Arizona republican., 1910-07-04
MIR. O. HENRY AS
 HE REALLY WAS LETTERS TO HIS PUBLISHER TOLD ALWAYS OF A NEED
 OF FUNDS. His Money Went Faster Than His Pen and He Was in Debt for Cash Advanced-longed
 to Do Something
 Worth While.

New York-The character of the late 70. Henry (Sidney P6rter). au- thor of whimsical tales, is summed up by an editor who handled much of his copy by the following selec- tions from the authors letters to the editor A number of them are here reprinted:
 Thursday-Dear old Bill: At last I have hove anchor at - - Waver ly place, and have an address to give you. l am in Gilman Halls apart ment. and can now continue to turn out the old blown in the bottle brand of fiction.
 am a man of damn few words. I want s125 (don't read that d dollar and quarter). That in addition to the S15O that I screwed out of Mer win during your absence will make a total of S275, which will be more than covered by the moral and entertain ing tale that l hereby agree to have finished and delivered to you all by 1O:30 a. m Monday. August 27. or perhaps earlier.
 Pursue the liberal policy and get the best stuff.
 Personally and officially l greet you and make obeisancc. Consistently. BILL THE BEDOUIN. P. S-I want the dough. not a check (but a check will dol. by the bearer, or else a few well chosen words of refusal.
 Thursday-Dear Bill: Will you be nice enough to let me go over the af oil Ssta are published? The printer. with his usual helfiredness, seems to always butcher the meaning by setting up words that do not appear in the Ms. Also please kill your proofreader. Hoping. etc. yours. O. H. Dear BiIl-Here she are. I reckon 1 you or some intelligent person in the office can tell where the patches fit. If you don't like the new title say so. ! There are others. Fulsomely. WILLIE. Mon Cher Bill-Can you raise the immediate goods for this and once more rescue little Ruby from certain death.
 | The big story will be handed in Monday for you to try on the piano. From next week on I'll show you a story every week I'm going to make some of the best samples of 2.000 and | 2,5O0- word stuff that's possible. That's the length that counts. ] I'm feeling fine and hope these few lines will-say. don't forget to send the s25.
 Don't do it if you refuse to do it. | Yours ever. O. H.
 Saturday-HellO, MT. Bill-Say-a fool and his money. etc.
 Is there anything doing for about s49.9S today for the purpose of pur- chasing things offered for sale in the marts? I had to send most of all that stuff abroad that you gimme the other day.
 Don't press the matter if it seems out of order I'll be even and ahead of the game pretty soon. There will come to you on Monday the new story
 Greetings and undying veneration in either case. O. H.
 Monday-Dear Bill Herewith sub mitted one MS. Have another ready to typewrite, which you can read to- morrow. Give the full speed ahead signal and whoop 'em through. pro or con. Great business. The mill is grinding at the old gait Yours, BILL II. Monday-Dcar Mister: Would you put tail on this kite for me again? ? She will fly on the date advertised. Please send the cash if you've got it on hand.
 Say-the story will be brought to you by me on Wednesday. It will be an all right one
 Hoping. etc. and yours truly.
 These rollicking. tomfoolery letters hardly prepare one for the confession that O. Henry once made When he was at the height of his success. he said: "I am failure. I always have the feeling that I want to go back somewhere, but 1 don't know just where it is.
 My stories? No. they don't satisfy me. I see them in print and l wonder why people like them. I wait till they come out in book form, hoping that they may look better to me then. But they don't It depresses me to have people point me out or introduce me as celebrated author It seems such a big label for such picayunc goods.
 Sometimes I feel that I'd like to get into some business: perhaps some clerkship; some place where l could see that I was doing something tan gibe, something worth while.'