"George Grey" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/167 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 3 July 1917 |
| Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please 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. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
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1
London
2 July 3rd 1917
3
4 My darling Wynnie
5
6 Your sweet letter has just reached me. You & I are the only
7humanbeings who always have our wonderful darling in our hearts.
8Wynnie I think of her every day. Oh if I could have done more for her.
9As my condition becomes more & more like hers at the end I seem to
10come nearer & nearer her. I can’t eat anything now with out agony &
11my body is more & more swollen. I went to a woman doctor on Saturday
12She thinks I ought to go to a hospital & be cut open to find if there
13is not some large growth or whatever which explain my condition But
14another I went to says she will not have it, my heart is too weak to
15stand a operation & the wounds would not heal in my present inflamed
16condition. So I must go on so to the end. Sometimes I think if I could
17get to Germany or France if the war were over the doctors might do
18something for me, they are so much more clever & scientific than here,
19& so much cheaper.
20
21 I am so sorry Effie & her little ones have to leave the Highlands If
22they got a tiny cottage down near the sea it would be better for the
23children but there would be the expense of Arthurs season ticket. Give
24my dear love to them all. What news have you of Elberty?
25
26 It would be beautiful if you were here dear even if I could only see
27you once a week. As one grows weaker human love seems to mean more &
28more to one.
29
30 I don’t see much of Uncle Will or his family. I suppose you knew
31Ursula is to be married next month to a Dr. Percy Scott, who was head
32of the hospital where she has been nursing in France. Oliver is in
33India. You will of course have heard that he was torpedoed in the
34Mediterranean on his way out but was saved. Lyndall is still nursing
35in France. She did not look well at all when she was over here six
36months ago. I am anxious about her. My friend Miss Molteno is over
37here, & is a great comfort to me. She is almost the only person who
38ever comes to see me. Sometimes I pass ten days with out speaking to a
39human creature except the girl who brings does my room.
40
41^Good bye my darling this is not much of a letter ^
42 Your little Auntie.
43
44 Are you keeping well.
45
2 July 3rd 1917
3
4 My darling Wynnie
5
6 Your sweet letter has just reached me. You & I are the only
7humanbeings who always have our wonderful darling in our hearts.
8Wynnie I think of her every day. Oh if I could have done more for her.
9As my condition becomes more & more like hers at the end I seem to
10come nearer & nearer her. I can’t eat anything now with out agony &
11my body is more & more swollen. I went to a woman doctor on Saturday
12She thinks I ought to go to a hospital & be cut open to find if there
13is not some large growth or whatever which explain my condition But
14another I went to says she will not have it, my heart is too weak to
15stand a operation & the wounds would not heal in my present inflamed
16condition. So I must go on so to the end. Sometimes I think if I could
17get to Germany or France if the war were over the doctors might do
18something for me, they are so much more clever & scientific than here,
19& so much cheaper.
20
21 I am so sorry Effie & her little ones have to leave the Highlands If
22they got a tiny cottage down near the sea it would be better for the
23children but there would be the expense of Arthurs season ticket. Give
24my dear love to them all. What news have you of Elberty?
25
26 It would be beautiful if you were here dear even if I could only see
27you once a week. As one grows weaker human love seems to mean more &
28more to one.
29
30 I don’t see much of Uncle Will or his family. I suppose you knew
31Ursula is to be married next month to a Dr. Percy Scott, who was head
32of the hospital where she has been nursing in France. Oliver is in
33India. You will of course have heard that he was torpedoed in the
34Mediterranean on his way out but was saved. Lyndall is still nursing
35in France. She did not look well at all when she was over here six
36months ago. I am anxious about her. My friend Miss Molteno is over
37here, & is a great comfort to me. She is almost the only person who
38ever comes to see me. Sometimes I pass ten days with out speaking to a
39human creature except the girl who brings does my room.
40
41^Good bye my darling this is not much of a letter ^
42 Your little Auntie.
43
44 Are you keeping well.
45