"Olive died peacefully" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Smuts A1/194/10/59 |
| Archive | National Archives Repository, Pretoria |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Thursday 19 October 1912 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Isie Smuts nee Krige |
| Other Versions | |
| 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 Special Collections. The date has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
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1
De Aar
2 Thursday
3
4 Dear Isie,
5
6 I am wondering how you all & especially dear little Jan are getting on.
7
8 Do come down to Muizenberg this summer. I have taken a room at Smits Cafe
9Schmitt’s Cafe at Muizenberg for January & February. I haven’t one
10friend at Muizenberg all the people I know will be at St James. Do
11take a house at Muizenberg so that I often see you & the children. I
12am sure you will find the air much more stimulating & nice at
13Muizenberg than at St James. You must take the house at once for they
14are going fast.
15
16 You know I could see by your face as soon as I saw you last year that
17you were going to have another little one. It’s curious but I can
18always tell. I passed a young unmarried girl on the street here some
19time ago. I knew at once she was pregnant. She got as soon as I caught
20sight of her face. Two months after she got married and five months
21after she had a full-time baby. I ought to have been a doctor. As soon
22as I see people it often flashes on me what’s the matter with them,
23heart disease or liver, or lungs, & I’m generally right!!
24
25 Did I tell you my little niece Ursula Schreiner has just begun her
26medical studies in England? Lyndall the elder sister is going on with
27her law. Her first exam takes place in December. Even if she doesn’t
28pass it will be good for her to have studied it, & I hope she will
29pass. I think she would make a good Barrister. My friend Mrs. J.E.R.
30de Villiers whom I brought to see you once is studying law too, but
31she will not go up this year. I hope next year she will pass very high
32as she is very brilliant. Dear, the heat & drought are fearful here
33now. If it goes on a little longer many of the farmers will have to
34trek.
35
36 I am going to board myself when I am at Muizenberg. Have a little
37parafine stove & cook for myself. The macaroni you sent us was so
38delicious we have ordered a lot from Johannesburg. Its the first
39really good macaroni I’ve ever got in this country.
40
41 Its about 12 o’clock, but its too hot to go to bed; I do all my letter
42writing in the middle of the night now; its too hot to do anything in
43the day. Do come to Muizenberg!
44
45 Love to you all.
46 Olive.
47
48
49
2 Thursday
3
4 Dear Isie,
5
6 I am wondering how you all & especially dear little Jan are getting on.
7
8 Do come down to Muizenberg this summer. I have taken a room at Smits Cafe
9Schmitt’s Cafe at Muizenberg for January & February. I haven’t one
10friend at Muizenberg all the people I know will be at St James. Do
11take a house at Muizenberg so that I often see you & the children. I
12am sure you will find the air much more stimulating & nice at
13Muizenberg than at St James. You must take the house at once for they
14are going fast.
15
16 You know I could see by your face as soon as I saw you last year that
17you were going to have another little one. It’s curious but I can
18always tell. I passed a young unmarried girl on the street here some
19time ago. I knew at once she was pregnant. She got as soon as I caught
20sight of her face. Two months after she got married and five months
21after she had a full-time baby. I ought to have been a doctor. As soon
22as I see people it often flashes on me what’s the matter with them,
23heart disease or liver, or lungs, & I’m generally right!!
24
25 Did I tell you my little niece Ursula Schreiner has just begun her
26medical studies in England? Lyndall the elder sister is going on with
27her law. Her first exam takes place in December. Even if she doesn’t
28pass it will be good for her to have studied it, & I hope she will
29pass. I think she would make a good Barrister. My friend Mrs. J.E.R.
30de Villiers whom I brought to see you once is studying law too, but
31she will not go up this year. I hope next year she will pass very high
32as she is very brilliant. Dear, the heat & drought are fearful here
33now. If it goes on a little longer many of the farmers will have to
34trek.
35
36 I am going to board myself when I am at Muizenberg. Have a little
37parafine stove & cook for myself. The macaroni you sent us was so
38delicious we have ordered a lot from Johannesburg. Its the first
39really good macaroni I’ve ever got in this country.
40
41 Its about 12 o’clock, but its too hot to go to bed; I do all my letter
42writing in the middle of the night now; its too hot to do anything in
43the day. Do come to Muizenberg!
44
45 Love to you all.
46 Olive.
47
48
49