The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-02-04

11cIIy, AID we soon observed that
he other two gentlemen were talk
ing animatedly also about o. Henry.
Ne begun to talk, all together,-for
my friend knew one of the other
men. and so the British conventions
OF propriety were not rudely shat
tered-about O. Henry. A number
OF 0. Henry's stories had appeared
magazine edited by the late Robert
Barr. All three Englishmen, all
three publishers, all three eager TO
secure copyright on o. Henry's works,
1t was a remarkable incident-far
more remarkable in England than it
would ever have been in h United
States. Shortly afterwards, one of
those three gentlemen. Nj. Eveleigh
Nash. published o.. Henry's Cabbagcs
and Kings, which had a very warm
reception in England. One of the
most conservative OF British literary
journals. the London Spectator,
praised O.. Henry very highly. He
vfew, but a remarkable gift OF literary
expression" He was compared by the
writer on the Spectator to Robert
Louis Stevenson, "a writer with whom
certain marked afinities may be no.
ticed in his style and outlook" In
concluding a lengthy review, the
writer said: I'VE hope that no time
will be lost in bringing out Q. Henry's
New York stories in an English edi-
ton. Meanwhile we are grateful for
this first instalment Of the work of
a writer whose close contact with the
raw edges Of life dulled his
romantic gaze OF eXtinguiShed his
belief in humanity"
In speaking OF O. Henry before the
Literary and Historical Association of
North Carolina, DR.. G. Alphonso
Smith used these words: What
Helper. Of Mocksville. did for the eco
homie argument against slavery, O..
Henry, of Greensboro, did for the four
million of New York. The one ap-
pealed to the head. the other TO the
heart. But both appeals were ma
tional and the services OF both men
should be capitalized in our history
for future generations" DR.. Smith
die Amerikanische L%itcraturl O.
Henry's supreme gift: "a profound
all its manifestations" He endeared
himself to all classes. to all readers,
a OF his humanity and his COM
~prehenSiOn Of humanity. The only
h American genius. 4 Southern
and Western genius like O.. Henry.
who vies with Q. Henry III having
touched SO many different phases OF
life, is Mark Twain
.. Henry wrote Of the places and
people he knew best, and arnona
which he lived, after the time when
he first began to write. Tho South
west and the Far West, South Amer.
lea, and New York-these were the
phases which he has interpreted with
a masters hand. Perhaps the mos
remarkable feature of his career wa!
that a boy born in North Carolina
who had spent most of his life IL
Texas and South America, should
have become the most adequate in
%terpreter Of the common life-the lif'
of the Four MilliOn-Of New TOrl
city that America has ever produced
In this pre-eminence, he not only re
mains unrivalled: he remains unchal
lenged. In the BOOkman, n. X, Q
Henry was pronounced to be "th'
American Maupassant." And at tn
time Of his death ne was variousl.
pronounced by the critics The Apostl
. Of the Picturesque THE Discovere
Of the Romance of New York
Streets t Ii Homer of the Tender
loin," and the Bret Harte of tn
Great City" In an article Of appr
citation, Professor Peck says: III
, writes so we'll as evoke the admiration
Of the most critical. : . In a sense h
t has constructed a panorama of tn
times in which we live. s." At hear
he is an optimist, who believes that i
r every human being there is to b
found something good, however mike
it may be with other qualities; an6
like a true American, he can see an
I chuckle at the humor of it ALL" Say
Frederic Taber Cooper Of Q. Henry i
8 his American Story Teners: He wa
+ wisely comprehensive Of huma
foibles, indulgent1y ironic, yet with a
q underlying touch OF sympathy that II
8 lumines and softens much that
t sOrdid and commonplace. 80 II
n had achieved enough on which to res
a. substantial fame"
1t should be recalled that at tn
time Of his death, and for some seye
e years preceding, O.. Henry was til
n most popular short-story writer i
9 America. His stories commanded
/ rate rivaled only by Mr.. kipling. Thre
f tributes eminently deserves quotatio
It here. His biography. Mr.. Henry pey
y ton Steger, who pronounced Q. Tenr
l. a. great man. says: "CnknOWn In 800
n dead in 1910, his life began but yes
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