"Doornkop, anti-capitalist fight" Read the full letter
Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold5/1898/16 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 13 August 1898 |
Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Frances ('Fan') Schreiner nee Reitz |
Other Versions | Rive 1987: 335 |
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.
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1
The Homestead
2 Aug 13th 1898
3
4 Dear Fan
5
6 Thanks for thy letter. I hope you are all keeping fit, & trying no
7more nice comforting little parafine plasters! I should like to come
8down very much, if it were only for a couple of days to see the new
9house & you all, maar, "die sprinkhaan en die droogte is swaar op onse
10land."
11
12Bessie & Alice both like the house very much & the boys will like its
13being so near the cricket ground. I didn’t see as much of Bessie &
14Alice as I should have liked but they were staying with the Fullers,
15who are in the De Beers set, &c, & I felt I might make it awkward for
16them. But they will be here a few days on their return from the Free
17State, & I am going to see them again. Didn’t you think Alice looked
18changed & sad? Bessie is a sweet creature, & the children are lovely.
19
20 Cron working hard at this election business. He feels hopeful & so do
21the other two but I don’t. Of course we shall, I hope, get one man
22in; but we shall not get Rhodes out. The story going about here is
23that Rhodes is drinking very heavily, but I don’t believe it. I
24think it is just to put folks off their guard that the report is
25spread. How bitter feeling seems in Cape Town! One lady wrote me the
26other day, that if a Bond Ministry came in she supposed all the
27English would have to leave the land; they would be too cruelly
28treated &c! It really sometimes seems to me that people have gone mad
29down there!
30
31 Give my love to the dear small folks. Give my love to Nelly when you
32write to her. Is her baby thriving?
33
34 Your little sis
35 Olive
36
37
38
2 Aug 13th 1898
3
4 Dear Fan
5
6 Thanks for thy letter. I hope you are all keeping fit, & trying no
7more nice comforting little parafine plasters! I should like to come
8down very much, if it were only for a couple of days to see the new
9house & you all, maar, "die sprinkhaan en die droogte is swaar op onse
10land."
11
12Bessie & Alice both like the house very much & the boys will like its
13being so near the cricket ground. I didn’t see as much of Bessie &
14Alice as I should have liked but they were staying with the Fullers,
15who are in the De Beers set, &c, & I felt I might make it awkward for
16them. But they will be here a few days on their return from the Free
17State, & I am going to see them again. Didn’t you think Alice looked
18changed & sad? Bessie is a sweet creature, & the children are lovely.
19
20 Cron working hard at this election business. He feels hopeful & so do
21the other two but I don’t. Of course we shall, I hope, get one man
22in; but we shall not get Rhodes out. The story going about here is
23that Rhodes is drinking very heavily, but I don’t believe it. I
24think it is just to put folks off their guard that the report is
25spread. How bitter feeling seems in Cape Town! One lady wrote me the
26other day, that if a Bond Ministry came in she supposed all the
27English would have to leave the land; they would be too cruelly
28treated &c! It really sometimes seems to me that people have gone mad
29down there!
30
31 Give my love to the dear small folks. Give my love to Nelly when you
32write to her. Is her baby thriving?
33
34 Your little sis
35 Olive
36
37
38
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.