The Four Million

William Sydney Porter, popularly known by his penname O.Henry, published his second collection of short stories, “The Four Million” in 1906. O. Henry’s stories are known for their surprise endings and humour. His characters are of the most ordinary among people. It is said that Porter used to roam around to meet random people and make stories out of them. The name “The Four Million” is the then population of the New York City where most of his stories are based on and O.Henry was responding to a newspaper’s argument that there were only four hundred people in NY worth knowing of. For him, each and every one did matter.

This collection includes 25 short stories written by O.Henry which includes some of his famous works including “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Cop and the Anthem”.

1. “Tobin’s Palm” is incidence following after Tobin’s palm is read by a palmist.
2. “The gift of the Magi” is about a young couple deciding to gift each other a present for Christmas.
3. “A Cosmopolite in a Café” is about the narrator meeting a cosmopolite.
4. “Between rounds”- Incidences involving a lost child occurring between two rounds of fight between couples in a boarding house.
5. “The Skylight Room”- A young girl in a lodge who is saved by a star whom she named Billy Jackson.
6. “A Service of Love” is about a young couple deciding to work to fund their artistic career.
7. “The Coming out of Maggie” is about a private club and a girl who visits it with a young man.
8. “Man about Town” is a story of a person trying to find a man about town.
9. “The Cop and the Anthem” is about homeless Soapy, trying to get in jail to overcome severe winter.
10. “The Adjustment of Nature” – Story of a waitress in a hotel and three guys who are frequenters who rescues her from getting married to a rich man.
11. “Memoirs of a Yellow Dog”- A dog, a man and a woman.
12. “The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein” – A pharmacist makes a love philtre for a friend.
13. “Mammon and the Archer”- Story about a rich man’s son trying to win a woman’s hand in marriage.
14. “Springtime a La Carte”- Story of a free-lance typewriter girl staying near a hotel and her love trying to find her.
15. “The Green Door”- A man in search of the mystery behind a card handed over to him while walking on road.
16. “From the Cabby’s Seat”- A cabby taking a woman on ride at night in his hansom.
17. “An Unfinished story”- Story of a girl living with six dollars a week.
18. “The Caliph, Cupid and the Clock”- A man in a park meets another who is trying to win back his love.
19. “Sisters of Golden Circle”-Two couples travel together in a rubberneck auto and police is in search of a culprit among them.
20. “Romance of a Busy Broker”- A busy stock broker proposes his lady stenographer.
21. “After Twenty Years”- Story of two friends who decides to meet at a particular place after twenty years.
22. “Lost on Dress Parade”-Story of a person who dresses and pretends rich meets a girl.
23. “By Courier”- A man and woman after having an issue in their affair exchanges messages through a porter boy.
24. “The Furnished Room”-A man in search of his lady love stays in a hotel.
25. “The Brief Debut of Tildy”- Story of two waitresses- one of them good-looking than the other.

“The Cop and the Anthem”, “The Gift of the Magi”, “Romance of a Busy Broker”, “From the Cabby’s Seat”, “Tobin’s Palm”, “A Cosmopolite in a Café”, “A Service of Love”, “After Twenty Years” are my favourites from the book. Distinguishable peculiarity of O.Henry’s short stories is their unexpected climax. He wrote with humour about the hardships of common man. These stories were no exception.