1St’ Leonards on Sea
2
3Dear Bob, I have had to come down here for a week. I shan’t be back
4in town till the Wednes Thursday of next week, so if you come on the
520th I shan’t see you. Don’t you want to come to St Leonards??? We
6could have some fine walks. Alice is down here with me & when she goes
7another girl is coming. I shall only be in Eastb London till Monday
8the first of Oct: & then come to Eastbourne to stay there till I sail.
9I don’t know why I like to see you so much.
10
11You must always tell me alittle about yourself when I’m in Africa,
12tell me when you fall in love & when you get married! When I am
13staying at Eastbourne I shall “work” my brother on the subject of
14the school.
15
16It’s beautiful down here. I sometimes feel as if I were dead & gone
17to heaven already, but I expect when I get stronger the old Adam will
18wake up & I shall want to live.
19
20I had a lovely day up the river with my
21
22^friends the Roberts.^
23Olive
24
25I will send you the first copy of the Fortnightly I get, Bob.
26
27It’s so beautiful lying here in bed lis-tening to the sea. It’s a
28wild windy day with gusts of rain. I can see the sea from my bed when
29I am proped up with pillows. I’m afraid you were very tired when you
30got back to Lon-don.
31
32I would like to write you a long long letter but I can’t today.
33
34Send me your photograph, please. Address to Alice Corthorn’s care.
35She has been so sweet the last two days taking care of me.
36
37Bob I’ll never forget how you helped me up those steps & how nice it
38was lying there in the sunshine.
39
40Goodbye
41Olive Schreiner
42
43Tuesday
44St Leonards on Sea
45
46Please finish the address on the care & post.
47
48^Address. Edinburgh Hotel till next Tues-day. After that Chenies St
49till the 30th.^
50
51^I’ll send you a copy of the Fortnightly with my article as soon as it^
52
53^comes out.^
54

1Mount Vernon
2Cape Town.
3Dec 8 / 89.
4
5Dear Bob
6
7I wrote you quite a long letter two weeks ago. Then I suddenly got
8news that my mother was very ill. I have done a two thous-and mile
9journey since then, & my letter is lying at Vis-ch Hoek I think.
10
11Tell me more about the school, tell me more about yourself. Yes,
12you’ll have to come out here. I’m going out to Vis-ch Hoek
13tomorrow.
14
15When I was going through the karroo on a great desert plaine I saw a
16wonderful mirage. I’ve seen many before but never one quite like
17this. A great beautiful lake & trees growing all about it, & the
18beautiful water shining in the sunlight. I’ve seen a great many
19things I’d like to tell you about.
20
21Don’t forget me Bob.
22
23Every one is very kind to me here they are all good to me beyond words.
24
25I got ill at Vis-ch Hoek & the Doctor ordered me up country. I
26didn’t get better there, so I’m going back to try my beautiful
27Vish Hoek tomorrow, & if I can’t stay there I’m coming back here.
28
29My sister-in-law & the children have are going to the sea side for the
30three summer months & she says I can have this house all to myself. It
31a beautiful house out of the town with the pine wood behind, & the
32white flat roofed town & the sea below. If I do come back & you come
33to pay Africa a visit you can come & stay with me.
34
35Give my friendly greetings to your friend Brown. I hope his foot is
36quite well.
37
38Tell me all about Reddy, & Cassels & the boys. I’d like to go rowing
39with you
40Olive
41
42^Address Mount Vernon still^
43

1My dear Bob,
2
3Thankyou for your letter.
4
5I knew it would all be like that!! as the old women say, shaking their
6fingers. You’ll have to come out here, there’s nothing left for it.
7
8I’m so well & sunned through & through. The people here call me
9“salamander” because I go out in the sun in the middle of the
10hottest days when they dare not. You see my blood’s been frozen in
11your north & I’m getting it thawed.
12
13A photographer here has written to ask me to have my likeness taken, &
14I’ll send you one soon. There are no rivers here for us to row on
15down here, but we’ll ride together, & if we are up at the Vaal
16we’ll row.
17
18Your little old sister
19Olive
20
21Mount Vernon
22M Cape Town
23South Africa
24

1^Bob^
2
3Cape Town
4May 23 / 92.
5
6My dear Bob
7
8A Mr Muir has just come out here from Glasgo; he knows you, & he likes
9you. Of course it warmed my heart to him. I like him. I like most
10Scotchmen.
11
12Bob write & tell me how you are getting on. There aren’t any people
13so nice as you Africa, though some people are very nice. I long some
14times a little for my old friends now in the dark cold rainy winter
15weather. It’ll be all right when the summer comes & the dear old sun
16looks out again on us in his African glory.
17
18I haven’t any news to give you of my self. I’m jogging along
19getting old & grey! I’ve been working very hard & got on finely with
20my work till the cold weather set in. I shall have a lot ready to take
21home with me when I come.
22
23Good bye my dear beautiful old Bob
24Olive
25

