"Everything so dark & mysterious, going to be a great European war" Read the full letter
Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Mary Sauer MSC 26/2.11.74 |
Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1 August 1894 |
Address From | Krantz Plaats, Halesowen, Eastern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Mary Sauer nee Cloete |
Other Versions | Rive 1987: 238-9 |
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. The year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
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1
Krantz Plaats
2 Halesowen
3 Aug 1st
4
5 Darling Mary
6
7 I sent you a wire this morning about nurse. It suddenly struck me what
8you had said about her leaving you because the children were getting
9too old for her, & that possibly she might be willing to come to me. I
10would give her £2.10. a month or even three, & do all I could to make
11her happy. You see it would be worth my while to pay her more than it
12would be ^worth^ other people's, because in one month if I had a servant
13who would take the housekeeping ^entirely^ off my hands & see after
14everything I should earn a thousand times her keep in the month.
15
16 If she has ch
17
18 We shall not get away from Krantz Plaats till the end of this week or
19the beginning of next as the house in Kimberley is not ready.
20
21 It's bad staying on when everything is packed up.
22
23 You must come to Kimberley, Mary what when I'm there. I long to see
24you so.
25
26 My house is so tiny, only four rooms, that I shan't have a spare room
27at first, but as soon as we decide to buy it we shall build on. I'm so
28happy, dear, with my companion. We seem to become greater & greater
29chums ever day. I am having my real honeymoon now.
30
31 You won't mind my asking about nurse; its only in case she left is
32leaving you. I haven't got any kind of a servant at all yet. I wish
33you could have come to see us here.
34
35 Thine Olive
36
37 P.S. Have you seen or heard anything of Mrs White - Maud Cameron -
38since her marriage? I've not heard from her for so long I'm quite
39anxious. I wish I could see you & the children too. It would be a
40close bond between me & nurse that she had loved you all so.
41
2 Halesowen
3 Aug 1st
4
5 Darling Mary
6
7 I sent you a wire this morning about nurse. It suddenly struck me what
8you had said about her leaving you because the children were getting
9too old for her, & that possibly she might be willing to come to me. I
10would give her £2.10. a month or even three, & do all I could to make
11her happy. You see it would be worth my while to pay her more than it
12would be ^worth^ other people's, because in one month if I had a servant
13who would take the housekeeping ^entirely^ off my hands & see after
14everything I should earn a thousand times her keep in the month.
15
16 If she has ch
17
18 We shall not get away from Krantz Plaats till the end of this week or
19the beginning of next as the house in Kimberley is not ready.
20
21 It's bad staying on when everything is packed up.
22
23 You must come to Kimberley, Mary what when I'm there. I long to see
24you so.
25
26 My house is so tiny, only four rooms, that I shan't have a spare room
27at first, but as soon as we decide to buy it we shall build on. I'm so
28happy, dear, with my companion. We seem to become greater & greater
29chums ever day. I am having my real honeymoon now.
30
31 You won't mind my asking about nurse; its only in case she left is
32leaving you. I haven't got any kind of a servant at all yet. I wish
33you could have come to see us here.
34
35 Thine Olive
36
37 P.S. Have you seen or heard anything of Mrs White - Maud Cameron -
38since her marriage? I've not heard from her for so long I'm quite
39anxious. I wish I could see you & the children too. It would be a
40close bond between me & nurse that she had loved you all so.
41
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.