Her field of honor will be the shadowed Ranch in the cactus - hehehe a bit uncomfortable with cactus spines to sit on by mistake, but that is where her fiery spirit will adjourn the matter of being a pauper with aplomb and prove herself as nobel as if participating in the `code of honor' of a duel.

Even though TB is not caused by overexertion, rest was once thought to be one of the cures. Tuberculosis must have been preying on his mind as he describes Teddy having to leave to go to the country for fresh air to avoid the strain of polo activity. Also at this point O. Henry WAS a pauper as Octavia was, wagging his tail behind him.

Wasn't it also true that in those days, tuberculosis was also known as "galloping consumption,?"

Lorrie

I've been rereading the end of this story, and I am confused about something. At the risk of seeming awfully dense, I can't seem to make sense out of the meaning here:

Teddy laughed, and began to chant:

"Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find 'em.
Let 'em alone, and they'll come home,
And -- "
Octavia drew his head down, and whispered in his ear, But that is one of the tales they brought behind them.

I know "wagging their tailss behind them" is the end line, but I can't see the connection. Maybe it's because I feel sort of dumb today.

Lorrie

The TALE is that they are "among the flock of sheep, back to the wedding breakfast with Mrs. Mac,etc. wagging their tails. (I think) It's a play on words is all.

Thank you, dear Alf. You have shed some light on my turgid brain. Hahaha

Lorrie

THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Ten days is way too long to discuss one simple little story, don't you agree? So I have changed our schedule in the heading above, and we will move right along and start discussing our next selection, "The Cop and the Anthem" tomorrow. Okay with everybody? We will be allowing at least a week for each coming story, with a few extra days at the end to wrap up the whole. So let's hear it about "The Cop and the Anthem."

Lorrie

Great plan Lorrie - and after I thaw out I can get my fingers out from under my sleaves and read again - and I am not even up north - but oh how I want to curl up and disappear when it gets this cold - I put on so much weight because I don't want to cook and all I do is nosh and drink hot cider -

A beside the point and for what it is worth, so few actually get to see how wild life handle freezing weather - well as y'all know the deer use my yard for all sorts of activites - from birth to rut - about 5 spent the night in the yard and not only do they curl up as tight as can be with their back to the wind but the younger ones born last spring and now the color of the grown does sleep piled on top of each other - I never would have guessed...

On Monday I noticed a buck spending the entire day in the yard - I could see a sore spot on the upper part of his front leg - when he finally got up his hind leg was chewed looking and he couldn't put any weight on it - I thought that he was probably fighting off one of the cayotes to protect his family and was recouping in the yard - well the next night he and a younger buck were at it in the yard sore leg or not - heads locked and he was way down pushing and then standing his ground on his three legs - the younger buck was all over the place circling the house on a run but he kept going back and going back - I still do not know if he was trying to get rid of the older buck because he was injured or if they were in a rut over the herd - neither of them have been back for me to figure out what happened.

Some folks have dogs and others cats - some even have birds but I have wild deer that are not near the care but enchanting to watch.

OK on with the next O'Henry story...

Nice to hear about your deer, interesting, thanks.

Oh, how I love this story! Poor Soapy, trying so hard to get arrested!

Didn't you love that first paragraph "when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands,"....................

I remember my grandmother visiting us with a lustrous black sealskin cape, and I also remember how fashionable that was at that time. This must have been long before mink became such a status symbol.

Lorrie

Barbara, what a compelling story about your deer neighbors! I always thought that the males rutted in the spring, and that was when they would lock antlers, but perhaps there are other periods. It must be fascinating to watch them!

Lorrie I think they rut just before they mate - here the fawns are birthed in May and very early JUne - hmmm that means the rut should have been in November - maybe the battle the other night was about getting rid of the injured older buck.

Alrighty then, we are moving on. I read this short story on the plane but I need to reread it later today. Off with Bill for breakfast OUT. I love that. Thanks Barb for the stories about your deer. I love to just sit and watch wildlife. We're all not so different from them are we?

Barbara, I do believe you are right. Here in Minnesota the deer hunting season is in November, and that is when the deer start to mate, so that makes sense. the hunting season is one I always dreaded to see when we lived in the country. I realize it's necessary to thin the herds, but still, I never liked it.

