Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/1
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	9 November 1900
Address From	Hanover, Northern Cape
Address To	PO Box 2158, 254 Washington Street, Boston
Who To	Little, Brown & Co
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Little, Brown & Co, 9 November 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter is by and from Olive Schreiner to her US publisher; it is a copy made in Hudson Findlay's writing, acting as Schreiner's legal amanuensis or secretary.

1:  Copy
2:  Address: c/o W.P. Schreiner Esq
3:  Lyndall Newlands C.T.
4: 
5:  Hanover, Cape Colony
6:  November 9th 1900
7: 
8:  Messrs Little, Brown & Co
9:  PO Box 2158
10:  254 Washington Street
11:  Boston.
12: 
13:  Dear Sirs,
14: 
15:  Yours letter of the 22nd August. I note that you say that £40 was
16:  sent by Roberts Bros for composition & electrotyping of Stray Thoughts
17:  on S. Af" - I cannot understand how so large an expense could have
18:  been incurred by Roberts Bros, and am not prepared to admit that you
19:  can claim this amount from me, and besides this the five years of the
20:  contract will in any case have expired on the 25th of this month.
21: 
22:  I have not yet seen any ?cession of the different contracts to you and
23:  am not prepared at present to admit that under all the circumstances
24:  of the case, which I need not now enter into, Roberts Bros has the
25:  right to cede you any of the contracts.
26: 
27:  Without going into details I may mention that I have many grounds of
28:  complaint against Roberts Bros in respect of Peter Halket.
29: 
30:  I shall be obliged if you will send me a copy of the cession you speak
31:  of from Roberts Bros to yourselves.
32: 
33:  Yours faithfully
34:  Olive Schreiner
35: 
36: 
37: 

Notation

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/2
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	17 October 1900
Address From	Hanover, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 17 October 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hanover
2:  Oct 17 / 00
3: 
4:  Dear Hud
5: 
6:  Thank you very much for the letter I got that I this morning. I
7:  enclose the documents, all I unfortunately have. The rest are with my
8:  destroyed books & papers at Johannesburg. Of course had I them I would
9:  only have to send Roberts letters to me, & ^copies of^ mine to him to
10:  settle the whole matter. But I do not feel bound to tell the
11:  scoundrels they have been destroyed. As to the money paid me I have
12:  only received one tiny cheque from Brown Little & Co since they took
13:  over the business besides the one I returned just now. In the cheque
14:  they sent me the few shillings for African Farm Dreams &c has combined
15:  with the couple of dollar for Peter Halket. I ch cashed the cheque
16:  retr keeping the money for SAF & dreams but returning them the money
17:  for Peter Halket in a Standard Bank cheque, which cheque they have
18:  never notified the receipt of. I told them with it that they had
19:  nothing to do with Peter Halket. This ought to be inserted in my
20:  letter to them. I am very grateful to you for helping me. There is one
21:  letter of thanks to me that I sent to you but that Cron must have lost
22:  in England, showing that they quite recognize that all claim to Stray
23:  Thoughts ends with the November of this year. You see if I can't get
24:  Peter Halket out of their hands I must rest satisfied. But Stray
25:  Thoughts I will have or the book shall never be published When you can
26:  do nothing more with a publisher legally - I have no faith in law as
27:  giving you your rights - there is one hold you have on him; you can
28:  expose him in the press. Th I have twice got something from a
29:  publisher by doing that. I give you a lot of money when I'm a blooming
30:  publisher.
31: 
32:  It's time to post. I'll write some more tomorrow. Legally Brown Little
33:  & Co probably have me in the hand; morally I have all the right.
34:  Thanks about the furniture at Johannesburg. If you could save me up
35:  the best bits of books furniture &c. I would be glad. Nothing is so
36:  burnt & destroyed I don't want it. Even the cover of a book with
37:  Gladstones writing on it, & which was half burnt might be valuable
38:  some day. I am not very fit again.
39: 
40:  Love to you all
41:  Olive
42: 
43: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/3
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	9 October 1900
Address From	Hanover, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 9 October 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hanover
2:  Oct 9 / 0
3: 
4:  Dear Hud
5: 
6:  I have kept a copy of the enclosed letter. When you have carefully
7:  read it if you are so good as to be willing to do it, post it
8:  registered to Dr Brown & get ?note of delivery, ^in England^ 4d I think
9:  I enclose 4d.
10: 
11:  If only I can get all my work out of their hand, & anything in writing
12:  from Brown Little & Co showing they will not be able to interfere with
13:  any American firm to whom I send sell this work, I shall have a little
14:  to live on. Of course if I were in America I could see the publisher,
15:  & a good American lawyer myself it could all be arranged at once.
16: 
17:  I enclose Brown Little's last letter to me. The 5 years from the date
18:  of my agreement with Roberts Bros ends this November.
19: 
20:  Love to you, & all the dear folk at Lyndall
21:  Olive
22: 
23: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/4
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	10 October 1900
Address From	Hanover, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 10 October 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. The date of this letter has been derived from Schreiner's '10 / 00' and also its position in the archival sequence.

1:  Hanover 10 / 00
2: 
3:  Dear Hudson
4: 
5:  Thank you very much for your letter I enclose the one you sent signed.
6:  I did not write before as I'm too unfit to think of any things.
7: 
8:  //Yes perhaps I had best leave Peter Halket. The great thing I want is
9:  to get their promise statement in writing that that they have no claim
10:  to Stray Thoughts. If necessary I will find the ^£^40 & it out of their
11:  hands. But no firm in America will touch any book that another firm
12:  has any connection with unless I ^you^ could show in writing that with
13:  his consent my ^your^ relation with a firm had terminated. This, not so
14:  much as ^at all as a matter^ of business in the ordinary sense, but of
15:  business etiquet! You can have no conception what a close ring the
16:  publishers form, & not the publishers & book-sellers! When for years
17:  Chapman & Hall had given me nothing for an African Farm I went to
18:  firms in London about them taking the book over they were quite cle
19:  willing to do so if I could show them in writing that by mutual
20:  consent my relation with C & Hall had terminated by mutual consent.
21:  They all agreed that C & H would have no legal ground against them if
22:  they took it, but all stated that professional etiquet would not allow
23:  it. I don't know what other capitalist rings are, but publishing &
24:  book selling sig ring is something fearful & wonderful.
25: 
26:  I am quite willing to wait wait six months or a year before bring out
27:  Stray Thoughts.
28: 
29:  Thank you so much for all the trouble you have taken. I am so grateful.
30:  When I'm a blooming millionaire I'll remember you in my will!
31:  Seriously I've no faith in my ever getting anything by my writing. If
32:  I were to tell you how the publishers have done me all through you'd
33:  hardly believe it. It's the old capitalist story.
34: 
35:  Much love to Bessie & the small ones
36:  Your affectionate
37:  Olive
38: 
39: 

Notation

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/5
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	20 October 1900
Address From	Hanover, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 20 October 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hanover
2:  Oct 20 / 00
3: 
4:  Dear Hud
5: 
6:  Its possible as the cheque was returned to me for Peter Halket was
7:  returned just before I left Johannesburg that it was stopped by the
8:  English authorities in Cape Town; I doubt it, but it is possible. as
9:  many if the letters I have written lately have never got to America.
10: 
11:  Give my love to them all I hope you are quite fit now & have no return
12:  of the faintness. I have had a bad four days, continually faintnesses
13:  coming on suddenly, but I've never been ?insensible & am much better
14:  today.
15: 
16:  You know I don't mind if I can't get Peter Halket out of their hands,
17:  I'll let it go, but they shan't have Stray Thoughts to suffocate again,
18:  not if I have to pay the whole £40. You know if I'd had some smart
19:  business man to manage my affairs I'd be worth thousands now.
20: 
21:  Olive
22: 
23: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/6
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	May 1899
Address From	PO Box 406, Johannesburg
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, May 1899, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter has been dated by reference to content and that it was written responding to a letter from her US publiher dated 19 May 1899. The addressee is implicit from content and archival location. There is no start and finish to the letter, which was sent to Hudson Findlay with the publisher's letter still attached for his guidance.

1:  There should have been no printer's bill if they had kept their terms
2:  in our agreement, & published the articles in newspapers or magazines.
3:  Br Roberts Brothers had no right to give the articles only two I
4:  believe that they had or perhaps three. They had not the permit - they
5:  promised me to print them in an American newspaper or magazine on the
6:  date on which they were printed in England, & that would have made
7:  them copyright in the states.
8: 
9:  Never the less if you can make a good arrangement with another
10:  publisher, I would pay the charge of the printing which could not be
11:  more than £20 if the lawyer thinks it necessary. Rather than have no
12:  I will not, because that seems to imply they have a right to it which
13:  is not true.
14: 
15: 
16: 

Notation
This letter was written following Schreiner's receipt of a letter from her US publisher, Little, Brown & Co, dated 19 May 1899, as follows:

P.O. Box 2158
Little, Brown, & Company,
254 Washington Street, Boston

Publishers, Booksellers, and Importers of Law, and General Literature.

May 19, 1899.

Mrs. Olive Schreiner,
P.O. Box 406,
Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dear Madam:-

We have received your letter of Apr. 16. We assure you that we greatly regret that any misunderstanding has arisen regarding the publication of your books. We purchased Messrs. Roberts Bros. publishing business last June, and they transferred to us all their rights. There has not been a single instance where an author has made any objection, until now. Our reputation as publishers in this country is as good as that of any house that can be named, and we assure you that we intend to do all in our power to further your interests.

We regret that when the copyright account was made up in January last the clerk who made the credits overlooked Trooper Peter Halket, and we have today credited your account copyright on 44 copies at 12 1/2c, amounting to $5.50, which amount we enclose herewith.

Our understanding regarding the books is that we are now to pay 10% of the published price upon sales of Peter Halket and Dreams, and 5c a copy upon sales of the Story of an African Farm. The copyright book of Messrs. Roberts Bros. shows that the arrangement in regard to the Dream Life was that 10% of the retail price is to be paid you after enough copies have been sold to equal £60 paid upon publication. The book is published here at 60c, which would make the royalty 6c per copy, and it would require sales of 5,000 copies to reach this amount. Thirty-five hundred copies have been printed, and we now have 500 on hand, so that there are still 2,000 copies to sell before royalty is to be paid. We would add that Dream Life and Peter Halket are duly copyrighted here under the International Copyright Law, affording you and ourselves proper protection, but the other two books, --The Story of an African Farm and Dreams, -- were issued before the International Copyright Law was passed and although we are paying copyright to you we can receive no protection. The books can be made by anyone, and we believe there are competing editions upon which no copyright is paid.

In regard to your forthcoming book, Stray Thoughts on South Africa, we would say that the contract calls for the payment of 10% on the retail price of all copies of said book sold, and we are perfectly willing to publish the book and carry out this agreement. Messrs. Roberts Bros. turned over to us with the contract, proof sheets of the book, and the printers' bill is a liability that we assumed in connection with the performance of the contract.

We take pleasure in sending you by mail our catalogues, in which you will find your books described, and we shall issue a new catalogue this summer, in which will be combined all the books acquired from Messrs. Roberts Bros., as well as those previously published and since issued by us.

We are glad to learn that you are to visit this country, and if there is anything we can do for you we trust you will write to use regarding it.

Trusting that this letter will result in our being better acquainted with each other, and assuring you of our hearty co-operation in regard to your books, we are

Very truly yours,
Little, Brown & Co.

We shall be glad to receive your portrait as early as possible.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/8
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	After Start: February 1900 ; Before End: October 1900
Address From	PO Box 406, Johannesburg
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, February 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter was written in response to a letter Schreiner had received from her US publisher, dated 21 February 1900. It has been dated by reference to this and also content.

1:  Keep the letter & make a copy of my answer before sending it.
2: 
3:  Understand well
4:  Brown Little & Co shall never touch my stray thoughts not if I did die
5:  first, or throw the book into the sea.
6: 
7:  With regard to Peter Halket, you ought to be able to get it from him &
8:  make a good arrangement with another publisher. But remember after
9:  November even Roberts Brothers claime to the book would have lapsed as
10:  the 5 years end then.
11: 
12:  These were instructions I sent to them in England but he left before
13:  they came
14: 
15: 
16: 

Notation
The letter Schreiner had received from her US publisher, Little, Brown & Co, dated 21 February 1900, is as follows:

P.O. Box 2158
Little, Brown, & Company,
254 Washington Street, Boston

Publishers, Booksellers, and Importers of Law, and General Literature.

Feb. 21, 1900.

Mrs. Olive Schreiner,
P.O. Box 406,
Johannesburg, South Africa.

Dear Madam:

We enclose a letter which was forwarded to our care. We wrote you some time since, and fearing that you may not have received our letter, we enclose a copy herewith. We shall be very glad indeed to hear from you at your convenience regarding the various matters in which you and ourselves are mutually interested. We are doing all that we can with your books, and are remitting royalties as due, twice a year.

We presume you remember that a contract exists for the publication of your work, "Stray Thoughts on South Africa", and ^204^ pages are in type, for which we have incurred an expense. We would be very much obliged if you would give us information as to when the book will be completed. It should of course be published from type set in this country, and issued here simultaneously with its foreign publication, in order that you may secure copyright, and royalty may be paid you. Kindly let us hear from you as soon as possible. We note that Messrs. Sergel & Co., of Chicago, have recently published a little book by you, but we presume that this material is entirely different from that in the "Stray Thoughts on South Africa".

Yours very truly,
Little, Brown & Co.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/12
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	5 October 1900
Address From	Lyndall, Newlands, Cape Town
Address To	254 Washington Street, Boston, Mass. U. S. A.
Who To	Little, Brown & Co
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Little, Brown & Co, 5 October 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter is mainly typescript, with Olive Schreiner's handwritten amendments and insertions as indicated by the chevron ^insertion^ symbols.

