"The old world is cracking, Mrs Partington & her broom" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | HRC/UNCAT/OS-26 |
| Archive | Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Tuesday 14 April 1885 |
| Address From | 4 Robertson Terrace, Hastings, East Sussex |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 70-71; Draznin 1992: 338 |
| 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.
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1Tuesday
2
3“One is Truth. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
4Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of
5a man so real & equal that I may drop even those undergarments of
6dissimulation, ^courtesy^ & second thought, which men never put off, &
7may deal with him with the simplicity with which one chemical atom
8meets another.” This is my favourite passage in Emerson’s essay on
9friendship.
10
11I’ve got up early & am going to my work. I’ve just been reading
12him a little first. It brings back the memory of old Lily Kloof days,
13& Ganna Hoek.
14
15Come when you like & as soon as you are able, comrade. Bring work with
16you so that all morning we can sit & write, & in the afternoons walk
17together. Bring another copy of that French you lent me from the
18London ^or double copies of some other book, but I like that^ so that we
19can read together in the evening some times. We have got the full
20fifteen from the London now. I am sending some back. I have done with
21Carlyle, but won’t send him till I know when you are coming. Bring
22some interesting book with you, something that has interested you for
23us to read together
24
25Your comrade
26Olive
27
2
3“One is Truth. A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.
4Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of
5a man so real & equal that I may drop even those undergarments of
6dissimulation, ^courtesy^ & second thought, which men never put off, &
7may deal with him with the simplicity with which one chemical atom
8meets another.” This is my favourite passage in Emerson’s essay on
9friendship.
10
11I’ve got up early & am going to my work. I’ve just been reading
12him a little first. It brings back the memory of old Lily Kloof days,
13& Ganna Hoek.
14
15Come when you like & as soon as you are able, comrade. Bring work with
16you so that all morning we can sit & write, & in the afternoons walk
17together. Bring another copy of that French you lent me from the
18London ^or double copies of some other book, but I like that^ so that we
19can read together in the evening some times. We have got the full
20fifteen from the London now. I am sending some back. I have done with
21Carlyle, but won’t send him till I know when you are coming. Bring
22some interesting book with you, something that has interested you for
23us to read together
24
25Your comrade
26Olive
27
Notation
The book referred to is: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1877) Love, Friendship, Domestic Life Cambridge, Massachussets. Draznin's (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription. Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) extract is incorrect in various ways.
The book referred to is: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1877) Love, Friendship, Domestic Life Cambridge, Massachussets. Draznin's (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription. Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) extract is incorrect in various ways.