"Good bye to Cronwright: have my big stone warmater bottle, yours ever" Read the full letter
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/1 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Wednesday 8 May 1872 |
Address From | Dordrecht, Eastern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Alice Hemming nee Schreiner |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner was resident in Dordrecht from April 1871 to August 1872. Content shows the year was 1872, with the typhoid epidemic in Dordrecht occurring from April to June or July that year. The end of the letter is missing.
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1
Wednesday night
2 May 8th.
3
4 My own sister!
5
6 Its near morning, my poor charge has just fallen in to a quiet sleep &
7I am sitting in the next room waiting for the arrival of the Dr. who
8promised to call in about this time, to day was the 21st day of the
9fever, & as she has past it safely we hope all may now go well. She is
10still very ill but better than she was last night when we all thought
11her to be dying but I feel very hopeful tonight & look forward to
12seeing her well in a few weeks time.
13
14 I’ve not been in or even on bed for the last 3 weeks, what sleep I
15have had I have taken in an armchair at her bed side so you may fancy
16how weak I feel, if I can only keep up till she is out of danger I
17don’t care how I break down then, Papa will have told you how many
18persons in Dordrecht have this fever & the best of it is our ?bright
19Drs ?Jules & ?Bird don’t know what to make of it or what to call it. A
20happy thought struck Jules the other day that Mr Gau’s well was
21poisoned & was the cause of all the evil, great nonsense I think but
22we’ve sent some of the water down to unreadable from to be analysed &
23shall hear the result by tomorrows post.
24
25 Friday morn. Miss Gau is worse again. Mr Gau has just sent out into
26the country to try & get a Dutch girl to come in & stay with me as we
27can get no one in town for love or money.
28
29 I am expecting the down country post to arrive every moment but after
30the letter that post brought me I seem to dread rather than look
31forward to its coming What I tell you now dear old girl is for your
32self & no one else don’t say a word to Papa about it what ever you do,
33but I got such a cold little note from Mamma last week in answer to my
34letter telling her that I was
35
36[page/s missing]
37
38
39
2 May 8th.
3
4 My own sister!
5
6 Its near morning, my poor charge has just fallen in to a quiet sleep &
7I am sitting in the next room waiting for the arrival of the Dr. who
8promised to call in about this time, to day was the 21st day of the
9fever, & as she has past it safely we hope all may now go well. She is
10still very ill but better than she was last night when we all thought
11her to be dying but I feel very hopeful tonight & look forward to
12seeing her well in a few weeks time.
13
14 I’ve not been in or even on bed for the last 3 weeks, what sleep I
15have had I have taken in an armchair at her bed side so you may fancy
16how weak I feel, if I can only keep up till she is out of danger I
17don’t care how I break down then, Papa will have told you how many
18persons in Dordrecht have this fever & the best of it is our ?bright
19Drs ?Jules & ?Bird don’t know what to make of it or what to call it. A
20happy thought struck Jules the other day that Mr Gau’s well was
21poisoned & was the cause of all the evil, great nonsense I think but
22we’ve sent some of the water down to unreadable from to be analysed &
23shall hear the result by tomorrows post.
24
25 Friday morn. Miss Gau is worse again. Mr Gau has just sent out into
26the country to try & get a Dutch girl to come in & stay with me as we
27can get no one in town for love or money.
28
29 I am expecting the down country post to arrive every moment but after
30the letter that post brought me I seem to dread rather than look
31forward to its coming What I tell you now dear old girl is for your
32self & no one else don’t say a word to Papa about it what ever you do,
33but I got such a cold little note from Mamma last week in answer to my
34letter telling her that I was
35
36[page/s missing]
37
38
39
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/2 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | August 1872 |
Address From | Hertzog, Eastern 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner arrived in Hertzog from Dordrecht in early August 1872 and left it to join her brother Theo and sister Ettie at the Diamond Fields or New Rush, now Kimberley, in December 1872. The page starting ‘You say that you have never...’ does not directly follow on, and is perhaps from another letter.
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1
My own sister!
2
3 I am sitting in my little room at Hertzog, at home at last. I arrived
4here yes the day before yesterday with Mr Gau. I left Dordrecht on
5Sunday (that is Sunday week) & stayed with Miss Gau at Willow ?Hark
6till Wednesday afternoon when I started for L. S. with Mr Gau. Wild
7rain & snow, it grew so bad that we were obliged to spend the night at
8?Asenberg’s hotel & only got to Queens Town the next after noon. I
9stayed at Stubbs & had a delightful little cottage all to my self at
10the bottom of the garden I did not have my photo taken as the
11photographer had gone to the Bay We left Queens Town on Saturday & got
12here about three on Sunday afternoon Papa & Mama were not in & we had
13to wait some time before they could be called Mr Gau left at once as
14he wished to reach Beaufort the same night I was so glad to see dear
15Mamma & found her looking very well & also found the little cottage
16much more snug than I expected.
17
18 Mamma seemed glad to see me but I would be infinitely more happy if I
19could have some thing to do. It’s no use wishing for that however I
20must make up my mind to stay quietly with Mamma for some months as Mr
21Gau to whom I am engaged could never bear the idea that his wife had
22had to work for her living. I’ve never told you of my engagement
23Darling as there are circumstances which make it most desirable that
24no one should know any thing of it just now, still I know I can trust
25my old sis not to say one word about it to any one except Theo. & if
26you are quite sure he will will not mention it, to dear old Will also;
27had it not been for this reason (my engagement) I would have been so
28glad to have gone to Mrs ?Mills but that is all past & gone now.
29
30 I’ve been engaged not quite two months I can’t say as yet when we
31shall be married as we both feel in a very delicate position with
32regard to Miss Gau, who will think as soon as we speak of getting
33married take it as a hint that she must leave for Germany I dare say
34however we shall be married before the end of the summer as she will
35wish to get home in time for the European summer Mr Gau will have his
36photo take in the Bay & when he returns I will send you one.
37
38[break in the letter]
39
40 You say that you have never received any letters from me for some time
41– how that is I can’t make out as I have written again & again to you.
42Has Alex ever got the letter I sent him?
43
44 I have been so much interested at the account Papa has been giving me
45of your life at the Fields; you know his funny way of telling things,
46I quite seem to know Mr Howard &c &c. do tell me all about your selves
47when you write dear Ett.
48
49 I must close now darling write soon & ask Theo & Will to write to your
50old sister Olive
51
52 Mamma sends love – Happy happy returns of your birthday Darling
53
54
55
2
3 I am sitting in my little room at Hertzog, at home at last. I arrived
4here yes the day before yesterday with Mr Gau. I left Dordrecht on
5Sunday (that is Sunday week) & stayed with Miss Gau at Willow ?Hark
6till Wednesday afternoon when I started for L. S. with Mr Gau. Wild
7rain & snow, it grew so bad that we were obliged to spend the night at
8?Asenberg’s hotel & only got to Queens Town the next after noon. I
9stayed at Stubbs & had a delightful little cottage all to my self at
10the bottom of the garden I did not have my photo taken as the
11photographer had gone to the Bay We left Queens Town on Saturday & got
12here about three on Sunday afternoon Papa & Mama were not in & we had
13to wait some time before they could be called Mr Gau left at once as
14he wished to reach Beaufort the same night I was so glad to see dear
15Mamma & found her looking very well & also found the little cottage
16much more snug than I expected.
17
18 Mamma seemed glad to see me but I would be infinitely more happy if I
19could have some thing to do. It’s no use wishing for that however I
20must make up my mind to stay quietly with Mamma for some months as Mr
21Gau to whom I am engaged could never bear the idea that his wife had
22had to work for her living. I’ve never told you of my engagement
23Darling as there are circumstances which make it most desirable that
24no one should know any thing of it just now, still I know I can trust
25my old sis not to say one word about it to any one except Theo. & if
26you are quite sure he will will not mention it, to dear old Will also;
27had it not been for this reason (my engagement) I would have been so
28glad to have gone to Mrs ?Mills but that is all past & gone now.
29
30 I’ve been engaged not quite two months I can’t say as yet when we
31shall be married as we both feel in a very delicate position with
32regard to Miss Gau, who will think as soon as we speak of getting
33married take it as a hint that she must leave for Germany I dare say
34however we shall be married before the end of the summer as she will
35wish to get home in time for the European summer Mr Gau will have his
36photo take in the Bay & when he returns I will send you one.
37
38[break in the letter]
39
40 You say that you have never received any letters from me for some time
41– how that is I can’t make out as I have written again & again to you.
42Has Alex ever got the letter I sent him?
43
44 I have been so much interested at the account Papa has been giving me
45of your life at the Fields; you know his funny way of telling things,
46I quite seem to know Mr Howard &c &c. do tell me all about your selves
47when you write dear Ett.
48
49 I must close now darling write soon & ask Theo & Will to write to your
50old sister Olive
51
52 Mamma sends love – Happy happy returns of your birthday Darling
53
54
55
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/3 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | June 1874 |
Address From | Colesberg, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner was resident in Colesberg from mid April 1874 to the beginning of March 1875.
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1
My dear old Sis
2
3 It is Sunday morning & all the folks have gone to church except Katie
4& Georgie so I shall have a nice quiet time for writing.
5
6 I was not a little disappointed at not receiving a line from you by
7last post, but knew you & the old Baas were both well as your hand
8writings were on the box of fruit; for which so many thanks. It made
9me more glad to think you had remembered how I like them than it would
10have been if I had got the finest presents in the world. They seem
11almost too pretty to eat.
12
13 I am feeling so well & am at work from morning till night, but you
14know in your own house how light all work seems, & I feel just as if
15house children & all were my own. I don’t know which of the children
16I’m fondest of but I don’t like Katie quite as well as the boys
17though even she is a dear good child.
18
19 Mrs Weekly expects to be ill in about five weeks time. I suppose you
20know Mrs ?Bayswood has a little one at last.
21
22 The other day when I was down at the shop I met ?Lendorf who was on
23his way down to Grahams Town where he thinks of settling he will be
24back again in two months time when he has promised to call. By the way
25before I forget it, if you or the Miss Howards ?or Miss Davey should
26want any thing I could get it for you here as Mrs Weakley says there
27are shops here where you could buy things quite as cheaply as in
28Grahams Town. How is the old Baas finding? How is Howard getting on?
29Do you still think of the Gold Fields.
30
31 Remember me to dear old John & tell him he must soon write or he’ll
32be forgetting me. Give my best love to the dear old Baas & remember me
33very kindly to Howard, & good bye till next week
34
35 Your little sister
36 Olive
37
38
39
2
3 It is Sunday morning & all the folks have gone to church except Katie
4& Georgie so I shall have a nice quiet time for writing.
5
6 I was not a little disappointed at not receiving a line from you by
7last post, but knew you & the old Baas were both well as your hand
8writings were on the box of fruit; for which so many thanks. It made
9me more glad to think you had remembered how I like them than it would
10have been if I had got the finest presents in the world. They seem
11almost too pretty to eat.
12
13 I am feeling so well & am at work from morning till night, but you
14know in your own house how light all work seems, & I feel just as if
15house children & all were my own. I don’t know which of the children
16I’m fondest of but I don’t like Katie quite as well as the boys
17though even she is a dear good child.
18
19 Mrs Weekly expects to be ill in about five weeks time. I suppose you
20know Mrs ?Bayswood has a little one at last.
21
22 The other day when I was down at the shop I met ?Lendorf who was on
23his way down to Grahams Town where he thinks of settling he will be
24back again in two months time when he has promised to call. By the way
25before I forget it, if you or the Miss Howards ?or Miss Davey should
26want any thing I could get it for you here as Mrs Weakley says there
27are shops here where you could buy things quite as cheaply as in
28Grahams Town. How is the old Baas finding? How is Howard getting on?
29Do you still think of the Gold Fields.
30
31 Remember me to dear old John & tell him he must soon write or he’ll
32be forgetting me. Give my best love to the dear old Baas & remember me
33very kindly to Howard, & good bye till next week
34
35 Your little sister
36 Olive
37
38
39
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/4 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 12 July 1874 |
Address From | Colesberg, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Alice Hemming nee Schreiner |
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 name of the addressee is provided by content.
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1
Colesburg
2 July 12th 1874
3
4 My dear old Sis!
5
6 Yesterday afternoon at half past four a very nice little boy put in
7his appearance. He & Mrs Weakley are both doing very well. I am so
8glad it is all over.
9
10 The dear children are all very good ^&^ I have just sent them all out
11for a walk.
12
13 I was glad to hear darling Sis that you were better. I felt so anxious
14about you all the week & was so relieved when I saw your hand writing.
15I have no time to write to John this post but please thank him for his
16letter & tell him I shall be looking out for a beautiful likeness by
17next post.
18
19 Give my love to old Leo, also When. I was sitting by the fire last
20evening I was thinking so much of the old Cradock days & how we all
21used to sit round the fire, - a band of brothers & sisters.
22
23 I was so sorry to hear from John that poor ?Santell was so ill. Is he
24staying with you now? What is he doing?
25
26 I am not feeling at all well my chest or heart or whatever it is
27troubles me a great deal: but I am happy & always with true love
28
29 Your old sister
30 Olive
31
32
2 July 12th 1874
3
4 My dear old Sis!
5
6 Yesterday afternoon at half past four a very nice little boy put in
7his appearance. He & Mrs Weakley are both doing very well. I am so
8glad it is all over.
9
10 The dear children are all very good ^&^ I have just sent them all out
11for a walk.
12
13 I was glad to hear darling Sis that you were better. I felt so anxious
14about you all the week & was so relieved when I saw your hand writing.
15I have no time to write to John this post but please thank him for his
16letter & tell him I shall be looking out for a beautiful likeness by
17next post.
18
19 Give my love to old Leo, also When. I was sitting by the fire last
20evening I was thinking so much of the old Cradock days & how we all
21used to sit round the fire, - a band of brothers & sisters.
22
23 I was so sorry to hear from John that poor ?Santell was so ill. Is he
24staying with you now? What is he doing?
25
26 I am not feeling at all well my chest or heart or whatever it is
27troubles me a great deal: but I am happy & always with true love
28
29 Your old sister
30 Olive
31
32
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/5 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1874 ; Before End: December 1874 |
Address From | Colesberg, 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. Schreiner was resident in Colesberg from mid April 1874 to the beginning of March 1875.
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1
Colesberg
2 1874
3
4 My dear old Sissie!
5
6 I have no time to do more than write & thank you for the very
7beautiful photo as Georgie & Joseph are both ill & we don’t seem to
8know which thing to do first.
9
10 Poor dear little George is really very bad but I am glad to say that
11Joseph seems quite bright this morning.
12
13 I like the photos much yours is by far the best that has even been
14taken of you & as for dear old Theo he is as near my beau ideal of
15what a man should look as any one I have ever seen, now he has shaved.
16
17 I will send the things that came for you in my box by the next post
18Cobb & ?fos. You must not pay the carriage. The slippers looked just
19as old & torn when I got them as they do now I think they are a pair
20that Mrs Kruger made for Alice but which she found too small. I had
21the parcel ready to send down by the last coach but had no one to send
22down town with it.
23
24 I am as vexed as you can be at the article in the journal. Mr Weakley
25thinks it was not written with the intention of making fun of you but
26I think it was
27
28 I was so grieved to think of your being so ill perhaps if you manage
29to save enough to pay for your taking your diamond home to Europe your
30selves, the sea voyage may do you good.
31
32 Mrs Weakley sends love & thanks for the likeness &c.
33
34 Good bye darling sister
35 Your loving old
36 Olive
37
38
39
2 1874
3
4 My dear old Sissie!
5
6 I have no time to do more than write & thank you for the very
7beautiful photo as Georgie & Joseph are both ill & we don’t seem to
8know which thing to do first.
9
10 Poor dear little George is really very bad but I am glad to say that
11Joseph seems quite bright this morning.
12
13 I like the photos much yours is by far the best that has even been
14taken of you & as for dear old Theo he is as near my beau ideal of
15what a man should look as any one I have ever seen, now he has shaved.
16
17 I will send the things that came for you in my box by the next post
18Cobb & ?fos. You must not pay the carriage. The slippers looked just
19as old & torn when I got them as they do now I think they are a pair
20that Mrs Kruger made for Alice but which she found too small. I had
21the parcel ready to send down by the last coach but had no one to send
22down town with it.
23
24 I am as vexed as you can be at the article in the journal. Mr Weakley
25thinks it was not written with the intention of making fun of you but
26I think it was
27
28 I was so grieved to think of your being so ill perhaps if you manage
29to save enough to pay for your taking your diamond home to Europe your
30selves, the sea voyage may do you good.
31
32 Mrs Weakley sends love & thanks for the likeness &c.
33
34 Good bye darling sister
35 Your loving old
36 Olive
37
38
39
Notation
The article in the journal mentioned, about Ettie Schreiner, cannot be established.
The article in the journal mentioned, about Ettie Schreiner, cannot be established.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/6 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 29 July 1880 |
Address From | Lily Kloof, Halesowen, Eastern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Alice Hemming nee Schreiner |
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 name of the addressee is povided by content.
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1
Lily Kloof
2 July 29 / 80
3
4 My dear darling old Sister!
5
6 This evening Robert’s letter reached me. I cannot believe that its
7news is really true, that my darling boy is really gone, & your little
8Willie. My little Leo, with his sweet brown eyes, & beautiful curls,
9that loved me so much! I cannot think that he is really gone, that not
10any where in the world would I find that darling face now. Oh, my old
11sister, I don’t know what you must feel. Every time I I think of it it
12comes on me with a fresh blow, & your poor old heart, with your empty
13lonely house!
14
15 I think especially of the last night in Cape Town when he lay in his
16little bed & said "Oh my dear Auntie, put your face quite close to
17mine, on my cheek." I don’t know why that night keeps coming back to
18me now.
19
20 I am so anxious because Robert said that he feared that you might be
21getting the hooping-cough also. Do write to me soon, & tell me how or
22you are, or ask Robert to write; & oh, when you can, do write & tell
23me something more. My poor, poor old sister I do not think I ever felt
24so sorry before for anyone. Please send me two little curls. I hope
25you had your own likeness taken in Cape Town. I feel so very anxious
26about you. Do let me hear from you soon, darling old sister.
27
28 Poor old Robert tells me that baby Ethelwyn had cough too, but seemed
29getting better. I want so to hear whether Wynne has got it. I wish I
30could be with you this evening. They are all dancing here, & it seems
31so strange that anyone can wish to dance.
32
33 Give my love to dear old Robert, & know that I think of you, my dear
34old Alice. I never knew that I loved you so much.
35
36 I will write again soon
37 Olive
38
39
2 July 29 / 80
3
4 My dear darling old Sister!
5
6 This evening Robert’s letter reached me. I cannot believe that its
7news is really true, that my darling boy is really gone, & your little
8Willie. My little Leo, with his sweet brown eyes, & beautiful curls,
9that loved me so much! I cannot think that he is really gone, that not
10any where in the world would I find that darling face now. Oh, my old
11sister, I don’t know what you must feel. Every time I I think of it it
12comes on me with a fresh blow, & your poor old heart, with your empty
13lonely house!
14
15 I think especially of the last night in Cape Town when he lay in his
16little bed & said "Oh my dear Auntie, put your face quite close to
17mine, on my cheek." I don’t know why that night keeps coming back to
18me now.
19
20 I am so anxious because Robert said that he feared that you might be
21getting the hooping-cough also. Do write to me soon, & tell me how or
22you are, or ask Robert to write; & oh, when you can, do write & tell
23me something more. My poor, poor old sister I do not think I ever felt
24so sorry before for anyone. Please send me two little curls. I hope
25you had your own likeness taken in Cape Town. I feel so very anxious
26about you. Do let me hear from you soon, darling old sister.
27
28 Poor old Robert tells me that baby Ethelwyn had cough too, but seemed
29getting better. I want so to hear whether Wynne has got it. I wish I
30could be with you this evening. They are all dancing here, & it seems
31so strange that anyone can wish to dance.
32
33 Give my love to dear old Robert, & know that I think of you, my dear
34old Alice. I never knew that I loved you so much.
35
36 I will write again soon
37 Olive
38
39
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/7 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 9 April 1882 |
Address From | 81 Guildford Street, Russell Square, Camden, London |
Address To | |
Who To | Alice Hemming nee Schreiner |
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.
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1
81 Guildford St
2 Russell Sq.
3 London. WC
4
5 April 9th 1882
6
7 My dear Alice,
8
9 I was glad once more to hear from you & should have been better
10pleased still had the news about your own health been better.
11
12 About Wynnie’s boots. I went at once to the best medical shoemaker
13in the Strand, took your letter & told him what kind of thing I wanted.
14 He said he could easily make them if he had a cast of the foot. I
15told him he could not have that because the person was in Africa & it
16would take too long. He said "Well without a cast or an exact measure
17I will not make them." I said no one would blame him if the shoes
18boots didn’t fit, but it was no use he wouldn’t do it, & they say
19I won’t find any one who will without the exact measure. You had
20better send me the measure taken very exactly by a shoe-maker & I will
21send the boots out with young Bertram when he returns to the Cape. It
22is a great disappointment to me not to have been able to get them done
23at once. I am going as a last hope to the hospital for complaints of
24the foot, to see if one as one of the doctors there can’t order it
25for me. I think you would rather have them fitting not quite so well,
26than to wait. I hope the dear little woman’s foot will soon grow
27strong. I send you part of Emma’s last letter that you may see what
28she says about the boots. Fred says that if a boot of the kind we want
29was made, it would hurt the foot & weaken it more than strengthen it
30if it didn’t fit very exactly.
31
32 I have not seen the John Hemmings since their return from Paris. I
33fancy they leave soon. I do not know their new address, but shall try
34to learn it at their last lodgings.
35
36 I don’t know if I have written since I was in London. I have been
37here a month now. Will has apartments in the same house. He is leaving
38next week for Cambridge or Eastbourne, he has not quite made up his
39mind which, & will likely remain there till he returns to the old
40Country. I haven’t much to tell of myself. I don’t know a soul in
41London so as you may guess I lead a very quiet life – study &
42scribble all day long. I am hoping in the holidays to have Wilfred
43here for a week & we shall have glorious times together. Often when I
44am with him I think of my old day dreams abut "our boy" & the friends
45I used to think he & I would be if we met after he was grown older.
46Wilfred is very dear to me, but my old Leo has a place no other child
47will ever take.
48
49 Good-bye dear old sister. Let me hear from you soon about the boots. It
50is a great disappointment not to have been able to get them yet, but
51with an exact measure it will be all right
52
53^A kiss for all the little ones from ^
54 Your loving sister
55 Olive
56
57
2 Russell Sq.
3 London. WC
4
5 April 9th 1882
6
7 My dear Alice,
8
9 I was glad once more to hear from you & should have been better
10pleased still had the news about your own health been better.
11
12 About Wynnie’s boots. I went at once to the best medical shoemaker
13in the Strand, took your letter & told him what kind of thing I wanted.
14 He said he could easily make them if he had a cast of the foot. I
15told him he could not have that because the person was in Africa & it
16would take too long. He said "Well without a cast or an exact measure
17I will not make them." I said no one would blame him if the shoes
18boots didn’t fit, but it was no use he wouldn’t do it, & they say
19I won’t find any one who will without the exact measure. You had
20better send me the measure taken very exactly by a shoe-maker & I will
21send the boots out with young Bertram when he returns to the Cape. It
22is a great disappointment to me not to have been able to get them done
23at once. I am going as a last hope to the hospital for complaints of
24the foot, to see if one as one of the doctors there can’t order it
25for me. I think you would rather have them fitting not quite so well,
26than to wait. I hope the dear little woman’s foot will soon grow
27strong. I send you part of Emma’s last letter that you may see what
28she says about the boots. Fred says that if a boot of the kind we want
29was made, it would hurt the foot & weaken it more than strengthen it
30if it didn’t fit very exactly.
31
32 I have not seen the John Hemmings since their return from Paris. I
33fancy they leave soon. I do not know their new address, but shall try
34to learn it at their last lodgings.
35
36 I don’t know if I have written since I was in London. I have been
37here a month now. Will has apartments in the same house. He is leaving
38next week for Cambridge or Eastbourne, he has not quite made up his
39mind which, & will likely remain there till he returns to the old
40Country. I haven’t much to tell of myself. I don’t know a soul in
41London so as you may guess I lead a very quiet life – study &
42scribble all day long. I am hoping in the holidays to have Wilfred
43here for a week & we shall have glorious times together. Often when I
44am with him I think of my old day dreams abut "our boy" & the friends
45I used to think he & I would be if we met after he was grown older.
46Wilfred is very dear to me, but my old Leo has a place no other child
47will ever take.
48
49 Good-bye dear old sister. Let me hear from you soon about the boots. It
50is a great disappointment not to have been able to get them yet, but
51with an exact measure it will be all right
52
53^A kiss for all the little ones from ^
54 Your loving sister
55 Olive
56
57
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/8 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 3 November 1883 |
Address From | Rose Cottage, Bexhill, East Sussex |
Address To | |
Who To | Alice Hemming nee Schreiner |
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. This letter is damaged and the end of the letter is missing.
|
1
Rose Cottage
2 Bexhill-on-Sea
3 Sussex
4 Oct ^Nov^ 3 / 83
5
6 My dear Alice
7
8 Many thanks for your letter. I am very sorry to hear your health
9remains so bad. As soon as Robert & you can in anyway manage it I
10think your ought to try a change to [pagetorn] Eastern Prov [pagetorn]
11a few weeks [pagetorn] the railways [pagetorn] is not qu [pagetorn]
12difficult matter as it used to be at our old Cape.
13
14 If Wynne cannot walk much don’t you think you ought to try & let her
15get more horse exercise regularly. If she is growing so fast she needs
16something to strengthen her. I am glad & yet sorry to hear the last
17bit [pagetorn] you give me. [pagetorn] you are hardly [pagetorn]
18enough to hear [pagetorn] to your [pagetorn], but [pagetorn] be a
19welcoming greeting sent to the little stranger from over the water
20when it arrives.
21
22 About my book, dear, I did not send you a copy because my horrid old
23publisher made me pay the full price for each copy that I had, & I did
24not like to send to one without sending to all lest they should be
25pained, & I couldn’t send to all. To Mama & Will & a friend at the
26diamond Fields I had promised copies so I had to send them. Now the
27first edition at a guinea is sold out, & there is a cheap 6/- edition
28& I am going to get copies for you all.
29
30 I am now camped for the winter at Bexhill. I live in a little solitary
31cottage near the sea. This is a country place six miles from the
32nearest town, & as I don’t know a soul here my life will be very quiet.
33 There is only myself & the old servant in the house I have hired a
34little bedroom & sitting room & she cooks for me. I mean to do a great
35deal of work this winter if only my chest will let me.
36
37 I had a delightful little visit to Desborough, Mrs Walters had read my
38book & liked it so much that she wrote & invited me to visit them. Her
39husband is a large mine owner. They are so good & kind to me. Then I
40had a pleasant little time in London, every one was so good to me. So
41I mustn’t grumble at the dreary winter, must I. It is dreary to me
42because my chest keeps me indoors. I get a great many kind
43
44[page/s missing]
45
2 Bexhill-on-Sea
3 Sussex
4 Oct ^Nov^ 3 / 83
5
6 My dear Alice
7
8 Many thanks for your letter. I am very sorry to hear your health
9remains so bad. As soon as Robert & you can in anyway manage it I
10think your ought to try a change to [pagetorn] Eastern Prov [pagetorn]
11a few weeks [pagetorn] the railways [pagetorn] is not qu [pagetorn]
12difficult matter as it used to be at our old Cape.
13
14 If Wynne cannot walk much don’t you think you ought to try & let her
15get more horse exercise regularly. If she is growing so fast she needs
16something to strengthen her. I am glad & yet sorry to hear the last
17bit [pagetorn] you give me. [pagetorn] you are hardly [pagetorn]
18enough to hear [pagetorn] to your [pagetorn], but [pagetorn] be a
19welcoming greeting sent to the little stranger from over the water
20when it arrives.
21
22 About my book, dear, I did not send you a copy because my horrid old
23publisher made me pay the full price for each copy that I had, & I did
24not like to send to one without sending to all lest they should be
25pained, & I couldn’t send to all. To Mama & Will & a friend at the
26diamond Fields I had promised copies so I had to send them. Now the
27first edition at a guinea is sold out, & there is a cheap 6/- edition
28& I am going to get copies for you all.
29
30 I am now camped for the winter at Bexhill. I live in a little solitary
31cottage near the sea. This is a country place six miles from the
32nearest town, & as I don’t know a soul here my life will be very quiet.
33 There is only myself & the old servant in the house I have hired a
34little bedroom & sitting room & she cooks for me. I mean to do a great
35deal of work this winter if only my chest will let me.
36
37 I had a delightful little visit to Desborough, Mrs Walters had read my
38book & liked it so much that she wrote & invited me to visit them. Her
39husband is a large mine owner. They are so good & kind to me. Then I
40had a pleasant little time in London, every one was so good to me. So
41I mustn’t grumble at the dreary winter, must I. It is dreary to me
42because my chest keeps me indoors. I get a great many kind
43
44[page/s missing]
45
Notation
The reference to ‘my book’ is to Ralph Iron (Olive Schreiner) (1883) The Story of an African Farm London: Chapman & Hall, two volumes. The cheap edition mentioned was published in one volume.
The reference to ‘my book’ is to Ralph Iron (Olive Schreiner) (1883) The Story of an African Farm London: Chapman & Hall, two volumes. The cheap edition mentioned was published in one volume.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/9 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: June 1887 ; Before End: October 1887 |
Address From | London |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner arrived in Britain from Europe in June 1887, and was resident in London at various points between then and mid October 1887, when she returned to Italy.
|
1
My dear old Ettie
2
3 I leave £1. 11/6 is for the rest of the rent & t there is the 5/- I
4got from you the other day I hope it has rested that dear tired heart
5to be with Miss Ellis & Mrs Milhall.
6
7 I didn’t mean to be cross dear this morning, but I’m so tired.
8Would you like me to write to Stead the editor of the P.M.G. & ask him
9to see you. He’s one of my greatest friends in England, & you & he
10will I think sympathise very much on religious matters. I’ve waited
11here till 10.30 but I think you won’t come till the 12 train so
12I’m going back. My darling I want so much to make your stay here
13happy. I came back from Italy this year just because I thought you
14would perhaps be lonely here, & I couldn’t bear you to know the
15agony of loneliness I have felt in England. We can’t do much for
16each other in this world after all.
17
18 Love from a long way off Olive
19
20
21
2
3 I leave £1. 11/6 is for the rest of the rent & t there is the 5/- I
4got from you the other day I hope it has rested that dear tired heart
5to be with Miss Ellis & Mrs Milhall.
6
7 I didn’t mean to be cross dear this morning, but I’m so tired.
8Would you like me to write to Stead the editor of the P.M.G. & ask him
9to see you. He’s one of my greatest friends in England, & you & he
10will I think sympathise very much on religious matters. I’ve waited
11here till 10.30 but I think you won’t come till the 12 train so
12I’m going back. My darling I want so much to make your stay here
13happy. I came back from Italy this year just because I thought you
14would perhaps be lonely here, & I couldn’t bear you to know the
15agony of loneliness I have felt in England. We can’t do much for
16each other in this world after all.
17
18 Love from a long way off Olive
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/10 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: June 1887 ; Before End: October 1887 |
Address From | London |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner arrived in Britain from Europe in June 1887, and was resident in London at various points between then and mid October 1887, when she returned to Italy.
|
1
My darling old Sister
2
3 I had a letter from Stead this morning saying he would certainly come
4& see you this morning if at all possible & if he couldn’t get away
5he would write to you & appoint a time
6
7 Can’t you come over here about four, there will be a good many
8people coming sometimes there are twenty or more sometimes only one or
9two - & it might be interesting to you to see them though they might
10not be people you would like in the way I am sure you would like Stead.
11
12 My own darling old Ettie, you know how I feel to you don’t you. I am
13always so much under pressure in my solitary like that I cannot relax
14much otherwise I should not have be strong enough.
15
16 Your little Olive
17
18
19
2
3 I had a letter from Stead this morning saying he would certainly come
4& see you this morning if at all possible & if he couldn’t get away
5he would write to you & appoint a time
6
7 Can’t you come over here about four, there will be a good many
8people coming sometimes there are twenty or more sometimes only one or
9two - & it might be interesting to you to see them though they might
10not be people you would like in the way I am sure you would like Stead.
11
12 My own darling old Ettie, you know how I feel to you don’t you. I am
13always so much under pressure in my solitary like that I cannot relax
14much otherwise I should not have be strong enough.
15
16 Your little Olive
17
18
19
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/12 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Sunday June 1887 ; Before End: October 1887 |
Address From | London |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner arrived in Britain from Europe in June 1887, and was resident in London at various points between then and mid October 1887, when she returned to Italy.
|
1
Sunday afternoon
2
3 My darling old Ettie.
4
5 I am so glad to think you are going to see Mrs Brown. You must write &
6tell me just how you are situated. Has the Dadda asked any of you to
7Eastbourne. If not when you have rested a little at Burnley, you must
8come here. I am not allowed to have children here & my rooms are so
9tiny they would not be comfortable. My idea is to take a large bedroom
10& sitting close by, & for for you to be always in my dear quiet little
11rooms resting I do believe that a little time here will be rest. We
12will go together every evening after dark for a ride on the top of an
13omnibus; it is so restful. I go alone every night now.
14
15 An American publisher sent me £30 for quite unexpectedly & I’ve
16used £20 in making my little rooms liveable in, & I’ve always been
17thinking it was for you to come. I hope the voyage has not tired you
18quite so much as the last. Don’t trouble to write but just a word
19about plans. You will love them all at Burnley & they you.
20
21 Is the dear old Baas any better. Something is very wrong with him
22I’m sure. That ?contraction about his eyes I don’t like.
23
24 Give my love to Winny & the boys & to our dear friends at Burnley. It
25will be so beautiful if you can get to care abut them something as I
26do. They have been the truest friends I have ever had.
27
28 Good bye. Rest my darling, & feel how much I am loving you.
29 Olive
30
31 I enclose a letter from Bertie Everett’s mother. I am looking
32forward much to your seeing him when you go back.
33
34 Please return Mrs Everetts letter.
35
36
37
2
3 My darling old Ettie.
4
5 I am so glad to think you are going to see Mrs Brown. You must write &
6tell me just how you are situated. Has the Dadda asked any of you to
7Eastbourne. If not when you have rested a little at Burnley, you must
8come here. I am not allowed to have children here & my rooms are so
9tiny they would not be comfortable. My idea is to take a large bedroom
10& sitting close by, & for for you to be always in my dear quiet little
11rooms resting I do believe that a little time here will be rest. We
12will go together every evening after dark for a ride on the top of an
13omnibus; it is so restful. I go alone every night now.
14
15 An American publisher sent me £30 for quite unexpectedly & I’ve
16used £20 in making my little rooms liveable in, & I’ve always been
17thinking it was for you to come. I hope the voyage has not tired you
18quite so much as the last. Don’t trouble to write but just a word
19about plans. You will love them all at Burnley & they you.
20
21 Is the dear old Baas any better. Something is very wrong with him
22I’m sure. That ?contraction about his eyes I don’t like.
23
24 Give my love to Winny & the boys & to our dear friends at Burnley. It
25will be so beautiful if you can get to care abut them something as I
26do. They have been the truest friends I have ever had.
27
28 Good bye. Rest my darling, & feel how much I am loving you.
29 Olive
30
31 I enclose a letter from Bertie Everett’s mother. I am looking
32forward much to your seeing him when you go back.
33
34 Please return Mrs Everetts letter.
35
36
37
Notation
The money received from an American publisher was for a pirated US edition of The Story of An African Farm.
The money received from an American publisher was for a pirated US edition of The Story of An African Farm.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/13 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: September 1887 ; Before End: October 1887 |
Address From | London |
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. ‘London 1887’ has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner left Britain for Europe in mid October 1887.
|
1
My dear old Ettie
2
3 Please be sure & let me know whether you have been able to get the
4rooms at Vis-chhoek.
5
6 I am able to leave England because I think I am going there to rest. I
7am very anxious to hear how you stood the voyage but it cannot be for
8some weeks yet. Theo & Katie, I think, leave next Tuesday for the
9continent. I’ve not any news to give Give my love to Guy & Elberty
10& dear old Nanny. I long to see your face
11
12 Your little sister
13 Olive
14
2
3 Please be sure & let me know whether you have been able to get the
4rooms at Vis-chhoek.
5
6 I am able to leave England because I think I am going there to rest. I
7am very anxious to hear how you stood the voyage but it cannot be for
8some weeks yet. Theo & Katie, I think, leave next Tuesday for the
9continent. I’ve not any news to give Give my love to Guy & Elberty
10& dear old Nanny. I long to see your face
11
12 Your little sister
13 Olive
14
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/14 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | September 1889 |
Address From | London |
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 and place have been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner left Britain for South Africa in October 1888.
|
1
My beautiful old sister,
2
3 I have taken my passage in the Norham castle which sails on the 11th
4of October. Please take the rooms in Vis-chhoek at once if it be
5necessary so to secure them. I am unreadable
6
7 I am thinking of you everyday on that long terrible voyage. I could
8not have borne it to say good bye to you if I had not seen Vis-chhoek
9before me.
10
11 Good bye my wonderful beautiful old sister.
12
13 Olive
14
15
16
2
3 I have taken my passage in the Norham castle which sails on the 11th
4of October. Please take the rooms in Vis-chhoek at once if it be
5necessary so to secure them. I am unreadable
6
7 I am thinking of you everyday on that long terrible voyage. I could
8not have borne it to say good bye to you if I had not seen Vis-chhoek
9before me.
10
11 Good bye my wonderful beautiful old sister.
12
13 Olive
14
15
16
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/15 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: October 1889 ; Before End: December 1889 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western 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 year and place have been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner was resident in Cape Town from mid October 1889 to mid March 1890, with some visits elsewhere.
|
1
Darling, the likeness is beautiful my-old-little-girl-Ettie-sister of
2Witterberg it looks like.
3
4 I am going to come out one day this week or next week & if you &
5Robert & the children would meet me at Somerset West, we might go to
6Vander Stells old garden & then I might come home the same night.
7I’ve had my likeness taken by Barnard. He took me for nothing but I
8will send you two.
9
10 Olive
11
12 ^Have you decided about Worcester.^
13
14 ^I think you may like to see dear old Lillie’s letter. Return it.^
15
16
17
2Witterberg it looks like.
3
4 I am going to come out one day this week or next week & if you &
5Robert & the children would meet me at Somerset West, we might go to
6Vander Stells old garden & then I might come home the same night.
7I’ve had my likeness taken by Barnard. He took me for nothing but I
8will send you two.
9
10 Olive
11
12 ^Have you decided about Worcester.^
13
14 ^I think you may like to see dear old Lillie’s letter. Return it.^
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/16 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | nd |
Address From | na |
Address To | |
Who To | Robert Hemming |
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. These few words are on a small piece of paper and seem to have been written to accompany something else, like a book or photograph or some other object.
|
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/17 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Thursday October 1889 ; Before End: December 1889 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner was resident in Cape Town from mid October 1889 to mid March 1890, with some visits elsewhere. One such visit was to Grahamstown to visit her mother, who had been taken ill, in late November to early December 1889.
|
1
Cape Town
2 Thursday
3
4 Darling Et,
5
6 I know you will be glad to know I am quite well here. Of course weak,
7but all right.
8
9 Splendid news from Mother which Roberton will have sent you. It was
10not the convent folk who telegraphed to Fan at all, but John Hemming
11who found out by chance how ill Mother was. They seem to have been
12very kind to her.
13
14 I hope you are having a good time of work in the Paarl; one is only
15happy when one is doing ones lifes work whatever that may be. Mrs
16?Jubert & Miss Drummond are staying with Fan now. Fan is very kind &
17sweet as always. Dear old Robert has been so gentle & kind to me all
18this time. I fear I have been a great trouble to him.
19
20 I will come out with him to Vis-choek Tuesday but my sudden
21instantaneous getting well here shows me that it is a matter of air; &
22I fear Wednesday will see me flying back. ?Fanny has gone Just got
23enclosed from Annie Hemming.
24
25 Am so glad they have been so good to Mother. Am writing to them.
26
27 Ah Ettie it is so beautiful to be able to breathe.
28
29 All this time would have been so beautiful if I could have breathed &
30seen anything. I think in the Spring ^Autumn^ when some of my work is
31done you & I will will have a good time together & perhaps go to
32Kimberly & Johannesburg together.
33
34 My darling old Ettie.
35 Olive
36
37
38
2 Thursday
3
4 Darling Et,
5
6 I know you will be glad to know I am quite well here. Of course weak,
7but all right.
8
9 Splendid news from Mother which Roberton will have sent you. It was
10not the convent folk who telegraphed to Fan at all, but John Hemming
11who found out by chance how ill Mother was. They seem to have been
12very kind to her.
13
14 I hope you are having a good time of work in the Paarl; one is only
15happy when one is doing ones lifes work whatever that may be. Mrs
16?Jubert & Miss Drummond are staying with Fan now. Fan is very kind &
17sweet as always. Dear old Robert has been so gentle & kind to me all
18this time. I fear I have been a great trouble to him.
19
20 I will come out with him to Vis-choek Tuesday but my sudden
21instantaneous getting well here shows me that it is a matter of air; &
22I fear Wednesday will see me flying back. ?Fanny has gone Just got
23enclosed from Annie Hemming.
24
25 Am so glad they have been so good to Mother. Am writing to them.
26
27 Ah Ettie it is so beautiful to be able to breathe.
28
29 All this time would have been so beautiful if I could have breathed &
30seen anything. I think in the Spring ^Autumn^ when some of my work is
31done you & I will will have a good time together & perhaps go to
32Kimberly & Johannesburg together.
33
34 My darling old Ettie.
35 Olive
36
37
38
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/18 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Monday November 1889 |
Address From | Ceres, Western 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 month and year have been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
Ceres
2 Monday afternoon
3
4 I send you a letter from Alice as there is a message from for you. I
5have not yet an answer from Dr Great head to my telegram of this
6morning. I have written to him.
