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Semicolon Author Celebration: William Sydney Porter, aka O Henry

Sep10

I’m not much of a fan of short stories. They’re too short for me. Just as I get interested in the characters or the plot, the story is over. The End.

However, I will make an exception for the short stories and sketches of William Sydney Porter, nom de plume O Henry. The reason he thought he needed a pseudonym will be revealed later in the post, ala O Henry himself who was a great fan of the twist at the end of the story, the reveal that surprised the reader into laughing wryly and shaking his head gently.

Will Porter was born on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He came to Texas at the age of twenty in 1882 hoping to get rid of a persistent cough. (Texas used to be a haven for tubercular patients, not that Mr. Porter had tuberculosis. He may have thought he had.) He worked on a sheep ranch, then moved to Austin where he worked as a pharmacist, draftsman, bank teller, and then a journalist. He married a wife Athol, who did have tuberculosis, and the couple had two children, a son who died soon after birth and a daughter, Margaret.

He and Athol moved to Houston, and he wrote for the Houston Post (newspaper, now defunct). It was the bank teller thing that got him in trouble. The bank he had worked at in Austin was audited, and some money seemed to be missing. Mr. Porter was accused of embezzlement, andhis father in law posted bail. But William then did a very stupid thing. He ran away to New Orleans, then to Honduras. He was on the lam for about a year, but heard that his wife was dying back in Austin. So he returned, managed to stay with his wife and daughter until Athol died, and then he was sent to the penitentiary in Ohio to serve out a five year sentence. Why Ohio? I couldn’t find any reason. Maybe interstate banking or something?

Anyway, it was in prison that W.S. Porter really began writing prolifically and in prison that he decided that he needed a new name, a psuedonym. He became the New York short story writer, O Henry, and he became famous. Unfortunately he also became an alcoholic, and he died in 1910 of cirrhosis of the liver, penniless and alone.

Famous O Henry stories:

The Gift of the Magi: the classic Christmas story that O Henry called “the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.”

The Ransom of Red Chief: In this story two would-be kidnappers are foiled and bamboozled by a ten year old brat. I read it out loud this evening to two of the urchins, but one fell asleep and the other one, Karate Kid, thought he could have outwitted those bungling kidnappers with more style and intelligence than the boy in the story.

The Last Leaf: A story about superstition, selfishness, and sacrifice. I’ve read it and enjoyed it although I could see the twist at the end coming halfway through.

The Last of the Troubadours: J. Frank Dobie called this story “the best range story in American fiction.” It’s about the feud between the sheep farmer and the cowman and about the actions of a quixotic troubadour.

The Furnished Room tells of a young man’s search for his runaway love, run away to sing on stage in the theaters and music halls of New York City.

The Book Den on O’Henry’s short stories.

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

Ike Watch

Sep10

We’re all waiting for Hurricane Ike and deciding whether to evacuate or “shelter in place.” Since the forecasters are targeting the hurricane to make landfall farther south and west of where we live in South Houston, we’re planning to stay put for now. If the blog goes dead on Friday or Saturday, you’ll know we ran away or should have, one or the other.

We have a family member in the hospital in serious condition, and I have parents who are not not in good physical condition to make an evacuation trek like some people made for Hurricane Rita. Some people spent more than twenty-four hours trying to get to the other side of Houston. I’m not sure my dad would survive such an ordeal. So we have even more reasons to stay where we are unless it looks as if Ike is drawing a bead on Galveston Island. We’re about 30-40 miles inland from Galveston.

Please pray for all the Texans who are making preparations for the storm, and if you live on the Texas coast, stay safe.

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

In the News

Sep9

Palin and Book Banning: Here’s the original news story from Alaska that got Sarah Palin tagged as a book banner. I’ll let you read it and judge for yourself. Then I’ll just say that I agree with Roger, who is emphatically NOT a Palin supporter.

Palin Rumors: Charles Martin is keeping a list of Palin rumors and comments as to their truth or falsehood. The book-banning thing is numbers 40-42 on the list.

Michael Gerson on the Saddleback forum: “Obama was fluent, cool and cerebral — the qualities that made Adlai Stevenson interesting but did not make him president. Obama took care to point out that he had once been a professor at the University of Chicago, but that bit of biography was unnecessary. His whole manner smacks of chalkboards and campus ivy. Issues from stem cell research to the nature of evil are weighed, analyzed and explained instead of confronted.”

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

Advanced Reading Survey: Cranford by Mrs. Gaskell

Sep8

I’ve decided that on Mondays I’m going to revisit the books I read for a course in college called Advanced Reading Survey, taught by the eminent scholar and lovable professor, Dr. Huff. I’m not going to re-read all the books and poems I read for that course, probably more than fifty, but I am going to post to Semicolon the entries in the reading journal that I was required to keep for that class because I think that my entries on these works of literature may be of interest to readers here and because I’m afraid that the thirty year old spiral notebook in which I wrote these entries may fall apart ere long. I may offer my more mature perspective on the books, too, if I remember enough about them to do so.

Author:
Mrs Gaskell was the daughter of a Unitarian minister and later married another Unitarian minister. The death of her son caused her to start writing as a means of alleviating her grief. Her first novel, Mary Barton, was an immediate success, bringing her the friendship of Charles Dickens in whose magazine Household Words she published the novel Cranford, first as a serial.

Characters:
Miss Mary Smith, narrator of the events at Cranford.
Miss Deborah Jenkyns, a spinster and resident of Cranford.
Miss Maty Jenkyns, Deborah’s sister.

Other inhabitants of the village of Cranford and characters in the novel include:
Miss Pole
Mrs. Jamieson
Lady Glenmire
Mrs. Forrester
Mrs. Fitz-Adam
Captain Brown
Miss Jessie Brown

Quotations:
Miss Smith: “I have often noticed that almost everyone has his own individual small economies—careful habits of saving fractions of pennies in some one peculiar direction —any disturbance of which annoys him more than spending shillings or pounds on some real extravagance.”

Miss Pole: “My father was a man, and I know the sex pretty well.”

Miss Matty: “My father once made us,” she began, “keep a diary in two columns: on one side we were to put down in the morning what we thought would be the course and events of the coming days, and at night we were to put down on the other side what really had happened. It would be to some people a rather sad way of telling their lives. . . . I don’t mean that mine has been sad, only so very different to what I expected.”

Miss Matty: “Marry!” said Miss Matty once again.”Well, I never thought of it. Two people that we know going to be married. It’s coming so very near.”

Miss Smith: “We felt it would be better to consider the engagement in the same light as the Queen of Spain’s legs—facts which certainly existed, but the less said about the better.”

Martha, Miss Matty’s servant: “Reason always means what someone else has got to say.”

My thoughts thirty years later:

This story of the lives and incidental affairs of a group of elderly spinsters in a village in VIctorian England would seem at first glance to be unrelated to my hectic and technologically dominated life with eight children, a husband, and a brother-in-law in Houston, Texas. But I remember it as being full of gentle insights into human foibles, a bit melancholy at times, and warmly humorous at other places in the narrative. I’d enjoy reading it again and would recommend it to lovers of Jane Austen or Jan Karon’s Mitford series or Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels.

I’d really like to see the PBS mini-series based on Mrs. Gaskell’s book, but I have so many things I’d like to watch and so many books to read. I’d also like to read Mrs. Gaskell’s North and South, which is about the north and south of England, not about the American Civil War.

My thoughts after a re-read, summer 2025, almost 50 years later:

I read this book again, now almost fifty years after reading it for the first time, along with a group in June and July of this year. I remember very little of the plot of this novel, a little more about the characters, and much more about the atmosphere of the novel. Cranford is a lovely little community of mostly spinster ladies, and reading about the daily lives of these sweet, but also provincial and insular, women is a delight. Re-reading Cranford was like being immersed in a warm bath of old-fashioned Victorian values and culture, the best parts of VIctorian England. Mrs. Gaskell is a bit Dickensian—again, she published Cranford in installments in Dickens’ magazine Household Words—but Cranford is more homely and intimate, less dramatic, than Dickens’ many novels.

Oh, I still haven’t watched the miniseries, but I plan to do so soon.

