Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold5/1898/16
Archive	University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	13 August 1898
Address From	The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape
Address To
Who To	Frances ('Fan') Schreiner nee Reitz
Other Versions	Rive 1987: 335

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 Frances ('Fan') Schreiner nee Reitz, 13 August 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.

1:  The Homestead
2:  Aug 13th 1898
3: 
4:  Dear Fan
5: 
6:  Thanks for thy letter. I hope you are all keeping fit, & trying no
7:  more nice comforting little parafine plasters! I should like to come
8:  down very much, if it were only for a couple of days to see the new
9:  house & you all, maar, "die sprinkhaan en die droogte is swaar op onse
10:  land."
11: 
12:  Bessie & Alice both like the house very much & the boys will like its
13:  being so near the cricket ground. I didn’t see as much of Bessie &
14:  Alice as I should have liked but they were staying with the Fullers,
15:  who are in the De Beers set, &c, & I felt I might make it awkward for
16:  them. But they will be here a few days on their return from the Free
17:  State, & I am going to see them again. Didn’t you think Alice looked
18:  changed & sad? Bessie is a sweet creature, & the children are lovely.
19: 
20:  Cron working hard at this election business. He feels hopeful & so do
21:  the other two but I don’t. Of course we shall, I hope, get one man
22:  in; but we shall not get Rhodes out. The story going about here is
23:  that Rhodes is drinking very heavily, but I don’t believe it. I
24:  think it is just to put folks off their guard that the report is
25:  spread. How bitter feeling seems in Cape Town! One lady wrote me the
26:  other day, that if a Bond Ministry came in she supposed all the
27:  English would have to leave the land; they would be too cruelly
28:  treated &c! It really sometimes seems to me that people have gone mad
29:  down there!
30: 
31:  Give my love to the dear small folks. Give my love to Nelly when you
32:  write to her. Is her baby thriving?
33: 
34:  Your little sis
35:  Olive
36: 
37: 
38: 

Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.