"Neta crushed under the wheels, the best friend I ever had" Read the full letter
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Letter ReferenceOlive Schreiner: Extracts of Letters to Cronwright-Schreiner MSC 26/2.16/59
ArchiveNational Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town
Epistolary TypeExtract
Letter DateMonday 11 November 1902
Address FromCape Town, Western Cape
Address To
Who ToS.C. (‘Cron’) Cronwright-Schreiner
Other VersionsCronwright-Schreiner 1924: 234
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
The Extracts of Letters to Cronwright-Schreiner were produced by Cronwright-Schreiner in preparing The Life and The Letters of Olive Schreiner. They appear on slips of paper in his writing, taken from letters that were then destroyed; many of these extracts have also been edited by him. They are artefacts of his editorial practices and their relationship to original Schreiner letters cannot now be gauged. They should be read with considerable caution for the reasons given. Cronwright-Schreiner has written the date and where it was sent from onto this extract. There are some differences between this transcription and the version that appears in The Letters….
1 …It has been a bitter disappointment to me that I could not leave on
2Friday. I don’t get any more good by staying longer & I want to see
3you. I’ve never longed for you so much when I’ve been away from
4you before. If you were here I would be so happy. How is my Neta-Nila?
5I long to feel her by me. Her eyes always look out at me in my thought
6like these of a human creature who loves me; & all love given to me is
7so precious, the most real and valuable thing in life except the love
8one gives. As long as the heart continues to secrete ^secreet^ love, it
9has never grown old. Death would be if one got so embittered one
10couldn’t any more. What has my darling got to eat? Nothing?...
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