7
8 You know how I love you though I never speak. I am obliged entirely to
9suppress myself or I should break down.
10
11 It will be a bitter disappointment to me if I have to spend the next
12six months here & you at Vishhoek, but one must take everything
13exactly as it comes.
14
15 Good bye.
16 Olive
17
18 I am getting quite well.
19
20
21
2 Monday afternoon
3
4 I send you a letter from Alice as there is a message from for you. I
5have not yet an answer from Dr Great head to my telegram of this
6morning. I have written to him.
7
8 You know how I love you though I never speak. I am obliged entirely to
9suppress myself or I should break down.
10
11 It will be a bitter disappointment to me if I have to spend the next
12six months here & you at Vishhoek, but one must take everything
13exactly as it comes.
14
15 Good bye.
16 Olive
17
18 I am getting quite well.
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/19 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday November 1889 |
Address From | Ceres, Western 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 month and year have been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Content suggests that Schreiner was in Ceres when it was written; she was resident in Ceres for around two weeks in November 1889.
|
1
Sunday afternoon
2
3 My old Ettie,
4
5 I enclose mother’s last telegram to me: that settles the question.
6Please return it. Thank you for your letter. Yes, I always understand
7you perfectly. Better I think than any one else in the world does.
8
9 I am better I have not been out of my room yet, but I feel sure I
10shall like this place, only not nearly so well as Vis-choek. I
11couldn’t settle down here without giving Vischoek one more try, but
12I must stay here a week or two before I undertake the journey. I am
13like a child with a fester that doesn’t throb as long as it holds it
14quite still. Perhaps if I came to Vishhoek after you have been living
15there some weeks the air of the house will be different. I have never
16liked a place anywhere so much. Wire whether Robert is to meet you at
17Ceres Rd or if you are coming here. I want you but I would feel so
18reproached if my being here led to fresh meeting & fresh work. There
19is a terrible look that comes over your face sometimes that makes me
20very anxious. Its quickness of going & coming makes me dislike it more
21than anything else. It came over your face once at Montague & once in
22the train. More or less of rest is now an absolute necessity to you.
23It will be such an awful thing when you give in, as you will do sooner
24or later. If we can spend some months at Vis-choek together I believe
25we shall get quite strong; & you require to give a certain time not
26only to writing but to reading, you mind needs rest as much as your
27body. Wire if you are coming on Tuesday morning, that we can see that
28a cart is at the station for you. I want to see you; I feel lost when
29you are away, a curious sense of miss; but I do not wish you to come
30here just for my sake. I am all right. I am afraid Robert has had a
31dull time here by himself. He has been very kind to me
32
33 Give my love to the boys & to dear Wynnie & Effie. Tell them how sorry
34I was not to see them, & give my love to dear old Anna. I was in such
35unreadable ^a state^ I hardly seemed to see any thing.
36
37 Olive
38
39
40
2
3 My old Ettie,
4
5 I enclose mother’s last telegram to me: that settles the question.
6Please return it. Thank you for your letter. Yes, I always understand
7you perfectly. Better I think than any one else in the world does.
8
9 I am better I have not been out of my room yet, but I feel sure I
10shall like this place, only not nearly so well as Vis-choek. I
11couldn’t settle down here without giving Vischoek one more try, but
12I must stay here a week or two before I undertake the journey. I am
13like a child with a fester that doesn’t throb as long as it holds it
14quite still. Perhaps if I came to Vishhoek after you have been living
15there some weeks the air of the house will be different. I have never
16liked a place anywhere so much. Wire whether Robert is to meet you at
17Ceres Rd or if you are coming here. I want you but I would feel so
18reproached if my being here led to fresh meeting & fresh work. There
19is a terrible look that comes over your face sometimes that makes me
20very anxious. Its quickness of going & coming makes me dislike it more
21than anything else. It came over your face once at Montague & once in
22the train. More or less of rest is now an absolute necessity to you.
23It will be such an awful thing when you give in, as you will do sooner
24or later. If we can spend some months at Vis-choek together I believe
25we shall get quite strong; & you require to give a certain time not
26only to writing but to reading, you mind needs rest as much as your
27body. Wire if you are coming on Tuesday morning, that we can see that
28a cart is at the station for you. I want to see you; I feel lost when
29you are away, a curious sense of miss; but I do not wish you to come
30here just for my sake. I am all right. I am afraid Robert has had a
31dull time here by himself. He has been very kind to me
32
33 Give my love to the boys & to dear Wynnie & Effie. Tell them how sorry
34I was not to see them, & give my love to dear old Anna. I was in such
35unreadable ^a state^ I hardly seemed to see any thing.
36
37 Olive
38
39
40
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/20 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Wednesday November 1889 |
Address From | Grahamstown, Eastern 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 month and year have been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
Grahamstown
2 Wednesday
3
4 My Ettie.
5
6 How strangely unlike anything we had planned all is turning out. Here
7I am at Lillies. We got here at five on Monday having travelled with
8out stopping since Friday evening I don’t think I would have got
9here without Robert. His goodness to me has been wonderful. What
10distresses me is the expense of the journey for him. I found the
11little mother looking better than I had expected. What I do not like
12is the horrible dead white colour that comes over her face. She will
13not die now. At the same time, I feel it cannot be for long. It is the
14beginning of the end. I wish so much I could move her to larger
15brighter rooms. I am going to see if I can’t get her moved out for a
16few weeks & have her rooms well done up. I know Fred would like to
17have it done at his cost. I was not able to see mother yesterday, but
18Lilly Auntie & Emma went. Lilly has been more kind to me than any
19words can describe. She made me come here from the hotel & sat up with
20me the greater part of ^whole^ of the first night & the greater part of
21last. Nothing distresses me so much as the helpless burden I am to
22other people. The doctor injected morphine into my arm, & I am taking
23advantage of the few hours freedom from pain to write. I do not know
24yet what my plans are. I can’t give up my Vis-choek without another
25trial. As soon as mother is at all so that I can leave her, I shall
26start but you had better write here as it may not be till next week. I
27shall break the terrible journey by a two or three days stay in
28Cradock. I feel I have been such a bitter disappointed to you my old
29Ettie, but it is your being in Africa that makes it possible for me to
30stay here so far from all my friends in England. Whenever I think of
31you I don’t feel lonely.
32
33 Address here when you write, & please write at once. Please dear look
34about my room & in the little box & my bath & see whether there is a
35little roll of my allegories most of them printed, some in M.S.
36fastened together by a little metal fastener. Will you please if you
37find them keep them very safe. I am feeling so anxious thinking they
38are lost. I thought they were in the little black box, but they
39aren’t.
40
41 Please write me a line. Give my love to all the children, Wynne &
42Effie when you write
43 Olive
44
45
46
2 Wednesday
3
4 My Ettie.
5
6 How strangely unlike anything we had planned all is turning out. Here
7I am at Lillies. We got here at five on Monday having travelled with
8out stopping since Friday evening I don’t think I would have got
9here without Robert. His goodness to me has been wonderful. What
10distresses me is the expense of the journey for him. I found the
11little mother looking better than I had expected. What I do not like
12is the horrible dead white colour that comes over her face. She will
13not die now. At the same time, I feel it cannot be for long. It is the
14beginning of the end. I wish so much I could move her to larger
15brighter rooms. I am going to see if I can’t get her moved out for a
16few weeks & have her rooms well done up. I know Fred would like to
17have it done at his cost. I was not able to see mother yesterday, but
18Lilly Auntie & Emma went. Lilly has been more kind to me than any
19words can describe. She made me come here from the hotel & sat up with
20me the greater part of ^whole^ of the first night & the greater part of
21last. Nothing distresses me so much as the helpless burden I am to
22other people. The doctor injected morphine into my arm, & I am taking
23advantage of the few hours freedom from pain to write. I do not know
24yet what my plans are. I can’t give up my Vis-choek without another
25trial. As soon as mother is at all so that I can leave her, I shall
26start but you had better write here as it may not be till next week. I
27shall break the terrible journey by a two or three days stay in
28Cradock. I feel I have been such a bitter disappointed to you my old
29Ettie, but it is your being in Africa that makes it possible for me to
30stay here so far from all my friends in England. Whenever I think of
31you I don’t feel lonely.
32
33 Address here when you write, & please write at once. Please dear look
34about my room & in the little box & my bath & see whether there is a
35little roll of my allegories most of them printed, some in M.S.
36fastened together by a little metal fastener. Will you please if you
37find them keep them very safe. I am feeling so anxious thinking they
38are lost. I thought they were in the little black box, but they
39aren’t.
40
41 Please write me a line. Give my love to all the children, Wynne &
42Effie when you write
43 Olive
44
45
46
Notation
The roll of allegories referred to was permanently lost when Schreiner went to Grahamstown to visit her mother; the loss is referred to frequently in family letters of the time.
The roll of allegories referred to was permanently lost when Schreiner went to Grahamstown to visit her mother; the loss is referred to frequently in family letters of the time.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/21 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 27 December 1889 |
Address From | Mount Vernon, Gardens, Cape Town, Western 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.
|
1
Mount Vernon
2 Cape Town
3
4 Dec 27th 1889.
5
6 Dear Ettie,
7
8 I send you mother’s letter to me as there are messages to you. I had
9also a note from Lilly who says mother doing splendidly, quite herself
10again. I had letter from dear old [wordspace] . He wrote so tenderly of
11you. He says he feels he can never express to you how much tenderness
12he feels towards you.
13
14 I spent my Xmas day here alone but was quite happy. I went out
15yesterday to spend the day with you Fanny at Kalk Bay. I couldn’t
16stay the night I was afraid of asthma. I feel such longing to see you.
17
18 My old Winnie has gone away. Mrs Gee sends me my breakfast & dinner, I
19paying, & I get my tea myself.
20
21 Good night my sister. Give my love especially to Wynnie & Effie, tell
22them I am coming some day on purpose to see them.
23
24 Good night.
25
26 Olive
27
28 I am using my little stand. The work box will be very useful as I have
29nothing of the kind.
30
31
2 Cape Town
3
4 Dec 27th 1889.
5
6 Dear Ettie,
7
8 I send you mother’s letter to me as there are messages to you. I had
9also a note from Lilly who says mother doing splendidly, quite herself
10again. I had letter from dear old [wordspace] . He wrote so tenderly of
11you. He says he feels he can never express to you how much tenderness
12he feels towards you.
13
14 I spent my Xmas day here alone but was quite happy. I went out
15yesterday to spend the day with you Fanny at Kalk Bay. I couldn’t
16stay the night I was afraid of asthma. I feel such longing to see you.
17
18 My old Winnie has gone away. Mrs Gee sends me my breakfast & dinner, I
19paying, & I get my tea myself.
20
21 Good night my sister. Give my love especially to Wynnie & Effie, tell
22them I am coming some day on purpose to see them.
23
24 Good night.
25
26 Olive
27
28 I am using my little stand. The work box will be very useful as I have
29nothing of the kind.
30
31
Notation
The 'mother's message' mentioned is no longer attached.
The 'mother's message' mentioned is no longer attached.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/22 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 6 May 1890 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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.
|
1
Matjesfontein
2 May 6 / 90
3
4 My darling old Sister
5
6 Do drop me a line to say you are in Worcester & how you are. My
7beautiful old sister, you don’t know who good to me is the thought
8of you always I hope you will feel better now you have got to
9Worcester Nothing ever happens here of which I can tell you, I live on
10here quietly alone.
11
12 Good bye.
13 Love to all the little ones & Winnie
14 Olive
15 Your own little sister
16
17
2 May 6 / 90
3
4 My darling old Sister
5
6 Do drop me a line to say you are in Worcester & how you are. My
7beautiful old sister, you don’t know who good to me is the thought
8of you always I hope you will feel better now you have got to
9Worcester Nothing ever happens here of which I can tell you, I live on
10here quietly alone.
11
12 Good bye.
13 Love to all the little ones & Winnie
14 Olive
15 Your own little sister
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/23 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 16 July 1891 |
Address From | 57 Grove Street, Gardens, Cape Town, Western 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.
|
1
57 Grove Street
2 July 16 / 91
3
4 My darling sister
5
6 I was so glad to get your letter this morning. Your joy makes me very
7happy. I believe the two years rest will entirely restore you. Try &
8read; it rests one so. Get Ruskins Modern Painters. The small two vol
9new edition, which is practically re-written & much improved.
10
11 I am so happy when all I think of your happiness dear. It seems one of
12the few quite beautiful things, I have to think of just now.
13
14 Seymour Fort has gone for good to Mashona-land. He quarrelled with the
15Lochs about Sir Henry niece with whom her was in love. She is a very
16sweet girl, & very fond of him She has gone to England now. Sh I loved
17her very much.
18
19 Will & all his are very well & flourishing. Dot grows beautiful, & so
20does Baby.
21
22 Maggie is still with them. (Private) She seems very unhappy &
23depressed, & she seems a great tie on Fan too who is very sweet &
24unselfish to her. They haven’t asked her to stay there, but she stays
25on & on. I can see it adds great pressure to Will’s life. I can’t say
26any thing to her, but couldn’t you suggest to her how well it would be
27if she got a situation at some Dutch farm, did something to make
28herself independent. She can’t stay with Emma, she doesn’t get on with
29Earp. I think something you said would be more likely to rouse her. If
30she does marry, she ought to marry at once, or break it off.
31
32 I have seen the dear old Baas & Katie once. I feel much nearer them
33than I used to be. You will They are so much broader.
34
35 I am well physically have had no asthma since I came down. I am have
36been two months in these lodgings & shall perhaps stay two more. I
37can’t tell you much about myself dear. I feel torpid & not able to do
38much. I will send you a little story I have written the Buddhist
39Priests Wife, & an article & another little story. I have not spoken
40to Mr Rhodes for two months except once for an instant. He is I had to
41oppose him on the native flogging bill, but I think that is not really
42the reason. What ever it may be I feel able to take it quietly Nothing
43is ever really taken away from one that one really has a right to;
44however much it may seem so.
45
46 Seymour Fort will be up in Mashona-land for some years. I am anxious
47for him.
48
49^My darling you will understand this letter & not think it cold & hard.
50I have plenty of power to think of & love other people & help them if
51I can, none to express anything. I send you a beautiful letter I got
52from old Lilly this morning.
53
54 Good bye dear. Love to the children. Do you ever go to Ventnor. I
55spent a long terrible winter there. That is why I thought you would
56not like it, I suppose.
57
58 Your little sister
59 Olive^
60
2 July 16 / 91
3
4 My darling sister
5
6 I was so glad to get your letter this morning. Your joy makes me very
7happy. I believe the two years rest will entirely restore you. Try &
8read; it rests one so. Get Ruskins Modern Painters. The small two vol
9new edition, which is practically re-written & much improved.
10
11 I am so happy when all I think of your happiness dear. It seems one of
12the few quite beautiful things, I have to think of just now.
13
14 Seymour Fort has gone for good to Mashona-land. He quarrelled with the
15Lochs about Sir Henry niece with whom her was in love. She is a very
16sweet girl, & very fond of him She has gone to England now. Sh I loved
17her very much.
18
19 Will & all his are very well & flourishing. Dot grows beautiful, & so
20does Baby.
21
22 Maggie is still with them. (Private) She seems very unhappy &
23depressed, & she seems a great tie on Fan too who is very sweet &
24unselfish to her. They haven’t asked her to stay there, but she stays
25on & on. I can see it adds great pressure to Will’s life. I can’t say
26any thing to her, but couldn’t you suggest to her how well it would be
27if she got a situation at some Dutch farm, did something to make
28herself independent. She can’t stay with Emma, she doesn’t get on with
29Earp. I think something you said would be more likely to rouse her. If
30she does marry, she ought to marry at once, or break it off.
31
32 I have seen the dear old Baas & Katie once. I feel much nearer them
33than I used to be. You will They are so much broader.
34
35 I am well physically have had no asthma since I came down. I am have
36been two months in these lodgings & shall perhaps stay two more. I
37can’t tell you much about myself dear. I feel torpid & not able to do
38much. I will send you a little story I have written the Buddhist
39Priests Wife, & an article & another little story. I have not spoken
40to Mr Rhodes for two months except once for an instant. He is I had to
41oppose him on the native flogging bill, but I think that is not really
42the reason. What ever it may be I feel able to take it quietly Nothing
43is ever really taken away from one that one really has a right to;
44however much it may seem so.
45
46 Seymour Fort will be up in Mashona-land for some years. I am anxious
47for him.
48
49^My darling you will understand this letter & not think it cold & hard.
50I have plenty of power to think of & love other people & help them if
51I can, none to express anything. I send you a beautiful letter I got
52from old Lilly this morning.
53
54 Good bye dear. Love to the children. Do you ever go to Ventnor. I
55spent a long terrible winter there. That is why I thought you would
56not like it, I suppose.
57
58 Your little sister
59 Olive^
60
Notation
'The Buddhist Priest's Wife' is in Stories, Dreams and Allegories, while the article mentioned in likely to be the first of those originally published pseudonymously from 1891 on as by 'A Returned South African', intended for publication in book form as 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa'. However, although prepared for publication, a dispute with a US publisher and the events of the South African War prevented this. They and some related essays were posthumously published as Thoughts on South Africa. The 'little story' mentioned cannot be established. The book referred to is: John Ruskin (1885) Modern Painters London: G. Allen.
'The Buddhist Priest's Wife' is in Stories, Dreams and Allegories, while the article mentioned in likely to be the first of those originally published pseudonymously from 1891 on as by 'A Returned South African', intended for publication in book form as 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa'. However, although prepared for publication, a dispute with a US publisher and the events of the South African War prevented this. They and some related essays were posthumously published as Thoughts on South Africa. The 'little story' mentioned cannot be established. The book referred to is: John Ruskin (1885) Modern Painters London: G. Allen.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/24 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 23 April 1892 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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.
|
1
Matjesfontein
2 April 23 / 92
3
4 My own old sister
5
6 It’s so long since I had any news from you. How are you? Where are
7you? I do hope the air & beauty of my beloved old Italy will give you
8the help & strength it more than once gave to me. I hope you will go
9to Florence if you go to any of the large town. That is the city I
10love best. Give my love to my dear old brother Stakesby. I don’t
11know what I should feel about you if I didn’t know he was with you
12taking care of you. For me, my life goes on in the old groove. I went
13down to Cape Town three weeks ago with my dear friends Captain & Mrs
14Marriott & wanted to stay with her till her baby was born but my
15asthma got so bad I had to come back here. I may be going down again
16in a months time to see them. Fan’s little one is expected about the
1721st of May. I long so to have you back in this country, dear. I had
18hope to leave in next April for Europe, but don’t know if I can get
19my work done. It would be a joy to me greater than almost any thing if
20you had a little child.
21
22^I hope it may yet be. Good bye my own old Ettie^
23
24Your
25Olive
26
27 ^Love to Stakesby & the boys. Do the seem strong & well?^
28
29
2 April 23 / 92
3
4 My own old sister
5
6 It’s so long since I had any news from you. How are you? Where are
7you? I do hope the air & beauty of my beloved old Italy will give you
8the help & strength it more than once gave to me. I hope you will go
9to Florence if you go to any of the large town. That is the city I
10love best. Give my love to my dear old brother Stakesby. I don’t
11know what I should feel about you if I didn’t know he was with you
12taking care of you. For me, my life goes on in the old groove. I went
13down to Cape Town three weeks ago with my dear friends Captain & Mrs
14Marriott & wanted to stay with her till her baby was born but my
15asthma got so bad I had to come back here. I may be going down again
16in a months time to see them. Fan’s little one is expected about the
1721st of May. I long so to have you back in this country, dear. I had
18hope to leave in next April for Europe, but don’t know if I can get
19my work done. It would be a joy to me greater than almost any thing if
20you had a little child.
21
22^I hope it may yet be. Good bye my own old Ettie^
23
24Your
25Olive
26
27 ^Love to Stakesby & the boys. Do the seem strong & well?^
28
29
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/25 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 28 April 1892 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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.
|
1
Matjesfontein
2 April 28 / 92
3
4 My old Ettie
5
6 It does seem so long since I heard news of you. But if you were ill I
7should hear. I do hope so Italy is really resting you. It takes a long
8time before one can begin to rest when one has been so very tired &
9worn out as you my darling. Before you go to Florence you must get
10?Vasarie’s Lives of the Painters" It makes Florence such a different
11place to one & the work lives for one when one knows the men. The boys
12would be interested in some parts. I am I am hoping when I see thee
13again dear one to see thy youth renewed as an eagles. Give my love to
14thy dear husband. I wish I could see him & know him.
15
16 All goes well with me, I have quite got over the asthma & am working
17again. Write & tell me what you think of my Italy.
18
19 Your own little sis;
20 Olive
21
22 I’m very happy, you know those times when one is so happy &
23contented simply to live & do ones work, & when there is ?even no
24struggle as there is at certain times to lose sight of ones personal
25life & distress.
26
27 This African sky & nature is such a comfort to me even Eng Italy is
28not quite the Karroo to me
29
30 Olive
31
2 April 28 / 92
3
4 My old Ettie
5
6 It does seem so long since I heard news of you. But if you were ill I
7should hear. I do hope so Italy is really resting you. It takes a long
8time before one can begin to rest when one has been so very tired &
9worn out as you my darling. Before you go to Florence you must get
10?Vasarie’s Lives of the Painters" It makes Florence such a different
11place to one & the work lives for one when one knows the men. The boys
12would be interested in some parts. I am I am hoping when I see thee
13again dear one to see thy youth renewed as an eagles. Give my love to
14thy dear husband. I wish I could see him & know him.
15
16 All goes well with me, I have quite got over the asthma & am working
17again. Write & tell me what you think of my Italy.
18
19 Your own little sis;
20 Olive
21
22 I’m very happy, you know those times when one is so happy &
23contented simply to live & do ones work, & when there is ?even no
24struggle as there is at certain times to lose sight of ones personal
25life & distress.
26
27 This African sky & nature is such a comfort to me even Eng Italy is
28not quite the Karroo to me
29
30 Olive
31
Notation
The book referred to is: Giogio Vasari (1878) Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects London: Bell.
The book referred to is: Giogio Vasari (1878) Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects London: Bell.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/26 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1892 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner was mainly resident in Matjesfontein from March 1890 to December 1892, with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Matjesfontein
2
3 My darling sister
4
5 I so prize even a word from you. I am glad you have found a place that
6suits you better, & am very grateful that the winter will soon be over
7with you. Give my love to Stakesby & tell him I don’t mind having my
8address given to any one, because I’ve got wiser, & if I don’t see
9any need for answering the letters people send me I don’t answer
10them.
11
12 I wish I see you both. I am sure I should love your husband for his
13own sake as well as because of all he is to you There is no news to
14give you dear. I am back at Matjesfontein, writing a thing about men &
15women & sex that I think you will like, but very few people will
16understand.
17
18 I shall I think be returning to Europe in the March of next year. Not
19before I can’t get my work done.
20
21 Of the old Will I saw next to nothing even when I was in Town. He’s
22had bad influenza but is at work again. He is a L.C. now which will
23help him in his work. The little mother I seldom hear from. She
24doesn’t write so often as she grows older.
25
26 We all having glorious weather but everybody has been ill. Apart from
27my work I seem to have no personal life left, nor any plans nearer
28than the going to England in the next year, if my work is done.
29
30 Mr Newberry passed here the other day: I saw him for a few moments.
31What a fine fellow he is.
32
33 Goodbye my dear old Ettie
34 Your little sister
35 Olive
36
37
38
2
3 My darling sister
4
5 I so prize even a word from you. I am glad you have found a place that
6suits you better, & am very grateful that the winter will soon be over
7with you. Give my love to Stakesby & tell him I don’t mind having my
8address given to any one, because I’ve got wiser, & if I don’t see
9any need for answering the letters people send me I don’t answer
10them.
11
12 I wish I see you both. I am sure I should love your husband for his
13own sake as well as because of all he is to you There is no news to
14give you dear. I am back at Matjesfontein, writing a thing about men &
15women & sex that I think you will like, but very few people will
16understand.
17
18 I shall I think be returning to Europe in the March of next year. Not
19before I can’t get my work done.
20
21 Of the old Will I saw next to nothing even when I was in Town. He’s
22had bad influenza but is at work again. He is a L.C. now which will
23help him in his work. The little mother I seldom hear from. She
24doesn’t write so often as she grows older.
25
26 We all having glorious weather but everybody has been ill. Apart from
27my work I seem to have no personal life left, nor any plans nearer
28than the going to England in the next year, if my work is done.
29
30 Mr Newberry passed here the other day: I saw him for a few moments.
31What a fine fellow he is.
32
33 Goodbye my dear old Ettie
34 Your little sister
35 Olive
36
37
38
Notation
The 'thing about men & women & sex' could be the manuscript of Schreiner's planned but never completed 'Introduction' to The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792, London: J. Johnson) or its 'heir' in the form of her 'sex book' which was later destroyed when her house in Johannesburg was badly damaged during the South African War.
The 'thing about men & women & sex' could be the manuscript of Schreiner's planned but never completed 'Introduction' to The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792, London: J. Johnson) or its 'heir' in the form of her 'sex book' which was later destroyed when her house in Johannesburg was badly damaged during the South African War.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/27 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 4 February 1893 |
Address From | Middelburg, Eastern 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.
|
1
Middelburg.
2 Feb 4 / 93.
3
4 Dear old Ellie,
5
6 My own darling. How I long to see you. I hope it is beautiful for you
7to be out here again. I hope it’s all beautiful about you & that a
8new time of strength & health is coming.
9
10 I had such great hopes of the physical effect of marriage for you my
11dear one. When we went to Healdtown I remembered so that day,
12Willie’s birthday, when we climbed the hill behind station & sat on
13the flat rock on the very top, & picked some red flowers, & you & I
14talked of all sorts of things. We were so young then. I slept in Mr
15?Fish’s room, & when I lay in bed there came back the nights before
16Ellie was born when you & ^I^ used to sit up in the window.
17
18 I think I shall like to go back to England & see all my friends, but I
19don’t mind much one way or another. All seems almost alike to me.
20One strives so all ones life that the feeling of "self" with it’s
21desires & needs may die out, & when the time comes when it seems dead,
22one looks back upon the old struggle as something almost beautiful;
23but one wouldn’t have it back.
24
25 I have a little room here ^in a cottage^ to myself, & its quieter than a
26farm.
27
28 Good bye, my old sister
29 Your little old
30 Olive
31
32 Don’t write yourself dear, let someone else write.
33
34
35
2 Feb 4 / 93.
3
4 Dear old Ellie,
5
6 My own darling. How I long to see you. I hope it is beautiful for you
7to be out here again. I hope it’s all beautiful about you & that a
8new time of strength & health is coming.
9
10 I had such great hopes of the physical effect of marriage for you my
11dear one. When we went to Healdtown I remembered so that day,
12Willie’s birthday, when we climbed the hill behind station & sat on
13the flat rock on the very top, & picked some red flowers, & you & I
14talked of all sorts of things. We were so young then. I slept in Mr
15?Fish’s room, & when I lay in bed there came back the nights before
16Ellie was born when you & ^I^ used to sit up in the window.
17
18 I think I shall like to go back to England & see all my friends, but I
19don’t mind much one way or another. All seems almost alike to me.
20One strives so all ones life that the feeling of "self" with it’s
21desires & needs may die out, & when the time comes when it seems dead,
22one looks back upon the old struggle as something almost beautiful;
23but one wouldn’t have it back.
24
25 I have a little room here ^in a cottage^ to myself, & its quieter than a
26farm.
27
28 Good bye, my old sister
29 Your little old
30 Olive
31
32 Don’t write yourself dear, let someone else write.
33
34
35
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/28 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 27 February 1894 |
Address From | Krantz Plaats, Halesowen, Eastern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Rebecca Schreiner nee Lyndall |
Other Versions | Rive 1987: 233-4 |
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. This is a handwritten copy of Schreiner's letter which was made by Cronwright-Schreiner.
|
1
Krantz Plaatz
2 Feb. 27. 1894
3
4 My own little Mother. I’ve not had time before to tell you about our
5quiet little wedding. On Friday morning dear old Theo came to
6Middelburg, but Cron only came the same night about 11 o’clock. On
7Saturday morning many letters & wires came for us at breakfast. We had
8over fifty telegrams during the day & a cable from the old Dadda came
9yesterday.
10
11 After breakfast I & dear old Theo walked up to the Magistrates private
12house together, Cron, & his friend Mr Webber, & old Mr Nixon the
13Inspector of Schools & Mr Jacob an old Jewish money ender who lives in
14Middelburg & Miss Gowie who had asked me if she might come, having
15gone on before another way. These were all who were in the room except
16the Magistrate & his wife. Cron & I sat at a little square table in
17the centre of the room & signed the forms & repeated something after
18the Magistrate & then we were married & Theo & Cron & I got into a
19Cape cart we had ordered & went for a little drive. When we got back
20to the village about 11.30 I went to see young Mr Gowie who is very
21ill & Theo & Cron & Mr Webber went about together & sent off wires & I
22went back to the hotel by myself, & finished my packing all the
23morning. At one o’clock I went down to lunch & directly after the
24waggonette with four horses was ready, & I came down stairs. Half
25Middelburg had gathered at the Hotel door to see us off, & Dr & Mrs
26Saunders among the rest. They threw showers of rice at us, & fastened
27at the back of the wagon an immense shoe, & threw another into the
28wagon after us. Theo & Mrs Webber went with us to the station & saw us
29off at 3.30 in the train for the farm. I wore the blue black dress &
30black hat I wear every day & Cron wore his ordinary clothes. I was so
31glad dear old Theo was there it was such a comfort to me.
32
33 We got to Halesowen Siding Station about 8 oclock. The stars were
34shining. Cron’s cart & a native boy were waiting for us, & we packed
35as many of the things we could into the cart & came on here. The drive
36took almost half an hour & when we drew up before the dark long
37farmhouse, Cron’s two dogs Daphne & Maggie ran out to meet us,
38barking & rejoicing. In the "fore huis" we found the table laid, & a
39nice fowl on the table that Cron’s ?Mother had sent up for us.
40
41 The house is all as it was in Cron’s bachelor days, except that he
42has had the floors plastered to keep the dust away from my chest. In
43our dining room – there is now a plastered floor, two little wooden
44cupboards that belonged to Cron’s father, a little table with some
45oil cloth on at which we have our meals, four wooden chairs & an iron
46couch, & in the corner on a little stand an old fashioned clock that
47used to be Cron’s mother’s.
48
49 But all the room & the whole house is so beautifully clean & neat as
50every thing is with which Cron has any thing to do. In the bedroom is
51a large double bedstead I contributed to the housekeeping & Cron’s
52old desk he has used since a boy; & his little book shelf in the
53corner & a chest of drawers, & a little washing stand, that is all.
54
55 We are going to have the dining room & some of the other rooms papered
56& got into good order, & without any expense we shall make our little
57house quite nice in time. We are going to put up shelves & make
58curtains & do all sorts of things. In was very hot on Sunday & we
59rested through the heat of the day, but in the afternoon Cron & I went
60down to the river & bathed at the mimosa trees growing there. It is
61such a pity the original owners put the house here, because there are
62such beautiful spots on the farm. When we came back from our walk it
63was getting dark & we went to the kraals to count the goats in. I went
64with Cron & counted two flocks quite right!
65
66 Yesterday morning Cron & I started after breakfast & went to an out
67kraal right away in the Hoek, a beautiful valley on the farm, among
68the mountains, where his out kraals are. There is hardly any kind of
69road & we had to go through some wonderful krantzes sluits. At the top
70of the valley there is a dam in which some of the cows & bulls were
71drinking, & the old Kaffir herd there hailed the herd on the mountain
72by shouting, with his hand before his mouth. The herd on the mt heard
73& came down with his flock of angora goats for Cron to count them. I
74sat under a mimosa tree while Cron counted them into the kraal. There
75is the herd’s hut close to the kraal, & his wife had a beautiful
76little cat the mother of which was a tame cat but the father a large
77wild cat on the mountain; she gave it me, I promising her a dress. It
78was very pretty to see the cats lying with their paws across a little
79kid that had lost its mother. I never saw a cat & a goat caress each
80other before.
81
82 When we got back here it was two oclock & very hot. We had dinner &
83laid down for our afternoon sleep & in the evening Cron & I went to
84the kraals to count the goats in again. I was very sleepy & went to
85bed early but Cron sat pretty late at his desk answering letters.
86
87 This morning he got up very early to count the goats out. I was going
88to rise with him to the Camp where they are today plucking the
89ostriches but Cron thought I had better stay & pack my things right.
90So Cron went off at 9 oclock alone & I’ve been unpacking my boxes &
91have now come to Cron’s desk to write.
92
93 Before he went out he showed me how to use the loaded revolver that he
94always keeps hanging at the foot of the bed in a case. He will often
95be away, & I here alone with no one for miles & miles but the native
96servants but I shall never feel nervous. I never can fancy that any
97one could attack me. The house is very nice & quiet now; there is not
98a sound but the old clock ticking in the dining room, & Rose our
99Hottentot maid & only house servant moving about in the kitchen. Cron
100would like me to have another but I think it is better to have only
101one. He manages his servants ideally – One of his men has been with
102him seven years, none less than three! The talk about the
103impossibility of getting servants on a farm is all nonsense. Cron has
104always more than he needs, & he is a stern & firm master; but always
105just & generous. I think his strong sense of justice is one of the
106most marked traits in his character: & that which makes one feel
107reliance in him.
108
109 My little wild cat has just come in & I have given it some water. It
110must be very hot for Cron out in the sun plucking the birds; he will
111be in at half past one & we shall have dinner & then a long rest & lie
112down. At four we make some tea ourselves as the girl has gone home &
113we get up & get to our business the servant comes back at six & gets
114our supper ready. Its a very quiet & to many would seem a very prosaic
115way of spending a honeymoon but its what we both like.
116
117 Good bye my own little mother
118 Your Olive
119
120 My mother, I meant to write a number of letters, to Dadda & my other
121friends in England, telling them my news; but I shan’t have time
122this week. Will you send it on in the enclosed cover to Dadda & ask
123him to send it to Mrs Brown 68 Bank Parade, Burnley, Lancashire; & she
124must send it to Alice Corthorn & Alice must send it to Havelock Ellis.
125
126
2 Feb. 27. 1894
3
4 My own little Mother. I’ve not had time before to tell you about our
5quiet little wedding. On Friday morning dear old Theo came to
6Middelburg, but Cron only came the same night about 11 o’clock. On
7Saturday morning many letters & wires came for us at breakfast. We had
8over fifty telegrams during the day & a cable from the old Dadda came
9yesterday.
10
11 After breakfast I & dear old Theo walked up to the Magistrates private
12house together, Cron, & his friend Mr Webber, & old Mr Nixon the
13Inspector of Schools & Mr Jacob an old Jewish money ender who lives in
14Middelburg & Miss Gowie who had asked me if she might come, having
15gone on before another way. These were all who were in the room except
16the Magistrate & his wife. Cron & I sat at a little square table in
17the centre of the room & signed the forms & repeated something after
18the Magistrate & then we were married & Theo & Cron & I got into a
19Cape cart we had ordered & went for a little drive. When we got back
20to the village about 11.30 I went to see young Mr Gowie who is very
21ill & Theo & Cron & Mr Webber went about together & sent off wires & I
22went back to the hotel by myself, & finished my packing all the
23morning. At one o’clock I went down to lunch & directly after the
24waggonette with four horses was ready, & I came down stairs. Half
25Middelburg had gathered at the Hotel door to see us off, & Dr & Mrs
26Saunders among the rest. They threw showers of rice at us, & fastened
27at the back of the wagon an immense shoe, & threw another into the
28wagon after us. Theo & Mrs Webber went with us to the station & saw us
29off at 3.30 in the train for the farm. I wore the blue black dress &
30black hat I wear every day & Cron wore his ordinary clothes. I was so
31glad dear old Theo was there it was such a comfort to me.
32
33 We got to Halesowen Siding Station about 8 oclock. The stars were
34shining. Cron’s cart & a native boy were waiting for us, & we packed
35as many of the things we could into the cart & came on here. The drive
36took almost half an hour & when we drew up before the dark long
37farmhouse, Cron’s two dogs Daphne & Maggie ran out to meet us,
38barking & rejoicing. In the "fore huis" we found the table laid, & a
39nice fowl on the table that Cron’s ?Mother had sent up for us.
40
41 The house is all as it was in Cron’s bachelor days, except that he
42has had the floors plastered to keep the dust away from my chest. In
43our dining room – there is now a plastered floor, two little wooden
44cupboards that belonged to Cron’s father, a little table with some
45oil cloth on at which we have our meals, four wooden chairs & an iron
46couch, & in the corner on a little stand an old fashioned clock that
47used to be Cron’s mother’s.
48
49 But all the room & the whole house is so beautifully clean & neat as
50every thing is with which Cron has any thing to do. In the bedroom is
51a large double bedstead I contributed to the housekeeping & Cron’s
52old desk he has used since a boy; & his little book shelf in the
53corner & a chest of drawers, & a little washing stand, that is all.
54
55 We are going to have the dining room & some of the other rooms papered
56& got into good order, & without any expense we shall make our little
57house quite nice in time. We are going to put up shelves & make
58curtains & do all sorts of things. In was very hot on Sunday & we
59rested through the heat of the day, but in the afternoon Cron & I went
60down to the river & bathed at the mimosa trees growing there. It is
61such a pity the original owners put the house here, because there are
62such beautiful spots on the farm. When we came back from our walk it
63was getting dark & we went to the kraals to count the goats in. I went
64with Cron & counted two flocks quite right!
65
66 Yesterday morning Cron & I started after breakfast & went to an out
67kraal right away in the Hoek, a beautiful valley on the farm, among
68the mountains, where his out kraals are. There is hardly any kind of
69road & we had to go through some wonderful krantzes sluits. At the top
70of the valley there is a dam in which some of the cows & bulls were
71drinking, & the old Kaffir herd there hailed the herd on the mountain
72by shouting, with his hand before his mouth. The herd on the mt heard
73& came down with his flock of angora goats for Cron to count them. I
74sat under a mimosa tree while Cron counted them into the kraal. There
75is the herd’s hut close to the kraal, & his wife had a beautiful
76little cat the mother of which was a tame cat but the father a large
77wild cat on the mountain; she gave it me, I promising her a dress. It
78was very pretty to see the cats lying with their paws across a little
79kid that had lost its mother. I never saw a cat & a goat caress each
80other before.
81
82 When we got back here it was two oclock & very hot. We had dinner &
83laid down for our afternoon sleep & in the evening Cron & I went to
84the kraals to count the goats in again. I was very sleepy & went to
85bed early but Cron sat pretty late at his desk answering letters.
86
87 This morning he got up very early to count the goats out. I was going
88to rise with him to the Camp where they are today plucking the
89ostriches but Cron thought I had better stay & pack my things right.
90So Cron went off at 9 oclock alone & I’ve been unpacking my boxes &
91have now come to Cron’s desk to write.
92
93 Before he went out he showed me how to use the loaded revolver that he
94always keeps hanging at the foot of the bed in a case. He will often
95be away, & I here alone with no one for miles & miles but the native
96servants but I shall never feel nervous. I never can fancy that any
97one could attack me. The house is very nice & quiet now; there is not
98a sound but the old clock ticking in the dining room, & Rose our
99Hottentot maid & only house servant moving about in the kitchen. Cron
100would like me to have another but I think it is better to have only
101one. He manages his servants ideally – One of his men has been with
102him seven years, none less than three! The talk about the
103impossibility of getting servants on a farm is all nonsense. Cron has
104always more than he needs, & he is a stern & firm master; but always
105just & generous. I think his strong sense of justice is one of the
106most marked traits in his character: & that which makes one feel
107reliance in him.
108
109 My little wild cat has just come in & I have given it some water. It
110must be very hot for Cron out in the sun plucking the birds; he will
111be in at half past one & we shall have dinner & then a long rest & lie
112down. At four we make some tea ourselves as the girl has gone home &
113we get up & get to our business the servant comes back at six & gets
114our supper ready. Its a very quiet & to many would seem a very prosaic
115way of spending a honeymoon but its what we both like.
116
117 Good bye my own little mother
118 Your Olive
119
120 My mother, I meant to write a number of letters, to Dadda & my other
121friends in England, telling them my news; but I shan’t have time
122this week. Will you send it on in the enclosed cover to Dadda & ask
123him to send it to Mrs Brown 68 Bank Parade, Burnley, Lancashire; & she
124must send it to Alice Corthorn & Alice must send it to Havelock Ellis.
125
126
Notation
Alongside the second paragraph in this copied letter, Cronwright-Schreiner has added in pencil 'She drove to the Hotel from the ceremony to the ^Hotel^ but wouldn't let me accompany her; I had to walk up (with Theo I think)! SCCS.' It also has had written at its bottom '(by permission,) copied Mar: 30.'. Rive?s (1987) version of the letter is taken from Cronwright-Schreiner (1924).
Alongside the second paragraph in this copied letter, Cronwright-Schreiner has added in pencil 'She drove to the Hotel from the ceremony to the ^Hotel^ but wouldn't let me accompany her; I had to walk up (with Theo I think)! SCCS.' It also has had written at its bottom '(by permission,) copied Mar: 30.'. Rive?s (1987) version of the letter is taken from Cronwright-Schreiner (1924).
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/29 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Card |
Letter Date | 1 March 1894 |
Address From | Krantz Plaats, Halesowen, Eastern Cape |
Address To | Taungs, Bechuanaland, now Botswana |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 card, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. This date of this card is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope. Printed on it is a 'progressive' poem, as follows: 'Progressive one in this thy happiest day /' The Genius thou hast wooed with thee to stay / Is of the nation who will look to see / It still outpoured to thrill the Colony /'.
|
1
Darling Effie
2
3 This was a poem that someone made for Uncle Cron on his wedding day. I
4was so glad of your letter darling. Do write to me sometimes & tell me
5how all goes. My love to the boys & Hester & ?Nanny & Father & Mother.
