"On the death of George Murray" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Mary Sauer MSC 26/2.11.20 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | After Start: Wednesday March 1891 ; Before End: April 1891 |
| Address From | Matjesfontein, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Mary Sauer nee Cloete |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 191 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), Cape Town, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections. The date has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
Matjesfontein
2 Wednesday night
3
4 My dear Mary,
5
6 I am asking a great favour of you. If you should be in town, could you
7call in & see the house mentioned on the slip - it's sure to be too
8big for me or in a street, but I want to get a little house for just
9two months or so while its so cold & damp up here. I don't suppose I
10shall get one I like & shall have to go up to Wagenaars Kraal. You
11know I would like to come & pay long visits to you & Mrs Innes, but
12I'm so busy working & when I'm working I'm not a bit nice. I go
13mooning about saying nothing & being so stupid & uninteresting. That's
14why I always have to live in my own house when I'm working. If I'm
15really "in work" I don't seem to see people, & when they talk to me I
16only half hear. If I'm not absorbed in that way then I do nothing. I
17want to come & spend a couple of days with you though my darling just
18to see you. But if I can't get a place any where it will be long
19before I come down.
20
21 I have never known any place so difficult to get a quiet place in as
22Cape Town. There are no houses with less than 6 rooms unless you want
23to be in the noisy part of the town. I want to come if I can, because
24it may be I shall have to go to England in August, & I want to see
25some more of all you whom I love in Cape Town. I don't want to go. I
26shan't if I can get out of it. But I may not be able.
27
28 Thank you for your beautiful letter. I am gou quite well again, & at
29work today & yesterday.
30
31 Thank you for loving me & understanding me.
32
33 Good bye
34 Olive
35
36 I send you a letter of my cousin's Mrs Joseph Orpen, because if ever
37you meet her, I want you to like her. She is a noble grand woman & you
38& she would be helpful to one another.
39
40 OS
41
42 There is a little tiny thing of mine, called a Woman's Rose coming out
43in the "New Review" for May. It's very tiny. Its how one woman gives
44
45^another woman a rose. I wish Mrs Sievewright would be friends with me.
46I'm going to see her when I come to town. Perhaps I was too ?warm ?at
47?the ?concert.^
48
49^Be very kind to Maggie, make her feel that its a comfort to you to
50have her with you. She'd rather have that than all the presents in the world.^
51
2 Wednesday night
3
4 My dear Mary,
5
6 I am asking a great favour of you. If you should be in town, could you
7call in & see the house mentioned on the slip - it's sure to be too
8big for me or in a street, but I want to get a little house for just
9two months or so while its so cold & damp up here. I don't suppose I
10shall get one I like & shall have to go up to Wagenaars Kraal. You
11know I would like to come & pay long visits to you & Mrs Innes, but
12I'm so busy working & when I'm working I'm not a bit nice. I go
13mooning about saying nothing & being so stupid & uninteresting. That's
14why I always have to live in my own house when I'm working. If I'm
15really "in work" I don't seem to see people, & when they talk to me I
16only half hear. If I'm not absorbed in that way then I do nothing. I
17want to come & spend a couple of days with you though my darling just
18to see you. But if I can't get a place any where it will be long
19before I come down.
20
21 I have never known any place so difficult to get a quiet place in as
22Cape Town. There are no houses with less than 6 rooms unless you want
23to be in the noisy part of the town. I want to come if I can, because
24it may be I shall have to go to England in August, & I want to see
25some more of all you whom I love in Cape Town. I don't want to go. I
26shan't if I can get out of it. But I may not be able.
27
28 Thank you for your beautiful letter. I am gou quite well again, & at
29work today & yesterday.
30
31 Thank you for loving me & understanding me.
32
33 Good bye
34 Olive
35
36 I send you a letter of my cousin's Mrs Joseph Orpen, because if ever
37you meet her, I want you to like her. She is a noble grand woman & you
38& she would be helpful to one another.
39
40 OS
41
42 There is a little tiny thing of mine, called a Woman's Rose coming out
43in the "New Review" for May. It's very tiny. Its how one woman gives
44
45^another woman a rose. I wish Mrs Sievewright would be friends with me.
46I'm going to see her when I come to town. Perhaps I was too ?warm ?at
47?the ?concert.^
48
49^Be very kind to Maggie, make her feel that its a comfort to you to
50have her with you. She'd rather have that than all the presents in the world.^
51
Notation
For the 'little tiny thing', see: "The Woman?s Rose" New Review vol 4, no.25, June 1891, pp.540-3. Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
For the 'little tiny thing', see: "The Woman?s Rose" New Review vol 4, no.25, June 1891, pp.540-3. Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.