30
16th street, Cahill (who hallooed to me
from his window) accompanying, and subse-
quently. Haney not being at home, seeing me
to Chapin s. When I left there the sky was
so black overhead as to portend an unmitigated
rainy morrow, threatening our proposed pic-nic.
I easily resigned myself to its anticipated aban-
donment for I secretly distrust all set holidays
and festivities. If expectation do not produce dis-
appointment, happiness always provokes reminescen-
ces and longings which are overpowered by the
work of daily life. The girls, however, didn t see
it in any such light and were bent on hoping against
hope, anent the weather.
4. Monday. Up by 5 or earlier, sunshine,
clear and cool. To Edwards as appointed, through
the early streets, sunlight flushing the house-tops;
here and there an explosive boy commencing his
day s pyrotechnics. Matty, pretty by morning s
light as overnight (as not all girls are) with
rosy-red in her fair face; Sally nice-looking
but paler from lack of sleep caused by appre-
hension of bad weather; Eliza, youngest and
strictly speaking possessing the finest face of the three,
the one with most character in it appearing sever-
ally. Also Haney. Also young Honeywell, Nast
and Wells. Jack discharging pistols promiscuous-
ly. Breakfast. Leaving Haney to convey girls in
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eleven: page thirty-five |
| Description: | Describes preparing for a Fourth of July picnic with the Edwards family. |
| Date: | 1859-07-03 |
| Subject: | Cahill, Frank; Edwards, Eliza; Edwards, John; Edwards, Martha; Edwards, Sally (Nast); Fourth of July; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Haney, Jesse; Honeywell, Charles; Nast, Thomas; Welles, Edward |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
| Coverage (Street): | 16th Street |
| Scan Date: | 2011-01-31 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eleven |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of boarding house living at 132 Bleecker Street, his freelance writing and drawing work, the antics of New York literary Bohemians, Fanny Fern and James Parton's marriage, visits to the Edwards family, a Fourth of July excursion with the Edwards family and other friends, letters from Frank Cahill and Bob Gun's mistresses, Jesse Haney's proposal of marriage to Sally Edwards and rejection, Charles Damoreau's return from Boston to live in New York, and attending the Edwards family's 1859 Christmas party. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Christmas; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Marriage; Publishers and publishing; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York |
| 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. |