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

Sunday Salon: I John, Dragons, Controversy and Short Stories

Sep7

I’ve been reading and meditating on the book of I John in the Bible this week, and the dominant thought that keeps running through my mind is that Jesus commands us to do such a simple thing: to love each other. And we find that simple command so hard to obey. I want to be told to climb mountains, paint great works of art, end world hunger, create technological miracles. Do hard things. And yet the hardest thing of all, the thing I cannot do very well, is love my brothers and sisters, my children, my friends, my enemies. Why not, and what would it look like if we did? What would it look like for Republicans to show love for Democrats and vice-versa? What would it look like in my home for me to truly love my children and my husband “with actions and in truth”? I need to get practical and think of at least one action that I will take this week to love the people that God has placed in my life. Maybe with a lot of practice and by God’s grace I can work up to two acts of selfless love per week in few years.

I also started reading The Search for the Red Dragon by James Owen this week. It’s the sequel to Here, There Be Dragons. (Semicolon review here.) So far, so good, and I’m looking forward to getting back to it after writing this post.

I posted my review of Looking for Alaska by John Green, and the author himself found my review and had some comments. I’m thankful for the frank, but civil and courteous, discussion about young adult literature that my review and questions and Mr. Green’s comments instigated. Take a look if you’re interested in issues of censorship, discernment, and decency in young adult literature.

Semicolon review of Looking for Alaska with related questions.

John Green’s response and comments by readers.

I’m looking forward this week to finishing Mr. Owens’ book and to starting A Bell for Adano, the September selection for Biblically Literate Book Club. I also have the schedule or Semicolon Author Celebrations for the rest of the year posted in the sidebar. I’ll copy the schedule here, too:

September 11: O. Henry, b.1862, d.1910.
September 18: Samuel Johnson, b.1709, d.1784.
October 9: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, b.1547, d.1616.
October 30: John Adams, b.1735, d. 1826.
November 13: Robert Louis Stevenson, b.1850, d.1894.
November 27: Kevin Henkes, b.1960.
December 11: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, b.1918, d.2008.
December 18: Charles Wesley, b.1707, d.1788.

For those who don’t know about my new Author Celebrations, I’m providing a place (linky) on the Thursday birthdays of certain authors where you can come by and read about the author here at Semicolon and also leave a link to your post celebrating that author’s birthday. This Thursday, the 11th of September, we’ll be celebrating the birthday of the famous short story writer, William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry. Everybody’s heard of The Gift of the Magi, but here’s a website where you can taste others of O. Henry’s short stories. Anyone have a suggestion for me and the urchins to read aloud one night this week?

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

The Week in Quotation Marks

Sep7

We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith. Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.
Edward Cardinal Egan
Archbishop of New York
August 26, 2008

“Let me be a clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people’s families are off limits,and people’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics…it has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president.
And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that’s off limits.” ~Barack Obama, September 1, 2008

“We need a president who doesn’t think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.”. ~Fred Thompson, RNC, 9/2/2008

“But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion — I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.” ~Sarah Palin, RNC, 9/3/2008

“I’m not running for president because I think I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.” ~John McCain, RNC, 9/4/2008

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

Friday Night at the Cinema: All About Eve

Sep5

We watched All About Eve, a 1950 movie with Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, and Hugh Marlowe. Brown Bear Daughter said it was “the creepiest movie ever, except for Signs and The Village.” Anne Baxter plays what we nowadays would call a stalker; she idolizes actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis). Ms. Channing is a great actress, but has her own insecurities and character flaws, to say the least. Eve (Anne Baxter) plays off those insecurities masterfully and acts as diabolically as any backroom politician or criminal mastermind.

If you’re in the mood for wickedly entertaining, I’d recommend All About Eve. As a study in idolatry, it’s superb.

According to Internet Movie Database:

In real life, Bette Davis had just turned 42 as she undertook the role of Margo Channing, and Anne Baxter, still an up-and-comer, not only wowed audiences with her performance, but successfully pressured the powers that be to get her nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category rather than Best Supporting Actress. This is thought to have split the vote between herself and Davis. The winner for the 1950 Best Actress was Judy Holliday for her noticeable turn in Born Yesterday (1950), so Baxter’s actions in effect blocked Davis’ chances for the win.

The dialog in the movie is remarkable, like a play since it’s from a different era and it takes place in the world of the New York theatre. Here are some quotes. And here’s my favorite scene:

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

Friday’s Center of the Blogosphere

Sep5

Church:
Julie Neidlinger on Why I Walked Out of Church, and George Grant on Why We’re Losing the Julies of this World.