1Cape Town
2Aug 13 / 92
3
4My dear Bob,
5
6I wrote you a card three weeks ago, but I don’t think they posted it.
7 I’ve been six weeks in bed with measles. I got your letter while I
8was ill. I was so glad of it Bob. It’s funny I’ve felt more I
9wanted to see you than any of my friends in England the last months. I
10wish I was a man, & you & I could camp about the world together. I’m
11very selfish, I never think whether it would be nice for you, only
12that it would be nice for me.
13
14I should like to go up to Scotland to your Mother’s if I came to
15England next winter ^summer^, but I don’t know whether I shall come back.
16
17Good bye.
18Muir is getting on very well here: much-liked. Give my love to our E C
19when you write
20Olive
21

1Did not come for many reasons. Shall be down in the south of England
2likely in August unless I settle at Mill-Thorpe. I wonder if I shall
3ever see you again. Thank your mother very much for her goodness in
4asking me
5
6Olive Schreiner
7

1New College,
2Eastbourne.
3Friday
4
5My dear Bob
6
7I am going up to Ilkley on Monday. I leave by the 12.25 from St
8Pancras. When are you going to Ed Carpenters I’m sure I shall have
9Hayfever there ^at EC’s^, & so not be able to stay long, but I want so
10to spend a day there, & be near you both. Please write addressed to
11c/o Mrs Walters Highfield, Ilkley; & ask Edward to write & let me know
12whether he will be at home. I fear he will just be going down to
13London now, & I shall not see him at all. I too am thinking of perhaps
14taking a very important step: but as always in such cases there are
15not only two persons to be thought of but more.
16
17All good be with you my own dear beautiful brother. Your little
18sister Olive
19
20Send this on to E-C- & ask him to let me know of his movements.
21
22^Have you yet got work??^
23

1The Homestead
2Kimberley
3Sep 17 / 94
4
5Dear Bob,
6
7You write to a person & give “Edinburgh” as your only address. How
8is a body to get a letter to you so I’m sending this to our E.C.
9
10I’m afraid there’s no chance Muir will be able to give you work
11out here; there’s such a wrong & foolish outcry about his filling
12all teaching posts with Scotchmen.
13
14If you could come out it would be splendid.
15
16I’m very happy dear, all things are going well with me. My husband
17creeps deeper & deeper into my heart, day by day as I know him better.
18I am expecting a little baby some time too. Is your wife going to have
19one? Give her my friendly greetings.
20
21We are living in a little cottage I have bought about four ^three^ miles
22out of Kimberley. My heart is better since we came up here. Write to
23me some time & give me all your news. My husband sends his heartiest
24greetings to you. We often talk of you.
25
26Your old comrade
27

1[page/s missing] Talk the matter over with him; & see what he thinks.
2
3I’m so glad to hear about your little son Bob. I wish I could see
4him. My little I expect will arrive in about 8 weeks time. I shall be
5glad. My husband has gone to attend a big Congress in Cape Town but
6will be back next week.
7
8We were married a year last Sunday. He is infinitely nearer & dearer
9to me than when we married. I suppose it is always so where two people
10are really suited to each other. He is very sincere & beautiful. I
11have been very ill since I married had almost unbroken asthma. But I
12have sent to America for a wonderful new asthma cure which will be
13here next week. If it helps I will publish it all over the world that
14others m-ay be helped: Send me a likeness of your wife & little Waldo
15if you can.
16
17I’m so glad you are so happy dear.
18
19Your little sister
20Olive
21

1The Homestead
2March 28 / 95. ^
3Kimberley
4South Africa^
5
6Dear Bob,
7
8I enclose a letter which I’ve just cut from a paper. Such letters
9are always appearing, & it makes me feel it can end in nothing but
10misery for the ordinary delicate working man to come out. People fa
11eat & drink in a much plainer rougher way - & are contented with much
12rougher housing here than at home. For five years I was governess in
13this country, & was for nearly all that time earning £ 10/- a week
14with the very coarsest food; a room with a mud floor across which the
15rainwater used to stream when it rained, from the holes in the roof. I
16had a bedstead made of wood & leather no table or chair, but an empty
17soap pot box to sit on & a bigger one to write on, & an old tin box
18that I keep my clothes in. For weeks at a time sometimes we did not
19see even bread, only unstamped mealies, or pumpkins. They were the
20happiest years of my life, because when my work was done I could creep
21away into the bush & be happy by myself; but I very much doubt whether
22the average English working man accustomed to his good bread, butter,
23& milk or tea &c could stand such a life, or would work contentedly
24for 10/- a week; & when his boots were worn out mend them with bits of
25cloth or leather & laugh all the while! Even now ^I^ I am do nearly all
26the scrubbing window cleaning & cookery myself. I have one little girl
27to help me, but her time is mainly taken up in doing the
28
29^washing &c. I am expecting my little one daily now: and am very busy
30getting the house cleaned up before it comes. How is little Waldo.
31Send me his photo. I wish I could see him^
32
33Yours ever dear old Bob.
34Olive
35

1The Homestead
2Kimberley
3Aug 3rd 1895
4
5Dear Bob,
6
7A friend of my, a splendid but ^and^ very kind Presbeterian Clergyman
8was here this week spending some days with us. He comes from
9Johannesburg, the great gold mining city of South Africa. They are
10thinking of starting a new liberal school here. The money ^is^ already
11largely subscribed, & I think it will be just the place for you. Mr
12Lloyd my friend has more to say about it than anyone else, & he is
13going to write to you at once. I hope you will find your self able to
14accept it.
15
16The [papertorn]
17
18no sectarian narrowness. It will be very good to have you out here.
19
20Give my love to your wife, & the little Waldo, please kiss for me.
21
22 [papertorn] unreadable
23