1:  Address: - Olive Schreiner
2:  c/o Hon. W.P. Schreiner Q.C.
3:  Lyndall, Newlands
4:  Cape Colony,
5:  South Africa
6:  5th Oct. 1900
7: 
8:  Messrs Little, Brown and Co.
9:  254 Washington Street
10:  Boston, Mass. U. S. A.
11: 
12:  Dear Sirs,
13: 
14:  I have received your letter of the 22nd Aug. 1900, and am surprised at
15:  your statement that I can possibly owe your firm $213.73 for the
16:  electrotyping of Stray Thoughts.
17: 
18:  As I have told you, I entirely fail to recognise you in this matter,
19:  my work having been entrusted to Messrs Roberts Bros, whom alone I
20:  know in this matter. But had Roberts Bros been still in existence, I
21:  should equally have refused to recognise this claim.
22: 
23:  On my publication of an African Farm, at least sixteen American
24:  publishers at once brought out the work. Of this number, about nine,
25:  with that generosity and rectitude which I have with one exception
26:  found to characterise American publishers, though in no way logically
27:  and only in honour bound, sent a large yearly cheques in consideration
28:  of what they were making by the sale of my work. Among these, as I
29:  have before stated, was a gentleman gentleman who wrote to me under
30:  the name of Roberts Bros, but whose real name was Brown. The
31:  generosity of all others was exceeded by him, inn in sending me
32:  cheques for £200 and £250 £150 (pounds sterling) at a time, stating
33:  what a profound interest he took in my work and the honour and
34:  pleasure he felt in returning me something for the profit he made from
35:  my work. We entered int into a long and intimate literary and business
36:  correspondence of the most friendly and confidential nature. Many of
37:  my American ^friends^ further knew him personally, and apart from the
38:  fact that every every one who ever mentioned him spoke in glowing
39:  terms of this integrity and generosity as a publisher, persons who had
40:  met him told me repeatedly of the high terms of sympathy and
41:  friendship with which he spoke of me and my works. He asked me to
42:  consider him as long as he lived as a friend as well as a publisher,
43:  and said that if I had anything to publish in America serially are ^or^
44:  which was not suited to his firm, he would consider it an honour to
45:  place it for me most advantageously. I have kepy all his letters
46:  carefully, not only because of their business value but also because
47:  of their friendly sympathy, and that in writing my life in the future
48:  I might use them to illustrate what has been the brightest episode in
49:  my career as an author. I believe that since the days of George
50:  Elliott and Blackwood, no such sympathetic and confidential relation
51:  has existed between an author and a publisher; at least I have not
52:  heard of one.
53: 
54:  I gave him the exclusive right to act as my publisher of an African Farm
55:  in America, and wrote to all the publishers that had generously sent
56:  me money, asking them as a matter of honour to discontinue publishing
57:  my work, as I had entrusted it to Roberts Bros; and in one case at
58:  least the publisher wrote most kindly assuring me he would publish no
59:  more copies. From that day all the American publishers discontinued
60:  sending me money for my work, and I have never since received a
61:  farthing from any one in American for an African Farm except Robert
62:  Bros. I also put notices in the papers stating he was my accredited
63:  publisher and requesting the American public to deal with them only.
64:  The loss was a heavy one monetarily to me but I was glad I had been
65:  able in a manner to return Mr Brown's generous conduct towards me; and
66:  was resolved that while he personally lived, no large work from my pen
67:  should be published in America without his having had the first
68:  refusal. I am incline to think that not long after this time he died,
69:  as in a long letter he wrote me, he promised to send me his photograph.
70:  The photograph never came, and from that time no more long fatherly
71:  letters came from him. If this was so, I was was never informed of his
72:  death, though from the nature of my letters to him it must have been
73:  clearly evident that I still believe believed him alive and was
74:  writing to an individual man whom I considered my confidential friend
75:  and not to an impersonal firm. If this was so, the fact was carefully
76:  concealed from me in the replies I received. When Dreams came out,
77:  shortly after their publication (they are not, as you know, copyright)
78:  I received a truly generous offer from another firm which had before
79:  made me a present of £100 for publishing Dreams if I would regard
80:  them as my accredited publishers; but I at once refused, as I would do
81:  nothing to impair Mr Brown's interests.
82: 
83:  When I determined to publish the series of articles called Stray
84:  Thoughts, first serially in America and England and then later or when
85:  they were completed in book form, I wrote to him.
86: 
87:  Since I first published an African Farm nineteen years ago, I have
88:  been inundated with offers from American magazine editors and
89:  publishers, and especially newspaper editors, asking me for
90:  contributions. In not one single instance have I ever sent anything
91:  for serial publication to America of whatever nature, but is has been
92:  at once accepted, and most generously and liberally paid for, and
93:  whenever the agreement has been entered upon befree the manuscript wa
94:  was sent to America the editor has always expres expressed the highest
95:  approval on its arrival and asked for more. I have received as much as
96:  £81 (pounds sterling) for 950 words; and £12: 10: (twelve pounds
97:  sterling) per thousand words, I have always been able to get in
98:  America for an article the editor has never seen. It was not at all
99:  because I should have had the slightest difficulty in placing the
100:  articles in the American magazines or newspapers, for I should have
101:  had them at once received and highly paid for, but the great distance
102:  of Africa to America makes it a matter of months to send and receive
103:  answers to a few letters while the business might be accomplished in
104:  America in a few hours by le wire or post. I therefore wrote to Messrs
105:  Rob Roberts Brothers (as I believed, addressing my old trusted
106:  publisher Brown) telling him that I had these articles and that, if if
107:  If he would undertake to have them published in some paper or magazine
108:  in the United States at the same time as they were published in
109:  England, thereby securing me the copyright of the articles in my name,
110:  I would, in return for this, allow him when the articles were
111:  completed to publish them in book form at a certain royalty for a
112:  period of five years from the time we signed the agreement. I further
113:  added it would not be necessary to send me the articles in proof
114:  before they appeared in the magazine or newspaper, as I intended to
115:  subject the whole book to careful and minute revision before it
116:  appeared in book form. I received a reply which I car carefully kept,
117:  in which not only were my terms accepted, but it was stated that the
118:  writer felt sure of obtaining me large sums for the articles, which
119:  should be carefully published in some American magazine or newspaper
120:  on the same date as in England and the copyright secured to me. Then,
121:  and only upon this condition I entered upon the agreement with Roberts
122:  Bros giving the right to publish the articles on certain terms in book
123:  form, which five years end this November. I left it quite in the hands
124:  of Robert Roberts Bros what newspaper or magazine they should sell my
125:  serial rights to and on what terms. Had I been dealing with any but a
126:  publisher well known to me as a person of high and spotless integrity,
127:  I should of course have safeguarded myself in every way, and instead
128:  of accepting a promised royalty should have demanded a lump sum. I
129:  shortly afterwards sent an important article to them. For this article
130:  I received £92 in England where I generally receive one-third of
131:  one-half of what I receive in America for what I write. Long before
132:  sending the article I wrote to say it was coming and cabled over from
133:  England some time before the date on which it would appear there. You
134:  may imagine my astonishment, still believing my trusted publisher to
135:  be my correspondent, when some time after, when I was expecting a
136:  cheque for at least £100 or £200 or £150, I received a short letter
137:  from Roberts Bros saying that they very deeply regretted they had not
138:  been able to place the article, but & that the copyright had ben been
139:  carefully secured in my name; but that they made no doubt they should
140:  be be able most advantageously to place the next. Had I believed I
141:  myself dealing with any but my generous and upright friend I shoul
142:  should at once have written stating that as they had violated the
143:  primary term of our agreement I should have nothing more to do with
144:  the firm and that our contract was now null and void, and I should at
145:  once have entered into relations with one of the numerous editors from
146:  whom I had at that time offer for the publication of future articles.
147:  But I should as soon have thought of writing to charge my father or
148:  brother of wilful dishonesty towards myself as the person I still
149:  believed to be still the head of Rober Roberts Brothers. It did not
150:  even strike me as possible that he was preventing the publication of
151:  my articles in serial form hoping thereby to add to the value of the
152:  book when it appeared or that, ^or^ having nothing to gain by its serial
153:  publication, he had never taken the trouble to canvas the magazines
154:  and newspapers of the United States. The only explanation I could
155:  think of was that he had been absent on holiday or ill and had made a
156:  strange oversight; and I felt convinced that the monetary loss would
157:  be richly made up to me when the next articles appeared. As to the
158:  trivial cost of printing to retain the copyright, I understood of
159:  course that he had failed in his obligation to get the article
160:  published he would pay it, but that as it would only be a matter of a
161:  couple of dollars it would not matter either way, and was not worth
162:  writing about. When the same thing happened with the next article I
163:  wrote rather warmly asking how it was the article had not been
164:  published in any magazine or newspaper when I had placed no
165:  restriction as to price and was myself inundated with offers for the
166:  serial publication of my work and asking for the names of the
167:  newspaper s, provincial and otherwise, and magazines to whom the
168:  articled had been offered, and who had refused them. To this letter
169:  and several others to the same effect I have up to the present day
170:  received no reply. I still retained my faith in Roberts Bros and when
171:  my book Peter Halket came out, though I refused all offers in England
172:  to publish on the royalty system (only possible where you closely and
173:  intimately know the man you are deal with with and have an absolute ^&^
174:  unbroken confidence) and ^I^ accepted ^in England^ the comparatively small
175:  sum of £1450 (one thousand four hundred and fifty pounds). I wrote
176:  entrusting my work to Roberts Bros on the royalty system, expecting to
177:  receive from them for the sale in America (where the circulation of my
178:  books is always two or three times that of England) at least twice as
179:  much in the course of a couple of years as I had got in England. I
180:  was further glad to have one I so well knew as a publisher, because I
181:  knew the South African capitalists who have their powerful agencies in
182:  England and America would do all they could to induce any publisher to
183:  suppress the work; and it was all important to me to have a publisher
184:  who, if any offer to this effect were made, would, however large the
185:  sum offered offered by the capitalist agencies, immediately
186:  communicate with me and enable me to take action. As you know I have
187:  received nothing for the publication of Peter Halket in America: the
188:  paltry sum of a few dollars which including what was sent me on the
189:  receipt of the MS amounting to only fifty or sixty pounds, a sum not
190:  worth considering at all in such a matter. I should have received £60
191:  for the publication of a few pages of Peter Halket in a magazine or
192:  newspaper. Eight months after Pete Peter Halket was published in
193:  America I received an offer from an American firm to run it serially
194:  through the Sunday papers for £800 (eight hundred pounds sterling)
195:  and then to publish it in book form giving me fifteen percent royalty.
196:  I was of course obliged to refuse this and other almost equally
197:  generous offers as Roberts Brothers had the work. But the loss of
198:  money, crushing as it has been, was unreadable as nothing to another.
199:  The book was not adequately put on the market or supplied to the trade.
200:  To myself who desired above all the free circulation of the work in
201:  America this was the most serious misfortune of a whole literary life.
202:  Week after week letters poured in upon me from old friends and from
203:  scores of persons from whom I had never heard before, begging me to
204:  publish Peter Halket in the United States. These letters came not only
205:  from the Western and Southern States where it might be supposed
206:  Roberts Bros had no means of circulating their books, But from Chicago,
207:  New York and Boston itself. One New York magazine ^clergyman^ wrote
208:  begging me to have the work published freely and circulated in the
209:  United States, adding that he had procured three copies, which had
210:  been so often lent and read and re-read, that they were worn to
211:  tatters, so great was the demand for the work. In some instances
212:  persons even sent me cheques requesting me to purchase and send them
213:  copies of the book, which I of course did not feel myself at liberty
214:  to do. I could only reply that the work had been published by Roberts
215:  Bros in whose office thousands of copies were lying which could be
216:  procured by writing to them. Again and again I wrote to Roberts Bros
217:  remonstrating with them xx and demanding to know the reason why the
218:  book had not been adequately placed on the market and why the trade
219:  was not kept fully supplied. I further enclosed in a registered letter
220:  copies of letters I had received on the subject from America, some
221:  from well known public and literary men. None of these letters were
222:  return returned nor was any notice taken of my remonstrations and no
223:  explanation has ever up to the present day been offered of the
224:  non-supply of the market with my work.
225: 
226:  Finally I ceased to receive even an account of the sale of Peter
227:  Halket, Messrs Roberts Brothers thereby violating again the explicit
228:  terms of our signed agreement and rendering their claim to publish
229:  Peter Halket null and void. The last blow came to me when a letter was
230:  received from an unknown firm of publishers stat stating that the firm
231:  of Messrs Roberts Brothers had become defunct about a year before and
232:  that they had transferred the control of all my valuable copyright
233:  property into the hands of that, to me, completely unknown firm,
234:  Messrs Little Brown and Co of Boston, whose names I then heard for the
235:  first time
236: 
237:  As I have before said, I refuse to recognise you in this matter. My
238:  relations have been with Roberts Brothers and my accusat accusations
239:  are against them; but were you that firm I should demand an immediate
240:  relpy reply from you to the following eight questions. I should ask,
241:  firstly:-
242: 
243:  ^Firstly:-^ How as it that in honour and common honesty the death the
244:  death of the original Roberts Brothers was never intimated to me and
245:  the fact carefully concealed from me though it must have been manifest
246:  to anyone opening my letters that I still believed myself as
247:  addressing that definite individual, from my reference to letters he
248:  had written to me, the photograph he had promised me, and from the
249:  whole tenour of my letters which showed I believed myself writing to a
250:  person I trusted and knew?
251: 
252:  ^Secondly:-^ Why was the primary condition of our agreement with regard
253:  to Stray Thoughts violated by the non-publication of the articles in a
254:  newspaper or magazine when I was inundated with offers for serial
255:  matter at that very time? And why was no list at my special request
256:  forwarded to me of the editors who had been written to in the United
257:  States with regard to the serial publication of the articles and who
258:  had refused to take them?
259: 
260:  Thirdly:- How was it that after having violated the primary condition
261:  upon which alone the promise of the book for publication was based, by
262:  not securing the publication of the articles in a magazine or
263:  newspaper, that, instead of simply having the article printed for a
264:  couple of dollars, they, without my consent or approval, allowed the
265:  articles to be electrotyped, knowing that according to our agreement
266:  the articles would have to be subjected by me to careful revision
267:  before publication in book form, and therefore knowing at the time
268:  they did it, that the electrotype plates could not, be of the
269:  slightest use to them or to myself?
270: 
271:  Fourthly:- How, knowing this, could they dare to suggest that I should
272:  recoup them for what they had, without my consent or permission and in
273:  direct violation of our agreement, had spent in electrotyping my work?
274: 
275:  Fifthly:- How was it that Peter Halket was never fully supplied to the
276:  American trade and that all my letters of remonstrance and demanding
277:  an explanation on this point remained unanswered?
278: 
279:  Sixthly:- How was it that returns of sales were not forwarded to me at
280:  the dated specified according to the terms of our agreement?
281: 
282:  Seventhly:- How - as men of honour and integrity, was it possible,
283:  unreadable without communicating with me or giving me the slightest
284:  consideration, to allow their firm to become extinct and the ha hand
285:  over into the hands of men of whom I knew nothing whatever the charge
286:  of my valuable and important copyright property.
287: 
288:  Eightly:-
289:  Eighthly:- Having in consideration the terrible and calamitous loss
290:  which has been inflicted on me by their failure to publish my articles
291:  in America according to our agreement, and having failed dulybto
292:  supply the market with Peter Halket (a loss which, supposing I could
293:  have received in America only what I did x in England for the
294:  publication of the articles and of Peter Halket, would amount to over
295:  £2000 sterling), I should ask to know what sum they as men of honour
296:  and integrity felt themselves morally bound to pay me in compensation
297:  for the terrible and crushing loss losses I have sustained through the
298:  negligence of their firm?
299: 
300:  Were you the firm of Messrs Roberts Brothers, I should put these
301:  questions to yl you and demand a reply.
302: 
303:  Understand me, my dear sirs: I bring no charge against the honour and
304:  integrity of your firm. I know nothing whatever of you. I have never
305:  been able to meet a single person who had personally met or knew a
306:  single member of your firm. When I visit New York and have the
307:  pleasure of meeting you for half an hour, I may at once be convinced
308:  that I am speaking to a man, or men, who possess all the honour and
309:  integrity of my old publisher Brown, xx the original Robert Bros. I
310:  have no reason to suppose it is not so. For anything I know to the
311:  contrary, at the time when the firm of Roberts Brothers was ruining me
312:  in America by their action, your firm may not even have been in
313:  existence. Even with regard to the non-intimation to me of the
314:  extinction of the firm of Roberts Bros and the transference of the
315:  care of my property to other hands, the dishonour lay with them; it
316:  was into their hands I entrusted my property; it was they in whom I
317:  had placed confidence.
318: 
319:  The only complaint I have against you is that since you gaine gained
320:  control of my works you have not been able to do anything with them.
321:  But as I explained to you fully in my last letter I do not consider
322:  that this necessarily implies any want of integrity. The irreparable
323:  loss with regard to Peter Halket took place during the first two years
324:  after it was issued, when it was not properly placed on the market. It
325:  is evident that your firm is not fitted to deal with my work; but that
326:  implies no slur; there are certain honourable firms in London to whom
327:  I should gladly entrust a work of science or philosophy knowing they
328:  would do as well with it as possible; while to entrust them with a
329:  work of light fiction or adventure would spell irreparable loss; and
330:  there are cer certain firms of honour and integrity to whom I should
331:  never dream of giving Peter Halket or Stray Thoughts. If the personnel
332:  of lawyer, private doctor, or executor is a matter of cardinal
333:  importance, infinitely more unreadable a matter of life and death to
334:  the author is the personnel of their publisher. One publisher is not
335:  equivalent to another nor can one firm be substituted for another, as
336:  men substitute foot warmers in a railway carriage, without regard to
337:  their individual qualities. A large firm in London published two works
338:  of a noted English writer on the royalty system, and the writer was
339:  receiving a few pounds yearly for their work. When th the time for
340:  which it had been granted to that firm expired and the work was
341:  removed to another, not larger, firm, their royalties at once rose to
342:  two or three times the old amount and have continued at that rate ever
343:  since. I have known an instance where the mere death of the head of
344:  the firm and the substitution of another individual at once sent up
345:  the royalties received by several authors publishing with that firm to
346:  two or three times the figure they had stood at before. This in no way
347:  implied dishonesty on the part of the firms, but merely that the new
348:  men were better able, by advertising and placing wisely on the market,
349:  to dispose of the works of those authors. I mention this because a
350:  sentence in your letter almost seems to ^imply^ that you imagine that I
351:  cast a slur on your y honour and integrity. This is in no wise the case.
352:  Had my royalties risen up as soon as you took control of my works and
353:  I had found it most advantageous to give all writi writings to you, it
354:  would not have altered the conduct of Roberts Brothers. As it is you
355:  are gaining nothing; and the publication of my works by you spells
356:  absolute rin ruin to me. Certain class classes of firms are not, as
357:  you publishers know well, able to deal satisfactorily with certain
358:  classes of literature.
359: 
360:  I have entered, my dear sirs, into this long and wearisome explanation
361:  of my relations with the late firm of Messrs Roberts Brothers that you
362:  might be in full command of all the facts; and I believe when you have
363:  carefully and impartially considered them you will feel I have been
364:  deeply wronged. I trust you will write fully and frankly to me, as I
365:  should not like to feel we parted company in any spirit of bitterness.
366:  If you considered yourselves as the representatives of the firm of B
367:  Roberts Bros, I should be glad to know what amount of compensation you
368:  feel, as me of integrity, is owing to me for the terrible and now
369:  quite irreparable losses inflicted on me by that firm through their
370:  breach of our contracts.
371: 
372:  The only excuse I can think of for the firm of Roberts Bros is that
373:  after the death of the old head the firm fell into a state of
374:  disorganisation which may have approached bankruptcy, a supposition
375:  which would appear not impossible improbable from their attempting to
376:  dispose of their valuable rights to you. This would not exonerate them;
377:  but I should be glad to think that mere negligence and not ^any^ wilful
378:  dishonour had been the source of my loss; the more so, as with this
379:  one exception all my relations with American publishers have been
380:  uniformly of the most satisfactory and cordial kind.
381: 
382:  An immediate reply to this letter will oblige me, as I should like to
383:  hear from you before concluding arrangements with other firms in
384:  America for the republication of my work Peter Halket and the
385:  publication of Stray Thoughts. Believe me, my dear sirs, I make no
386:  charge against the firm of Little Brown and Co. Roberts Bros may have
387:  duped you as much in pretending they had the right t to transfer the
388:  charge of my work to you ^&^ that they had fulfilled the terms of their
389:  contracts with me, as they unreadable have duped me.
390: 
391:  Yours faithfully,
392:  Olive Schreiner
393: 
394:  ^P.S. It is not necessary for me to say, that in writing to American
395:  firms I shall not refer to my treatment by Roberts Bros; I simply
396:  state that the old head of the firm lay dead & Roberts Brothers
397:  defunct. I wish to place my work with a new firm and I shall most
398:  carefully abstain from saying anything that might reflect on your^
399: 
400:  ^firm, in any way what so ever
401:  Olive Schreiner^
402: 
403: 
404: 

