"Life-long unions, ideal unions" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Edward Carpenter SMD 30/32/k |
| Archive | National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 16 September 1911 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | Millthorpe, Holmesfield, Sheffield |
| Who To | Edward Carpenter |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 303 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National English Literary Museum (NELM) for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. The address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope.
|
1
De Aar
2 Sep 16th 1911
3
4 Ed dear,
5
6 I'm sending you another copy of my book. I think the mystery is solved
7as to what becomes of all the things I post.
8
9 I sent twelve copies of my book to England, & except Ellis & Alice
10Corthorn no one seems to have got them. I sent one to Isabella Ford &
11one to Bob, but neither have written to say they'd got them. I sent a
12copy to General Hertzog too in this country which hes never got. I
13have been in despair & written to the general post office to complain.
14Now it appears (Cron has just found it out) that Cron's little office
15boy - who always takes the letters & parcels to the post has been
16robbing him right & left. He's taken money to the tune of 10 or 12
17pounds in small sums, & has made a system of selling the stamps in the
18post office. Cron says he has no doubt he has taken my parcels &
19letters for the sake of the stamps on them! I suppose he thought he
20wouldn't be found out if they were sent so far away as England. Please
21ask Isabella & Bob if they got their copies. I can't send them any
22more because all my copies are done.
23
24 I am working hard at my little garden. Gardening is such a passion
25with me. I've been reading a most fascinating book on Education in
26Greece boy ^by^ a young Cambridge man called Kenneth Freeman, who is
27dead. The Greeks were so wise in making the learning of poetry one of
28the great methods of educating young children.
29
30 I wish we had a library here. The kind of books I want to read are
31nearly always expensive books.
32
33 Good bye. Your old pal,
34 Olive
35
36 I wish you could see my little niece Ursula Schreiner who's just gone
37to Cambridge. She's such an interesting girl 19 years old. Ever since
38she was a little child she's had such a curious instinctive hatred of
39in-justice. The other day she got in a railway carriage & a poor
40shabby old man got in, & the guard bullied him most unjustly. She at
41once took up arms & wrote a letter to the paper to defend him. She's
42very reserved & one doesn't
43
44^get to know her soon - like the elder sister.^
45
2 Sep 16th 1911
3
4 Ed dear,
5
6 I'm sending you another copy of my book. I think the mystery is solved
7as to what becomes of all the things I post.
8
9 I sent twelve copies of my book to England, & except Ellis & Alice
10Corthorn no one seems to have got them. I sent one to Isabella Ford &
11one to Bob, but neither have written to say they'd got them. I sent a
12copy to General Hertzog too in this country which hes never got. I
13have been in despair & written to the general post office to complain.
14Now it appears (Cron has just found it out) that Cron's little office
15boy - who always takes the letters & parcels to the post has been
16robbing him right & left. He's taken money to the tune of 10 or 12
17pounds in small sums, & has made a system of selling the stamps in the
18post office. Cron says he has no doubt he has taken my parcels &
19letters for the sake of the stamps on them! I suppose he thought he
20wouldn't be found out if they were sent so far away as England. Please
21ask Isabella & Bob if they got their copies. I can't send them any
22more because all my copies are done.
23
24 I am working hard at my little garden. Gardening is such a passion
25with me. I've been reading a most fascinating book on Education in
26Greece boy ^by^ a young Cambridge man called Kenneth Freeman, who is
27dead. The Greeks were so wise in making the learning of poetry one of
28the great methods of educating young children.
29
30 I wish we had a library here. The kind of books I want to read are
31nearly always expensive books.
32
33 Good bye. Your old pal,
34 Olive
35
36 I wish you could see my little niece Ursula Schreiner who's just gone
37to Cambridge. She's such an interesting girl 19 years old. Ever since
38she was a little child she's had such a curious instinctive hatred of
39in-justice. The other day she got in a railway carriage & a poor
40shabby old man got in, & the guard bullied him most unjustly. She at
41once took up arms & wrote a letter to the paper to defend him. She's
42very reserved & one doesn't
43
44^get to know her soon - like the elder sister.^
45
Notation
'Another copy' refers to Woman and Labour. The book referred to is: Kenneth Freeman (1907) Schools of Hellas London: Macmillan. Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) version of this letter is incorrect in various respects.
'Another copy' refers to Woman and Labour. The book referred to is: Kenneth Freeman (1907) Schools of Hellas London: Macmillan. Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) version of this letter is incorrect in various respects.