"Serf in the palace, where is Czar, meet incoming tide" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Smuts A1/186/82 |
| Archive | National Archives Repository, Pretoria |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 13 June 1899 |
| Address From | Johannesburg, Transvaal |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Jan Smuts |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 362 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Archives Repository, Pretoria, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections.
|
1
2 Primrose Terrace
2 Box 406
3 Johannesburg
4 June 13th 1899.
5
6 Dear Mr Smuts
7
8 I am going to Paarde Kraal on Saturday as I want to write an account
9of the meeting. My husband can’t go with me. Is any friend of yours
10going from Johannesburg whe with whom I could perhaps go, as
11there will I expect be a large crowd & I may not be able to get near
12the speakers ^if I am alone.^ If it had been unreadable enough I think it
13suitable I shall send the account to one of the English papers.
14
15 I wish I could have had a longer talk with you. I am feeling a little
16hopeless about Milner; but things may be better than one thinks. I
17think Vessels’s speech paper read at the meeting the other night did
18much harm here. I can’t understand a South African taking such a
19stand, one can forgive anything to a man who has been only a few
20months in the country.
21
22 Love to your wife & boy
23
24 Yours ever
25 Olive Schreiner
26
27
28
2 Box 406
3 Johannesburg
4 June 13th 1899.
5
6 Dear Mr Smuts
7
8 I am going to Paarde Kraal on Saturday as I want to write an account
9of the meeting. My husband can’t go with me. Is any friend of yours
10going from Johannesburg whe with whom I could perhaps go, as
11there will I expect be a large crowd & I may not be able to get near
12the speakers ^if I am alone.^ If it had been unreadable enough I think it
13suitable I shall send the account to one of the English papers.
14
15 I wish I could have had a longer talk with you. I am feeling a little
16hopeless about Milner; but things may be better than one thinks. I
17think Vessels’s speech paper read at the meeting the other night did
18much harm here. I can’t understand a South African taking such a
19stand, one can forgive anything to a man who has been only a few
20months in the country.
21
22 Love to your wife & boy
23
24 Yours ever
25 Olive Schreiner
26
27
28
Notation
Schreiner was going to Paarde Kraal in connection with a peace congress meeting. She sent written addresses to some of the Volkskongresses and peace congresses and spoke at others, as follows: Graaff-Reinet Volkskongres, April 1900 (spoke); Cape Town women's meeting, June 1900 (spoke); Somerset East peace congress, October 1900 (a letter of address); Paarl, November 1900 peace congress (a letter of address); Worcester Volkskongres, December 1900 (spoke). Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
Schreiner was going to Paarde Kraal in connection with a peace congress meeting. She sent written addresses to some of the Volkskongresses and peace congresses and spoke at others, as follows: Graaff-Reinet Volkskongres, April 1900 (spoke); Cape Town women's meeting, June 1900 (spoke); Somerset East peace congress, October 1900 (a letter of address); Paarl, November 1900 peace congress (a letter of address); Worcester Volkskongres, December 1900 (spoke). Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.