William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862—June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. The best known ones are A Service of Love, The Cop and the Anthem, The Furnished Room, The Gift of the Magi and The Last Leaf, which help him win fame abroad.

The natural is rounded; the artificial is made up of angles.A man lost in the snow wanders, in spite of himself, in perfect circles; the city man’s feet, denaturalized by rectangular streets and floors, carry him ever away from himself.The round eyes of childhood typify innocence; the narrowed line of the flirt’s optic proves the invasion of art.The horizontal mouth is the mark of determined cunning; who has not read Nature’s most spontaneous lyric in lips rounded for the candid kiss?

O. Henry's stories are gems of their kind; mellow, humorous, ironic, ingenious and shot through with that eminently salable quality known as 'human interest.'" —Bennet Cerf and Van Cartmell

• Squaring the Circle