Notation
The Little, Brown & Co letter to Olive Schreiner which is referred to here is as follows:

Duplicate

P.O. Box 2158
Little, Brown, & Company,
254 Washington Street, Boston

Publishers, Booksellers, and Importers of Law, and General Literature.

Aug. 22, 1900.

Mrs. Olive Schreiner,
Lyndall, Newlands,
Cape Town, S. A.

Dear Madam:

Your letter has just reached us. We infer from it that you cannot have received out letter of May 19th, 1899 in which we replied fully to yours of Apr. 16th, for if you had, we think you would have replied to it. Nor have we received receipts for the amounts remitted to you, and must therefore conclude that some of them have failed to reach you.

We enclose herewith copies of our letters of May 19, 1899, and Feb. 21, 1900; also a statement of amounts credited and remitted to you since your letter of April 16, 1899 was received. We can go back of this if it is necessary and send a statement of royalties credited since we purchased Messrs. Roberts Bros. publishing business.

As stated in our previous letter, no author other than yourself has objected to the transfer of the Roberts Brothers? publications and contracts to us, and in many instances we have increased the sales of the books. We have faithfully carried out the contracts with you and the error of a clerk in omitting to make up the account of Peter Halket upon one occasion hardly justifies a cancellation of the contract. The remittances in our statement have been made by American Express order. If you have not received them, we will be obliged if you write us to that effect so that we may have any missing ones traced. It is possible that if our other remittances have not reached you that you think the credit of Jan. 1st, 103 copies of Peter Halket, $12.89 covers all the sales we have made. Our statement will show that this is not the case; we have credited since your letter of April 16th, royalties on 382 copies amounting to $47.77.

We would call your attention to the fact that we have paid the University press, Cambridge, $213.73 for composition and electrotyping of 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa,' a liability assumed by us under your contract with Roberts Bros. This sum should be refunded to us if we are not to continue to act as your publishers. We are perfectly willing to transfer all our rights in your books and the stock and plates of the same for a sum which will reimburse us our expenditures. You can then make arrangements with another firm.

Permit us to state, however, that we cannot believe that you will find a house whose reputation for integrity and ability to successfully conduct a publishing business is higher than our own, and if you care to make inquiries in England we believe you can have this statement confirmed.

We cannot accord with your view that it is just to attempt to repudiate a contract upon copyright books of yours and ask us to pay royalty upon books which could not be copyrighted in America and which anyone can print without payment of royalty. We find in a catalogue issued in 1899, sixteen editions of The Story of An African Farm, and eight editions of Dreams, issued by houses chiefly engaged in the publication of books upon which there is no copyright. Of course these editions compete seriously with ours, the only ones upon which you receive a royalty.

We trust that you will consider the matter carefully and let us hear from you at an early day. Awaiting your reply, we will hold the express order you returned to us.

Yours truly,
Little, Brown & Co.

We have mailed a duplicate of this letter to John Brown, M.D. Stockbridge House, Padiham, Lancaster England
(Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/9)

The following handwritten note by Olive Schreiner is on the final page: 'To Hudson, return this to me when read, Olive'.

As a consequence, 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa' was not published.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/13
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	1900
Address From	na
Address To	Cape Town
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This comment has been written on a typescript letter Schreiner had received; it is dated as 1900 due to its place in the archival sequence. Its addressee is implicit in archival location.

1:  This is a copy of one of the endless letters I have received with
2:  regard to the publications of my Stray Thought articles in America.
3: 
4:  Olive Schreiner
5: 
6: 
7: 

Notation
The typescript letter which this comment is written on is as follows:

Miss Olive Schreiner
Cape Town, S.A.

Dear Madam,

I have discovered a most interesting series of articles on South Africa, entitled Stray Thoughts on South Africa, contributed by yourself to the Fortnightly Review in 1896. I would very much like to syndicate part of this matter in leading Sunday papers of America. Are the articles for sale for serial publication, or have you already disposed of serial rights? For For how much may I use the articles in the newspapers? Or if agreeable to you I would prefer to sell them and gvi give you fifty per cent of the gross proceeds receipts. If you will let me have the articles on the last named terms, please cable "Yes" on enclosed blank and I will forward this cable cost to you at once. Please also write me without delay stating on what terms I can use the articles. I am eager to get them out at the earliest possible moment.

P.S. Very likely I would also find it advantageous to republish the articles in pamphlet form after they appear in the newspapers. If this is so, I will give you a royalty of fifteen per cent on the retail price of the book. Is this satisfactory?

There is no indication of the name of the letter-writer or which publishing house they represented.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/16
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	25 November 1895
Address From	na
Address To
Who To	Roberts Brothers
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Roberts Brothers, 25 November 1895, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This 'Copyright Contract:Memorandum of Agreement' for Stray Thoughts on South Africa is a typescript template with detailed notes added in handwriting by Olive Schreiner, as denoted by the chevron ^insertion^ symbols.

1:  ^Stray Thoughts - Roberts Bros^
2: 
3:  Memorandum of Agreement, made the ^twenty fifth^ day of ^November^ 18^95^;
4:  between ^Olive Schreiner of Cape Colony So Africa^
5: 
6:  part^y^ of the first part, and ^Roberts Brothers^ Publisher^s^ and
7:  Bookseller^s^, doing business in the City of Boston, ^Massachusetts U.S.A^,
8:  part^ies^ of the second part.
9: 
10:  Whereas, the part^y^ of the first part ^is the author and owner of the
11:  Copyright of a work called Stray Thoughts on South Africa^ for the
12:  publication of which the parties hereto desirous to provide.
13: 
14:  Now it is agreed, by and between the parties hereto, contracting for
15:  themselves and their legal representatives and assigns respectively,
16:  as follows:
17: 
18:  I. The part^ies^ of the ^second^ part shall take out a copyright upon said
19:  work, in due form of law, in the name of ^the author, the said work to
20:  be published primarily in some periodicals in America and England
21:  simultaneously. ^
22: 
23:  II. The part^y^ of the first part do^es^ hereby warrant that the said work
24:  ^shall^ not infringe upon any copyright now in force, and authorize^s^ the
25:  part^ies^ of the second part to defend any and all claims, suits, and
26:  proceedings which may be taken against ^them^ for infringement of any
27:  other copyright by the publication of said work, and to charge the
28:  reasonable expenses of such defense to the part^y^ of the first part.
29: 
30:  III. The part^ies^ of the second part shall publish said work as soon as
31:  practicable, after receiving the ^revised copy^, and in such a manner as
32:  ^they^ shall deem most expedient, ^and^ shall keep the market at all times
33:  fully supplied therewith, and shall use all reasonable endeavours
34:  according to the usage of the trade, to obtain as large a sale as
35:  practicable therefore.
36: 
37:  IV. The part^ies^ of the second part agree to pay the part^y^ of the first
38:  part a copyright of ^ten^ per cent on the ^retail^ price of all copies of
39:  said book sold, accounts of sales to be rendered in ^July^ and ^January^
40:  of each year, and the amounts due to be paid ^in cash at the time of
41:  settlement^
42: 
43:  Provided, however, that copies in fine bindings and illustrated or
44:  expensive editions shall not be included in this percentage, but shall
45:  be arranged separately; also, that copies for notice shall be exempt.
46: 
47:  V. Upon these terms and conditions, and in consideration of them, the
48:  part^ies^ of the second shall have the exclusive right to publish said
49:  work for the whole duration of the copyright, and of any renewal
50:  thereof, to be taken out as aforesaid ^five years;^ Provided, however,
51:  that in case ^they^ shall fail to perform any or either of the terms of
52:  this agreement upon ^their^ part, the part^y^ of the first part shall be
53:  entitled, upon purchasing and paying for, at a fair valuation, the
54:  ^electro plates of said work^ to resume all rights which by this
55:  agreement are conferred upon the part^ies^ of the second part.
56: 
57:  VI. If, after ^five^ years from date of publication, the demand for said
58:  work should not be sufficient in the opinion of the part^y^ of the
59:  second ^first^ part to render its publication profitable, then this
60:  contract shall end, and the part^y^ of the first part shall have the
61:  right at ^her^ option, to purchase at cost, the ^electro plates and stock
62:  on hand of said work^ or, failing to do this, then said part^ies^ of the
63:  second part shall have the right to dispose of the same as ^they^ may
64:  see fit, free of copyright; Provided, also, that in case no such
65:  ending of this contract is made, the part^ies^ of the second part shall
66:  have the right to dispose of any books on hand, which, being
67:  unsaleable, cannot be sold in the ordinary way, in the best manner
68:  possible, paying the part^y^ of the first part ^ten^ per cent on the net
69:  amount received in lieu of the percentage of Article IV.
70: 
71:  In Witness Whereof, we have subscribed this Memorandum of Agreement,
72:  the day and year first above written.
73: 
74:  In presence of ^
75:  J. Harry White
76:  SC Cronwright Schreiner
77:  Roberts Bros Olive Schreiner^
78: 
79: 
80:  Copyright Contract. Dated, ^5th Nov^ 18^95^
81:  with ^Roberts Brothers^
82:  Agreement
83:  Relative to ^
84:  Book publication
85:  of "Stray Thoughts on S. Africa."^
86: 
87: 
88: 
89: 

Notation

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/B Documents: Box 7/17
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	4 February 1897
Address From	na
Address To
Who To	Roberts Brothers
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Roberts Brothers, 4 February 1897, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This 'Copyright Contract: Memorandum of Agreement' for the US publication of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland is a typescript template with detailed notes added in handwriting by Olive Schreiner, as denoted by the chevron ^insertion^ symbols.

1:  ^Peter Halket - Roberts Bros^
2: 
3:  Memorandum of Agreement, made the ^fourth^ day of ^February^ 18^97^; between
4:  ^Olive Schreiner, of Kimberley, South Africa^
5: 
6:  part^y^ of the first part, and ^Roberts Brothers^ Publisher^s^ and
7:  Bookseller^s^, doing business in the City of Boston, ^Commonwealth of
8:  Massachusetts, United States of America^, part^ies^ of the second part.
9: 
10:  Whereas, the part^y^ of the first part ^is the author and the owner of
11:  the copyright of a work entitled Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland"^
12:  for the publication of which the parties hereto desirous to provide.
13: 
14:  Now it is agreed, by and between the parties hereto, contracting for
15:  themselves and their legal representatives and assigns respectively,
16:  as follows:
17: 
18:  I. The part^ies^ of the ^second^ part shall take out a copyright ^in the
19:  United States of America^ upon said work, in due form of law, in the
20:  name of ^the Author, charging the expense thereof ($1.50) to the party
21:  of the first part, such copyright to be taken out at such a time as to
22:  permit of the publication of the book, duly protected, on February 17, 1897.^
23: 
24:  II. The part^y^ of the first part do^es^ hereby warrant that the said work
25:  ^shall^ not infringe upon any copyright now in force, and authorize^s^ the
26:  part^ies^ of the second part to defend any and all claims, suits, and
27:  proceedings which may be taken against ^them^ for infringement of any
28:  other copyright by the publication of said work, and to charge the
29:  reasonable expenses of such defense to the part^y^ of the first part.
30: 
31:  III. The part^ies^ of the second part shall publish said work as soon as
32:  practicable, after receiving the ^manuscript^, and in such a manner as
33:  ^they^ shall deem most expedient, ^said publication to be on February 17,
34:  1897, and^ shall keep the market at all times fully supplied therewith,
35:  and shall use all reasonable endeavours according to the usage of the
36:  trade, to obtain as large a sale as practicable therefore.
37: 
38:  IV. The part^ies^ of the second part agree to pay the part^y^ of the first
39:  part a copyright of ^ten^ per cent on the ^retail^ price of all copies of
40:  said book sold, ^after three thousand copies have been sold^, accounts
41:  of sales to be rendered in ^January^ and ^July^ of each year, and the
42:  amounts due to be paid ^in cash at the time of each half-yearly
43:  rendering of the accounts of sales^
44: 
45:  Provided, however, that copies in fine bindings and illustrated or
46:  expensive editions shall not be included in this percentage, but shall
47:  be arranged separately; also, that copies for notice shall be exempt.
48: 
49:  V. Upon these terms and conditions, and in consideration of them, the
50:  part^ies^ of the second shall have the exclusive right to publish said
51:  work for the whole duration of the copyright, and of any renewal
52:  thereof, to be taken out as aforesaid; Provided, however, that in case
53:  ^they^ shall fail to perform any or either of the terms of this
54:  agreement upon ^their^ part, the part^y^ of the first part shall be
55:  entitled, upon purchasing and paying for, at a fair valuation, the
56:  ^electrotype plates and stock on hand of said work, in the United
57:  States of America^ to resume all rights which by this agreement are
58:  conferred upon the part^ies^ of the second part.
59: 
60:  VI. If, after ^five^ years from date of publication, the demand for said
61:  work should not be sufficient in the opinion of the part^ies^ of the
62:  second part to render its publication profitable, then this contract
63:  shall end, and the part^y^ of the first part shall have the right at ^her^
64:  option, to purchase at cost, the ^stock on hand of said work^ or,
65:  failing to do this, then said part^ies^ of the second part shall have
66:  the right to dispose of the same as ^they^ may see fit, free of
67:  copyright; Provided, also, that in case no such ending of this
68:  contract is made, the part^ies^ of the second part shall have the right
69:  to dispose of any books on hand, which, being unsaleable, cannot be
70:  sold in the ordinary way, in the best manner possible, paying the
71:  part^y^ of the first part ^ten^ per cent on the net amount received in
72:  lieu of the percentage of Article IV.
73: 
74:  ^VII. The parties of the second part agree to pay the party of the
75:  first part an outright sum of fifty pounds (£50) to cover the sale of
76:  the first three thousand copies of said work.^
77: 
78:  In Witness Whereof, we have subscribed this Memorandum of Agreement,
79:  the day and year first above written.
80: 
81:  In presence of ^
82:  Six words written in in Clause I. before signing
83:  F. ?Aliott Pratt
84:  to Roberts Brothers
85:  John Brown
86:  Roberts Bros Olive Schreiner^
87: 
88: 
89:  Copyright Contract.
90:  Dated, ^4th Feb^ 18^97^
91:  with
92:  ^Roberts Brothers^
93:  Agreement
94:  Relative to
95:  ^Trooper Peter Halket^
96: 
97: 
98: 
99: 

