Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Olive Schreiner BC16/Box4/Fold4/1911/43
Archive	University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	6 September 1911
Address From	De Aar, Northern Cape
Address To	Kenilworth House, Kenilworth, Cape Town, Western Cape
Who To	Caroline Murray nee Molteno
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 Caroline Murray nee Molteno, 6 September 1911, 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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope.

1:  De Aar
2:  Sep 6th 1911
3: 
4:  Dear Mrs Murray
5: 
6:  It was so nice to see your handwriting again have you any news of
7:  Betty’s movements. She & Alice Greene wrote me some weeks ago that
8:  they were coming out almost at once. But I have not heard from them
9:  since. I wonder if they are on the way out!
10: 
11:  //As to you joining the Transvaal & other suffrage societies, its a
12:  matter on which I prefer to give no advice as members of the Woman’s
13:  Enfranchisement League might think I was interfering in their concerns.
14:  You know I have always been as little in favour of the union of all
15:  South African woman’s societies as I have always been against the
16:  Union of the S.A. States except in the form of a not too close
17:  federation; but I know none of you have agreed with me. I would see
18:  nothing great or desirable in you & Lady Innes & Mrs de Vaal breaking
19:  down your houses & building a big one in which you all had to live
20:  together. You are much better & happier as you are. Mere bigness never
21:  appeals to me. An ant or a butterfly are to me much more perfect &
22:  noble than the biggest crocodile! And little Switzerland & Holland
23:  much more interesting & happy that big Russia or the whole British
24:  Empire. Emerson says "we descend to meet." I know we often sacrifice
25:  our principles & our individuality when we try to form form
26:  connections with those with whom we are not in deep spiritual unity. I
27:  believe the woman’s cause is progressing so fast in England just
28:  because there are such an immense number of different women’s
29:  societies, unconnected with each other; with different aims &
30:  appealing to different classes of women. All women are no more alike
31:  than all men!!! We are one half of the Human Race on earth, & except
32:  in the one point of sex function differ quite as much from each other
33:  as ^from^ men. P
34: 
35:  Dr Jacobs spent a day with me with her Dutch friend. It was a red
36:  letter day with me. She is a splendid woman. I have also had my niece
37:  Lyndall here with me for a fortnight. I felt like an old hen who had
38:  lost her only chicken ^when she went.^ She is a sweet child. How happy
39:  you must be with your two big daughters.
40: 
41:  How is Dr Parker? Where are May & Kathleen? I shall perhaps be coming
42:  down to Cape Town in the summer to stay at Blauwberg where my sister
43:  Mrs Lewis is staying & which she finds very good for her heart Whether
44:  it will suit me as well I am a little doubtful. I shall spend a little
45:  time in Cape Town before I go there just to see you all.
46: 
47:  I’ve got such a sweet letter from dear Emily Hobhouse which I must
48:  answer today.
49: 
50:  Good bye. I am looking forward to seeing you.
51:  Olive Schreiner
52: 
53: 
54: