84
accidentally mentioned to Mrs P. that his sister was in
New York and that he was going to call on her. In fact the whole
family went strongly for the match. I don t think it could have
been effected anyway, but it might have been rendered so impending
that Leslie would have found it extremely awkward to back out of.
If the little girl, when she told Leslie all Mrs Gouverneur s cackle
about them to old Miss Sturgis (the Brooks having the next room
and overhearing it all) had made more of a scene of it, cried
&c he d have been so affected with the idea of his being the cause
innocent little girl fond of him slanderous tongues &c &c
that he d have kissed her, put his arm round her waist and com-
mitted himself inevitably. (He did the two former items by the
bye.) But the little girl was to bold for discretion and not bold
enough for success. Anyway had this occurred, and the old lady
looked ever to maternally-in-lawish at Leslie, when they return-
ed to the country he d have broken off even at the risk of a breach
of promise suit. For then his hard Scottish common sense would
have woke up from the nap into which little Nina s blandishments
had thrown it. I don t think there s any great damage done on
either side. Its all rot about hearts being trifled with in nine
our of ten such cases. The little girl wanted to be married
Leslie was very available rich, a young man, a good fellow
enough but as she was 23 (everybody was sold by her dimi-
nutiveness, as to her age) I suppose she d had her little
affairs of the heart before, and got well over them. There s no
twaddle more trashy than that folks talk of girls being all soft,
undefended sensibility, as if a man had but to say my dear
to em, and their hearts were gone pop instantly!
Drawing. To Bellew s in the evening for half an hour or so,
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page one hundred |
| Description: | Regarding William Leslie and Pierce's sister. |
| Date: | 1858-03-14 |
| Subject: | Bellew, Frank; Boardinghouses; Brooks, Mrs.; Brooks, Nina; Gouverneur, Mrs. (Gill, Griffin); Gunn, Thomas Butler; Leslie, William; Pierce; Pierce, Miss; Potter, Mrs.; Sturgis, Miss; Women |
| 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. |
