"Detailed advice for nursing Will Schreiner just before his death" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Mary Sauer MSC 26/2.11.90 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 10 May 1895 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Mary Sauer nee Cloete |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 251-2 |
| 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
The Homestead
2 May 10th 1895
3
4 My darling Mary
5
6 Your sweet letter came to me yesterday. My dear one, I am so worn in
7mind & body I don't want any one to come. I'm not going to have Cron's
8mother & sister, nor am I going to see my mother when I get better. I
9just want to pull myself together & get to my work again. Cron has
10been very good to me; he has stood by me as no man I think ever stood
11by a woman mentally & physically. If I am alive now I owe it to his
12care. Neither night nor day has he left my bedside for ten days except
13when he has been to fetch medicine or the doctor.
14
15 My beloved, I can't write to you about what has happened. It was such
16a great beautiful strong healthy child. It lived 16 hours. It weighed
179lb & 9 & 1/2 ozs when it was born, with such a great, placid, strong
18face. The day may come when I can write to you about it. But now I
19cannot. I was 2 & a quarter hours unconscious under the chloroform &
20the instruments tore me pieces, but it had to be. I would
21
22^go through it all again a hundred times to hold that little form just
23once in my arms for a moment. It will be some weeks before I am able
24to walk but otherwise I am doing well. Oh, my darling, thank you for
25wishing to come to me.
26
27 Olive
28
29 Send this letter to Jessie Innes and ask her to share it with you. I
30can't write again.^
31
32
2 May 10th 1895
3
4 My darling Mary
5
6 Your sweet letter came to me yesterday. My dear one, I am so worn in
7mind & body I don't want any one to come. I'm not going to have Cron's
8mother & sister, nor am I going to see my mother when I get better. I
9just want to pull myself together & get to my work again. Cron has
10been very good to me; he has stood by me as no man I think ever stood
11by a woman mentally & physically. If I am alive now I owe it to his
12care. Neither night nor day has he left my bedside for ten days except
13when he has been to fetch medicine or the doctor.
14
15 My beloved, I can't write to you about what has happened. It was such
16a great beautiful strong healthy child. It lived 16 hours. It weighed
179lb & 9 & 1/2 ozs when it was born, with such a great, placid, strong
18face. The day may come when I can write to you about it. But now I
19cannot. I was 2 & a quarter hours unconscious under the chloroform &
20the instruments tore me pieces, but it had to be. I would
21
22^go through it all again a hundred times to hold that little form just
23once in my arms for a moment. It will be some weeks before I am able
24to walk but otherwise I am doing well. Oh, my darling, thank you for
25wishing to come to me.
26
27 Olive
28
29 Send this letter to Jessie Innes and ask her to share it with you. I
30can't write again.^
31
32
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.