Lorrie

Do you think that O> Henry was trying to interject a bit of humor for the plight of the homeless here?

No matter how you look at it, through the eyes of O. Henry or through the looking glass of proud old Soapy, the degradation and humiliation of man is demonstrated. Jack Frost blows in, alerting Soapy to take refuge to the “Island” again. (I wonder if O. Henry was referring to Rykers Island outside of NY City.) Try as he might to be offensive and distasteful, the only objection that Soapy receives is from himself. His confidence slowly wanes as he’s dismissed by the waiter at the door, ignored by the policeman after firing a rock through a window and tossed out on his ear at a different restaurant. His attempts to get himself arrested as he ogles and leers at a young woman are unsuccessful because she cheerfully “clings” to him in acceptance. His raucous voice is excused and accepted as a drunken Yale man from the college. Soapy’s not having much luck being obnoxious so he resorts to stealing an umbrella from a humble man who retreats. Hahaha this further causes Soapy to “mutter against the men who wear helmets and carry clubs.”

I'm sure that O. Henry met and talked with many types during his own incarceration.

great links to Blackwell and the history of New York's early correctional institution - scroll down a bit on the first site to find out all about Blackwell

http://www.correctionhistory.org//html/chronicl/nycdoc/html/penitentiary2.html

http://www.correctionhistory.org/rooseveltisland/html/rooseveltislandtour_blackwell.html

In 1852 there was even a smallpox hospital on Blackwell Island now called Roosevelt Island

Now that I have reread this story, I keep remembering a movie I saw sometime back, and I am sure it must have been a movie on "The Cop and the Anthem." I remember Charles Laughton in the lead role, and what a superb job he did! The scene where he dined sumptuously and then finished with an expensive cigar, only to be tossed out on his ear later was a bit of hilarity, as only Charles Laughton could do in those days.

Thanks for the links, Barbara.

Lorrie

Oh, that Soapy!

"It was Soapy's design to assume the role of the despicable and execrated "masher." The refined and elegant appearnce of his victim and the contiguity of the conscinecious cop enccouraged him to believe that he would soon feel the pleasant official clutch on his arm that would insure his winter quarters, on the right little, tight little isle."

When was the last time you heard the word "masher?" If ever. Aren't some of these descriptions quaint?

Lorrie

Yes, Lorrie, I like the descriptions.

"right little, tight little isle" was funny. When I read this, I could picture Soapy as Red Skeleton's hobo character (dont remember the name).

Marilyn

His name was Klem Kadiddlehopper! He was my favorite comdian - Red Skeleton. I see old Soapy much like Klem. He always had a humorous air of warmth and trust about him. As bedraggled as he appeared I always wanted to hug him.

Didn't Jackie Gleason also do a character sort of like our Soapy called, "Poor Soul" or something like that?

Lorrie

looks like this story was the source of humor for many comedians - I have mixed feelings as I read it - I patted myself on the head knowing when it was written and the thinking at the time - but the idea that so many thought for so many years was valid, that a man living on a park bench could just up and change his life and get a job - a job that he had turned down earlier is so off the wall - most of them have either a drinking problem or a drug problem which is why they cannot hold onto a job in the first place - and today the best they could hope for is day labor which would not earn them enough to spend the next night in a room - and so a charming story that is better remembered as the impetus for comedy routines seen on TV.

It did remind me of a childhood friend who attended public school and had a crush on his teacher - he was always late that fall coming home from school - it seems he would disrupt the classroom just so he could be kept after school to have more time in her presence - I wonder if she figured it out or if he just got bored with the whole thing...but soon after he changed and no long played with us but started to hang around the older boys and had an after school job delivering groceries.

Barb- maybe he delivered to the teacher's home. That would be a typical O. Henry conclusion to the story.

hehehe shades of "The Last Picture Show"

Yes, in this story Soapy does an about-face at the last minute and has a change of heart about his life-style, but where was the surprise ending here? So he changes his mind, and of course then he is arrested, and gets his three months on the isle, but where is the sudden ending?

