Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Steyn Papers: Emily Hobhouse (Olive Schreiner) 156/3/12/2
Archive	Free State Archives Repository, Bloemfontein
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	After Start: August 1902 ; Before End: September 1902
Address From	Johannesburg, Transvaal
Address To
Who To	Emily Hobhouse
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 Emily Hobhouse, August 1902, Free State Archives Repository, Bloemfontein, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the Free State Archives Repository for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of their collections. The letter exists in the form of a handwritten copy made by Emily Hobhouse; the original cannot be traced. The letter has been dated by reference to content and a note from Emily Hobhouse added to it.

1:  From Olive Schreiner
2:  Private
3: 
4:  Dear Miss Hobhouse,
5: 
6:  From your letter it appears you never got the long letter I wrote to
7:  you while you were in Kimberley, & in which I told you how I had spent
8:  the sum of £10 in detail.
9: 
10:  £3.10 I spent for Mrs Nienaber & her six children in groceries &c: Mrs
11:  Neinaber ^Nienaber^ is the wife of one of the men you mention. She had a
12:  little baby born just 3 months to a day after its father's death. The
13:  little thing called Sarelleina ^Sarellina^ after its father ^(Sarel, i.e.
14:  ?Charl)^ seems delicate & not so strong as the five boys, I suppose
15:  owing to the strain the mother passed through before its birth.
16: 
17:  The rest of the £10 I spent in supplying the needs of destitute
18:  families whose husbands and fathers were suddenly imprisoned, leaving
19:  the families quite unprovided for.
20: 
21:  The other two men who died the same day, one Nienaber and one
22:  Nieuwhoudt, were not married but the poor old father of the
23:  Nieuwhoudts has been left with one very delicate daughter, and has to
24:  work hard for bread.
25: 
26:  If it were possible for you to collect a little money for Mrs Nienaber
27:  and her children the best plan would be to put the money in the hands
28:  of the Dutch Minister of the place and Mrs Jan Cilliers one of the
29:  Churchwardens who would see how it could best be spent for their good.
30: 
31:  If you could collect a little money for the two Nieuwhoudts
32:  ^(Nieuwoudts)^ who we hope to have out (of prison) soon it would be a
33:  great thing.
34: 
35:  The poor woman, Mrs Nienaber works very hard taking in washing &
36:  ironing to support her children.
37: 
38:  If you could also collect a little money for the putting up of a
39:  monument to the memory of the three men, it would deeply touch and
40:  comfort our people.
41: 
42:  This matter has been eating into my heart for 18 months and I can
43:  hardly write of it.
44: 
45:  I hope you will get this letter as I am writing in Johannesburg where
46:  martial law and the destroying of letters is not so strict as with us.
47: 
48:  My husband wrote you a long letter last week which I hope you got.
49:  Yours
50:  Olive Schreiner
51: 
52:  Undated – received Sept 15 02.
53: 

Notation
Hobhouse has written at the top of this letter, ‘August – after War 1902’ and ‘Rec’d Sept 15 1902’ and also ‘copied original letter sent as Receipt to the Committee. E.H.’.