O’Henry’s Gift

Now that we’re knee-deep in the holiday shopping season, battling traffic, finding parking spots, and waiting in checkout lines, it’s probably worth taking a minute or two to consider our approach to gift-giving.

A few years ago, during the Christmas season, I was in New York and went to Pete’s Tavern on Irving Place. I sat in the booth where O’Henry is said to have written The Gift of Magicians. It’s a classic reminder of what gift-giving is meant to be. The heroine, Della, laments her lack of money to buy her husband, Jim, a Christmas present. She resolves her situation when she sells her most valuable possession, her long hair. With her earnings, she buys Jim a key chain for her watch. Jim, on the other hand, sells her most valuable possession, her gold watch, to buy combs for Della’s hair. Her best intentions and her material sacrifice produce an unforgettable lesson in gift-giving.

The richness of the story is enhanced by the background of the author himself. O’Henry was born as William Sydney Porter. He worked as a bank teller in Austin, Texas. He then moved to Houston to become a newspaper columnist. In 1896 he was accused of embezzling money from the Austin bank. He fled to Honduras for 6 months and then returned to face the charges. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to 3 years in prison. In prison, he began to write short stories. When he was released, he moved to New York, where at Pete’s Tavern in Irving Place, he wrote The Gift of the Magi, which ends with these words:

“But in a final word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all the gift givers, these two were the wisest… They are the magicians.”

May we be too.