"About writing, Ellis's books v letters" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | James Rose Innes MSC 21/2/1895:33 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 2 September 1895 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | James Rose Innes |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 258 |
| 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. There is a neatly torn off postscript to this letter, but nothing of it can be read because only the tops of two or three letters remain.
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1
The Homestead
2 Aug Sep 2nd 1895
3
4 Dear Mr Innes
5
6 Do come up. It would be of great benefit to the work we all have at
7heart: even it only showed you what really are the conditions under
8which people live here. I wish some of us could give you two thousand
9a year, & say, "Here, devote yourself to politics." I feel a little
10anxious about your having to burn the candle at both ends, but it is
11better to burn out than that smoulder out in a sodden heap! I do think
12that the change up here now the weather is so ideal will do you good,
13& help you to shake off the ill effects of the influenza. Come.
14
15 Yours ever
16 Olive Schreiner
17
2 Aug Sep 2nd 1895
3
4 Dear Mr Innes
5
6 Do come up. It would be of great benefit to the work we all have at
7heart: even it only showed you what really are the conditions under
8which people live here. I wish some of us could give you two thousand
9a year, & say, "Here, devote yourself to politics." I feel a little
10anxious about your having to burn the candle at both ends, but it is
11better to burn out than that smoulder out in a sodden heap! I do think
12that the change up here now the weather is so ideal will do you good,
13& help you to shake off the ill effects of the influenza. Come.
14
15 Yours ever
16 Olive Schreiner
17
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect. Following this letter in the archive sequence is a letter from S.C. Cronwright-Schreiner, also dated 2 September 1895, saying he will do whatever Innes wants concerning a proposed branch of the Progressive Association, a small group to oppose De Beers and Rhodes, and this is likely to be 'the work we all have at heart' referred to by Schreiner. Letters from Cronwright-Schreiner to Innes continue every two months or so in 1896, at one point every few days, regarding furthering the Progressive cause.
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect. Following this letter in the archive sequence is a letter from S.C. Cronwright-Schreiner, also dated 2 September 1895, saying he will do whatever Innes wants concerning a proposed branch of the Progressive Association, a small group to oppose De Beers and Rhodes, and this is likely to be 'the work we all have at heart' referred to by Schreiner. Letters from Cronwright-Schreiner to Innes continue every two months or so in 1896, at one point every few days, regarding furthering the Progressive cause.