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Letter ReferenceLetters/562
Archive
Epistolary Type
Letter DateApril 1915
Address FromLondon
Address To
Who ToAdela Villiers Smith nee Villiers
Other VersionsCronwright-Schreiner 1924: 349
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. Francis Smith.
2London, April.
3
4... I must tell you about two such sweet little things that have
5happened. One is that I wrote to the Committee of Arrangement to say I
6was after all going to Holland; about 50 of us are going in one ship
7on Saturday, and another 50 on Sunday. Of course we each pay our fare.
8But I asked the Committee to arrange that I should have a deck cabin,
9as I can't go below, and I would pay the extra £1 1s. They wrote back
10a sweet little letter saying, would I allow them to present me with
11cabin in token of their gratitude that I was going. Of course it isn't
12the money that matters, but wasn't it a sweet little thought? Last
13night too a dear young officer belonging to a very "crack" regiment
14came to see me, and begged me to go with him to a theatre this evening.
15 I think it was so sweet of him to want an uninteresting old person
16like me, when all the charming young girls would like to go with a
17handsome young Captain!
18