Page 75 - DENG104_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_I

Elective English–I

Notes Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His middle
name at birth was Sidney; he changed the spelling to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr.
Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–1888), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–
1865). They were married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died from
tuberculosis, and he and his father moved into the home of his maternal grandmother. As a
child, Porter was always reading, everything from classics to dime novels; his favourite works
were Lane’s translation of One Thousand and One Nights, and Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy.
Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter’s elementary school in 1876. He then
enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until he was
fifteen. In 1879, he started working in his uncle’s drugstore and in 1881, at the age of nineteen,
he was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed off his natural artistic
talents by sketching the townsfolk.
Porter travelled with Dr. James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change of air
would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. He took up residence on the sheep
ranch of Richard Hall, James’ son, in La Salle County and helped out as a shepherd, ranch
hand, cook and baby-sitter. While on the ranch, he learned bits of Spanish and German from
the mix of immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time reading classic literature. Porter’s
health did improve and he travelled with Richard to Austin in 1884, where he decided to
remain and was welcomed into the home of the Harrells, who were friends of Richard’s.
Porter took a number of different jobs over the next several years, first as a pharmacist then
as a draftsman, bank teller and journalist. He also began writing as a sideline.
Porter led an active social life in Austin, including membership in singing and drama groups.
Porter was a good singer and musician. He played both guitar and mandolin. He became a
member of the “Hill City Quartet,” a group of young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded
young women of the town. Porter met and began courting Athol Estes, then seventeen years
old and from a wealthy family. Her mother objected to the match because Athol was ill,
suffering from tuberculosis. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped with Athol to the home of Reverend
R. K. Smoot, where they were married.
The couple continued to participate in musical and theatre groups, and Athol encouraged her
husband to pursue his writing. Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who died hours after birth,
and then a daughter, Margaret Worth Porter, in September 1889. Porter’s friend Richard Hall
became Texas Land Commissioner and offered Porter a job. Porter started as a draftsman at
the Texas General Land Office (GLO) in 1887 at a salary of $100 a month, drawing maps from
surveys and field notes. The salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his
contributions to magazines and newspapers.
In the GLO building, he began developing characters and plots for such stories as “Georgia’s
Ruling” (1900), and “Buried Treasure” (1908). The castle-like building he worked in was even
woven into some of his tales such as “Bexar Scrip No. 2692” (1894).
His job at the GLO was a political appointment by Hall. Hall ran for governor in the election
of 1890 but lost. Porter resigned in early 1891 when the new governor was sworn in.
The same year, Porter began working at the First National Bank of Austin as a teller and
bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the GLO. The bank was operated informally
and Porter was apparently careless in keeping his books and may have embezzled funds. In
1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted.
He then worked full-time on his humorous weekly called The Rolling Stone, which he started
while working at the bank. The Rolling Stone featured satire on life, people and politics and
included Porter’s short stories and sketches. Although eventually reaching a top circulation of
1500, The Rolling Stone failed in April 1895 since the paper never provided an adequate income.
However, his writing and drawings had caught the attention of the editor at the Houston Post.

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