diff --git a/demo-site/config.ru b/demo-site/config.ru
index 331c05c..2178d59 100644
--- a/demo-site/config.ru
+++ b/demo-site/config.ru
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-Encoding.default_internal = Encoding.default_external = 'UTF-8' if RUBY_VERSION >= '1.9'
+Encoding.default_internal = Encoding.default_external = 'UTF-8'
 require ::File.expand_path('../forme_demo',  __FILE__)
 run FormeDemo::App.app
diff --git a/lib/forme.rb b/lib/forme.rb
index 3566c28..cf52237 100644
--- a/lib/forme.rb
+++ b/lib/forme.rb
@@ -25,16 +25,10 @@ def self.h(value)
     rescue LoadError
       ESCAPE_TABLE = {'&' => '&amp;', '<' => '&lt;', '>' => '&gt;', '"' => '&quot;', "'" => '&#39;'}.freeze
       ESCAPE_TABLE.each_value(&:freeze)
-      if RUBY_VERSION >= '1.9'
-        # Escape the following characters with their HTML/XML
-        # equivalents.
-        def self.h(value)
-          value.to_s.gsub(/[&<>"']/, ESCAPE_TABLE)
-        end
-      else
-        def self.h(value)
-          value.to_s.gsub(/[&<>"']/){|s| ESCAPE_TABLE[s]}
-        end
+      # Escape the following characters with their HTML/XML
+      # equivalents.
+      def self.h(value)
+        value.to_s.gsub(/[&<>"']/, ESCAPE_TABLE)
       end
     end
   end