Notation

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1067
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	12 October 1871
Address From	Dordrecht, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 4-5

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 12 October 1871, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Dordrecht
2:  Oct 12th 1871
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I have not heard from you for some time, but I know you must find more
7:  than enough to enough to do with your six little ones & can have very
8:  little time for letter writing.
9: 
10:  I am now as see from the date of my letter at Dordrecht, where I shall
11:  stay for some time with my friends, the Robinsons. I am teaching their
12:  two little girls for which they give me £30 a year, they wished me to
13:  live with them just as one of the family but I preferred coming to
14:  some definite arrangement. I think it is always best.
15: 
16:  We are having dreadfully cold weather here, we have had incessant rain
17:  & snow for a week, & I don't know how much longer it is going to last.
18: 
19:  I am expecting to hear from Tattie tomorrow I suppose she will have
20:  returned to Aliwal by this time, I am so anxious to hear what she is
21:  going to do now. I don't fancy she will stay in Aliwal if she can help
22:  it poor dear thing. I wish I could spend this afternoon with her.
23: 
24:  Don't forget to give Aunt Olive's love to all the dear little ones;
25:  whom I wish I could take a peep at you all. I hope my little Olive is
26:  growing nicely as soon as she is old enough do have her likeness taken,
27:  & send me one, also those of the other children when you have them
28:  taken.
29: 
30:  I must close now dear sister, do write to me as soon as you can.
31: 
32:  I am, with fond love,
33:  Your affectate sister
34:  Olive A. Schreiner
35: 
36: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1051
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	11 April 1871
Address From	Kraai River, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 3-4

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 11 April 1871, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  My dearest Katie!
2: 
3:  Your truly welcome letter reached me last post enclosing the
4:  likenesses of. I was so glad to receive them & often take a look at
5:  them. I shall be so glad when I have the photos of the little ones too.
6: 
7:  I don't know if you will be able to to read this dreadful writing but
8:  we have no ink & have got to write with tea put in an old ink pot &
9:  very poor substitute for ink. We have sent for some Lady Grey but the
10:  boy has not arrived yet & I can't wait for him.
11: 
12:  I was so glad to hear you were all well & I was so pleased with little
13:  Katie's letter it was so nicely written. How old is she?
14: 
15:  I am now staying for a visit with a great friend of mine Mrs R.
16:  Nesbett. Mr Nesbet has had to go up with his men to the diamond fields
17:  on account of the war so I have come here to stay with her for a week
18:  or two, she is such a dear little woman & has such nice children her
19:  brother in law Captain Nesbett formerly of the 12th is here to-day & I
20:  want to have my letters finished for him to take with him tomorrow so
21:  that all my letters must be short this time. I have been here two
22:  weeks but when I left Avoca Lily & all the little ones were well, the
23:  week before I left Hammy Hope was up here. He is such a dear nice
24:  fellow, a great friend of mine. Poor Emmie is as ill as ever. Tattie's
25:  baby is, they say a fine boy. All the friends
26: 
27:  ^were well when I last heard of them.
28: 
29:  I hear Alice has another little son. I do hope he will be spared to
30:  them. I suppose Hemming is delighted at its being a boy.^
31: 
32:  ^YouI must close now dear sister. You must excuse the shortness of this
33:  letter & the badness of the writing.
34: 
35:  With best love to all,
36:  I am
37:  Your fond
38:  Olive.^
39: 
40:  ^PS By the way, I wish you would call me Olive. I like it so much
41:  better than Emily & it is my first name you know, so I don't see why I
42:  should not^
43: 
44:  ^be called by it.
45: 
46:  Kraai River
47:  April 11th, 1871^
48: 
49: 
50: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1088
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	7 February 1873
Address From	New Rush, later Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 8

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 7 February 1873, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  New Rush,
2:  Feb. 7th 1873
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie
5: 
6:  I was so glad when yesterday's post brought me your long looked for
7:  letter, many thanks for it. It was so long since I heard from you last
8:  that I was quite anxious lest one of you little ones should be ill, &
9:  that, the cause of your not writing.
10: 
11:  We are all well Theo & Ettie are quite them selves once more after
12:  their change to the river & I am getting stronger than I have been for
13:  a long time past though I am still weak.
14: 
15:  We are not finding many diamonds, only just enough to pay our way with
16:  but Theo still seems to like the life here & will not go back to the
17:  Colony. We have a splendid photographer here & when Theo has his photo
18:  taken which he is going to do in a day or two I will not forget to
19:  send you one. I have never seen better likenesses even from England
20:  than those that Howard takes here.
21: 
22:  I wish if you have it, you would send me a photo of your 3 youngest as
23:  I have never seen any of them yet & if you have not had them taken
24:  please do so, as soon as you can.
25: 
26:  Do you ever think of coming to pay the fields a visit? I fancy if you
27:  come in the passenger waggons it only takes three days from this to
28:  Beaufort West. I should so like to see you all even if only for a few
29:  days but I suppose you don't care much for travel with so many little
30:  ones.
31: 
32:  I must close now dear Katie, as it will soon be time
33: 
34:  ^to post the letters.
35: 
36:  Do write soon to
37:  Your ever loving sister
38:  Olive Schreiner^
39: 
40: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1098
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	6 April 1872
Address From	Dordrecht, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 5-6

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 6 April 1872, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Dordrecht
2:  April 6th 1872
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  Its a long time since I last wrote to you; but I fancy I am right in
7:  thinking that I've not heard from you since I last did so; no news of
8:  you however; is I hope, good news, if any of you had been ill I should
9:  have been sure to have heard of it from Mamma.
10: 
11:  I was so grieved to hear from her last week of the death of poor
12:  Alice's little one. I had so hoped she would keep him. Mama says
13:  something of his having had a fall from his nurse's knee; was that the
14:  cause of his death? how long was he ill? Tell me all about it when you
15:  write next.
16: 
17:  I hope all your dear little ones are still well, what a merry, noisy,
18:  house yours must be with your five little little tongues which I am
19:  sure a always going & the five (or rather four) little pairs of feet
20:  which are never long at rest. I suppose baby does not walk yet^?^ but is
21:  quite as full of life as any of the others no doubt.
22: 
23:  I am still at Dordrecht with the Robinsons, but I don't think I shall
24:  be here much longer, kind as the Rs are to me & glad as I know they
25:  are to have me with them. I feel that now poor little Aggie is gone, I
26:  am not needed here & would give any thing to be able to leave but
27:  where to go to I don't see just at present I hope some thing will turn
28:  up in time, but I feel so anxious, miserable & distracted just now
29:  that I don't feel fit for letter writing or any thing else;
30: 
31:  Its wonderful how qual quietly one gets to take the ups & downs of
32:  life after a time, but I am thoroughly sick of this life always having
33:  to move on & never knowing where to move on to. I wish now that I had
34:  gone to Bedford when Ettie got me the position at Mrs Gill's, but
35:  enough of my self.
36: 
37:  I was so glad to hear by last post that Theo had arrived safely at the
38:  Fields, poor Ettie had been very ill but when she wrote was much
39:  better I hope we shall soon hear good news from them.
40: 
41:  I must close now dear sister as it is getting dreadfully late do
42:  answer this as soon as you receive it I shall be so glad to hear from
43:  you again.
44: 
45:  With many kisses for the little ones your affectionate
46:  Olive
47: 
48:  PS. Please give my love to Alice & tell her I have written to her but
49:  have mislaid the letter & can't send it by this post.
50: 
51: 
52: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1118
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	August 1872
Address From	Hertzog, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, August 1872, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. The date has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.

1:  My dearest Katie
2: 
3:  I arrived in Hertzog yesterday & found your note waiting for me. I was
4:  truly glad to hear from you after your long silence, you see I lose no
5:  time in answering it.
6: 
7:  I had a very cold wet journey down from Dordrecht & was most glad to
8:  get here & see dear Mamma once more after three years, for it is quite
9:  as long a time since I saw her last in Cradock. I found her looking
10:  well & not changed in any way; Papa you would not recognise at all
11:  with his large beard.
12: 
13:  Hertzog is a very quiet little place but I think I shall like it much
14:  just on that account. I am so tired of town life that the prospect of
15:  a few months of quiet is delightful.
16: 
17:  I was so glad to hear all your little ones were well; give my love to
18:  little Katie & tell her if I not to forget to write to me as she
19:  promised.
20: 
21:  I am going to have my photo taken tomorrow & will send you one if they
22:  turn out well, but I very much fear they will not as the photographer
23:  does not seem to be one of the first order.
24: 
25:  Mamma & I are just saying how pleasant it would be if she & I could
26:  take a
27: 
28:  ^?run up to Fraserburg for a week or two before I leave but really
29:  there is no way of doing it, one could as easily get to England as to
30:  that far off Fraserburg. How ever I hope one of these days I shall see
31:  you dear sister.
32: 
33:  I must now close^
34: 
35:  ^with much true love
36: 
37:  I remain dearest Katie
38:  Your ever affectionate sister
39:  Olive
40: 
41:  PS I was so glad to find dear Mamma in such a snug little house, it is
42:  a much^
43: 
44:  ^more comfortable place than I expected to find.^
45: 
46: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1124
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	18 August 1872
Address From	Hertzog, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 6-7

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 18 August 1872, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hertzog
2:  August 18th 1872
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  You must not expect a long letter from me to day, as I have a bad head
7:  ache.
8: 
9:  I am quite alone at home, Papa having started for his journey up
10:  country to look after a waggon of his which he could not get down in
11:  the winter & Mamma has gone to Balfour for a few days.
12: 
13:  I enjoy the quiet of Hertzog much, & shall still more when my piano
14:  comes. Music, reading & riding are the three things which make a
15:  country life pleasant, I think.
16: 
17:  Mamma said she would write you all the news by this post but being at
18:  Balfour she may forget to do so, so I had better tell you what little
19:  there is myself. The most interesting thing I can think of is that
20:  about myself. I am engaged to be married to Mr. Julius Gau of
21:  Dordrecht. I can't say just yet when we shall be married; it may be
22:  very soon, that is in four or five months, or it may not be for at
23:  least a year to come. I will be able to tell you more definitely next
24:  week. We shall not stay long in the Colony after we are married under
25:  any circumstances & Mr. G told me last week that it was quite likely
26:  he might leave for Europe in January. I do wish it were possible to
27:  see you all before I go, as I will likely never see any of you again,
28:  the only way would be for you to come here; & I suppose with your
29:  large family of little ones that is quite ^out^ of the question if we go
30:  home in Jan - I fear I shall not be able to see Theo & Ettie but I
31:  don't mean to let the thought trouble me until I am sure we are going,
32:  for if we are not married in January we will not be for another year &
33:  before that there is no way of knowing what what may not have taken
34:  place.
35: 
36:  I have just received a letter from Tattie Powrie. She & the children
37:  were all well, & her school seems to be getting on well, she has Eliza
38:  Burnett as teacher, does it not seem strange to think of little Eliza
39:  as a woman. I have also just got a letter from Hammy (Mr. Hope). He is
40:  still in Aliwal and doing a little better than he used to, he did not
41:  mention having heard from Emmie.
42: 
43:  I hope dear Katie you will not mention my engagement to any one, in
44:  writing; as a rule I think it great nonsense to wish such a thing not
45:  to be spoken of, but circumstances alter cases you know & it would be
46:  very unpleasant for us to have it talked about just yet. & people do
47:  take such an interest in other people's affairs that what one person
48:  knows the whole country knows in a few weeks & you may think your self
49:  fortunate, if they content themselves with saying that which is true
50:  about you. I heard the other day that Tattie was to be married. Of
51:  course I did not believe it as I have made a rule never to believe any
52:  thing I hear. She writes me that the gentleman to whom they said she
53:  was to be married was one with whom she was not even on speaking terms.
54:  So much for what people say.
55: 
56:  I must bring my letter to a close now dearest Katie. Give Aunt Olive's
57:  love to
58: 
59:  ^the little ones & many kisses.
60: 
61:  Good bye
62:  Ever your affectionate loving sister
63:  Olive Schreiner^
64: 
65: 
66: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1127
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	27 August 1872
Address From	Hertzog, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 7

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 27 August 1872, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hertzog
2:  Aug 27th 1872
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I don't feel at all well this evening, but I must write you a few
7:  lines to congratulate you on the birth of your little daughter I was
8:  truly glad to hear that you & she were both doing well & hope you will
9:  continue to do so. I trust next post will bring us good news of you &
10:  that by the time this reaches you you will be about once more.
11: 
12:  I suppose a baby is 14 days to day that you are sitting up. I should
13:  be so glad to have a look at you both.
14: 
15:  Papa has not yet returned from his up country journey. We are
16:  expecting him home next Saturday. He will have been from home a little
17:  more than a fortnight.
18: 
19:  I had a long letter from Tattie Powrie the other day, she seems to be
20:  getting on well with her school. She is a good teacher & very much
21:  liked in Aliwal. I think they were all well when she wrote but though
22:  she had been suffering from weak eyes for some time.
23: 
24:  I must close now dear Katie with fond love to all the little ones.
25: 
26:  I remain
27:  Your most affecate sister
28:  Olive E. Schreiner
29: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1149
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	24 December 1872
Address From	New Rush, later Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 7

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 24 December 1872, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  New Rush
2:  December 24th 1872
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I had only time to send you such a line before I left Hertzog but I
7:  must try & find time to send you a note by this post.
8: 
9:  I arrived here safely last week after a six days journey. I should
10:  have got here in five but was delayed by the rivers. I found poor
11:  Ettie on my arrival very ill in bed & suffering dreadfully, it will be
12:  some time before she will really get about again. The dear old girl
13:  quite over works herself & can not be made to take care of herself in
14:  any way.
15: 
16:  Theo & Willie are well. Will is a fine strong fellow, quite as tall as
17:  Theo & works as well as any man. I should not have known him again.
18:  They are not finding much & the little they do find they can get
19:  hardly any thing for. Diamonds are so low just now.
20: 
21:  The heat here is some thing dreadful & sickness very prevalent. What
22:  it will be by New Year I don't know. I hope you & your little ones are
23:  very well. Do write to me soon. I am always so glad of your letters
24:  dear Katie. I will try & answer you at once though letter writing here
25:  is no easy task.
26: 
27:  I saw Joe Orpen here a little time ago & am expecting him to call in
28:  every moment so had better close.
29: 
30:  With much love from Ettie
31: 
32:  I am ever
33:  Your most affectate sister
34:  Olive
35: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1153
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	1 January 1873
Address From	New Rush, later Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 7-8

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 1 January 1873, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  New Rush
2:  Jan 1st 1873
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I have just got your kind letter for which many thanks. I've only time
7:  to day for a line, to wish you all a happy new year, I wish I could
8:  spend part of the day with you at Fraserburg. here we are having a
9:  frightfully hot day & will I hope have a storm this afternoon. We are
10:  all pretty well, that is for the fields. We are none of us in bed,
11:  which is more than most people here can say, still I like the Fields
12:  much, & more every day.
13: 
14:  You can have no idea unless you have seen them what they are like
15:  Ettie & I lost our way a night or two ago & were wandering about for
16:  an hour or two before we got home; in that part of the camp which we
17:  call the town it is easy enough to find your way about even at night,
18:  but in the real camp it is hard work.
19: 
20:  We are finding very few diamonds & when they are found can get very
21:  little for them. I don't think diamond digging is paying work at all
22:  now.
23: 
24:  I must close now dearest Katie. With much fond love to the dear little
25:  ones & your self.
26: 
27:  Believe me to be ever your loving sister
28:  Olive
29: 
30:  Excuse haste the post is just going.
31: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1166
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	24 March 1873
Address From	New Rush, later Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 9

