nearly let a week slip by. The customary amount of drawing, goings
down town, callings, and seeing folk. Gymnasium. Wrote to
Barth.
28 Sunday. To the Battery, a bright, sunny lovely day.
Waud rowing about in boat, hailing me, I embarked, and together
we moved tranquilly to and fro over the smooth water, now stretching
out to look at the Sardinian frigate, now noting the big piles and
blockade work prepared for the Battery Enlargement job. It may
be t will look prettier when effected, but will make a dirt heap of the
pleasant resort all the Summer in transition, may be some three summers.
Found Seymour, at length, in Rabineaus, and off to Staten Is-
land, on the densely crowded ferry boat. Swinton found us anon.
Off down the bright, beautiful bay. Landing, a quartette of Ice-
Creams and punches, then Swinton off to his home, and we to our
day s ramble. Through the thicket and copse wood, over the moss and
leaves, along dusty roads, by winding lanes to Fresh Pond, a
delectable spot, a minature lake framed by a sea of verdure. These
we found some hundred Germans, men and women, rusticating. They
had made little impromptu arbours for the girls, had a cart containing
provant, and were all singing choruses, laughing, talking & happy.
Germans know how to enjoy themselves simply
& truly.
Off again, and by 2 o clock found ourselves, hot and hungry at
Clifton Park. Old Swinton there, and anon his son. After
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Five: page two hundred and four |
| Description: | Describes seeing a party of one hundred Germans relaxing on Staten Island. |
| Date: | 1853-05-22 |
| Subject: | Barth, William; Drawing; Germans; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Leisure; Seymour, Charles (Bailey); Staten Island (New York, N.Y.); Swinton, Alfred; Swinton, Sr.; Waud, Alfred |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2011-02-07 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Five |
| Description: | Includes descriptions of Gunn looking for drawing and writing work among New York publishers, witnessing a fire at a chocolate factory, attending a religious camp meeting, his friendship with Lotty Whytal, the 1852 presidential election, a visit to Niagara Falls in the winter, a visit to Toronto, Canada, and the Crystal Palace in New York. |
| Subject: | Gunn, Thomas Butler; Railroad; Publishers and publishing; Religion; Travel; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York; Niagara, New York; Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| 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. |