Lorrie

Tha t IS the sudden ending, Lorrie. He has these wild dreams of returning to narmalacy(whatever that may be) and continuing on with a productive life. This is the first time he has even considered this and bam--- his ending is inevitable. He's right back where he started.

Kinda reminds me of myself (haha) I run in circles of thoughts most of the day and wind up right back where I started, with the same thought to be pondered over come nighttime.

hehehe I guess this is a story giving us an example of the saying about watching what you wish for - in that when you work on what you wish for something out of the blue will come into your life giving it to you in a different form than you pictured...

I know most of you readers are very familiar with O. Henry's timeless story, "The Gift of the Magi," and I think you might be interested in this little vignette on how it was written, or not written, shall we say:

"From the Smithsonian Magazine, January, 1997

If the life of William Sydney Porter were written into a short story," Bruce Watson notes, "literary critics would scoff. Imagine a frail North Carolina boy going West to live and loaf on a Texas ranch. Too artificial. Fancy a foppish bank teller, charged with embezzlement, fleeing to Honduras to hobnob with fugitives. Too contrived. Conceive of an ex-convict rising to literary renown in only nine years, then dying in a New York hospital with 23 cents in his pocket. Too sentimental. Sounds like some O. Henry story."Which, of course, it is. Though O. Henry is still honored by having the most renowned annual collection of American short stories named after him, his tales of urban living, often marked by wry humor and a surprise ending, tend to be dismissed by modern critics as hackwork. Even so, people still read O. Henry, especially that ultimate Christmas story, "The Gift of the Magi."

Often drunk, O. Henry was habitually late with his copy. As the deadline for this Christmas story approached, O. Henry failed to appear. Finally, the desperate editor sent an equally desperate illustrator to search out the writer. O. Henry had written nothing, did not know what he was going to write. The illustrator implored him for at least a clue as to what he should draw. O. Henry thought a moment, then said, "I'll tell you what to do.... Just draw a picture of a poorly furnished room.... On the bed, a man and a girl are sitting side by side. They are talking about Christmas. The man has a watch fob in his hand.... The girl's principal feature is the long beautiful hair that is hanging down her back. That's all I can think of now, but the story is coming." Eventually, the deadline long past, he wrote the story in three hours, helped along by his habitual bottle of Scotch and his agitated editor who waited on O. Henry's shabby couch for the copy."

In fact, O. Henry's biography sounds exactly like one of his own stories.

Lorrie

Lorrie is stillnot feeling up to snuff so I figured I'd come in here and get the ball rolling with this story.

Well! Right off the rip I take hombrage. O . Henry says that this day "that is ours" was given to us by President Roosevelt. I learned that it was Abe Lincoln who delegated tise day for us, in honor of the pilgrims. O. Henry says "we hear some talk of the Puritans, but don't rememeber who they were."

He does have a point though when he notes that it is the one day that is purely American.

Is everybody still out there?

Come in and help me feed Stuffy Pete. I like this story.

Yoohoo!

vaguley remember reading this story when I was a child - at the time it pointed to how independent we should be and how with very very little we could still hold our heads up with pride and the measure of that pride was to help other - at the time those who were out of work were many but the ones that were looked down upon were the ones who drank.

I remember often someone knocked on the door and mom gave them a sandwich and a piece of fruit which they were told to sit on the back stairs and eat then they were to either weed a patch in her garden or chop some wood - if they did the wood they got a sandwich to take with them.

I remember my father coming home one evening in the daylight and he was furious scrubbing with his jacket the side of the house - seems there was a mark in chalk that let panhandlers know this was a house that helped you out...he rubbed it off being angry the whole time and being angry at mom as well that she didn't realize what it meant and his good money was not supposed to feed the multitudes - on and on...Mom still fed the multitudes though whenever they came knocking which was much less often.

Well Stuffy Pete sure gets fed in this story. As he had done for nine years he went to Union Square where the philanthropists abounded, each Thanksgiving. The problem with Pete was, he had already gorged his ragged self to the point of "short wheezes." Love O. Henry's take on this-- Stuffy Pete was overcharged with the caloric produced by a superbountiful dinner... where he sat, gorged and gazed upon the world with "after-dinner contempt." One would think that old stuffy Pete would feel a bit more benevolent towards his fellow man after dining on oysters and plum pudding, wouldn't you?