What she longs for, she says, is her “home town church” filled with “ordinary, uncool people” who actually “know each other.” In other words, she longs for “parish life.”

Sherry here: How do we get back to that “old-time religion” where people related to people instead of to programs?

Community:

Trey Garrison in the Dallas Morning News on Why I Don’t Want Diversity in My Neighborhood. I got the link for this article from Amy’s Humble Musings, and it’s a good argument for homeschoolers who get hit with the “diversity” complaint, too. Mr. Garrison says:

Seriously, if the only exposure to other people your kid gets is when she’s sitting in a place where you move about like cattle at the sound of a bell and have to ask permission to go to the bathroom (i.e. school), what kind of sheltered life are you giving your kid?

Family:

Dorothy at Urban Servant (got this link from Amy, too) says: “Nine kids, 12 years and 30,000 diapers later and all I am sure of is how much I don’t know about parenting.”

Oh, how true, and oh, how I needed to hear this message both to keep me from advice-giving and to remind me that Engineer Husband and I are the only ones who are truly experts on our eight children, and we don’t know much.

Sallie on Why Sarah Palin Makes Sense to Me: “It is easy for me to accept this situation and believe she could do a good job as both a mom and veep/president because of my marriage.
If I were handed an extraordinary opportunity, David would be right there supporting me. I have no doubt that if God called me to do something, David would adjust his life accordingly so as to make it possible. (I also know because I asked him yesterday.) It wouldn’t even have to be something as extraordinary as running for Vice President. But if it were something that would require sacrifice and his taking over more of the home, he would do it in a heartbeat.”

I, too, have such a husband, and I am oh so thankful for him.

The Media
Mark Steyn: “I would like to thank the US media for doing such a grand job this last week of lowering expectations by portraying Governor Palin – whoops, I mean Hick-Burg Mayor Palin – as a hillbilly know-nothing permapregnant ditz, half of whose 27 kids are the spawn of a stump-toothed uncle who hasn’t worked since he was an extra in Deliverance.

How’s that narrative holding up, geniuses?”

Barbara Nicolosi really, really didn’t like what the filmmakers have done with the new movie version of Brideshead Revisited.

Imagine if someone did a new adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and it ended up savagely racist? That’s what they’ve done here. A profoundly Catholic novel, in this “adaptation”, Brideshead Revisited is viciously anti-Catholic. They turned a movie about God and the soul, into a lurid love triangle between a homosexual, his sister and a hapless hunk. It’s lame. It’s bad.

I’m watching the 1981 mini-series version, and I think it’s quite good. This admittedly slow-moving film version of Evelyn Waugh’s novel has helped me to understand things about the characters in particular that I just didn’t get when I read the book. Here are my thoughts on the novel from about two years ago.

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays

Book Blogger Awards

Sep5

I’ve been nominated for a Book Blogger Appreciation Week Award at the blog My Friend Amy who’s sponsoring these awards. Voting starts today, Friday the 5th, and I’m in such good company that I’d suggest you just go over a “appreciate” whomever you want. We all win.

Best Community Builder
5 Minutes for Books
The Hidden Side of a Leaf
J.Kaye’s Book Blog
My Friend Amy
Semicolon

I’m hoping to find time to go by and visit all the nominees, in all the categories, and invite them to contribute a review or two to the Saturday Review of Books this Saturday. If I don’t make it, please consider yourself invited, all nominees and all book bloggers in general.

Go Sarah!

Sep3

From Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah’s speech tonight at the Republican National Convention:

“To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.”
Yes! I dare say that this advocacy position may be a part of the reason that God has raised Sarah Palin up for such a time as this.

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.”
The Democrats had better quit discussing “experience” or the lack thereof; they lose on that comparison.

“Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems – as if we all didn’t know that already. But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.”
Duh! I can already hear “drill, baby, drill” being repeated at water fountains and in offices all over the country tomorrow.

“The difference between a hockey mom and a bulldog? Lipstick.”

She added that little joke to her prepared speech. I believe Sarah Palin’s going to be a bulldog with lipstick who helps the Republicans win this election —and I hope she helps John McCain govern this country.

Released text of tonight’s speech by Sarah Palin.

Extra: A Democrat teacher tells why she will vote for Sarah Palin and John McCain.