The Four Million (Short Stories by O. Henry)

by O Henry

Tobin and me, the two of us, went down to Coney one day, for there was four dollars between us, and Tobin had need of distractions. For there was Katie Mahorner, his sweetheart, of County Sligo, lost since she started for America three months before with two hundred dollars, her own savings, and one hundred dollars from the sale of Tobin's inherited estate, a fine cottage and pig on the Bog Shannaugh. And since the letter that Tobin got saying that she had started to come to him not a bit of news had he heard or seen of Katie Mahorner. Tobin advertised in the papers, but nothing could be found of the colleen. So, to Coney me and Tobin went, thinking that a turn at the chutes and the smell of the popcorn might raise the heart in his bosom. But Tobin was a hardheaded man, and the sadness stuck in his skin. He ground his teeth at the crying balloons; he cursed the moving pictures; and, though he would drink whenever asked, he scorned Punch and Judy, and was for licking the tintype men as they came.

• ISBN10: 1387079271
• ISBN13: 9781387079278
• Publish Date: 4 July 2017 (first published 1 October 2001)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Lulu.com
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 152
• Language: English

Reviews

[Metaphorosis Reviews]

5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
A collection of short stories set in New York City by O. Henry.

Review
I enjoyed O. Henry’s stories when I was young. When I revisited them years later, I found them hard to get into. I think now that that’s because I started with Cabbages and Kings, which I found to be slow moving, and which is apparently a set of interrelated stories set in a fictional Latin America. I’m happy to say this collection brings back my original delight.

In these stories of New York City, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) is full of wit and emotion, with quick, insightful sketches of characters and their lives. This collection includes “The Gift of the Magi”, and that’s a fair representation of the rest of the stories. They’re clever, surprising, and emotional. O/ Henry often tosses in asides about literature, which I read as jabs at high brow critics who didn’t enjoy his stories as much as the less calculating masses.

The masses had it right. The prose isn’t lyrical, and it’s often overtly bombastic and sentimental – but it’s meant to be that way, and it works. I read it as part of O. Henry’s overall good humor – he knows the prose is overblown and he knows we’re in in the joke. That’s not to say there’s not some good heartstring tugging going on here – there is, both in the overt and subtle stories. High brow or not, O. Henry knows what he’s doing and is masterful about it. Some of the stories are light little jokes, and a lot are very funny,but others reward deeper thought.

The overall mood is upbeat. Even in a story like the Magi, it all works out in the end; true love conquers all. There are stories that end on a down beat, but overall you’ll feel uplifted. I heartily recommend this book for both O. Henry fans (who have no doubt read it) and newcomers alike.

My favorites among the stories were:

• “The Gift of the Magi”


• “Between Rounds”


• “Mammon and the Archer”


• “Springtime a la Carte”


• “From the Cabby’s Seat”


• “The Romance of a Busy Broker”


• “By Courier”


• “The Brief Debut of Tildy”