"Predicts how war will be drummed up, strive to regard native as brother, Boer do so regard" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | HRC/UNCAT/OS-25 |
| Archive | Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 6 April 1885 |
| Address From | 4 Robertson Terrace, Hastings, East Sussex |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Draznin 1992: 334-5 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. This letter has been dated by reference to information written onto it by Ellis. Schreiner was resident at two addresses in Hastings from the end of November 1884 to the end of April 1885. The beginning and end of the letter is missing.
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1[page/s missing]
2
3husband were great likers of S.A.F. & would like to call, but I wasn’t
4able to see her yesterday. I’ll go & call on Monday. I think I should
5like them because she & her husband are trying to bring up their boys
6& girls in exactly the same way.
7
8Your comrade
9
10Olive
11
12You know I don’t like you to be a man, because you can hardly help a
13certain element of passion coming into your feeling for me, & passion
14in a man “tarries but a night.” I mean a friendship however slightly
15tinged with passion on a man’s side must pass away. I don’t like to
16feel like that about our friendship It isn’t enough to say, we’ll
17never forget each other, I’d like us to be always near. Then, if you
18were a woman be could perhaps one day live together. It isn’t true
19what you say about friendship requiring difference of sex. All the
20perfect enduring friendships have been between people of the same sex.
21Ettie & Fanny Howard have now been living together for 10 years hardly
22ever parted from each other for a day, & I can think of many other
23cases. If you were a woman nothing but death could ever part us.
24
25[page/s missing]
26
2
3husband were great likers of S.A.F. & would like to call, but I wasn’t
4able to see her yesterday. I’ll go & call on Monday. I think I should
5like them because she & her husband are trying to bring up their boys
6& girls in exactly the same way.
7
8Your comrade
9
10Olive
11
12You know I don’t like you to be a man, because you can hardly help a
13certain element of passion coming into your feeling for me, & passion
14in a man “tarries but a night.” I mean a friendship however slightly
15tinged with passion on a man’s side must pass away. I don’t like to
16feel like that about our friendship It isn’t enough to say, we’ll
17never forget each other, I’d like us to be always near. Then, if you
18were a woman be could perhaps one day live together. It isn’t true
19what you say about friendship requiring difference of sex. All the
20perfect enduring friendships have been between people of the same sex.
21Ettie & Fanny Howard have now been living together for 10 years hardly
22ever parted from each other for a day, & I can think of many other
23cases. If you were a woman nothing but death could ever part us.
24
25[page/s missing]
26
Notation
Draznin’s (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription.
Draznin’s (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription.