56
says he s a boy of excellent principles. As if a
boy had any business to have principles besides a
fondness for getting in scrapes and eating apples.
Well, Mr Martin came up to say good-bye, and
retaining my hand, was pleased to profess a regard
for my talents &c, but would I permit him to say
that he was pained to see I had no great regard for
the Sabbath He invited me to visit him, also.
I feel kindly to him for it.
Out to Wild s at night, with Sol and Wood,
I leaving them to go to the candy man s and councellor.
A rowdy, Rynderish, torchlight procession, boys, black-
guards and loafers in honor of Buchanan. At the
Ornithoryncus for five minutes. Sol full of insult and
chaff, lager-bearing with Wood and a foolish faced
youth.
10. Wednesday. Down town calls. Writing and
reciding, for the first time The Confessions of Rousseau.
11. Thursday. Much the same as yesterday.
12. Friday. Met Walt Whitman in Nassau
Street; and being joined by Bellew who made Walt s
acquaintance for the first time descended to Lager beer
and an hour s talk Sewell of the Times coming in
anon. Bellew during his residence at Concord had
known Emerson, and the conversation ran, at first,
on him, then diverging to America and the future. /
Walked to Fowler and Wells with Walt subsequently,
and got his newly published book. Other calls. Courier
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eight: page sixty-three |
| Description: | Describes an evening's conversation with Frank Bellew and Walt Whitman, who met for the first time. |
| Date: | 1856-09-09 |
| Subject: | Bellew, Frank; Buchanan, James; Emerson, Ralph Waldo; Eytinge, Solomon; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Martin, Jr.; Martin, Professor; Potter, Mrs.; Sewell; Whitman, Walt; Wood, John A. |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
| Coverage (Street): | Nassau Street |
| 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. |
