76
ed and been thoroughly independent in spirit. He is
generous to his relatives, sends his sister in Scotland presents,
will pay, proudly, the expenses of a holiday tour of his mother s
in England. Her portrait hangs in his room a fine,
vigorous featured Scotchwoman such women as breed men. He
would do a kind action any day. Though he hates to lend money
a feeling which I share, knowing how devilish hard it is to
get, and how easy to establish a borrower, and how loose-soul-
ed many fellows are about repayment and will speak with
irritation about an un-refunded six pence, yet he is liberal
in spending money, hates to drink alone and will think its
too bad to use twopence-ha pennyworth of sugar of my buying
as I can t afford it when I ve drunk gallons of his grog,
and am always welcome to drop into his room of a night for
a glass and a gossip. Withal he, the most loud-voiced and
obstinate of men, has a real element of modesty in his nature,
thinks his mother didn t lick him enough or he d have been clever-
er, minded his book more &c; attributes his success in life,
sometimes, to luck, doubts its permanence, and in laying
out his future wants to be hospitable and to help people.
He has helped Latto, for some years. Only let him feel that
you are doing right towards him that his interests shan t suffer
and he ll be a warm friend. But let his pocket be touched
and he ll blaze into a tremendous enmity. He d like the Roman
law to be put into force against debtors. I ve heard him damn
a man who committed suicide as the fellow had once swindled
him out of a puncheon of whiskey! I expect he s a thorough
business man keen as a razor. This is a character that
I respect inasmuch as I haven t an atom of it in my own com-
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page ninety-two |
| Description: | Describes William Leslie, who lives in his boarding house. |
| Date: | 1858-03-07 |
| Subject: | Gunn, Thomas Butler; Latto; Leslie, Mrs. (Scotland); Leslie, William |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, 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. |