6
7 Your little Auntie
8 Olive
9
10 Address Mrs Olive Schreiner, Krantz Plaats, P.O. Halesowen Cape Colony
11
12 I am very well & like the farm, wild & lonely as it is Uncle Cron
13sends much love to you all.
14
15
16
2
3 This was a poem that someone made for Uncle Cron on his wedding day. I
4was so glad of your letter darling. Do write to me sometimes & tell me
5how all goes. My love to the boys & Hester & ?Nanny & Father & Mother.
6
7 Your little Auntie
8 Olive
9
10 Address Mrs Olive Schreiner, Krantz Plaats, P.O. Halesowen Cape Colony
11
12 I am very well & like the farm, wild & lonely as it is Uncle Cron
13sends much love to you all.
14
15
16
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/30 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 5 September 1919 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Harpford Avenue, Wynberg, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
|
1
Darling Effie
2
3 Thanks do much for your letter. I should indeed love to see you all
4again. I saw Willie Kooper, Maggies boy, yesterday. He’s an
5interesting boy. Aunt Fan Dot & Ursula will go out to Africa the week
6after next. I like Olivers wife very much. My dear love to you all
7
8 Aunt Olive
9
10
11
2
3 Thanks do much for your letter. I should indeed love to see you all
4again. I saw Willie Kooper, Maggies boy, yesterday. He’s an
5interesting boy. Aunt Fan Dot & Ursula will go out to Africa the week
6after next. I like Olivers wife very much. My dear love to you all
7
8 Aunt Olive
9
10
11
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/31 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 18 March 1897 |
Address From | Amalfi, Italy |
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.
|
1
Amalfi
2 March 18 / 97
3
4 My darling old sis
5
6 I’ve had asthma ever since I got to England, & its worse since we
7came on the continent. unreadable We went to Rome & I got worse there,
8& we had to leave after a few days & ?P when we had intended to stay a
9couple of months; then we went in to Naples & I got worse there, & we
10came here yesterday & am no better so we are going back to Alassio my
11old resort in the Riviera where I have never had asthma before if I
12don’t get better there we shall have to return to Kimberley at once;
13but I do hope it will not be necessary. I want Cron so to see a little
14more of my friend in London, & to see a little more of Europe because
15we shall likely never return again.
16
17 Good bye my sweet darling give my love to the children. I often wonder
18if Wyn is in love with any one. She looked so beautiful & bright, so
19full of life. When you write address
20
21 c/o Alice Corthorn
22 19 Russell Rd
23 Kensington
24 London.
25
26 She sends our letters on to us. I am sending two little broaches for
27Wyn & Effie (quite common just curiosities) I bought for them in Rome.
28
29 PPS
30
31 Give my love to dear of Theo, & Katie & Willie Stuart. There are so
32many little Italian boys here that remind us both of Willie Stuart.
33
34
2 March 18 / 97
3
4 My darling old sis
5
6 I’ve had asthma ever since I got to England, & its worse since we
7came on the continent. unreadable We went to Rome & I got worse there,
8& we had to leave after a few days & ?P when we had intended to stay a
9couple of months; then we went in to Naples & I got worse there, & we
10came here yesterday & am no better so we are going back to Alassio my
11old resort in the Riviera where I have never had asthma before if I
12don’t get better there we shall have to return to Kimberley at once;
13but I do hope it will not be necessary. I want Cron so to see a little
14more of my friend in London, & to see a little more of Europe because
15we shall likely never return again.
16
17 Good bye my sweet darling give my love to the children. I often wonder
18if Wyn is in love with any one. She looked so beautiful & bright, so
19full of life. When you write address
20
21 c/o Alice Corthorn
22 19 Russell Rd
23 Kensington
24 London.
25
26 She sends our letters on to us. I am sending two little broaches for
27Wyn & Effie (quite common just curiosities) I bought for them in Rome.
28
29 PPS
30
31 Give my love to dear of Theo, & Katie & Willie Stuart. There are so
32many little Italian boys here that remind us both of Willie Stuart.
33
34
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/32 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 16 January 1898 |
Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, 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.
|
1
The Homestead
2 Jan 16 / 98
3
4 My darling
5
6 It was such a joy to see you though just for a minute, but you looked
7so utterly tired & worn out. Perhaps the change may do you both good,
8but I cannot help feeling very anxious perhaps unreasonably so. It is
9just the fever season, & so many, so many, of of my friends have gone
10up there already to die. The last was a ^physically^ splendid young
11fellow from England, he stayed some time with us here, & left in such
12high spirits & delight, something told me as I watched him walk away
13from the back door he was going to his death & six weeks after he was
14lying in his grave at Bulawayo from fever & dysentery. Do take care to
15boil all water you take. Especially for people who don’t take tea &
16coffee this is all-important. If the Newberrys are suffering from
17malarial fever the fever, as they call it up there the sooner you get
18them down to the Colony the better. Its their one chance of getting f
19well.
20
21 You might bring them to the hospital here & then stay with us for a
22little time!! Do try & break the journey here as you come down.
23
24 unreadable I fear you had an awful time in the train last night if the
25carriage leaked at all for here it poured all night.
26
27 I was going to drive in early this morning to wire but Cron said that
28Stakesby said the last thing that her he was going to wire from one of
29the stations.
30
31 I thought none of the stations took passengers wires on Sunday, but
32Cron says they do & its no use my going in. I do hope you will get a
33comfortable room & have a real good sleep tonight.
34
35 The Lucases big house is to let, or for sale at only £550! I do wish
36you could buy it & come & live up here; I’m sure it would be better
37for your health & Stakesby’s
38
39 Good bye my own darling, I don’t know why I feel so sad about you.
40Perhaps it was seeing you go off in that heavy rain, perhaps the many
41sad partings I have had with people who went up there. Take care of
42both of yourselves, & please ask Stakesby to send me just a post card
43every few days.
44
45 Cron sends much love to you both.
46
47 Your little sis
48 Olive
49
50
2 Jan 16 / 98
3
4 My darling
5
6 It was such a joy to see you though just for a minute, but you looked
7so utterly tired & worn out. Perhaps the change may do you both good,
8but I cannot help feeling very anxious perhaps unreasonably so. It is
9just the fever season, & so many, so many, of of my friends have gone
10up there already to die. The last was a ^physically^ splendid young
11fellow from England, he stayed some time with us here, & left in such
12high spirits & delight, something told me as I watched him walk away
13from the back door he was going to his death & six weeks after he was
14lying in his grave at Bulawayo from fever & dysentery. Do take care to
15boil all water you take. Especially for people who don’t take tea &
16coffee this is all-important. If the Newberrys are suffering from
17malarial fever the fever, as they call it up there the sooner you get
18them down to the Colony the better. Its their one chance of getting f
19well.
20
21 You might bring them to the hospital here & then stay with us for a
22little time!! Do try & break the journey here as you come down.
23
24 unreadable I fear you had an awful time in the train last night if the
25carriage leaked at all for here it poured all night.
26
27 I was going to drive in early this morning to wire but Cron said that
28Stakesby said the last thing that her he was going to wire from one of
29the stations.
30
31 I thought none of the stations took passengers wires on Sunday, but
32Cron says they do & its no use my going in. I do hope you will get a
33comfortable room & have a real good sleep tonight.
34
35 The Lucases big house is to let, or for sale at only £550! I do wish
36you could buy it & come & live up here; I’m sure it would be better
37for your health & Stakesby’s
38
39 Good bye my own darling, I don’t know why I feel so sad about you.
40Perhaps it was seeing you go off in that heavy rain, perhaps the many
41sad partings I have had with people who went up there. Take care of
42both of yourselves, & please ask Stakesby to send me just a post card
43every few days.
44
45 Cron sends much love to you both.
46
47 Your little sis
48 Olive
49
50
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/33 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1898 |
Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898.
|
1
My own old Ettie
2
3 You are always in my thoughts. I was so glad to get Etta Leuw’s
4reply address to my wire. I feel so anxious lest the long watching &
5terrible anxiety of that time might have prostrated you. One can’t
6bear as one gets older the agony or physical strain one could easily
7stand when young: the body gives in!
8
9 I do long so to see you my dear one, if I could only see you for ten
10minutes.
11
12 Cron’s mother has been staying with us a fortnight, & I have
13unreadable no servant, but the Hottentot boy who looks after the horse
14who helps me wash the pots &c.
15
16 Good bye my own darling.
17
18 Your old
19 Olive
20
21 Dear old Stakesby, it was always such pain to me that somany people
22fancied he was giving way to his illness, & I could always see that he
23was trying to bear up in a condition when most people would just have
24given in. I think I never saw a man bear up more nobly under what one
25might call a slow death! Isn’t it strange how some people can’t
26see what a human creature is going through unless they lie down &
27unreadable can’t eat. When people once get to that stage then the
28worst is over for them, & I almost comparatively, cease to be sorry
29for them.
30
31 Good bye my own darling
32 Your old sissie
33 Olive
34
35
36
2
3 You are always in my thoughts. I was so glad to get Etta Leuw’s
4reply address to my wire. I feel so anxious lest the long watching &
5terrible anxiety of that time might have prostrated you. One can’t
6bear as one gets older the agony or physical strain one could easily
7stand when young: the body gives in!
8
9 I do long so to see you my dear one, if I could only see you for ten
10minutes.
11
12 Cron’s mother has been staying with us a fortnight, & I have
13unreadable no servant, but the Hottentot boy who looks after the horse
14who helps me wash the pots &c.
15
16 Good bye my own darling.
17
18 Your old
19 Olive
20
21 Dear old Stakesby, it was always such pain to me that somany people
22fancied he was giving way to his illness, & I could always see that he
23was trying to bear up in a condition when most people would just have
24given in. I think I never saw a man bear up more nobly under what one
25might call a slow death! Isn’t it strange how some people can’t
26see what a human creature is going through unless they lie down &
27unreadable can’t eat. When people once get to that stage then the
28worst is over for them, & I almost comparatively, cease to be sorry
29for them.
30
31 Good bye my own darling
32 Your old sissie
33 Olive
34
35
36
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/34 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 6 June 1898 |
Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, 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. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898.
|
1
My darling Ettie
2
3 Your letter & mine have crossed. Ah, yes, my dear one, I know that
4awful worry when one is gone, the thought of all we might have done
5for them. It is always so. And the truth is that often we have done
6all that lay in our power. But it never looks like that when they are
7gone.
8
9 I do hope you will try to take care of yourself my darling. If you get
10over the next few years in quiet & strength, there may be a glorious
11old age of work before you. I wish I could see you, my dear one. I
12don’t want you to come here, because there would be too many sad
13associations, but if Cron & I go to live, as is just possible in
14Bloemfontein or Johannesburg, come & stay with us a little. Oh I love
15you so my darling Ettie. I’m sure you want complete change of scene
16& life for a little while.
17
18 Good bye my dear one.
19 Olive
20
21 Cron is still up at Johannesburg. He will likely return next Saturday
22having been gone three weeks.
23
24 June 6th 1898
25
2
3 Your letter & mine have crossed. Ah, yes, my dear one, I know that
4awful worry when one is gone, the thought of all we might have done
5for them. It is always so. And the truth is that often we have done
6all that lay in our power. But it never looks like that when they are
7gone.
8
9 I do hope you will try to take care of yourself my darling. If you get
10over the next few years in quiet & strength, there may be a glorious
11old age of work before you. I wish I could see you, my dear one. I
12don’t want you to come here, because there would be too many sad
13associations, but if Cron & I go to live, as is just possible in
14Bloemfontein or Johannesburg, come & stay with us a little. Oh I love
15you so my darling Ettie. I’m sure you want complete change of scene
16& life for a little while.
17
18 Good bye my dear one.
19 Olive
20
21 Cron is still up at Johannesburg. He will likely return next Saturday
22having been gone three weeks.
23
24 June 6th 1898
25
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/35 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 26 June 1898 |
Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, 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. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898.
|
1
June 26th 1898
2
3 Darling
4
5 I am, in a way, glad you are going to Robertson for a little while. I
6know so well that longing to be near the grave of one you love, &
7people are quite mistaken in believing in intensifies ones ones pain,
8its often the only real comfort ones heart has. But I do wish when you
9have been at Robertson a little while you could get away to some
10complete change. It’s many years since you were at Balfour. I wish
11too I could go there & see the old father’s grave. I am pregnant
12again, but am still only in the second month, so don’t mention it to
13any one, the little mother should be so pained if she heard it from
14others first. I shall not be taken ill till the end of January or
15beginning of February.
16
17 I am feeling very well, but for the sickness in the morning. Money
18troubles weigh on me the most, the thought that if I die I shall not
19leave my baby one farthing, & Cron has his mother & sister to provide
20for who are of course his first consideration. That is the only
21thought that takes away my joy, but I may get well & strong after its
22birth, & be able to work on a few years longer. If I can once get
23£400 put by for it in case of my death I shall be quite happy.
24
25 Yes, dear I had a most curious tenderness for Stakesby. Its more than
26once as I lay awake at night that I wrote long letters to him telling
27him how much I sympathized with him & knew how bravely he was bearing
28up, but when the morning came I was always too tired. That was before
29you went up to Bulawayo. I knew the sign of death on him him that
30rainy day when you drove me up to the Highlands a
31
32 Good bye my own darling.
33 Your Olive
34
35 I am so well as far as asthma &c goes but the continual sickness on
36the stomach that one suffers from at such times makes it impossible
37for me to write much.
38
2
3 Darling
4
5 I am, in a way, glad you are going to Robertson for a little while. I
6know so well that longing to be near the grave of one you love, &
7people are quite mistaken in believing in intensifies ones ones pain,
8its often the only real comfort ones heart has. But I do wish when you
9have been at Robertson a little while you could get away to some
10complete change. It’s many years since you were at Balfour. I wish
11too I could go there & see the old father’s grave. I am pregnant
12again, but am still only in the second month, so don’t mention it to
13any one, the little mother should be so pained if she heard it from
14others first. I shall not be taken ill till the end of January or
15beginning of February.
16
17 I am feeling very well, but for the sickness in the morning. Money
18troubles weigh on me the most, the thought that if I die I shall not
19leave my baby one farthing, & Cron has his mother & sister to provide
20for who are of course his first consideration. That is the only
21thought that takes away my joy, but I may get well & strong after its
22birth, & be able to work on a few years longer. If I can once get
23£400 put by for it in case of my death I shall be quite happy.
24
25 Yes, dear I had a most curious tenderness for Stakesby. Its more than
26once as I lay awake at night that I wrote long letters to him telling
27him how much I sympathized with him & knew how bravely he was bearing
28up, but when the morning came I was always too tired. That was before
29you went up to Bulawayo. I knew the sign of death on him him that
30rainy day when you drove me up to the Highlands a
31
32 Good bye my own darling.
33 Your Olive
34
35 I am so well as far as asthma &c goes but the continual sickness on
36the stomach that one suffers from at such times makes it impossible
37for me to write much.
38
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/36 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 27 July 1898 |
Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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.
|
1
The Homestead
2 July 27 / 98
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 I’m so glad mother is so satisfied. I knew she would be.
7
8 I was talking to Hudson yesterday & he says he’s quite sure you would
9be able to make a living in Johannesburg by your typewriting. He would
10advise you to practice hard for a couple of months first, however. Bt
11I can’t f help feeling anxious about you in Johannesburg, because I
12don’t think you would be very keen in seeing the difference between
13the people who are desirable & those who may not be so, if they are
14only friendly & kind. You know what I mean.
15
16 Give my love to my darling old sister when you write. Does Winnie say
17she seems better.
18
19 Your small Aunt, Olive
20
21 I will come in to see you as soon as I can, perhaps tomorrow.
22
23 Love to Mrs Lodge.
24
25
26
2 July 27 / 98
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 I’m so glad mother is so satisfied. I knew she would be.
7
8 I was talking to Hudson yesterday & he says he’s quite sure you would
9be able to make a living in Johannesburg by your typewriting. He would
10advise you to practice hard for a couple of months first, however. Bt
11I can’t f help feeling anxious about you in Johannesburg, because I
12don’t think you would be very keen in seeing the difference between
13the people who are desirable & those who may not be so, if they are
14only friendly & kind. You know what I mean.
15
16 Give my love to my darling old sister when you write. Does Winnie say
17she seems better.
18
19 Your small Aunt, Olive
20
21 I will come in to see you as soon as I can, perhaps tomorrow.
22
23 Love to Mrs Lodge.
24
25
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/37 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 2 March 1899 |
Address From | 2 Primrose Terrace, Berea, Johannesburg, Transvaal |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner was resident in Johannesburg from December 1898 to late August 1899.
|
1
My darling old Sister
2
3 I am often with you in thought but write to no one any more. Give my
4love to dear old Theo if you see him. unreadable There’s no news to
5give you, dear, all goes on as it was. I am anxious to hear how Guy is
6doing with his studies
7
8 Your little sister Olive
9
10 Oh Ettie I sometimes long to see you so.
11
12
13
2
3 I am often with you in thought but write to no one any more. Give my
4love to dear old Theo if you see him. unreadable There’s no news to
5give you, dear, all goes on as it was. I am anxious to hear how Guy is
6doing with his studies
7
8 Your little sister Olive
9
10 Oh Ettie I sometimes long to see you so.
11
12
13
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/38 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 16 November 1898 |
Address From | Dounan’s House, Hospital Hill, Johannesburg, Transvaal |
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.
|
1
Dounan’s House
2 Hospital Hill
3 Nov – 16 / 98
4
5 Darling old Ettie
6
7 I hope very much some day you will come up here. I somehow think you
8would find the high air relieves you. Everything else but the air is
9very terrible to me here, but its very interesting & many people like
10it. Is dear old Wynnie coming up at Xmas to Mrs Reilly’s? It will be
11so delightful to see her.
12
13 Good bye dear one. I am starting out on ^Friday^ ^to^ Kimberley to pack
14the things. When once we have moved into our cottage & are settled
15then I will rest. Oh Ettie rest, rest, how beautiful it is! My ideal
16of heaven is a place like a big bed where you lie for month & month &
17
18^never move & look out of a window as you lie.^
19
20 Your little sis
21Olive
2 Hospital Hill
3 Nov – 16 / 98
4
5 Darling old Ettie
6
7 I hope very much some day you will come up here. I somehow think you
8would find the high air relieves you. Everything else but the air is
9very terrible to me here, but its very interesting & many people like
10it. Is dear old Wynnie coming up at Xmas to Mrs Reilly’s? It will be
11so delightful to see her.
12
13 Good bye dear one. I am starting out on ^Friday^ ^to^ Kimberley to pack
14the things. When once we have moved into our cottage & are settled
15then I will rest. Oh Ettie rest, rest, how beautiful it is! My ideal
16of heaven is a place like a big bed where you lie for month & month &
17
18^never move & look out of a window as you lie.^
19
20 Your little sis
21Olive
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/39 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 22 November 1899 |
Address From | Lyndall, Newlands, Cape Town, Western 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.
|
1
Lyndall
2 Newlands
3 Cape Town
4 Nov 22 / 99
5
6 Darling old Ettie
7
8 Do drop me a line to tell me how Mother’s heath is & when we are to
9expect you back.
10
11 Eliza & I are going up tomorrow afternoon to the Highlands to see your
12babies. I have been in I’ve been in bed three days with my heart,
13the asthma & angina which together makes one very weak. Yes, my
14belovèd one it seems hard that just when one has begun to learn &
15feels as if one might be of a little use to others one’s strength is
16gone. That half an hours reading or writing, a little walk, all knock
17one up. I shall always keep that letter you wrote me at the farm dear.
18It isn’t often one feels one can really express anything one feels
19one is too tired. One’s heart is really broken though one goes on
20living so calmly.
21
22 Good bye, dear.
23 Your
24 Olive
25
26
27
2 Newlands
3 Cape Town
4 Nov 22 / 99
5
6 Darling old Ettie
7
8 Do drop me a line to tell me how Mother’s heath is & when we are to
9expect you back.
10
11 Eliza & I are going up tomorrow afternoon to the Highlands to see your
12babies. I have been in I’ve been in bed three days with my heart,
13the asthma & angina which together makes one very weak. Yes, my
14belovèd one it seems hard that just when one has begun to learn &
15feels as if one might be of a little use to others one’s strength is
16gone. That half an hours reading or writing, a little walk, all knock
17one up. I shall always keep that letter you wrote me at the farm dear.
18It isn’t often one feels one can really express anything one feels
19one is too tired. One’s heart is really broken though one goes on
20living so calmly.
21
22 Good bye, dear.
23 Your
24 Olive
25
26
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/40 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Sunday 1901 ; Before End: 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere. The Balfour plan was first mooted in 1901 but occurred after the death of Rebecca Schreiner in September 1903. Content suggests she had not died when this letter was written.
|
1
Hanover
2 Sunday morning
3
4 My darling
5
6 I hardly know whether I am sorry about your accident because I believe
7that some such thing is the only way in which you will ever get a
8little rest.
9
10 Yes it would be very beautiful if my chest were so that I could come &
11live in or near Cape Town so that I could sometimes come & see you.
12
13 The loneliness of my life here something ?uncannie, I used to feel as
14if my reason would give way under it. But since I got that book things
15seem easier to me. I have just been reading another book he has
16written since called "The Hearts of Men." It is like a key to "the
17Soul of a People" to me. All the ideas & thoughts in "the Soul of a
18People" are mine, seem written from my own heart, only much more
19beautifully & sweetly than I would have written them, but there was
20something about the way it touched me that I couldn’t understand.
21Now I have read "the Hearts of Men" I quite understand why it must be
22so. In "the Hearts of Men" there is much about his own childhood &
23youth, & the which his thoughts & religious experiences followed each
24other & grew is so exactly like my own that it sometimes seems
25impossible two souls should have had experiences so exactly alike.
26
27 He must have had something the same feeling to my writing because of
28that long beautiful letter he wrote me in 1890 just when I came out to
29the Cape. It was so beautiful that I put it away in the little box
30where I put father’s and Ellie’s hair & there it was burnt when
31the British burnt my things in Johannesburg. but I never answered it.
32Such a sharp pain comes to me when I think that if I had answered it
33we might have become friends. But it doesn’t matter now. People have
34invented heaven so that there might be a place where all the mistakes
35we have made in this life shall be put right.
36
37 I am so sorry to hear Ettie Lewis is so ill. I have been thinking so
38much of her ^before I got your letter^. It’s very tragic.
39
40 I hope your knee is better my darling, but not so much better that you
41don’t rest!
42
43 Good bye darling.
44Olive
45
46 If I should be able to say save money enough to go to Balfour in the
47winter is here any chance of your being able to go with me? I want so
48to go & see father’s grave once more. Cron will be away at
49Parliament all the winter, & that is the time of year when I can
50travel best in the Eastern province. Think it over."
51
2 Sunday morning
3
4 My darling
5
6 I hardly know whether I am sorry about your accident because I believe
7that some such thing is the only way in which you will ever get a
8little rest.
9
10 Yes it would be very beautiful if my chest were so that I could come &
11live in or near Cape Town so that I could sometimes come & see you.
12
13 The loneliness of my life here something ?uncannie, I used to feel as
14if my reason would give way under it. But since I got that book things
15seem easier to me. I have just been reading another book he has
16written since called "The Hearts of Men." It is like a key to "the
17Soul of a People" to me. All the ideas & thoughts in "the Soul of a
18People" are mine, seem written from my own heart, only much more
19beautifully & sweetly than I would have written them, but there was
20something about the way it touched me that I couldn’t understand.
21Now I have read "the Hearts of Men" I quite understand why it must be
22so. In "the Hearts of Men" there is much about his own childhood &
23youth, & the which his thoughts & religious experiences followed each
24other & grew is so exactly like my own that it sometimes seems
25impossible two souls should have had experiences so exactly alike.
26
27 He must have had something the same feeling to my writing because of
28that long beautiful letter he wrote me in 1890 just when I came out to
29the Cape. It was so beautiful that I put it away in the little box
30where I put father’s and Ellie’s hair & there it was burnt when
31the British burnt my things in Johannesburg. but I never answered it.
32Such a sharp pain comes to me when I think that if I had answered it
33we might have become friends. But it doesn’t matter now. People have
34invented heaven so that there might be a place where all the mistakes
35we have made in this life shall be put right.
36
37 I am so sorry to hear Ettie Lewis is so ill. I have been thinking so
38much of her ^before I got your letter^. It’s very tragic.
39
40 I hope your knee is better my darling, but not so much better that you
41don’t rest!
42
43 Good bye darling.
44Olive
45
46 If I should be able to say save money enough to go to Balfour in the
47winter is here any chance of your being able to go with me? I want so
48to go & see father’s grave once more. Cron will be away at
49Parliament all the winter, & that is the time of year when I can
50travel best in the Eastern province. Think it over."
51
Notation
The books referred to are: Harold Fielding-Hall (1901) The Hearts of Men London: Hurst & Blackett. Harold Fielding (1898) The Soul of a People London: R. Bentley & Son.
The books referred to are: Harold Fielding-Hall (1901) The Hearts of Men London: Hurst & Blackett. Harold Fielding (1898) The Soul of a People London: R. Bentley & Son.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/41 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Wednesday 29 July 1901 |
Address From | Haartebeest Hoek, De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Convent, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to.
|
1
My dear Wynnie
2
3 Thank you so much for your letter which I got this morning. I am so
4glad to hear the little mother goes on well.
5
6 I feel better since I came here. I have such a nice little room with
7such a pretty wall paper. It seems to do me good lying here. I don’t
8know when we shall leave certainly not before next Monday, & perhaps
9is the dear kind folks will let us pay for some weeks.
10
11 Thank my dear old sister for her note & tell her I will write tomorrow.
12 If I get stronger I shan’t need any one, so the young lady Aunt Ettie
13wrote of mustn’t put off getting another
14
15 ^place because of me. All seems so uncertain now. I hope Aunt Ettie is
16resting a little & you are all feeling better for the change.
17
18 Your little aunt
19 Olive
20
21 Haartebeest Hoek
22 nr de Aar
23 Wednesday evening^
24
25
26
2
3 Thank you so much for your letter which I got this morning. I am so
4glad to hear the little mother goes on well.
5
6 I feel better since I came here. I have such a nice little room with
7such a pretty wall paper. It seems to do me good lying here. I don’t
8know when we shall leave certainly not before next Monday, & perhaps
9is the dear kind folks will let us pay for some weeks.
10
11 Thank my dear old sister for her note & tell her I will write tomorrow.
12 If I get stronger I shan’t need any one, so the young lady Aunt Ettie
13wrote of mustn’t put off getting another
14
15 ^place because of me. All seems so uncertain now. I hope Aunt Ettie is
16resting a little & you are all feeling better for the change.
17
18 Your little aunt
19 Olive
20
21 Haartebeest Hoek
22 nr de Aar
23 Wednesday evening^
24
25
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/42 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 1901 |
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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Content indicates that Schreiner was in Hanover when it was written.
|
1
Thursday night
2
3 My darling Ettie
4
5 I am haunted by the feeling mother is going to die, & oh I must see
6her just once for a few hours before she goes. Ettie, if I wire I am
7coming & you can find out when I will be at Alice-dale, please send
8some one there to meet me. I will pay all expenses. I may not be able
9to change from one train to the other. It is terrible to be so
10helpless.
11
12 I wired this morning to know how mother was (Reply Paid) & the
13Commandant here kindly wired too thinking his letter might get through
14quicker. If only I have once got to Grahamstown & seen mother I don’t
15seem to send mind what happens to me. I had another fit of fainting &
16angina this afternoon & if that comes on in the train I am quite
17helpless I shall pay all expenses if some one will come as far as
18Alice-dale to meet me. I will wire when I leave this. I shall not
19
20 ^won’t be able to leave tomorrow
21
22 Olive^
23
24
25
2
3 My darling Ettie
4
5 I am haunted by the feeling mother is going to die, & oh I must see
6her just once for a few hours before she goes. Ettie, if I wire I am
7coming & you can find out when I will be at Alice-dale, please send
8some one there to meet me. I will pay all expenses. I may not be able
9to change from one train to the other. It is terrible to be so
10helpless.
11
12 I wired this morning to know how mother was (Reply Paid) & the
13Commandant here kindly wired too thinking his letter might get through
14quicker. If only I have once got to Grahamstown & seen mother I don’t
15seem to send mind what happens to me. I had another fit of fainting &
16angina this afternoon & if that comes on in the train I am quite
17helpless I shall pay all expenses if some one will come as far as
18Alice-dale to meet me. I will wire when I leave this. I shall not
19
20 ^won’t be able to leave tomorrow
21
22 Olive^
23
24
25
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/43 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday May 1903 |
Address From | na |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. 'Grahamstown 1901' has been written on the letter in an unknown hand, Schreiner's visit (and those of Theo Schreiner, Katie Stuart, Ettie Stakesby-Lewis and Will Schreiner) to her very ill mother in Grahamstown was in August 1901; in September that year Will Schreiner took his mother to Cape Town, where she lived with Ettie Schreiner until her death in September 1903.
|
1
Thursday afternoon
2
3 My darling
4
5 Your note has just come. Mother did not sleep at all last night & of
6course I did not leave her or lie down, not because of any new
7definite pain, but because of her unreadable terrible general unrest
8mental & physical That state she was in when you left has continued to
9increase & produces even greater difficulty with hospital nurses &
10complete stranger than the old convent folk or private nurses but the
11nurses are very good & sweet & do all they can to help her.
12
13 Dear one no words can tell how I long for you, & yet what a relief it
14is to me that for a few days the strain, the unutterable strain under
15which you have been living has been lifted from you. You can’t bear
16much more.
17
18 Good bye my sweet heart.
19 Your little Ollie.
20
21 Love to the children I long to know how Elberty is. Mother’s
22condition is not worse; yet the more I understand it the more heart
23breaking it is.
24
25 ^Shall I tell her if she asks that you are coming on Monday or Tuesday^
26
27
28
2
3 My darling
4
5 Your note has just come. Mother did not sleep at all last night & of
6course I did not leave her or lie down, not because of any new
7definite pain, but because of her unreadable terrible general unrest
8mental & physical That state she was in when you left has continued to
9increase & produces even greater difficulty with hospital nurses &
10complete stranger than the old convent folk or private nurses but the
11nurses are very good & sweet & do all they can to help her.
12
13 Dear one no words can tell how I long for you, & yet what a relief it
14is to me that for a few days the strain, the unutterable strain under
15which you have been living has been lifted from you. You can’t bear
16much more.
17
18 Good bye my sweet heart.
19 Your little Ollie.
20
21 Love to the children I long to know how Elberty is. Mother’s
22condition is not worse; yet the more I understand it the more heart
23breaking it is.
24
25 ^Shall I tell her if she asks that you are coming on Monday or Tuesday^
26
27
28
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/44 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Friday 31 August 1901 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
Hanover
2 Friday
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 I know mother is much to busy to write so drop me a line to tell me
7how Granny is. Did you all get the letters I posted the day I left
8Grahamstown, a little station on the way. I find l left my new nail
9cissors in Grahamstown but have got two new pairs of large ones. One
10must be yours or Aunt Hets, unless the man put me in a pair of large
11cissors in mistake for nail cissors at Parkes. Answer about this.
12
13 I am clearing out my little room today to be all bright & fresh when
14uncle Cron comes on Monday. I felt so anxious about Grannie last night
15in the night. Please tell me just how she is. Does she take more
16interest in out side matters.
17
18 Good bye dear, my love to you all including Arthur.
19 Your little Auntie Ol.
20
21 Thank Aunt Het for pay the money for me I’ll send it tomorrow.
22
23
2 Friday
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 I know mother is much to busy to write so drop me a line to tell me
7how Granny is. Did you all get the letters I posted the day I left
8Grahamstown, a little station on the way. I find l left my new nail
9cissors in Grahamstown but have got two new pairs of large ones. One
10must be yours or Aunt Hets, unless the man put me in a pair of large
11cissors in mistake for nail cissors at Parkes. Answer about this.
12
13 I am clearing out my little room today to be all bright & fresh when
14uncle Cron comes on Monday. I felt so anxious about Grannie last night
15in the night. Please tell me just how she is. Does she take more
16interest in out side matters.
17
18 Good bye dear, my love to you all including Arthur.
19 Your little Auntie Ol.
20
21 Thank Aunt Het for pay the money for me I’ll send it tomorrow.
22
23
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/45 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 1 September 1901 |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Sunday night
3 Sep 1st 1901
4
5 My darling old sister
6
7 I have had no news from Grahamstown since the note I got from you last
8Thursday morning morning. You must not write; unreadable I know the
9terrible strain writing is even to those one loves best in your
10over-worked state, but ask Effie or Elberty to send just two lines
11daily if they can (one or other, to let me know how mother is.
12
13 I have also not heard from Cron for some time, not since the letter I
14got on Thurs-day, but I fancy no letters have come through from Cape
15Town since. I am expecting my darling tomorrow morning by the post
16cart. I am making him a grand dinner with your lemon cheese-cake, &
17chutney & all the nice things I brought from Grahamstown, & I’ve
18made our little room look as pretty & nice as I can.
19
20 Ask Effie to tell me: -
21
22 1. If mother is more restful
23 2. If she takes more interest in out-side things.
24 3. If she seems stronger
25 4. If her cough is better.
26
27 I & Neta have been quite alone in this house for some days as the lady
28from whom I hire the room has gone to their farm, with her little
29nephew. But I have been so happy getting everything ready for my
30darling. Little Neta sends her love to you all: she had a bath this
31morning & is now as white as snow, & is sleeping on my bed.
32
33 I enclose a PO order for 10/- Please take from it the money you paid
34for me, & with the rest buy me when you come or when Arthur comes if
35he comes first 2/- worth of brown bakers bread, & two bottles of Mrs
36Rudd’s jam, one bottle of Cape gooseberry & one of orange marmalade
37the cost 1/3 each
38
39 2/6 jam
40 2/- bread
41 4/- Repay yourself
42 ------------------------
43 8/6 & one 1/6
44
45 for the carriage will make the 10/- You will have more than your full
46amount of luggage & have to pay extra for it. If you could send me a
47line two days yet before you leave I would ask the post cart driver to
48call at the station for it. If you were unreadable asleep passing in
49the night the guard would give it to the station master. Please
50address it personally to the care of the station master. I hope you
51will get a strong native man to help you in packing mother’s things
52so that you have no lifting to do. You must not quite wear yourself
53out my darling. If you would take care of self now you might have many
54years of usefulness & health, perhaps such health as you have never
55known. Give my love to my old Will.
56
57 Your little sis
58 Olive
59
60 I wouldn’t have missed that seeing you in Grahamstown, dear one, for
61anything. One looses many things as one grows older but one has a
62power of endurance one never had when one was young, ^& that makes up
63for many things, eh?^
64
65
66
2 Sunday night
3 Sep 1st 1901
4
5 My darling old sister
6
7 I have had no news from Grahamstown since the note I got from you last
8Thursday morning morning. You must not write; unreadable I know the
9terrible strain writing is even to those one loves best in your
10over-worked state, but ask Effie or Elberty to send just two lines
11daily if they can (one or other, to let me know how mother is.
12
13 I have also not heard from Cron for some time, not since the letter I
14got on Thurs-day, but I fancy no letters have come through from Cape
15Town since. I am expecting my darling tomorrow morning by the post
16cart. I am making him a grand dinner with your lemon cheese-cake, &
17chutney & all the nice things I brought from Grahamstown, & I’ve
18made our little room look as pretty & nice as I can.
19
20 Ask Effie to tell me: -
21
22 1. If mother is more restful
23 2. If she takes more interest in out-side things.
24 3. If she seems stronger
25 4. If her cough is better.
26
27 I & Neta have been quite alone in this house for some days as the lady
28from whom I hire the room has gone to their farm, with her little
29nephew. But I have been so happy getting everything ready for my
30darling. Little Neta sends her love to you all: she had a bath this
31morning & is now as white as snow, & is sleeping on my bed.
32
33 I enclose a PO order for 10/- Please take from it the money you paid
34for me, & with the rest buy me when you come or when Arthur comes if
35he comes first 2/- worth of brown bakers bread, & two bottles of Mrs
36Rudd’s jam, one bottle of Cape gooseberry & one of orange marmalade
37the cost 1/3 each
38
39 2/6 jam
40 2/- bread
41 4/- Repay yourself
42 ------------------------
43 8/6 & one 1/6
44
45 for the carriage will make the 10/- You will have more than your full
46amount of luggage & have to pay extra for it. If you could send me a
47line two days yet before you leave I would ask the post cart driver to
48call at the station for it. If you were unreadable asleep passing in
49the night the guard would give it to the station master. Please
50address it personally to the care of the station master. I hope you
51will get a strong native man to help you in packing mother’s things
52so that you have no lifting to do. You must not quite wear yourself
53out my darling. If you would take care of self now you might have many
54years of usefulness & health, perhaps such health as you have never
55known. Give my love to my old Will.
56
57 Your little sis
58 Olive
59
60 I wouldn’t have missed that seeing you in Grahamstown, dear one, for
61anything. One looses many things as one grows older but one has a
62power of endurance one never had when one was young, ^& that makes up
63for many things, eh?^
64
65
66
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/46 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Saturday 1901 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Saturday
2
3 Dear Effie
4
5 I send with this the PO order I forgot to put in last time. Please
6write a line at once dear & tell me whether Aunt Het has come & what
7the plans are.
8
9 Love to you dear, & to Uncle Will. I hope he enjoyed his little change
10to the house.
11
12 Your little Auntie
13
14
15
2
3 Dear Effie
4
5 I send with this the PO order I forgot to put in last time. Please
6write a line at once dear & tell me whether Aunt Het has come & what
7the plans are.
8
9 Love to you dear, & to Uncle Will. I hope he enjoyed his little change
10to the house.
11
12 Your little Auntie
13
14
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/47 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 6 September 1901 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Sep 6 / 01
2
3 Dear Effie
4
5 I was so glad of your note.
6
7 Just send me a line when able to let me know how mother goes on, & how
8you are feeling when alone there.
9
10 I shall think of you on Monday when you will be left alone.
11
12 Your little Auntie
13
14 Shall I send the scissors to you or to mother at Cape Town?
15
2
3 Dear Effie
4
5 I was so glad of your note.
6
7 Just send me a line when able to let me know how mother goes on, & how
8you are feeling when alone there.
9
10 I shall think of you on Monday when you will be left alone.
11
12 Your little Auntie
13
14 Shall I send the scissors to you or to mother at Cape Town?
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/48 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Friday October 1901 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 month and year have been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1Hanover
2 Friday night
3
4 Darling Effie,
5
6 I suppose mother leaves Cape Town tomorrow for Grahamstown & that the
7week after next if mother carries out her plan she will be passing
8here with Grannie.
9
10 Please write & tell me exactly the plans that I may try to arrange to
11meet you at Hanover Rd. the weather here is absolutely perfect & I am
12expecting great things for Grannie from the change to this high dry
13air, at this time of the year perfect I enclose a PO order for ten
14shillings: please dear when come bring me 10 boxes of Philippe de
15?Canands sardines 1/- a box. You remember I got some in the little
16green grocers shop where the nice woman was in Bathurst St, where we
17got the chillies & butter & other things. I think that is the only
18place in Grahamstown where they are to be got. Also please with regard
19to the other 10/ I sent. After paying Mrs Rudd the 4/3 there will be
205/9 over please buy me for it four bottles of Mrs Rudds homemade jam
21^at 1/3 a bottle^ (especially to of her orange marmalade) & for the 9d
22of a pound of her rusks. As & don’t get the brown bread I asked for
23as travelling so long it will be dry before you get here. A coolie has
24opened a shop so we are now able to get oranges here, but decent
25groceries are not to be had here. Please dear drop me a line & tell me
26just how the little mother is. I had such a sad dream about her the
27other night.
28
29 Love to my dear old Will. I hope you don’t find the staying alone in
30Grahamstown too hard, darling.
31
32 Your little Auntie
33 Olive
34
35 The james & things Aunt Het bought me were smashed fine in the post
36cart!!
37
38
39
2 Friday night
3
4 Darling Effie,
5
6 I suppose mother leaves Cape Town tomorrow for Grahamstown & that the
7week after next if mother carries out her plan she will be passing
8here with Grannie.
9
10 Please write & tell me exactly the plans that I may try to arrange to
11meet you at Hanover Rd. the weather here is absolutely perfect & I am
12expecting great things for Grannie from the change to this high dry
13air, at this time of the year perfect I enclose a PO order for ten
14shillings: please dear when come bring me 10 boxes of Philippe de
15?Canands sardines 1/- a box. You remember I got some in the little
16green grocers shop where the nice woman was in Bathurst St, where we
17got the chillies & butter & other things. I think that is the only
18place in Grahamstown where they are to be got. Also please with regard
19to the other 10/ I sent. After paying Mrs Rudd the 4/3 there will be
205/9 over please buy me for it four bottles of Mrs Rudds homemade jam
21^at 1/3 a bottle^ (especially to of her orange marmalade) & for the 9d
22of a pound of her rusks. As & don’t get the brown bread I asked for
23as travelling so long it will be dry before you get here. A coolie has
24opened a shop so we are now able to get oranges here, but decent
25groceries are not to be had here. Please dear drop me a line & tell me
26just how the little mother is. I had such a sad dream about her the
27other night.
28
29 Love to my dear old Will. I hope you don’t find the staying alone in
30Grahamstown too hard, darling.
31
32 Your little Auntie
33 Olive
34
35 The james & things Aunt Het bought me were smashed fine in the post
36cart!!
37
38
39
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/49 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 25 December 1901 |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content about Rebecca Schreiner's possible death. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Xmas Morning.
2
3 My darling old sister,
4
5 I hope you are feeling really better. It is so delightful to me that
6the dear little mother is sweetly resting in your care. "What we
7desire in youth, that we have in old age," Goethe said. I am sure it
8is true with regard to spiritual matters, because slowly the ideal
9which we strive after must shape itself within us but, I think it
10often happens with other things. At least it is my dream that it will
11so happen.
12
13 "Grow old along with me
14 The best is yet to be;
15 The last of life,
16 For which the whole was made.
17 Our times are in his hand,
18 Who so a whole I planned.
19 - Youth knows but half – trust God, see all, nor be afraid."
