LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 247, 12 July 1919, Page 11

LIBER'S NOTE BOOK

0, Henry. . I'lofoMor Alplionsm Sniilh. .wli'p., it 'miiy bo remembered, wrote a. "T.ife id 0. flenrv," that cleverest of nil f'Mi'l' »t«f.T writers, vecently received a letter from 'si-friend in Virginia, who thinks lulms 'solved the-problem ofMiow William f>yd■nev Porter en me--to use t lie noiu <Je lilt'imo of 0. Henry. Tho Virginian Ren-'lldrnnn.-'ifc appears, found. iJi a book enlled "'The United Stales . Dispensary" (which appears lo ho a trans-Atlantic ;rrariiurt-..o£v:..:.'Haio::'----Briiisli:::-l,liiU»iiico-

pnein"), many chemical analyses and inwcriplion.s -sigiiocf 0. -llonry. 'Mint niimo stood for a pharmacist, who lived in Antwerp and mis actively nt work between -ISM and ISST. Now, .when Sidney Porter was a young mail he was for'n. time what the Americans call a "drug clerk" (nnglice chemist's assistant) at Greensboro (iVorl.li Carolina), niul other places, and Hie theory is that he found liis subsequent signature "(J. Henry" in the inline i'i' Hie old phnrma--eist of Antwerp. 1 give this story fur what it is worth. The theory is ingenious enough, but as a matter of fact shortly before Air. Sorter's death Professor Harry Alinturn ' Peek, writing in the "New York Bookman" on 0. Henry anil his work, told quite a very different story. According to Professor Peck, it was during Porter's literary strivings in New Orleans that lie decided, for, some reason or other, that lie ;u,ust hl.vo a pen-name, lie took counsel with a friend, and the two picked'up a newspaper niul turned to tin account in it of a social function. They van over the names hastily, and Mr. Porter picked ojit the name "Henry. 1 ' "That will do for a last name,".lie said; "but 1 want a. short.first name in jno syllable." His friend remarked -that he might use a plain initial letter. "!.iood!".tiaid the writer. "0 is about the easiest, letter written, and so let's call it 0." Afterwards, Professor Peek, vhen the name of 0. Henry was known all over the hind, .a ■ certain newspaper wrote and asked him .for what the 0 stood. With -cheerful irresponsibility Air. Porter gravely answered that the 0 was an abbreviation of the French Olivier. Sometimes, therefore, Air. Porter's stories have been ascribed to one Olivier Henry, n'Franco-American. Such in the genesis of'a famous ront-de-plume.