71
down the Tribune stairs. He has the kindest face of any
man in New York. An anecdote of O Brien characteris-
tic, too. Talking with Sol Eytinge the other day O B spoke
of Willis (N.P.) saying He s rather sick I dined with him yes-
terday. Subsequently Sol met Aldrich (of the Home Journal )
who casually mentioned that he had on that same yesterday intro-
duced O B to Willis! Only a few common places passed!
There may be a jolly row apropos of Mrs Allie Eytinge.
She and her chaste sister Josey have got the entree to the
Doesticks . As Sol illustrates Mort Thomson s articles in Frank
Leslie s paper, and as both live in Brooklyn, not far apart from
each other, Mort talked of inviting Mrs Allie; to avoid which
undesirable contingency Haney told him her real relations
with Sol. This was some time ago, maybe two or three months.
How it fell out, who took the initiative, does not yet appear, but
on going their last Sunday Saturday evening, rather Haney
learnt that Allie and Josey were expected. Moreover Mort s good,
sweet, innocent little wife had actually visited that brace of strumpets
at Sol s house! Haney said he wasn t on speaking terms with
Mrs Eytinge and proposed to clear our, but didn t effect it before
the arrival of the visitors. So he had to belie his recent assertion
by shaking hands with Allie! Going to Parton s he told them what had
happened. Fanny knows all about Sol s domestic relations (I sup-
pose Haney told Parton, and he told her) and declared that she
won t visit the Thomson s if these strumpets are liable to drop in,
when her daughters are there. Quite right too, by Jove. Fancy
that good, frank, honest-hearted Grace cheek by jowl with Allie
and Josey! How Thomson can admit them to access to his wife
I can t conceive. His mother is old enough to take care of herself,
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page eighty-six |
| Description: | Regarding Allie Vernon and her sister Josey visiting Mort Thomson's wife, and the controversy it has caused among their acquaintances. |
| Date: | 1858-03-06 |
| Subject: | Aldrich, Thomas Bailey; Eldredge, Grace (Thomson); Eytinge, Solomon; Fern, Fanny; Greeley, Horace; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; O'Brien, Fitz James; Parton, James; Thomson, Anna (""Chips""); Thomson, Mortimer (Doesticks); Thomson, Sophy; Vernon, Allie (Margaret Eytinge); Vernon, Josey; Willis, Nathaniel Parker; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, [New York]; Brooklyn, [New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-02 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of boardinghouse living, a picnic at Hoboken with other New York artists and journalists, his drawing and writing work in New York, attending a lecture by Lola Montez, visits to James Parton and Fanny Fern and the Edwards family, a controversy over Fitz James O'Brien's story ''The Diamond Lens,'' artist Sol Eytinge's relationship with writer Allie Vernon, the suicide of writer Henry William Herbert, antics of the New York Bohemians, the interest of people living in his boarding house in spiritualism, a visit to his friend George Bolton's farm in Canada, a visit to Niagara Falls, and a scandal involving Harbormaster Willis Patten, who lives in his boarding house. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Farms; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Publishers and publishing; Suicide; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Rochester, New York; Elmira, New York; Paris, Ontario, Canada |
| 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. |
