"Put 'She wrote 'Peter Halket'' on my grave" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Havelock Ellis 2006.29/15 |
| Archive | National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Monday 3 August 1914 |
| Address From | 30 St Mary Abbotts Terrace, Kensington, London |
| Address To | 14 Dover Mansions, Canterbury Road, Brixton, London |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 337 |
| 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 date of this letter is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope, with the address it was sent to on its front.
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1
30 St Mary Abbott's Terrace
2 Kensington
3 Monday
4
5 Dear Havelock,
6
7 Arrived at midnight last night after a most awful journey of 15 hour
8from Amsterdam. It was the last trains taking foreigners. Hundreds of
9men women & children in the boat fleeing - people just lay abut on
10the deck in the wet when there was no more room in the cabins & below.
11The sea was wild & the spray poured over the decks. I shall never
12forget it. Then there was a wild fight for ^seats in the^ trains!
13
14 Good bye dear you & Edith I long to see
15 Olive
16
17 Germany is determined to fight. It is she who is the cause of all. In
18Holland they are expecting the Prussians there tomorrow to take the
19Hague & the ports. All the soldiers are mobilized, but of course they
20can do nothing. War is Hell. They will fight in Africa too.
21
2 Kensington
3 Monday
4
5 Dear Havelock,
6
7 Arrived at midnight last night after a most awful journey of 15 hour
8from Amsterdam. It was the last trains taking foreigners. Hundreds of
9men women & children in the boat fleeing - people just lay abut on
10the deck in the wet when there was no more room in the cabins & below.
11The sea was wild & the spray poured over the decks. I shall never
12forget it. Then there was a wild fight for ^seats in the^ trains!
13
14 Good bye dear you & Edith I long to see
15 Olive
16
17 Germany is determined to fight. It is she who is the cause of all. In
18Holland they are expecting the Prussians there tomorrow to take the
19Hague & the ports. All the soldiers are mobilized, but of course they
20can do nothing. War is Hell. They will fight in Africa too.
21
Notation
Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) version of this letter is incorrect in a range of respects.
Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) version of this letter is incorrect in a range of respects.