O. HENRY : LIFE AND WORKS                       

O. Henry is the pen-name of the noted and popular American short story writer William Sydney porter. He was born in Greensboro, north carolina on  11septemeber 1862. His parents were dr. Algernon Sydney porter ,a physician and Mary Jane Virginia swaim porter .his mother died of tuberculosis when he was three years old and he and his mother moved to the house of his paternal grandmother . From childhood he was an avid reader and used to read all the time everything from classics to cheap novels. Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria porter's Elementary school in1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsay street High school. His aunt continued to teach him until he was fifteen. in 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore and in 1881, at the age of nineteen ,he was licensed as a pharmacist. Porter travelled with Dr. Jones K.Hall to Texas in 1882. There he worked in a ranch. Then he want to  Austin where he decided to stay. He took a number of jobs over the next few years, first as a pharmacist, then as a draftsman, a bank teller and a journalist. He was convicted for three years following a case of embezzlement.he took to written stories while in prison. Porter was a good singer and musician. He played the guitar and the mandolin. porter met a beautiful young lady named Athol Estes. She was from a wealthy family. In July 1887 he married  Athol Estes. His wife encouraged him to write.she died of tuberculosis in July 1897. After his imprisonment porter worked in the prison hospital as a licensed pharmacist. He also started writing short stories to earn money for supporting his daughter Margaret. Porter's prolific writing career started in 1902 as he moved to New York. In new york he wrote nearly four hundred short stories. He married again in 1907. His second wife Sarah Lindsey Coleman was his childhood sweetheart. Porter's writing career was greatly affected when he fell seriously ill. His health broke down and on June 5, 1910 he died of cirrhosis of liver , complications of diabetes and an enlarged heart .

O. Henry was a prolific writer. He had all the necessary qualities of an expert story teller . His techniques of narration, characterisation, use of ready wit, humour and irony and above all,the capacity to draw  surprising ending to his stories made him all more popular. His works were  collected in twelve volumes. Among his notable works mention may be made of whistling Dick's Christmas stocking (1899), cabbages and kings (1904), The Four Million (1906), The trimmed Lamp and other stories (1907), the gentle grafter (1908), Roads of Destiny (1909), among his best known and widely read  stories are, the Ransom of Red  chief ,The gift of the magi, A Retrieved Reformation, The Third ingredient , The cap and the anthem and the Last Leaf .