"Life as governess on farm" Read the full letter
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Letter ReferenceOlive Schreiner BC16/Box5/Fold1/1912/52
ArchiveUniversity of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter Date10 November 1912
Address FromDe Aar, Northern Cape
Address To
Who ToAlice Greene
Other Versions
PermissionsPlease 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.
1 De Aar
2 Nov 10th 1912
3
4 Dear Alice
5
6 Of course I always love you & think you one of the most lovely &
7darling of the people in the world. Thank you for your long letter.
8Its really a shame I should have written about your speech at all. I
9never take any notice of what most women in Africa say: if women are
10what I feel them to be; they will be free some day – if not they
11won’t; its no use arguing about it. The centuries will prove. But I
12care so much what you think & feel about things. My heart is troubling
13me a lot. I’m always sick in the stomach. Every thing I do eat &
14every thing I don’t eat makes me sick! The doctors say its because
15there’s no blood in the stomach & brain; but I always get better as
16soon as I get lower down. As soon as I get as low at Beaufort West I
17begin to feel a new person.
18
19 I wish you & Bettie had taken that farm near Beaufort, then I could
20always have come & boarded with you, & built myself a little room
21there.
22
23 I don’t know if I told you I’d hired a little bedroom at
24Schmitt’s Café at Muizenberg where for January & February. I, to
25board myself, as I can’t eat hotel food any more. Where will you be
26in Jan & Feb?
27
28 I am going down, as soon as I feel well enough to pack my box & to get
29the house in order here, to my brother Will’s at Newlands & will
30stay with them till they go to St James at New Year. Its such a pity I
31can’t stand the air at St James & be near them I am trying to get a
32house at Muizenberg for Isie & General Smuts. They will be coming down
33in Feb for the session & it would be so nice to have her near me. But
34I fear its almost impossible to get a house there now. I’m trying to
35get my brother in law to let them his house. I’ll dance a regular
36war dance round you when I see you, tom-a-hawk out, scalps & all –
37but now I’m too sick.
38
39 My dear love to you both
40 Olive
41
42
Notation
Alice Greene's speech was reported in the Cape Times or Cape Argus and concerns some speeches or addresses she gave concerned with 'The existing franchise of the South African Union' and 'Problems arising from the Unification of South Africa', when she returned to South Africa after eight years absence. In the absence of more specific dates for the speeches, it has not been possible to trace the newspaper reports.