118
trashy stories in Harper s, when I learnt that O Brien
was the author of them! Had he chanced to
have been present I should have come out with my
condemnation as largely, never supposing he could
have written such trash. After all, one s
predispositions to like or dislike are pretty often justi-
fiable.
Haney said a good thing to-night. We were tal-
king of the Marble Heart (Les Filles de Morbre )
Some women said he, have marble enough in their
hearts to make tombstones for their husbands.
You looked at me, as you said that! said Mrs
Levison.
She s not a bad sort of woman. Only she has
no love and no religion. / How horribly absurd
that reads) She looks prettyish, at times
Levison is only weak. That s the best and worst
that can be said of him.
28. Sunday. In doors all day.
Had a letter from Mr Greatbatch yesterday.
Very ungrammatical, a little ill-spelt, and friendly.
All pretty well, or no complaint of sickness.
Details of prairie-farming life. The season
not an average one , in consequence of summer
drouth.
{29. Monday. Each day to the Office
30. Tuesday. as usual, and in-doors
31. Wednesday.} during the evenings, writing| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eight: page one hundred and twenty-six |
| Description: | Mentions receiving a letter from Mr. Greatbatch about his family's farm in Illinois. |
| Date: | 1856-12-27 |
| Subject: | Greatbatch, Joseph; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; Levison, William; Levison, William, Mrs.; O'Brien, Fitz James |
| 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. |