20
21 I have always looked forward to old age so because of the serene
22wisdom I thought one would have attained to, but I don’t think that
23I had realize the weakness that would come as one grew older. Of
24course you & I ought not to be as much weaker than we were at our age,
25but as Will once wrote me, all we Schreiners seem predestined to break
26down long before our time. This is of course owing to our hearts not
27being strong.
28
29 I have been studying my own case a good deal, & while absence of worry
30& excitement & worry is the main thing, as the doctors all agree where
31the heart is enlarged; yet I am sure to eat very little & practically
32no meat, & if possible to drink hot boiled milk, ^in small quantities
33at a time but often^ something which is very light & yet nourishing,
34does much to relieve the heart. I am sending you ?about which is
35attracting a good deal of attention in England. On uric-acid, the
36result of meat diet & its action on the system in later life, which
37might be interesting to you. I think he goes a little too far, but
38there is much truth in it. It seems a pity that few people can see a
39truth very clearly without exaggerating it.
40
41 I hope you got the little MS of mine safely. I wrote it fifteen years
42ago in Italy. I like it almost better than anything I ever wrote
43because it came to me in such a curious way. I wrote the novel to
44which it is the prelude years before, when I was Africa. I was sitting
45one day writing an article on the Bushman, & suddenly in an instant,
46all the scenes in that little prelude seemed to open themselves before
47me, one after the other in a flash, like when you open one of those
48folded series of views & draw them all open quickly. I saw the little
49girl at the back-door, & on her flat stone, & in the garden under the
50tree making storie & repeating poems right to the end, & curious, it
51was only when I sat down to write it out that I saw how it bore on the
52story that was coming & which I had written unreadable so long before.
53All my stories come to me that way I never consciously try to make one,
54 but none except Peter Halket ever came so completely & at once, they
55are sometimes only in bits for months before they are ready. With
56Peter Halket I was at the Kowie & had slept heavily all night from one
57o’clock, an unusual thing with me. About six o’clock I woke, &
58jumped out of bed Cron asked me what was the matter, & I said a whole
59new story had come to me just as I woke, & I told him all just as it
60stands but short. I had nothing further from my thoughts that the
61writing of such a book the night before & I was busy on my stray
62thoughts. I just as I opened my eyes saw Peter Halket on the kopje &
63heard the voices talking.
64
65 I think that’s the mistake people make who think you can make
66stories & poems. You can’t make them if they don’t make themselves.
67 You can put yourself into the conditions in which you know your mind
68will work spontaneously, i.e. free of worries & manual work, but you
69can’t say to your brain produce this or that. Of course you sh can
70will whether you will write it or not, but & the exact words you will
71put it into; but you can’t alter the pictures, if a man has blue
72eyes you can’t describe him with brown, is he says this or that you
73can’t make him say anything else.
74
75 //I have been thinking about Guy & can’t help being sure that if his
76tastes lay in a literary direction the civil service will be best for
77him; just because the work is so mechanical & uninteresting, it does
78not tax the energies you use for your own work, teaching if
79conscientiously done takes too much out of you, of nervous energy &
80will.
81
82 I wrote the whole of an African Farm when I was teaching 6 hours a-day,
83 but it’s a horrible strain. The civil-service work is very light.
84
85 Now I must end my darling. I know you will always wire to me if the
86little mother should be very ill, but I feel quite at ease about her
87now.
88
89 Have you ever thought how very nice it would be, if the dear little
90mother would consent to be buried at Balfour when she goes. I would
91not mention it to her unless she spoke of being buried some where else,
92 then you might suggest it, say you will be buried there too. Father
93would have liked it so.
94
95 Good bye darling.
96 Your little sis Olive
97
98 I sent mother that little prelude to read 10 years ago when I first
99came out from England. If she’s forgotten it & would care to read it
100again you might give it her, but I don’t want others to read it.
101
102
2
3 My darling old sister,
4
5 I hope you are feeling really better. It is so delightful to me that
6the dear little mother is sweetly resting in your care. "What we
7desire in youth, that we have in old age," Goethe said. I am sure it
8is true with regard to spiritual matters, because slowly the ideal
9which we strive after must shape itself within us but, I think it
10often happens with other things. At least it is my dream that it will
11so happen.
12
13 "Grow old along with me
14 The best is yet to be;
15 The last of life,
16 For which the whole was made.
17 Our times are in his hand,
18 Who so a whole I planned.
19 - Youth knows but half – trust God, see all, nor be afraid."
20
21 I have always looked forward to old age so because of the serene
22wisdom I thought one would have attained to, but I don’t think that
23I had realize the weakness that would come as one grew older. Of
24course you & I ought not to be as much weaker than we were at our age,
25but as Will once wrote me, all we Schreiners seem predestined to break
26down long before our time. This is of course owing to our hearts not
27being strong.
28
29 I have been studying my own case a good deal, & while absence of worry
30& excitement & worry is the main thing, as the doctors all agree where
31the heart is enlarged; yet I am sure to eat very little & practically
32no meat, & if possible to drink hot boiled milk, ^in small quantities
33at a time but often^ something which is very light & yet nourishing,
34does much to relieve the heart. I am sending you ?about which is
35attracting a good deal of attention in England. On uric-acid, the
36result of meat diet & its action on the system in later life, which
37might be interesting to you. I think he goes a little too far, but
38there is much truth in it. It seems a pity that few people can see a
39truth very clearly without exaggerating it.
40
41 I hope you got the little MS of mine safely. I wrote it fifteen years
42ago in Italy. I like it almost better than anything I ever wrote
43because it came to me in such a curious way. I wrote the novel to
44which it is the prelude years before, when I was Africa. I was sitting
45one day writing an article on the Bushman, & suddenly in an instant,
46all the scenes in that little prelude seemed to open themselves before
47me, one after the other in a flash, like when you open one of those
48folded series of views & draw them all open quickly. I saw the little
49girl at the back-door, & on her flat stone, & in the garden under the
50tree making storie & repeating poems right to the end, & curious, it
51was only when I sat down to write it out that I saw how it bore on the
52story that was coming & which I had written unreadable so long before.
53All my stories come to me that way I never consciously try to make one,
54 but none except Peter Halket ever came so completely & at once, they
55are sometimes only in bits for months before they are ready. With
56Peter Halket I was at the Kowie & had slept heavily all night from one
57o’clock, an unusual thing with me. About six o’clock I woke, &
58jumped out of bed Cron asked me what was the matter, & I said a whole
59new story had come to me just as I woke, & I told him all just as it
60stands but short. I had nothing further from my thoughts that the
61writing of such a book the night before & I was busy on my stray
62thoughts. I just as I opened my eyes saw Peter Halket on the kopje &
63heard the voices talking.
64
65 I think that’s the mistake people make who think you can make
66stories & poems. You can’t make them if they don’t make themselves.
67 You can put yourself into the conditions in which you know your mind
68will work spontaneously, i.e. free of worries & manual work, but you
69can’t say to your brain produce this or that. Of course you sh can
70will whether you will write it or not, but & the exact words you will
71put it into; but you can’t alter the pictures, if a man has blue
72eyes you can’t describe him with brown, is he says this or that you
73can’t make him say anything else.
74
75 //I have been thinking about Guy & can’t help being sure that if his
76tastes lay in a literary direction the civil service will be best for
77him; just because the work is so mechanical & uninteresting, it does
78not tax the energies you use for your own work, teaching if
79conscientiously done takes too much out of you, of nervous energy &
80will.
81
82 I wrote the whole of an African Farm when I was teaching 6 hours a-day,
83 but it’s a horrible strain. The civil-service work is very light.
84
85 Now I must end my darling. I know you will always wire to me if the
86little mother should be very ill, but I feel quite at ease about her
87now.
88
89 Have you ever thought how very nice it would be, if the dear little
90mother would consent to be buried at Balfour when she goes. I would
91not mention it to her unless she spoke of being buried some where else,
92 then you might suggest it, say you will be buried there too. Father
93would have liked it so.
94
95 Good bye darling.
96 Your little sis Olive
97
98 I sent mother that little prelude to read 10 years ago when I first
99came out from England. If she’s forgotten it & would care to read it
100again you might give it her, but I don’t want others to read it.
101
102
Notation
The 'little manuscript' and 'little prelude' refer to the Prelude to From Man to Man. 'Grow old along with me' is from Robert Browning's 'Rabbi Ben Ezra' in his (1864) Dramatis Personae London: Chapman & Hall.
The 'little manuscript' and 'little prelude' refer to the Prelude to From Man to Man. 'Grow old along with me' is from Robert Browning's 'Rabbi Ben Ezra' in his (1864) Dramatis Personae London: Chapman & Hall.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/50 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 6 July 1902 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | PO Box 2, Johannesburg, Transvaal |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope.
|
1
Hanover
2 July 6th 1902
3
4 Darling Ettie
5
6 I hope by this time you are safe in Johannesburg. I’m sure the change
7will do you good.
8
9 I’ve been in bed for a couple of days with my chest, & am very
10thankful I didn’t get the pass in time & & try to come up with you
11because I would only have been ill & spoiled all. I hope I shall be
12able to go by the end of the month. If you could give me the address I
13could go up & see abut the jacket of the dress as soon as I get there.
14
15 I shall only be in Johannesburg for a few days, just long enough to
16see about my things. I hope Elberty is not going to stay up there. I
17think it would be a mistake, dear. But perhaps you have no such plan.
18I have seen such beautiful promising lives go to wreck there, that I
19feel about it as a man would about a rock on which he had seen a ship
20go down. You don’t understand the place a bit by visiting it; you must
21stay in it & watch its effect on characters you know.
22
23 I shall value the dressing gown so much when it comes, dear; but you
24oughtn’t to have sent it me. I’m so glad you’ve got another.
25
26 Good bye, darling. I suppose you passed Hanover Rd the night before
27last
28
29 Olive
30
2 July 6th 1902
3
4 Darling Ettie
5
6 I hope by this time you are safe in Johannesburg. I’m sure the change
7will do you good.
8
9 I’ve been in bed for a couple of days with my chest, & am very
10thankful I didn’t get the pass in time & & try to come up with you
11because I would only have been ill & spoiled all. I hope I shall be
12able to go by the end of the month. If you could give me the address I
13could go up & see abut the jacket of the dress as soon as I get there.
14
15 I shall only be in Johannesburg for a few days, just long enough to
16see about my things. I hope Elberty is not going to stay up there. I
17think it would be a mistake, dear. But perhaps you have no such plan.
18I have seen such beautiful promising lives go to wreck there, that I
19feel about it as a man would about a rock on which he had seen a ship
20go down. You don’t understand the place a bit by visiting it; you must
21stay in it & watch its effect on characters you know.
22
23 I shall value the dressing gown so much when it comes, dear; but you
24oughtn’t to have sent it me. I’m so glad you’ve got another.
25
26 Good bye, darling. I suppose you passed Hanover Rd the night before
27last
28
29 Olive
30
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/51 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 15 September 1902 |
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.
|
1Private for yourself alone
2 Hanover
3 Sep 15th 1902
4
5 My darling old Ettie
6
7 Oh I have thought of you & hungered for you during the weeks of ?Eny
8weakness & darkness. I think I have never longed so for any one. I
9think I would have sent for you & sent you money to come, but I had a
10feeling it wasn’t the end, & I couldn’t take you not only from
11your heavy duties, but from duties which would be harder to you when
12returned because they they would have accumulated. I am now able to
13move abut again, but am quite deaf in one ear & partly so in the other.
14
15 I am leaving this house as son as I am strong enough to move the
16things because it is very damp.
17
18 Cron left for Cape Town ^the day before^ yesterday, & will be there for
19a few days to visit his mother & attend his brother’s wedding.
20Don’t mention to mother that he is in Town as she might expect him
21to call, & I don’t think he will.
22
23 Dear, that letter you wrote me which I got the night before I left
24Johannesburg was very precious to me. Perhaps it happens more often
25than we dream that the love we have hungered for all our lives & which
26has never been given us will stretch out longing hands to us after we
27are dead. We shall not know it but the thought can help one to live.
28
29 Good bye, my darling. I hope you are feeling stronger. Perhaps it is
30as well you were not with me when I was so ill. In such times of
31weakness
32
33^one feels such an irresistible desire to open ones heart to one who
34would understand, & perhaps it is better that one should carry much
35silent to ones grave.
36
37 Good bye my dear one
38 Olive^
39
40
41
2 Hanover
3 Sep 15th 1902
4
5 My darling old Ettie
6
7 Oh I have thought of you & hungered for you during the weeks of ?Eny
8weakness & darkness. I think I have never longed so for any one. I
9think I would have sent for you & sent you money to come, but I had a
10feeling it wasn’t the end, & I couldn’t take you not only from
11your heavy duties, but from duties which would be harder to you when
12returned because they they would have accumulated. I am now able to
13move abut again, but am quite deaf in one ear & partly so in the other.
14
15 I am leaving this house as son as I am strong enough to move the
16things because it is very damp.
17
18 Cron left for Cape Town ^the day before^ yesterday, & will be there for
19a few days to visit his mother & attend his brother’s wedding.
20Don’t mention to mother that he is in Town as she might expect him
21to call, & I don’t think he will.
22
23 Dear, that letter you wrote me which I got the night before I left
24Johannesburg was very precious to me. Perhaps it happens more often
25than we dream that the love we have hungered for all our lives & which
26has never been given us will stretch out longing hands to us after we
27are dead. We shall not know it but the thought can help one to live.
28
29 Good bye, my darling. I hope you are feeling stronger. Perhaps it is
30as well you were not with me when I was so ill. In such times of
31weakness
32
33^one feels such an irresistible desire to open ones heart to one who
34would understand, & perhaps it is better that one should carry much
35silent to ones grave.
36
37 Good bye my dear one
38 Olive^
39
40
41
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/52 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 30 September 1902 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Rebecca Schreiner nee Lyndall |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Sep 30 / 02
3
4 My own darling little Mother
5
6 We are in our nice little house. C It is evening, about 9 o’clock.
7Cron is sitting in the little dining room writing out a will, & I am
8in my bedroom at the little table in the corner, & the family are
9asleep, ‘Arriet has been very wicked today. First early this morning
10she turned the bottle of milk over in the passage & was lapping at it
11continuously & walking about in the streaming milk on the floor. I
12rescued the other bottle & took it & boiled it; hot, & put the jug in
13the pantry window. Not long after there was a noise, & I went to the
14pantry, & there she had turned the jug over & was standing in the milk
15licking her paws clean from the cream. She always creeps up onto
16Cron’s knee at meal times, & puts her nose into his plate & licks
17little bits of food out, as she fancies them. I say her mouth is dirty,
18 but Cron sticks to it it is clean!
19
20 I like this this little tiny house so much. I suppose because it’s
21so open & airy. The wind blows through it all day.
22
23 I will write & let you know in good time when I am coming. It would be
24nice if I could be there for your birth-day the 25th is it not? I
25wouldn’t spend all that day with you at the Highlands as you will
26have so many other visitors but if I arrived that day I’d just hire
27a cab at the station & the run up & have one look at my darling little
28mothers face on her birthday, & then come up the next day to stay long.
29
30 Good night my own sweet little mother
31 Your Olive
32
33 I think of you so continually my little mother; of late you seem
34always in my mind, especially in the night when I lie awake.
35
36
2 Sep 30 / 02
3
4 My own darling little Mother
5
6 We are in our nice little house. C It is evening, about 9 o’clock.
7Cron is sitting in the little dining room writing out a will, & I am
8in my bedroom at the little table in the corner, & the family are
9asleep, ‘Arriet has been very wicked today. First early this morning
10she turned the bottle of milk over in the passage & was lapping at it
11continuously & walking about in the streaming milk on the floor. I
12rescued the other bottle & took it & boiled it; hot, & put the jug in
13the pantry window. Not long after there was a noise, & I went to the
14pantry, & there she had turned the jug over & was standing in the milk
15licking her paws clean from the cream. She always creeps up onto
16Cron’s knee at meal times, & puts her nose into his plate & licks
17little bits of food out, as she fancies them. I say her mouth is dirty,
18 but Cron sticks to it it is clean!
19
20 I like this this little tiny house so much. I suppose because it’s
21so open & airy. The wind blows through it all day.
22
23 I will write & let you know in good time when I am coming. It would be
24nice if I could be there for your birth-day the 25th is it not? I
25wouldn’t spend all that day with you at the Highlands as you will
26have so many other visitors but if I arrived that day I’d just hire
27a cab at the station & the run up & have one look at my darling little
28mothers face on her birthday, & then come up the next day to stay long.
29
30 Good night my own sweet little mother
31 Your Olive
32
33 I think of you so continually my little mother; of late you seem
34always in my mind, especially in the night when I lie awake.
35
36
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/53 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 31 December 1902 |
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 name of the addressee of this letter is indicated by content. The end of the letter is missing.
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1
Hanover
2 Dec 31st 1902
3
4 Darling,
5
6 I am sending you the money for the wire to Mrs Austin. Thank you so
7much.
8
9 Please ask John to let me know me know as soon as his plans are sure
10as to the time he leaves for Kimberley. Dear, I wonder if it is wicked;
11 but it seems so beautiful to me to think that perhaps this time next
12year I mayn’t be here. It come to me like such an exquisitely lovely
13thought. And yet I may have many years to go on still. One is
14satisfied if it is so; life is beautiful too. But death is more so.
15
16 I’ve been thinking a lot about Alice lately. You know its funny but I
17think now I understand her life as no one understood it; I put little
18things together & I understand it. Such a curious thing happened: you
19know not long before she died. (I cannot now say how long, but it must
20only have been a few very few months, because I was living in the same
21boarding house in London where I got that letter as w I was when I
22heard of her death, & I only lived there three months altogether), it
23I got a letter from her it was the last she ever wrote me.
24
25 I fancy it was just before you got to Fraserburg. I had write her a
26rather sympathetic letter about the death of all her children. I
27seldom wrote to her I don’t think I’d written to her for two years,
28but something made me write; & she wrote me back such a curious letter,
29 it was so unlike her, you who know she always wrote such little
30matter of fact letters about the children &c.
31
32 It was such a strange passionate out cry: "Oh Olive Olive, it is n’t
33the death of my little children that matters. My heart is broken but
34it’s not that that has done it. People sympathize with you & are sorry;
35 but its not the things they think if that have killed you." It was
36those words or all but those words, & then a few weeks afterwards I
37heard she was dead. I hope that letter of hers
38
39[page/s missing]
40
41
2 Dec 31st 1902
3
4 Darling,
5
6 I am sending you the money for the wire to Mrs Austin. Thank you so
7much.
8
9 Please ask John to let me know me know as soon as his plans are sure
10as to the time he leaves for Kimberley. Dear, I wonder if it is wicked;
11 but it seems so beautiful to me to think that perhaps this time next
12year I mayn’t be here. It come to me like such an exquisitely lovely
13thought. And yet I may have many years to go on still. One is
14satisfied if it is so; life is beautiful too. But death is more so.
15
16 I’ve been thinking a lot about Alice lately. You know its funny but I
17think now I understand her life as no one understood it; I put little
18things together & I understand it. Such a curious thing happened: you
19know not long before she died. (I cannot now say how long, but it must
20only have been a few very few months, because I was living in the same
21boarding house in London where I got that letter as w I was when I
22heard of her death, & I only lived there three months altogether), it
23I got a letter from her it was the last she ever wrote me.
24
25 I fancy it was just before you got to Fraserburg. I had write her a
26rather sympathetic letter about the death of all her children. I
27seldom wrote to her I don’t think I’d written to her for two years,
28but something made me write; & she wrote me back such a curious letter,
29 it was so unlike her, you who know she always wrote such little
30matter of fact letters about the children &c.
31
32 It was such a strange passionate out cry: "Oh Olive Olive, it is n’t
33the death of my little children that matters. My heart is broken but
34it’s not that that has done it. People sympathize with you & are sorry;
35 but its not the things they think if that have killed you." It was
36those words or all but those words, & then a few weeks afterwards I
37heard she was dead. I hope that letter of hers
38
39[page/s missing]
40
41
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/54 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Saturday July 1902 ; Before End: December 1902 |
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. ‘Late 1902’ has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
Hanover
2 Saturday
3
4 My own darling
5
6 I wonder how your teeth are. If only you were living somewhere near me,
7 so that I could see you if it were only once a month life would be so
8different to me.
9
10 I wonder how things are shaping them selves about Elberty. If the man
11he was with speaks well of his work, I should certainly write to
12Newberry abut him as he will have the help no where else he will have
13there. I am very anxious to hear he is really settled in there.
14
15 Good bye my darling
16 Your Olive
17
18 Love to the little mother. Tell Effie I have her wedding card. I feel
19so tenderly anxious over those two young souls. But I think they have
20much larger chances of happiness than most have who start on that long
21voyage together.
22
23 ^Don’t you think the dentist is a very nice man?^
24
25
26
2 Saturday
3
4 My own darling
5
6 I wonder how your teeth are. If only you were living somewhere near me,
7 so that I could see you if it were only once a month life would be so
8different to me.
9
10 I wonder how things are shaping them selves about Elberty. If the man
11he was with speaks well of his work, I should certainly write to
12Newberry abut him as he will have the help no where else he will have
13there. I am very anxious to hear he is really settled in there.
14
15 Good bye my darling
16 Your Olive
17
18 Love to the little mother. Tell Effie I have her wedding card. I feel
19so tenderly anxious over those two young souls. But I think they have
20much larger chances of happiness than most have who start on that long
21voyage together.
22
23 ^Don’t you think the dentist is a very nice man?^
24
25
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/55 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: 1901 ; Before End: 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand, perhaps by Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere. The Balfour plan was first mooted in 1901 but occurred after the death of Rebecca Schreiner in September 1903. Content suggests she had not died when this letter was written.
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1
My own darling
2
3 I have just got your letter. Is the name of the people Smyth? Oh my
4darling I know what that tiredness is. There are long what it is when
5we desire only death. Oh that beautiful rest, dear one. It is so
6beautiful that death which in the time of ones strength & youth one
7instinctively drew back from because it was so cold, should come at
8last as the mighty comforter.
9
10 When all courage fails me & my knees give I think of that quiet
11mountain top at Krantz Plaats where I shall rest at last with my
12little baby beside me.
13
14 I long so to see you. I wonder whether it would not be possible for
15you to come & rest here for a few weeks.
16
17 Oh darling I am so lonely, so lonely, Ettie; it would be such joy to
18me to see you. There are only two things in earth I have still any
19wish for to see unreadable again & Father’s grave at Balfour.
20
21 ^Good bye my darling.
22 Your little Emmie
23
24 Give my love to dear old Theo. No one can understand that I can’t
25write letters any more. I can just struggle through my daily toil.^
26
27
28
2
3 I have just got your letter. Is the name of the people Smyth? Oh my
4darling I know what that tiredness is. There are long what it is when
5we desire only death. Oh that beautiful rest, dear one. It is so
6beautiful that death which in the time of ones strength & youth one
7instinctively drew back from because it was so cold, should come at
8last as the mighty comforter.
9
10 When all courage fails me & my knees give I think of that quiet
11mountain top at Krantz Plaats where I shall rest at last with my
12little baby beside me.
13
14 I long so to see you. I wonder whether it would not be possible for
15you to come & rest here for a few weeks.
16
17 Oh darling I am so lonely, so lonely, Ettie; it would be such joy to
18me to see you. There are only two things in earth I have still any
19wish for to see unreadable again & Father’s grave at Balfour.
20
21 ^Good bye my darling.
22 Your little Emmie
23
24 Give my love to dear old Theo. No one can understand that I can’t
25write letters any more. I can just struggle through my daily toil.^
26
27
28
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/56 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1 January 1903 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Arthur Brown |
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. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
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1
New Years Day
2 1903
3
4 Dear Arthur
5
6 This is just one word to speak that loving welcome to you as a member
7of the family, which I would speak with my lips if I could have been
8with you next Monday. I have been very much drawn to you from the
9little I have seen of you, & I send you from my heart a loving
10greeting. May your life together be a very brave & good thing to you
11both.
12
13 Your very loving Aunt
14 Olive Schreiner
15
2 1903
3
4 Dear Arthur
5
6 This is just one word to speak that loving welcome to you as a member
7of the family, which I would speak with my lips if I could have been
8with you next Monday. I have been very much drawn to you from the
9little I have seen of you, & I send you from my heart a loving
10greeting. May your life together be a very brave & good thing to you
11both.
12
13 Your very loving Aunt
14 Olive Schreiner
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/57 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 10 March 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.
|
1
Hanover
2 March 10 / 03
3
4 My darling old Sister
5
6 I am feeling a little anxious about your knee. Is it quite well.
7Don’t try it till it is really strong. It would be so terribly
8depressing to have anything which permanently hindered one’s walking.
9
10 It’s curious I remember quite well in England when you came from
11Australia that incident of your writing to the person & their saying
12for certain reasons it impossible for them to give you their name &
13see you. I am feeling a bit better; & happier than I have felt since
14the dear peaceful old Matjesfontein days. They say people never know
15when they are happy, but I always knew at Matjesfontein that I was
16happy, & wished nothing would ever change. After all, it isn’t what
17we have, but what we are able to do without, that’s the great thing.
18
19 I don’t know why I feel anxious about you & as if I wanted to know
20you were all right.
21
22 Good night dear one.
23 Olive
24
25 ^Cron is still up in Johannesburg but returns on Thursday^
26
27
2 March 10 / 03
3
4 My darling old Sister
5
6 I am feeling a little anxious about your knee. Is it quite well.
7Don’t try it till it is really strong. It would be so terribly
8depressing to have anything which permanently hindered one’s walking.
9
10 It’s curious I remember quite well in England when you came from
11Australia that incident of your writing to the person & their saying
12for certain reasons it impossible for them to give you their name &
13see you. I am feeling a bit better; & happier than I have felt since
14the dear peaceful old Matjesfontein days. They say people never know
15when they are happy, but I always knew at Matjesfontein that I was
16happy, & wished nothing would ever change. After all, it isn’t what
17we have, but what we are able to do without, that’s the great thing.
18
19 I don’t know why I feel anxious about you & as if I wanted to know
20you were all right.
21
22 Good night dear one.
23 Olive
24
25 ^Cron is still up in Johannesburg but returns on Thursday^
26
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/58 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 17 May 1903 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Rebecca Schreiner nee Lyndall |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 May 17th 1903
3
4 My darling Mothie
5
6 I have returned pretty tired from Grahamstown. I was there six days. I
7saw dear Notre Mere. She cannot now walk about, has to to be taken
8about in a chair, but her face is quite unchanged; her he eyes are as
9clear & bright as ever.
10
11 I have just had a letter for Mrs David de Wet (Minnie Barnett) she
12sends much love to you, & says she hopes so much she will some day
13have the chance of coming to see you at Cape Town she says all the
14brothers & sisters are now dead except herself & Cobie; who is living
15at Kruger’s-dorp. She (Cobie) has had to bring up & educate her
16large family by keeping a boarding house.
17
18 I also saw in Grahamstown your old friend Mr Cross. He came to see me,
19& sent most affectionate greetings to you He was the only person who
20came to see me while I was there.
21
22 Cron is still very ill. The rheumatism is in his hip now, & for two
23days he has been unable to move unless I moved him. He was much better
24but has got worse again. I am giving him a warm bath tonight & hope he
25will be better tomorrow
26
27 How is my own darling little mothie? I am feeling so anxious about you
28dear little mother with the cold of the winter which may increase all
29your pains but sometimes the winters in Cape Town are very much milder
30& drier & I hope this is going to be a dry winter for you. The family
31are well & sweet. I am going to Beaufort West for the winter. I shall
32stay in the town at first & try to find a farm near by later. I
33don’t want to go to any where where I can’t get wires at any time.
34
35 My own darling little mother I am thinking of you so much
36
37 Your Olive
38
39
2 May 17th 1903
3
4 My darling Mothie
5
6 I have returned pretty tired from Grahamstown. I was there six days. I
7saw dear Notre Mere. She cannot now walk about, has to to be taken
8about in a chair, but her face is quite unchanged; her he eyes are as
9clear & bright as ever.
10
11 I have just had a letter for Mrs David de Wet (Minnie Barnett) she
12sends much love to you, & says she hopes so much she will some day
13have the chance of coming to see you at Cape Town she says all the
14brothers & sisters are now dead except herself & Cobie; who is living
15at Kruger’s-dorp. She (Cobie) has had to bring up & educate her
16large family by keeping a boarding house.
17
18 I also saw in Grahamstown your old friend Mr Cross. He came to see me,
19& sent most affectionate greetings to you He was the only person who
20came to see me while I was there.
21
22 Cron is still very ill. The rheumatism is in his hip now, & for two
23days he has been unable to move unless I moved him. He was much better
24but has got worse again. I am giving him a warm bath tonight & hope he
25will be better tomorrow
26
27 How is my own darling little mothie? I am feeling so anxious about you
28dear little mother with the cold of the winter which may increase all
29your pains but sometimes the winters in Cape Town are very much milder
30& drier & I hope this is going to be a dry winter for you. The family
31are well & sweet. I am going to Beaufort West for the winter. I shall
32stay in the town at first & try to find a farm near by later. I
33don’t want to go to any where where I can’t get wires at any time.
34
35 My own darling little mother I am thinking of you so much
36
37 Your Olive
38
39
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/59 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 23 June 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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Je 23 / 03
3
4 My darling
5
6 Thankyou for your beautiful letter.
7
8 As to mothers trap; they may not be in Cape Town because people do not
9use them there but they are to be had by hundreds ^NB Why not send to
10some of the carriage builders in London for their catalogues? telling
11them what you want? There is a cheap & very good one in Covent Garden
12from whom I got my trap. I have a friend in London Mrs Arthur Wilson
13who understands all about carts & horse & all that sort of thing. They
14are very wealthy people, but she would quite understand if we wanted a
15cheap thing & yet strong how to choose it. if any time you would like
16me to write to her about the trap I will Oh I wish I could afford to
17buy one for mother. It would be better if you could get something in
18Cape Town^ in every carriage shop in London in all styles from £20 up
19to £150 or £200!! They are always used in the country in England When
20I was there I nearly bought myself a little governess carriage as they
21call them all basket work but with very strong wheels &c for £14! Only
22I don’t like the sitting sided side ways as you always do in governess
23carriages. (They are called governess carriages because people always
24have them for the governess & children in England). Lady Lochs girls
25had a charming little one with a very comfortable seat all of the
26basket work strong & light, & in which you sat facing the horses She
27gave £12 for it! Such things are much stronger for bad roads than
28great heavy things. B because having no rigid body they don’t strain
29so. With a quiet old horse in a trap like that mother & you could go
30about anywhere
31
32 As to the trip in July: it will be simply splendid. I can’t stay long
33in Kat River on account of the asthma, but we couldn’t stay very long
34any how on account of the expense of the cart & horses. It will be too
35lovely if we three can manage it. You It will be something to look
36forward to all the time. We must take a Kodak with us & take views of
37all the spots at Healdtown & Balfour. Pleas
38
39 About the typing. I have only a very little bit ready would take a
40good typist about one day or less, & I copy out so slowly that it may
41be months before I have any more (I may never ever finish the book at
42all!) Otherwise if it were all done it would be a splendid plan to get
43Hettie to do. I have a splendid typewriter of my own & could do it
44myself but it hurts my chest so.
45
46 Give much love to the little mother. I am much better than I was. It
47may be partly owing to the great drought & the perfectly dry air up
48here now.
49
50Your Olive
51
2 Je 23 / 03
3
4 My darling
5
6 Thankyou for your beautiful letter.
7
8 As to mothers trap; they may not be in Cape Town because people do not
9use them there but they are to be had by hundreds ^NB Why not send to
10some of the carriage builders in London for their catalogues? telling
11them what you want? There is a cheap & very good one in Covent Garden
12from whom I got my trap. I have a friend in London Mrs Arthur Wilson
13who understands all about carts & horse & all that sort of thing. They
14are very wealthy people, but she would quite understand if we wanted a
15cheap thing & yet strong how to choose it. if any time you would like
16me to write to her about the trap I will Oh I wish I could afford to
17buy one for mother. It would be better if you could get something in
18Cape Town^ in every carriage shop in London in all styles from £20 up
19to £150 or £200!! They are always used in the country in England When
20I was there I nearly bought myself a little governess carriage as they
21call them all basket work but with very strong wheels &c for £14! Only
22I don’t like the sitting sided side ways as you always do in governess
23carriages. (They are called governess carriages because people always
24have them for the governess & children in England). Lady Lochs girls
25had a charming little one with a very comfortable seat all of the
26basket work strong & light, & in which you sat facing the horses She
27gave £12 for it! Such things are much stronger for bad roads than
28great heavy things. B because having no rigid body they don’t strain
29so. With a quiet old horse in a trap like that mother & you could go
30about anywhere
31
32 As to the trip in July: it will be simply splendid. I can’t stay long
33in Kat River on account of the asthma, but we couldn’t stay very long
34any how on account of the expense of the cart & horses. It will be too
35lovely if we three can manage it. You It will be something to look
36forward to all the time. We must take a Kodak with us & take views of
37all the spots at Healdtown & Balfour. Pleas
38
39 About the typing. I have only a very little bit ready would take a
40good typist about one day or less, & I copy out so slowly that it may
41be months before I have any more (I may never ever finish the book at
42all!) Otherwise if it were all done it would be a splendid plan to get
43Hettie to do. I have a splendid typewriter of my own & could do it
44myself but it hurts my chest so.
45
46 Give much love to the little mother. I am much better than I was. It
47may be partly owing to the great drought & the perfectly dry air up
48here now.
49
50Your Olive
51
Notation
The book that Schreiner 'may never ever finish' is likely to be From Man to Man, but could also be the planned 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa'. The essays to have composed this were originally published pseudonymously from 1891 on as by 'A Returned South African', and were also intended for publication in book form. However, although prepared for publication, a dispute with a US publisher and the events of the South African War prevented this. They and some related essays were posthumously published as Thoughts on South Africa.
The book that Schreiner 'may never ever finish' is likely to be From Man to Man, but could also be the planned 'Stray Thoughts on South Africa'. The essays to have composed this were originally published pseudonymously from 1891 on as by 'A Returned South African', and were also intended for publication in book form. However, although prepared for publication, a dispute with a US publisher and the events of the South African War prevented this. They and some related essays were posthumously published as Thoughts on South Africa.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/60 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | 3 August 1903 |
Address From | Uitkyk, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter-card is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front.
|
1
Uitkyk
2
3 My darling Effie
4
5 I’m so sorry I didn’t see you to say good bye. You are often in my
6thoughts. If your little one comes to us safely it will be a great
7treasure to us all. Now Uncle Will’s children are growing up I seem to
8long so for little children in the family. Take plenty of exercise
9only be careful to to walk up hill if you can help it. Love to Arthur.
10It’s so beautiful you are
11
12 ^so happy dear
13
14 Your little aunt Olive^
15
16
17
2
3 My darling Effie
4
5 I’m so sorry I didn’t see you to say good bye. You are often in my
6thoughts. If your little one comes to us safely it will be a great
7treasure to us all. Now Uncle Will’s children are growing up I seem to
8long so for little children in the family. Take plenty of exercise
9only be careful to to walk up hill if you can help it. Love to Arthur.
10It’s so beautiful you are
11
12 ^so happy dear
13
14 Your little aunt Olive^
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/61 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 6 August 1903 |
Address From | Uitkyk, 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.
|
1
P.O. Uitkyk
2 Aug 6 / 03
3
4 My darling old Ettie
5
6 Tomorrow will be your birthday. I shall think of you. I felt the first
7day I came to see mother when you & Effie were in the back room as if
8something was troubling you very much. Your life is so full of cares &
9sorrows which you must bear quite alone.
10
11 The little mother looks just wonderful to me dear, so free from all
12that swelling about the face & eyes. I cannot help feeling that she is
13very much freer from suffering that she used to be, though as you say,
14in a way, weaker.
15
16 I’m so glad dear Will spoke to me about your care for mother in the
17way he did. It’s so beautiful to me to know that we all realize, not
18alone what you are doing for the little mother but for all of us in
19taking care of her. Please send me John’s address, I’ve forgotten
20it. Good bye my darling. You seem to me to grow
21
22^more & more beautiful as you grow older.^
23
24Your little sis Olive
2 Aug 6 / 03
3
4 My darling old Ettie
5
6 Tomorrow will be your birthday. I shall think of you. I felt the first
7day I came to see mother when you & Effie were in the back room as if
8something was troubling you very much. Your life is so full of cares &
9sorrows which you must bear quite alone.
10
11 The little mother looks just wonderful to me dear, so free from all
12that swelling about the face & eyes. I cannot help feeling that she is
13very much freer from suffering that she used to be, though as you say,
14in a way, weaker.
15
16 I’m so glad dear Will spoke to me about your care for mother in the
17way he did. It’s so beautiful to me to know that we all realize, not
18alone what you are doing for the little mother but for all of us in
19taking care of her. Please send me John’s address, I’ve forgotten
20it. Good bye my darling. You seem to me to grow
21
22^more & more beautiful as you grow older.^
23
24Your little sis Olive
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/62 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Telegram |
Letter Date | 11 September 1903 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 telegram, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date and place this telegram was sent from are provided by the official stamps.
|
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
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/64 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Monday 14 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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Sep 14th 1903
3 Monday night
4
5 My darling
6
7 I got today your note of Saturday today dear. I can’t make out from
8it dear if either you or Will found time to drop me a line on Friday
9^the^ 4th Saturday the 5th or Sunday the 6th. In any case I have not got
10the lines & am not likely ever to get them as all letter coming for me
11from the colony were not allowed to reach me in the Free State. The
12post master here says he redirected several to me that arrived here on
13Monday & must have been posted on Friday the 4th or Saturday the 5th
14in Cape Town.
15
16 If none of you found time to drop me a line I shall quite understand
17it, my darling. For me I feel stupefied & can’t write to any one.
18Don’t try to write me a long letter darling just answer the
19following questions
20
21 1) Was Mother’s death quite sudden, or had she been worse for some
22days?
23
24 2) Was any one with her & who, at the last moment?
25
26 3) Was it a cold or influenza or simply the heart failing?
27
28 4) Did she know at all she was dying?
29
30 5) Did she suffer much?
31
32 6) Was she buried on ^Sunday^ Saturday, as you stated she would be in
33the wire from you & Will?
34
35 7) Were only the family at the funeral, & was it Catholic or
36Protestant?
37
38 Just answer these few questions shortly dear. It is eleven days since
39she died, & yet except that wire of two lines ^which I got on Saturday
40morning^ & your notes about unreadable the photograph I know nothing. I
41know how hard it is to write dear, but perhaps if you can’t Arthur
42Brown would just a few lines in answer to my 7 questions. The
43photographs will be very very precious to me.
44
45 Good bye, my darling.
46 Your little sister
47 Olive
48
49 If any of you wrote me a line on Friday ^4th^ or Saturday the 5th or
50Sunday the 6th please write to the Authorities at Bloemfontein I have
51written & the post master here has written but they have taken no
52notice of my letters. Possibly the censor has destroyed them, but they
53might mention having done so Both photographs will be very very
54precious to me.
55
56 Olive
57
58 I should have come down to Cape Town on Saturday, though I knew I
59should be to late, but I couldn’t afford it; of course I should have
60come whatever it had cost me if I could have seen her face. I can’t
61help thinking it must have come very suddenly at the end because if
62you had been expecting it you would have let me know I know.
63
64 I wonder what time in the afternoon mother died: so many times, even
65as long ago as at ?Willebury & as lately as at Seymour she has said
66about four in the afternoon or five, "Oh this is the time I know I
67shall die. I always have such a strange sad feeling at this time."
68
69
2 Sep 14th 1903
3 Monday night
4
5 My darling
6
7 I got today your note of Saturday today dear. I can’t make out from
8it dear if either you or Will found time to drop me a line on Friday
9^the^ 4th Saturday the 5th or Sunday the 6th. In any case I have not got
10the lines & am not likely ever to get them as all letter coming for me
11from the colony were not allowed to reach me in the Free State. The
12post master here says he redirected several to me that arrived here on
13Monday & must have been posted on Friday the 4th or Saturday the 5th
14in Cape Town.
15
16 If none of you found time to drop me a line I shall quite understand
17it, my darling. For me I feel stupefied & can’t write to any one.
18Don’t try to write me a long letter darling just answer the
19following questions
20
21 1) Was Mother’s death quite sudden, or had she been worse for some
22days?
23
24 2) Was any one with her & who, at the last moment?
25
26 3) Was it a cold or influenza or simply the heart failing?
27
28 4) Did she know at all she was dying?
29
30 5) Did she suffer much?
31
32 6) Was she buried on ^Sunday^ Saturday, as you stated she would be in
33the wire from you & Will?
34
35 7) Were only the family at the funeral, & was it Catholic or
36Protestant?
37
38 Just answer these few questions shortly dear. It is eleven days since
39she died, & yet except that wire of two lines ^which I got on Saturday
40morning^ & your notes about unreadable the photograph I know nothing. I
41know how hard it is to write dear, but perhaps if you can’t Arthur
42Brown would just a few lines in answer to my 7 questions. The
43photographs will be very very precious to me.
44
45 Good bye, my darling.
46 Your little sister
47 Olive
48
49 If any of you wrote me a line on Friday ^4th^ or Saturday the 5th or
50Sunday the 6th please write to the Authorities at Bloemfontein I have
51written & the post master here has written but they have taken no
52notice of my letters. Possibly the censor has destroyed them, but they
53might mention having done so Both photographs will be very very
54precious to me.
55
56 Olive
57
58 I should have come down to Cape Town on Saturday, though I knew I
59should be to late, but I couldn’t afford it; of course I should have
60come whatever it had cost me if I could have seen her face. I can’t
61help thinking it must have come very suddenly at the end because if
62you had been expecting it you would have let me know I know.
63
64 I wonder what time in the afternoon mother died: so many times, even
65as long ago as at ?Willebury & as lately as at Seymour she has said
66about four in the afternoon or five, "Oh this is the time I know I
67shall die. I always have such a strange sad feeling at this time."
