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In “Elsie in New York,” Elsie is an innocent young woman who must look for work to make a living. Although she applies for several positions, do-gooders interfere. Thinking they are saving her soul, in actuality they point her to her destruction. In “The Purple Dress,” two young women clerks have been saving money all year to buy new dresses for the one gala of their year, the annual Thanksgiving dinner given by their employer. But when a landlady and a dressmaker intervene, things turn out much differently than either girl could have imagined.
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Reviews
"The real charm of O. Henry's tales lies not in his reversal of the narrative, but in the reversal of his characters' character. In O. Henry's world, establishment figures become boobs and rich men become dunces, while rogues become heroes and down-and-outers become gentlemen."
Coconut Telegraph