"We thought Milner was our new George Grey" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/63 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Friday 11 September 1903 |
| Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Henrietta (‘Ettie’) Schreiner m. Stakesby Lewis (1891) |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to Manuscripts and Archives, University of Cape Town, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter has been written on in an unknown hand.
|
1
Hanover
2 Friday
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 I sent you a wire this morning telling you I had had no news from you
7or Will or any one in Cape Town since the wire I got from you & Will
8^sent^ on Friday afternoon a week ago today & which I received on
9Saturday morning. I would have left at once had in reached me on
10Friday night I unreadable ^would^ then have left by the Friday nights
11train & have reached Cape Town on Sunday morning As it was I could
12only start on Saturday night reaching Cape Town on Monday too late. I
13know darling, that you could not wait otherwise you would have waited
14till I came.
15
16 I told them to send all letters to me at Bloemfontein, & as
17Bloemfontein is only 9 hours from this the letters that came here on
18Monday morning would have been sent on to me & I would have got them
19on Tuesday in Bloemfontein. The Tuesday post came & no letter or wire.
20The Wednesday post the Thursdays post! The late Thursdays post brought
21me a letter card which showed everyday you had written as it contains
22no news, only mentioned that it was too dark at Maitland & were going
23the next morning, I suppose to have a photograph taken. I got back
24here this morning early, & asked at the office whether letters had
25come. They said, yes, on Monday & Tuesday & had been sent on at once
26to Bloemfontein. I have of course written & wired at once but I doubt
27whether I shall ever get them. I got no letters while there a note
28Cron wrote me from Pretoria was also not delivered though it contained
29only a word saying ye when he was coming to Bloemfontein. Perhaps if
30you know any high official there, or the postmaster general & you
31wrote asking that they might be returned to me they might be. I have
32looked at all the papers I could get, but have seen nothing telling me
33whether she died suddenly, or had been ill, nor even mentioned the
34funeral; & to feel sure you had written made it harder to wait from
35post to post.
36
37 Good bye my darling. ^Did you get my letter^
38 Olive
39
40 ^I think if you wrote to the Administrator in Bloemfontein & asked him
41to see you your letters were returned he he would give orders to the
42postmaster or censor. Send this to Will, as he may have written to me.^
43
44
45
2 Friday
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 I sent you a wire this morning telling you I had had no news from you
7or Will or any one in Cape Town since the wire I got from you & Will
8^sent^ on Friday afternoon a week ago today & which I received on
9Saturday morning. I would have left at once had in reached me on
10Friday night I unreadable ^would^ then have left by the Friday nights
11train & have reached Cape Town on Sunday morning As it was I could
12only start on Saturday night reaching Cape Town on Monday too late. I
13know darling, that you could not wait otherwise you would have waited
14till I came.
15
16 I told them to send all letters to me at Bloemfontein, & as
17Bloemfontein is only 9 hours from this the letters that came here on
18Monday morning would have been sent on to me & I would have got them
19on Tuesday in Bloemfontein. The Tuesday post came & no letter or wire.
20The Wednesday post the Thursdays post! The late Thursdays post brought
21me a letter card which showed everyday you had written as it contains
22no news, only mentioned that it was too dark at Maitland & were going
23the next morning, I suppose to have a photograph taken. I got back
24here this morning early, & asked at the office whether letters had
25come. They said, yes, on Monday & Tuesday & had been sent on at once
26to Bloemfontein. I have of course written & wired at once but I doubt
27whether I shall ever get them. I got no letters while there a note
28Cron wrote me from Pretoria was also not delivered though it contained
29only a word saying ye when he was coming to Bloemfontein. Perhaps if
30you know any high official there, or the postmaster general & you
31wrote asking that they might be returned to me they might be. I have
32looked at all the papers I could get, but have seen nothing telling me
33whether she died suddenly, or had been ill, nor even mentioned the
34funeral; & to feel sure you had written made it harder to wait from
35post to post.
36
37 Good bye my darling. ^Did you get my letter^
38 Olive
39
40 ^I think if you wrote to the Administrator in Bloemfontein & asked him
41to see you your letters were returned he he would give orders to the
42postmaster or censor. Send this to Will, as he may have written to me.^
43
44
45