125
Susan Hewitt and John Conworth.
as an indirect justification of his parsimonous table.
He exaggerated the Scotch girl s incapacity as
a cook, for a similar purpose. I distrust that his
selfish regret for his dead wife as a housekeeper,
cook, tailor and maid of all work fully equalled
that entertained for her as a woman if it did
not excel it. Harry Tew returned to Co-
bury on Monday, calling here to bid us goodbye.
It appears evident that John Conworth s pretty house-
keeper is decidedly fond of him, and the women here
sympathize with and champion her. They know how
hard she works; how unselfish she is; how much
the household owes to her; and are half out of patience
with John for not behaving naturally though like
all English women they accord an amount of deference
to man s sovereingty which contrasts suggestively with
the rather rampant self-assertion common in the
femininity of the U. S. Mrs. Hewitt had actually
packed up her trunks, made a farewell round of
calls and arranged to accompany Peter Gardiner
and his family to England, when John requested
her to remain, on the morning of her intended de-
parture! The little woman told Mrs. Tew that
it was too bad that he should have permitted her
to go so for (he had driven her about to do the
good-byes) without asking her to stay, before.
She knew what people would say, she added, about| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seventeen: page one hundred and thirty-five |
| Description: | Regarding John Conworth and Mrs. Hewitt. |
| Date: | 1861-08-22 |
| Subject: | Bella; Bolton, George; Conworth, John; Conworth, Sarah (Bolton); Gardner, Peter; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hewett, Susan; Tew, Henry |
| Coverage (City/State): | [Paris, 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. |
