50
His report an unfavorable one. To Post Office, Pica-
yune &c and elsewhere. Writing all the afternoon.
I found two bulky letters awaiting me, from
Alf Waud, on my return to New York. One con-
tained two singular letters from old Jewell. Ill-
spelt, ill written, with a profusion of capital letters and
much tautology, they were intended to be friendly. Alf
request me to call on the writer.
I met Lotty to day, on her way to the theatre.
She said she had been sick, but looked well. Bright
large dark eyes, looking brighter and darker from the
shade around them, thick black rippled hair, worn
in plain bands, arch, wilful, childish,
freckled face, so irregular in its features yet so
fascinating that I had almost written beautiful.
Little Lotty ! Somehow I always associate
the idea of richness of color with her. I know her
thoroughly. I don t appraise her a jot beyond her value.
One true, earnest glance of Hannah s, one loving
prayer from her outweighs Lotty s whole nature.
But there s a sort of magnetic fascination about
Lotty Deliver us from temptation.
2. Tuesday. Down town. Scoville s, the
Tribune and elsewhere. A hurried time of it, the
excitement of which brought on the old nervous pain
in my spine. At Leslie s. Writing at home.
{3. Wednesday to I lump these days together
6. Saturday} being unable to pick details| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eight: page fifty-seven |
| Description: | Regarding his fascination with Lotty. |
| Date: | 1856-09-01 |
| Subject: | Bennett, Hannah; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Jewell; Kidder, Charlotte (Whytal, Granville); Scoville, Joe; Waud, Alfred; Williamson; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, [New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eight |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of the process of publishing his book, ''The Physiology of New-York Boarding Houses;'' his poor mental state upon returning to New York from England; meeting Walt Whitman; visits with Fanny Fern, James Parton, and Harriet Jacobs' daughter Louisa who is living with them; a visit to the Catskill Mountains with the Edwards family; moving into the boarding house at 132 Bleecker Street; working on the publication ''European'' with Colonel Hugh Forbes; the death of publisher William Levison and his daughter Ellen in his boarding house; visiting the scene of the murder of a dentist to get a sketch of the suspect; visiting Newport, Rhode Island, on assignment to sketch for Frank Leslie; and the death of his brother-in-law, Joseph Greatbatch. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Medical care; Mental illness; Publishers and publishing; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Newport, Rhode Island |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2011 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
