The Four Million

O. Henry is the knight of the shop-girl and the waitress; of the wandering, homeless tramp; of poverty-stricken young married folk; of hundreds of lonely human beings who live within the dirty, gloomy wall of two-dollar-a-week boarding house rooms - of the great mass of humanity not included in the "four hundred", the everyday men and women of New York's East Side.The Four Million contains O. Henry's best and most characteristic work: the famous Gift of the Magi, the moving story of a young couple who sacrifice their most prized possessions to buy Christmas presents for each other; Soapy, the brilliant tale of a tramp who desperately attempts to break the law in order to be sent to prison so that he will have a home for the winter months; An Unfinished Story, which is a stern reproval of the employer who underpays his shop-girls - and many others. Unforgettable stories - humorous, poignant, penetrating - by "the most widely discussed and most popular short story writer of his generation."(from the back cover)