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 24 March 1873, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  New Rush
2:  March 24th 1873.
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  Many thanks for the letter, which last post brought me. I was very
7:  sorry to hear that poor little John was ill with scarletina & I hope
8:  that none of your other little ones will take it & that he will soon
9:  be quite well once more. You must have quite enough to do with so many
10:  little ones when they are all well. You must almost have more to see
11:  after than one person can manage when any of them are ill. Have you
12:  got good servants? We are in great trouble here for want of any at all
13:  & you can never get them for less than £2.10. a month & some ask £4,
14:  we have how ever got a very good cook & that is a great comfort at the
15:  fields where you have no kitchens. All our other men are leaving us
16:  tomorrow & as Theo needs twenty to work his claims I don't know what
17:  he will do.
18: 
19:  We are having very cool weather here & there is little or no sickness
20:  just now. If you ever mean to pay the Diamond Fields a visit this
21:  month & the next will be the best time.
22: 
23:  We hear every week from Willie, he is well & doing well with his
24:  studies. To day he starts for Grahamstown with Mr. Templeton. I hope
25:  he will like it as well as he has done Bedford.
26: 
27:  We are all quite well. Theo looks so different from what he did two
28:  months ago, that one would hardly know him again, his trip to the
29:  river did him so much good.
30: 
31:  He is not finding many diamonds, still he is paying his way & we hope
32:  that the big diamonds may soon come, he has a claim of his own now, so
33:  all that he finds is his own & if he can only get men I have no doubt
34:  he will do very well in time. To day is my birth day & Ettie & I are
35:  going out for a drive this afternoon which will be a great treat to us
36:  as driving is a pleasure we do not often enjoy here. It is £1 an hour
37:  for cart & horses & to keep your own is what only the very richest
38:  people can do.
39: 
40:  On Saturday we are going to the river, where we will spend Sunday
41:  returning to New Rush on Monday. The river which is about twenty miles
42:  from this, is, every one tells me very beautiful, far more so than the
43:  Orange, & as there is a very nice large hotel there, it will be a
44:  pleasant change for us.
45: 
46:  Young Mr Dammas has just called. I suppose you remember the Damasses
47:  well, this young Dammas is a very pleasant gentlemanly fellow & we see
48:  a great deal of him. His mother & all the rest of the family have gone
49:  to Europe ^&^ he is the only member of it now in the Colony.
50: 
51:  I see from the papers that Mr. Fish, the minister who lived with us
52:  for so many years at Heald Town has just lost his second wife. She had
53:  only been married seven months & was not yet twenty. I feel so much
54:  for him poor fellow; he was almost a brother to us in the old days.
55:  Did you see him when you were at Heald Town? What a long time ago that
56:  visit seems now, does it not? It seems strange that living in the same
57:  country, so many years should have passed without our once seeing each
58:  other; one of us might be in England for any chance there is of our
59:  meeting.
60: 
61:  You must excuse this dreadful scrawl dear Katie, but my ink & pen are
62:  both bad & I am in haste.
63: 
64:  Give Aunt Olives love to the little ones & believe me dear Katie to
65:  remain
66:  Your affeate sister
67:  Olive E.A. Schreiner
68: 
69:  P.S. Do write soon, dear Katie. Theo sends love & Ettie I think will
70:  enclose a note in this if she has time. I shall be glad to get a
71:  likeness of yourself & the children. I do hope someone will soon come
72:  to Fraserburg who can take them.
73: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1180
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	30 April 1873
Address From	New Rush, later Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 10-11

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 30 April 1873, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  New Rush
2:  April 30th 1873
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie
5: 
6:  I have just received your kind letter & the very nice little book for
7:  both of which many thanks. The book will be very useful to me
8:  especially as I am very bad at remembering birth-days. I must also
9:  thank you for the likeness of George & Hudson. I can see that it is
10:  not a very good one but I am still most glad of it.
11: 
12:  This mornings post brought me a letter from Fred, his school seems
13:  doing very well, but Emma had been ill in bed for three weeks; she was
14:  much better when he wrote how ever.
15: 
16:  We are all quite well & very glad of the cold weather after our hot &
17:  long summer.
18: 
19:  We have just had a reed enclosure put up all around our encampment
20:  which will shelter us nicely from the cold winds & dust for which New
21:  Rush is celebrated.
22: 
23:  Theo has not been finding much lately & diamonds are still very low in
24:  price, but we hope that they may soon rise as so many people are
25:  leaving for the Gold Fields, every day waggons start for them. Some
26:  friends of mine who are going up in a few weeks time want me much to
27:  with them, but I don't think I shall do so as they will be away for
28:  three or four months at least. We hear every week from Willie, he
29:  seems happy & is doing well with his studies, there are more than a
30:  hundred boys in the school yet he is head boy.
31: 
32:  Give my best love to the children. I am so glad that they are all well
33:  again. Is there a good school in Fraserburg for them to go to? In some
34:  of these little towns the schools are really most wretched. I suppose
35:  Katie is getting quite a big girl now; she is much older than I was
36:  when you last saw me at Heald Town.
37: 
38:  Ettie sends much love & many thanks for the book you sent her & will
39:  write soon. She has so many letters to send off by this post that she
40:  cannot do so now.
41: 
42:  We very often see Mr. Daummas, he has just heard from his brother who
43:  is now in France. They were all very well except his younger sister
44:  who is very delicate. Mrs Hope had just come over from England to
45:  spend a little time with them when they wrote. I have just been out in
46:  the town to see a large diamond of three 159 carats which was found
47:  yesterday by a Mr Hubby. He hopes to get at least £4000 for it as it
48:  is a beautiful stone. I wonder when our turn for a big one will come,
49:  soon I hope. If Theo gets a very large one he has promised to send me
50:  to America to study at one of the large colleges that they have there
51:  for ladies. It is the great wish of my life & I hope that it is
52:  destined to be realized one of these days & not like so many of our
53:  hopes to come to nothing.
54: 
55:  I have no time to add more just now dear Katie. Please write soon to
56: 
57:  Your ever loving sister
58:  Olive E.A. Schreiner
59: 
60:  Theo sends love. I enclose a little letter for George & Katie as I
61:  have never forgotten how much pleasure it used to give me to get a
62:  letter from dear old Auntie when I was their age. How little it takes
63:  to make a child happy, does it not?
64: 

Notation
Rive?s (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1189
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	24 May 1873
Address From	De Beers, New Rush, later Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 11

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 24 May 1873, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  De Beers New Rush
2:  May 24th 1873
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I was much grieved to hear of heavy trial you have had to pass through,
7:  in the loss of your little daughter. It is indeed bitter when death
8:  takes from us those we love; but, dear sister, we do not know what
9:  might have been her future had she lived; how many of there are for
10:  whom it would have been far better had they died as little babies, for
11:  her there is no more bitterness or grief for ever. I wish dear Katie
12:  that I could see you, to tell you how much I feel for you, or even
13:  that I could write you a long letter this post; but I can not as I am
14:  suffering from a very bad thumb & writing pains me much.
15: 
16:  Give my best love to the children & thank Katie for her letter which I
17:  will answer as soon as my hand is better when you also must expect a
18:  long letter. Till then goodbye dear Katie.
19: 
20:  With warm love & sympathy
21:  I am
22:  Your ever loving sister
23:  Olive E. A. Schreiner
24: 
25:  P.S. Many thanks for the likeness - I was very glad of it.
26: 
27: 
28: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1203
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	1 March 1874
Address From	Hertzog, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 11-12

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 1 March 1874, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hertzog
2:  March 1st 1874
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie.
5: 
6:  I have a very bad thumb & can hardly hold my pen but I must try &
7:  write my dear sister a few lines. I arrived here about ten o'clock
8:  having been about eight days on the way. I would have enjoyed the
9:  journey very much had it not been that I lost my portmanteau at Algoa
10:  Bay with almost every thing I have in the world, letters, likenesses,
11:  clothes. Of course they were not worth so very much but the poor mans
12:  all is as much to him as the rich mans.
13: 
14:  Papa & Mamma are not looking very well & they are very hard up - do
15:  not see meat often for a week & do not have too much bread. They have
16:  nothing to live on but what you & Theo give them & now food is so dear
17:  they find it hard to manage. Poor Papa has hardly any clothes but some
18:  old things of Willie's. Of course I must get something to do at once &
19:  am writing this afternoon to a lady who I know wants a governess. I
20:  hope I shall hear by next week's post that she is willing to have me.
21: 
22:  I hope you are all well. Give my love to the dear little people & John
23:  & believe me dearest Katie ever to be
24: 
25:  Your most loving little sister
26:  Olive Schreiner
27: 
28:  PS Mamma sends much love & many thanks for the money & will write next
28:  week.
29: 
30: 
31: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1209
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	8 April 1874
Address From	Hertzog, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 12

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 8 April 1874, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Hertzog
2:  April 8th 1874
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I must thank you for your kind letter received last week. I was glad
7:  to hear that you were all still in good health & that baby was getting
8:  on so nicely. I suppose I shall find her much changed in the three
9:  months that have past since I last saw her.
10: 
11:  I am feeling very much better now though I shall never be well while I
12:  remain in these damp valleys. I hope to be able to get a position in
13:  Colesberg where the climate is very dry & healthy. I shall know if I
14:  have succeeded in doing so by next post & if I have, will be on my way
15:  up very soon.
16: 
17:  Ettie was better when I heard from her last week but she is never
18:  quite well & Theo is finding nothing at all. He will be off to the
19:  Gold Fields as soon as the accounts are a little more encouraging.
20: 
21:  Willie is well & getting on nicely in Grahamstown. He is going up to
22:  the fields in June before he leaves for Cape Town, & if I am in
23:  Colesberg I shall be able to see him for an hour or so on his way up.
24: 
25:  When you write please tell me how all the good Fraserburg people are
26:  getting on & remember me kindly to any who may ask after me.
27: 
28:  With love to all the children, believe me to be dear Katie
29:  Your ever affectate sister
30:  Olive
31: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1216
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	13 May 1874
Address From	Cradock, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 12-13

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 13 May 1874, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Cradock
2:  May 13th 1874
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I don't know when I last heard from you & you have now two letters to
7:  answer but I know you will not be sorry to have a third.
8: 
9:  I am now on my way to Colesberg & left Hertzog on Friday morning. I
10:  got to Bedford on Saturday after traveling all night. There I spent a
11:  day or two with the Solomons who were very kind. I started in the post
12:  cart for this on Thursday morning & arrived here the same evening. All
13:  my friends here were so glad to see me that they would not hear of my
14:  going on the next day so I have made up my mind to stay till Saturday
15:  & hope to reach Colesberg on Sunday night.
16: 
17:  I am staying here with a Mrs Sidney White & she & every one else is so
18:  kind to me that I shall be quite sorry to leave.
19: 
20:  Give my love to Katie & tell her I was very glad of her letter which I
21:  would have answered today but really have no time, as I promised to go
22:  out & spend the day with a friend, & must be off at once.
23: 
24:  Hoping you are all well & with much warm love to all
25: 
26:  Believe me ever to be
27:  Your truly loving sister
28:  Olive
29: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1219
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	25 May 1874
Address From	Colesberg, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 13

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 25 May 1874, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Colesberg
2:  May 25th 1874
3: 
4:  My dear Sister!
5: 
6:  I was so glad when on opening Mamma's letter I found it contained one
7:  from your self. Many thanks for it. I was so glad to hear you were all
8:  still well.
9: 
10:  I am, as you see from the date of my letter, now in Colesberg where I
11:  arrived a little more than a week ago. I was most kindly met by the
12:  Weaklys & feel sure that I shall get on well here.
13: 
14:  We live in a fine large house just out of the town & I have a nice
15:  large room all to my self. They live very quietly here & seldom go out
16:  which is just what I like you know.
17: 
18:  I think Colesberg is the most picturesque place in the Colony & the
19:  climate is delightful. I have felt wonderfully better since I got here.
20: 
21:  I heard for Will last post. He is well & very busy getting ready for
22:  his matriculation examination which will take place next month.
23: 
24:  It is school time so I must close. Hoping very soon to hear from you
25:  again.
26: 
27:  I am ever dear Katie
28:  Your loving sister
29:  Olive
30: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1221
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	28 June 1874
Address From	Colesberg, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 13-14

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 28 June 1874, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Colesberg
2:  June 28th 1874
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  It is some time since I heard from you & I think you are two letters
7:  in my debt, but I know you will be very sorry to get a few lines from me.
8: 
9:  I have been in Colesberg almost two months now, & like my place here
10:  increasingly well but have very little time for writing or any thing
11:  else. I go out so little that I know nothing of the people but the
12:  place itself I like much & the quiet life is just to my taste. I have
13:  not heard from Mamma or Ettie for some time. I suppose the former is
14:  busy moving over to Balfour where I do hope she may find better health
15:  than in low damp Hertzog.
16: 
17:  We are having most bitterly cold weather here just now & are obliged
18:  to have fires almost day & night which make one feel it all the more
19:  when obliged to go out.
20: 
21:  A few days ago I happened to meet a Mrs Norvil (Emily Mader that was)
22:  who was asking after you, & says she knew you very well before you
23:  were married. They live on a farm about three hours from this. Did you
24:  know that old Mr. Mader was married again to a young girl. I have also
25:  had the pleasure of meeting Fred Ludorf since I came here. He has gone
26:  down to Grahamstown but will be back next week when I hope to see more
27:  of him.
28: 
29:  Perhaps he & Will may come up on the coach together.
30: 
31:  I have no more time just now so must close for the present. With love
32:  for John & the children & much warm love for your self.
33: 
34:  Believe me to be
35:  Your truly loving sister
36:  Olive
37: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1226a
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	4 August 1871
Address From	Hermon, Basutoland (now Lesotho)
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 4 August 1871, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. Schreiner's writing of the date for this letter is very hard to read. Although it has been archivally located as 1874, it has been dated as 1871, as the only record of Schreiner being in Hermon is in that year.

