O. Henry Birth:
O. Henry was born William Sydney Porter on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. His mother, Mrs. Algernon Sidney Porter (Mary Virginia Swaim), died from consumption when O. Henry was three, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and his aunt.O. Henry Death:
O. Henry died a poor man on June 5, 1910. Alcoholism and ill health are believed to have been factors in his death. The cause of his death is listed as cirrhosis of the liver.Funeral services were held at a church in New York City, and he was buried in Ashville, North Carolina. His last words are said to have been: "Turn up the lights —I don't want to go home in the dark."
O. Henry Marriage:
In 1887, he married Athol Estes, stepdaughter of Mr. P. G. Roach. When he was on the run in Honduras, from the charges of embezzlement, he returned to Texas, and surrendered himself, when he learned that his wife was dying. Athol died on July 25, 1897, leaving him one daughter, Margaret Worth Porter (born in 1889).After O. Henry served his time in prison, he married Sarah Lindsey Coleman, who had been his childhood sweetheart, in Ashville, North Carolina, in 1907. They separated in 1908.
O. Henry Education:
O. Henry attended the the private elementary school of his aunt, Evelina Porter ("Miss Lina"), starting in 1867. He then Linsey Street High School, located in Greensboro, North Carolina.O. Henry left school at the age of 15 (in 1879), and went to work as a bookkeeper in his Uncle Clark's store, W. C. Porter and Company Drug Store.
As for the rest of O. Henry's education, he was an avid reader, and he was educated in the school of life, writing many of his stories after spending time in prison.
O. Henry Occupations:
O. Henry occupied himself with a number of different jobs, including work in a drug store, as a ranch hand in Texas, as a licensed pharmacist, as a draftsman, as a bank clerk, and as a columnist.Of course, his most notorious occupation was as a bank clerk for the First National Bank of Austin. He resigned from his job in 1894 after he was accused of embezzling funds. In 1896, he was arrested on charges of embezzlement. He posted bail, skipped town, and finally returned in 1897.
O. Henry Lines from "The Gift of the Magi":
"One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.""There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating."
"The magi, as you know, were wise men —wonderfully wise men —who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones."
O. Henry Lines from "Blind Man's Holiday":
"Man is too thoroughly an egoist not to be also an egotist; if he love, the object shall know it. During a lifetime he may conceal it through stress of expediency and honour, but it shall bubble from his dying lips, though it disrupt a neighbourhood. It is known, however, that most men do not wait so long to disclose their passion. In the case of Lorison, his particular ethics positively forbade him to declare his sentiments, but he must needs dally with the subject..."O. Henry Other Quotes:
"He wrote love stories, a thing I have always kept free from, holding the belief that the well-known and popular sentiment is not properly matter for publication, but something to be privately handled by the alienist and the florist."- "The Plutonian Fire"
"It was beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are."
- "The Octupus Marooned"
O. Henry Brief Biography:
O. Henry (pseudonym for William Sydney Porter) was born in on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina; and he became famous for his short stories, which have been collected into a number of books.O. Henry started "The Rolling Stone," a humorous weekly, in 1887; but that publication soon failed. He then wrote for the "Houston Post" until he was sent to prison on embezzlement charges in 1898.
There has been a great deal of debate about the guilt or innocence of O. Henry on those charges. Suffice it to say that his years in prison offered him time and the incentive to write numerous short stories. He had to support his daughter, and perhaps the experiences he had in prison also gave him a mountain of material for his stories. "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" was published in "McClure's Magazine" in 1899, and others were to follow.
O. Henry was released from prison in 1901, and he moved to New York City to write full-time in 1902. Through the next years, from 1903 to 1906, he wrote a story each week for "New York World," which helps to account for the more than 600 stories that O. Henry wrote.
The first collection of his stories appeared in 1904 in "Cabbages and Kings," which was immediately popular. Other collections followed, including: "The Four Million" (1906), "The Trimmed Lamp" (1907), "The Heart of the West" (1907), "Whirligigs" (1910), "Sixes And Sevens" (1911), "Rolling Stones" (1912), and "Waifs And Strays" (1917).
O. Henry's humorous style and surprise endings help to explain why his short stories are still enjoyed these many years after his death. His works have also been compared to the works of Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce, both of whom clearly influenced O. Henry's stories. Although some of his works are considered quite good, his writing suffered from the affects of alcoholism (with his daily dose of two quarts of whiskey), which became a more chronic problem in the last years of his life.