1New College Junior School,
2Eastbourne.
3
4My own dear old Chum
5
6I wish oh so much you were in London, we shall be there till Feb 20th
7but I suppose you are quite fast at your work. We must see you in the
8spring when we return for three month.
9
10We are returning to London on Saturday next when you must address
1119 Russell Rd
12Kensington
13Couldn’t you rundown from Saturday to Monday?
14
15I wish I could see little Waldo. You will love my husband I’m sure.
16
17Ed Carpenter will I hope be with us then.
18
19Please write me a line soon. Greetings from Cron.
20Your old chum
21Olive
22

17 rue Lemâitre
2Puteaux
3Seine
4
5May 14 / 97
6
7My dear Bob
8
9Edward sent me your letter.
10
11I hope all unreadable will go well with you both, dear lad. That is
12all I can say. I do wish I could see you. I suppose it would be quite
13impossible for you to run over to Paris for a few days when you are in
14London? If you could come & we could have a couple of long talks I
15should be very very glad. I am staying at the above address for a
16month. Do come to Paris if you can Bob. We are about a mile ^& a half^
17beyond the Champs Elysees; have taken rooms in a tiny cottage in the
18same garden in which my friend Nelly Rielly & her husband liv ^have
19their little house^, & it is very sweet & quiet, not at all like being
20in Paris. Do drop me a line or send me a wire to 7 Rue Lemâitre
21Puteaux
22Seine
23France
24if you are able to come. I do want to see you so much Bob.
25
26I hope I shall see your wife & Waldo some day.
27Yours ever
28Olive
29

131 Lower Belgrave St
2O W
3
4Dear Bob,
5
6Drop me a line some time if you feel you can. Give my love to your
7wife, & the dear little Waldo. I wish I could have seen him. It would
8have been a great joy to me; but I can’t come north. I’ve had two
9big-wig specialists here, & they say my heart is broken down, so I
10mustn’t go in a train if I can help it; so pe I’m saving my self
11till I can go to Italy or Africa. Perhaps next week they’ll let me
12go down by boat to Broadstairs or Margate for a time. It’s an awful
13pity you aren’t down here now, perhaps you could have come to
14Broadstairs, & we could have sat on the beach & seen one another.
15
16I hope all goes well with you dear old Laddie. Life is so short & it
17hurries away so, we must just make every moment as beautiful as we can.
18
19Good bye, dear boy. Much love to you all
20Olive
21

1Morley’s Hotel
2Trafalgar Square
3London W.C.
416th July. 97
5
6My dear Bob
7
8(Olive says you are “Bob”)
9
10Your note arrived yesterday. Our plans are pretty definitely fixed now.
11 We leave for S. Africa not later than the 21st August, and it is
12almost certain that we shall sail on that date. The Drs say that Olive
13will get no better & that she will do no work here, & have ordered her
14back to the Cape. If we could get suitable cabins, we should leave
15earlier than the date fixed.
16
17On Monday we go to Eastbourne; our stay there depends on Olive’s
18health: we hope to unreadable.
19
20She says she hopes so much you may be able to come to see her before
21she leaves, for she can’t travel so far, & would be so disappointed
22if she went without having seen you. I too am hoping to meet you.
23
24Address
25New College Junior School
26Eastbourne
27
28Yours very sincerely,
29S.C. CronwrightSchreiner
30

1The Homestead
2Sep 23rd 1898
3
4My dear Bob
5
6It seems long since we had tidings of how the world was going with you
7three. Does the little son flourish? Are you getting plenty of work? I
8can’t help wishing you were all out here.
9
10Dr Mure tool would I’m sure find work for you if you were once here,
11but it wouldn’t do to come out on spec.
12
13Politics are taking up all our thoughts here. We hope in a couple of
14weeks to defeat Rhodes, & to see my brother Will Prime-minister. He
15(my brother) has begun of late years to feel very strongly on the
16question of Capitalism, & we may hope for some attempts at reform.
17
18We are likely going to live up at Johannesburg at the end of the week
19year, if Cron can get any work.
20
21My heart has become very bad of late. I never am able to lie down any
22more have to sleep sitting up, which is tiring.
23
24Good bye. Drop me a line when you can dear old Bob.
25Love to wife & son.
26Olive
27
28^Love to E C if you are writing to him^
29OS
30

1Hanover
2Friday
3
4My dear Bob
5
6“Is there spirits about!” Yesterday for the first time for eleven
7or more months I wrote to you, & this morning when I send the girl to
8the post she brings me a letter from you who haven’t written to me
9for an even longer time. Curious, isn’t it?
10
11The girl took my letter to you y down to the post, so I can’t get it
12out though it’s addressed wrong, to your old place. I suppose
13you’ll still get it?
14
15Thankyou so much for little Ruth’s picture. I like it much. Is her
16head really the curious shape it looks in the photo? It’s exactly
17like mine if it is. I never can get a hat to fit because I’m so high
18here from the top of the ear to the top of the head. I fancy, if its
19not the photograph that distorts her head, its very much like mine
20only hers is “rise” is a little more to the back than mine; is
21abnormally high & unreadable My head is so awfull wide above the ears
22too. Its been a trouble to me all my life to know how to do my hair
23because of it. If I part it down the middle & wear it smooth as I like,
24 every one does nothing but look at the top of my head. It an
25additional attraction to Ruth to think she should have the same
26affliction!
27
28I can’t write any more now. Must catch post
29Olive
30

