Words of Old at Christmastine: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

 Excerpt:

"One dollar and eighty-seven cents. 
That was all. And sixty cents of it 
was in pennies. 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. Three times Della counted it.
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. 
And the next day would be Christmas."


Published 1905.
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Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

The Classics - Opening Lines: "The Marry Month of May" by O. Henry

"Prithee, smite the poet in the eye when he would sing to you praises of the month of May. It is a month presided over by the spirits of mischief and madness. Pixies and flibbertigibbets haunt the budding woods; Puck and his train of midgets are busy in town and country."    (Published 1905)



I love the classics and plan to share some "opening lines" over the coming months. Comment if you like, or read for inspiration. Writing styles were different then, but were they really?