Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Edward Carpenter 359/66
Archive	Sheffield Archives, Archives & Local Studies, Sheffield
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	9 November 1893
Address From	Middelburg, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who To	Edward Carpenter
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 226-7

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, 9 November 1893, 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:  Middelburg
2:  Nov 9 / 93
3: 
4:  My dear old Ed
5: 
6:  I want so to write to you tonight though I have not much to say that
7:  is interesting.
8: 
9:  I got to Africa 11 days ago. I had to go to bed as soon as I landed &
10:  have been there almost ever since, but up here in the high Karroo I
11:  guess I shall get better soon. Ed: you would love Cron very much: he
12:  gets more & more beautiful the more I know him. He’s a great rest to
13:  me. There’s the most curious & complete "now" when I’m with him.
14:  He loves your books very much. He made me give him one of your
15:  likenesses to take back to the farm with him. You will be loved by
16:  both of us if you come to see us, as you must, Edward when we are
17:  settled. It’s all very beautiful with that friend of his. She is
18:  coming to stay here with me this week. If only I was stronger, life
19:  would be too beautiful; so I have to have a little sadness to tone it
20:  down! Everyone is so good & kind to me; & all my friends will welcome
21:  you if you come. The sky is so beautiful & blue. I think very tenderly
22:  of old Millthorpe. If ever Cron & I do come come to England we shall
23:  come straight there, & stay in the little cottage I was in.
24: 
25:  I will send a paper on Colonial politics Cron has written. I think you
26:  will like it much. Cron’s very nice & uncivilized. When he came to
27:  see me he came very properly dressed, high collar, white shirt, tie, a
28:  very handsome young man. As we sat talking in the sun before my door,
29:  he suddenly unbuttoned his collar & threw it off without a word. In a
30:  few moments off went his necktie; then he took off his coat! then his
31:  waistcoat! then he rolled up his shirtsleeves! then he leaned back in
32:  the chair & drew a great sigh, as much as to say "Thank God!" & folded
33:  his arms, blissfully happy. Its really a great bond between us that we
34:  have such a horror of clothes. I could never have married anyone who
35:  believed that clothes were people! Give my love to my own old Bob when
36:  you see him; & to dear old George, & Lucy, & Harry & Louie. Good bye,
37:  dear old brother
38: 
39:  Olive
40: 
41:  Cron said he was going to write to you this week. I don’t know if he
42:  did.
43: 
44:  ^I think we shall be married the middle of next January. Don’t speak
45:  about it generally because I don’t want it in the newspapers of
46:  course. ^
47: 
48:  When you write next, address
49:  c/o S. C. Cronwright
50:  P. O. Halesowen 4
51:  Cape Colony
52:  South Africa.
53: 
54: 
55: 
56: 

Notation
It is not clear which paper on 'Colonial politics' by Cronwright-Schreiner is referred to, as he wrote frequent short articles and leaders for local Eastern Cape newspapers. Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.