Gift of the Magi

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

It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do.

For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.

Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts.

Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters.

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

This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.

Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della.

They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession.

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home.

And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring.

A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks.

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail.

Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.

They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession.

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

White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper.

And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.

It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do.

For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction.

And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.

The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.

A furnished flat at $8 per week.

Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della.

The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week.