68
69
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/65 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Rebecca Schreiner died in September 1903. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Thursday night
2
3 My darling Ettie,
4
5 Thank you for your letter. I haven’t written before because my heart
6seems to get so bad if I try to write to any one. I can get through my
7house work better.
8
9 I hope you got my wire & letter card all right. If you will let me
10know when Wynnie is passing I shall try to be there to meet her & get
11the photographs myself. But I shall have to know some time before as
12one can’t raise a cart & horses for hire in a minute here. I am so
13grateful you had the photos taken. It is strange that on the 2nd of
14September I was thinking that I would send down the money to ask you
15to have a photographer up take one especially for me.
16
17 I shall try to come down dear, next month October, or early in
18November. I should like to see the old room just once as it all was.
19Could you keep it so long. I think your plan about the things is very
20good, we can see about that when I come. Any of the old things I took
21would come back to the grand children Effie & Wyn & Dot or Ursula
22because I have no one else to leave them to. There is one thing if I
23would like to have if Will will let me ^have it.^ A photograph of Will,
24a very good one taken either in Kimberley or Town; it hung in
25mother’s little room. I have no photo of Will’s taken during the
26last 12 years & I should like to have it so much. I can’t write
27about the other old things to night. You might ask Will about the
28photograph before he gives it away to some one else, if you see him. I
29wish you could have some real rest & change, dear one. I suppose you
30will not care really to leave the Highlands before all is over & right
31with our little Effie. When that is over you should go away for a real
32complete change.
33
34 I am better, I have very little pain, I might almost say none, less
35than I have had for years. But I feel so weak, it feels like tiredness,
36 but no eating & no sleeping makes it any less. I would like to try &
37come down next month. My poor old husband ^is having a great deal of
38trouble here^. The man who managed his business here has mismanaged it
39terribly & I don’t want to leave him just now while he’s so
40worried & seems to cling to me (this about the business is private of
41course)
42
43 How is Guy’s health dear one & how is Elberty? I think it would be
44nice if you went up for a few weeks to John’s farm. Dear old John, I
45don’t like him being away up there so far from us all. I am always
46afraid of his getting ill & dying almost alone not liking to send for
47any of us - & we are all he has.
48
49 I’m so glad I came to Cape Town when I did. I was out walking alone
50that Friday evening, & I’d no intention of going to Cape Town, in
51fact there were many reasons why I didn’t want to go, & I’d only
52been out of bed for two days, & such a feeling came over me that I
53must go, & go the next Sunday. Miss Molteno & Miss Greene were so
54surprised when I came home to hear of my sudden resolve, & now I feel
55it was so right, I am so glad I went. You know Ettie why I knew she
56couldn’t live long, the swelling had gone out of the face & it was
57so small & bright again & the eye so clear. She looked like she used
58to years & years ago. I’m so glad Cron went.
59
60 Good bye dear one
61 Olive
62
2
3 My darling Ettie,
4
5 Thank you for your letter. I haven’t written before because my heart
6seems to get so bad if I try to write to any one. I can get through my
7house work better.
8
9 I hope you got my wire & letter card all right. If you will let me
10know when Wynnie is passing I shall try to be there to meet her & get
11the photographs myself. But I shall have to know some time before as
12one can’t raise a cart & horses for hire in a minute here. I am so
13grateful you had the photos taken. It is strange that on the 2nd of
14September I was thinking that I would send down the money to ask you
15to have a photographer up take one especially for me.
16
17 I shall try to come down dear, next month October, or early in
18November. I should like to see the old room just once as it all was.
19Could you keep it so long. I think your plan about the things is very
20good, we can see about that when I come. Any of the old things I took
21would come back to the grand children Effie & Wyn & Dot or Ursula
22because I have no one else to leave them to. There is one thing if I
23would like to have if Will will let me ^have it.^ A photograph of Will,
24a very good one taken either in Kimberley or Town; it hung in
25mother’s little room. I have no photo of Will’s taken during the
26last 12 years & I should like to have it so much. I can’t write
27about the other old things to night. You might ask Will about the
28photograph before he gives it away to some one else, if you see him. I
29wish you could have some real rest & change, dear one. I suppose you
30will not care really to leave the Highlands before all is over & right
31with our little Effie. When that is over you should go away for a real
32complete change.
33
34 I am better, I have very little pain, I might almost say none, less
35than I have had for years. But I feel so weak, it feels like tiredness,
36 but no eating & no sleeping makes it any less. I would like to try &
37come down next month. My poor old husband ^is having a great deal of
38trouble here^. The man who managed his business here has mismanaged it
39terribly & I don’t want to leave him just now while he’s so
40worried & seems to cling to me (this about the business is private of
41course)
42
43 How is Guy’s health dear one & how is Elberty? I think it would be
44nice if you went up for a few weeks to John’s farm. Dear old John, I
45don’t like him being away up there so far from us all. I am always
46afraid of his getting ill & dying almost alone not liking to send for
47any of us - & we are all he has.
48
49 I’m so glad I came to Cape Town when I did. I was out walking alone
50that Friday evening, & I’d no intention of going to Cape Town, in
51fact there were many reasons why I didn’t want to go, & I’d only
52been out of bed for two days, & such a feeling came over me that I
53must go, & go the next Sunday. Miss Molteno & Miss Greene were so
54surprised when I came home to hear of my sudden resolve, & now I feel
55it was so right, I am so glad I went. You know Ettie why I knew she
56couldn’t live long, the swelling had gone out of the face & it was
57so small & bright again & the eye so clear. She looked like she used
58to years & years ago. I’m so glad Cron went.
59
60 Good bye dear one
61 Olive
62
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/66 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 4 October 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Rebecca Schreiner died in September 1903. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Hanover
2 Oct 4 / 03
3
4 It is one month today since the little mother rested.
5
6 How are you, my dear one, & are you well? I’ve had the likenesses two
7days & I haven’t been able to write about them. The one is so
8unutterably beautiful, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my
9life. I keep leaving off my work in the kitchen & about the house &
10going into the bedroom to look at it. It fills me with such joy. Not
11calm peace, but a thrill of joy that I have hardly ever known for some
12years now. Beautiful death. When one reaches our age one leaves off
13crying about death, one cries for life – for all the unutterable
14suffering our beloveds have gone through, not abut the peace.
15
16 The other pictures are very fine & very beautiful. It is wonderful
17that in all her life she should never have had any real likeness taken
18till just at the end, & then these some of which are simple striking.
19I think in a way the one I love best is the little ?nos one no 3 in
20the first ^set^ unreadable with the white cape. It is so sweet. But the
21power, the genius, comes out in the big pictures, the wonderful
22strength & life: & also in them there is the shadow of coming death! I
23did not at first notice what you had written on ^the paper^, them, & I
24thought they were the first, & I thought how strange it was that in
25the big ones there was the coming shadow so much more plainly. No 1 of
26the ?big the ones is the most wonderful of the whole set; but no 2.
27where she was looking at you with the half smile is the one I want to
28keep always hanging before me. The beautiful glorious picture & the
29one of the grave at a distance I am going to have framed & hang just
30at the foot of my bed. The other one taken afterwards, I dare not ?let
31look at, I value it very much, if but there are the traces of pain in
32the face, something that cuts me to the quick: in years to come I
33shall look at it if I am here, but now I can’t. Don’t you think no 3
34of the first set very sweet? The little group where you four are
35together is very precious. The shadow of what was coming was on the
36little mothers face then, for all the eyes are so bright & large. But
37oh, it’s a ^beautiful shadow.^ - "how I praise the that are dead more
38than the living."
39
40 I want to write much more about the pictures but I can’t tonight. Oh
41darling, if you could know how sweet that lovely picture is to me. I
42slept with the little pillow last night. I always have something under
43my left shoulder to keep the pressure off the side. I think she would
44have liked to
45
46 ^know I used it.
47
48 Good bye my own sweet darling
49 Olive^
50
51 ^Don’t ask Will about the photo. I fancy it’s the very one that comes
52in the photograph & he might like to keep it himself. I only thought
53he might be giving it away to someone else.^
54
2 Oct 4 / 03
3
4 It is one month today since the little mother rested.
5
6 How are you, my dear one, & are you well? I’ve had the likenesses two
7days & I haven’t been able to write about them. The one is so
8unutterably beautiful, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my
9life. I keep leaving off my work in the kitchen & about the house &
10going into the bedroom to look at it. It fills me with such joy. Not
11calm peace, but a thrill of joy that I have hardly ever known for some
12years now. Beautiful death. When one reaches our age one leaves off
13crying about death, one cries for life – for all the unutterable
14suffering our beloveds have gone through, not abut the peace.
15
16 The other pictures are very fine & very beautiful. It is wonderful
17that in all her life she should never have had any real likeness taken
18till just at the end, & then these some of which are simple striking.
19I think in a way the one I love best is the little ?nos one no 3 in
20the first ^set^ unreadable with the white cape. It is so sweet. But the
21power, the genius, comes out in the big pictures, the wonderful
22strength & life: & also in them there is the shadow of coming death! I
23did not at first notice what you had written on ^the paper^, them, & I
24thought they were the first, & I thought how strange it was that in
25the big ones there was the coming shadow so much more plainly. No 1 of
26the ?big the ones is the most wonderful of the whole set; but no 2.
27where she was looking at you with the half smile is the one I want to
28keep always hanging before me. The beautiful glorious picture & the
29one of the grave at a distance I am going to have framed & hang just
30at the foot of my bed. The other one taken afterwards, I dare not ?let
31look at, I value it very much, if but there are the traces of pain in
32the face, something that cuts me to the quick: in years to come I
33shall look at it if I am here, but now I can’t. Don’t you think no 3
34of the first set very sweet? The little group where you four are
35together is very precious. The shadow of what was coming was on the
36little mothers face then, for all the eyes are so bright & large. But
37oh, it’s a ^beautiful shadow.^ - "how I praise the that are dead more
38than the living."
39
40 I want to write much more about the pictures but I can’t tonight. Oh
41darling, if you could know how sweet that lovely picture is to me. I
42slept with the little pillow last night. I always have something under
43my left shoulder to keep the pressure off the side. I think she would
44have liked to
45
46 ^know I used it.
47
48 Good bye my own sweet darling
49 Olive^
50
51 ^Don’t ask Will about the photo. I fancy it’s the very one that comes
52in the photograph & he might like to keep it himself. I only thought
53he might be giving it away to someone else.^
54
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/67 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 8 October 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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Oct 8 / 03
3
4 My old Ettie,
5
6 Yesterday some one dumped down at my door a most mysterious little
7Golden-syrup tin full of the most delicious nartje confiet I have ever
8tasted. They said it was given them at the station. There was only my
9name Olive Schreiner Hanover on it. Did it come from you? I can’t
10think of any one else. Perhaps you sent it with the pictures & the
11pillow when Wynnie came & the station master forgot to send it to me.
12I was very welcome because here we are going through the most awful
13drought I have ever seen or heard of. No milk, no butter, no
14vegetables, & hardly any decent meat in the district. There are only
15two cows in the whole village & they are kept in a stable & fed fed on
16imported unreadable ?cow grain. All the farmers have sent their cattle
17away to the Free State & are cutting the lambs throats because the
18ewes can’t feed them. Nearly all the meerkats in the veld are dead,
19& we ha are having wonderful sand storms like in Kimberley &
20Johannesburg & they are unknown here.
21
22 I am writing this with little ‘Arriet tucked away inside my jacked
23with her little nose against my neck, patting my neck every now & then
24with her little paw.
25
26 Darling I long to see you so. I must come to Cape Town soon if only
27for one day.
28
29 Your Olive
30
31 I have any time a moment to spare just let drop me one line to tell me
32how Elberty, Guy & Effie are doing & ^yourself my dear one.^
33
34
2 Oct 8 / 03
3
4 My old Ettie,
5
6 Yesterday some one dumped down at my door a most mysterious little
7Golden-syrup tin full of the most delicious nartje confiet I have ever
8tasted. They said it was given them at the station. There was only my
9name Olive Schreiner Hanover on it. Did it come from you? I can’t
10think of any one else. Perhaps you sent it with the pictures & the
11pillow when Wynnie came & the station master forgot to send it to me.
12I was very welcome because here we are going through the most awful
13drought I have ever seen or heard of. No milk, no butter, no
14vegetables, & hardly any decent meat in the district. There are only
15two cows in the whole village & they are kept in a stable & fed fed on
16imported unreadable ?cow grain. All the farmers have sent their cattle
17away to the Free State & are cutting the lambs throats because the
18ewes can’t feed them. Nearly all the meerkats in the veld are dead,
19& we ha are having wonderful sand storms like in Kimberley &
20Johannesburg & they are unknown here.
21
22 I am writing this with little ‘Arriet tucked away inside my jacked
23with her little nose against my neck, patting my neck every now & then
24with her little paw.
25
26 Darling I long to see you so. I must come to Cape Town soon if only
27for one day.
28
29 Your Olive
30
31 I have any time a moment to spare just let drop me one line to tell me
32how Elberty, Guy & Effie are doing & ^yourself my dear one.^
33
34
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/68 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 18 October 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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Oct 18 / 03
3
4 My darling
5
6 I can’t come just now. I will try to come a few weeks later. When
7does Effie expect her little one. I would like so much to see to see
8it, but fear I can’t put off my coming till so late, because I get
9asthma in December. Cron’s having a great deal of trouble & worry
10now, in business matters & I don’t feel I can leave him.
11
12 Good night my darling.
13 Your little sis
14 Olive
15
16 I am longing so curiously to see you.
17
18
2 Oct 18 / 03
3
4 My darling
5
6 I can’t come just now. I will try to come a few weeks later. When
7does Effie expect her little one. I would like so much to see to see
8it, but fear I can’t put off my coming till so late, because I get
9asthma in December. Cron’s having a great deal of trouble & worry
10now, in business matters & I don’t feel I can leave him.
11
12 Good night my darling.
13 Your little sis
14 Olive
15
16 I am longing so curiously to see you.
17
18
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/69 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 22 October 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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Oct 22nd 1903
3
4 Darling
5
6 I’m so glad you had that good meeting. I know how it strengthens one
7when you have felt you could do no more work to find the old power is
8still with you, & life is not quite useless to ones fellows. Many
9intellectual American women I have known hold firm their own personal
10experience, that a womans best time of work is after 50. That about 50
11she has a time of great dis-co-ordination & after that shas has
12sometimes a much larger power of work than even before. Perhaps you
13have twenty -
14
15 Oct 28th
16
17 Dear I got so far last Friday but have been unwell since & unable to
18write to any one.
19
20 I return the letter my darling, you don’t seem able to understand,
21dear one. One only wants to be free of the attacks of some people & by
22having any thing to do with them you expose yourself to them. You may
23say when you know people are dangerous & stab below the belt wouldn’t
24it be much more politic to make friends with them. But I have never
25made friends with any soul because I feared them yet.
26
27 Can’t you understand one just wants to be left alone mentally &
28physically by the people whom one mistrusts. That unless they repent &
29confess their wickedness one only wishes to forget their existence. If
30they were poor & lonely one would do any thing one could for them,
31otherwise one wishes to forget they are. I shouldn’t have sent you
32that not letter. But it brought back to me so clearly the meanness of
33his attacking me & stabbing me under the guise of brotherhood a
34creature, who directly, ^or indirectly,^ has never done him the smallest
35injury or wrong. But it’s best to forget quite.
36
37 Please What you say, my darling about remembering the past has
38profound truth in it; though I can’t see how it touches Theos making
39use of the ?past he was my brother & Will’s to stab us in the back. If
40he had never seen us till the week before the cowardice would have
41been just the same! I think too while you are profoundly right in one
42way in saying that men forget & have no past, you are wrong in another.
43 It is in matters of sex that men’s memories differ so entirely from
44womens; it is there that as you say, ^so truly,^ unreadable though there
45are a few exceptions (The only exceptions I know are three men of
46undoubted genius, a write, a noted man of science, & a great
47mathematician) they are rare that men & women are unlike. You will see
48how I deal with just this point in my novel. There is I believe a real
49physical poss basis for this difference in men & women’s memories as
50regards sexual emotions & relations. In the fact lies one of the grand
51points about which the tragedy of human life centres. The man does
52simply not remember what he thought & felt with regard to sex emotions
53- & the woman forgets nothing! A man remembers quite as well as a
54woman, the day he was top of his glass class & got the prize, he never
55forgets that through life. But the day he said good bye to the little
56school girl he loved, & how he wept when he said good bye to her, that
57he quite forgets Only a few men of genius who all women as well as men
58remember all the past & live with it as with today.
59
60 I am glad I didn’t come down now for the 25th. I should only have been
61ill there, & we couldn’t have gone on Sunday. I hope I will be able to
62come, early next month.
63
64 It’s very beautiful about old Jackson. I’ve only mentioned mothers
65death or showed her picture to one person in Hanover or anywhere. Its
66a Miss Viljoen a little old maid of about 40. She is uneducated in the
67ordinary sense, & can only speak Dutch. The day Mother’s picture came
68she was in my bedroom & it was on the mantle piece & I showed it her.
69She Yesterday she came & asked if I would mind letting her look at it
70again. She said, "I often say to myself when once it is framed
71
72 ^& hung up I shall often go there to look at it." I said to her "Do you
73know it makes me so happy when I look at it." She said "Oh yes; it is
74a thing to make a person feel happy!" So you see it’s not even only to
75us that picture seems so beautiful & wonderful.
76
77 Good bye darling
78 Olive^
79
80
81
82
2 Oct 22nd 1903
3
4 Darling
5
6 I’m so glad you had that good meeting. I know how it strengthens one
7when you have felt you could do no more work to find the old power is
8still with you, & life is not quite useless to ones fellows. Many
9intellectual American women I have known hold firm their own personal
10experience, that a womans best time of work is after 50. That about 50
11she has a time of great dis-co-ordination & after that shas has
12sometimes a much larger power of work than even before. Perhaps you
13have twenty -
14
15 Oct 28th
16
17 Dear I got so far last Friday but have been unwell since & unable to
18write to any one.
19
20 I return the letter my darling, you don’t seem able to understand,
21dear one. One only wants to be free of the attacks of some people & by
22having any thing to do with them you expose yourself to them. You may
23say when you know people are dangerous & stab below the belt wouldn’t
24it be much more politic to make friends with them. But I have never
25made friends with any soul because I feared them yet.
26
27 Can’t you understand one just wants to be left alone mentally &
28physically by the people whom one mistrusts. That unless they repent &
29confess their wickedness one only wishes to forget their existence. If
30they were poor & lonely one would do any thing one could for them,
31otherwise one wishes to forget they are. I shouldn’t have sent you
32that not letter. But it brought back to me so clearly the meanness of
33his attacking me & stabbing me under the guise of brotherhood a
34creature, who directly, ^or indirectly,^ has never done him the smallest
35injury or wrong. But it’s best to forget quite.
36
37 Please What you say, my darling about remembering the past has
38profound truth in it; though I can’t see how it touches Theos making
39use of the ?past he was my brother & Will’s to stab us in the back. If
40he had never seen us till the week before the cowardice would have
41been just the same! I think too while you are profoundly right in one
42way in saying that men forget & have no past, you are wrong in another.
43 It is in matters of sex that men’s memories differ so entirely from
44womens; it is there that as you say, ^so truly,^ unreadable though there
45are a few exceptions (The only exceptions I know are three men of
46undoubted genius, a write, a noted man of science, & a great
47mathematician) they are rare that men & women are unlike. You will see
48how I deal with just this point in my novel. There is I believe a real
49physical poss basis for this difference in men & women’s memories as
50regards sexual emotions & relations. In the fact lies one of the grand
51points about which the tragedy of human life centres. The man does
52simply not remember what he thought & felt with regard to sex emotions
53- & the woman forgets nothing! A man remembers quite as well as a
54woman, the day he was top of his glass class & got the prize, he never
55forgets that through life. But the day he said good bye to the little
56school girl he loved, & how he wept when he said good bye to her, that
57he quite forgets Only a few men of genius who all women as well as men
58remember all the past & live with it as with today.
59
60 I am glad I didn’t come down now for the 25th. I should only have been
61ill there, & we couldn’t have gone on Sunday. I hope I will be able to
62come, early next month.
63
64 It’s very beautiful about old Jackson. I’ve only mentioned mothers
65death or showed her picture to one person in Hanover or anywhere. Its
66a Miss Viljoen a little old maid of about 40. She is uneducated in the
67ordinary sense, & can only speak Dutch. The day Mother’s picture came
68she was in my bedroom & it was on the mantle piece & I showed it her.
69She Yesterday she came & asked if I would mind letting her look at it
70again. She said, "I often say to myself when once it is framed
71
72 ^& hung up I shall often go there to look at it." I said to her "Do you
73know it makes me so happy when I look at it." She said "Oh yes; it is
74a thing to make a person feel happy!" So you see it’s not even only to
75us that picture seems so beautiful & wonderful.
76
77 Good bye darling
78 Olive^
79
80
81
82
Notation
The novel referred to is likely to be From Man to Man.
The novel referred to is likely to be From Man to Man.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/70 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Content suggests that Schreiner was in Hanover when it was written. She was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere. The major drought referred to was in 1903.
|
1
Thursday night
2
3 My darling
4
5 I got back here today, an hour or two ago. One has to have been away
6to know how fearful this hot drought wind & pached earth are. But it
7is so sweet to see Cron again. He leaves the day after tomorrow for
8six weeks.
9
10 The meerkats are all well, except my favourite ‘Arriet who has been
11very ill.
12
13 Your heart would have been rewarded for your trouble in bringing that
14little box of apricots & peaches if you could have seen Cron eating
15them when we came home. He kept saying "This is something like."
16
17 One has to live through a drought like this to know the longing one
18feels for green stuff & fruit. I have felt like another person since I
19gobbled up that basket of strawberries at the railway station the
20first day I was in Cape Town!
21
22 The two women in the train were very nice. They tried to be nasty at
23first, but I so persistently wouldn’t see it, that they ended by
24saying when we parted that it had been "a joy" to travel with me &
25they hoped we would meet again!! & I felt quite sorry to part with
26them.
27
28 My darling, I wish you could get a rest right away somewhere if only
29for a couple of weeks. Won’t you go up with Elberty when he goes up
30to Leurivier Mills? They have had beautiful rains there it isn’t a
31terrible desert like this. I am afraid you hurried down very much ^the
32last day.^ & it will have done you harm.
33
34 Good bye, my dear one. I wonder if life will ever arrange itself so we
35can live somewhere near each other
36 Olive
37
38 ^Love to my dear nephews & pieces. I am so sorry I can see so little of
39them. I feel quite sure Elberty ought to go up to Leeuriever Mills.^
40
2
3 My darling
4
5 I got back here today, an hour or two ago. One has to have been away
6to know how fearful this hot drought wind & pached earth are. But it
7is so sweet to see Cron again. He leaves the day after tomorrow for
8six weeks.
9
10 The meerkats are all well, except my favourite ‘Arriet who has been
11very ill.
12
13 Your heart would have been rewarded for your trouble in bringing that
14little box of apricots & peaches if you could have seen Cron eating
15them when we came home. He kept saying "This is something like."
16
17 One has to live through a drought like this to know the longing one
18feels for green stuff & fruit. I have felt like another person since I
19gobbled up that basket of strawberries at the railway station the
20first day I was in Cape Town!
21
22 The two women in the train were very nice. They tried to be nasty at
23first, but I so persistently wouldn’t see it, that they ended by
24saying when we parted that it had been "a joy" to travel with me &
25they hoped we would meet again!! & I felt quite sorry to part with
26them.
27
28 My darling, I wish you could get a rest right away somewhere if only
29for a couple of weeks. Won’t you go up with Elberty when he goes up
30to Leurivier Mills? They have had beautiful rains there it isn’t a
31terrible desert like this. I am afraid you hurried down very much ^the
32last day.^ & it will have done you harm.
33
34 Good bye, my dear one. I wonder if life will ever arrange itself so we
35can live somewhere near each other
36 Olive
37
38 ^Love to my dear nephews & pieces. I am so sorry I can see so little of
39them. I feel quite sure Elberty ought to go up to Leeuriever Mills.^
40
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/71 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 12 November 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. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Nov 12 / 03
2
3 My darling
4
5 I am so sorry about the sweet old eyes. You know when I was in Town I
6didn’t like the look of them, but we all have such strong eyes
7whatever else may be break, that I thought it was fancy Perhaps a long
8change of air & real rest by building up your general strength might
9help them. I wish you could see Nettleship the great oculist in London
10his glasses made a new man of Cron.
11
12 About my coming, this is how it is.
13
14 There is a talk of Cron’s being chosen for Parliament for Prince
15Albert: the committee have to decide whether he or le Roux are to
16stand. If they decide he is to stand then he will be away at Prince
17Albert three weeks unreadable seeing his people, I my plan has been
18during that time to come to Cape Town as I cannot bear to leave him
19alone here. But week after week passes & the committee comes to no
20decision. & I didn’t like to write & ask them when they will decide.
21If I wait much longer I can’t come at all. I can’t come in the great
22worst heat. I shall sleep at Mrs Purcells when I come, as it is cooler
23there. My chest is getting steadily worse: every six months when I
24look back I can see a change. I am so grateful I kept so well that
25little time when I saw our little mother for the last time.
26
27 You know, there is in a way a difference between my feeling for mother
28& yours. You are sorrowing for the dear beautiful little old lady who
29has been like your little baby for the last two years. The mother I
30think of that fills my heart with anguish is not at all the mother of
31my early childhood, & not the mother you buried the other day. It is
32the mother who for from the time I adopted her for my child about 34
33year ago till a few years ago was the great unchanging element in my
34life, whom I never missed a week in writing to fo not one for 30 years
35except when I was on board ship. My little mother of the Seymour days,
36who one great interest in life was my holidays when I came to her, for
37whom I saved up all my little bits of money, who was the one person
38for whom I always felt I must keep on living because what could she do
39with out me. I wish you could have known her well in the Seymour days.
40She was beautiful. All those long dashing rides she & I used to take
41together on horse back, such a wild sudden agony comes into my heart
42when I think of that little Seymour mother. Did I ever tell you a
43beautiful little things? I once wrote a novel when I was very young
44long before an African Farm, it was my first long novel. It was about
45a little child in the first part whose youth childhood has been very
46bitter with the hunger for love & sympathy, & then there was the later
47life. I never showed it to any one, I had never shown anything I wrote
48to any human being. I was copying it out with some other ^old^things
49during the holidays at Seymour once, & mother & Mrs Laing were always
50very curious to know what I was writing at all day. One night I don’t
51know why, it suddenly came to me to tell mother she could read the M.S.
52 book if she liked. I gave it her when we went to bed, & I got into my
53bed in the same room & went to sleep. When I woke about two o’clock in
54the morning I felt she was t felt something was moving on the foot of
55my bed; it was mother lying across in her night gown, kissing my feet
56& unreadable crying "Oh my child my wonderful beautiful child, am I
57really your mother! Have I really given birth to a human creature who
58could write that! Oh forgive me, forgive me. You could never have
59written it if it had not been your own childhood. Oh forgive me,
60please forgive me." You know they say Ettie a person never knows what
61perfect bliss is; but twice in my life I have known it – that night, &
62during the first weeks in England when I first got to know Fred. For
6330 years there was never one little, little, little rift between
64mother & me. All the years in England she was the great ?light of my
65life. I kept journals which I sent her every week – when I got to
66England Fred wanted to give me £60 a year £5 a month: but I begged him
67instead to send it to mother. He only used to write to her once or
68twice a year, but I got him to write to her once unreadable a week. I
69wanted mother to be buried at Balfour mainly because I know the
70thought would have been beautiful to father that she should be with
71him; but back in my mind I think there is also a curious feeling that
72then I should have my little mother back again, that then I should
73know it was her as I stood by the grave.
74
75 I am going to Kat River next winter just to see it once more for the
76sake of those old days.
77
78 Of late years I was nothing to her, she didn’t need me. I went down
79from Kimberley to see her because I always went to see her twice a
80year. When I got there I got a letter not written by herself but by
81Notre Mere saying she did not want to see me. I must go back. Theo &
82Katie had left a few days before. Cron wasn’t with me I was alone. I
83never saw her again till when she was ill last in Grahamstown when you
84were there. I kept on writing to her every week just the same, but I
85knew she didn’t need me any more.
86
87 I think that picture is so beautiful to me where she lies dead because
88it looks just like she used to look in Seymour.
89
90 I hope I shall be able to come & see you, dear one. I will wire as
91soon as I know, but if you have any plans of going
92
93 ^any where don’t wait for me
94
95 Olive^
96
2
3 My darling
4
5 I am so sorry about the sweet old eyes. You know when I was in Town I
6didn’t like the look of them, but we all have such strong eyes
7whatever else may be break, that I thought it was fancy Perhaps a long
8change of air & real rest by building up your general strength might
9help them. I wish you could see Nettleship the great oculist in London
10his glasses made a new man of Cron.
11
12 About my coming, this is how it is.
13
14 There is a talk of Cron’s being chosen for Parliament for Prince
15Albert: the committee have to decide whether he or le Roux are to
16stand. If they decide he is to stand then he will be away at Prince
17Albert three weeks unreadable seeing his people, I my plan has been
18during that time to come to Cape Town as I cannot bear to leave him
19alone here. But week after week passes & the committee comes to no
20decision. & I didn’t like to write & ask them when they will decide.
21If I wait much longer I can’t come at all. I can’t come in the great
22worst heat. I shall sleep at Mrs Purcells when I come, as it is cooler
23there. My chest is getting steadily worse: every six months when I
24look back I can see a change. I am so grateful I kept so well that
25little time when I saw our little mother for the last time.
26
27 You know, there is in a way a difference between my feeling for mother
28& yours. You are sorrowing for the dear beautiful little old lady who
29has been like your little baby for the last two years. The mother I
30think of that fills my heart with anguish is not at all the mother of
31my early childhood, & not the mother you buried the other day. It is
32the mother who for from the time I adopted her for my child about 34
33year ago till a few years ago was the great unchanging element in my
34life, whom I never missed a week in writing to fo not one for 30 years
35except when I was on board ship. My little mother of the Seymour days,
36who one great interest in life was my holidays when I came to her, for
37whom I saved up all my little bits of money, who was the one person
38for whom I always felt I must keep on living because what could she do
39with out me. I wish you could have known her well in the Seymour days.
40She was beautiful. All those long dashing rides she & I used to take
41together on horse back, such a wild sudden agony comes into my heart
42when I think of that little Seymour mother. Did I ever tell you a
43beautiful little things? I once wrote a novel when I was very young
44long before an African Farm, it was my first long novel. It was about
45a little child in the first part whose youth childhood has been very
46bitter with the hunger for love & sympathy, & then there was the later
47life. I never showed it to any one, I had never shown anything I wrote
48to any human being. I was copying it out with some other ^old^things
49during the holidays at Seymour once, & mother & Mrs Laing were always
50very curious to know what I was writing at all day. One night I don’t
51know why, it suddenly came to me to tell mother she could read the M.S.
52 book if she liked. I gave it her when we went to bed, & I got into my
53bed in the same room & went to sleep. When I woke about two o’clock in
54the morning I felt she was t felt something was moving on the foot of
55my bed; it was mother lying across in her night gown, kissing my feet
56& unreadable crying "Oh my child my wonderful beautiful child, am I
57really your mother! Have I really given birth to a human creature who
58could write that! Oh forgive me, forgive me. You could never have
59written it if it had not been your own childhood. Oh forgive me,
60please forgive me." You know they say Ettie a person never knows what
61perfect bliss is; but twice in my life I have known it – that night, &
62during the first weeks in England when I first got to know Fred. For
6330 years there was never one little, little, little rift between
64mother & me. All the years in England she was the great ?light of my
65life. I kept journals which I sent her every week – when I got to
66England Fred wanted to give me £60 a year £5 a month: but I begged him
67instead to send it to mother. He only used to write to her once or
68twice a year, but I got him to write to her once unreadable a week. I
69wanted mother to be buried at Balfour mainly because I know the
70thought would have been beautiful to father that she should be with
71him; but back in my mind I think there is also a curious feeling that
72then I should have my little mother back again, that then I should
73know it was her as I stood by the grave.
74
75 I am going to Kat River next winter just to see it once more for the
76sake of those old days.
77
78 Of late years I was nothing to her, she didn’t need me. I went down
79from Kimberley to see her because I always went to see her twice a
80year. When I got there I got a letter not written by herself but by
81Notre Mere saying she did not want to see me. I must go back. Theo &
82Katie had left a few days before. Cron wasn’t with me I was alone. I
83never saw her again till when she was ill last in Grahamstown when you
84were there. I kept on writing to her every week just the same, but I
85knew she didn’t need me any more.
86
87 I think that picture is so beautiful to me where she lies dead because
88it looks just like she used to look in Seymour.
89
90 I hope I shall be able to come & see you, dear one. I will wire as
91soon as I know, but if you have any plans of going
92
93 ^any where don’t wait for me
94
95 Olive^
96
Notation
The 'first long novel' referred to is Undine.
The 'first long novel' referred to is Undine.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/72 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | January 1904 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 postcard is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope, although this is not fully legible; ‘Urgent’ has been written by Schreiner on the envelope and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
My darling
2
3 Theo tells me you are writing on the native question. Do take care
4what you write, my darling. Remember it is not always ink one dips
5one’s pen in; it may be blood in a country like South Africa. The
6majority of the people English & Dutch in this country want Closer
7Union because it will enable them to crush (to wipe out as an English
8Eastern Province farmer said to me) the natives. Every thing one says
9or does which rouses them into action injures the native, & may help
10to bring nearer that day when seas of blood will flow. A Johannesburg
11man wrote to me the other day that we must hasten on the Closer Union,
12because native is growing more educated & intelligent every day, & if
13we do not crush him now, we may not be able to do it at all, &c. These
14things must never be written of publically; but we must all work to
15promote federation instead of Unification. That is the only hope of a
16putting off the evil-day for the native. What there is a great opening
17for now, is private work, getting individuals of influence to try &
18see things in a generous & pure spirit. You know the great saying "No
19cause was ever yet ruined, except by its own defenders." I don’t
20mean don’t write beloved, but be care-ful.
21
22 Your,
23 Olive
24
25
26
2
3 Theo tells me you are writing on the native question. Do take care
4what you write, my darling. Remember it is not always ink one dips
5one’s pen in; it may be blood in a country like South Africa. The
6majority of the people English & Dutch in this country want Closer
7Union because it will enable them to crush (to wipe out as an English
8Eastern Province farmer said to me) the natives. Every thing one says
9or does which rouses them into action injures the native, & may help
10to bring nearer that day when seas of blood will flow. A Johannesburg
11man wrote to me the other day that we must hasten on the Closer Union,
12because native is growing more educated & intelligent every day, & if
13we do not crush him now, we may not be able to do it at all, &c. These
14things must never be written of publically; but we must all work to
15promote federation instead of Unification. That is the only hope of a
16putting off the evil-day for the native. What there is a great opening
17for now, is private work, getting individuals of influence to try &
18see things in a generous & pure spirit. You know the great saying "No
19cause was ever yet ruined, except by its own defenders." I don’t
20mean don’t write beloved, but be care-ful.
21
22 Your,
23 Olive
24
25
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/73 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | February 1909 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Theo Schreiner was ill with typhoid in Matjesfontein in February 1909. Schreiner was resident in Matjesfontein from late December 1908 to late March 1909.
|
1
My darling Thanks for your letter. What a splendid victory you had.
2Not one license given! I rejoice so with you.
3
4 It seems to me that most of our work just now must be ^more or less^
5private work on the native question. I have I have written to ^J.H.^
6Hofmeyer General Smuts, FS Malan &c. If you had meetings with your
7Good Templars & discussed the matter with me it would be invaluable. I
8wish I could get my friends Miss Molteno & Miss Greene to who were
9known as great partizans of the Boers to go round in the Free State &
10Transvaal holding small, semi-private meeting. I think we should all
11dwell on our duty to the natives, & our love for them, more than on
12the ill treatment they will receive. It is wonderful the power of
13imitation in human creatures; if they hear you love a thing they begin
14to think they love it it. I think that’s why one often does more by
15painting a beautiful ideal than by denouncing the opposite evil,
16though there are times when one must do that, perhaps.
17
18 Theo is better, sitting up a little every day.
19
20 Good bye darling.
21
22 The ?Huttons are coming on Wednesday. I almost hoped you were coming
23with them, but as they say nothing of it in their letter to Kate
24Stuart I suppose you are not.
25
26 Olive
27
28 ^You see, Hofmeyr & the Bond are inclined to a certain extent to stand
29with us. If we make the native question one on which there seems to be
30an exclusive English attack on the Dutch we shall drive them to join
31the Transvaalers to the great loss of the native. After all the native
32has no where such bitter opponents as the Johannesburgers & the
33English Eastern Province farmers.^
34
2Not one license given! I rejoice so with you.
3
4 It seems to me that most of our work just now must be ^more or less^
5private work on the native question. I have I have written to ^J.H.^
6Hofmeyer General Smuts, FS Malan &c. If you had meetings with your
7Good Templars & discussed the matter with me it would be invaluable. I
8wish I could get my friends Miss Molteno & Miss Greene to who were
9known as great partizans of the Boers to go round in the Free State &
10Transvaal holding small, semi-private meeting. I think we should all
11dwell on our duty to the natives, & our love for them, more than on
12the ill treatment they will receive. It is wonderful the power of
13imitation in human creatures; if they hear you love a thing they begin
14to think they love it it. I think that’s why one often does more by
15painting a beautiful ideal than by denouncing the opposite evil,
16though there are times when one must do that, perhaps.
17
18 Theo is better, sitting up a little every day.
19
20 Good bye darling.
21
22 The ?Huttons are coming on Wednesday. I almost hoped you were coming
23with them, but as they say nothing of it in their letter to Kate
24Stuart I suppose you are not.
25
26 Olive
27
28 ^You see, Hofmeyr & the Bond are inclined to a certain extent to stand
29with us. If we make the native question one on which there seems to be
30an exclusive English attack on the Dutch we shall drive them to join
31the Transvaalers to the great loss of the native. After all the native
32has no where such bitter opponents as the Johannesburgers & the
33English Eastern Province farmers.^
34
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/74 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 15 January 1904 |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Jan 15th 1904
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 Thank you for your letter dear. In a way I am better.
7
8 If I should wire for the nurse darling the Miss ?Laglor would do well:
9I wouldn’t have any one come here if I could help it. Day after day
10more people fall ill of typhoid & diphtheria. Its like the city of
11dreadful night. I am most sorry for the poor natives, who have less
12than we.
13
14 Good bye my darling I hope if ever you die I will die too abut the
15same time. I should not like living in the world without you.
16 Olive
17
18 ^One of the Doctors is down too with typhoid & they have sent for
19another. Every day there are fresh ones.^
20
21 ^I find the ?agents company never sent up that packet of mixed foods we
22left there for them & send up with stationary I opened the stationary
23packet today to find the food, but it is not there. Could some one ask
24for it. Darling tell me how you all are. I think so much of Guy.^
25
26
2 Jan 15th 1904
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 Thank you for your letter dear. In a way I am better.
7
8 If I should wire for the nurse darling the Miss ?Laglor would do well:
9I wouldn’t have any one come here if I could help it. Day after day
10more people fall ill of typhoid & diphtheria. Its like the city of
11dreadful night. I am most sorry for the poor natives, who have less
12than we.
13
14 Good bye my darling I hope if ever you die I will die too abut the
15same time. I should not like living in the world without you.
16 Olive
17
18 ^One of the Doctors is down too with typhoid & they have sent for
19another. Every day there are fresh ones.^
20
21 ^I find the ?agents company never sent up that packet of mixed foods we
22left there for them & send up with stationary I opened the stationary
23packet today to find the food, but it is not there. Could some one ask
24for it. Darling tell me how you all are. I think so much of Guy.^
25
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/75 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | February 1904 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Arthur Brown |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Feb 1904
3
4 Dear Arthur
5
6 The things are splendid in quality especially the cheese. I wished I
7had got 4 lb instead of one.
8
9 I’m so glad the little son thrives on his new form of nourishment.
10
11 I would have written sooner but have had a pretty serious turn. The
12doctor wired for Cron without my asking me as I was pretty well
13unconscious. He arrived on Friday morning & left again on Saturday
14night ^as I was much better^, but returns next Friday or Saturday for
15good.
16
17 More & more people are going down here with typhoid & this strange
18gastric affection. Of the latter people sometimes die when they’ve
19only been ill a few hours. unreadable is diarroheoa Violent pains
20vomiting & diarrheoa with unspeakable pains, ^in the stomach^ seem all
21the symptoms & they get cold rather that hot dying generally of actual
22failure of the heart: two white children died of it yesterday, & two
23white adult women & one white man have already died of it in addition
24to numbers of natives. There have been sometimes four funerals of
25natives in a day. One day there were three two whites & four natives
26buried, but of course that only happened once. The aunt of my little
27Hottentot servant died today in the house next door to me. My little
28Hottentot girl is still unable to walk with typhoid & it is the third
29death that has taken place in that house in a month.
30
31 We al have four trained nurses in the town now, but no more are to be
32had for love or money from Port Elizabeth or Kimberley or Bloemfontein.
33
34 This is a very cheerful letter but we have typhoid &c on the brain in
35this place, so you’ll be glad I should close, with much love to you all
36
37 Aunt Olive
38
39 ^Tell my darling old sister I’ll write to her soon.^
40
41
2 Feb 1904
3
4 Dear Arthur
5
6 The things are splendid in quality especially the cheese. I wished I
7had got 4 lb instead of one.
8
9 I’m so glad the little son thrives on his new form of nourishment.
10
11 I would have written sooner but have had a pretty serious turn. The
12doctor wired for Cron without my asking me as I was pretty well
13unconscious. He arrived on Friday morning & left again on Saturday
14night ^as I was much better^, but returns next Friday or Saturday for
15good.