Stuffy Pete feeling well fed is greeted by the Old Gentleman on the bench. He is aware that the gent is creating a "tradition"by meeting him every Thanksgiving Day, as he has for the past nine years.

"Truly the annual feeding of Stuffy Pete was nothing national in its character such as the Magna Carta or jam for breakfast in England, but it was a step." TRADITION!

anybody there?

Interesting the difference in how Traditionally Thanksgiving is celebrated - my family always had a guest for Thanksgiving - usually someone who would otherwise be alone - I followed with the same approach. We had a traditional menu served every year just as my mother did -

All these years I have been going to my youngest son's house for Thanksgiving - we have a good time and after trying a few things we finally settled on going to a movie in the afternoon after an early dinner - the dinner is much more simple - but my daughter-in-law's family seldom had a big turkey - they usually had a pot of Chili or hamburgers if they all got together at all - Thanksgiving day fell only a few days into hunting season - the men, having the weekend off, would take the boys hunting and the women would use the weekend to start their sewing projects for Christmas.

Where hunting is still a big fall event most families no longer depend on deer meat - the economy in this area is now varied with a lot of High Tech companies where as years ago all there was in Austin was the State Capitol and various state agencies in addition to the University of Texas, where graduates had to leave the state for employment - Now most Austin families, who in the past lived in a different economy with ties to an older way of life, simply use deer meat to round out their menu and so, for the past just about 20 to 25 years, we see the majority of families celebrating Thanksgiving with the big family Turkey.

Barb: don't you love the various traditions? I tell my daughters that as each year passes the deeper the "traditions" are etched into their lives and the lives of the children.

The Old Gent had no relatives and lived in a rented room in a decaying mansion near the park. He led his protege and beamed with happiness as Stuffy ate his hearty meanl. The Gent left a tip for their waiter andthey parted their ways.

Stuffy no more than turned the corner when he "fell to the sidewalk like a stricken horse." Transported by ambulance to the hospital when lo and behold an hour later the Old Gent follows in another ambulance to the same hospital.

Typically of O. Henry the ending is: "That nice old gentleman over there, now," (the young doctor said) you wouldn't think that was a case of almost starvation. Proud old family, I guess. He told me the hadn't eatedn a thing for three days."

What do you think?

This poor gentleman literally starved himself to carry on the nine yr. old tradition of feeding "Stuffy."

Comments on this story anyone?

It was more than just tradition that the old gentleman had to feed Stuffy that Thanksgiving. It was the pleasure of giving also. He was very lonely living a solitary existence in a big probably crumbling old house and maybe it was one of the few times he was able to have some company be it just Stuffy. At Christmas time this year I made a point of striking up a conversation with any elderly lone shopper each time I went to the Supermarket. How willing they were to chat and how their faces lit up when they talked. It does not take much to give a few minutes to make a lonely person happy. So many of the elderly are isolated in todays busy world.

O Henry always has a poignant twist to his stories. They are ordinary stories which become extraordinary from the pen of O Henry.

Carolyn

I don't think it will come as a shock to any of you folks that I have been physically laid up for the past couple weeks, and I am so sorry I haven't been able to post in here as I should.

In view of the fact that I am not getting any better, and because there are only two or three respondents anyway, I have decided to close the discussion early. It is only fair to Alf, bless her, and Barbara, who have tried so valiantly to keep it going. Thank you for coming in if you did, and I do hope to hear from you all soon. i am so sorry, Caroline.

Lorrie

Lorrie I sure hope you will be on the mend soon - with such cold weather it cannot be easy healing and using energy to stay warm - LOrrie this was a great idea and fun to read after all these years the O'Henry stories - really thank you for starting this - the stories are short and the plot set in a different America but as Kiwi says, not only for this story but for many of his story lines, it helps us remember "It does not take much to give a few minutes to make a lonely person happy."

And her other quote which is great -- "O Henry always has a poignant twist to his stories. They are ordinary stories which become extraordinary from the pen of O Henry."

That last quote from Kiwi about sums up O'Henry --

Be well Lorrie - my prayers go with you...

Our thoughts are with you, Lorrie.

Thank you all for your participation. This discussion is being archived and is now Read Only.