O. Henry - William Sydney Porter

O. HENRY once wrote from New York:

I was born and raised in "No'th Ca'llina" and at eighteen went to Texas and ran wild on the prairies. Wild yet, but not so wild. Can't get to loving New Yorkers. Live all alone in a great big two rooms on quiet old Irving Place three doors from Wash, living's old home. Kind of lonesome. Was thinking lately (since the April moon commenced to shine) how I'd like to be down South, where I could happen over to Miss Ethel's or Miss Sallie's and sit down on the porch—not on a chair—on the edge of the porch, and lay my straw hat on the steps and lay my head back against the honeysuckle on the post—and just talk. And Miss Ethel would go in directly (they say "presently" up here) and bring out the guitar. She would complain that the E string was broken, but no one would believe her; and pretty soon all of us would be singing the "Swanee River" and "In the Evening by the Moonlight" and—oh, gol darn it, what's the use of wishing?

Description: William Sydney Porter. Date: before 1910. Source: NYPL Digital Gallery. Author: W.M. Vanderweyde, New York. Permission (Reusing this file) PD - first published in 1917.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923, in this case 1917, are now in the public domain.

This text is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923, in this case "The Roads We Take" 1912 are now in the public domain. 

TEXT CREDIT: O. Henry biography. Henry Ford Estate collection. Author Charles Alphonso Smith. Publisher Doubleday, Page and Company, 1916. Original from the University of Michigan. Digitized Sep 7, 2006. Length 258 pages.