"Emily Hobhouse, Vrouemonument, funny story" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold5/1898/49 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Wednesday 15 December 1898 |
| Address From | Johannesburg, Transvaal |
| Address To | Girls Collegiate School, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape |
| Who To | Betty Molteno |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 342 |
| 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 derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address the letter was sent to. The name of the addressee is indicated by salutation and content.
|
1
Box 2 Johannesburg
2 Wednesday
3
4 Dearest Friend
5
6 Yes, that is one of the great & agonizing problems & one which one
7never seems to escape. May not one really & in the highest sense
8injure ones fellows for doing what they at the moment want? And yet
9how impossible it seems, especially when one’s own unreadable to speak
10& act sometimes, even where we know it might be for the ultimate
11benefit of others: when for the moment we seem only defending our own
12cause! It’s a great & difficult problem. Is not the seeming
13unselfishness in such a case, the real ultimate selfishness often.
14
15 ^It’s a hard question.^
16
17 I am feeling much better today, most wonderfully better. For ten days
18I have been almost without sleep, but last night I slept all night &
19all the world seems different
20
21 I’ll send the little Prelude, but you must remember it’s not revised;
22it’s the first rough cast.
23
24 I hope you will see my darling Mary Sauer when you are in Cape Town.
25
26 Good bye. It’s so beautiful to have slept & be alive again a little.
27
28 Olive
29
30
31
2 Wednesday
3
4 Dearest Friend
5
6 Yes, that is one of the great & agonizing problems & one which one
7never seems to escape. May not one really & in the highest sense
8injure ones fellows for doing what they at the moment want? And yet
9how impossible it seems, especially when one’s own unreadable to speak
10& act sometimes, even where we know it might be for the ultimate
11benefit of others: when for the moment we seem only defending our own
12cause! It’s a great & difficult problem. Is not the seeming
13unselfishness in such a case, the real ultimate selfishness often.
14
15 ^It’s a hard question.^
16
17 I am feeling much better today, most wonderfully better. For ten days
18I have been almost without sleep, but last night I slept all night &
19all the world seems different
20
21 I’ll send the little Prelude, but you must remember it’s not revised;
22it’s the first rough cast.
23
24 I hope you will see my darling Mary Sauer when you are in Cape Town.
25
26 Good bye. It’s so beautiful to have slept & be alive again a little.
27
28 Olive
29
30
31
Notation
The 'Prelude' referred to is in From Man to Man. Rive's (1987) version of this letter has been misdated, omits part of the letter, and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
The 'Prelude' referred to is in From Man to Man. Rive's (1987) version of this letter has been misdated, omits part of the letter, and is also in a number of respects incorrect.