1Cronwright-Schreiner & Meyer
2Law and Estate Agents.
3Auctioneers, &c,
4Hanover and De Aar
5
6Cronwright-Schreiner,
7Law, Estate and General Agent
8
9Harold L. Meyer, J.P.,
10Attorney and Notary.
11Telegrams: "Schreiner"
12
13Hanover,
14Cape Colony
15
16May 8th 1906
17
18Dear Bob
19
20It’s such a long time since I had any news of you direct or indirect.
21 I hope all has gone well with the wife & that you & she are richer by
22the possession of another little one. Please write just a note & tell
23me how it goes with you.
24
25With me all is going well. My meerkats are flourishing. I have six now!
26
27Next month Cron is going down to Parliament to Cape Town, & I am going
28with him. But just now he is away at de Aar seeing after his business
29there, for ten days.
30
31He has sold his business there ^here^ Bye here, & we are going to live
32at de Aar. Its a Railway Camp about 30 miles from this, all dust &
33flies & tin & rag shanties & little brick houses, & awful heat in
34summer. There are about 3000 inhabitants, mostly the lowest class of
35coloured folk, & the rest of the population railway men, & of course
36Jews, & a few Railway-officials. We are going to build a little
37cottage about half a mile out of the camp, where there isisn’t so
38much dust, & flies & other things; but have first to sink a well to
39find water before we can begin to build, & whether we shall find it
40where we want is doubtful. So things are rather mentaly unsettled with
41us just now.
42
43What a strange thing life is & how it leads us hither & thither. If
44any one had told me 12 years ago I should ever go & live at de Aar I
45should have told him he was mad. One advantage about the place is that
46three railway lines converge there, so one may have a chance of seeing
47ones friends as they move up & down the country which one hasn’t here.
48
49What is really filling all my thoughts is Natal, & the Natives, on
50whom they are trying to force war. But I can’t write about it.
51
52^Good bye. I hope it goes well with the wife & the children & the old
53mother & the old Bob.^
54Olive
55

1Hanover
2Jan 22nd 1907
3
4Dear Bob
5
6I’m often wishing I had news of you all. How goes the world with you &
7the wife & the little sons & daughters? I’ve never heard what your
8last baby’s name was.
9
10My Husband wasn’t doing very much here, there are so many other
11lawyers here in this tiny village, so he sold his business & went to
12start one at de Aar a railway camp about 36 miles from here. We can’t
13get a house there so till he can build one I am living alone here.
14Just now I havent a servant at all so I & Ollie the dog & the three
15meerkats have the world of this little house & yard ^all to ourselves;^
16& you may picture me going every evening to the village pump for water.
17 I’m trying to write at my book too, a bit.
18
19Next Saturday, the 26th is Cron’s birthday & he is coming to spend the
20day with me. He is going to have a roast fowl & jam roll, & all the
21things I know he likes for his dinner so I am quite busy getting ready.
22 He says he will try & come over for a day once in three or four weeks
23
24// I have given you all my news now. Please write & tell me how it
25goes with you all.
26
27Olive Schreiner
28
29How is the old mother?
30

1P.O. Box 24
2De Aar
3Cape Colony
4South Africa
5Dec 24 / 07
6
7Dear Bob & Lene
8
9This is just a little line of Xmas & New Year greeting to you & all
10the little generation.
11
12I hope all goes very well, & especially that the dear tiny baby
13flourishes & grows.
14
15We are living now at de Aar, a place about 36 miles from Hanover where
16I have lived for the last 7 years. It on the same dry dusty windy
17plains four or five thousand feet above the sea. We are at present
18leading quite “the simple life” as Cron & I are living in one
19little room out on the veld about three quarters of a mile out of the
20Railway camp which is “de Aar”. But we are building on some rooms
21now, & shall have moved into them by April. I think I like the one
22little room best because there’s less work! It may look a simple
23life to live in a little house without a servant, but it isn’t
24simple to the person who does the “chores”.
25
26I’ve still got my three meerkats & the little dog. I like living
27here much better than in Hanover because the Railway passes here, &
28though I never go anywhere, one can always look at the trains coming
29in, & knows that you could fit in them & go away.
30
31I’ve got a wonderful new remidy ^for asthma^ from England called Dr
32Tucker’s Cure, that is doing me much much good. If you know of
33anyone who has asthma tell them to try it. His address is Dr Tucker,
34Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill, London.
35 ^
36The worst is its rather expensive & cost £3.3, but its worth hundreds.
37 This is n’t much of a letter, but I want to know how you are &
38perhaps when you get this one of you will write.
39
40My love to you both.
41Olive
42
43I hope Bobs mother is well
44
45I’ve given you all my news in this letter. One of you must write &
46give me yours.^
47

