fied vanity, which must soon fall. [words crossed out]
[words crossed out] Bad pleasures are they, to fright the
animals and kill them up after this sort! Why might not the poor birds live? why
might not the same sun that set on us, go down peacefully on the dim copse and
rustling trees where they nestled together, to twitter and hop in the fresh morrows
sunshine, the best images of happiness we can have? [words crossed out]
[line crossed out]
[word crossed out]. / In doors, writing and drawing
the remainder of the day.
29. Tuesday. Finished writing the first Chapter of Story. Davis the sailor
gilder called. Afternoon to Andrews , with story. There an hour in the printing
shop. He hath taken a house, and intends keeping boarders. Don t know whether
to go there or not. Called in on unfortunate Butler, found him dismal, as he
anticipated he had been this day chased out of $26. / After supper, out,
and after calling at Bayard Street, and finding that Joe had left there for the
domestic roof, went to Mulberry Street, and remained there till near 11. On
quitting, the fire bells tolling sent me off in the direction of the place indicated.
It was in Wooster Street, in the rear of Saint Thomas s ruined walls. A
crowd, as usual, a wooden building in a blaze at the top, and the firemen
active in applying the adverse element. After an hour or so, they were effectual
on the essay, and the lurid haze and forked-flame tongues gave place to murky
smoke, whereat there were shouts of triumphant execration and renewed vigor put
forth.
I stood in the midst, and could not but admire the energy with which the fellows
worked, and their determined row of faces. Left, and to Canal, when the fire
was fairly got under.
30. Wednesday. In doors the live-long day. Ceaseless rain, and
dismal prospect out of doors. Gladdened some little by the advent of Hall
Senior in the afternoon. Cross came in the evening. I must see about
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Two: page eighty-nine |
| Description: | Mentions a visit to the Greatbatches and witnessing a fire on his way home. |
| Date: | 1851-04-28 |
| Subject: | Andrews, Hardin; Birds; Butler, Warren; Cross; Davis; Firemen; Fires; Greatbatch, Joe; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hall, Elisha; Hunting; Nature; Writing |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
| Coverage (Street): | Bayard Street; Canal Street; Mulberry Street; Wooster Street |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-07 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Two |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn's attempts to find drawing work among New York publishers, brief employment in an architectural office, visits to his soldier friend William Barth on Governors Island, boarding house living, drawing at actor Edwin Forrest's home at Fonthill Castle, and sailing and walking trips taken with friends. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Books and reading; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Military; Publishers and publishing; Religion; Travel; 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. |
