In the spring of 1885, Thomas wrote that he and Ella “got the house fever” and subsequently spent some time looking for a new place to live. They finally settled on 721 West Harrison Street and a well-built white stone house that was well built with eight rooms. They bought it and moved in that June, even though they were still responsible for the rent on the Centre Avenue House for another year. In the new home, Moses had a studio with North light. He wrote, “We enjoyed our new home very much. I had the front room nicely decorated by Mitchell and Halbach and I more than enjoyed the little studio. With the extra work from the outside, it paid me to keep the room for a studio. The children, Pitt and Mamie were a mischievous pair, getting into all kinds of trouble and kept Ella on the watch every minute”
In 1931, Moses reflected on his 1885 diary entries. He wrote, “My old diary shows a very discontented mind. I was so anxious to get out of doors to sketch and I could never find the time. I contributed to as much road work as usual, but the big cars being used by all the roads enabled us to ship larger stuff which cut down on travelling for Me.” In October of that year, however, Moses did find the time to go on another sketching trip – this time with John H. Young and Henry C. Tryon. The three journeyed to West Virginia and Moses mentioned their adventures in his 1931 typed manuscript, “I have written this up in detail – elsewhere.”
I never knew where else the story might be until last fall when I paged through the John R. Rothgeb papers. There were photocopies of his article for the 1885 Palette & Chisel newsletter, just like his 1884 trip to Breckenridge. I am going to post the article because it is hilarious. It also provides some good insight into the artistic temperament of Henry C. Tryon. Remember that Tryon was nine years older than Moses at this time (38 years compared to Moses’ 29 years). I also really enjoyed reading about this “eccentric” individual as he was certainly not an ideal traveling companion.
Here is the first snippet of Moses’ first installment about his 1885 trip to West Virginia published in the Palette and Chisel newsletter.
Tom Moses’ Trips
West Virginia, 1885 (page 3, column 3)
Henry Tryon and I started for West Virginia on a sketching trip. I had more bother and worry with Tryon than a hen with a brood of chickens; he was simply impossible. A very clever painter but he was not balanced – very temperamental. While he was more than ten years my senior I had to lead him to everything that we had to do for the trip. I went to the B. & O. R. R. Co. and endeavored to secure free transportation. I tried to show them the great benefit our trip would be to the advertising department, as Mr. Tryon expected to write an account for the Chicago Tribune. They had plenty of this advertising, but encouraged us by giving us half fare both ways. We were highly pleased to get this with the understanding that John Young was to follow at the same rate within the week.
I had a struggle to get Tryon down to the depot at 5 P.M. – the train left at 5:10. While we were rushing for the sleeper, Tryon stopped – he must get into his trunk which I had checked early in the day. I informed him that we had no time – the baggage was being put on the train. He insisted, so I went with him at 5:05 to the baggage-car. He asked the baggage master to pull the trunk off the truck so he could open it. After much grumbling it was lowered to the platform. Tryon untied the rope, unlocked it and from the top tray took out a fifteen-cent package of Durham smoking tobacco; replacing the rope he informed the baggage-man he was through with it. The baggage-man had been watching him and when he saw what was taken out he made some remarks that would not look well in print. Tryon never lost his temper, so the remarks did not affect him. We had less than two minutes to get to our sleeper, the trunk was thrown on and away we went. I never mentioned the incident again and Tryon forgot it immediately.
To be continued…
Historical note: Moses and Tryon probably departed from Chicago’s Great Central Depot in 1885. This was the statin that served the B&O RR in Chicago. This structure opened on June 21, 1856 at an expense of $250,000. For a brief period, it was the largest building in downtown Chicago. The train shed was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 but still remained in operation, even after a second fire damaged the head house in 1874. The station eventually proved inadequate to handle growing traffic and was closed on April 17, 1893. The Grand Central Station on Harrison Street and Fifth Avenue, replaced it and began serving the Chicago & Northern Pacific, the Chicago Great Western, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroads.
