[manuscript fragment: first page]
much rather have been lord of mine
own cockloft in that free and easy
city, with liberty to smile, to
make my little stove red hot at any
unseasonable hour I chose, and
license to elevate my legs on
the chair or table when I pleased.
The predominate subject
of conversation and source of
natural interest at that period
did not tend to raise one s spirits.
It was of course, the Crimean
War and omnipresent. The papers
contained ponderous editorials
[manuscript fragment: second page]
a damp drizzly night, with
mud thick and slimy on the pave-
ment, the lamps and shopfronts,
cheerlessly reflected in the puddles,
and a dim colored mist blanking
out the dirty distance, and
sat alone, with my feet on
the fender, drawn up close
to the grate, the contents of
which had been nearly poked out
by my father, before
he mounted bedwards with the
rest of the family, I was [unclear word]
enough. Then I yearned for New
York with all my heart and would
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eleven: page two hundred and fifty-two |
| Description: | Manuscript fragment, possibly Gunn's attempt to write his memoirs. |
| Subject: | Gunn, Thomas Butler |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, [New York] |
| 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. |
