"Kruger's funeral" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box5/Fold3/1914/42 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 6 July 1914 |
| Address From | Continental Hotel, Dresden, Germany |
| Address To | |
| Who To | William Philip ('Will') Schreiner |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to Manuscripts and Archives, University of Cape Town, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. This letter is written on printed headed notepaper.
|
1
Continental Hotel,
2 Dresden
3 ?6.7.14
4
5 My dear Laddie
6
7 I have just got here, & moved into a room in the hottest Hotel I ever
8was in. The drops are falling from my forehead as I write.
9
10 I sent you a short note from Wiemer which I hope you got.
11
12 I’m so sorry you lost your golf this morning.
13
14 I got to Wiemer about a quarter to one. They were quite wrong about
15the trains at the Hotel. There was an express through train from
16Wiemer to Dresden at 2.40. So I had just good time to walk down to
17Goethe’s house – over a mile. It was beginning to rain & thunder &
18the man said it was closed till three o’ clock – but I walked out
19my best German & told him I’d come from South Africa & might never
20be able to come again, so he let a little boy take me up. I don’t
21think I ever felt anything more than that little bedroom, not bigger
22than Will’s room at St James, with a tiny window, just a little bed,
23a tiny wooden table & washing stand & the hard wooden armchair in
24which he died, no room for anything more in the room. That was all
25greatness needed. A strange sermon on the endless luxury the modern
26world hungers after. The whole house is so simple. I wish you could
27have seen it. I drank two bottles of soda water at Weimer & started
28off again in the train, at Leipsig I got some coffee & a roll. The
29heat was too intense to eat anything. Leipzig is the least beautiful
30place I’ve seen in Germany. We only staid there 15 minutes. I am
31going down now to post this for tonights train. Then I shall go for a
32little walk in the town & get something to eat, & then come back & go
33to bed. I must go over to the station to see when the train starts of
34Creas-au tomorrow. I miss you dear. Its been very beautiful to be
35near you. You’ve been so sweet to me.
36
37 Olive
38
39 I don’t know why I rather don’t see that Berlin Stockholm trip for
40you the heat here is awful, but as soon as I got down from ?Overlief I
41began to feel better
42
43 ^Greeting to the Jaffe’s^
44
45 ^Give my love to dear Mrs ?Orchs & to Miss ?Maichall & ?Sphigen. They
46are all delightful people. ?Sphigen will grow into a splendid woman. I
47am nothing to ?Mrs Orchs.^
48
49
50
2 Dresden
3 ?6.7.14
4
5 My dear Laddie
6
7 I have just got here, & moved into a room in the hottest Hotel I ever
8was in. The drops are falling from my forehead as I write.
9
10 I sent you a short note from Wiemer which I hope you got.
11
12 I’m so sorry you lost your golf this morning.
13
14 I got to Wiemer about a quarter to one. They were quite wrong about
15the trains at the Hotel. There was an express through train from
16Wiemer to Dresden at 2.40. So I had just good time to walk down to
17Goethe’s house – over a mile. It was beginning to rain & thunder &
18the man said it was closed till three o’ clock – but I walked out
19my best German & told him I’d come from South Africa & might never
20be able to come again, so he let a little boy take me up. I don’t
21think I ever felt anything more than that little bedroom, not bigger
22than Will’s room at St James, with a tiny window, just a little bed,
23a tiny wooden table & washing stand & the hard wooden armchair in
24which he died, no room for anything more in the room. That was all
25greatness needed. A strange sermon on the endless luxury the modern
26world hungers after. The whole house is so simple. I wish you could
27have seen it. I drank two bottles of soda water at Weimer & started
28off again in the train, at Leipsig I got some coffee & a roll. The
29heat was too intense to eat anything. Leipzig is the least beautiful
30place I’ve seen in Germany. We only staid there 15 minutes. I am
31going down now to post this for tonights train. Then I shall go for a
32little walk in the town & get something to eat, & then come back & go
33to bed. I must go over to the station to see when the train starts of
34Creas-au tomorrow. I miss you dear. Its been very beautiful to be
35near you. You’ve been so sweet to me.
36
37 Olive
38
39 I don’t know why I rather don’t see that Berlin Stockholm trip for
40you the heat here is awful, but as soon as I got down from ?Overlief I
41began to feel better
42
43 ^Greeting to the Jaffe’s^
44
45 ^Give my love to dear Mrs ?Orchs & to Miss ?Maichall & ?Sphigen. They
46are all delightful people. ?Sphigen will grow into a splendid woman. I
47am nothing to ?Mrs Orchs.^
48
49
50