1 The Homestead,
2 December 17 / 97
3
4 Dear Mr Merriman
5
6 I am as sick of the word progressive as you can be; as sick as a sheep
7would feel at the sight of wool, if under half the fleeces they saw
8moving about them, there peered out a wolf's head.
9
10 But weary as one feels of this rotten assumption of names that mean
11nothing, there are in South Africa a body men & women who might be
12drawn together into a small compact & therefore powerful party, were
13there anyone to organise & lead them. But we are scattered abroad as
14sheep having no shepherd. A little sign, I take it, of the way people
15will support & stand by anyone who takes a decided stand against
16Rhodes & the monopolist party he represents, is the fact that though
17my husband failed in his case, people, many of them people we do not
18know & have never seen have sent us in cheques or offered a sum
19amounting ^altogether^ to £985 (a thousand all but £25) asking to be
20allowed to contribute to the damages & cost of the case as they felt
21the matter was not a personal one, & the expense should be borne by
22the public.
23
24 Of course we have declined all offers of help. But does this not show
25there is a strong feeling under the surface, though it will not be
26called forth by half measures.
27
28 I do hope you are quite sound on the Diamond tax! Do you know who
29wrote that excellent letter in the Argus of the 14th signed A Liberal,
30an answer to Jagger? There was a whole hearted outspoken-ness about it
31that is rare in the utterances of so-called progressives.
32
33 Yours very sincerely
34 Olive Schreiner
35
36 Do you remember that lovely passage in Plato, "Those who have also
37seen & been satisfied of the madness of the multi-tude, & know that
38there is no one who ever acts honestly in the admin-istration of
39states, nor any helper who will save any one who main-tains the cause
40of the just. Such a saviour would be like a man who has fallen among
41wild beasts being unable to join in the wickedness of his friends, &
42would have to throw away his life before he had done any good to
43himself or others. And he reflects on this & holds his peace, & does
44his own business. He is like one who retires under the shelter of a
45wall in the storm of dust & sleet, which the driving wind hurries
46along - he is content if he can live his own life & depart in peace
47with bright hopes."
48
49 One is often minded of this passage now a days! And yet by each man
50doing his tiny best in his tiny place, humanity does grow slowly &
51slowly onwards.
52
53 I hope there is not the slightest chance of the machination of your
54foes unseating you. I do not think such a ^dis-grace could be-fall
55South Africa.^
56