watercress words by Dr Aletha

updated December 15, 2025

Over a century ago a pharmacist told a story, a tale that taught his readers the true meaning of Christmas and giving.

William Sydney Porter was born on September 11, 1862. His father Algernon Sidney Porter was a medical doctor. When William was 3 years old, his mother died of “consumption” (an old term for tuberculosis).

He grew up in Greensboro North Carolina where he clerked for his uncle’s pharmacy, Morley Drug Store. At 19 years old he earned a pharmacy license (although it apparently required no special education or training.)

William developed a chronic cough which caught the attention of Dr. James Hall. He invited William to Texas to visit his son’s ranch, thinking this would help resolve the cough. William recovered and worked on the ranch for two years.

William married a young woman, Athol and they had two children, a son, who died in infancy, and a daughter Margaret. With a family, he needed a reliable source of income so he took a job as a teller at National Bank of Austin. This decision would change the course of their lives.

William started a newspaper called The Rolling Stone. (Apparently, the current magazine of the same name is not related. ) When it went bankrupt, he worked as a reporter for the Houston Post.

Unfortunately, some accounting discrepancies at the bank led to accusations of embezzlement against William. Although the charge was likely unjustified, fearing prosecution, he fled Texas, first to Louisiana, and then to Guatemala, without his wife and child.

In his absence, Athol contracted tuberculosis , an essentially fatal disease in those days. He returned to Texas to care for her, but upon her death in 1897 he was arrested and convicted of embezzlement; he served 5 years in a federal prison then moved to New York City.

He had not wasted his time in prison. As a licensed pharmacist, he was allowed to work as a druggist in the prison hospital, enjoying a better quality of life than most prisoners. Working the night shift gave him time to pursue his writing talent. Under a pen name (since he didn’t want to reveal he was an inmate), he began writing and publishing short stories.

After his release from prison, William published yearly collections of his short stories. People enjoyed his tales because they dealt with common people in ordinary circumstances but with endings that were unexpected and surprising. Whether humorous or tragic, his tales taught lessons about life in a way that left his readers pondering their own responses to life’s ups and downs.

In 1906 the collection was called The Four Million and contained a story that became his most read and beloved. Like in many of his stories, he used irony to create an unexpected ending to what would otherwise have been a sweet but predictable love story. (This and others are affiliate links.)

His writing failures and successes came with a price; his alcohol use turned into an addiction. After writing more than 600 stories, William Sydney Porter died in 1910 of alcoholic liver cirrhosis at 48 years old.

Even though William died more than 100 years ago, he is still very much alive through the words he wrote. He even has a Facebook page. And the man who once published a magazine has one named after him.

You’ve probably guessed this famous writer’s name, his pen name, the one we know him as.

William Sydney Porter became O. Henry.

What is irony?

The most common purpose of irony is to create humor and/or point out the absurdity of life… life has a way of contradicting our expectations, often in painful ways.

Irony generally makes us laugh, even when the circumstances are tragic. We laugh not because the situations were sad, but because they jarred our expectations

The contrast between people’s expectations and the reality of the situation is funny and meaningful because it shows us how wrong human beings can be.

Irony is best when it points us toward deeper meanings of a situation.

William’s life illustrated redemption, as did the beloved Christmas story he wrote. Read it at this link…

The Gift of the Magi

Exploring the HEART of giving

I compiled this brief biography of O. Henry from several different sources, all of which generally conveyed the same events and timeline. Some added details not mentioned in others. All can be easily found by a simple search.

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