Born in North Carolina in 1862, William Sidney Porter,(1)_________________________________.His only formal education was received at the school of his Aunt Lina,where he developed a lifelong love of books.In his uncle's drugstore, he became a licensed pharmacist and was also known for his sketches and cartoons of the townspeople of Greensboro.At the age of twenty, Porter came to Texas primarily for health reasons and worked on a sheep farm.It was here that Porter gained a knowledge for farm life that he later described in many of his short stories.In 1884, Porter moved to Austin. For the next three years,he roomed in the home of the Joseph Harrell family and held several jobs.It was during this time that Porter first used his pen name,O. Henry said to be derived from his frequent calling of “Oh, Henry”,the family cat. In 1891, Porter resigned and became a teller with the First National Bank in Austin.After a few years, however,he left the bank and began to write for several magazines.(2)____________________________________________.In early 1898, Porter was found guilty of the banking charges and sentenced to five years.From this low point in Porter's life, he began a remarkable comeback.Three years later, he emerged from prison as “O. Henry” to help shield his true identity.He moved to New York, where over the next ten years before his death in 1910,he published over 300 stories and (3)______________________________________.