1Box 24
2De Aar
3Nov 16th 1908
4
5Dear Bob
6
7I am sending you two photos of my self, take one for yourself & Lenie
8& send the other to Ed Carpenter.
9
10I’m still at de Aar & the world goes the old pace. All my thoughts &
11interests are just now centred on the Dinuzulu Trial in Natal, in
12which my brother Will is defending Dinuzulu & my dear friend Miss
13Colenso is straining ever nerve to see justice done. It will be a
14terrible mis-carriage of justice if he is not brought in innocent; for
15not only his own people but all the natives if South Africa know he
16was innocent, but that it was he & he alone who prevent a general a
17rising when the Natalians began their wicked little game, he simply
18would not let his people move. If he is brought in guilty every scrap
19of faith in English justice will die, & I don’t know what will happen.
20This closer Union movement here is really a plan on the part of the
21two white races to combine so as to wipe out the natives more easily,
22& take away the Franchise from them who have it. It’s rather terrible
23to live in such a country.
24
25Give my love to dear Lenie; that beautiful letter she wrote me made me
26love. I seem really to know her now.
27
28Good bye.
29“Alles ten beste”
30As the Boer’s say.
31Olive Schreiner
32
33I wish I could see your children. Waldo must be getting quite big.
34
35^I wonder if you would have recognized the photos as mine if you hadn’t
36been told. I have changed more than you, except that my hair is
37thicker & longer than ever, & hardly any grey ones.^
38
39But people pass me in the street who know me & don’t seem to recognize me
40

1De Aar
2April 3rd 1911
3
4Dear Bob
5
6I’m sending you & Lene a copy of my book. It’s only a fragment but
7tell me what you think of it.
8
9I’m back at de Aar. Cron has gone to Cape Town for a week or ten
10days so I’m here alone in my little house in the veld. Its about ten
11o’clock at night now, & I & my animals have the house to ourselves.
12
13“Alles ten besten” as the Dutchman says – which means
14“Everything of the best to you”.
15Olive
16

1De Aar
2Cape of Good Hope
3South Africa
4May 28th 1913
5
6My dear Bob
7
8I hope the world goes well with you all. How is your own health?
9
10I am coming to England at the end of this year to see if I can get any
11medical help for my heart. I am going to try the baths &c at Nauheim.
12I wonder if there will be any chance of my seeing you?
13
14I fear I shall not be able to go up to Scotland & want so much to see
15Lene & the children, as well as you.
16
17We are still living at de Aar in the old way. Cron is going for a six
18or seven months holiday to travel on the continent & to get a good
19rest & will likely go a month ^or so^ before I do. I mean to try the
20cure at Nauheim which has done my brothers heart much good.
21
22It will be nice to see dear old Edward again. But oh Bob, it does
23break my heart that so many of my old friends seem to have moved so
24far backwards, are Christian Scientist believes in ghosts fortune
25telling &c, &c. I suppose the average human cannot do with out some
26form of superstition. I simply ask my Christian Scientist &
27Ghost-believing friends please not to dis-cuss it with me.
28
29Good bye dear old Bob. I hope all goes well with you & yours.
30Love to Lene
31Olive
32

1Hotel Augusta Victoria
2Bad Nauheim
3
4[page/s missing] but as I don’t know any one in the whole country except one woman in
5Bavaria & one in the north, it will be too lonely when my brother is
6gone. As I get older I feel a curious clinging to human beings I
7didn’t feel when I was young. Perhaps it is because I’ve been so
8many years alone in the desert.
9
10Write to me here if you’ve time & inclination My permanent address is
11c/o Standard Bank
1210 Clement’s Lane
13Lombard Street
14London.. I shall not be staying at Dr Corthorns when I go back.
15
16It was wonderfully good to see you Bob so utterly unchanged. My little
17niece & my nephew both fell quite in love with you.
18
19I’d like to see a little more of you before I leave, but Glasgows a
20long way off. Is there any nice quiet place near to Glasgow but out of
21the smoke, where I could hire rooms or go to a little inn? [page/s missing]
22

1Grand Hotel und Kurhaus
2Oberhof
3
4July 14th 1914
5
6Dear Bob thanks for your letter. As you will see I’m now in a little
7Thuringian village buried among the pine trees. Its not bad, but not
8like my dear Bad Nauheim. I was so well & so happy there.
9
10Now as to my plans, I want to find a quiet place not too expensive
11where I can settle down & write a little, if I can. It seems to me it
12would be very nice if I could find such a place near Glasgow where I
13could sometimes see you people. I should so to know Lene & the
14children. But don’t take trouble about finding me a place. I don’t
15know yet quite when I will return or what I will do. It depends much
16on my brother’s movements who is now here with me. If he goes to
17Sweeden next week, as he half talks of doing, I shall return to
18England next week, if he stays on I shall. I’ll write & tell you as
19soon as I know, but I’m so afraid of your spending valuable time &
20thought for nothing.
21
22If do come I think I should like to be near the sea, but any place
23that is stimulating & airy (like Whitby). I should like, & I
24shouldn’t like a place where I had a long walk to get to train or
25boat, - as the doctors say I must not walk much. I love lakes & little
26rivers with little steamers on them better than anything, being on
27water if it’s calm is so lovely & rest-ful.
28
29Its funny that as I get older I get more & more so-ciable! I suppose
30my character is weaking. When I was young I could spend months quite
31alone without ever longing for human companionship – now I seem to
32care so much for it. Of course I could work more before my heart got
33weak; & when one is buried in work one can never feel lonely.
34
35Isn’t dear old Edward splendid? He seems to me more lovable & full
36of life & genius than when I first saw him.
37
38Good bye. You don’t say anything about the invention so I suppose
39there’s nothing to say.
40Olive
41

