"Detailed advice for nursing Will Schreiner just before his death" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Miscellaneous: Ellen Sauerlander MSB 834/3.9.2 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | February 1913 |
| Address From | Grand Hotel, Muizenberg, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Ellen Sauerlander |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), Cape Town, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections. This letter is a photocopy donated to the NLSA with the original kept by Ellen Sauerlander's grandson. The letter has been dated by reference to when Schreiner was in Muizenberg and wrote other letters to Ellen Sauerlander. It is written on printed headed notepaper.
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1Grand Hotel,
2Muizenberg,
3South Africa.
4
5Dear Mrs Sauerlander
6
7Thank you so much for your sweet letter.
8
9It is so kind of you to have got me that room. Please tell Mr Laurence
10how very grateful I am for his kindness in giving it up to me. Thank
11you so much for saying you would look in at night – but its not in the
12early part of the night I ever get bad, it’s towards morning. I wake
13up feeling as if I were fainting but when I’ve had my warm bath I feel
14better.
15
16If I could have for lunch every day a little stewed fruit – not plums
17- & a little baked custard made of real eggs & milk with out any
18semolina or flour to thicken it, I should be very glad, thank you.
19
20Yes, human life is full of suffering. It would be so easy to bear it
21if you felt you were the only one, but often as I lie awake at night I
22think the millions who are suffering even more than I am. It seems so
23unnecessary that we humanbeings should ever injure or inflict pain on
24one another, when we have so much pain & suffering in nature to fight
25against. I’m always so glad to see you, but I know how terribly busy
26you are, & it makes me like the Grand Hotel to know you are somewhere
27about the house.
28
29Yours ever
30Olice Schreiner
31
32
2Muizenberg,
3South Africa.
4
5Dear Mrs Sauerlander
6
7Thank you so much for your sweet letter.
8
9It is so kind of you to have got me that room. Please tell Mr Laurence
10how very grateful I am for his kindness in giving it up to me. Thank
11you so much for saying you would look in at night – but its not in the
12early part of the night I ever get bad, it’s towards morning. I wake
13up feeling as if I were fainting but when I’ve had my warm bath I feel
14better.
15
16If I could have for lunch every day a little stewed fruit – not plums
17- & a little baked custard made of real eggs & milk with out any
18semolina or flour to thicken it, I should be very glad, thank you.
19
20Yes, human life is full of suffering. It would be so easy to bear it
21if you felt you were the only one, but often as I lie awake at night I
22think the millions who are suffering even more than I am. It seems so
23unnecessary that we humanbeings should ever injure or inflict pain on
24one another, when we have so much pain & suffering in nature to fight
25against. I’m always so glad to see you, but I know how terribly busy
26you are, & it makes me like the Grand Hotel to know you are somewhere
27about the house.
28
29Yours ever
30Olice Schreiner
31
32