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Letter ReferenceEdward Carpenter 359/83
ArchiveSheffield Archives, Archives & Local Studies, Sheffield
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter Date17 June 1899
Address FromPO Box 406, Johannesburg, Transvaal
Address To
Who ToEdward Carpenter
Other VersionsRive 1987: 362-3
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
The Project is grateful to the Sheffield Archives, Sheffield Libraries, Archives and Information Services, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Archive Collections.
1 Box 406
2 Johannesburg
3
4 Dear Ed
5
6 Things are going on with us from bad to worse. Fancy having absolutely
7to fight the capitalist for your life. It makes one a bit bitter when
8one thinks that the working men of England who have now the majority
9of votes are actually keeping Chamberlain in power, & backing up
10Rhodes to shoot us down. The only good result of all this is that they
11are educating us South Africans into such an anti-capitalist body as
12the world has not seen. They have licked us with such a very rough
13side of their tongue that we shall not soon forget it. It is a strange
14strange thing Edward, to see a young nation waking up to the
15consciousness of its life & individuality. Chamberlain & the
16Capitalist may fight us & if all England goes solid behind them they
17may crush us. But it will be only for a time. We will rise again. And
18I am not sure they can crush us at all! It will take from 100,000 to
19150,000 men to do it. We shall fall back on our wide desert plains &
20hills, & as fast as they beat us in one place we will rise in another.
21The Boer women are fine here; they keep up the men’s spirits more
22than the men themselves. War means the ultimate severance of this
23country from England, but nothing can stop our ultimate freedom &
24growth. All the stories about the Uitlanders & there oppression are
25pure unmixed lies!! No one here wants to fight but the Capitalists &
26their creatures.
27
28 Good bye. Love to all the old friends, especially Kate Salt.
29 Olive
30
31 17 June 1899
32 Address Box 406
33 Johannesburg
34
35
36
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter.