"Olive died peacefully" Read the full letter
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Letter ReferenceLetters/484
Archive
Epistolary Type
Letter Date12 April 1910
Address FromDe Aar, Northern Cape
Address To
Who ToCaroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids nee Foley
Other VersionsCronwright-Schreiner 1924: 292
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
When Cronwright-Schreiner prepared The Letters of Olive Schreiner, with few exceptions he then destroyed her originals. However, some people gave him copies and kept the originals or demanded the return of these; and when actual Schreiner letters can be compared with his versions, his have omissions, distortions and bowdlerisations. Where Schreiner originals have survived, these will be found in the relevant collections across the OSLO website. There is however a residue of some 587 items in The Letters for which no originals are extant. They are included here for sake of completeness. However, their relationship to Schreiners actual letters cannot now be gauged, and so they should be read with caution for the reasons given.
1To Mrs. Rhys Davids.
2De Aar, 12th April.
3
4I have been so ill for a long time I have not been able to write a
5real letter as I would like and tell you how much I value your book
6and its dedication. It is so strange how entirely modern so much of
7the book though that is not true of all real books, they belong to no
8special time.
9
10I have a strong abiding interest in all that concerns India, and a
11special personal interest now. We are hunting about the Indians here
12as if they were wild beasts and not men. I don't know if you have
13noted the treatment of our Indians in the Transvaal.
14
Notation
Schreiner's thanks to Rhys Davids for were the dedication of her translation Psalms of the Early Buddhists to her in 1909. The dedication reads: "To Olive Schreiner, Seer of 'Dreams', this translation of verses ascribed to the spiritual daughters of Gotama Buddha, 'The Wake', is in grateful and loving homage dedicated". See Caroline Rhys Davids (ed, trans) (1909) Psalms of the Early Buddhists London: Pali Text Society.