1Telephone 7266 Paddington
2The Windsor,
361 & 62 Lancaster Gate, W
4
5Dear Bob
6
7Thanks for your letter & thanks for asking me to come. But I can’t
8just now.
9
10I wish I could see you & have a long talk about the war. Perhaps you
11are one of the few Englishmen who can still reason & view things from
12a calm intellectual standpoint. Of course one can form no opinion of
13this war unless one has a clear & definite view of the diplomacy of
14the last ten years which has lead up to it. If you regard that as
15right there can be no dis-cussion, we differ wholy & entirely in our
16out look on human life & human duty.
17
18When France & England supported the autocracy in Russia with the
19unreadable which enabled her to crush the liberal movement, they
20committed the master crime of their histories. When England entered
21into her league with Russia in all that dirty business in Persia she
22committed a crime compared to which to me the Boer war seems nothing.
23When she made that lea understanding three years ago to fight if
24Russia was at war with Germany, all hope was dead. Never since England
25was England have we had such wicked such mad diplomacy as we have had
26during the last ten years, & all covered up by lying & darkness. You
27may say Gray was a fool – but a fool is the worst of all people to
28have at the head of affairs. But don’t let us talk about the war,
29dear Bob. Let us leave it alone. Of course you can’t understand what
30I feel about British Government having urged South Africa to make an
31attack on German East Africa which had never done us the slightest
32harm. Where thousands of our boys are going up to be killed, in this
33to me unrighteous unnecessary attack. In four years time, those of us
34like John Morley & others who have stood out from this business will
35have everyone on our side, & the funny thing is that the very people
36who are howling for blood now will say they never approved of Grey or
37Churchill or Asquith!!!
38
39I don’t know if they are as mad in Scotland: here they are simply
40mad – mad. Terrible things are going to happen in South Africa. You
41saw our great general De La Ray, who opposed to our attacking German
42West Africa was shot by accident!
43
44We’ll enough of South Africa. There are a few of us here, mainly old
45Pro-Boers who are drawing together to try & see if we can do nothing
46when the war ^madness^ is a little ?over; but its very lonely.
47
48I wish I could have seen Lene & the children
49Yours ever
50Olive
51

1Telephone: 3675 Kensington.
2Telegrams: Apartment, London.
3
4Kensington Palace Mansions & Hotel,
5De Vere Gardens, W.
6
7Dear Bob you call me “nauty Olive” for nothing. I have told no one
8of your invention, for one thing I couldn’t! I understand so little
9about it – you only told me as I understood, that it was something
10that would require a new kind of ship to be built for it. Four people
11have told me about the net a mile long to stretch across the sea. Four
12days ago a man who is has made some valuable inventions ^which have
13worked^ tode told me he was making two new ones, & he also talked about
14the net & said it was succeeding splendidly. I ^laughed about the net &
15said I didn’t believe it would succeed & that^ laughed & said I hoped
16his inventions would not succeed as, I had a friend who was making one,
17 & I hoped his would be taken! Do B ^I told him nothing about the
18ship ?expressly^ Afterwards the thought did strike me that perhaps ^I
19had misunderstood you &^ the net might be your invention & I was so
20delighted I sat down & wrote to you at once. But you certainly told me
21nothing about a net, ^the net I have talked of to many people as many
22people have told me about,^ I understood it was a ship I do hope it
23will come off; though its rather strange that your invention should be
24one for taking life!!! The peaceful loving Bob!!! But I do wickedly
25want you to get some money.
26
27I I am not going to ?Bradford I’ve sent my letter to be read. I
28can’t afford the journey.
29Olive
30
31Understand, I have talked about the net to many people; it was being
32dis-cussed in a room with ten people were I was the other night, not
33at all as a secret!!!
34
35When Carpenter was here, we talked about you, & I said you had made an
36invention but told him, as indeed with nothing about it. I really
37don’t understand what it is. I only said that I felt sure whatever
38inventions you made other people would make md money & you ?would
39
40I am sorry to hear about your friends death. Was it heart disease? Its
41good to die suddenly; its the long years of suffering before that are
42so terrible.
43