16
17 More & more people are going down here with typhoid & this strange
18gastric affection. Of the latter people sometimes die when they’ve
19only been ill a few hours. unreadable is diarroheoa Violent pains
20vomiting & diarrheoa with unspeakable pains, ^in the stomach^ seem all
21the symptoms & they get cold rather that hot dying generally of actual
22failure of the heart: two white children died of it yesterday, & two
23white adult women & one white man have already died of it in addition
24to numbers of natives. There have been sometimes four funerals of
25natives in a day. One day there were three two whites & four natives
26buried, but of course that only happened once. The aunt of my little
27Hottentot servant died today in the house next door to me. My little
28Hottentot girl is still unable to walk with typhoid & it is the third
29death that has taken place in that house in a month.
30
31 We al have four trained nurses in the town now, but no more are to be
32had for love or money from Port Elizabeth or Kimberley or Bloemfontein.
33
34 This is a very cheerful letter but we have typhoid &c on the brain in
35this place, so you’ll be glad I should close, with much love to you all
36
37 Aunt Olive
38
39 ^Tell my darling old sister I’ll write to her soon.^
40
41
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/76 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 27 February 1904 |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Feb 27 / 04
3
4 My darling
5
6 I got your letter the books & then parcel just after I had posted my
7note to you
8
9 I am so very glad you are at Kalk Bay, resting a little & that Guy is
10with you. I couldn’t come there dear. No where near the sea suits me
11except the dear beautiful Mediterranean you can imagine how I love the
12Riviera when that is the f only place in the world where I can be near
13the sea & quite well. That & a farm in the Cradock district on the
14very top of the mountains called Lily Kloof, are the only two spots
15where I have no asthma. Thank you so much for the medicine & lime
16juice materials. I have made some & Cron likes it as much as I do.
17
18 Thankyou for the book dear. I have not yet had time to read it
19carefully. But it throughout very in tune, very real, not written for
20the sake of others reading them, ?but as the expression of the inner
21feeling ^& life^ of a soul. I can well understand all they have been to
22you, & also that such a writer might not care that any soul should
23talk over their work with them. I will read them all carefully dear
24one.
25
26 I am much better now, but the typhoid is spreading & spreading.
27Cron’s clerk is very ill with, & the unreadable little girl I had to
28help me, before I got this one. There are 30 cases in the town. ^among
29whites alone.^ I feel such a strange anxiety about Cron. I can’t
30shake myself free from a terror that he is going to get it though I
31never feared it for myself.
32
33 ^Good bye my darling. I hope the sea will rest you
34 Olive^
35
36 ^Mrs Purcell is away at the seaside for a couple of months & I don’t
37like to be always troubling her. But I may come down when there are
38cheap excursions again, if I can find a boarding house or rooms
39somewhere up Tamboer’s Kloof way. If ever you should hear of any at
40all up that way just let me know.^
41
42
2 Feb 27 / 04
3
4 My darling
5
6 I got your letter the books & then parcel just after I had posted my
7note to you
8
9 I am so very glad you are at Kalk Bay, resting a little & that Guy is
10with you. I couldn’t come there dear. No where near the sea suits me
11except the dear beautiful Mediterranean you can imagine how I love the
12Riviera when that is the f only place in the world where I can be near
13the sea & quite well. That & a farm in the Cradock district on the
14very top of the mountains called Lily Kloof, are the only two spots
15where I have no asthma. Thank you so much for the medicine & lime
16juice materials. I have made some & Cron likes it as much as I do.
17
18 Thankyou for the book dear. I have not yet had time to read it
19carefully. But it throughout very in tune, very real, not written for
20the sake of others reading them, ?but as the expression of the inner
21feeling ^& life^ of a soul. I can well understand all they have been to
22you, & also that such a writer might not care that any soul should
23talk over their work with them. I will read them all carefully dear
24one.
25
26 I am much better now, but the typhoid is spreading & spreading.
27Cron’s clerk is very ill with, & the unreadable little girl I had to
28help me, before I got this one. There are 30 cases in the town. ^among
29whites alone.^ I feel such a strange anxiety about Cron. I can’t
30shake myself free from a terror that he is going to get it though I
31never feared it for myself.
32
33 ^Good bye my darling. I hope the sea will rest you
34 Olive^
35
36 ^Mrs Purcell is away at the seaside for a couple of months & I don’t
37like to be always troubling her. But I may come down when there are
38cheap excursions again, if I can find a boarding house or rooms
39somewhere up Tamboer’s Kloof way. If ever you should hear of any at
40all up that way just let me know.^
41
42
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/77 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | 3 August 1904 |
Address From | Uitkyk, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter-card is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front.
|
1
PO Uitkyk
2 Fraserburg Rd
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 You don’t know how beautiful & sweet you seem to me dear one & what a
7joy & rest it is to me to see you even for a few moments. I wonder if
8the time will ever come when I shall live where I can sometimes see
9you. Will sof spoke so tenderly to me of your care for Mother. He said
10"she must be a very brave & a strong woman to do all she is doing, &
11as she is doing it." I was so
12
13^glad.
14
15 Good bye my darling
16 Olive^
17
18
19
2 Fraserburg Rd
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 You don’t know how beautiful & sweet you seem to me dear one & what a
7joy & rest it is to me to see you even for a few moments. I wonder if
8the time will ever come when I shall live where I can sometimes see
9you. Will sof spoke so tenderly to me of your care for Mother. He said
10"she must be a very brave & a strong woman to do all she is doing, &
11as she is doing it." I was so
12
13^glad.
14
15 Good bye my darling
16 Olive^
17
18
19
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/78 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 20 January 1904 |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Jan 20 / 04
3
4 My darling
5
6 I am feeling so anxious about you. You looked so unwell when I was in
7town. I am sure our Guy’s illness is telling on you even more than
8you yourself know, or something else is pressing very heavily on you.
9Your life is so complex, there must always be some great pressure
10somewhere.
11
12 I send you my dear friend Miss Greene’s because I think it must
13comfort you to know how happy even looking at you makes some people
14who are of a kind to understand you. She & Miss Molteno have been a
15great comfort & help of heart to me. I don’t know how I should have
16got through the last years without them. One feels the love & presence
17of beautiful spirits even when they are far removed from you.
18
19 I am up today & really better my temperature was 101 & 102½ for five
20days. For twenty days I have been quite alone in this house with-out a
21servant or a human being. Only twice any one has come to ask how I was.
22 I think the mental loneliness has been the most terrible part. I have
23sometimes felt as if my mind was giving way.
24
25 What is doing me good is drinking tar water. It is worth remembering,
26dear, take two tablespoons of pure Norwegian tar, put it in jug pour
27four dea tea cups of water on it: drink a cupful when cold, & another
28twelve hours after, & continue to take half cups-ful two or three
29times a day till better. On the quite empty stomach it has most effect.
30 It has done me more good than all the other medicine.
31
32 The fever is still raging here a fine young man of 20 died yesterday
33one of the doctors is down & several of the leading people. There is a
34native funeral every day. It all seems like a nightmare. I so am glad
35I managed to do without the nurse. It would have been such a terrible
36expense & I am earning nothing. I some times feel my brain & nervous
37power are going, I shall never do anything again
38
39 Good bye my darling. I wish ah how I wish you could get away for rest
40& change
41 Your Olive
42
43 ^Love to all the dear ones.^
44
45 ^There are 16 adult ^^white^^ people now down with typhoid in this little
46village besides all the cases of diphtheria & other complaints, &
47every one is so stricken with panic that no one will go to help look
48after the others.^
49
50
51
2 Jan 20 / 04
3
4 My darling
5
6 I am feeling so anxious about you. You looked so unwell when I was in
7town. I am sure our Guy’s illness is telling on you even more than
8you yourself know, or something else is pressing very heavily on you.
9Your life is so complex, there must always be some great pressure
10somewhere.
11
12 I send you my dear friend Miss Greene’s because I think it must
13comfort you to know how happy even looking at you makes some people
14who are of a kind to understand you. She & Miss Molteno have been a
15great comfort & help of heart to me. I don’t know how I should have
16got through the last years without them. One feels the love & presence
17of beautiful spirits even when they are far removed from you.
18
19 I am up today & really better my temperature was 101 & 102½ for five
20days. For twenty days I have been quite alone in this house with-out a
21servant or a human being. Only twice any one has come to ask how I was.
22 I think the mental loneliness has been the most terrible part. I have
23sometimes felt as if my mind was giving way.
24
25 What is doing me good is drinking tar water. It is worth remembering,
26dear, take two tablespoons of pure Norwegian tar, put it in jug pour
27four dea tea cups of water on it: drink a cupful when cold, & another
28twelve hours after, & continue to take half cups-ful two or three
29times a day till better. On the quite empty stomach it has most effect.
30 It has done me more good than all the other medicine.
31
32 The fever is still raging here a fine young man of 20 died yesterday
33one of the doctors is down & several of the leading people. There is a
34native funeral every day. It all seems like a nightmare. I so am glad
35I managed to do without the nurse. It would have been such a terrible
36expense & I am earning nothing. I some times feel my brain & nervous
37power are going, I shall never do anything again
38
39 Good bye my darling. I wish ah how I wish you could get away for rest
40& change
41 Your Olive
42
43 ^Love to all the dear ones.^
44
45 ^There are 16 adult ^^white^^ people now down with typhoid in this little
46village besides all the cases of diphtheria & other complaints, &
47every one is so stricken with panic that no one will go to help look
48after the others.^
49
50
51
Notation
Part of an undated Alice Greene letter is attached to this letter, which comments about Ettie, 'Who could look at your sister?s dear face & not feel happy? She much more than comes up to my expectations & hopes. I have hardly ever seen anything as large & kind & motherly & universal.' Schreiner has written on this, presumably to Ettie, that 'You can destroy when read.'.
Part of an undated Alice Greene letter is attached to this letter, which comments about Ettie, 'Who could look at your sister?s dear face & not feel happy? She much more than comes up to my expectations & hopes. I have hardly ever seen anything as large & kind & motherly & universal.' Schreiner has written on this, presumably to Ettie, that 'You can destroy when read.'.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/79 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 22 June 1904 |
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 end of this letter is missing.
|
1
Hanover
2 June 22nd 1904
3
4 Darling Sister
5
6 Let me know exactly what your plans are. I will try & go with you any
7time if there is only the smallest chance of getting the dear old
8man’s body to rest by Mother. Anyhow, I shall like to feel I have
9done all I can I think we can go by train as far as Beaufort Cookhouse
10now. Inquire in Cape Town. If we can, that will make the expense much
11less than if we had to take a waggon from Cookhouse or Bedford. I feel
12I must go with you even if Wynnie & Robert are there. I think the old
13father would have liked it that I should be there; & I may get better
14& be able to do some writing again ^& so earn plenty of money^. I have a
15little Kaffir boy of about 9 that I brought from the unreadable
16Reformatory he is a great help to me cleaning the pots & lighting the
17fire in the mornings &c, & perhaps I shall now get time for a little
18work when once I have got the house really clean & right
19
20 No people who have not all their own work to do can realize how
21grateful one should be to servants, even the stupidest & worst, for
22what they they do. There is no case on record of any cook or housemaid
23or scullery maid doing any literary or intellectual work of any kind,
24& the woman who combines all these forms of labour even for a small
25household of two becomes only a labour machine & has no thought or
26?fif life beyond. It may be the most useful & best life a woman can
27lead, but to suppose it can be combined with any real mental or
28creative work of any kind is idiocy. Managing a large household with
29several servants is a distracting life, but its quite different from
30having to do everything yourself. All your brain goes into your hands.
31
32 Cron is away at Johannesburg He has be gone five days now but will
33like not be back till the end of next week. I am here unreadable
34
35//I think so often of that lovely time we had on the sea shore
36together. Oh the beautiful sea & the sea weeds. It’s strange how
37some things stop in your memory. I hope we shall go to Bedford
38together darling. It will be a lovely memory too: & if Robert & Wynnie
39are there it will be very nice. I wish dear little Effie could be with
40us too. Isn’t her boy getting pretty? You know I think he’s going
41to be a singularly pretty child when once he has curls.
42
43 You know I dare not still look at that other picture of mother. If I
44glance at it for half a second I have to put it away ^quickly^. The one
45picture is just a grand picture of death, so grand there is something
46quite impersonal about it. The other is just mother, asleep; but all
47the agony all the care all the crush cruckedness of life is there. It
48wrings my heart.
49
50 Good bye dear one. Let me know exactly when you are unreadable
51
2 June 22nd 1904
3
4 Darling Sister
5
6 Let me know exactly what your plans are. I will try & go with you any
7time if there is only the smallest chance of getting the dear old
8man’s body to rest by Mother. Anyhow, I shall like to feel I have
9done all I can I think we can go by train as far as Beaufort Cookhouse
10now. Inquire in Cape Town. If we can, that will make the expense much
11less than if we had to take a waggon from Cookhouse or Bedford. I feel
12I must go with you even if Wynnie & Robert are there. I think the old
13father would have liked it that I should be there; & I may get better
14& be able to do some writing again ^& so earn plenty of money^. I have a
15little Kaffir boy of about 9 that I brought from the unreadable
16Reformatory he is a great help to me cleaning the pots & lighting the
17fire in the mornings &c, & perhaps I shall now get time for a little
18work when once I have got the house really clean & right
19
20 No people who have not all their own work to do can realize how
21grateful one should be to servants, even the stupidest & worst, for
22what they they do. There is no case on record of any cook or housemaid
23or scullery maid doing any literary or intellectual work of any kind,
24& the woman who combines all these forms of labour even for a small
25household of two becomes only a labour machine & has no thought or
26?fif life beyond. It may be the most useful & best life a woman can
27lead, but to suppose it can be combined with any real mental or
28creative work of any kind is idiocy. Managing a large household with
29several servants is a distracting life, but its quite different from
30having to do everything yourself. All your brain goes into your hands.
31
32 Cron is away at Johannesburg He has be gone five days now but will
33like not be back till the end of next week. I am here unreadable
34
35//I think so often of that lovely time we had on the sea shore
36together. Oh the beautiful sea & the sea weeds. It’s strange how
37some things stop in your memory. I hope we shall go to Bedford
38together darling. It will be a lovely memory too: & if Robert & Wynnie
39are there it will be very nice. I wish dear little Effie could be with
40us too. Isn’t her boy getting pretty? You know I think he’s going
41to be a singularly pretty child when once he has curls.
42
43 You know I dare not still look at that other picture of mother. If I
44glance at it for half a second I have to put it away ^quickly^. The one
45picture is just a grand picture of death, so grand there is something
46quite impersonal about it. The other is just mother, asleep; but all
47the agony all the care all the crush cruckedness of life is there. It
48wrings my heart.
49
50 Good bye dear one. Let me know exactly when you are unreadable
51
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/80 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1 July 1904 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 July 1st 1904
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 I feel so anxious about Guy from Aunt Het’s letter got today. Do
7drop me a line or get Arthur to just telling me how he is. I know Aunt
8Het has no time to write.
9
10 How is our Baby? Still growing so finely?
11
12 Cron says he is going to build on two little rooms to this house this
13year a little sitting room & spare bedroom & then you must come with
14Baby & stay with me. If only we can get the typhoid germs killed out
15here. I have been ill with a curious vomiting & diarrhoea ever since I
16came back, & Cron seems getting it today. Many people have it here who
17have not typhoid: but we are going to have pipes laid for the water
18they say. Cron saw your father when
19
20^he was in Johannesburg last week & says he was looking very well,
21indeed better than he ever saw him.^
22
23 Good bye darling child
24 Your small aunt Olive
25
26Love to Arthur & Lyndall
27
28
2 July 1st 1904
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 I feel so anxious about Guy from Aunt Het’s letter got today. Do
7drop me a line or get Arthur to just telling me how he is. I know Aunt
8Het has no time to write.
9
10 How is our Baby? Still growing so finely?
11
12 Cron says he is going to build on two little rooms to this house this
13year a little sitting room & spare bedroom & then you must come with
14Baby & stay with me. If only we can get the typhoid germs killed out
15here. I have been ill with a curious vomiting & diarrhoea ever since I
16came back, & Cron seems getting it today. Many people have it here who
17have not typhoid: but we are going to have pipes laid for the water
18they say. Cron saw your father when
19
20^he was in Johannesburg last week & says he was looking very well,
21indeed better than he ever saw him.^
22
23 Good bye darling child
24 Your small aunt Olive
25
26Love to Arthur & Lyndall
27
28
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/81 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1 August 1904 |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Aug 1st 1904
3
4 My darling old Etty
5
6 The 7th will be your birthday. I hope you will be spending it at
7Leuwrivier Mills & resting with both your boys near you. Do try & rest
8really for a little time dear one. It is such a comfort to think the
9Highlands is off your hands
10
11 Have you quite given up all idea of going to Balfour this year? I have maybe
12If I go it must be before the 21st or 22nd of August at latest. Neta
13^Neta^ has got cancer in the breast & I am going to take her down to
14Cape Town. My return ticket for Cape Town expires on the 7th of
15September & I must go as soon as I can if I am able.
16
17 I could not have gone this unreadable last month if you had been able.
18A strange dead dazed state is upon me. I seem to be going about more
19dead than alive, so torpid. unreadable
20
21 Good bye, my darling old sister. I hope you are resting. Don’t
22trouble to write more than a Post Card in reply if you are trying to
23rest
24
25 Olive.
26
27^I am ?sad The ?drawers & things came all right. I was just going to
28write that evening to tell you to keep the ?drawers. I shan’t be
29here for very long & they will only have to go back again. In one of
30mothers gloves I found 3d in the finger she had no doubt put it in
31some time when she went to church long ago. She always put her
32collection money in her glove. ^
33
34 I hope the air will do Guy good.
35
36 Good bye dear one
37 Olive
38
39
2 Aug 1st 1904
3
4 My darling old Etty
5
6 The 7th will be your birthday. I hope you will be spending it at
7Leuwrivier Mills & resting with both your boys near you. Do try & rest
8really for a little time dear one. It is such a comfort to think the
9Highlands is off your hands
10
11 Have you quite given up all idea of going to Balfour this year? I have maybe
12If I go it must be before the 21st or 22nd of August at latest. Neta
13^Neta^ has got cancer in the breast & I am going to take her down to
14Cape Town. My return ticket for Cape Town expires on the 7th of
15September & I must go as soon as I can if I am able.
16
17 I could not have gone this unreadable last month if you had been able.
18A strange dead dazed state is upon me. I seem to be going about more
19dead than alive, so torpid. unreadable
20
21 Good bye, my darling old sister. I hope you are resting. Don’t
22trouble to write more than a Post Card in reply if you are trying to
23rest
24
25 Olive.
26
27^I am ?sad The ?drawers & things came all right. I was just going to
28write that evening to tell you to keep the ?drawers. I shan’t be
29here for very long & they will only have to go back again. In one of
30mothers gloves I found 3d in the finger she had no doubt put it in
31some time when she went to church long ago. She always put her
32collection money in her glove. ^
33
34 I hope the air will do Guy good.
35
36 Good bye dear one
37 Olive
38
39
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/82 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | Saturday 27 August 1904 |
Address From | Bedford, Eastern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter-card is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front.
|
1
Bedford
2 Saturday
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 We got here this morning all well. Aunt Het is at Mrs Alcott’s & I
7here at the hotel. We shall leave as soon as the saloon carriage Uncle
8Will has arranged for comes, probably on Tuesday. I will be coming
9down next week & then I shall see our dear Baby again. I hope he
10
11^got no hurt from his fall
12
13 Your little Auntie
14 Olive^
15
16
17
2 Saturday
3
4 Darling Effie
5
6 We got here this morning all well. Aunt Het is at Mrs Alcott’s & I
7here at the hotel. We shall leave as soon as the saloon carriage Uncle
8Will has arranged for comes, probably on Tuesday. I will be coming
9down next week & then I shall see our dear Baby again. I hope he
10
11^got no hurt from his fall
12
13 Your little Auntie
14 Olive^
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/83 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 3 February 1905 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere.
|
1
Feb 3rd 1905
2
3 Darling Wynnie
4
5 Thank you so much about ^for^ your note about the dear ones in Cape Town.
6 The great fault in your letter was that there was so little about
7your self. It brought me curiously near you being there in your dear
8little room, it has made all your life seem so realizable to me. I was
9simply over run with people & engagements all the time I was in
10Johannesburg; I was hardly ever in.
11
12 Give my love to your father. He was so very good & kind to me. I am so
13glad you are there Wynnie. I feel as if he needs your love & presence;
14I never used to feel like that about him before. I travelled down with
15some of your teachers, & I liked them so. I don’t know if its after
16this terribly lonely life here, but my heart went out to them so.
17It’s such a joy to meet any body one can talk to.
18
19 I hope all goes well with you, dear. Much love to your father: don’t
20forget to give it him.
21
22 My family are well except my little Kaffir boy who I fear very much
23has heart disease or consumption. Good bye
24
25 Yours small aunt,
26 Olive
27
28 ^Didn’t Errol Earp & Willie Stuart do well? O.S.^
29
2
3 Darling Wynnie
4
5 Thank you so much about ^for^ your note about the dear ones in Cape Town.
6 The great fault in your letter was that there was so little about
7your self. It brought me curiously near you being there in your dear
8little room, it has made all your life seem so realizable to me. I was
9simply over run with people & engagements all the time I was in
10Johannesburg; I was hardly ever in.
11
12 Give my love to your father. He was so very good & kind to me. I am so
13glad you are there Wynnie. I feel as if he needs your love & presence;
14I never used to feel like that about him before. I travelled down with
15some of your teachers, & I liked them so. I don’t know if its after
16this terribly lonely life here, but my heart went out to them so.
17It’s such a joy to meet any body one can talk to.
18
19 I hope all goes well with you, dear. Much love to your father: don’t
20forget to give it him.
21
22 My family are well except my little Kaffir boy who I fear very much
23has heart disease or consumption. Good bye
24
25 Yours small aunt,
26 Olive
27
28 ^Didn’t Errol Earp & Willie Stuart do well? O.S.^
29
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/84 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 12 September 1905 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 CC
3 Sep 12 / 05
4
5 Darling Effie
6
7 Would you do me a great favour. I have written to ask Mrs Austin if
8she could kindly give me the address for ?Whitevarburg roofs but I
9don’t know her address or even her husbands name. Could you address
10the letter fully for me, & see she gets it?
11
12 I was so surprised to hear from Guy’s letter that Arthur had gone to
13Natal. Is he going to a situation there or has he gone for a change of
14air. Guy doesn’t say you & the little son went too, so I suppose you
15are still at the Highlands. Tell Guy I’ll send some unreadable as
16soon as I have some more. I’d just given my last away when I got his
17letter.
18
19 Have you good news from Aunt Het? Where is Wyn? How is my little
20nephew
21
22 Good night dear
23 Your small Aunt
24 Olive
25
26
2 CC
3 Sep 12 / 05
4
5 Darling Effie
6
7 Would you do me a great favour. I have written to ask Mrs Austin if
8she could kindly give me the address for ?Whitevarburg roofs but I
9don’t know her address or even her husbands name. Could you address
10the letter fully for me, & see she gets it?
11
12 I was so surprised to hear from Guy’s letter that Arthur had gone to
13Natal. Is he going to a situation there or has he gone for a change of
14air. Guy doesn’t say you & the little son went too, so I suppose you
15are still at the Highlands. Tell Guy I’ll send some unreadable as
16soon as I have some more. I’d just given my last away when I got his
17letter.
18
19 Have you good news from Aunt Het? Where is Wyn? How is my little
20nephew
21
22 Good night dear
23 Your small Aunt
24 Olive
25
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/85 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 17 October 1905 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Arthur Brown |
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.
|
1^
Hanover
2 Oct 17th 1905^
3
4 My dear Arthur
5
6 Do write & let me know as soon as there is any news of Effie to give
7me. I am thinking so much of her. Has Aunt Het come back? Has the care
8been started at the Highlands yet.
9
10 My love to you one & all. Please don’t forget to write me a line.
11
12 Your very loving aunt
13 Olive
14
2 Oct 17th 1905^
3
4 My dear Arthur
5
6 Do write & let me know as soon as there is any news of Effie to give
7me. I am thinking so much of her. Has Aunt Het come back? Has the care
8been started at the Highlands yet.
9
10 My love to you one & all. Please don’t forget to write me a line.
11
12 Your very loving aunt
13 Olive
14
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/86 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Friday July 1898 |
Address From | Kimberley |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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. Effie Hemming was in Kimberley in July 1898, connected with her aunt Ettie Stakesby-Lewis's temperance activities there; see OS to Effie Hemming 27 July 1898 A1.7/36.
|
1
Friday afternoon
2
3 My darling Effie
4
5 I was so surprised & glad to hear from Mrs Lodge this morning that you
6were coming today. If I am well enough I will come & see you tomorrow
7I will, if not & I send in the cart for you Sunday or Monday will you
8?please be able to drive out?
9
10 Do you know Alice Findlay & Hudson & Bessie are here staying at Dr
11Fullers.
12
13 Your loving small Aunt
14 Olive
15
16 Please give my love to dear Mrs Lodge & the girls.
17
18
2
3 My darling Effie
4
5 I was so surprised & glad to hear from Mrs Lodge this morning that you
6were coming today. If I am well enough I will come & see you tomorrow
7I will, if not & I send in the cart for you Sunday or Monday will you
8?please be able to drive out?
9
10 Do you know Alice Findlay & Hudson & Bessie are here staying at Dr
11Fullers.
12
13 Your loving small Aunt
14 Olive
15
16 Please give my love to dear Mrs Lodge & the girls.
17
18
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/87 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 6 August 1906 |
Address From | Haddon Hall, Tamboer’s Kloof, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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.
|
1
Hadden Hall
2 Aug 6 / 06
3
4 My darling Effie
5
6 I am so glad to hear things go fairly well with you. Yes, dear, I
7shall love to come & see you some day.
8
9 I’ve not seen Aunt Het for a long time. My heart & chest are very bad.
10I can’t go up to the Highlands. Sweet old Wyn came & spent a day with
11me Emma Earp is staying at the Highlands for a fortnight with her
12little new baby girl. Ely Findlay has taken a little house at Seapoint
13& is looking out for boarders. Poor, poor, old girl. I dread the life
14that lies before her. But she is splendidly strong & brave. I haven’t
15seen Uncle Will or any of them for a long time Aunt Fan not been well,
16a kind of asthma! I hope the business is doing well.
17
18 In three weeks time we shall be back at Hanover.
19
20 Good bye, my darling. Much love to Arthur & heaps of kisses for my two
21little nephews
22
23 Olive
24
25
2 Aug 6 / 06
3
4 My darling Effie
5
6 I am so glad to hear things go fairly well with you. Yes, dear, I
7shall love to come & see you some day.
8
9 I’ve not seen Aunt Het for a long time. My heart & chest are very bad.
10I can’t go up to the Highlands. Sweet old Wyn came & spent a day with
11me Emma Earp is staying at the Highlands for a fortnight with her
12little new baby girl. Ely Findlay has taken a little house at Seapoint
13& is looking out for boarders. Poor, poor, old girl. I dread the life
14that lies before her. But she is splendidly strong & brave. I haven’t
15seen Uncle Will or any of them for a long time Aunt Fan not been well,
16a kind of asthma! I hope the business is doing well.
17
18 In three weeks time we shall be back at Hanover.
19
20 Good bye, my darling. Much love to Arthur & heaps of kisses for my two
21little nephews
22
23 Olive
24
25
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/88 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 23 October 1906 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | c/o Librarian, Public Library, Johannesburg, Transvaal |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address the letter was sent to.
|
1
de Aar
2
3 ^I leave tomorrow for Matjesfontein^
4
5 My darling Wynnie
6
7 I have just heard from Aunt Ettie that my dear old brother has gone
8from us. Oh Wynnie, why didn’t I obey the feeling I’ve had so
9often the last weeks that I must write to him, & I kept putting it off
10thinking I’d write when I was a little better. My darling, I know
11how you will feel it that you were not with him. Just too late. Dear
12when last I saw him in Johannesburg it made me so sad. It seemed as if
13the shadow had already fallen on him. That beautiful kindly nature,
14which never through all its long stay on earth, ever, wilfully
15inflicted suffering on any human creature! Surely a more Christlike
16attribute than all those that make a great noise in the world. One
17could wish nothing better to be said of one over ones new grave.
18
19 My darling, I am so glad Theo is with you I could bear to think of
20your being there all alone. Winnie, if there is still time when this
21reaches you buy a little wreath & put it on his coffin. I think he
22would have liked it.
23
24 Good bye, dear.
25 Your little Aunt
26 Olive
27
28
29
2
3 ^I leave tomorrow for Matjesfontein^
4
5 My darling Wynnie
6
7 I have just heard from Aunt Ettie that my dear old brother has gone
8from us. Oh Wynnie, why didn’t I obey the feeling I’ve had so
9often the last weeks that I must write to him, & I kept putting it off
10thinking I’d write when I was a little better. My darling, I know
11how you will feel it that you were not with him. Just too late. Dear
12when last I saw him in Johannesburg it made me so sad. It seemed as if
13the shadow had already fallen on him. That beautiful kindly nature,
14which never through all its long stay on earth, ever, wilfully
15inflicted suffering on any human creature! Surely a more Christlike
16attribute than all those that make a great noise in the world. One
17could wish nothing better to be said of one over ones new grave.
18
19 My darling, I am so glad Theo is with you I could bear to think of
20your being there all alone. Winnie, if there is still time when this
21reaches you buy a little wreath & put it on his coffin. I think he
22would have liked it.
23
24 Good bye, dear.
25 Your little Aunt
26 Olive
27
28
29
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/89 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday November 1906 |
Address From | Hotel Milner, Matjesfontein, Western Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Guy Hemming became ill in November 1906 and had a mental breakdown in January 1907. The letter is on printed headed notepaper with a photograph of the hotel.
|
1
Hotel Milner
2 Matjesfontein
3 Sunday night, 1906
4
5 Dear Wynnie
6
7 Thank you for the picture, dear, it is very very beautiful & sweet.
8There is nothing so beautiful as an old face when it is beautiful.
9Dear, I feel so very, very sorry about the news about our poor old Guy.
10 You know I haven’t liked to say anything but I’ve feared it would
11be so at last; none of us can know what an agony of depression that
12poor brain is going through. Does he seem much worse than he was? I
13know though you say nothing how it all weighs on you. You have had so
14much of sorrow & weight in your comparatively young life, & you bear
15it all so bravely.
16
17^I am so glad my dear old sister got away for those couple of days. I
18don’t like to think of all she has to pass through ^
19
20 Good bye dear
21 Yours ever
22 Olive Schreiner
23
24 I am much much better.
25
26
27
2 Matjesfontein
3 Sunday night, 1906
4
5 Dear Wynnie
6
7 Thank you for the picture, dear, it is very very beautiful & sweet.
8There is nothing so beautiful as an old face when it is beautiful.
9Dear, I feel so very, very sorry about the news about our poor old Guy.
10 You know I haven’t liked to say anything but I’ve feared it would
11be so at last; none of us can know what an agony of depression that
12poor brain is going through. Does he seem much worse than he was? I
13know though you say nothing how it all weighs on you. You have had so
14much of sorrow & weight in your comparatively young life, & you bear
15it all so bravely.
16
17^I am so glad my dear old sister got away for those couple of days. I
18don’t like to think of all she has to pass through ^
19
20 Good bye dear
21 Yours ever
22 Olive Schreiner
23
24 I am much much better.
25
26
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/90 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 28 November 1906 |
Address From | Hotel Milner, Matjesfontein, Western Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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. This letter is written on printed headed notepaper with a photograph of the hotel.
|
1
Hotel Milner
2 Matjesfontein
3 Nov 28th 1906
4
5 Darling Effie
6
7 It was a surprise to get your letter. If you are going back because
8Arthur has got a good post at Cape Town I am so glad. I hope you
9didn’t have to leave because the business wouldn’t pay at Leuw
10Rivier Mills. Business is so bad everywhere now.
11
12 I would have gone to the station to see you, but I knew Kate Stuart
13would want to go.
14
15 I saw you & A & baby going passed from the Hotel stoep, & waved to you;
16 but of course you didn’t see me. How are the two little one. Is my
17darling boy much grown? Has his hair grown long yet. Tell me a little
18about them when you have time.
19
20 Give my love to Wynne & tell her how very glad I shall be to get one
21of the last photos of your father.
22
23 I am much much better & am staying here till the 9th of January.
24
25 How is the Cure getting on? Has Aunt Het many paying patients? Is
26little Miss Molteno getting better? Is Miss ?Centans still there?
27
28 Good bye, my darling. I hope all goes well with you, & that your
29leaving Louw Rivier was not caused by any trouble
30
31 Your loving Auntie
32 Olive
33
34 Give my love to my dear old sister
35
2 Matjesfontein
3 Nov 28th 1906
4
5 Darling Effie
6
7 It was a surprise to get your letter. If you are going back because
8Arthur has got a good post at Cape Town I am so glad. I hope you
9didn’t have to leave because the business wouldn’t pay at Leuw
10Rivier Mills. Business is so bad everywhere now.
11
12 I would have gone to the station to see you, but I knew Kate Stuart
13would want to go.
14
15 I saw you & A & baby going passed from the Hotel stoep, & waved to you;
16 but of course you didn’t see me. How are the two little one. Is my
17darling boy much grown? Has his hair grown long yet. Tell me a little
18about them when you have time.
19
20 Give my love to Wynne & tell her how very glad I shall be to get one
21of the last photos of your father.
22
23 I am much much better & am staying here till the 9th of January.
24
25 How is the Cure getting on? Has Aunt Het many paying patients? Is
26little Miss Molteno getting better? Is Miss ?Centans still there?
27
28 Good bye, my darling. I hope all goes well with you, & that your
29leaving Louw Rivier was not caused by any trouble
30
31 Your loving Auntie
32 Olive
33
34 Give my love to my dear old sister
35
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/91 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 20 December 1906 |
Address From | Hotel Milner, Matjesfontein, Western 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. This letter is on printed headed notepaper with a photograph of the hotel.
|
1
Hotel Milner
2 Matjesfontein
3 Dec 20th 1906
4
5 My old Darling
6
7 How my thoughts are continually turning to you you don’t know. It is
8so heard to me that you should have this sorrow with your boys health.
9When people bring children into the world, one feels as if they have
10much sorrow over them, well, they had the pleasure of bringing them
11into the world, & brought them in deliberately, & they must run the
12risk with the pleasure. But when one takes those who are brought into
13the world by others & devotes all one’s youth & life to rearing them,
14 one does so want to see joy & rest come from them. Poor darling Guy,
15terrible as his ill health is for him it is for you I feel it so, my
16darling. One does so want you to have a little rest & joy now after
17your life of toil for others since you were a little child & used to
18help mother so in the house. All one can comfort oneself with is that
19so many hundreds have had rest & help & comfort from what you have
20done for them - & it is more blessed to give than receive. But it is
21also so beautiful to see a little fruit of ones labour – not to
22receive – but just to see those one has laboured for are well &
23happy. unreadable You have done so much for us all my darling, & we
24seem able to do so little for you.
25
26 Good bye dear one, your little sister
27 Olive
28
29 ^I am wonderfully better; but its only while I don’t do anything. As
30soon as I exert myself it all comes back.^
31
32^You know I have such a terrible fear that some day our dear boy’s
33mind may give way altogether. He is living in a very deep mist of
34depression; which because it is physical he cannot be helped out of.
35How is Elberty. I cannot help feeling darling that if you gave up any
36idea of Elberty studying & going in for the unreadable, & got him some
37simple stead physical work it would be better for him. ^
38
39 Olive
40
41
42
2 Matjesfontein
3 Dec 20th 1906
4
5 My old Darling
6
7 How my thoughts are continually turning to you you don’t know. It is
8so heard to me that you should have this sorrow with your boys health.
9When people bring children into the world, one feels as if they have
10much sorrow over them, well, they had the pleasure of bringing them
11into the world, & brought them in deliberately, & they must run the
12risk with the pleasure. But when one takes those who are brought into
13the world by others & devotes all one’s youth & life to rearing them,
14 one does so want to see joy & rest come from them. Poor darling Guy,
15terrible as his ill health is for him it is for you I feel it so, my
16darling. One does so want you to have a little rest & joy now after
17your life of toil for others since you were a little child & used to
18help mother so in the house. All one can comfort oneself with is that
19so many hundreds have had rest & help & comfort from what you have
20done for them - & it is more blessed to give than receive. But it is
21also so beautiful to see a little fruit of ones labour – not to
22receive – but just to see those one has laboured for are well &
23happy. unreadable You have done so much for us all my darling, & we
24seem able to do so little for you.
25
26 Good bye dear one, your little sister
27 Olive
28
29 ^I am wonderfully better; but its only while I don’t do anything. As
30soon as I exert myself it all comes back.^
31
32^You know I have such a terrible fear that some day our dear boy’s
33mind may give way altogether. He is living in a very deep mist of
34depression; which because it is physical he cannot be helped out of.
35How is Elberty. I cannot help feeling darling that if you gave up any
36idea of Elberty studying & going in for the unreadable, & got him some
37simple stead physical work it would be better for him. ^
38
39 Olive
40
41
42
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/92 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | After Start: January 1907 ; Before End: October 1907 |
Address From | Hanover, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark, although this is not fully legible, and the address it was sent to and the addressee are on the front. Schreiner was resident in Hanover from September 1900 to October 1907, after 1902 with visits, sometimes fairly lengthy, elsewhere. In later October 1907, she moved to De Aar.
|
1
Dear,
2
3 Have you still got your old copy of Mrs Segurneys (I don’t know how
4her name is spelt) poems? If you have could you lend it me. I
5specially want it. I’ve been trying for years to buy a copy, but
6can’t. How is Miss Molteno? I wish I could see you
7
8 Olive
9
10
11
2
3 Have you still got your old copy of Mrs Segurneys (I don’t know how
4her name is spelt) poems? If you have could you lend it me. I
5specially want it. I’ve been trying for years to buy a copy, but
6can’t. How is Miss Molteno? I wish I could see you
7
8 Olive
9
10
11
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/93 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 29 January 1907 |
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.
|
1
Hanover
2 Jan 29th 1907
3
4 My own old Ettie
5
6 How my heart is with you in this awful, the most awful of all sorrows
7on earth which has over taken you. I knew it must come to this at last
8my dear one. I saw clearly three years ago when I was at Tamboers
9Kloof first that his mind was gone. I didn’t like to say anything to
10you about it, or to any humanbeing. And he’s got steadily worse. I
11hope great things from his going to Valken berg. it is always better
12(strange as it seems) in such cases that people should be far away
13from those they have known & loved, especially those very near to them.
14 I would not even go to see him if I were you, any of you, till he
15begs terribly.
16
17 I had a dear friend in England married to a beautiful talented young
18barrister. They were a most tenderly attached couple sharing all each
19others lives. Then she went through three awful year; naturally the
20best tempered of men he used to abuse & attack every one. If an editor
21would not take an article of his he used to go & threaten to kill him
22& abuse him; & all her life for three years was spent in trying to
23excuse him to people & stop actions against him. No one but she knew
24he could not help it. Then he tried to murder her & the children &
25kill himself. After he had three times tried to kill himself she gave
26all her children away to his relations & said she would devote her
27life to nursing him, as the doctors said his case was softening of the
28brain & hopeless. He got worse & worse; at last she gave him & then
29let him go to an asylum where he never saw her or the children or any
30of his friends & he began to get better, but as soon as he saw any of
31his relations of friends, especially her whom she ^he^ had tenderly
32loved he went back.
33
34 They left him there for some years: & he is now so well that he lives
35again with her & the children & writes brilliant articles in the
36magazines! This gives one hope. I am only sorry that the man who is
37attending him is some one from the Highlands ^Dr Berry tells me^. I
38should like every link with the past broken for a while. But there is
39this great comfort that you can hear exact news of him weekly. I do
40wish they him some gardening or more or less ?comforting physical work
41to do. Pretend to him he must work to earn his living & that he can’t
42get his meals till he’s done so much. They did so with a man I knew in
43England & the affect was wonderful. The one thing that makes me very
44anxious is that his physical health seems good. Those cases are always
45the most hopeful where there is terrible physical weakness & falling
46away of flesh. Oh my darling I have no words to tell you how I feel
47for you, & dear Wynnie & Effie.
48
49^I know how hard it is for you all.
50
51
52 Good bye my dear one
53 Olive^
54
55 ^There is a wealthy lady here who I fancy would like to send a daughter
56of about 14 to you who suffers slightly from fits which they fear may
57become epileptic. Have you room for more? Is Eveline ?Centlivres
58getting better? Is the place paying now? I do hope so.^
59
60
2 Jan 29th 1907
3
4 My own old Ettie
5
6 How my heart is with you in this awful, the most awful of all sorrows
7on earth which has over taken you. I knew it must come to this at last
8my dear one. I saw clearly three years ago when I was at Tamboers
9Kloof first that his mind was gone. I didn’t like to say anything to
10you about it, or to any humanbeing. And he’s got steadily worse. I
11hope great things from his going to Valken berg. it is always better
12(strange as it seems) in such cases that people should be far away
13from those they have known & loved, especially those very near to them.
14 I would not even go to see him if I were you, any of you, till he
15begs terribly.
16
17 I had a dear friend in England married to a beautiful talented young
18barrister. They were a most tenderly attached couple sharing all each
19others lives. Then she went through three awful year; naturally the
20best tempered of men he used to abuse & attack every one. If an editor
21would not take an article of his he used to go & threaten to kill him
22& abuse him; & all her life for three years was spent in trying to
23excuse him to people & stop actions against him. No one but she knew
24he could not help it. Then he tried to murder her & the children &
25kill himself. After he had three times tried to kill himself she gave
26all her children away to his relations & said she would devote her
27life to nursing him, as the doctors said his case was softening of the
28brain & hopeless. He got worse & worse; at last she gave him & then
29let him go to an asylum where he never saw her or the children or any
30of his friends & he began to get better, but as soon as he saw any of
31his relations of friends, especially her whom she ^he^ had tenderly
32loved he went back.
