103
the fever she would go to breeding, real smart ! He pro-
jects sending her to Lake Winnipissogee for the summer,
and asks my opinion a to the advisability of getting a divorce
for her, from her husband on the grounds of five years
desertion. He has consulted with a lawyer about it, who
recommends him to make a mistake and call it three
it is not quite there! A fine project truly! of course
so obtained it would be illegal. Will has taken a room
in Ballou s new building, at $100 per year. As he found it
impossible (!) to pay his share of our present room, a little
more than half that sum, it s rather a wise proceeding. Here s
the rest of Will, condensed from Alf s letter. Worked a
little harder of late, board and everything in arrears, not given
up loafing, wastes his time on a little-bread-and-butter-
very-silly-important-fresh-colored-short-child in curls, to
whom others consider him engaged. She looks as if she ought
to be spanked for not minding her lessons, is sixteen, looks
thirteen, the daughter of his landlady, he suffers her to be
affectionate, condescends to do a little himself, is made com-
fortable at the house where they think he d be quite a catch.
Alf had the greatest difficulty in getting some money out of Will
to make a remittance home to his mother. He d much prefer
spending it in billiards, would be indignant if told so never
knew any one that had cooler and indifference to all onus or res-
ponsibility hope it s nothing but want of thought though it
looks rather like heartlessness. Damoreau is astonished that
his gentlemanly address don t bring him the prosperity he thinks
he deserves, finds it as hard to keep a customer as he used
to to retain a sweetheart, and his head is remarkable
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page one hundred and nineteen |
| Description: | Describes a letter received from Alf Waud about his wife and his brother Will. |
| Date: | 1858-04-14 |
| Subject: | Ballou, Maturin Murray; Brainard; Damoreau, Charles (Brown); Divorce; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Jewell, Mary (Waud); Waud, Alfred; Waud, Mrs.; Waud, William |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Boston, Massachusetts] |
| 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. |