1Telephone: 3675 Kensington.
2Telegrams: Apartment, London.
3
4Kensington Palace Mansions & Hotel,
5De Vere Gardens, W.
6
7Dear Bob, I hope I made myself clear. I wrote so hurriedly.
8
9When you had been here you left me with the idea quite distinctly
10^fixed^ that it was some kind of new ship or motor which had to be made
11to take the Submarines ^& I had no idea your invention was ready yet.^
12Every one was talking about the nets – but I never connected them
13with you – till as I sat here writing ^at my desk^ it suddenly struck
14me “What if I was wrong about the thing Bob invented being a ship -
15& is it perhaps after all the nets every one is talking about, & which
16I have laughed at as impossible. A man has just now told me that they
17are fasted onto ships, & have ships ^which are^ placed all along to
18guard them, but as I first heard of them they were to be fasted on to
19nothing & just ^float &^ intangle the submarines!! I simply can’t bear
20to think you should think I would have talked of any thing you had
21told me. People say this trawler which took the destroyed a submarine
22yesterday did so by means of one of these nets.
23
24If you did invent the nets you certainly took good care not to tell me
25anything about them, ^& so mislead me!^ If I had any idea ^guess^ about
26the invention in my own mind it was that there would to be ^probably be^
27a new sort of under water gun, so s-cientificaly built that it could
28fire true under whol ^water^ water ^without being deflected.^ - a thing
29which to my ignorant mind does not seem impossible!
30
31When people first talked about the nets I thought it was one of those
32endless lies one hears about everywhere & that there was no such
33things. If the nets do exist some people must have made them & some
34people must work them, & its quite impossible such a thing should be
35kept secret.
36
37Your letter, though it says nothing, makes me suspect your invention
38may be the nets, but I never ever heard of them till every one was was
39talking about them openly.
40
41It has always been my internal boast all my life that any one stranger
42or friend, man or woman, could confide anything to me, & it would be
43as though buried in the grave. If you had told me the nature of your
44invention not even to Ed Carpenter who loves you as much as I do,
45would I have mentioned it.
46
47If you did invent the nets, & (they are being talked about every where,)
48 What made you think I had connected them with you as you never
49mentioned them to me? If you had, you might have known I would never
50have spoken of them, even if other people were talking about ^them^. You
51may wonder at my being so distressed but its the first time in my life
52any one has thought I had given them away.
53
54Its very sad about your friend, just when perhaps success was coming!
55Well Well whether its nets, or ships, or guns, I hope you’ll be
56making so money to give say more time for other work.
57
58Thine ever
59Olive
60
61Love to Lene & the children.
62

1c/o Dr Parker
2Llandrindod Wells
3Wales
4Tuesday
5
6Dear Bob,
7
8I’m sorry that so far the invention has not come off. I’ve got
9lots of inventions in my head I’ll tell you about them when I come.
10Most of them however are medical & domestic appliances - & then one
11must have money to advertise!
12
13I’d rather come next month when Lene & the children are in Glasgow,
14& I’m getting so much better here every hour that I don’t need to
15move. If I came it will likely be ?about the second week in September.
16
17Does it rain all the time in Scotland as it does here. Now for two
18days & nights it has poured without ever leaving off. It’s a little
19bit depressing in war time when ones thoughts are not of the most
20merry, but I must be thankful that I’m so much better.
21
22Do you know a man called Ritchie in Glasgow? His mother used to be a
23great friend of mine. His father father was Professor D.S. Ritchie of
24Oxford & later of Scotland?
25
26Did I letter tell you in my last that my nephew Oliver had gone to the
27front in France. He is a Lieutenant in the 6th Northamptonshires.
28He’s been there ten days now. He has been like my own son to me
29since he was born; so tender & loving. My two favourite nieces, his
30sisters, my brother Will’s children are nursing in a hospital in the
31south of France. One is a medical student half through her course, &
32the other has passed her L.L.B.
33
34Good bye. Love to you all.
35Olive
36

1^c/o Dr Parker^
2Trevaldwyn,
3Llandrindod Wells.
4
5Dear Bob
6
7Thanks for your letter. I never go to peace meetings if I can help it:
8they always make me so “sick on the stomach” as the little boy
9said about Latin. Under the guise of talking about peace half the
10speakers ^are^ always praising na themselves & their own nation. All the
11other nations are so wicked, ?we are the people & wisdom shall die
12with them. Your brother-in-law must be a straight clear seeing man.
13I’d like to meet him.
14
15I shall be leaving for London next Monday week; eight days from
16tomorrow. My address there will be 2 Campden Hill Square W. Its close
17to Nottinghill Station. Very easy to get at if ever you should be
18coming to London. But I’m afraid there’s not much hope of that! I
19do wish, Bob, you could get some work that would make life easier for
20you all. Times seem getting harder & harder for every one. And things
21are nothing to what they will be if the war goes on.
22
23I suppose theres no more news of the invention! Its seems they have
24plenty of all kinds
25
26I hope I’ll be able to come in the spring & stay with your sisters &
27see you all.
28
29Yours with love to Lene
30Olive.
31

1c/o Dr Parker
2Llandrindod Wells
3Wales
4Wednesday
5
6Dear Bob
7
8I am so much better & able to stick to my writing that I dont dare to
9move, always leave well alone is my motto. So I dont know when I shall
10get up north to see you all. I got a nice letter from your sister. I
11shall like to see them all so.
12
13How about the invention. I see the English are according to their
14showings sending German sub-marines to the bottom by some devices. I
15suppose they are not yours! My work is along another line; it’s all
16for peace!!
17
18Did I tell you my favourite nephew & god son Oliver Schreiner was away
19fighting in the trenches? I saw the telegraph boy come to the door
20with a telegram this evening it made my heart jump into my mouth; I
21thought it was news about him, as my brother has promised to wire if
22he hears anything, But it wasn’t any bad news for me.
23
24Love to Lene & to you. There seems a fate about my coming north
25Olive
26