33
34 They left him there for some years: & he is now so well that he lives
35again with her & the children & writes brilliant articles in the
36magazines! This gives one hope. I am only sorry that the man who is
37attending him is some one from the Highlands ^Dr Berry tells me^. I
38should like every link with the past broken for a while. But there is
39this great comfort that you can hear exact news of him weekly. I do
40wish they him some gardening or more or less ?comforting physical work
41to do. Pretend to him he must work to earn his living & that he can’t
42get his meals till he’s done so much. They did so with a man I knew in
43England & the affect was wonderful. The one thing that makes me very
44anxious is that his physical health seems good. Those cases are always
45the most hopeful where there is terrible physical weakness & falling
46away of flesh. Oh my darling I have no words to tell you how I feel
47for you, & dear Wynnie & Effie.
48
49^I know how hard it is for you all.
50
51
52 Good bye my dear one
53 Olive^
54
55 ^There is a wealthy lady here who I fancy would like to send a daughter
56of about 14 to you who suffers slightly from fits which they fear may
57become epileptic. Have you room for more? Is Eveline ?Centlivres
58getting better? Is the place paying now? I do hope so.^
59
60
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/94 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 1907 |
Address From | Eastbergholt, Tamboer’s Kloof Road, Gardens, Cape Town, Western 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
Eastbergholt
2 Tambour’s Kloof Rd
3 Sunday morning
4
5 My darling
6
7 I was so sorry I couldn’t come to the meeting it was a terrible day.
8I did not get off the bed all day & simply couldn’t come. Fan was so
9delighted with your speech said it was so fine.
10
11 I shall try to go to hear the speeches & perhaps shall be able to see
12you after the meeting for a moment.
13
14 I left two of my meerkat boxes at Elizas & they are now in town. Ely
15said you were sending the waggon down for some of her things. If I can
16arrange could the boy take up by two meerkat boxes to unreadable ^stop^
17at the Highlands till I decide what to do with them? Tell me tomorrow
18evening.
19
20 Oh my darling I do such wish you could get rid of the Highlands
21altogether.
22
23 Good bye darling
24 Olive
25
26
27
2 Tambour’s Kloof Rd
3 Sunday morning
4
5 My darling
6
7 I was so sorry I couldn’t come to the meeting it was a terrible day.
8I did not get off the bed all day & simply couldn’t come. Fan was so
9delighted with your speech said it was so fine.
10
11 I shall try to go to hear the speeches & perhaps shall be able to see
12you after the meeting for a moment.
13
14 I left two of my meerkat boxes at Elizas & they are now in town. Ely
15said you were sending the waggon down for some of her things. If I can
16arrange could the boy take up by two meerkat boxes to unreadable ^stop^
17at the Highlands till I decide what to do with them? Tell me tomorrow
18evening.
19
20 Oh my darling I do such wish you could get rid of the Highlands
21altogether.
22
23 Good bye darling
24 Olive
25
26
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/95 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1907 |
Address From | De Aar, 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 year and place have been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
My own Ellie
2
3 It was strange I got your letter this morning: last night as I was
4walking up & down the room I kept thinking of you, & it struck me
5perhaps you’d like bring Guy here, & stay in this little house. But
6a letter from Dr Brown tells me you are going to stay at a boarding
7house near Triangle. Oh my darling I hope it will do Guy good, but
8there will be little, little rest for thy dear heart!
9
10 I often wonder if an idea of mine that keeps coming to me would have
11any good for you in it.
12
13 Logan’s big Hotel Milner does not pay. For nearly two months I was
14the only person there. Their charges are too high & Mr Logan doesn’t
15get on with most people, but it’s a splendid house with about 40
16unreadable bedrooms, & beautiful sitting rooms & drawing rooms &
17smoking room. As an hotel merely it will never pay; but it always
18comes to me what an ideal place for your work, on the railway line
19where everyone could see it & hear of of it, & where everyone could
20come as far as climate goes, because its not as high as these awfull
21parts, & not low & damp in Winter like Cape Town. I heard from some
22one, not Mr Logan, but someone who knows about his business that Logan
23wants to let ^close^ it. If you could let the Highlands to some rich
24Johannesburgers furnished & could for for the same price take the
25Hotel Milner you might ultimately have 100 patients because there are
26a number of empty house there you could use. The only difficulty would
27be I don’t know if you could get water enough for the baths.
28
29 It isn’t only because then I could come & stay with you, that I
30dream of this, its much more I think it would suite you & Elberty &
31all much better. Though I do long so to see you & be near you if you
32were staying anywhere where it was at all possible I would come & try
33your treatment. And oh my darling I long so to be near those I love.
34I'm so lonely here. Cron has to stay at de Aar, his business is
35getting large & he couldn’t go any where else. But I fear I shall
36never be able to live there. I have been very ill lately dear I have
37never been like this before except at de Aar, attacks of angina
38unreadable coming often, & always this faintness & coldness; it never
39leaves me now. I shan’t be able to stay in Cape Town this cession,
40but perhaps I’ll go down with Cron for a few weeks because its the
41only place where I can see my darling any more. Oh Ellie isn’t it
42strange how one loves ones husband; its like a hundred children in one,
43 nothing breaks it, nothing really changes it.
44
45 Is it a boarding house you are going to stay at near to Triangle? If
46there’s room for me & I shouldn’t be disturbing you, I’d like so
47to come & stay a week when I’m coming up from Cape Town. I know I
48shan’t be able to stay there more than a couple of weeks; I shall
49never stay in Cape Town more than a couple of weeks, I was too ill
50last time.
51
52 All life is just becoming a dream of physical pain to me, a dream that
53seems slipping between my fingers & I can’t grasp anything. People
54think when people drop dead suddenly of heart disease they have died
55easily; they don’t know the years in which they have struggled hand
56over hand with death, by day & by night. I would be so willing to die,
57but oh I wish so to get just a little well to finish my book. Then I
58could die easily & think I had left something to comfort & help some
59other women perhaps.
60
61 Good bye my dear one. I do hope that rest will do you good, if Guy
62gets better, of course it will, but if he doesn’t you will get worse
63& worse under the invisible strain. Yet I understand so well your
64longing to try what you can do.
65
66 Your old little
67 Emmie
68
69
70
2
3 It was strange I got your letter this morning: last night as I was
4walking up & down the room I kept thinking of you, & it struck me
5perhaps you’d like bring Guy here, & stay in this little house. But
6a letter from Dr Brown tells me you are going to stay at a boarding
7house near Triangle. Oh my darling I hope it will do Guy good, but
8there will be little, little rest for thy dear heart!
9
10 I often wonder if an idea of mine that keeps coming to me would have
11any good for you in it.
12
13 Logan’s big Hotel Milner does not pay. For nearly two months I was
14the only person there. Their charges are too high & Mr Logan doesn’t
15get on with most people, but it’s a splendid house with about 40
16unreadable bedrooms, & beautiful sitting rooms & drawing rooms &
17smoking room. As an hotel merely it will never pay; but it always
18comes to me what an ideal place for your work, on the railway line
19where everyone could see it & hear of of it, & where everyone could
20come as far as climate goes, because its not as high as these awfull
21parts, & not low & damp in Winter like Cape Town. I heard from some
22one, not Mr Logan, but someone who knows about his business that Logan
23wants to let ^close^ it. If you could let the Highlands to some rich
24Johannesburgers furnished & could for for the same price take the
25Hotel Milner you might ultimately have 100 patients because there are
26a number of empty house there you could use. The only difficulty would
27be I don’t know if you could get water enough for the baths.
28
29 It isn’t only because then I could come & stay with you, that I
30dream of this, its much more I think it would suite you & Elberty &
31all much better. Though I do long so to see you & be near you if you
32were staying anywhere where it was at all possible I would come & try
33your treatment. And oh my darling I long so to be near those I love.
34I'm so lonely here. Cron has to stay at de Aar, his business is
35getting large & he couldn’t go any where else. But I fear I shall
36never be able to live there. I have been very ill lately dear I have
37never been like this before except at de Aar, attacks of angina
38unreadable coming often, & always this faintness & coldness; it never
39leaves me now. I shan’t be able to stay in Cape Town this cession,
40but perhaps I’ll go down with Cron for a few weeks because its the
41only place where I can see my darling any more. Oh Ellie isn’t it
42strange how one loves ones husband; its like a hundred children in one,
43 nothing breaks it, nothing really changes it.
44
45 Is it a boarding house you are going to stay at near to Triangle? If
46there’s room for me & I shouldn’t be disturbing you, I’d like so
47to come & stay a week when I’m coming up from Cape Town. I know I
48shan’t be able to stay there more than a couple of weeks; I shall
49never stay in Cape Town more than a couple of weeks, I was too ill
50last time.
51
52 All life is just becoming a dream of physical pain to me, a dream that
53seems slipping between my fingers & I can’t grasp anything. People
54think when people drop dead suddenly of heart disease they have died
55easily; they don’t know the years in which they have struggled hand
56over hand with death, by day & by night. I would be so willing to die,
57but oh I wish so to get just a little well to finish my book. Then I
58could die easily & think I had left something to comfort & help some
59other women perhaps.
60
61 Good bye my dear one. I do hope that rest will do you good, if Guy
62gets better, of course it will, but if he doesn’t you will get worse
63& worse under the invisible strain. Yet I understand so well your
64longing to try what you can do.
65
66 Your old little
67 Emmie
68
69
70
Notation
'Finishing my book' at this time in Schreiner's life refers to From Man to Man.
'Finishing my book' at this time in Schreiner's life refers to From Man to Man.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/96 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Telegram |
Letter Date | 19 July 1907 |
Address From | Uniondale, Western Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 telegram, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date and the address this telegram was sent from are provided by the official stamps.
|
1
From Schreiner
2
3 To Effie Hemming
4 Highlands
5 Gardens
6 Cape Town
7
8 Bravo heartily congratulate you
9
10
11
2
3 To Effie Hemming
4 Highlands
5 Gardens
6 Cape Town
7
8 Bravo heartily congratulate you
9
10
11
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/97 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | 22 July 1907 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter-card is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front. The place the postcard was sent from is indicated by content.
|
1
My darling
2
3 I did not go to the Burial Ground today as I had your letter. I will
4meet you at the station tomorrow ^on Sunday^ afternoon next about 2.30.
5If I’m not there wait. I shall be sure to come. Of course if it’s
6raining we can’t go. Darling you didn’t understand about Guy. What
7Will longs for is to help you. Whether it help's Guy or not doesn’t
8make any difference to him; What if it eases your dear mind, to think
9you had done all for him that you think may help. If I only had the
10money I would give it you at once, though I’m quite sure it
11wouldn’t help Guy, but it would be the only way I could help you;
12you, who have done so much for us all, whose life is so precious to
13Will & me; as it is to hundreds.
14
15 Olive
16
17
18
2
3 I did not go to the Burial Ground today as I had your letter. I will
4meet you at the station tomorrow ^on Sunday^ afternoon next about 2.30.
5If I’m not there wait. I shall be sure to come. Of course if it’s
6raining we can’t go. Darling you didn’t understand about Guy. What
7Will longs for is to help you. Whether it help's Guy or not doesn’t
8make any difference to him; What if it eases your dear mind, to think
9you had done all for him that you think may help. If I only had the
10money I would give it you at once, though I’m quite sure it
11wouldn’t help Guy, but it would be the only way I could help you;
12you, who have done so much for us all, whose life is so precious to
13Will & me; as it is to hundreds.
14
15 Olive
16
17
18
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/98 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | 24 July 1907 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter-card is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner stayed in Cape Town from early July to mid August 1907.
|
1
My darling
2
3 I can think of absolutely nothing but you all my life it has seemed to
4me that the most terrible thing that can befall a human creature is to
5have one they love as Guy is. And now near the end of your long life
6of pure devotion to others, this has fallen on you. I fear so this
7will break you down utterly.
8
9 Your old
10 Olive
11
12
13
2
3 I can think of absolutely nothing but you all my life it has seemed to
4me that the most terrible thing that can befall a human creature is to
5have one they love as Guy is. And now near the end of your long life
6of pure devotion to others, this has fallen on you. I fear so this
7will break you down utterly.
8
9 Your old
10 Olive
11
12
13
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/99 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | 27 August 1907 |
Address From | na |
Address To | c/o Miss Forbes, Beaufort Street, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this letter-card is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front.
|
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/101 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 5 August 1908 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western 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 has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Schreiner stayed in Cape Town from early July to mid August 1907.
|
1
Thursday night
2
3 My darling
4
5 I thought you looking so ill yesterday when I first came. You really
6must have rest. I know when one has that blue look in ones face,
7exactly what it means; I’m always like that at de Aar, but here
8I’m another creature.
9
10I’m sending
11
12 I will try to come up another day soon, & bring you "The Convert.’
13Now I see I can walk up it’s a new thing. I can easily come.
14
15 I ?would come up again tomorrow darling to see you on your ?very
16birthday, but I have go & see Cron’s poor old mother who wrote me
17quite a touching letter today wanting my help in a matter.
18
19 It’s strange how one’s heart clings to people when they are sick &
20need you.
21
22^I didn’t see any thing really of you today, my darling. You’ll be
23in your little sisters thoughts tomorrow. ^
24
25 Olive
26
2
3 My darling
4
5 I thought you looking so ill yesterday when I first came. You really
6must have rest. I know when one has that blue look in ones face,
7exactly what it means; I’m always like that at de Aar, but here
8I’m another creature.
9
10I’m sending
11
12 I will try to come up another day soon, & bring you "The Convert.’
13Now I see I can walk up it’s a new thing. I can easily come.
14
15 I ?would come up again tomorrow darling to see you on your ?very
16birthday, but I have go & see Cron’s poor old mother who wrote me
17quite a touching letter today wanting my help in a matter.
18
19 It’s strange how one’s heart clings to people when they are sick &
20need you.
21
22^I didn’t see any thing really of you today, my darling. You’ll be
23in your little sisters thoughts tomorrow. ^
24
25 Olive
26
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/102 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday February 1909 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Theo Schreiner was ill with typhoid in Matjesfontein in February 1909. Schreiner was resident in Matjesfontein from late December 1908 to late March 1909.
|
1
Tuesday
2
3 My darling
4
5 Theo seems much better this morning. ^He is reading the news paper^ The
6coloured woman sat up with him, & he only woke once & called for her
7during the whole night. His tem is 101 ^very good for the second week^.
8I can’t understand quite, dear, why you are so glad I offered to do
9anything I could in the way of nursing. You know surely I would help
10or nurse if I could any human creature in the whole world if I thought
11there was no one else to do it. All the people here are afraid of
12fever. Please don’t compel me to talk of things I would rather leave
13unspoken of.
14
15 I long so to see you, dear. But I more than doubt whether you will
16come.
17
18 Your little sister
19 Olive
20
21 Ettie darling, Theo seems doing splendidly this morning his
22temperature is quite normal 99. He discusses the newspapers &c with
23great pleasure. This is the 16th day ^the doctor says^ so he ought to be
24all right in five days. I think he has rather longed to see you
25(Don’t mention this to Kate Stuart.) When I’m alone with him he
26asks so ?wistfully if I’ve heard from you, & as if I think you’ll
27come &c. I tell you this not to make you anxious or feel you must come,
28 but because if I were in your place I would like to know it. It might
29make you feel more able to come if Mr Hutton comes.
30
31 Olive
32
33^Friday morning ^
34 I’m so thankful dear Arthur has that post small as it is.
35
36
37
2
3 My darling
4
5 Theo seems much better this morning. ^He is reading the news paper^ The
6coloured woman sat up with him, & he only woke once & called for her
7during the whole night. His tem is 101 ^very good for the second week^.
8I can’t understand quite, dear, why you are so glad I offered to do
9anything I could in the way of nursing. You know surely I would help
10or nurse if I could any human creature in the whole world if I thought
11there was no one else to do it. All the people here are afraid of
12fever. Please don’t compel me to talk of things I would rather leave
13unspoken of.
14
15 I long so to see you, dear. But I more than doubt whether you will
16come.
17
18 Your little sister
19 Olive
20
21 Ettie darling, Theo seems doing splendidly this morning his
22temperature is quite normal 99. He discusses the newspapers &c with
23great pleasure. This is the 16th day ^the doctor says^ so he ought to be
24all right in five days. I think he has rather longed to see you
25(Don’t mention this to Kate Stuart.) When I’m alone with him he
26asks so ?wistfully if I’ve heard from you, & as if I think you’ll
27come &c. I tell you this not to make you anxious or feel you must come,
28 but because if I were in your place I would like to know it. It might
29make you feel more able to come if Mr Hutton comes.
30
31 Olive
32
33^Friday morning ^
34 I’m so thankful dear Arthur has that post small as it is.
35
36
37
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/103 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Monday February 1909 |
Address From | na |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Theo Schreiner was ill with typhoid in Matjesfontein in February 1909. Schreiner was resident in Matjesfontein from late December 1908 to late March 1909.
|
1
Monday night
2
3 My darling.
4
5 I do hope you y will come on Friday. It will be beautiful to see you.
6I am not sitting up with Theo tonight Kate has got a coloured woman.
7Tell the Huttons to bring up all they need a box with sugar tinned
8things &c as all the things here at the shop are awfully bad. Let me
9know in time when you are coming so that the house may be ready.
10
11 Olive
12
13
14
2
3 My darling.
4
5 I do hope you y will come on Friday. It will be beautiful to see you.
6I am not sitting up with Theo tonight Kate has got a coloured woman.
7Tell the Huttons to bring up all they need a box with sugar tinned
8things &c as all the things here at the shop are awfully bad. Let me
9know in time when you are coming so that the house may be ready.
10
11 Olive
12
13
14
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/104 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 7 February 1909 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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.
|
1
Matjesfontein
2 Feb 9 7th 1909
3 Thursday
4
5 Darling
6
7 Just a line. I thought Kate wrote daily or I would have sent a line
8yesterday. But Theo seems getting on splendidly. But of course the
9great difficulty will be when the time comes that he can take solid
10food as this his digestion is not strong, he will have to be unusually
11careful. The first three days ^I went there^ he was very ill never
12really resting & if Alice could have come then it would have been of
13use. His bowel only act once in three days never oftener, & that of
14course makes the danger & difficulty much less. The doctor says it is
15very good it should be so. In all my long experience of typhoid I have
16never seen a case so light; but, on the other hand, with his weak
17heart & digestion he will have to take unusual care as to food for a
18long time.
19
20 Kate does all for him, & doesn’t want any one to do the actual
21nursing but herself so no one would be of any use except in the way of
22giving Theo pleasure.
23
24 Good bye darling. I hope all goes well with your work.
25 Your little sister,
26 Olive
27
28
2 Feb 9 7th 1909
3 Thursday
4
5 Darling
6
7 Just a line. I thought Kate wrote daily or I would have sent a line
8yesterday. But Theo seems getting on splendidly. But of course the
9great difficulty will be when the time comes that he can take solid
10food as this his digestion is not strong, he will have to be unusually
11careful. The first three days ^I went there^ he was very ill never
12really resting & if Alice could have come then it would have been of
13use. His bowel only act once in three days never oftener, & that of
14course makes the danger & difficulty much less. The doctor says it is
15very good it should be so. In all my long experience of typhoid I have
16never seen a case so light; but, on the other hand, with his weak
17heart & digestion he will have to take unusual care as to food for a
18long time.
19
20 Kate does all for him, & doesn’t want any one to do the actual
21nursing but herself so no one would be of any use except in the way of
22giving Theo pleasure.
23
24 Good bye darling. I hope all goes well with your work.
25 Your little sister,
26 Olive
27
28
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/105 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Monday February 1909 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Theo Schreiner was ill with typhoid in Matjesfontein in February 1909. Schreiner was resident in Matjesfontein from late December 1908 to late March 1909.
|
1
Monday
2
3 Theo is getting on splendidly next Saturday will be the 21st day. I
4don’t know if the doctor will let him get up. Kate Stuart is nursing
5him most devotedly & skilfully. She's a good nurse.
6
7 We went last night to the station to meet Mrs Mrs & Miss Dugmore, but
8they weren’t there.
9
10 Tell Arthur to write & tell me whether he feels ?fired at
11Cartwright’s & what salary would make him & Effie feel it was
12worthwhile going to the Transvaal (Johannesburg) I don’t want to try
13unless I know they really care to settle there for good.
14
15 Good bye my darling
16 Olive
17
18
19
2
3 Theo is getting on splendidly next Saturday will be the 21st day. I
4don’t know if the doctor will let him get up. Kate Stuart is nursing
5him most devotedly & skilfully. She's a good nurse.
6
7 We went last night to the station to meet Mrs Mrs & Miss Dugmore, but
8they weren’t there.
9
10 Tell Arthur to write & tell me whether he feels ?fired at
11Cartwright’s & what salary would make him & Effie feel it was
12worthwhile going to the Transvaal (Johannesburg) I don’t want to try
13unless I know they really care to settle there for good.
14
15 Good bye my darling
16 Olive
17
18
19
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/106 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | February 1909 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Theo Schreiner was ill with typhoid in Matjesfontein in February 1909. Schreiner was resident in Matjesfontein from late December 1908 to late March 1909.
|
1
My dear One
2
3 I do hope you will come. I don’t think the little cottage has the
4out look you would like it’s quiet enough but looks out into a yard,
5a nice clean yard but still not nature. I have asked Jimmy Logan. He
6says he doesn’t generally let rooms alone, but as I explained to him
7you couldn’t eat meat egg &c, & must feed yourself he says you can
8have a single room in the Hotel or a double room (any room you like)
9in the villa for £2 a month that will include the use of the Hotel
10baths & the servant to do your rooms change you sheets &c &c. The
11villa is delightful, you could have the whole balcony & verandah to
12yourself. At least up to the present there has never been any one in
13it except a police man who sleeps at the back & now & then a passing
14Boer for one night who doesn’t like to pay the higher price in the
15hotel. ^You might bring up your hammocks to fasten up in the trees.^
16
17 What I should advise is that you come sleep the first night in the
18hotel & then look at the villa & the cottage & decide for yourself.
19The food here is very good, now old Logan has bucked things up, but
20its only meat & ^white^ bread &c. which would not suit you. If you do
21come bring up a blue flame or spirit stove with you & all the little
22things you think you will want.
23
24 Good bye dear one
25 Olive
26
27
28
2
3 I do hope you will come. I don’t think the little cottage has the
4out look you would like it’s quiet enough but looks out into a yard,
5a nice clean yard but still not nature. I have asked Jimmy Logan. He
6says he doesn’t generally let rooms alone, but as I explained to him
7you couldn’t eat meat egg &c, & must feed yourself he says you can
8have a single room in the Hotel or a double room (any room you like)
9in the villa for £2 a month that will include the use of the Hotel
10baths & the servant to do your rooms change you sheets &c &c. The
11villa is delightful, you could have the whole balcony & verandah to
12yourself. At least up to the present there has never been any one in
13it except a police man who sleeps at the back & now & then a passing
14Boer for one night who doesn’t like to pay the higher price in the
15hotel. ^You might bring up your hammocks to fasten up in the trees.^
16
17 What I should advise is that you come sleep the first night in the
18hotel & then look at the villa & the cottage & decide for yourself.
19The food here is very good, now old Logan has bucked things up, but
20its only meat & ^white^ bread &c. which would not suit you. If you do
21come bring up a blue flame or spirit stove with you & all the little
22things you think you will want.
23
24 Good bye dear one
25 Olive
26
27
28
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/107 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 28 February 1909 |
Address From | Matjesfontein, Western Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner was resident in Matjesfontein from late December 1908 to late March 1909. The final insertion is written on the envelope.
|
1
Private Sunday
2
3 Dear I think we should on no account wish for a "referendum" now.
4There would be a vast majority in favour of the constitution, I think.
5Wait till Will has been home a week & rested his poor tired brain a
6little, & then, when he has seen people in Cape Town ask his advice.
7My idea is that our hope of imp up setting the convent is to keep
8quite quiet on the native question, in public & newspapers till the
9Bond Congress. If Hofmeyr & the ^a part of the^ Bond are opposed to the
10convention, then we must take our measures for working in Parliament.
11It is just possible we may get a majority of members who will not
12accept the convention as it stands, that might break Merriman who is
13our great enemy on this matter & might give us a year. If the Bond
14does not oppose Merriman, then of course the convention will pass.
15
16 There is not one ^white^ man in five taking the Colony as a who wants to
17see the native enfranchised. If we make the opposition purely one on
18the native question we ensure its passing. What it seems to me you
19might do now with great advantage is to see any member’s of
20parliament of your way of thinking like Cartwright &c; & try to
21strengthen them in standing against the constitution.
22
23 I would say much if we were together.
24
25 Theo goes on finely.
26
27 As to the cottage. Its the only one to be had, they must have that or
28nothing. It’s very small as I said. But if there is only he, his
29nurse & daughter there is room for them. There is no place with a
30garden except the hotel & Mr Logans own house. The Karroo is not
31unusually bare for this time of year, but you know it is always bare.
32
33 Kate Stuart tells me she wired them not to come up till Wednesday
34night. Mrs Logan is going to begin getting the house right tomorrow.
35
36 Good bye dear one.
37 Olive
38
39 You see already in the Transvaal they are holding meetings objecting
40to the natives having the vote in the Cape Colony at all. We must not
41strengthen their hands.
42
43 ^It is not very hot here now not hotter than in Cape Town unless you
44are at Muizenburg.^
45
46
47
2
3 Dear I think we should on no account wish for a "referendum" now.
4There would be a vast majority in favour of the constitution, I think.
5Wait till Will has been home a week & rested his poor tired brain a
6little, & then, when he has seen people in Cape Town ask his advice.
7My idea is that our hope of imp up setting the convent is to keep
8quite quiet on the native question, in public & newspapers till the
9Bond Congress. If Hofmeyr & the ^a part of the^ Bond are opposed to the
10convention, then we must take our measures for working in Parliament.
11It is just possible we may get a majority of members who will not
12accept the convention as it stands, that might break Merriman who is
13our great enemy on this matter & might give us a year. If the Bond
14does not oppose Merriman, then of course the convention will pass.
15
16 There is not one ^white^ man in five taking the Colony as a who wants to
17see the native enfranchised. If we make the opposition purely one on
18the native question we ensure its passing. What it seems to me you
19might do now with great advantage is to see any member’s of
20parliament of your way of thinking like Cartwright &c; & try to
21strengthen them in standing against the constitution.
22
23 I would say much if we were together.
24
25 Theo goes on finely.
26
27 As to the cottage. Its the only one to be had, they must have that or
28nothing. It’s very small as I said. But if there is only he, his
29nurse & daughter there is room for them. There is no place with a
30garden except the hotel & Mr Logans own house. The Karroo is not
31unusually bare for this time of year, but you know it is always bare.
32
33 Kate Stuart tells me she wired them not to come up till Wednesday
34night. Mrs Logan is going to begin getting the house right tomorrow.
35
36 Good bye dear one.
37 Olive
38
39 You see already in the Transvaal they are holding meetings objecting
40to the natives having the vote in the Cape Colony at all. We must not
41strengthen their hands.
42
43 ^It is not very hot here now not hotter than in Cape Town unless you
44are at Muizenburg.^
45
46
47
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/108 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 21 July 1909 |
Address From | De Aar, 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.
|
1
De Aar
2 July 21st 1909
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 I hope you are getting on well with your work. I told Dr ?Simmington
7when he & his wife called the other evening that you were some time
8coming to visit me & the Good Templars are quite excited about it. ?Mr
9Smuts a shop keeper here came to ask Cron just when you would come. I
10said I couldn’t say.
11
12 The amount of drinking that goes on here might employ you for a year!
13It's just struck me that you might care to come & stay here when we
14are at parliament, making this your head quarters & go round to
15Hanover & the other towns near Philips-town Beds-town &c. If you would
16we’ll be delighted for you to have the house. I’d like so to think
17of sitting writing at my dear old desk before the big window. October
18& November are the best months in the year here because there’s
19lease wind. December gets too hot & all the other months are windy &
20dusty! But you must come before we go so I have you for a week with me.
21 unreadable I can put both Wynnie & you up if Wynnie doesn’t mind a
22sofa. That is if you want a bedroom alone. If you would like it better
23instead of having the little bedroom Cron would be delighted for you
24to have his bedroom in which I would put up an extra bed I have for
25Wynnie it would be so lovely to have you dear. I am working a little &
26to be as well as that is all I care for.
27
28 Your little sister
29 Ol
30
31 Tell Alice not to lose my MS.
32
33 ^I find that in doing much writing it makes such a difference to the
34eyes is you have a very sloping desk to write at. I am just had a
35sloping board made for my desk which I can take on & off. Try it one
36that slopes a little is no good, it rather worries one.^
37
2 July 21st 1909
3
4 My darling Ettie
5
6 I hope you are getting on well with your work. I told Dr ?Simmington
7when he & his wife called the other evening that you were some time
8coming to visit me & the Good Templars are quite excited about it. ?Mr
9Smuts a shop keeper here came to ask Cron just when you would come. I
10said I couldn’t say.
11
12 The amount of drinking that goes on here might employ you for a year!
13It's just struck me that you might care to come & stay here when we
14are at parliament, making this your head quarters & go round to
15Hanover & the other towns near Philips-town Beds-town &c. If you would
16we’ll be delighted for you to have the house. I’d like so to think
17of sitting writing at my dear old desk before the big window. October
18& November are the best months in the year here because there’s
19lease wind. December gets too hot & all the other months are windy &
20dusty! But you must come before we go so I have you for a week with me.
21 unreadable I can put both Wynnie & you up if Wynnie doesn’t mind a
22sofa. That is if you want a bedroom alone. If you would like it better
23instead of having the little bedroom Cron would be delighted for you
24to have his bedroom in which I would put up an extra bed I have for
25Wynnie it would be so lovely to have you dear. I am working a little &
26to be as well as that is all I care for.
27
28 Your little sister
29 Ol
30
31 Tell Alice not to lose my MS.
32
33 ^I find that in doing much writing it makes such a difference to the
34eyes is you have a very sloping desk to write at. I am just had a
35sloping board made for my desk which I can take on & off. Try it one
36that slopes a little is no good, it rather worries one.^
37
Notation
What Schreiner was 'working a little at' cannot be established with certainty, but at this point in time it could have been preparing Woman and Labour for publication.
What Schreiner was 'working a little at' cannot be established with certainty, but at this point in time it could have been preparing Woman and Labour for publication.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/109 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday 15 April 1910 |
Address From | York House, Muizenburg, Western Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope and the address it was sent to is on its front.
|
1
c/o Dr Purcell
2 York House
3 Muizenburg
4 Tuesday
5
6 My darling
7
8 I have just got your letter. If I’d got it in time, I would have
9tried to carry out the plan; it would have been so splendid to go up
10to ?Bains Kloof with you. We never seem to have time to see one
11another. But I only got your letter this morning. I was so collapsed I
12didn’t seem able to get away last week & my friends the Purcells
13have made me stay some days with ^them^, & I am getting better. I have
14never been so weak before as I was when I came here. ^I’m much better
15today.^
16
17 Let me know my own sweet darling when you will be back, & I’ll try
18to come & see you before I leave for Matjesfontein.
19
20 I do hope much as the journey will have taken out of you that you are
21a little better. It is the Highlands & the work & money troubles that
22are killing you, whether you know it or not. Free of that & able to go
23about lecturing & doing the work that lies so near to your heart, you
24might yet live & do good work, my darling.
25
26 Your
27 Olive
28
29
30
2 York House
3 Muizenburg
4 Tuesday
5
6 My darling
7
8 I have just got your letter. If I’d got it in time, I would have
9tried to carry out the plan; it would have been so splendid to go up
10to ?Bains Kloof with you. We never seem to have time to see one
11another. But I only got your letter this morning. I was so collapsed I
12didn’t seem able to get away last week & my friends the Purcells
13have made me stay some days with ^them^, & I am getting better. I have
14never been so weak before as I was when I came here. ^I’m much better
15today.^
16
17 Let me know my own sweet darling when you will be back, & I’ll try
18to come & see you before I leave for Matjesfontein.
19
20 I do hope much as the journey will have taken out of you that you are
21a little better. It is the Highlands & the work & money troubles that
22are killing you, whether you know it or not. Free of that & able to go
23about lecturing & doing the work that lies so near to your heart, you
24might yet live & do good work, my darling.
25
26 Your
27 Olive
28
29
30
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/110 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 16 April 1910 |
Address From | De Aar, 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.
|
1
De Aar
2April 16th 1910
3
4 My darling
5
6 Since last night I have been thinking so much of you. I do hope you
7have a little more ease. Oh for the old strength, the old power to
8fight – the old self. Its that one we have lived with all our life,
9& whom we shall never see again, whom its so hard to part with – To
10know we shall never feel her within us. That is death.
11
12 When they say we die there will be nothing left to die.
13
14 I am always thinking of you, dear one.
15
16 Olive
17
18 I hope our sweet little Robert is better. That bright happy little
19smile he used to have is hope coming back. Effie is very brave about
20it. How brave people often are when the real great ^tragedies of life
21have to be faced.^
2April 16th 1910
3
4 My darling
5
6 Since last night I have been thinking so much of you. I do hope you
7have a little more ease. Oh for the old strength, the old power to
8fight – the old self. Its that one we have lived with all our life,
9& whom we shall never see again, whom its so hard to part with – To
10know we shall never feel her within us. That is death.
11
12 When they say we die there will be nothing left to die.
13
14 I am always thinking of you, dear one.
15
16 Olive
17
18 I hope our sweet little Robert is better. That bright happy little
19smile he used to have is hope coming back. Effie is very brave about
20it. How brave people often are when the real great ^tragedies of life
21have to be faced.^
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/111 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1910 ; Before End: July 1910 |
Address From | na |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content, around the illness and then death of Effie Brown’s son.
|
1
Dear Effie
2
3 I do hope little Robert shows some sign of improvement. Can the doctor
4say definitely what he thinks is the matter? I am so often thinking of
5you dear, & the little boy who was so full of life & joy.
6
7 I hope the cooler weather is doing Aunt Het good.
8
9 Your most loving little Auntie
10 Olive
11
12
13
2
3 I do hope little Robert shows some sign of improvement. Can the doctor
4say definitely what he thinks is the matter? I am so often thinking of
5you dear, & the little boy who was so full of life & joy.
6
7 I hope the cooler weather is doing Aunt Het good.
8
9 Your most loving little Auntie
10 Olive
11
12
13
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/112 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 1910 |
Address From | De Aar, 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
|
1
De Aar
2 Thursday
3
4 My darling
5
6 I’ve been so ill since I came here I could not write. Last night we
7had a little thunder & that has relieved the awful pressure a little.
8I will never come here again till the end of April. There are two
9things that have happened in my life that I seem never able to, the
10death of my baby, & very our having to live at Hanover & here, where
11the height makes life death.
12
13 I do hope you are getting better, my darling at least a little
14stronger. The longer you rest the more chance there is. How is wish
15lived in a palace where the climate would make it possible for me to
16have you & one of the girls to keep you company just for complete rest
17& change but this place is impossible except in the few coldest weeks
18of winter & then not good.
19
20 Good bye my loved one
21 Olive
22
23
24
2 Thursday
3
4 My darling
5
6 I’ve been so ill since I came here I could not write. Last night we
7had a little thunder & that has relieved the awful pressure a little.
8I will never come here again till the end of April. There are two
9things that have happened in my life that I seem never able to, the
10death of my baby, & very our having to live at Hanover & here, where
11the height makes life death.
12
13 I do hope you are getting better, my darling at least a little
14stronger. The longer you rest the more chance there is. How is wish
15lived in a palace where the climate would make it possible for me to
16have you & one of the girls to keep you company just for complete rest
17& change but this place is impossible except in the few coldest weeks
18of winter & then not good.
19
20 Good bye my loved one
21 Olive
22
23
24
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/113 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 16 May 1910 |
Address From | na |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark on this postcard and the address it was sent to is on its front.
|
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/114 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1910 ; Before End: July 1910 |
Address From | na |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The letter has been dated by reference to content, around the illness and then death of Effie Brown’s son.
|
1
My darling Effie
2
3 Please know I am always thinking of you that sweet suffering little
4one. I have only not written because I’ve been too unwell to write to
5any one. Oh my darling, what your mother heart must suffer in watching
6the pain you can do nothing to save him from.
7
8 Good bye, my darling. Give much love to Arthur. I know how precious
9his little son is to him.
10
11 Your small Auntie
12 Olive
13
14
15
2
3 Please know I am always thinking of you that sweet suffering little
4one. I have only not written because I’ve been too unwell to write to
5any one. Oh my darling, what your mother heart must suffer in watching
6the pain you can do nothing to save him from.
7
8 Good bye, my darling. Give much love to Arthur. I know how precious
9his little son is to him.
10
11 Your small Auntie
12 Olive
13
14
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 /115 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Telegram |
Letter Date | 5 July 1910 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 telegram, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date and place this telegram was sent from are provided by the official stamps.
|
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/115 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 22 June 1910 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The address this postcard was sent to is on its front.
|
1
Dear Effie
2
3 I am so grieved to hear about our sweet little Robert. I do hope he is
4improving I so often think of you my darling.
5
6 Your little Auntie
7 Olive
8
9 de Aar June 22nd 1910
10
2
3 I am so grieved to hear about our sweet little Robert. I do hope he is
4improving I so often think of you my darling.
5
6 Your little Auntie
7 Olive
8
9 de Aar June 22nd 1910
10
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/116 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | July 1910 |
Address From | na |
Address To | |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content, around the illness and then death of Effie Brown’s son.
|
1
My darling Effie
2
3 Arthur’s card has come. I have no words to tell you, my darling, how
4my heart aches for you & Arthur. He was indeed a sweet a lovely child.
5Arthur has to go away to his work every day, but you must be always
6where every sight & sound must recall him to you & make the empty
7place in your heart breath bleed afresh. I am anxious about you, dear;
8I hope you are taking such care of yourself as you can.
9
10 Much love to you dear one, & the dear children. I know how deeply
11Wynnie is feeling the loss of the little Robin she loved so.
12
13 Your loving Auntie
14 Olive
15
16
17
2
3 Arthur’s card has come. I have no words to tell you, my darling, how
4my heart aches for you & Arthur. He was indeed a sweet a lovely child.
5Arthur has to go away to his work every day, but you must be always
6where every sight & sound must recall him to you & make the empty
7place in your heart breath bleed afresh. I am anxious about you, dear;
8I hope you are taking such care of yourself as you can.
9
10 Much love to you dear one, & the dear children. I know how deeply
11Wynnie is feeling the loss of the little Robin she loved so.
12
13 Your loving Auntie
14 Olive
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/117 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Wednesday December 1898 ; Before End: August 1899 |
Address From | 2 Primrose Terrace, Berea, Johannesburg, Transvaal |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner was resident in Johannesburg from December 1898 to late August 1899.
|
1
2 Primrose Terrace
2 Berea Estate
3 Johannesburg
4 Wednes-day
5
6 My dear old Ettie
7
8 Your likenesses made me sad. I do hope my darling you are now better
9than when they were taken. I chose one of the groups, & Robert said I
10was to tell you which of the heads you were to send me. I like the
11full face best, though I like the side face too. The one where you are
12standing with Guy is good very, but the one with Elbert not at all
13good. Oh my darling I just cried when I saw the photographs. Please do
14try ?Sandows complete developer regularly every day: it is so good for
15strengthening the heart & circulation if practiced slowly & two or
16three times, instead of fifteen or twenty. I find it a most wonderful
17relief. When I was in England all the specialist I saw advised me to
18go to a place in Germany where they give you baths followed by ?ju
19jimnastic treatment of a peculiar kind, which they say cures ^or almost cures^
20forms of heart disease which till the last few years quite incurable.
21The point of my heart is three inches more to the left side than it
22should be owing to the great enlargement of the left cavity of the
23heart; by these exercises, as I understand it, they force the blood
24back into the heart so to speak or relieve its action, allowing it in
25a few months to contract & so the heat gets back to a more natural
26condition. I couldn’t go because I couldn’t afford the £15 a month;
27but now I have tried these exercises (which are not planned for the
28heart at all) I have realized what the right kind might do. I believe
29you lie quite still & the limbs are worked in such a way as to send
30the blood back-wards. Do try the exercises. I think you got a
31?Sandow’s Developer for the boys.
32
33 Please Good bye my darling. I like Johannesburg less & less the longer
34I stay here. It is a terrible place.
35
36 Your little sister
37 Olive
38
2 Berea Estate
3 Johannesburg
4 Wednes-day
5
6 My dear old Ettie
7
8 Your likenesses made me sad. I do hope my darling you are now better
9than when they were taken. I chose one of the groups, & Robert said I
10was to tell you which of the heads you were to send me. I like the
11full face best, though I like the side face too. The one where you are
12standing with Guy is good very, but the one with Elbert not at all
13good. Oh my darling I just cried when I saw the photographs. Please do
14try ?Sandows complete developer regularly every day: it is so good for
15strengthening the heart & circulation if practiced slowly & two or
16three times, instead of fifteen or twenty. I find it a most wonderful
17relief. When I was in England all the specialist I saw advised me to
18go to a place in Germany where they give you baths followed by ?ju
19jimnastic treatment of a peculiar kind, which they say cures ^or almost cures^
20forms of heart disease which till the last few years quite incurable.
21The point of my heart is three inches more to the left side than it
22should be owing to the great enlargement of the left cavity of the
23heart; by these exercises, as I understand it, they force the blood
24back into the heart so to speak or relieve its action, allowing it in
25a few months to contract & so the heat gets back to a more natural
26condition. I couldn’t go because I couldn’t afford the £15 a month;
27but now I have tried these exercises (which are not planned for the
28heart at all) I have realized what the right kind might do. I believe
29you lie quite still & the limbs are worked in such a way as to send
30the blood back-wards. Do try the exercises. I think you got a
31?Sandow’s Developer for the boys.
32
33 Please Good bye my darling. I like Johannesburg less & less the longer
34I stay here. It is a terrible place.
