52
Kindly William Conworth.
(after we had had supper, almost in dark-
ness, in a dreary unfurnished room) talked
the d____dest kind of rot and rubbish and Cana-
dian ignorance about the civil war in the States,
to which I could barely listen with patience.
And George and he kept this up for a good
(or bad) half-hour, George being interjectional,
depreciatory and decendental, Baker loud and
talkative; while I paced up and down in a
dreary, treeless field, in which the house stood,
with a bad headache, and chilled by the dank
and dark evening. On our return to the house
I saw William Conworth, my fellow-voyager across
the Atlantic; now a sturdy young man with in-
dications of whisker; a simple sunburnt physio-
gnomy, aquiline nose and, when he laughs or
smiles, a display of the whole of his upper gums
and teeth. He has lived with George since their
removal from John Conworth s, and is a simple-
hearted, kindly-natured young fellow; who works
hard in the fields all day, and whose mental
horizon seems limited by them. Yet, like his bro-
ther John, he has a quiet sense of hospitality; for in
a simple, unpretentious way he suggests things which
he thinks will be pleasing to you in which respect
I find his conduct contrasts with that of George
Bolton; whose idea of entertaining a guest seems to| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seventeen: page sixty-one |
| Description: | Describe William Conworth. |
| Date: | 1861-07-16 |
| Subject: | Baker, Jemmy; Bolton, George; Civil War; Conworth, John; Conworth, William; Gunn, Thomas Butler |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Paris, Ontario, Canada]; Brantford, [Ontario, Canada] |
| Scan Date: | 2010-06-09 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seventeen |
| Description: | Includes Gunn's descriptions of the scene in New York at the commencement of the Civil War; his visits to military camps in and around New York City as a reporter for ""The New York Evening Post;"" boarding house living; a bridal reception at the Edwards family's residence in honor of the marriage of Sally Edwards and Thomas Nast; a visit to the Heylyn and Rogers families in Rochester; and his trip to Paris, Ontario, to visit George Bolton and the Conworths. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Marriage; Military; Publishers and publishing; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Paris, Ontario, Canada ; Rochester, 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 2010 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