1c/o Dr Corthorn
230 St Mary Abbotts Terrace
3Kensington
4London W.
5
6Dear Bob
7
8I found the air too damp & relaxing in Cornwall, & am back in London
9again. I just write to let you know I am here, so that if perhaps
10anything brings you to London I may perhaps see you.
11
12I wonder if I shall ever get north to see you all. I won’t try now
13till the winter is over.
14
15My love to you all
16Olive
17
18I’ve not seen or heard any thing of my dear old Edward. I hope
19he’s fit: I afraid he thinks I’m very wicked because I don’t see
20any good in war. It’s to me about as unmixed an evil as cancer or
21syphilis. I hate it. Its only murder on a large scale.
22
23^I hope your not getting worse Bob. Its the physical malidies that hang
24about one like a weight round ones throat that matter.^
25

130 St Mary Abbotts Terrace
2Kensington
3^Friday^
4
5Dear Bob
6
7Thank you for your letter. I wonder what you feel on the cons-cription
8question & what stand the working men are going to take on it. I went
9with a deputation of about 60 others to the House of Commons to meet
10Sir John Simons & the MP’s who are opposed to conscription; it was
11very interesting but the pro-ceedings were private. No news paper
12reporters were there. I think I shall join the no-conscription fellow
13ship if they take women. Its the one society I absolutely agree with.
14
15I am looking forward to coming to see you all in the spring. The
16weather here is splendid for this time of year, cold & dry, which
17suits. me.
18
19Things, as far as the war goes, seem to me in a much better position
20than they were this time last year. It seems as if peace must come
21before the year is out.
22
23But our great difficulties will come when the war is over. Then will
24come the hunger & the pinch I think the government has been very wrong
25in borrowing these vast sums instead of raising taxation, at once, as
26they will have to do at last.
27
28Give my love to Lene. She must be wonderfully full of energy &
29capacity to do all you say she does. I only hope she will not tax
30herself too much. I’m glad to hear your brother sympathizes with my
31view of things. Have you studied the matter of our dealings with
32Persia during the last years. Have you read Shusters Book, “The
33Strangling of Persia”, & Bernier’s book on the Late Revolution in
34Persia. Its a dark page in our history the way we have helped Russia
35to strangle the ?them. I am still living here in my one little room. I
36seldom see any one, but have lovely rides up & down the streets on the
37top of the omnibus; which is my great joy in life. Any kind of
38movement is so delightful to me & does me such good.
39
40Good bye.
41Love to you all.
42Yours ever
43Olive
44

1Alexi
231 The Park
3Hampstead
4Monday
5
6Dear Bob
7
8If you should come to London do come & see me I am now staying in the
9house of my friend the Countess Batthyany (a great friend of Edwards)
10they are all away for the winter & I & the servant are here alone. It
11is close to Golders Green station. You take the underground to Golders
12Green when you get out of the station you take the great road leading
13up the Hill toward towards London This street is about the fourth
14turning out on the right hand side the Park is its name you will see
15the name Alexi on the gate & also 31 It is about 6 minutes walk from
16the station. If you can let me know before hand when you are coming I
17will have a nice meal of fish ready for you, or do you prefer grilled
18chops?
19
20Do come & see me if you can
21Olive
22

19 Porchester Place
2Edgware Rd
3Dec 10th 1917
4
5Dear B, It was such a pleasure to see Waldow grown such a splendid
6tall fellow. Do come & see me if you come to London. Let me know
7before you come that I’m not out.
8
9My telephone number is 6506 Paddington I am close to the Marble Arch
10
11Love to you all
12 [paper torn] e
13

1Feb 13th 1919.
2
3Dear Bob Thank you so much for your letter. Yes, I expect I did
4distress Edward very much the first time I saw him after the war. You
5know I couldn’t believe the really saw it as a good thing. It was He
6was the one humanbeing in the world I thought I knew would have stood
7out to the end. His attitude was one of the four greatest blows I’ve
8ever had in my life. Of course I know he’s just as sincere & earnest
9in thinking the war ^a^ good as I am in thinking it Hell. We must each
10follow our own natures. The last time he came to see me I tried not to
11refer to the war, & only talked of his sisters & South Africa &c. But
12perhaps I did talk a great deal because I was so afraid he’d begin
13about the war. I know many good people believe in war. Its just that I
14thought he was the one humanbeing on earth who wouldn’t.
15
16How I envy you & Lennie your splendid children.
17Good night dear Bob
18My love to you all
19Olive
20
21We had a wonderful meeting here in the Albert Hall. About 10,000
22people. Soermus wasn’t there to play to us he’d been put in prison.
23

1May 13th 1920
29 Porchester Place
3Edgware Rd
4London
5
6Dear old Bob
7
8Thank you for your letter, & for your letter in the paper you sent me.
9I haven’t been writing to practically any one for a long time If
10I’m well enough I’m going back to Africa in August. I can’t
11stand this climate any more. But its not sure that I’ll be able.
12
13I feel more hopeful of the worlds future than I’ve been for a long
14time. The dawn will come though its far far off still.
15
16It was rather fine, the working men refusing to load that ship with
17the guns for the Poles. What a strange terrible part France is
18playing? Will the better element in her ever gain control?
19
20I would like to see you again if ^before^ I go to Africa – but I
21suppose there’s not much chance of that. I can’t come north as I
22can’t walk now without attacks of angina pectoris coming on. Do
23write & tell me how you all are. Dont quite forget your old friend
24Olive
25
26Love to Lene & the children
27