1:  Hermon
2:  August 4th 1871
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  I have just received your letter dated the 4th of May, so it has been
7:  just three months on the way; I was most glad to get it, it was indeed
8:  a long time since I had heard from you. I was glad to know you were
9:  all well & my dear little niece & namesake getting on nicely, tell me
10:  what colour her eyes are & all about her when you write. I take a
11:  special interest in all that concerning your little Olive
12: 
13:  I am still at Hermon as Hammy has not been able to send for us & will
14:  not be able for some weeks to come. Auntie & Emmie send their love,
15:  Auntie has so much to do that she really has no time for letter
16:  writing, it seems sad that after a long & active life (as her's has
17:  be) she should have so much work old age, poor Emmie does not seem in
18:  any way better for the trip.
19: 
20:  Emile has just returned from the Bay; he is looking very well after
21:  his journey. I suppose you have heard he has resigned his position as
22:  French missionary, & has accepted a first class magistracy from
23:  Government at £450 a year, so Maggie will now I suppose come out
24:  again in a few months. She must be in England by this time.
25: 
26:  We are living such a quiet life here that I really have no news of any
27:  kind to give you, I spend most of my time in reading & walking, & am
28:  much enjoying the quiet of the country. I have a great dislike to Town
29:  life especially in small towns where you are obliged to be frien
30:  associate with everyone or mortally offend them.
31: 
32:  When you write direct my letters to Care of
33: 
34:  ^H. Hope Esqre, Aliwal North. I will be sure to get them wherever I am.
35: 
36:  And now good night & good bye; it is time for all good folks to be in
37:  bed. I have still some letters to write.
38: 
39:  With love to all,
40:  I am your affectate
41:  Olive^
42: 
43: 
44: 

Notation

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1238
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	20 October 1874
Address From	Colesberg, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 14-15

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 20 October 1874, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Colesberg
2:  October 20th 1874
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie,
5: 
6:  You have for a long time past owed me two letters, but having for a
7:  wonder paid off all my debts in the letter line I shall trouble you
8:  with a third hoping that it will bring a speedy reply.
9: 
10:  We have been and are very busy nursing the children who one after the
11:  other have been ill. The baby is still very bad & it some times seems
12:  as if they would never be all well again. I suppose you will have
13:  heard all the particulars with regard to dear Theo's lucky find. I am
14:  hoping that if they take their diamond to Europe as they sometimes
15:  talk of doing I shall have a peep at them as they pass through
16:  Colesberg.
17: 
18:  I wish I had had the pleasure so being at the Fields when it was found,
19:  just to have seen them all so happy. I do hope he will get a good
20:  price for it in the end, most of all for poor Papa & Mamma's sake for
21:  whom I know he would do so much if he only could.
22: 
23:  Give Auntie Olive's love to all the dear little ones. Are you thinking
24:  of sending Katie to school son? I should think she was quite old
25:  enough, but you would miss her dreadfully if she went.
26: 
27:  Have you ever got your likenesses from Cape Town. If you have please
28:  don't forget your promise to send me some.
29: 
30:  Hoping to hear from you very soon
31: 
32:  I am dear Katie
33:  Your very affectionate sister
34:  Olive
35: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/1254
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	28 April 1875
Address From	Ganna Hoek, Halesowen, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 16-17

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 28 April 1875, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  Ganna Hoek
2:  April 28th 1875
3: 
4:  My dearest Katie!
5: 
6:  Your kind letter has just reached me & I must thank you for it at once.
7:  It is really too good of you to say that I must keep the money I
8:  borrowed from you, my dear sister. If it had not been for your sending
9:  it, I don't know how I should ever have got here, or what would have
10:  become of me. I can not thank you enough for all your kindness to me.
11:  As I sit here I have on the nice old waterproof you gave me & which
12:  has been such a good friend to me & will be though the coming winter
13:  which promises to be bitterly cold.
14: 
15:  You must indeed miss your dear little daughter & I hope she will get
16:  on well & be very happy in Cape Town. She will feel a little lonely
17:  just at first I fancy & I hope she will be able to see Will often. He
18:  is such a dear warm hearted fellow, & will, I am sure be fond of her.
19:  The little ones must her too. She was always so good & kind to them,
20:  such a model little elder sister I used to think. Please when you next
21:  write be sure to give me her address, as I want to write to the dear
22:  little woman sometimes.
23: 
24:  I am feeling very anxious about the dear folks up at the Diamond
25:  Fields; things up there seem in a very critical state. They write me
26:  that the niggers enrolled by the government are every where to be seen
27:  swaggering about & saying how they don't mean to fight with the
28:  diggers but to have it out on their wives & children. If once a blow
29:  is struck up there, on either side, there will be terrible mad work, I
30:  fear, as the diggers have been quite maddened by injustice & taxation
31:  to which all have been more or less subjected & would fight to the
32:  death even though their case is utterly hopeless & they know it to be
33:  so. Theo & all my other friends up there have armed them selves & even
34:  Ettie has her revolver with which to protect herself in case of the
35:  worst.
36: 
37:  I am getting on very quietly & pleasantly in my work & if it were not
38:  for my chest would be in splendid health, but the almost continuous
39:  rains we have been getting have troubled me a great deal. My pupils
40:  are advancing wonderfully & though I shall never be fond of teaching I
41:  like it better than I ever thought I could.
42: 
43:  Do you still think of paying Mamma a visit? I would be a great joy to
44:  the old folks to see you & your little ones. Mr. Fouche say that at
45:  the end of the year which I have promised to remain here he will take
46:  me to see them, if I wish, & will then bring me back again. He is
47:  terribly afraid if I go away by myself that I will never come back any
48:  more.
49: 
50:  Give my love to the dear little ones & also to John whose kind offer
51:  to assist me in going to America I shall always feel grateful for,
52:  though I was unable to avail myself of it.
53: 
54:  With much warm love for yourself, dearest Sister, believe me always to
55:  remain,
56:  Yours very affecty
57:  Olive Schreiner
58: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/2307
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	22 July 1883
Address From	3 Beverley Villas, Barnes, London
Address To
Who To	Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 34-5

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Catherine ('Katie') Findlay nee Schreiner, 22 July 1883, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  3 Beverley Villas
2:  Barnes
3:  July 22 / 83
4: 
5:  Dear Sister,
6: 
7:  Many happy returns of your birthday. You are not forgotten by your
8:  little sister across the water. I hope you have before you many long &
9:  happy years.
10: 
11:  How are all the little ones. Is Hudson at home?
12: 
13:  I am now living close to Town in a very pleasant part, not far from
14:  Richmond. We are all having a very rainy summer, one can hardly
15:  realize the want of water at the Cape, in this country where we have
16:  so much at all times.
17: 
18:  Dear Fred & Emma are well. Wilfred comes next week to spend some time
19:  with me. He is a lively boy, & getting on very nicely at school. He
20:  promises to be very tall, & is growing fast. I am going on the 31st to
21:  see Kitty Sutton (Fanny Reitze's sister) & her husband off at the
22:  London Docks. Have you seen any of the Reitzes? I like all the members
23:  of the family I have seen exceedingly. Kitty Sutton is a charming
24:  little woman. I shall be very glad when Will & Fan are married. I
25:  should like to go to their wedding, but the journey is too long.
26: 
27:  With best love to all your dear little ones & much for yourself,
28:  I am, dear sister,
29:  Yours affectly,
30:  Olive Schreiner
31: 
32:  Address still to Fred's care as I may be moving my quarters soon.
33: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3329
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Telegram
Letter Date	21 September 1892
Address From	Matjesfontein, Western Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 21 September 1892, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner telegram, which is part of its Historical Papers. This telegram sends congratulations regarding Hudson Findlay’s marriage.

1:  From Matjesfontein
2:  21.9.1892
3:  van Olive Schreiner
4:  aan Hudson Findlay
5: 
6:  Hearty congratulations
7: 
8: 
9: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3589
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	9 May 1895
Address From	The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Bessie Findlay nee Niemeyer
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Bessie Findlay nee Niemeyer, 9 May 1895, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter is by and from Olive Schreiner, with Cronwright-Schreiner acting as her amanuensis or secretary.

1:  The Homestead
2:  Kimberley
3:  9 May 95
4: 
5:  My dear Bessie,
6: 
7:  Your kind note to your Aunt, about my brother Alfred, arrived
8:  yesterday. As Olive is still confined to her bed, I am writing for her.
9:  Many thanks for your ready response, and the hearty welcome you are
10:  prepared to extend to Alfred. I hope you'll be good friends: I am very
11:  fond of him. I am writing to him in a day or two (he reached
12:  Johannesburg yesterday - don't know his address yet) and will deliver
13:  your messages to him, & tell him to look you up.
14: 
15:  By this time, you will have heard that our little daughter only lived
16:  a few hours. Olive is, I am thankful to say, recovering nicely: she
17:  sits up tomorrow.
18: 
19:  Love from us both to you all,
20:  Yours very affectionately,
21:  S. C. Cronwright Schreiner
22: 
23: 

Notation

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3649
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	1896
Address From	na
Address To
Who To	John Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to John Findlay, 1896, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter is archived in the 1896 sequence and thus its dating here.

1:  Dear Brother
2: 
3:  Cron is going over your MS & I have written to England about it to a
4:  magazine editor. I hope he will take it but don't make sure at all. I
5:  may not be able to get it taken. But I will do all I can: & Cron is
6:  going over it carefully putting any little omissions &c right. The
7:  unreadable little stories are the most interesting part, that about
8:  the man who shot the nigger is very good. If you write more put in all
9:  the stories you know. But perhaps before writing more you had better
10:  wait & see how this one gets on.
11: 
12:  Give my love to all.
13:  Yours, with love from Cron & myself
14:  Olive
15: 
16:  What a sweet wife & beautiful little girl Hudson has got.
17: 

Notation
The manuscript sent by John Findlay to Schreiner cannot be established.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3648
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	24 April 1896
Address From	The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	John Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to John Findlay, 24 April 1896, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  The Homestead
2:  Kimberley
3:  April 24 / 96
4: 
5:  Dear John,
6: 
7:  I have just this afternoon got your letter & the article. I was very
8:  glad to hear from you.
9: 
10:  I do not like to raise your hopes too high as there may only be
11:  disappointment but if you write the article out very clearly, leaving
12:  good space between the lines (perhaps Alices hand is larger & more
13:  like round hand than yours & she might do it) I will try to get it
14:  published for you either in England, or if they will not have it here
15:  in this country. (Only write on one side of the paper.)
16: 
17:  I would most gladly give any amount of time to revising it; but you
18:  see unless I quite rewrote it I would spoil it. The charm of such
19:  writing is its naturalness, if I were to patch bits in & alter words,
20:  I should spoil your style, & it wouldn't be mine! Do you see what I
21:  mean?
22: 
23:  The 2nd of the articles which I have sent to England describes the
24:  relation of the Boer with his slaves, in the slave times. The 3rd
25:  describes the Boer's mode of life character &c; & the 4th the relation
26:  of the Boer & the Englishman. I will send you copies of these when
27:  they come. I wrote them about four years ago.
28: 
29:  I would strongly advise your getting Alice or Eliza to copy it in a
30:  big round hand, because the English Editors will be much more willing
31:  to read them is they are printed or in a large round hand. The title
32:  you have chosen for the paper is very good don't change it.
33: 
34:  If you would put in some good Boer stories &c unreadable about them,
35:  or stories that they have told you? In unreadable
36: 
37:  Remember, I cannot feel sure that any magazine in England will take
38:  the articles but I will do my best. And if you send the articles to me
39:  - I will try go very carefully over them, & if there is any change in
40:  the wording which I can make, that would improve it, I will certainly
41:  do so.
42: 
43:  I am so glad Katie is with you & my dear old Alsie too. Give my love
44:  to them all.
45: 
46:  Your little sister
47:  Olive
48: 
49:  ^Very much love to Katie, Eliza & Alice. Tell the girls I wish one of
50:  them would write to me. Perhaps you had better write one article first
51:  & see if we can get that taken. Cron sends his love to you all.^
52: 
53: 

Notation
The manuscript John Findlay sent to Schreiner cannot be established. The articles by Schreiner herself which are referred to are those originally published pseudonymously from 1891 on as by 'A Returned South African', intended for publication in book form as 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa'. However, although prepared for publication, a dispute with a US publisher and the events of the South African War prevented this. They and some related essays were posthumously published as Thoughts on South Africa.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3709
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	3 December 1897
Address From	The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	John Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to John Findlay, 3 December 1897, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  The Homestead
2:  Kimberley
3:  Dec 3rd 1897
4: 
5:  Dear John Findlay
6: 
7:  Your truly inexplicable & astonishing letter was forwarded to me in
8:  Cape Town. I am returning by this post your manuscript to Hudson's
9:  care. I did all I could to find a publisher for it in England but
10:  could not succeed; no one would take it, even though I offered to in
11:  one case to pay out of my own pocket if the editor would put it in his
12:  magazine. I can only suppose that that my not having succeeded in
13:  ^getting^ doing so ^a publisher for it^ is the cause of your writing me so
14:  astonishing & insulting a letter
15: 
16:  Your letter was the more astonishing to me because I have always
17:  entertained the very kindest & most friendly feelings for you. I have
18:  not seen you for over 23 years & then only for a few moments but I
19:  have always thought of you as one of the kindest hearted & gentlest of
20:  men, till I received this letter.
21: 
22:  You state that you were not in the habit of beating your wife & call
23:  God to witness. I can only say that, that ^the idea that^ an Englishman,
24:  & a gentleman, could strike a woman is one that would never enter my
25:  mind. I would have as soon have thought that Hudson would attempt to
26:  cut his little Zoe's throat. Even if your wife had been a strong
27:  healthy woman mentally such a horrible thought, would never have
28:  occurred to me; but that a human creature calling himself a man would
29:  strike a woman whom he knew to be mentally weak, is an idea too
30:  horrible even to be conceived of.
31: 
32:  In the most brutal public asylums in England, they may strike the
33:  patients, but unreadable it must be done secretly, or public opinion
34:  would rise up & visit punishment upon the torturers. All civilised
35:  peoples have long passed that stage in which mental weakness is
36:  regarded as a crime & not as the most pitiful disease on earth.
37: 
38:  You may perhaps suppose that I have heard from someone of your
39:  striking your wife, but I can assure you that during the last 20 years
40:  I have never ^that I can recall^ heard your name so much as mentioned by
41:  anyone but your daughters, & they have always spoken of you most
42:  kindly.
43: 
44:  You suggest complain that you, & your sins have to pay £150 for your
45:  ^wife's^ keep; & suggest that I might support her. Now you must forgive
46:  my saying that while a woman's husband is living who has sworn to
47:  support her in sickness & in health till death, that I do not think he
48:  has a right to look to any one else to help him to do so. I am only a
49:  weak woman with broken down health, but if my husband's mind became
50:  affected or weak tomorrow, from that hour till the day of my death, I
51:  should have only one object, so to labour & toil that he should be
52:  supplied with everything that human care & tenderness could give him;
53:  not till my health was so completely broken down that I could no
54:  longer earn our bread should I dream of asking any human creature to
55:  help me to keep him. I should have thought that if I had sent you a
56:  £5 note to help you support your wife you would have sent it back to
57:  me indignantly, & asked me if I did not know you were a man & could
58:  support your own wife.
59: 
60:  When you, & your two able bodied sons & your five able daughters are
61:  all dead, I will gladly support her my sister, though I should not
62:  even know her by sight if I met her, & have never passed so much as a
63:  day in her house.
64: 
65:  My husband & his two young brothers supply their mother with over
66:  £300 a year, though she is a woman of barely 60, healthy in mind &
67:  body, & quite able to labour, yet they feel it a joy & an honour to
68:  labour for her, & to stint themselves almost of the necessities of life
69:  that she may have in abundance. For years my husband gave her £150 a
70:  year & lived on 80 or 90 a year himself & uttered no word of complaint,
71:  but rejoiced to do it for her, though she was quite strong. I am sure
72:  that none of your children feel that if she was costing you £300 a
73:  year instead of only £150, that it would be my duty & ^my^ husbands to
74:  leave off supporting our own relatives to aid you in doing your duty.
75: 
76:  I did not even know she was in an asylum & I had heard nothing of her
77:  health for some years till I got a note from Theo telling me in
78:  passing as a bit of news that she was in an asylum in Natal, & giving
79:  me no reason for her being here.
80: 
81:  In writing to Alice a few days after I asked if it was true & what the
82:  cause was, but she has never replied to my letter. A few days after I
83:  got a letter from Mother saying it was too painful a matter to write
84:  about (naturally) but that she would send some letters which would
85:  explain matters to me. But she she has never ^sent the letters & I have never^
86:  referred to the matter again to her, nor to any human being in the
87:  whole of South Africa, neither to Theo, Ettie, Emma, Will nor anyone
88:  else.
89: 
90:  It is a matter so terrible that one would not willingly speak think of
91:  it, much less speak of it to any human creature. The day after I wrote
92:  to Eliza as I got a long letter from your wife which had been
93:  addressed to Cape Town, & had evidently been wandering about the
94:  country for some weeks in which she begged me & Cron to take her out
95:  of the asylum & put her with a private nurse, or to let her come &
96:  live with us or to give her the address of Mr. Andrew Murray as she
97:  felt sure he would help her. I took no notice of her letter; & did not
98:  even tell her I had got it; but wrote her a note of almost twenty
99:  lines talking of the weather, or th & that sort of thing. I was
100:  careful not even to refer to her being in an asylum simply said I felt
101:  sure she would soon be quite well & strong again. Again she wrote me a
102:  long letter. I took no notice of it, as I have never taken any notice
103:  of anything she said for the last 20 years. I simply wrote & asked her
104:  if she would like some flower seeds as I had some. She wrote again,
105:  but that letter I have never answered. This was all I knew of the
106:  whole matter till your astonishing letter reached me. You need never
107:  fear I will willingly dis-cuss you or your affairs with any human
108:  being if I life live in South Africa for twenty years; & as for poor
109:  old Katie it would be too much agony to talk of her to any one.
110: 
111:  I shall probably never mention her name again as long as I live.
112: 
113:  Yours sincerely,
114:  Olive Schreiner
115: 
116: 

Notation
The manuscript by John Findlay referred to cannot be established. However, his reply to this letter from Olive Schreiner is as follows (and is a copy of the letter sent, not the actual letter itself):

Leeuw River Mills

Mrs. Olive Schreiner

Dear Olive,

It gave me great sorrow to see how you unreadable ^misunderstood^ my letter. I did not keep a copy so cant say how I have comported myself.

