"Du Bois, great desolating native war" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Mary Sauer MSC 26/2.11.131 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 27 May 1903 |
| Address From | Beaufort West, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Mary Sauer nee Cloete |
| 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.
|
1
c/o Mrs Kriel
2 Beaufort West
3 May 27 / 03
4
5 Dear Mary
6
7 Thankyou for your sweet letter. I am staying on here, & Cron went on
8to Cape Town last night. He is staying at his mothers house, so he
9will be quite close to the vineyard if you are there. Tell me how he
10looks? He was most wonderfully better by the time we left Hanover, &
11he decided not to go to Caledon, but stay at Rondebosch at his mothers.
12 They have never unreadable so
13
14 Dear, I did not mean all Africanders were weak; but I felt very sore
15at the indifference of people supposed to belong to our party, to such
16a ghastly injustice as the shooting of three perfectly innocent
17persons. After promising us a reporter, at the last moment on Saturday
18night as I was getting into the train, with the witness, so to speak,
19we get a note from him to say the Reporter couldn't. I offered to
20raise £100 within half an hour or £200 ^in Hanover^ if the reporter
21would go on with me, but he said Cartwright wouldn't allow it. But its
22now no use saying any more about the matter. The real truth is, they
23were afraid!
24
25 I am staying here at Mrs Kriels boarding house. I am p hoping before
26long in may see Miss Molteno & Miss Greene as they are on a farm near
27here. Beaufort is as dusty & dirty as ever, & I am trying to get out
28on to a farm. The nice thing here is the library; it is no nice to
29read again.
30
31 Good bye darling. Tell me how my boy looks to you. He has been very
32very bad. ^Thank you for your sweet letter.^
33
34 Olive
35
36 No, I've got clothes enough for the people up in Hanover now. What we
37
38^want really is not clothes but justice & that we are never likely to get.^
39
2 Beaufort West
3 May 27 / 03
4
5 Dear Mary
6
7 Thankyou for your sweet letter. I am staying on here, & Cron went on
8to Cape Town last night. He is staying at his mothers house, so he
9will be quite close to the vineyard if you are there. Tell me how he
10looks? He was most wonderfully better by the time we left Hanover, &
11he decided not to go to Caledon, but stay at Rondebosch at his mothers.
12 They have never unreadable so
13
14 Dear, I did not mean all Africanders were weak; but I felt very sore
15at the indifference of people supposed to belong to our party, to such
16a ghastly injustice as the shooting of three perfectly innocent
17persons. After promising us a reporter, at the last moment on Saturday
18night as I was getting into the train, with the witness, so to speak,
19we get a note from him to say the Reporter couldn't. I offered to
20raise £100 within half an hour or £200 ^in Hanover^ if the reporter
21would go on with me, but he said Cartwright wouldn't allow it. But its
22now no use saying any more about the matter. The real truth is, they
23were afraid!
24
25 I am staying here at Mrs Kriels boarding house. I am p hoping before
26long in may see Miss Molteno & Miss Greene as they are on a farm near
27here. Beaufort is as dusty & dirty as ever, & I am trying to get out
28on to a farm. The nice thing here is the library; it is no nice to
29read again.
30
31 Good bye darling. Tell me how my boy looks to you. He has been very
32very bad. ^Thank you for your sweet letter.^
33
34 Olive
35
36 No, I've got clothes enough for the people up in Hanover now. What we
37
38^want really is not clothes but justice & that we are never likely to get.^
39