168
Last Night at Conworth s
off between him and Sally, innocently accepting
the estimate of that young person taught her by
Sarah Conworth. She must be a very accomplish-
ed young lady, said pretty Susan Hewitt, with
latent self-disparagement in her tone. I didn t
tell her that she herself, in her good-humor, her
self-abnegation and patient devotion to another s in-
terest was worth a hemisphere full of Sarah Ann
Boltons, but I told her that John s old flame would
never love him or any man well enough to accept a
Canada home, if she could get one in England.
If she were to get married, perhaps John might,
my companion suggested.. I should have like to have
kissed her for her innocent self-betrayal of the
natural womanly hope within her. But I dis-
trust that her being a widow militates against her
in John s eyes. Then she has no money. Then
he talks occasionally to me of the Pettits, daughters
of a neighboring Canada-born farmer. We
all sat in the sacred room, ordinarily closed
throughout the summer, over our whiskey and
nuts till 10, then to bed for my last night un-
der John s roof, perhaps.
16. Monday. Chores &c. A sunny, pleasant
day. John undertook to drive me to Paris. George
Bolton who had thought of saving fifteen minutes
by riding on without bearing us company to William
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Seventeen: page one hundred and eighty-one |
| Description: | Describes a conversation with Mrs. Hewett about John Conworth. |
| Date: | 1861-09-15 |
| Subject: | Bolton, George; Bolton, Sarah Ann; Conworth, John; Conworth, Sarah (Bolton); Gunn, Thomas Butler; Hewett, Susan; Tew, William |
| Coverage (City/State): | Paris, [Ontario], Canada |
| Scan Date: | 2010-06-11 |
| 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. |
