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Letter ReferenceOlive Schreiner BC16/Box3/Fold6/1907/8
ArchiveUniversity of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter Date8 April 1907
Address FromHanover, Northern Cape
Address To
Who ToFrances (‘Fan’) Schreiner nee Reitz
Other Versions
PermissionsPlease 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.
1 Hanover
2 April 8th 1907
3
4 My dear sweet little sister
5
6 Thank you for your letter I know how you are missing the old husband
7you love so much & our girl. I’m so glad you have your sisters &
8friends to be a bit of company to you while you are more or less alone.
9 You don’t know how I envy people who have who have relations. It is
10terrible to be so curiously alone in the world as I am. I have only
11Will & Ettie of all my family & they are both so busy I can see
12nothing of them. One gets such a hunger for your own flesh & blood
13sometimes. Of course in England where I have so many dear beautiful
14friends I don’t feel it so much. But here I am terribly lonely. I
15was hoping Miss Molteno & Miss Greene would come out soon & perhaps
16come & stay with me; but now I don’t think they’ll come for more
17than a year.
18
19 I send you two pictures of Dr Corthorn’s house which may interest
20you as I’m sure y she will ask Dot to stay with her sometime, & you
21can picture her there.
22
23 I have not seen Cron for ten days, but he is going to the show at Port
24Elizabeth next Tues-day & I am going to join him at Hanover Rd & go
25down with him for the pleasure of being with him on the journey,
26though I fear I shan’t be able to stay at Port Elizabeth for more
27than the one day & shall have to return before the show is open.
28
29 My heart has been unreadable bad lately, much worse than it ever used
30to be; but perhaps when the cold weather comes I shall get quite
31frisky.
32
33 Give my love to dear Violet. Tell her I find the little bottle for hat
34pins she sent me so useful. I never lose my hat pins now as I always
35used to!
36
37 I wish you lived in a nice healthy dry place, I would come down & stay
38with you for a week or two while Will’s away.
39
40 When do you expect him back? Has he decided to try the German baths
41again? Has young Solomon gone back to Cambridge? Tell me if you have a
42cable to say our folk have got safe to England.
43
44 Good night, dear. Love to all the young generation.
45 Olive.
46
47 I’ve got a very good servant now: but she goes home at 2 o’clock &
48then I have the house to myself & the meerkats & Ollie. Poor old Cron
49is working very hard at de Aar, & is looking very thin. I shall be so
50glad when he can go down to Parliament & have a little change. He has
51become a great golf player.
52
53