"Rhodes wriggling wriggling" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Lytton 01229/7 |
| Archive | Lytton Family Papers, Knebworth |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | After Start: 3 August 1893 ; Before End: 17 August 1893 |
| Address From | Millthorpe, Holmesfield, Sheffield, Yorkshire |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Constance Lytton |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the Knebworth House Archive (www.knebworthhouse.com) for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter to Lady Constance Lytton, which is part of the Knebworth collections. The letter has been dated by reference to content and when Schreiner stayed in Millthorpe during her to May to September 1893 sojourn in Britain.
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1Millthorpe
2Holmsfield
3nr Sheffield
4
5Dear Conny
6
7I thank you so much for your letter. I am sorry I’ve been ill, & so
8not able to write to Adela. Tell her when you write how it is.
9
10My plans remain still uncertain. Perhaps the man who is my friend will
11come to England, perhaps I shall go out to him; at the Cape, & perhaps
12I neither will ever happen. One can but wait on from week to week till
13the path is made clear, yes, till one sees what is right. It has been
14so hard to come to the point at which I can feel that if it necessary
15one is glad that any path should prove right.
16
17I am perhaps going to Italy soon. Will Adela still be there next
18month?
19
20Have you read any of Ed: Carpenters books. “England’s Ideal”, & his
21book of poems “Towards democracy.” They are both very beautiful. I
22wish you knew him & he knew you. He is one of the greatest & most
23beautiful souls living now. He lives in a little cottage not far from
24here, with some of his working men, friends.
25
26Your letter was very valuable to me. It’s so beautiful when one gets
27back to nature, & the big power of healing returns to one.
28
29Good bye.
30Olive
31
32Of course you won’t mention my possible return to the Cape, as not
33even my mother knows of it.
34
2Holmsfield
3nr Sheffield
4
5Dear Conny
6
7I thank you so much for your letter. I am sorry I’ve been ill, & so
8not able to write to Adela. Tell her when you write how it is.
9
10My plans remain still uncertain. Perhaps the man who is my friend will
11come to England, perhaps I shall go out to him; at the Cape, & perhaps
12I neither will ever happen. One can but wait on from week to week till
13the path is made clear, yes, till one sees what is right. It has been
14so hard to come to the point at which I can feel that if it necessary
15one is glad that any path should prove right.
16
17I am perhaps going to Italy soon. Will Adela still be there next
18month?
19
20Have you read any of Ed: Carpenters books. “England’s Ideal”, & his
21book of poems “Towards democracy.” They are both very beautiful. I
22wish you knew him & he knew you. He is one of the greatest & most
23beautiful souls living now. He lives in a little cottage not far from
24here, with some of his working men, friends.
25
26Your letter was very valuable to me. It’s so beautiful when one gets
27back to nature, & the big power of healing returns to one.
28
29Good bye.
30Olive
31
32Of course you won’t mention my possible return to the Cape, as not
33even my mother knows of it.
34
Notation
The books referred to are: Edward Carpenter (1885) Towards Democracy Manchester: John Heywood; and (1887) England’s Ideal, and other papers on social subjects London: Swann Sonnenschein & Co.
The books referred to are: Edward Carpenter (1885) Towards Democracy Manchester: John Heywood; and (1887) England’s Ideal, and other papers on social subjects London: Swann Sonnenschein & Co.