Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	HRC/CAT/OS/3b-vi
Archive	Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	Saturday 6 December 1884
Address From	Alexandra House, Denmark Place, Hastings, East Sussex
Address To	24 Thornsett Road, South Penge Park, London
Who To	Havelock Ellis
Other Versions	Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 49; Rive 1987: 57; Draznin 1992: 247

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 Havelock Ellis, 6 December 1884, Harry Ransom Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. This letter has been dated by reference to an associated envelope and its postmark, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner was resident at two addresses in Hastings from the end of November 1884 to the end of April 1885.

1:  Sat Night
2: 
3:  Worked this evening. It is eleven o’clock now I am going to have my
4:  bath. It is true about that self dosing. Generally I feel as ^you feel^
5:  But as soon as my body gets weak, so that the old original nature
6:  comes up the strong individuality then my whole soul cries out not
7:  “from infinite” not “from God to God.” I don’t want to die, I don’t,
8:  want anything I love to die, nothing must lose its individuality.
9: 
10:  I woke up last night shouting & crying. I thought Fred was going to
11:  turn into nothing. It isn’t only that I’m weak. I always get into this
12:  state when I live utterly alone in England & see only the sea roaring
13:  out of
14: 
15:  ^my window.^
16: 
17:  I am working pretty well. If I keep on getting better I shall not go
18:  to Montreux You know this house is right up to the sea, the waves wash
19:  against the door step. It is such a wonderful sight in the middle of
20:  the night where there is a storm & a pale moon shining
21: 
22:  I am glad you feel well. Do you still ever have that singing in your ears?
23: 
24:  Harry I was thinking last night about that little boy who went round
25:  the Cape & felt so cold. Send me some of his likenesses to look at.
26:  I’ll send them back
27: 
28:  Olive
29: 
30:  Poor little boy, Harry!
31: 

Notation
Draznin’s (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription. Rive’s (1987) version omits part of the letter and is in a number of other respects incorrect. Cronwright-Schreiner’s (1924) extract is incorrect in various ways.