Sobs, sniffles, and smiles #ChristmasClassics

JT Twissel
Published by the Picture Book Studio of Austria

One of my treasures is a copy of The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry published in 1982 and illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger. I treasure the book primarily because it is beautifully laid out (written in script!) and the illustrations are enchanting.

The story was written in the early 1900s by a fellow who wrote under the name O. Henry. He used other aliases as well, probably because he’d spent time in jail. That would be an asset in today’s publishing world but it definitely wasn’t in Victorian times. He also wrote The Ransom of Red Chief which inspired the Christmas classic Home Alone and came up with the terms The Cisco Kid, Banana Republic and Baghdad on the Subway.

For those of you who’ve never read The Gift of the Magi, Della has only managed to scrape together one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy her beloved Jim a Christmas present. And so she sells her most prized possession. Given their dire financial circumstances, she probably should have bought something practical with the money she earned but she doesn’t. The irony is, Jim does the same thing and so they both end up with gifts they can’t use.

Or did they, as O’Henry postulates, receive the best gift that can be given?

The cemetery where O’Henry is buried reports that – for over thirty years! – they routinely find envelopes containing … one dollar and eighty-seven cents on his grave. Doesn’t that fill you with sobs, sniffles and smiles? It does me.

“Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles and smiles with the sniffles predominating.” O.Henry

19 thoughts on “Sobs, sniffles, and smiles #ChristmasClassics”

    1. I agree – it’s the little details that make stories stand out. As you can see from the sample, his writing is unique and probably not to today’s standards. I get the giggles imagining an editor today trying to reign in his eccentricities.

      Reply

    1. I’m glad to have reminded you! It’s sad in a way because the young couple is struggling and you want to tell them to save what little they have … to be practical but O.Henry writes the story is such a magical way that it transcends the banality of everyday life. As a young man he enjoyed performing in little theater productions and that shows.

      Reply

    1. Thank you, Restless Jo! The illustrator had been inspired by the work of Arthur Rackham – also a great favorite of mine. I expect to have a very quiet Christmas which, after years of chaos, is fine by me! Hope your Christmas is everything you wish it to be!

      Reply

    1. The story is not very realistic but I love the style with which O.Henry spun it into something magical – and the illustrator caught that magic (while adding a touch of pathos).

      Reply

    1. Thanks Jet. O.Henry had a tragic life but supposedly he liked to “loiter” in train stations and lobbies and observe the common folk coming and going and then apply his more than ample imagination to their lives. As I read his work I chuckled imagining what a modern day editor would do to his writing!

      Reply

    1. I believe O.Henry based Della on his first wife who died tragically and very young. As a young impoverished couple they enjoyed being in theatrical performances which his wealthy in laws undoubtedly disapproved of (they thought he was unworthy of their daughter to begin with).

      Reply

Leave a comment