I can assure you it would be the last thing I would do to insult or annoy you. I have too much respect & regard for you. I know that in correspondence I am often very abrupt & short & rough = So please excuse me = and put it all down to the rough way this hard world has treated me.

1st. Kindly let me explain -
The only reason I mentioned about illtreatment of Katie, was because unreadable she has been writing to all sorts of people - ministers, friends, relatives &c - accusing me of ill treating her, and I was afraid that yo she might have written to you also - or you may have heard rumours to that effect = I most decidedly agree with you as to treatment of women = My father or mother never in all my life chastised me beat me ^or my sisters^, and I can say that in all my life I have never beaten a child of mine = a word was always enough in my young days I have often got into scrapes = by interfering where I have seen the women ill treated =

2nd. You are altogether too unjust to me in saying that, the cause 'I can only suppose that my not having succeeded in getting a publisher is the cause of your writing me so astonishing & insulting a letter.' As stated I did not intend insulting - and I had very little faith in your being able to succeed = with my rubbish, but as you held out a faint hope I left it in your hands and it gave me great pleasure to see your Kindness in taking the great trouble you & your worthy husband did take - now it is really cruel for you to say that I wrote on that account, and I'm sure you dont mean it - do you really - say no -

If I am what you say ^wrote for the motive you say^, I must be a childish, selfish ^ungrateful^ vindictive being, and will make a good character in one of your future novels = to show how easily a man can be changed & transmogrified.

3rd. I did not complain about what I & Hudson paid for my poor old wife, I merely mentioned it to show that we had put her in the 1st class at the asylum, merely to satisfy you that we were doing our best for her = and being your Eldest sister thought you would like to know it.

Neither did I intend to throw out any hint wishing you to assist us. Had I required your assistance in money for that purpose I would have been man enough to have asked you straight & you could only have said no.

If I remember right I surely said that if any of her friends or relations thought we were doing wrong in putting her in an asylum that we would be glad if they took her out & that in such case we would then pay them the money we are now paying the asylum - what harm was there in that. I did not intend it for you at all, last thought least of all would I suggest you - with your health you could never manage my poor old wife. =

I am happy ^to say^ Thank God I have kept my marriage vow & hitherto supported her - and, no one has assisted me except her son occasionally, and she has never been a drag on her relations; and had you sent a ?5 note, I would have returned it with thanks, as you say -

I cant make out how you come to the Conclusion that I wanted you to support her and leave of. Hudson is doing a good business and if required would with pleasure support me & my wife & the Girls also -

But having health & strength & a large Bump of Scotch Independence I don?t intend to. From my 16 year I have supported myself & never had aid from others. And can & will still do it =

Your husband & his brothers have done noble duty towards their mother. Perhaps in my days when I was in fact real good circumstances I also did good. After your ^dear^ father left Wittebergen I assisted him often - and after his death Hemming & I joined in remitting the Dear old mother money, when you and Willie & the other children could not do it - then we could - afterwards times got bad and we could no more - then Willie & Theo could & they did and they have ever since =

In those good old days I sent my two mule wagon down ^from Fraserburg^ to CT to fetch Uncle Rolland & Mrs. Syme and took them to Grahamstown ^via Fraserburg^ at my own costs = So you see I once had a kind heart also -

^I ought not to have mentioned this for Willie has for once over again repaid me for kindness shown his mother By his great great kindness shown to my children, and they again will always feel happy in showing kindness to his children.^

If your judgment is right Oh what a fearful change has come over me - no, my hard and rough life with its ups & downs has not altered me - your brother Willie knows that, and the strong love all my children bear to me proves unreadable how I got that love - only by kindness. Poor Katie could never have had a kinder husband than I have been to her = Mrs. Stuart, Theo, Ettie & all can vouch for that - But as is usual in cases such as her complaint, they generally hate those they firmly loved the last = she did love me & I loved her - and I still love her yea for the Troubles and hardships of her youth, and the happy years we have spent together, before her affection.

And as I said before, I only mentioned to you the fact that in all my life I never picked up my hand to her = fearing that she may have written to you = as she has to several calling me cruel & a heart all the bad names imaginable = whenever the temporary insanity came passing through her brain.

She is most kindly treated at the asylum - has dancing every Saturday night, she writes - private apartments, parlour, sitting room, piano - large gardens, every freedom - we send her papers etc. Eliza has just made her a nice dress which we send per post as well as whatever she requires.

Now after this long letter I am sure you will write and say that ^after my explanation^ you really did ^do^ not mean all that you said ^wrote^ about me =

Can I still say - Your affectionate, brother
J. Findlay
(John Findlay to Olive Schreiner Findlay Family A1199/3711)

Perhaps John Findlay did not know that Olive Schreiner contributed to her mother's upkeep too, not just her brothers Theo and Will; indeed, she kept a closer eye on the details of this that they did and on one occasion intervened to make sure Rebecca received increased financial help.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3712
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	30 December 1897
Address From	The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 30 December 1897, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  The Homestead
2:  Dec 30 / 97
3: 
4:  Dear Hudson
5: 
6:  Thank you for your very kind letter. The picture of the house has not
7:  come with it but no doubt it will arrive tomorrow. I only told Alice
8:  what I did, because I wanted her to understand why I had felt your old
9:  father writing to me as he did. Family life & relationships would be
10:  so much more beautiful if we could only give each other room, &
11:  realize that the fact that another person is related to you gives you
12:  no right to determine what they shall feel, believe, think or do!! My
13:  dear little mother is very old, & if other folk put it in her head
14:  that she is not being consulted as she ought to be by her children &
15:  grandchild, she fancies it a grievance. She will soon take another
16:  view of the matter, however; & I find it best always just to say
17:  nothing.
18: 
19:  The photo of the house has just come. Thank you very much for it. I
20:  hope some day Cron & I will have the delight of spending a few days
21:  under its roof with you all.
22: 
23:  Your small aunt
24:  Olive
25: 
26: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/3837
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	After Start: September 1900 ; Before End: December 1900
Address From	na
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, September 1900, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. The date has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The start of the letter is missing. Robert Hemming went to look at the damage to Schreiner's Johannesburg house in September 1900.

1:  placed in heaps on the floors, & there are only burnt bits & odds &
2:  ends lying about my library, almost all presentation volumes with
3:  inscriptions from Gladstone, Rudyard Kipling, Sir George Grey, &
4:  scores of others & consisting of almost 800 volumes was worth quite
5:  £1,000 I always thought Cron would make money by selling them when I
6:  died. Some of the books would have fetched almost any price as
7:  curiosities. If I when you go to Pretoria you go also to Johannesburg
8:  would it be possible for you to collect the scattered fragments of my
9:  household goods & store have them stored somewhere in the town for me.
10:  I shall never return to that accursed house, & I do not suppose we
11:  shall be allowed to go up for a very long time.
12: 
13:  I had some very valuable pictures one the original copy of a view
14:  ^painting^ by a French artist, costing £30 which was exhibited in the
15:  Paris Salon, & given to me by the artist. If you could possibly find
16:  it even charred by fire it would still be valuable. I enclose a cheque
17:  for £3 please cash it in Cape Town & take the money with you, to pay
18:  the man you may imploy to collect the fragment. Perhaps Robert Hemming
19:  would let them be stored in his cellar. If not my friend Mrs. Floyd
20:  the wife of the Presbyterian minister on hospital hill would let the
21:  boxes go in her out house or our great friend Dr Mortimer who used to live
22:  in a big house just as Pret the bridge at Pretoria Port. Just try &
23:  save any thing even if smashed & partly burnt. Cron's old bedstead on
24:  which his father slept as a boy we could have mended again if there
25:  were only bits. My big ^roller topped^ desk could only be got out by
26:  taking the door of the little side room off its hinges (that was the
27:  way we got it in) but no doubt its smashed up. As to my manuscripts &
28:  papers no doubt they are all destroyed. We had a nice new spider
29:  spider in the coach house & beautiful new saddles, mine was a wedding
30:  present from an English officer, & I had a great deal of solid silver
31:  as wedding present, altogether but no doubt there's not a sign of all
32:  that. I'll be so grateful if you can do this for me Hud. I wouldn't
33:  trouble you if you there was any other way. I offered Robert Hemming
34:  the money & asked him to see to it, but he refused point blank. He
35:  said all he would do was go & look at the house.
36: 
37:  Good bye. "What the publishers have left, that the uitlanders have
38:  eaten."
39: 
40:  How are you feeling?
41: 
42:  Your small aunt
43:  Olive
44: 

Notation
The 'manuscripts & paper' which were destroyed are discussed by Schreiner in the foreword to Woman and Labour.

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/4081
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	15 July 1909
Address From	De Aar, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Hudson Findlay
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Hudson Findlay, 15 July 1909, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  De Aar
2:  July 15th 1909
3: 
4:  My dear Hud
5: 
6:  Thanks so much for your letter. It's fine your having a farm & Bess
7:  going there. Tell her I'll come & see her there some day: I only like
8:  farm life; I am never really happy in a Town. Is your farm in a cool
9:  part of the Transvaal.
10: 
11:  All goes on here with us as of old. Cron sends much love to you. I
12:  went three times to see poor old Ely, but could not get to see her
13:  after the baby was born as I was so ill.
14: 
15:  I just met Willie Stuart's intended for a moment. She seems a most
16:  bright pleasant little person. Have you heard how Willie is doing in
17:  his business. There seems no opening for more barristers in Cape Town:
18:  but he seems to me a bright smart fellow who ought to do well. I like
19:  him very much.
20: 
21:  Love to our sweet old Bess & all the children.
22:  Your small aunt
23:  Olive
24: 
25: 

Letter Reference	View Findlay Family A1199/4457
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	3 February 1920
Address From	9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London
Address To
Who To	Bessie Findlay nee Niemeyer
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Bessie Findlay nee Niemeyer, 3 February 1920, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  9 Porchester Place
2:  Edgeware Rd
3:  London W.
4:  Feb 3rd 1920
5: 
6:  Dear Bessie
7: 
8:  You've never answered my last letter, but in the war time mails were
9:  so uncertain & so many letters got lost that I've sometimes wondered
10:  if you ever got it! Anyhow, I want so much to have news of you all
11:  that I'm going to write again.
12: 
13:  Do send me a line & tell me how it goes with you all. I heard Zoe was
14:  to be married to a Mr. "Brain." Is it so?
15: 
16:  How are your wonderful boys getting on? I saw a poem by George on an
17:  old dog, & one by John called "Brynhild". I thought them both most
18:  remarkable. John has a most wonderful sense of the music of verse.
19:  Tell me where they are & what they are doing.
20: 
21:  How goes it with dear old Maggie & her family?
22: 
23:  I wrote to Emma Earp when Erold died, but she has never answered me.
24:  It was I did not even know he had come to England, & it was a great
25:  shock to me when a young South African officer said to me - "Do you
26:  know Erold Earp is being buried this afternoon at half past four." It
27:  was then five o' clock. Had I known he was here & ill I would have
28:  gone to see him at once & would have gone to his funeral. If you are
29:  writing to Emma ask her if she ever got my letter. I know when one is
30:  in such terrible sorrow as her's one simply cannot write: but I'd like
31:  to know she had it. How is Fred getting on? I heard his health was not
32:  very good. Last week I saw in the papers that dear old Theo had passed
33:  away. How terribly he has suffered. I wrote to him when Will died, &
34:  have had two letters from him. From what Fan said I realized he must
35:  be very frail. I am now the last of the old Brigade.
36: 
37:  How is your dear old Mother?
38: 
39:  Oliver & his sweet & charming wife are now in London, but are going
40:  back to the Cape in September. Her baby is expected in a few days. I
41:  am so sorry they live at the very other end of London; & now my heart
42:  troubles me with continual attacks of angina I cannot easily walk to
43:  the bus. But is a comfort to know they are here.
44: 
45:  I wonder if you have seen dear Fan since she went out. She left this
46:  looking so frail & thin, but they write me she is a little better
47:  since she got there. You know since Will died my heart seems to cling
48:  to her almost more than anyone. We two miss him most. The young are
49:  young & they have their life. I am sure you will like Ursulas husband
50:  when you meet him he's a dear fellow.
51: 
52:  Much love to Hud & all the children & your dear self
53:  Aunt Olive
54: 
55: 

Notation
Katie Stuart sent family members a 'round robin' letter describing in great detail the dying of Theo Schreiner, as follows:

10. Victoria Court Flats,
CAPETOWN, 29th Jan.1920.
Phone 3497.

Dear Ones,

It is a sacred and precious privilege to let you know some of the details of our beloved Oubaas's homegoing. He was, as I thankfully reported in my Xmas circular letter, remarkably better then, and I honestly believed and hoped he might live many years yet, five at the very least. Looking back, I realise now how blind I was and also how much this blindness was encouraged by him and was in accord with his self-sacrificing life.

He was always longing for motor drives and on Saturday, 20th December, kind friends offered us a motor trip to Hout Bay, which he eagerly accepted. Unfortunately, it turned out a hot windy day and the mere excitement brought on one of his heart attacks, usually lasting only a few minutes. In the ?starin he threw off his jersey and would not put it on again until after we had motored past Wynberg and the air grew cooler. He, consequently, caught a chill and had a touch of bronchitis, which kept him indoors some days and its paroxysms of coughing at the later stages, when he insisted in being up and about, increased the hernia trouble enormously. He insisted on going again on Boxing Day with my sister and brother-in-law, Mr Bateman, (on which occasion little Maurice and Rosie accompanied us) as he thoroughly enjoyed the exercise, fresh air and the being once more in close contact with his beloved Peninsula mountains. He was delighted beyond words each time at the owner's kind consent to our climbing the hill beyond Hout Bay and motoring to the very end of the made road towards Noord Hoek, and thanked God again and again, as well as our kind friends, for the privilege he felt it to be to get into close contact once more with such glorious mountains and sea scenery.

We took the same trip again on Tuesday, 30th, with the Cresswell's, this time, by his special request, making it a whole day's excursion as he wanted to rest and breathe in to his heart's delight the glories of the glorious view at the top. His joy, his delight was pathetic, and I think what he enjoyed most of all was when we all explored further and left him alone with God and nature.

His determination to take these trips, despite the bronchial trouble, made an anxious time for me, but, on the whole, they seemed to do even the cough good. Previous to these drives we had an exceptionally festive and happy Xmas time. Not only did we have Starr and Maurice and Mrs. Martin and Pat to spend Xmas day with us, but Oubaas insisted, during Xmas week, on our having all the dear Batemans - Izzie and 6 children - for a whole day, and the Browns - a day too. He took such a personal interest in my taking them all to see Garlicks and Stuttafords shows, and quite amused us by his alert outlook lest I should by any chance provide a lesser menu for which what he called 'my people', the Browns and Cresswells, as distinguished from those belonging more to me.

We spent the early days of the New Year quietly and I shall ever be grateful that I restrained even my longing to see Starr and Maurice in order to give all the New Year to him. He was so thankful at having got over the bronchitis and we hoped might regain lost ground when alas! the terrible hernia sufferings increased and, combined with the terrific heat, gave him sleepless nights. In my little blue notebook I wrote across the days 11th to 17th Jan. 'Heat terrific. Oubaas suffering agonies from hernia and heat. Trips to Kalk Bay and Camps Bay for relief! Crowded trains, and return to heat again, undoing good of sea breezes'. He hated changes and loved his dear little flat, but in desperation at last agreed to my looking for lodgings at Kalk Bay or elsewhere. On the Sunday I could not leave him at all and he suffered so increasingly from breathlessness and oppression as the day grew hotter that in sheer desperation, at his own request, we took a train after dinner to Kalk Bay. The crowds were awful and he said, 'Oh! Katie, I cannot stand being in this godless throng'. At St James the cool air speedily revived him. We had hoped to meet Aunt Fan, but her phone was out of order and I was too exhausted to go and tell her he was at the station, so I left him there and went on to Fish Hoek in hopes of getting a cottage there. One of the railway men told us that there were vacant rooms at the steps and by a fatal mistake Oubaas thought it was at the Trills' house and to my surprise agreed willingly to walk up and see the rooms whilst I was away. This he never ought to have done and I shall ever deeply regret it. I hurried back from my vain search at Fish Hoek, very anxious, and found him near the Convent returning slowly, having had a heart attack. He was nonetheless wonderfully braced by the cool air and seemed fully determined to get away from Capetown heat for a month, if possible, as daily trips in search of sea breezes, even if only to Sea Point, were becoming a strain on him.

