O. Henry's story “The Last Leaf,” published in 1907, is relevant during these fraught weeks of death and dying. - The Providence Journal
Leslie Y. Gutterman is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth-El in Providence.
O. Henry's story "The Last Leaf," published in 1907, is relevant during these fraught weeks of death and dying. It is about two artists, Sue and Johnsy, who live together. A pneumonia epidemic swept the city, including Johnsy.
An exhausted doctor who examined her whispered the verdict: "She has one chance in ten. If you get her to ask about the new styles in cloak sleeves, I will promise you a one-in-five chance."
Sue returned to Johnsy, who was peering through a window at a wall of the adjoining house. Johnsy was counting backward — "twelve and then eleven and then ten …" Halfway up the side of the brick house was a gnarled vine with a few leaves still clinging on. "They're falling faster. Three days ago there were almost a hundred, but now it's easy. Only five are left. When the last one falls, I want to go too."
Sue tried to offer comfort saying the doctor declared the chances were ten to one in her favor. She urged Johnsy to sleep as she called her model, old Mr. Behrman, to pose for a sketch. Behrman was a failed artist hoping to paint his masterpiece. He scratched out a meager living by posing for young artists. Sue told him of Johnsy's feeling that her life would end when the last leaf fell.
The following morning Johnsy discovered that despite the night's storm a single leaf could still be seen on the vine. It was dark green near its stem. The edge showed the yellow of decay. "It's the last one. I thought it would surely fall during the night." Johnsy stared at it for a very long time. Suddenly she said to Sue, "You may now bring a little broth and some milk. No, bring me a hand mirror first and then pack some pillows around so I can watch you cook."
When the doctor examined her the next day, he was much more optimistic. "Now I must see another patient. His name is Behrman. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man and the attack is acute."
By the next day Johnsy was knitting a long, blue scarf. "I have something to tell you," Sue said. Mr. Behrman died today. The janitor found him, his clothes sopping wet and very cold. They discovered a lantern and a ladder along with scattered brushes and a palette with green and yellow colors. Look again at that last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered when the wind blew? Ah, darlin', it's Behrman's masterpiece. He painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."
The story speaks for itself. I would only underline two of its themes. One is hope, the motto of Rhode Island. It is hope that allowed Johnsy to hang on. When we surrender our hopes, we surrender the possibilities of changing circumstances, allowing us to plan with purpose. Life becomes a burden if there are no wings of hope to lift us up. A.J. Cronin put it well. "Hell is the place where one has ceased to hope."
There is another quality featured in O. Henry's tale – kindness. On my refrigerator is a magnet with the reminder: "Kind words don't lie."
When Giuseppe Verdi was 87, a friend asked which of his works he liked the best. Verdi replied, "The home I have built for old artists who were not favored by fortune. It is my most beautiful opera." The famed composer was proudest of an act of kindness. Verdi considered it the greatest of his works.
We cannot fully assess the impact of our own acts of kindness. Perhaps, like old Mr. Behrman, we may never paint masterpieces on canvas. However, a single leaf on a bare wall may be the greatest painting of all.
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