157
pleasant and amusing. A great crowd towards evening,
perhaps 15,000. I saw no drunkards or rows. The only
palpable blackguards distinguishable by their talk, were Ameri-
cans. There is a revolting ferocity about the phraseology of
the American rowdy which is very characteristic. His words
teem with suggestions of violence, and absolutely seem to drip
with blood. Where the English blackguard threatens merely
to punch your head the Yankee proposes to mash your eye
in or to spile your anatomy in some horrifying way or ano-
ther. His pet names for rowdy clubs, Blood-tubs, Plug-
Uglies, Killers &c testify to his interent, ineradicable
brutality. I believe no lower order of European nationality
is so utterly depraved. Fireworks completed the en-
tertainment and we got back to town and a meal at
Haney s by 10 1/2. Met Poole, his wife, Ed. Wells and
Paterson during the day, at Jones Wood.
12. Thursday. To Doctor. Down town in the afternoon.
Haney off for a three-days Jersey holiday to the place where
the Edwards girls are stopping. Parton and the others
have returned from their Canadian trip. / Since the
death of her child Mrs Patten has gone deeper into Spirit-
ualism, visiting a Medium thrice, having interviews if
they may be called so with the spirit of the defunct baby,
and learning that it is happy. The cannon dodge. Also
she is informed that she may become a writing medium.
They tell almost all visitors this, as it makes proselytes
by tickling their vanity. That Mrs Porter assured me
I was a powerful healing medium! Old Patten says these
pursuits will ease her (his wife) off! Mrs P
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Nine: page one hundred and seventy-nine |
| Description: | Regarding Mrs. Patten's interest in Spiritualism. |
| Date: | 1858-08-11 |
| Subject: | Edwards, Eliza; Edwards, Martha; Edwards, Sally (Nast); Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; Parton, James; Paterson, Thomas; Patten, Willis; Patten, Willis, Mrs.; Poole; Poole, Mrs.; Porter, Mrs.; Spiritualism; Welles, Edward; 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. |
