Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Edward Carpenter 359/51
Archive	Sheffield Archives, Archives & Local Studies, Sheffield
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	4 September 1890
Address From	Matjesfontein, Western Cape
Address To
Who To	Edward Carpenter
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 176-7

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 Edward Carpenter, 4 September 1890, Sheffield Libraries, Archives & Information, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

Legend
The Project is grateful to the Sheffield Archives, Sheffield Libraries, Archives and Information Services, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Archive Collections.

1:  Matjesfontein
2:  Sep 4 / 90
3: 
4:  Dear Edward
5: 
6:  You seem to have got very far from me some how Bob says he won’t
7:  come with me up country, but I dropped the last half of his letter
8:  before I had read it & couldn’t find it. Perhaps he said he might.
9:  I am really seeing my way to the end of my work, & not long after Xmas
10:  I shall be able to give up all my time to working getting things ready
11:  for a start. That will take a couple of months.
12: 
13:  Oh the heavens are such a clear, lovely blue here. You can’t think
14:  how near Heaven one feels when one looks up at it. I hope you will see
15:  it some day. Those people you want won’t come to you, and those you
16:  don’t, will.
17: 
18:  I am going to have a great joy next week, perhaps; my brother is
19:  coming to stay two days with me. He’s such a noble fellow. Not a
20:  socialist in theory, but more of a socialist in practice than any man
21:  I know. Very broad & willing to let everyone go their own way. He’s
22:  a barrister.
23: 
24:  I wish you could see the wonderful little plants here. Do you know
25:  I’m beginning to feel I should be quite
26: 
27:  ^Have you heard anything of my dear old Friend Karl Pearson lately? Is
28:  he married I’m sure he’ll be very happy & have the best of all
29:  possible lives. ^
30: 
31:  Olive
32: 
33:  Address Matjesfontein
34:  Cape Colony
35:  South Africa
36: 
37: 
38: 

Notation
'My work' refers to the articles Schreiner originally published pseudonymously from 1891 on as by 'A Returned South African', intended for publication in book form as 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa'. Most of these essays were written or drafted while she was in Matjesfontein. Although later prepared for book publication, a dispute with a US publisher and the events of the South African War prevented this. They and some related essays were posthumously published as Thoughts on South Africa. Riv'?s (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.