He was much better all Monday and I attended the Salvation Army meeting in the City Hall as he wished me to go, though I had not left him of an evening for sometime. During all those last ten days of acute hernia sufferings, shortness of breath and relentless sleeplessness, he was too sweet and patient and beautiful for words, insisting on my going to my room for to sleep in the small hours of the morning. I had to give him hot irons and a little nourishment frequently. One night, I forget which, I fell asleep against my will from 1 to 5 a.m. and woke with a start, hoping he had slept too as I always awoke on hearing any movement. Alas! He had spend an even worse 4 hours than usual, but was triumphant at having succeeded in not disturbing me. We were both getting worn out and it was a comfort when on Tuesday I succeeded in getting two suitable rooms at Kalk Bay. Oh! if only I had given up the search and realized how near the end was! He would not let me books the rooms without his seeing them first and this led to a heavy day for him on the Wednesday that undoubtedly hastened the end. From 12 to one we had a motor as he wished to see the two new hostels, for which we have the otp option of purchase, and he got out at each place and inspected them, at the one even mounting upstairs and sitting on the balcony, where a short heart spasm gripped him. He was charmed with each place and insisted, as we had the motor, in picking up at Loop Street the Dutch Temperance Catechism he had promised Dr. Viljoen and leaving them at University Buildings, the chauffeur and I carrying them in. After lunch we left for Kalk Bay and he liked the rooms and all arrangements, but I felt distressed at seeing how tired he was and by a foolish mistake we lost the 6.24 train and had to stay till the later one, which exhausted him severely and he would not take any nourishment.

I think that was the worst night he ever had and we were thankful when doctor prescribed a sleeping draught for Thursday - the last day of his life. He was rather nervous about taking it and I was so anxious that I kept up all night, for which I shall ever be thankful. He said next morning 'I'll never forget it Katie that you stayed by me all night!' He slept for one hour and with the second dose five solid hours and oh! he was so glad and happy when he woke and said, with such gratitude 'the nightmare's gone and I need never suffer so much again! We'll try and do without it, but when I can't sleep I'll take the sleeping draught, it has not hurt me at all, it's been heavenly!' He seemed quite cheered up until he found how swollen the poor legs had become. The day before he kept saying, 'I seem to feel them swelling every moment' and the sight of them was a great shock to us both, and he asked me to phone for doctor. For the first time he allowed me to him sponge himself off, a task he has so carefully and thoroughly performed every morning, taking longer and longer over it so that I was much troubled, but only three times could persuade him to let me give him a tepid bath. These baths he enjoyed immensely, like a little child, but even then he wouldn?t let me do much.

The night's sleep and my aiding him to wash and dress made him brighter at breakfast than for many a day, and I treasure all the envelopes of the morning's post, with his pencilled memos on each as he opened them. He was always happy when any money came in for the Hostels or the 'W.P. Schreiner Memorial Fund' and the ?100 from Mr. Michaelis on the previous Wednesday morning had filled him with delight and also some smaller sums from old Kimberleyites. Though he hated me to be away, hearing that our previous maid Sarah was very ill, he insisted in my going out to Maitland early on Wednesday morning to see her and give her 10/- for little comfrots, and when I returned he was so delighted to show me the cheques that had arrived.

For over ten days he had scarcely been able to sing at family prayers, complaining of shortness of breath, but on that last morning on earth he sang the while hymn through heartily 'O child of God, wait patiently', leading the singing as neither the maid nor I knew the tune well. His dear voice rang out clearly in the same room where only 5 hours afterwards he passed away '

(Last verse of Hymn 172 Sankeys)

O child of God, how peacefully
He calms thy fears to rest; And draws thee upward, tenderly
Where dwell the pure and blest:
And He Who bendeth silently
Above the gloom of night.
Will take thee home, where endless joy
Shall fill thy soul with light.

Somehow the last lines sent ^a^ quiver through me of premonition and fear! But even then I never dreamt the day had come of which we had sometimes talked, wondering when and where the Master would part us. He was feeling so well he wanted to go to the Savings Bank himself to pay in some dividends of the Sister Schreiner Trust, but, fortunately, let me go instead, and I hurried back as soon as possible to find that the Cresswells had called and he had begged them to stay to lunch, interviewing the maid himself as to what she had for lunch and could prepare. It was wonderful how much he opened his heart to Nadia during that time, telling her what he had told Ellen after I left that morning that he had been concerned at reading in the newspaper how a poor doctor had committed suicide through suffering and sleeplessness and to each he said 'Poor fellow! I can understand his doing it, but my trust is in God and He will lighten the burden for me'. The Master did more than that. He lifted the burden off altogether! Soon after I arrived a severe attack came on, due I think to the sudden rising of the South Easter and consequent falling of the temperature and perhaps to the front skylight being left open. A sudden chill always brought him suffering. This attack was the worst he had had for a long time and lasted half an hour, longer than ever before. I applied all the usual remedies and helped him all I could. Hearing his groan, Cousin Wyn, who had come in, opened his bedroom door to ask if she could help. 'Oh! don't let anyone in' he said, but I think he did not know it was dear Wyn. After changing his damp pyjamas, which he had consented for the first time to wear during the day, he sat in the big chair beside his bed and there saw doctor and also Wyn and Em, taking, as ever, the same bright interest in all their affairs. Doctor said 'We want to get you fit to go to Kalk Bay on Monday', but to me the doctor said 'we cannot decide till Saturday whether he can go, but the change might benefit him,' Whilst I was away, Ellen, the maid, gave him a beaten egg, but he only took a sip, saying it tasted like poison, a remark he had made more than once during the last few days about food. He didn't want to eat and he couldn't sleep, but it seemed to us more the heat than his heart.

He insisted on my going to serve lunch to the Cresswells, wanted Wyn and Em to stay too, but they would not seeing we had visitors. Oh! I am so glad they saw him when they did. His last words to Wyn were of gladness that Lyndall was giving satisfaction at his new post in the Surveyor General's office, which Oubaas had got for him. Ellen took in a dainty little lunch, boiled stock fish and his favourite calabash marrow, but he only took 2 mouthfulls and said afterwards 'I ought never to have taken them'. The little table and the untasted lunch and his specs beside the tray are burnt into my memory. I could not bear anyone to touch it and that evening ate the lunch myself as a holy sacrament! the last food I was ever permitted to prepare for him!

Before our lunch was over I heard him groan and went at once and from then never left his side nor ceased to help during the attack upon attack that came and the mortal agony he passed through. The big attack at noon had made me think he would have no more for a while, as at other times. Nothing helped, not nitrate of amyl nor applications of heat. He came back to the sitting room and in turn the Cresswells and I squeezed the left arm where the pain centred, or held the hot irons on his back, shoulders and chest, wherever the pain was. 'I can't last if this pain lasts' he called out, and once or twice 'more irons! more irons!' Each moment we hoped the agony would cease. At last Nydia said, 'We'd better go Aunt Katie as we can't help him' and I said 'Yes! it is better, but in a few moments he may be quite himself again'. She stooped to kiss him and he looked up with a heavenly smile, 'So sorry I couldn?t pay you m-ore attention, dear!? 'Of course not' said Nydia 'you can't help the pain. Say goodbye children, but don't trouble Oubaas for kisses'. (The little ones always loved hugging him). 'No' said he 'I want my kisses'. And he lifted his head and kissed each girlie! the last ones he kissed on earth. That was at 3p.m., at 3.30 he was gone. The pain kept on and grew in intensity and he began to call on God. 'Oh Lord help! Oh Lord have mercy!' And then in Dutch 'Heere hebt genade:' 'oh don't burst from my lips!' 'Who else can I call upon' was his reply. There was a brief break in the suffering and then a fresh spasm of pain that bowed his head to his knees and a wondering shout of astonished surprise, 'Katie, I'm going!' 'I'm going Katie' with a final triumphant ring 'Goodbye Katie Goodbye' and he was gone. I knew he was gone, but I couldn't and wouldn?t believe it. We had phoned for doctor and in that last spasm I sent Ellen to beg the chemist to come, so I was all alone when he passed away.

At the gate Ellen met Sister Nannie, kindly sent of God, and as Nannie opened our door I said 'Nannie help, he's not gone, he can't be gone' and she rubbed his hands and did what she could, but all in vain. Then doctor came and our last hope died. We phoned for Will and he seemed there in a moment. Those minutes of agony for him and me can never be told. He lifted the dear body himself and carried him to his bed, while where Nannie and I, helped by Ellen, performed the last sad rites. Oh! he was so lovely! but not quite as beautiful and handsome as on the Sunday. It's awful to fight with death as I did when he came to claim my loved comrade, master, teacher and friend of 32 years! I shall be thankful if its to be my last contact with the grim relentless foe till he gathers me in myself. But even in those moments of agony a cooling balm like ice fell on my brain and nerves as I realized 'No more pain, no more suffering, safe Home at last!' and though the mist grows deeper and the wound bleeds sorer, the joy of his release and his triumphant entry into the Great Beyond unreadable - so far and yet so near us - grows too and I try to rejoice in his joy as I know he would like me to do. Despite the agony, it was a beautiful death, so swift, so pure, so sweet, the very clothes he died in as sweet and clean when we took them off as those of a little child, and thanks to Hoogendoorn's beautiful ice system, the dear body remained as pure as a marble statue to the end. All death's worst horrors were not allowed to touch him, pure and holy: God's saint! To the very end. I could only feel as I gazed on my dear dead how very few have ever passed away to their Maker with so clean a record. During 32 years of closest comradeship I don't know that he ever said or did or wrote anything he need be ashamed of. He possessed just enough loveable faults, impatience, and at times irritability to make him human, but ne'er to mar the divine. All those last days are burned into my memory.

What followed is not so clear for I was stunned. Starr sent little Maurice out to see him at once. Sitting on the couch where beloved Oubaas had passed away I told Maurice that Jesus had called Papapa and he was gone, only the dear quiet body left, and then we took him in to see the dear remains, lying as if in gentle sleep! All our dear ones came to see him before Hoogendoorn iced the precious remains at 9 p.m. till Sunday morning, 9 a.m., and dear Wyn brought sweet white flowers to lay on top of the quiet iced form, of, which I enclose each a pressed bit.

Darling Grannie,

Your room is all ready for you whenever you want to come. I am sending Maurice at once to see dear Papapa, and Will thought you would rather I came in with him to-night. It is a grievous loss to you all, to me too, most of all of course to you. God comfort you dear sweet Mother.

Your loving daughter
Starr

The above beautiful note is from Starr, whose love and care for me has been a great comfort. They took me straight home from the funeral and I've slept at 'Oakdene' every night since, unreadable coming to the flat from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. for work. Darling Wyn and Emma stayed with me all through from the homegoing of our love done till the funeral. Little Pete, Oubaas's canary, who is very old has outlived his master and has not sung a note since he died! The little birdie's silence seems to hurt me more than anything. On Sunday we gave him the last of the chickweed Oubaas had gathered himself on the Thursday for his little pet. He loved the botanic gardens and the roses this year were his delight and only a few days ago he pointed out some Barberton daisies there and said 'they always remind me of the drive to Barberton in the postcart when I decided to adopt you and Will and Annie' (my two fatherless children).

His one desire all along was that when God took him I should 'carry on' all his labours, especially for Prohibition. By his will I am left sole heir and executor and also his successor on the Sister Schreiner Trust, and by God's help I hope to follow and 'Carry on' as he did in simple faith and obedience. By severe economy, practised most upon himself, there are a few hundred pounds invested, which will bring in a few pounds per month. But that is all as he could not insure his life.

I thank God for the children and the homes open to me, not only at Claremont, where Starr's home is opened so wide and lovingly, but at the dear Hostels too, but I just feel that the time for permanent quiet rest for me is not quite yet and that as soon as I am rested (and I do need rest) I'll buckle on the armour and by God's help do missioning and organizing work once more. Dear Will and Starr are arranging for me to spend a month from Feb. 15th - March 15th at Muizenberg with Starr and Maurice. I would like to keep the little Flat on as a centre of prohibition propaganda and, ^also^ if possible, attend the World's Convention of the W.C.T.U. in Edinburgh on April 18th. If it's the Lord's Will He will provide the funds and, if not, His Will is unreadable best.

K Stuart

This 'round letter' from Katie Stuart is a typescript and all typing errors above are in the original.

Letter Reference	View John Mackenzie A75/8/2779
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	12 March 1898
Address From	The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	John Mackenzie
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 326-7

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to John Mackenzie, 12 March 1898, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers.

1:  The Homestead
2:  March 12 / 98
3: 
4:  My dear Mr Mackenzie
5: 
6:  I have not yet seen your article in the Contemporary Review, but am
7:  very glad to hear it has appeared. I am writing to you at the request
8:  of Mr Albert Cartwright who was, but is no more, the Editor of the
9:  Kimberley Advertiser. He is now to be the Editor of a new paper in
10:  Cape Town, which is to represent, we hope, the true liberal cause in
11:  South Africa, on the native question, taxation, & in opposition to the
12:  capitalist party, encluding Rhodes. Very able men are going to write
13:  for it, & Mr Cartwright is anxious to enlist you. He cannot now pay
14:  more than £1 a column, but will be glad to pay you that if you ever
15:  feel inclined to write either signed or unsigned articles for it, on
16:  the native or other public questions.
17: 
18:  I do hope you will find your-self able to do something for the paper.
19:  Rhodes & his party have just bought up the Cape Register & there is
20:  now not one free out-spoken liberal paper in the Colony. With much
21:  love to Bessie & friendly greetings to yourself & Mrs Mackenzie,
22: 
23:  I remain
24:  Yours very sincerely
25:  Olive Schreiner
26: 
27:  PS If you think of writing forto Mr Cartwright his address will be
28:  Albert Cartwright
29:  The White House
30:  Cape Town
31: 
32:  The paper is to appear in about three months time.
33: 

Notation
The article by John Mackenzie is: 'Bechuanaland' The Contemporary Review February 1898, pp.282-92. The newspaper that Albert Cartwright became the editor of was the South African News. Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.

Letter Reference	View Henry Nourse (Miss Battie) A743/Bf3
Archive	William Cullen Library, Historical Papers, University of the Witwatersrand
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	After Start: Saturday July 1895 ; Before End: November 1898
Address From	na
Address To
Who To	Miss Battie
Other Versions

The manuscript of this letter by Olive Schreiner belongs to the Archive referenced above; its ownership of the original should be acknowledged by referencing the letter as indicated: Copyright transcription: © Olive Schreiner Letters Project. This transcription can be freely used as long as copyright is acknowledged and it is referenced using the following citation: ‘Olive Schreiner to Miss Battie, July 1895, William Cullen Library Historical Papers, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the William Cullen Library, University of Johannesburg, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Historical Papers. This letter has been dated by reference to when Schreiner lived in Kimberley, where she first started using a profession typist to prepare her manuscripts, which was from July 1895 to November 1898.

1:  Saturday
2: 
3:  My dear Miss Battie
4: 
5:  I wrote to Cape Town to Miss Burgers there & asked her what ^was^ the
6:  ordinary price in Cape Town was for 1000 words if type writer carbons
7:  paper &c were given, for four copies; she sent back the enclosed wire
8:  saying about 1/3 per thousand. If you care to do some work, I shall
9:  have a little ready on Monday next.
10: 
11:  Of course you will I know not show the work to any one and unreadable
12:  regard it as strictly private. I mention this because once a young
13:  lady a very nice girl who did typing for me showed my story to half a
14:  dozen people, & said she thought it didnt matter as I was going to
15:  print it!
16: 
17:  Yours very sincerely
18:  Olive Schreiner
19: 
20: 
21: 

Notation
The 'enclosed wire' mentioned by Schreiner is no longer attached to this letter.