Olive Schreiner Letters Online

Letter Reference	Olive Schreiner BC16/Box5/Fold4/Jan-June1915/22
Archive	University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary Type	Letter
Letter Date	April 1915
Address From	Kensington Palace Mansions, De Vere Gardens, Kensington, London
Address To
Who To	Betty 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 Betty Molteno, April 1915, 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 date has been written on in an unknown hand. This letter is on printed headed notepaper.

1:  Telephone: 3675 Kensington.
2:  Telegrams: Apartment, London.
3: 
4:  Kensington Palace Mansions & Hotel,
5:  De Vere Gardens, W.
6: 
7:  Dear Betty
8: 
9:  We had the Zeppelins here the night before last, but they didn’t do
10:  much harm. It’s ridiculous how frightened people are of them. Give
11:  my love to my darling Alice. I hope she is now quite well. Her sweet
12:  sister-in-law Eva Greene is coming to see me tomorrow. I had lunch at
13:  your brother Percies yesterday His wife has for me just the same
14:  attraction she has always had – only much more. There is such a
15:  wonderful light in her eyes when she smiles. Under that eternally hard
16:  exterior, there’s an intensity of passionate feeling few people have.
17:  If she loved a thing she would love it so absolutely. Dear Mrs Murray
18:  will go by the boat which takes this. I think she’s looking so well.
19: 
20:  Cron says its too awful at De Aar there are thousands of horses &
21:  mules there for the military. The veld is one huge stable, & the smell
22:  is so terrible at night you have to keep every door & window shut. He
23:  says he's so thankful I’m not there as it would kill me at once.
24: 
25:  Good bye dear. In our little way the small band of us in Europe who
26:  desire peace & fellowship among the nations are standing out in all
27:  nations. Liebknecht in Germany, many who have been sent to Siberia by
28:  the Russian Government for refusing to fight &c. We have a very small
29:  place in the world today, but the far future after thousands of years
30:  is ours. Good bye dear one. Things are so heart breaking here I can
31:  hardly desire you were here
32: 
33:  Olive
34: 
35:  Give my love to dear Ruth Alexander if you see her. I long to see her.
36: