steger was born in moscow, tennessee, in 1883. after attending public schools there he entered the university of texas. following his graduation, he attended the balliol college, oxford as a rhodes scholar and later went to johns hopkins, where he studied sanskrit. harry steger worked as a journalist both in england and in america. he was also a literary adviser to doubleday, page & co., literary executor of o. henry, and editor of "short stories magazine".