1 Hanover
2 Oct 30 / 03
3
4 Dear Isie
5
6 Thank you for the biltong. We get none here now as the soldiers nearly
7exterminated the bucks in this part of the world, so it is specially
8welcome. I would have written to thank you the day before yesterday
9when it came but by my heart has been laying me up again. I write for
10two days & then comes a long spell when I can’t. Cron has written to
11the government & from it we have got permission to take up the bodies
12of our three friends buried at de Aar, & have them buried here at
13Hanover the only condition is that there must be no demonstration at
14the funeral, a condition we shall see is strictly observed. Do a The
15friends of the men are very poor the widow & 6 little children of one
16we have almost entirely to support as she is very ill. The other dear
17old man ^the father of Nieuwhout^ is very old, he works hard to support
18himself & his invalid daughter. I am collecting money to pay for
19fetching the bodies from de Aar, bring them here by train & cart &
20getting coffins &c. I wondered whether it would be possible for your
21husband or any of the friends in the Transvaal to make a small
22contribution. I am sure I can raise all the money here, it will be
23about £216 (sixteen pounds) but if a little were contributed by
24friends in the Transvaal (with or without their names being given ^just^
25as they liked) it would touch the dear old parents & friends here very
26much. But be sure not to send anything if you think it best not. There
27may be objections which I don’t see.
28
29 Do all of you come here if you can. I shall like to meet the two girls
30& shall find them a bed room, perhaps not so close as y at Miss
31Viljoens, which is next house but one to mine, but they won’t mind
32walking a little way. I’ll send 2 carts to the station quite as
33easily as one. I do hope it will have rained by that time, otherwise
34we shall have nothing but meat & rice to offer you. There are I think
35only about two cows in the Hanover district, people have sent all
36their cattle & most of their small stock to the Free State. But butter
37we get up by parcels post from Cape Town! Fruit & vegetables we never
38see & a terrible frost last week killed everything that was beginning
39to sprout in the village gardens – so you mustn’t expect much in
40the way of meat & drink – though ever so much in the way of loving
41welcome. Please write to me some time before you come if you do see
42any chance of breaking your journey here, because letters from the
43Transvaal seem often so delayed. Miss Viljoen is delighted to think
44you will perhaps sleep at her house. Good bye.
45
46 Olive
47
48 ^Give my best love to Ellen Burger. I am always meaning to write her a
49long letter but the time never seems to come.^
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