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Letter ReferenceLetters/544
Archive
Epistolary Type
Letter Date5 October 1914
Address FromHythe, Kent
Address To
Who ToHavelock Ellis
Other VersionsCronwright-Schreiner 1924: 339
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 Havelock Ellis.
2Hythe, 5th Oct.
3
4I don't know how long I shall be able to stand this mist and fog. ...
5Just now the landlady came up to say all the curtains must be closed
6and blinds pulled down as there was an order this evening all lights
7were to be put out. All the lamps are out and even the big lighthouse
8at Dungeness. I can still see the few lights at Folkestone and
9Sandgate. I suppose they think there are German men of war near here.
10But I'm sure the Germans would not be so mad as to come into the
11narrow part of this channel.
12
13There are no English here, only swarms of Belgians. They, especially
14the men, are the ugliest mongrel-looking folk I've ever seen. A.S.
15said long ago that when she went from Holland into Belgium she was
16struck by the ugly inharmonious faces. I suppose they are a mixed
17breed?
18
19Your Impressions and Comments is very interesting, so far as I've got
20- written in a nice simple style, not so much "damned fine horse."
21
22I shall be so thankful if I can get that little flat at Chelsea. If a
23person can't climb stairs and can't go to boarding houses because you
24can't eat the food, it's awfully hard to find a place in London when
25your purse is short. I suppose it will be in England as in Africa,
26where there were many real cases of insanity caused by the war.
27
28I have not had any news from the Cape for weeks. The strain is
29considerable. I hardly know what I shall do if I get no letter from
30Cron this week. All letters are opened and read and marked by the
31censors. I have a feeling there have been awful losses in South Africa
32where' the Union is attacking German West Africa. The papers report 15
33killed and 41 wounded and some missing, but that may not be a third of
34the number, or a tenth. My body is here but my thoughts are always in
35De Aar. I seem to see it before my eyes all the time. Are you back in
36London? Where is Edith?
37