“O. Henry” was the pen name adopted by William Sydney Porter. He began his short story career by contributing _Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking_ to _McClure’s Magazine_ in 1899. He followed it with many stories dealing with Western and South-and Central-American life, and later came most of his stories of the life of New York City, in which field lies most of his best work. He contributed more stories to the _New York World_ than to any other one publication—as if the stories of the author who later came to be hailed as “the American Maupassant” were not good enough for the “leading” magazines but fit only for the sensation-loving public of the Sunday papers! His first published story that showed distinct strength was perhaps _A Blackjack Bargainer_ (August, 1901, _Munsey’s_). He followed this with such masterly stories as: _The Duplicity of Hargraves_ (February, 1902, _Junior Munsey_), _The Marionettes_ (April, 1902, _Black Cat_), _A Retrieved Reformation_ (April, 1903, _Cosmopolitan_), _The Guardian of the Accolade_ (May, 1903, _Cosmopolitan_), _The Enchanted Kiss_ (February, 1904, _Metropolitan_), _The Furnished Room_ (August 14, 1904, _New York World_), _An Unfinished Story_ (August, 1905, _McClure’s_), _The Count and the Wedding Guest_ (October 8, 1905, _New York World_), _The Gift of the Magi_ (December 10, 1905, _New York World_), _The Trimmed Lamp_ (August, 1906, _McClure’s_), _Phoebe_ (November, 1907, _Everybody’s_), _The Hiding of Black Bill_ (October, 1908, _Everybody’s_), _No Story_ (June, 1909, _Metropolitan_), _A Municipal Report_ (November, 1909, _Hampton’s_), _A Service of Love_ (in _The Four Million_, 1909), _The Pendulum_ (in _The Trimmed Lamp_, 1910), _Brickdust Row_ (in _The Trimmed Lamp_, 1910), and _The Assessor of Success_ (in _The Trimmed Lamp_, 1910). Among O. Henry’s best volumes of short stories are: _The Four Million_ (1909), _Options_ (1909), _Roads of Destiny_ (1909), _The Trimmed Lamp_ (1910), _Strictly Business: More Stories of the Four Million_ (1910), _Whirligigs_ (1910), and _Sixes and Sevens_ (1911).