"Heart dying up last 5 or 6 years, 'Soul of a People' like rain falling on dry parched soil" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold3/1896/15 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 22 June 1896 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Betty Molteno |
| 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. The date has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The name of the addressee is indicated by content. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898.
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1
Dear Friend
2
3 Thankyou for your letter.
4
5I went to Miss Brigh Reed’s & to all the boarding houses I know, but
6they either didn’t "take Ladies" or were full. So I’ve had to take
7you a room at a Miss Smiths boarding house. Its "highly respectable"
8as the Hon & Rev Lyttleton boarded there for three years!! but it’s
9not so nice as I should have liked: the terms are 30/- a week each.
10It’s wonderful how miserable these Kimberley boarding houses & even
11Hotels are. There’s no room. There’s a cab stand close to the
12house, so you’ll never have any difficulty in getting cabs. It’s
13very lovely that you are both coming.
14
15 Cron has been reading your brother’s book & likes it. I’ll keep it
16till you come. Since that woman left Grahamstown my sweet little
17mother has been all right! Two days after, she wrote me the most
18tender letter with not one reference to politics, & most loving to
19Cron. It’s very wonderful.
20
21 The weather is heavenly here now – really what one pictures a heaven:
22 Cron & I were going to the Bend (the Vaal River) tomorrow ^for two days^;
23 but suddenly it struck me perhaps you & Miss Greene would like to go
24too. We might have a cart & go for two days. It’s so beautiful there
25& the rowing is so nice. There’s a primitive little hotel. But we
26could take
27
28^food & live under the trees & only go to the hotel for the night. Olive^
29
2
3 Thankyou for your letter.
4
5I went to Miss Brigh Reed’s & to all the boarding houses I know, but
6they either didn’t "take Ladies" or were full. So I’ve had to take
7you a room at a Miss Smiths boarding house. Its "highly respectable"
8as the Hon & Rev Lyttleton boarded there for three years!! but it’s
9not so nice as I should have liked: the terms are 30/- a week each.
10It’s wonderful how miserable these Kimberley boarding houses & even
11Hotels are. There’s no room. There’s a cab stand close to the
12house, so you’ll never have any difficulty in getting cabs. It’s
13very lovely that you are both coming.
14
15 Cron has been reading your brother’s book & likes it. I’ll keep it
16till you come. Since that woman left Grahamstown my sweet little
17mother has been all right! Two days after, she wrote me the most
18tender letter with not one reference to politics, & most loving to
19Cron. It’s very wonderful.
20
21 The weather is heavenly here now – really what one pictures a heaven:
22 Cron & I were going to the Bend (the Vaal River) tomorrow ^for two days^;
23 but suddenly it struck me perhaps you & Miss Greene would like to go
24too. We might have a cart & go for two days. It’s so beautiful there
25& the rowing is so nice. There’s a primitive little hotel. But we
26could take
27
28^food & live under the trees & only go to the hotel for the night. Olive^
29
Notation
The reference to 'your brother's book' is: Percy Alport Molteno (1895) A Federal South Africa London: John Murray.
The reference to 'your brother's book' is: Percy Alport Molteno (1895) A Federal South Africa London: John Murray.