Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Olive Schreiner BC16/Box 12/Fold1/Undated/13
Archive	University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	Friday October 1898
Address From	Johannesburg, Transvaal
Address To
Who To	William Philip ('Will') Schreiner
Other Versions

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 William Philip ('Will') Schreiner, October 1898, UCT Manuscripts & Archives, Olive Schreiner Letters Project transcription’. Please also supply letter line numbers for specific quotations.

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. The month and year have been written on this letter in an unknown hand. There is no signature by Schreiner and a page or pages at the end of the letter seem to be missing.

1:  J Box 2
2:  Johannesburg
3:  Friday.
4: 
5:  Dear Laddie
6: 
7:  It has not been because you have not always been in my thoughts that I
8:  have not written. Things ^seem^ going well, but at this distance things
9:  are not very clear. Dear old Innes seems to have played a splendid &
10:  straight, & manly part lately: & to deserve well of South Africa. Your
11:  speech even as reported was splendid. Of course much turns on the ways
12:  in which we succeed in our petitions [papertorn] t we should succeed in
13:  the Barkly petition seems almost too great a good to be hoped for.
14:  Take care of yourself, dear, & try & not over work. Too late in life
15:  one realizes that for the sake of ones work one owed it to take rest.
16:  I would not take the attorney Generalship if I were you; it [papertorn]
17:  be [papertorn] more restf [papertorn] to your brain take other than legal
18:  work. Of course it may be necessary to keep the place open for Solomon.
19: 
20:  Cron is I expect half out of mind with delight at the turn affairs
21:  have taken. He has done good work up there. Burton & ?Highbury would
22:  never have taken up either of the two matters if he had not goaded
23:  them into it after the election was over. [papertorn] heart is papper
24:  wrapped up in political work, & I believe he would do valuable labour
25:  for South Africa. Do you think (I ask you this in strictest confidence
26:  your reply not to be breathed to a human creature) do you think there
27:  is any chance of your carrying your redistribution till next year? If
28:  so [papertorn] there were an [papertorn] place no [papertorn] Tembu-Land
29:  where the native electorate is large. I think he might stand a good
30:  chance of being elected. It you could give me an answer (but don’t if
31:  you prefer not) it would be of help to me. It is so bitter to me that
32:  he has to give up all his life’s [papertorn] terest & go as [papertorn] k
33:  into a [papertorn] ttorneys office here. If I knew there would be any
34:  chance of his standing perhaps next year, it might modify my plans.
35: 
36:  I’m broken down & can’t do any writing just now, the doctors say I
37:  must not for two years in the condition of my heart ^it is much large
38:  than a year ago^ but if I knew there is a chance of his possibly
39:  gettin [papertorn] parliaments [papertorn] t year in [papertorn] some way I
40:  might manage it. I want so before I die to help him a little: I feel
41:  sure he would contribute a valuable element to South African public
42:  life, because of his fearlessness & directness. It seems into an end
43:  of every thing to go into an Attorneys office, but if I can’t get
44:  better he mu [papertorn] he has is [papertorn] ther dependent [papertorn] him.
45: 
46:  I am looking forward with much hope to your period of office dear. If
47:  we can but bring some of these men who have bribed & corrupted
48: 
49:  [page/s missing]
50: 

Notation