A Letter and a Paragraph – Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896)
Bunner`s fame rests on the work he published in the last fifteen years of his life. Born at Oswego, N. Y., he went when he was very young to New York for his education. It soon became apparent that literature was to be his career, and he joined the staff of the Arcadian. Later he became the editor of Puck. The first of Bunner’s stories to meet with success was The Midge (1886), a tale of New York life. Then followed a number of others which were subsequently collected in several volumes, Short Sixes (1891) among them. His stories are distinguished by simplicity of motive, and are related with subtle humour and an underlying pathos, escaping any sentimentality.
A Letter and a Paragraph is reprinted from Stories of H. C. Bunner, copyright, 1891, 1896, by Charles Scribner’s Sons, by permission of the publishers.
A Letter and a Paragraph
The Letter
My Dear Will
You cannot be expected to remember it, but this is the fifth anniversary of my wedding-day, and to-morrow it will be to-morrow before this letter is closed is my birthday my fortieth. My head is full of jhose thoughts which the habit of my life moves me to put on paper, ‘where I can best express them; and yet which must be written for only the friendliest of eyes. It is not the least of my happiness in this life that 1 have one friend to whom I can unlock my heart as I can to you.
