"How OS makes bread, the yeast, the sheep tail fat" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | T120 (M722): W.T. Stead Papers/34- pages 151-153, 155, 156 |
| Archive | National Archives Depot, Pretoria |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 10 January 1903 |
| Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | William Thomas Stead |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 231 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Archives Repository, Pretoria, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Micofilm Collections. Schreiner has mistakenly dated this letter as January 1902, a slip of the pen as content suggests it was written after the end of the South African War.
|
1Hanover
2Jan 10 / 02
3
4Dear Friend
5
6I have wanted so to write to you for a long time, but I feel no faith
7in any letter of mine ever reaching you. Write & let me know if you
8get this, & if it appears not to have been opened. I have not seen a
9copy of the Rev of Rev nor a line you have printed for three years. Of
10course, during Martial Law nothing of yours was allowed to come in. I
11have ordered the Rev= of Rev. since Martial Law was raised but have
12not yet been able to get it. Now a book seller in Cradock says he will
13send it me: If you have any back copies with anything that would
14specially interest me please send them me. But just do them up as
15ordinary: books with nothing to show. They come from the office of
16Rev= of Rev. I will write you a long letter if I know you will ever
17get it.
18
19I hear from my friend Havelock Ellis that you have made & are still
20making a splendid stand on the subject of the War & South Africa. He
21says you are the one of the very few men in England who have stood
22perfectly fearlessly on this matter.
23
24I would give a great deal to be able to see you: but my heart is very
25bad, & I shall never be able to come to Europe again.
26
27Good bye. All good be with you & strength & health
28Olive Schreiner
29
30P.S. Lately I have read the most beautiful book that has ever fallen
31into my hands through a long life. It's called “The Soul of a People”,
32by H. Fielding Hall. Of course you’ve read it. Was it so wonderful &
33beautiful to you too. I've read it & read it till I almost know it by
34heart, & each time I read it it seems more sweet & beautiful.
35
36^I have not got the Annual you said you sent me with the letter.^
37
38^Address^
39Olive Schreiner
40Hanover
41Cape Colony
42
2Jan 10 / 02
3
4Dear Friend
5
6I have wanted so to write to you for a long time, but I feel no faith
7in any letter of mine ever reaching you. Write & let me know if you
8get this, & if it appears not to have been opened. I have not seen a
9copy of the Rev of Rev nor a line you have printed for three years. Of
10course, during Martial Law nothing of yours was allowed to come in. I
11have ordered the Rev= of Rev. since Martial Law was raised but have
12not yet been able to get it. Now a book seller in Cradock says he will
13send it me: If you have any back copies with anything that would
14specially interest me please send them me. But just do them up as
15ordinary: books with nothing to show. They come from the office of
16Rev= of Rev. I will write you a long letter if I know you will ever
17get it.
18
19I hear from my friend Havelock Ellis that you have made & are still
20making a splendid stand on the subject of the War & South Africa. He
21says you are the one of the very few men in England who have stood
22perfectly fearlessly on this matter.
23
24I would give a great deal to be able to see you: but my heart is very
25bad, & I shall never be able to come to Europe again.
26
27Good bye. All good be with you & strength & health
28Olive Schreiner
29
30P.S. Lately I have read the most beautiful book that has ever fallen
31into my hands through a long life. It's called “The Soul of a People”,
32by H. Fielding Hall. Of course you’ve read it. Was it so wonderful &
33beautiful to you too. I've read it & read it till I almost know it by
34heart, & each time I read it it seems more sweet & beautiful.
35
36^I have not got the Annual you said you sent me with the letter.^
37
38^Address^
39Olive Schreiner
40Hanover
41Cape Colony
42
Notation
On the reverse of one sheet, Schreiner has written the page number ‘34’ and, in her handwriting but with a different pen and ink, ‘nothing, they had no necessary organic relations with each other on anything else.’ The book referred to is: Harold Fielding Hall (1898) The Soul of a People London: R. Bentley & Son. The ‘Annual’ is part of the Review of Reviews; these were published each year from its inception. Cronwright-Schreiner’s (1924) short extract from this letter is incorrect in minor ways.
On the reverse of one sheet, Schreiner has written the page number ‘34’ and, in her handwriting but with a different pen and ink, ‘nothing, they had no necessary organic relations with each other on anything else.’ The book referred to is: Harold Fielding Hall (1898) The Soul of a People London: R. Bentley & Son. The ‘Annual’ is part of the Review of Reviews; these were published each year from its inception. Cronwright-Schreiner’s (1924) short extract from this letter is incorrect in minor ways.