An Apology by O. Henry. Short summary

5 seconds

The person in charge of filling out and publishing the next issue of the newspaper falls ill in the newsroom. He apologizes to the readers and promises that he will try to publish issues regularly in the future.

1 minute

There was a man in the newsroom who swept the floor of the building, translated foreign letters, transcribed college graduates’ messages, and filled quite a bit of newspaper space. One day he fell ill with measles and the flu and was forced to spend his time in bed, lying under a thick blanket.

The narrator apologizes to readers for missing two issues of The Rolling Stone already. He regrets what happened and assures that he will soon recover. The author promises to extend his residency to make up for the missing issues.

Hero believes it takes tact, finesse, and hot laurel tea to combine a newspaper issue with illness. In the future he hopes to produce issues regularly, but fears that the effects of illness and the rising cost of paper may again affect the consistency of the issues. Anyone who is waiting for a new issue should come to the editorial office and declare it, and bring any delicacy sold by the handicapped with them.

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