O'Henry lead an interesting life. In those days life expectancy was less and the number of childrn was more. He was one of almost a dozen siblings. His mother died when he was a child and his younger sister died.
When he came of age, he eloped with an heiress who had TB (also then called consumption.)
Embezzelement & Prison
He held a job but was suspected of embezzling and fled to Hondurus. But his wife was too ill to travel. When he heard she was dying he returned, and was imprisoned.
Pen Names
He used various names as pen names, possibly, probably, partly to hide his identity whilst a prisoner.
He wrote stories featuring characters he met in prison. His other source was by loitering around hotel lobbies and copying characters and stories picked up from conversation. (Somerset Maughm also picked up stories in hotels.)
Plots And Twist Endings
You can read a summary of three or more of the plots of his twist end stories in Wikipedia.
By the end of his life he was a reformed and respected character. He has been featured on a US postage stamp and several US presidents have tried to award him a posthumus pardon.
Quotations from O'Henry
... life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.
- "The Gift of the Magi"
Visit the O'Henry Museum in Austin, Texas.
And it's free!
CONTACT INFO
The USA has many homes of authors. When I was living in the USA I visited several. The ones I remember most include the home of Webster who compiled the dictionary with reformed spelling which turned night into nite.
Noah Webster House Museum
There iz no alternativ.
Noah Webster. (Wikiquote.)
Pearl Buck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Museums and historic houses
Several historic sites work to preserve and display artifacts from Pearl's profoundly multicultural life:
- Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, West Virginia
- Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- The Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association in Zhenjiang, China [1]
- Pearl S. Buck House in Nanjing University, China [2]
- The Pearl S. Buck Summer Villa, on Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi Province, China
- The Pearl S. Buck Memorial Hall, Bucheon City, South Korea[46]
- Pearl S. Buck International, 520 Dublin Road, Perkasie, PA 18944 USA,215-249-0100
![[1]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pearl_Buck_Old_Residence.jpg){kind=link}
![[2]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pearl_Buck_Former_Residence_in_Nanjing_University.jpg){kind=link}
http://www.austintexas.gov/department/o-henry-museum
visittheusa.co.uk
Texas
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/authors/search/?query=Henry,+O.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_S._Buck
Connecticut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster_House
https://noahwebsterhouse.org/
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and blogger, and writer of short stories. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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