108
practical comment by saying to a child running about
the floor Come here you pretty little G_d-d____d
to h__l darling! come here!
8. Monday. Two letters, one from Han-
nah, the other from Barth. I am
only worthy of Hannah on one head I thoroughly
appreciate and value her. Apart from that, she
is so kind, so good, and so wise, that I think of
her with self abasement and humility even with a
kind of terror at my own worthiness, and the fear
that I may never have her for my wife, or if
I do, that some weakness and shortcoming may disen-
chant her and deprive me of her priceless love.
I swear I would not have her different than she
is by one jot! that I have never met girl with
her unaffected sense, modesty and loving kindness.
Mary Bilton had more beauty, but she was a
coquette by nature, ere her plunge into chapel going.
Hannah s soul in is as pure as a woman s can be
how pure that is no man can ever know! Now
God help me to scour mine a lt little! to be
honest, and true, and brave, in heart as well
as in action! I would to God I could wipe
out all my past love for Mary Bilton it is
past now. I am shamed that I cannot offer
an unscarred love to this noble girl. Yet I
think I should never have prized her and known
her worth as I do as I do but from having
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eight: page one hundred and fifteen |
| Description: | Contrasts Mary Bilton with Hannah Bennett. |
| Date: | 1856-12-07 |
| Subject: | Barth, William; Bennett, Hannah; Bilton, Mary; Children; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Women |
| 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. |
