The characters of these earlier stories--shop-girls, Irish policemen, crooks, tramps, sheep-men, cowmen, drunkards, pharmacists, doctors, newspaper reporters, dudes--are practically identical with many of those used in later O. Henry stories. Likewise, O. Henry's propensity for the use of the "envelope structure," the sort provided by the pilgrimage in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and "narrated development," or the telling of the story by one of the characters, is very much in evidence in these _Houston Post_ stories, as in a number of his later acknowledged works. For example, in "The Mirage on the Frio" a sheep-man from La Salle County tells his story to a group of men on a Buffalo Bayou fishing party; and later in Cabbages and Kings the story of "The Shamrock and the Palm" is told by the Irishman Clancy to a group of fellow Caucasians who have met at the end of a tropical day. A large amount of internal evidence, moreover, points emphatically to O. Henry as the author of these pieces. They have the unmistakable stylistic qualities, the humorous point of view, the unexpected climaxes of O. Henry, After a careful and detailed study of every single piece of the material here reproduced, along with the application of various stylistic tests, I was thoroughly convinced of the authenticity of its authorship. In order to support my own convictions, however, I consulted experts who have been students of O. Henry for years. Dr. L. W. Payne, Jr., of The University of Texas, Dr. Vernon Loggins, of Columbia University, and Dr. Dorothy Scarborough, also of Columbia and compiler of many books of short stories, examined photostatic copies which I had made of the material. They are unanimous in the opinion that the authorship of both the drawings with their legends and the articles and stories may be safely attributed to O. Henry's pen. The nature of the material included in this volume determined the arrangement of the book into three parts. The stories in the first part show that Will Porter had already discovered the technique that made him famous as O. Henry. The sketches in the second part show O. Henry at work-gathering story material from his observations of life. Will Porter's ventures into the realm of newspaper poetry, I have included in order to illustrate the principles set forth in his article "Newspaper Poets," also reprinted here. As far as I know, this article is the only bit of serious literary criticism ever written by O. Henry. It is noteworthy also as the only article in the _Houston Post_ which was ever signed in full by "W. S. Porter." A more detailed treatment of this and allied topics concerning O. Henry's life in Texas may be found in my O. Henry in Texas, designed as a companion volume to the present book. Part One: Stories A Night Errant