35
36 Your little sister
37 Olive
38
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/118 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Wednesday March 1911 |
Address From | Alexandra Hotel, Muizenberg, Western Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 month and year have been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The letter is on printed headed notepaper with a printed drawn picture of the hotel. The envelope has no stamp or postmark and is is addressed by Schreiner to ‘Miss W. Hemming, Blauwberg, Please forward’.
|
1
Alexandra Hotel
2 Muizenberg
3 Wednesday 191
4
5 Dear Wynnie
6
7 Thank you so much for your letter. I am posting a letter to Aunt Het
8by this post addressed to Maitland & this to Mr Mushett’s care, so
9you will be sure to get one. As soon as I am a little better I will
10come to see Aunt Het. Next Monday ^Uncle^ Will’s family return to
11Newlands & I shall go & spend a few days there. I am sure when I get
12away from the sea damp I shall improve & be able to come, I can’t
13sleep the night there but must make some plan for returning the same
14day.
15
16 I hope darling, you & Alsie are making a rule of getting out for a
17good walk of an hour or more every day: it is the only way to keep up
18with all the sorrow & anxiety you are living through. I am so glad to
19hear such good news of the nurse. If my darling has not got my letter
20yet thank her so much for the few lines of love for my birthday she
21sent me.
22
23 Your loving little Auntie
24 Olive
25
26
27
2 Muizenberg
3 Wednesday 191
4
5 Dear Wynnie
6
7 Thank you so much for your letter. I am posting a letter to Aunt Het
8by this post addressed to Maitland & this to Mr Mushett’s care, so
9you will be sure to get one. As soon as I am a little better I will
10come to see Aunt Het. Next Monday ^Uncle^ Will’s family return to
11Newlands & I shall go & spend a few days there. I am sure when I get
12away from the sea damp I shall improve & be able to come, I can’t
13sleep the night there but must make some plan for returning the same
14day.
15
16 I hope darling, you & Alsie are making a rule of getting out for a
17good walk of an hour or more every day: it is the only way to keep up
18with all the sorrow & anxiety you are living through. I am so glad to
19hear such good news of the nurse. If my darling has not got my letter
20yet thank her so much for the few lines of love for my birthday she
21sent me.
22
23 Your loving little Auntie
24 Olive
25
26
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/119 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 5 May 1911 |
Address From | De Aar, 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.
|
1
De Aar
2 May 5th 1911
3
4 My own darling
5
6 I have just read your letter. Of all the letters I have had about my
7book it has been the most precious to me. I shall always keep it.
8
9 I am so glad you find Blauwberg still good. I am sure the Sanatogen
10will help also. I am sure the air must be better than most sea side
11places. I have always had a feeling I should like that side.
12
13 Is there any little house not thatched & mudfloored near to you &
14close to the beach – on the sea – which I might perhaps be able to
15hire next summer? With me you see its the rank damp vegetation near
16the sea shore that so very bad. The closer the sea the better for me.
17I sometimes breathe quite easily at Sea Point walking on the Beach Rd,
18but when I go back to the houses I am very bad.
19
20 ?Did One thing that I have been glad of about my book is that so many
21men have written to me about. You know what a bitter opponent of any
22emancipation for women old Merriman has always been. I don’t know if
23you remember his speech when the bill was introduced into the house!
24My book hadn’t been six days in Cape Town when I got a long letter
25from him, saying how much he had enjoyed reading the book: how
26beautiful it was! The only thing was that man was such a brute that my
27beautiful ideas couldn’t be realized! The touching thing is that the
28old fellow is always looking up favourable reviews of the book, &
29wrote yesterday to tell he "was delighted to find a most sympathetic
30review in the "Economist"" - which he was going to send me! It’s
31quite touching if you knew how bitter he was - he couldn’t even talk
32of ^the^ woman’s movement without getting in a rage!
33
34 Yes, dear one, you are the only person who seems to have realized how
35hard it was for me to publish the book - such a broken fragment. I
36have kept it all these years feeling I couldn’t publish it.
37
38 Good night my own darling. It has taken me all the afternoon & evening
39to write this little letter, lying down for rests between. I have much
40less angina or acute pain this last year, but my brain & nervous
41system seems so exhausted.
42
43 I do hope so much Blauwberg will keep on helping you
44
45 Your old
46 Olive
47
48 I don’t know ^if^ you you can understand, that, in a way, it makes me
49sad when people speak so kindly of my little book - I think if only it
50had been the whole! - or if I could get strong enough to finish one of
51my novels! But one must keep on hoping.
52
53 Your letter is so precious to me, dear one.
54
2 May 5th 1911
3
4 My own darling
5
6 I have just read your letter. Of all the letters I have had about my
7book it has been the most precious to me. I shall always keep it.
8
9 I am so glad you find Blauwberg still good. I am sure the Sanatogen
10will help also. I am sure the air must be better than most sea side
11places. I have always had a feeling I should like that side.
12
13 Is there any little house not thatched & mudfloored near to you &
14close to the beach – on the sea – which I might perhaps be able to
15hire next summer? With me you see its the rank damp vegetation near
16the sea shore that so very bad. The closer the sea the better for me.
17I sometimes breathe quite easily at Sea Point walking on the Beach Rd,
18but when I go back to the houses I am very bad.
19
20 ?Did One thing that I have been glad of about my book is that so many
21men have written to me about. You know what a bitter opponent of any
22emancipation for women old Merriman has always been. I don’t know if
23you remember his speech when the bill was introduced into the house!
24My book hadn’t been six days in Cape Town when I got a long letter
25from him, saying how much he had enjoyed reading the book: how
26beautiful it was! The only thing was that man was such a brute that my
27beautiful ideas couldn’t be realized! The touching thing is that the
28old fellow is always looking up favourable reviews of the book, &
29wrote yesterday to tell he "was delighted to find a most sympathetic
30review in the "Economist"" - which he was going to send me! It’s
31quite touching if you knew how bitter he was - he couldn’t even talk
32of ^the^ woman’s movement without getting in a rage!
33
34 Yes, dear one, you are the only person who seems to have realized how
35hard it was for me to publish the book - such a broken fragment. I
36have kept it all these years feeling I couldn’t publish it.
37
38 Good night my own darling. It has taken me all the afternoon & evening
39to write this little letter, lying down for rests between. I have much
40less angina or acute pain this last year, but my brain & nervous
41system seems so exhausted.
42
43 I do hope so much Blauwberg will keep on helping you
44
45 Your old
46 Olive
47
48 I don’t know ^if^ you you can understand, that, in a way, it makes me
49sad when people speak so kindly of my little book - I think if only it
50had been the whole! - or if I could get strong enough to finish one of
51my novels! But one must keep on hoping.
52
53 Your letter is so precious to me, dear one.
54
Notation
The reference to 'letters about my book' is Woman and Labour.
The reference to 'letters about my book' is Woman and Labour.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/120 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 1911 |
Address From | De Aar, 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. Content indicates that Schreiner was in De Aar when it was written. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
My darling
2
3 Thank you so much for your letter. It would be splendid if I could go
4to Blamb Blauwberg for the summer, for I have no where on earth to go,
5& it would be so delightful to be near you. Must I bespeak the room
6now? If so what is the price? You see I may be able to stay here till
7the end of November. Last The Year Last year I left on the 12th of
8November, & two ^three^ years ago I stayed here till the Xmas Day & cook
9Cron his Xmas dinner & then went off in the evening more dead than
10alive. Could I not bespeak the room for December & then if even if I
11can’t come I might let Effie or Ely have it for the month, so the
12money would not be wasted.
13
14 Jan, & above all February & March are my awful times especially near
15the coast, where the air gets damper & heavyer at ?theto I am
16generally better through till Xmas. It’s after Xmas!
17
18 Is there as much sea fog at Blauwberg as at Sea Point & Muizenberg??
19It would be so beautiful if I could come. The only other place I can
20think of is that place in the mountains beyond Wellington. But I would
21have to get some one else to go with me there. unreadable I always
22travel with my primus stove & kettle for poultices &c & I could bring
23my little kettle & pan & do splendidly, especially if one can get milk.
24 My only fear is – can I stay near the sea anywhere in Africa? Oh it
25would be so splendid if I could come; it was so terrible wandering
26about alone all last summer among strangers how ever kind. One gets a
27haunted feeling at last!
28
29 Good bye, my darling.
30 Your little sister
31 Olive
32
33
34
2
3 Thank you so much for your letter. It would be splendid if I could go
4to Blamb Blauwberg for the summer, for I have no where on earth to go,
5& it would be so delightful to be near you. Must I bespeak the room
6now? If so what is the price? You see I may be able to stay here till
7the end of November. Last The Year Last year I left on the 12th of
8November, & two ^three^ years ago I stayed here till the Xmas Day & cook
9Cron his Xmas dinner & then went off in the evening more dead than
10alive. Could I not bespeak the room for December & then if even if I
11can’t come I might let Effie or Ely have it for the month, so the
12money would not be wasted.
13
14 Jan, & above all February & March are my awful times especially near
15the coast, where the air gets damper & heavyer at ?theto I am
16generally better through till Xmas. It’s after Xmas!
17
18 Is there as much sea fog at Blauwberg as at Sea Point & Muizenberg??
19It would be so beautiful if I could come. The only other place I can
20think of is that place in the mountains beyond Wellington. But I would
21have to get some one else to go with me there. unreadable I always
22travel with my primus stove & kettle for poultices &c & I could bring
23my little kettle & pan & do splendidly, especially if one can get milk.
24 My only fear is – can I stay near the sea anywhere in Africa? Oh it
25would be so splendid if I could come; it was so terrible wandering
26about alone all last summer among strangers how ever kind. One gets a
27haunted feeling at last!
28
29 Good bye, my darling.
30 Your little sister
31 Olive
32
33
34
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/121 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday March 1912 |
Address From | Alexandra Hotel, Muizenberg, Western Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope and the address it was sent to is on its front. It is on printed headed notepaper with a printed drawn picture of the hotel.
|
1
Hotel Alexandra
2 Muizenberg
3 Tuesday morning
4
5 My darling
6
7 Somehow I’m feeling so much happier about you since we were there on
8Saturday. I’m sure as the weather gets better & this terrible
9weather passes as its beginning to do to-day the old heart will buck
10up. Do you remember Mary Chapman? Some months ago the doctors in King
11Williams Town quite thought she was dying, her legs & arms swollen to
12an immense size from the heart. She was carried on a mattress into the
13railway carriage & brought her - & now she’s so much better she’s
14walking about!! I believe you will out live me & Will yet. I hope that
15dear little nurse will be able to help you. Let
16
17 Good bye my own darling.
18 Your little sister
19 Olive
20
21 I am addressing this to Maitland as it may reach you quicker.
22
23
24
2 Muizenberg
3 Tuesday morning
4
5 My darling
6
7 Somehow I’m feeling so much happier about you since we were there on
8Saturday. I’m sure as the weather gets better & this terrible
9weather passes as its beginning to do to-day the old heart will buck
10up. Do you remember Mary Chapman? Some months ago the doctors in King
11Williams Town quite thought she was dying, her legs & arms swollen to
12an immense size from the heart. She was carried on a mattress into the
13railway carriage & brought her - & now she’s so much better she’s
14walking about!! I believe you will out live me & Will yet. I hope that
15dear little nurse will be able to help you. Let
16
17 Good bye my own darling.
18 Your little sister
19 Olive
20
21 I am addressing this to Maitland as it may reach you quicker.
22
23
24
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/122 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | March 1912 |
Address From | Alexandra Hotel, Muizenberg, Western Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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. This letter is on printed headed notepaper with a printed drawn picture of the hotel. It has been addressed by Schreiner to ‘Mrs Stakesby Lewis Blauwberg, Please forward at once’ and has no stamp or postmark.
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1
Hotel Alexandra
2 Muizenberg
3 March 1912
4
5 My own darling
6
7 I am so grateful to hear that Hugh Smith was able to give you a little
8sleep & a respite however short from that awful pain. It is so
9terrible to think of the endless suffering of the last long months.
10The weather now is so terrible, something crushing & thick in the air.
11I have hardly known weather like it. I am hoping so someone from
12Will’s may come down today to tell me all he knows. I telephoned to
13Dr Smith & Mr Mushett this morning but would like to know more. Send
14for me darling, if ever you feel you want to see me, I’ll come at
15once.
16
17 Olive your little sister
18
19
20
2 Muizenberg
3 March 1912
4
5 My own darling
6
7 I am so grateful to hear that Hugh Smith was able to give you a little
8sleep & a respite however short from that awful pain. It is so
9terrible to think of the endless suffering of the last long months.
10The weather now is so terrible, something crushing & thick in the air.
11I have hardly known weather like it. I am hoping so someone from
12Will’s may come down today to tell me all he knows. I telephoned to
13Dr Smith & Mr Mushett this morning but would like to know more. Send
14for me darling, if ever you feel you want to see me, I’ll come at
15once.
16
17 Olive your little sister
18
19
20
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/123 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Monday 11 March 1912 |
Address From | Alexandra Hotel, Muizenberg, Western Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope and the address it was sent to is on its front; it also has the hotel address printed on it.
|
1
Monday
2
3 My darling Ettie
4
5 I have not written before as I’ve not been well; & I am waiting for
6Hugh Smith’s answer about the prescription. I do hope you will try the
7flannel band it must be double thickness & with some little seams at
8the top to make it fit like this =
9
10[drawing of the flannel band here]
11
12 I make mine so long that it fold right across the stomach, pinning it
13with safety pins on each hip. The comfort is wonderful; it cal keeps
14off that deadly feeling of cold about the abdomen. A warm water bottle
15or hot salt only keeps the abdomen warm for a time, but the steady
16persistent warmth about the stomach & bowels makes the poor weak
17heart’s work easier all the time.
18
19 Will says he can’t come out on Sunday but the first day he can he’ll
20just hire a cart & drive out & come back when he’s seen you.
21
22 Its j I do hope its been possible for you to get out or even with help
23walk about the room a little. Every week one lies in bed weakens one
24more & more ^I^ wish you had a good keen doctor near who could come in
25sometimes to see you, & sound you.
26
27 Good bye, my own darling. I hope the winter may bring you a little
28strength. I am only so terribly afraid of the winter damp for you.
29
30 Good bye, your little sister
31 Olive
32
33 As soon as Hugh Smith answers I will write. Love to the dear girls.
34
35
2
3 My darling Ettie
4
5 I have not written before as I’ve not been well; & I am waiting for
6Hugh Smith’s answer about the prescription. I do hope you will try the
7flannel band it must be double thickness & with some little seams at
8the top to make it fit like this =
9
10[drawing of the flannel band here]
11
12 I make mine so long that it fold right across the stomach, pinning it
13with safety pins on each hip. The comfort is wonderful; it cal keeps
14off that deadly feeling of cold about the abdomen. A warm water bottle
15or hot salt only keeps the abdomen warm for a time, but the steady
16persistent warmth about the stomach & bowels makes the poor weak
17heart’s work easier all the time.
18
19 Will says he can’t come out on Sunday but the first day he can he’ll
20just hire a cart & drive out & come back when he’s seen you.
21
22 Its j I do hope its been possible for you to get out or even with help
23walk about the room a little. Every week one lies in bed weakens one
24more & more ^I^ wish you had a good keen doctor near who could come in
25sometimes to see you, & sound you.
26
27 Good bye, my own darling. I hope the winter may bring you a little
28strength. I am only so terribly afraid of the winter damp for you.
29
30 Good bye, your little sister
31 Olive
32
33 As soon as Hugh Smith answers I will write. Love to the dear girls.
34
35
Notation
The drawing of the flannel band that Schreiner provided is shown in the jpeg below.
The drawing of the flannel band that Schreiner provided is shown in the jpeg below.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/124 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Lettercard |
Letter Date | Wednesday January 1912 |
Address From | Milnerton, Western Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 lettercard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner stayed in Milnerton in January 1912. The address the letter-card was sent to is on its front, although it is not stamped or postmarked.
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1
Milnerton
2 Wednesday ?evening
3
4 I got here my darling this afternoon. It is so nice to feel I am near
5you at least as far as space goes. From my room I can see little but
6the back of the next house, but beyond it there’s a tiny bit of sea
7visible & Blauwberg itself – just the point where your house is! Its
8nice I can see it. The air here suits me wonderfully – like
9Blauwberg does you, & if I could have had the room I first took I am
10sure I should be well here & able to write. It faced South East with a
11glorious view of Table Mountain. But they let it to some one else &
12I’ve a little room facing North West which I never can stand well. I
13do hope even so I shall be able to stay here. If Wynnie or Alice come
14on their way to town do ask them to come & see me that I may hear just
15now you are.
16
17 Your little sister who loves you Olive
18
19
20
2 Wednesday ?evening
3
4 I got here my darling this afternoon. It is so nice to feel I am near
5you at least as far as space goes. From my room I can see little but
6the back of the next house, but beyond it there’s a tiny bit of sea
7visible & Blauwberg itself – just the point where your house is! Its
8nice I can see it. The air here suits me wonderfully – like
9Blauwberg does you, & if I could have had the room I first took I am
10sure I should be well here & able to write. It faced South East with a
11glorious view of Table Mountain. But they let it to some one else &
12I’ve a little room facing North West which I never can stand well. I
13do hope even so I shall be able to stay here. If Wynnie or Alice come
14on their way to town do ask them to come & see me that I may hear just
15now you are.
16
17 Your little sister who loves you Olive
18
19
20
Notation
An attached blank envelope attached to this letter has on it in Schreiner's writing, 'Mrs Lewis. Please see this goes out by first opportunity'.
An attached blank envelope attached to this letter has on it in Schreiner's writing, 'Mrs Lewis. Please see this goes out by first opportunity'.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/125 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Thursday January 1912 ; Before End: April 1912 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner stayed in Cape Town and places near it from December 1911 to early April 1912, then returned to De Aar. Content indicates that Schreiner was in Cape Town when it was written.
|
1
Thursday night
2
3 Darling
4
5 I haven’t written because every day I’ve been hoping I would be
6able to walk up to the Highlands via Oranjezicht. I’m so much better
7since the rain & cooler weather Cron arrives on Wednesday & we leave
8on Saturday evening, the 9th for de Aar I do hope some day you will be
9able to try Mrs Palmgreens massage. If I get any money for my book (I
10haven’t yet) I want to pay for a few massages for you. It would be
11so beautiful if it helped you
12
13 Good night my darling. Love to dear Wynnie. I feel life is very hard
14for her, I know how much she is feeling about Guy. All her life has
15been just work & devotion to others. What a great struggle all human
16life is – just simply to exist!
17
18 Please ask Alice or Wynnie just to send me a post card saying how you are
19
20 Your little sister
21 Olive
22
23
24
2
3 Darling
4
5 I haven’t written because every day I’ve been hoping I would be
6able to walk up to the Highlands via Oranjezicht. I’m so much better
7since the rain & cooler weather Cron arrives on Wednesday & we leave
8on Saturday evening, the 9th for de Aar I do hope some day you will be
9able to try Mrs Palmgreens massage. If I get any money for my book (I
10haven’t yet) I want to pay for a few massages for you. It would be
11so beautiful if it helped you
12
13 Good night my darling. Love to dear Wynnie. I feel life is very hard
14for her, I know how much she is feeling about Guy. All her life has
15been just work & devotion to others. What a great struggle all human
16life is – just simply to exist!
17
18 Please ask Alice or Wynnie just to send me a post card saying how you are
19
20 Your little sister
21 Olive
22
23
24
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/126 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
My old Ettie
2
3 I’m thinking of you all the time, beloved. Do try to get strong: you
4are in a state of the most extreme muscular & nervous weakness.
5Darling I know what that is, & the heart & circulation weaken weaken &
6weaken till death may come at any moment.
7
8 Remember my darling what you have lived though & gone through in the
9last years, & try to build yourself up. Try to take a little
10nourishment & ^but^ often; always in a condensed form. I send a little
11^receipt for^ soup, I find so good for those who are very weak. I long
12so to give you strength my darling. & how can we do it. Its so
13terrible that you who have done so much for other human beings all
14your life should have so little ^done for you^ now. If only every one
15whom you have helped in your life gave you 1/- (one shilling) you
16would be quite rich!
17
18 My sweet heart I’m not sending you that book as Wynnie & Alice
19seemed to think it would be too much for you now. I will try & get you
20Illumination which is a peaceful but deep study of human nature. I
21think perhaps I put more in Elizabeth Robins story than is in it
22perhaps in my way of telling, because I felt it so much.
23
24 My sweet one, if only if only I could help you. Try to get stronger in
25body.
26
27 ^Your little sister.^
28
29
30
2
3 I’m thinking of you all the time, beloved. Do try to get strong: you
4are in a state of the most extreme muscular & nervous weakness.
5Darling I know what that is, & the heart & circulation weaken weaken &
6weaken till death may come at any moment.
7
8 Remember my darling what you have lived though & gone through in the
9last years, & try to build yourself up. Try to take a little
10nourishment & ^but^ often; always in a condensed form. I send a little
11^receipt for^ soup, I find so good for those who are very weak. I long
12so to give you strength my darling. & how can we do it. Its so
13terrible that you who have done so much for other human beings all
14your life should have so little ^done for you^ now. If only every one
15whom you have helped in your life gave you 1/- (one shilling) you
16would be quite rich!
17
18 My sweet heart I’m not sending you that book as Wynnie & Alice
19seemed to think it would be too much for you now. I will try & get you
20Illumination which is a peaceful but deep study of human nature. I
21think perhaps I put more in Elizabeth Robins story than is in it
22perhaps in my way of telling, because I felt it so much.
23
24 My sweet one, if only if only I could help you. Try to get stronger in
25body.
26
27 ^Your little sister.^
28
29
30
Notation
The recipe for soup is no longer attached. A book called Illumination cannot be traced. The other book referred to is: Elizabeth Robins (1907) The Convert London: Methuen & Co.
The recipe for soup is no longer attached. A book called Illumination cannot be traced. The other book referred to is: Elizabeth Robins (1907) The Convert London: Methuen & Co.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/127 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Thursday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
My darling
2
3 I lay awake in the night thinking so much of you, & all the terrible
4suffering. When I look at your dear hands which used to be so strong &
5capable & which have aided & helped so many humanbeing it seems so
6terrible we can do so little for them now they are so weak & suffering.
7
8 I am so thankful Alsie is back.
9
10 Good bye my own darling.
11 Your own little sister Olive
12
13
14
2
3 I lay awake in the night thinking so much of you, & all the terrible
4suffering. When I look at your dear hands which used to be so strong &
5capable & which have aided & helped so many humanbeing it seems so
6terrible we can do so little for them now they are so weak & suffering.
7
8 I am so thankful Alsie is back.
9
10 Good bye my own darling.
11 Your own little sister Olive
12
13
14
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/128 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | April 1912 |
Address From | Villa Flandre, Newlands, Cape Town, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner visited her, staying at Villa Flandre, in April 1912. The letter is on printed headed notepaper.
|
1
Villa Flandre
2 Newlands
3
4 My own darling
5
6 Oh how strange it seems to be so near you & not able to get to you.
7
8 Its all been such a series of strange mischances. The moment Fan got
9the telephone asking her to get Julie Brown or Elsie Martin I took a
10cab down there. Neither of them could go. Elsie was just going out &
11Julie was at home looking after the house. They unreadable talked
12about the hospital nurse. I knew you would not want her, but I made
13her promise she would tell you it was only for one night & she would
14be quite glad to come back the next morning if not needed. Then I
15tried every where here to get a cart to take me out at once. I offered
16a man here £3 to take me but he said his horses could not do the sand.
17 Then I got a wire to say Kate Stuart had gone so I supposed you plan
18was to have her failing a real nurse. I would have come out all the
19same if I could have got a cart. It was so hard to sit at Milnerton
20the next day & see Blauwberg seemingly so near, & so ungetatable!
21
22 We are coming whether it rains or not on Sunday.
23
24 It seems to me no other humanity knows all you are suffering as I do,
25& you must be a little comforted if I am with you. Oh my darling it is
26so terrible that you who all your life from your earliest childhood
27have nursed & cared for any sick & suffering creature near you should
28suffer so, & we all be so powerless to help you. Will will tell you
29something of the plans for you. He does love you so dear, & it is such
30a joy to him to feel he can help you. I do wish you could know how
31beautifully he spoke the other day about his wish to have you here at
32his home.
33
34 I realize how splendid the air is for you; but the difficulty of
35getting to & fro does seem terrible. Even dear little Dot wanted to go
36out to see you, but of course it is such a difficulty.
37
38 Good bye my own darling. Oh Ettie do rest if you get a little better.
39Its not death that one fears for oneself of those one loves. It’s
40the possibility of long months even years of struggle, actual struggle
41Oh it is good to think I shall see my darling tomorrow.
42
43 Olive
44
45
46
2 Newlands
3
4 My own darling
5
6 Oh how strange it seems to be so near you & not able to get to you.
7
8 Its all been such a series of strange mischances. The moment Fan got
9the telephone asking her to get Julie Brown or Elsie Martin I took a
10cab down there. Neither of them could go. Elsie was just going out &
11Julie was at home looking after the house. They unreadable talked
12about the hospital nurse. I knew you would not want her, but I made
13her promise she would tell you it was only for one night & she would
14be quite glad to come back the next morning if not needed. Then I
15tried every where here to get a cart to take me out at once. I offered
16a man here £3 to take me but he said his horses could not do the sand.
17 Then I got a wire to say Kate Stuart had gone so I supposed you plan
18was to have her failing a real nurse. I would have come out all the
19same if I could have got a cart. It was so hard to sit at Milnerton
20the next day & see Blauwberg seemingly so near, & so ungetatable!
21
22 We are coming whether it rains or not on Sunday.
23
24 It seems to me no other humanity knows all you are suffering as I do,
25& you must be a little comforted if I am with you. Oh my darling it is
26so terrible that you who all your life from your earliest childhood
27have nursed & cared for any sick & suffering creature near you should
28suffer so, & we all be so powerless to help you. Will will tell you
29something of the plans for you. He does love you so dear, & it is such
30a joy to him to feel he can help you. I do wish you could know how
31beautifully he spoke the other day about his wish to have you here at
32his home.
33
34 I realize how splendid the air is for you; but the difficulty of
35getting to & fro does seem terrible. Even dear little Dot wanted to go
36out to see you, but of course it is such a difficulty.
37
38 Good bye my own darling. Oh Ettie do rest if you get a little better.
39Its not death that one fears for oneself of those one loves. It’s
40the possibility of long months even years of struggle, actual struggle
41Oh it is good to think I shall see my darling tomorrow.
42
43 Olive
44
45
46
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/129 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday January 1912 |
Address From | Alexandra Hotel, Muizenberg, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner stayed in Milnerton in January 1912. The letter is on printed headed notepaper with a printed drawn picture of the hotel.
|
1
Alexandra Hotel
2 Muizenberg
3 Tuesday
4
5 My own darling
6
7 This is the letter I have got from Hugh Smith He has for fell
8forgotten to return my prescription. But if you find it give you any
9help just ask for a bottle of Mrs Cron Olive Schreiner s Besmuth &
10Hydro-cianic mixture at Lennons at the bottom of Strand street near
11the station. They have made me up for or five since I was here: but oh
12dear one do try the flannel bandage. Mind that it is wide enough soft
13warm flannel & make it double so that you have two thicknesses at the
14back but four at the front where it crosses over.
15
16 I am just going to telephone to Mr Mushett to hear how you are. I fear
17this change to damp winter weather will try your lungs. Even Dot has a
18bad cough again. I shall not stay here long now as I can’t work, but
19I’ll come to see you before I go my darling.
20
21 I met Mrs ?Hastmore yesterday she spoke so affectionately of you
22
23 Good bye my sweet suffering darling. If only each person whom you have
24helped in your life could bring you one little grain of relief, how
25soon you would be free from all pain.
26
27 Olive
28
29
30
2 Muizenberg
3 Tuesday
4
5 My own darling
6
7 This is the letter I have got from Hugh Smith He has for fell
8forgotten to return my prescription. But if you find it give you any
9help just ask for a bottle of Mrs Cron Olive Schreiner s Besmuth &
10Hydro-cianic mixture at Lennons at the bottom of Strand street near
11the station. They have made me up for or five since I was here: but oh
12dear one do try the flannel bandage. Mind that it is wide enough soft
13warm flannel & make it double so that you have two thicknesses at the
14back but four at the front where it crosses over.
15
16 I am just going to telephone to Mr Mushett to hear how you are. I fear
17this change to damp winter weather will try your lungs. Even Dot has a
18bad cough again. I shall not stay here long now as I can’t work, but
19I’ll come to see you before I go my darling.
20
21 I met Mrs ?Hastmore yesterday she spoke so affectionately of you
22
23 Good bye my sweet suffering darling. If only each person whom you have
24helped in your life could bring you one little grain of relief, how
25soon you would be free from all pain.
26
27 Olive
28
29
30
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/130 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Saturday 12 March 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope, which is printed with the Alexandra Hotel logo and picture and the address the letter was sent to on its front.
|
1
De Aar
2 Saturday morning
3
4 My own Ettie
5
6 I am sitting n my room with a cold rain falling outside but a big
7bright fire burning, & oh how I long to know you have me too. I only
8wish you could see it as you lie on my bed. You ought to try lying
9with your head sometimes towards the foot of the bed. Its looking at a
10fire that is sometimes such a comfort, when one feels so heavy & dead,
11the bright, living fire flashing & flaming gives one the sense of
12something being alive & ?moving still! It’s that awfull feeling of
13deadness in one's self that makes one sometimes feel as if everything
14about one were dead, as if all the world, the dear old world one has
15loved so, were dying too. Oh I do hope the fireplace will be a success.
16 It will make the long night easier for those who are with you too; &
17^you can always have warm water^
18
19 Have you ever tried taking honey? I have not for years been able to
20take jams or sugar in any form except in the tinyest quantities but
21honey is quite different. I can’t take sweet milk either but a
22desert spoon full of unreadable fresh clear honey put into a glass
23with two or perhaps three tablespoons of milk, & eaten together makes
24the milk & the honey quite different from what they are alone. ^The
25milk never gets acid in one.^ You might try it once to see how it suits
26you. Honey is such a different thing from sugar, with so many
27properties in it It helps to kill the germs which may be hanging about
28decayed teeth, & restors the power of taste to the mouth. Your mouth
29feels so nice & clean after it.
30
31 It is so hard to be so far that I can so slowly get news of you.
32
33 Good bye my own much suffering darling
34 Your little sister
35 Olive
36
37
38
2 Saturday morning
3
4 My own Ettie
5
6 I am sitting n my room with a cold rain falling outside but a big
7bright fire burning, & oh how I long to know you have me too. I only
8wish you could see it as you lie on my bed. You ought to try lying
9with your head sometimes towards the foot of the bed. Its looking at a
10fire that is sometimes such a comfort, when one feels so heavy & dead,
11the bright, living fire flashing & flaming gives one the sense of
12something being alive & ?moving still! It’s that awfull feeling of
13deadness in one's self that makes one sometimes feel as if everything
14about one were dead, as if all the world, the dear old world one has
15loved so, were dying too. Oh I do hope the fireplace will be a success.
16 It will make the long night easier for those who are with you too; &
17^you can always have warm water^
18
19 Have you ever tried taking honey? I have not for years been able to
20take jams or sugar in any form except in the tinyest quantities but
21honey is quite different. I can’t take sweet milk either but a
22desert spoon full of unreadable fresh clear honey put into a glass
23with two or perhaps three tablespoons of milk, & eaten together makes
24the milk & the honey quite different from what they are alone. ^The
25milk never gets acid in one.^ You might try it once to see how it suits
26you. Honey is such a different thing from sugar, with so many
27properties in it It helps to kill the germs which may be hanging about
28decayed teeth, & restors the power of taste to the mouth. Your mouth
29feels so nice & clean after it.
30
31 It is so hard to be so far that I can so slowly get news of you.
32
33 Good bye my own much suffering darling
34 Your little sister
35 Olive
36
37
38
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/131 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
My Ettie,
2
3 I am always with you though my body is here. I enclose you a little
4message from Cron. If I could only bring a little ease & strength to
5that dear sweet body.
6
7 You have let yourself run utterly down, till you have hardly any
8strength to fight our terrible disease.
9
10 Your little sister
11 Emmie
12
13
14
2
3 I am always with you though my body is here. I enclose you a little
4message from Cron. If I could only bring a little ease & strength to
5that dear sweet body.
6
7 You have let yourself run utterly down, till you have hardly any
8strength to fight our terrible disease.
9
10 Your little sister
11 Emmie
12
13
14
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/132 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Tuesday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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 year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis.
|
1
De Aar
2 Tues-day
3
4 My darling,
5
6 I do wish I knew just how you are this morning.
7
8 I am always seeing my old Ettie, my Ettie of the Witteberg & Healdtown
9days with the long hair. My sweet beautiful old Ettie. Our old play
10together with Charles & Harry & all our many children – a kind of
11dream of life that was never to be realized for either of us. But so
12much good & beauty in other ways was to come into our life – even
13the power of great endurance is a great thing! Eh, darling? Oh Beloved
14as you lie there let the thought come back to you of the many poor
15suffering bodies you have nursed & helped in their pain.
16
17 Good bye my sweet darling
18 Olive
19
20
21
2 Tues-day
3
4 My darling,
5
6 I do wish I knew just how you are this morning.
7
8 I am always seeing my old Ettie, my Ettie of the Witteberg & Healdtown
9days with the long hair. My sweet beautiful old Ettie. Our old play
10together with Charles & Harry & all our many children – a kind of
11dream of life that was never to be realized for either of us. But so
12much good & beauty in other ways was to come into our life – even
13the power of great endurance is a great thing! Eh, darling? Oh Beloved
14as you lie there let the thought come back to you of the many poor
15suffering bodies you have nursed & helped in their pain.
16
17 Good bye my sweet darling
18 Olive
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/133 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Tuesday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Tuesday morning
2
3 My own sweet Darling
4
5 Never for one moment are you out of my thoughts. Not only you
6suffering there, but my strong beautiful Ellie, the Ellie of Witteburg
7& Heald Town & Balfour. Oh my sweet heart if I could help you!
8
9 Your little sister
10 Emmie
11
12 ^Cron wrote so affectionately of you in his letter to me this morning.^
13
14
15
2
3 My own sweet Darling
4
5 Never for one moment are you out of my thoughts. Not only you
6suffering there, but my strong beautiful Ellie, the Ellie of Witteburg
7& Heald Town & Balfour. Oh my sweet heart if I could help you!
8
9 Your little sister
10 Emmie
11
12 ^Cron wrote so affectionately of you in his letter to me this morning.^
13
14
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/134 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Monday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Monday
2
3 My own sweet Ettie
4
5 I have just heard from Mr Mushett of you that the terrible pain goes
6on & the rubbing didn’t seem to help. Tell me if ever you really
7want to see me darling. I’ll come If only there was something I
8could do I wear the sweet little broach you gave me every day. Oh my
9darling who was so sweet & tender & full of love to me, can I really
10do nothing to relieve your pain.
11
12 Your little sister puts both her arms round you & holds you to her
13hear.
14 Olive
15
16
17
2
3 My own sweet Ettie
4
5 I have just heard from Mr Mushett of you that the terrible pain goes
6on & the rubbing didn’t seem to help. Tell me if ever you really
7want to see me darling. I’ll come If only there was something I
8could do I wear the sweet little broach you gave me every day. Oh my
9darling who was so sweet & tender & full of love to me, can I really
10do nothing to relieve your pain.
11
12 Your little sister puts both her arms round you & holds you to her
13hear.
14 Olive
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/135 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
My Ettie,
2
3 Don’t trouble to answer my notes. I just feel a little nearer you
4when I am writing to you. I hope so much this little change to greater
5coolness is helping you, my darling. That dear, dear, body, that used
6to so strong & full of life & has done so much for others.
7
8 Good night dear one.
9 Olive
10
11
12
2
3 Don’t trouble to answer my notes. I just feel a little nearer you
4when I am writing to you. I hope so much this little change to greater
5coolness is helping you, my darling. That dear, dear, body, that used
6to so strong & full of life & has done so much for others.
7
8 Good night dear one.
9 Olive
10
11
12
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/136 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Friday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Friday night
2
3 My own Ettie,
4
5 Who was always so good to me & helped me when there was no one else to
6help me. Do you remember how you sent me some money you had got for a
7dance Howard gave you that I might come up to Kimberley. How you used
8to send me wood & milk & do so much for me when I was in Cape Town &
9now can do so little for you. I am always always in spirit in that
10little room of so much anguish for you. Oh to help you dear! To know
11the pain was only a little less.
12
13 Try to take oysters if you can take nothing else.
14
15 Your little sister
16 Olive
17
18 ^Thanks to Wynnie for her letter^
19
20
21
2
3 My own Ettie,
4
5 Who was always so good to me & helped me when there was no one else to
6help me. Do you remember how you sent me some money you had got for a
7dance Howard gave you that I might come up to Kimberley. How you used
8to send me wood & milk & do so much for me when I was in Cape Town &
9now can do so little for you. I am always always in spirit in that
10little room of so much anguish for you. Oh to help you dear! To know
11the pain was only a little less.
12
13 Try to take oysters if you can take nothing else.
14
15 Your little sister
16 Olive
17
18 ^Thanks to Wynnie for her letter^
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/137 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Sunday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis.
|
1
De Aar
2 Sunday
3
4 My darling
5
6 Just after I wrote I got a long letter from Will telling me about you.
7He thinks the ?drawing room a much nicer room for you that your old
8one I’m sure it will be cosier for winter, & if we’d only had the
9fireplace put in there you could have stayed there for the winter &
10gone back to your old one unreadable which is so cool for summer. I’ve
11made some very nice sheep’s head & feet brawn cooking it till it’s
12quite gone to nothing & quite chopping even those tiny bits fine,
13letting it cool to take all all the fat off & then boiling it up the
14next day with a desert spoon of vinegar & a few olives. I find I can
15eat it when I can’t eat any other meat with out pain it seems half
16digested already.
17
18 If there was a direct post to Blauwberg ^like to Cape Town^ I would make
19you some & send it down in the ?shope; but it might lie for days at
20Maitland in a hot office & be bad when you got it; but perhaps Effie
21or Ely could make it for you. Do you send dai every day to Milnerton
22for the milk? Because if you do I think the best plan would be for
23people to send thing to the Hotel Keepers wife there.
24
25 I am so anxious to hear how you find your bedroom when you get back to it.
26
27 Cron is leaving on Monday night for Muizenberg to see his mother who
28has had a paralytic stroke. He will only be in Muizenberg a couple of
29days & then return.
30
31 Good bye my own darling. I am always thinking of you. If you have a
32nice fire to dry things I hope the cool air of the winter will refresh
33you a little.
34
35 Olive
36
37
38
2 Sunday
3
4 My darling
5
6 Just after I wrote I got a long letter from Will telling me about you.
7He thinks the ?drawing room a much nicer room for you that your old
8one I’m sure it will be cosier for winter, & if we’d only had the
9fireplace put in there you could have stayed there for the winter &
10gone back to your old one unreadable which is so cool for summer. I’ve
11made some very nice sheep’s head & feet brawn cooking it till it’s
12quite gone to nothing & quite chopping even those tiny bits fine,
13letting it cool to take all all the fat off & then boiling it up the
14next day with a desert spoon of vinegar & a few olives. I find I can
15eat it when I can’t eat any other meat with out pain it seems half
16digested already.
17
18 If there was a direct post to Blauwberg ^like to Cape Town^ I would make
19you some & send it down in the ?shope; but it might lie for days at
20Maitland in a hot office & be bad when you got it; but perhaps Effie
21or Ely could make it for you. Do you send dai every day to Milnerton
22for the milk? Because if you do I think the best plan would be for
23people to send thing to the Hotel Keepers wife there.
24
25 I am so anxious to hear how you find your bedroom when you get back to it.
26
27 Cron is leaving on Monday night for Muizenberg to see his mother who
28has had a paralytic stroke. He will only be in Muizenberg a couple of
29days & then return.
30
31 Good bye my own darling. I am always thinking of you. If you have a
32nice fire to dry things I hope the cool air of the winter will refresh
33you a little.
34
35 Olive
36
37
38
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/138 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 21 April 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope.
|
1
De Aar
2 April 21st 1912
3
4 My darling
5
6 It was good to see the sweet old handwriting again I went down to the
7station to see John Pursglove as he passed today & take him a bunch of
8my flowers & a bit of cake. He said you seemed to him to look much
9brighter & more like your old self the day he left Blauwberg.
10
11 I am so grieved to hear about the swelling of the legs, but with such
12great & terrible weakness as your it may improve as you get a little
13stronger. My legs & stomach were so swollen at Hanover twelve years
14ago that the doctors thought I would have to be tapped, but slowly it
15disappeared almost.
16
17 If only we were in Europe & you could try the Neuheim treatment &
18massage.
19
20 I have a little most beautiful springbok biltong now. Would you be
21able to try a little if I sent it?
22
23 Good bye, my old Ettie. If you knew how my thoughts hang round that
24sad desolate little promentary at Blauwberg.
25
26 Your Olive
27
2 April 21st 1912
3
4 My darling
5
6 It was good to see the sweet old handwriting again I went down to the
7station to see John Pursglove as he passed today & take him a bunch of
8my flowers & a bit of cake. He said you seemed to him to look much
9brighter & more like your old self the day he left Blauwberg.
10
11 I am so grieved to hear about the swelling of the legs, but with such
12great & terrible weakness as your it may improve as you get a little
13stronger. My legs & stomach were so swollen at Hanover twelve years
14ago that the doctors thought I would have to be tapped, but slowly it
15disappeared almost.
16
17 If only we were in Europe & you could try the Neuheim treatment &
18massage.
19
20 I have a little most beautiful springbok biltong now. Would you be
21able to try a little if I sent it?
22
23 Good bye, my old Ettie. If you knew how my thoughts hang round that
24sad desolate little promentary at Blauwberg.
25
26 Your Olive
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/139 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: December 1911 ; Before End: April 1912 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Content shows that Schreiner was in Cape Town when it was written. Schreiner was in Cape Town and places near it from November 1911 to early April 1912.
|
1
My dear old Wynnie
2
3 Thank you for your letter. I can’t come out on Monday. I am not
4finding this place suit me. I have to go on looking for rooms, now
5very hard to get that I may be able to leave on Wednesday when my week
6here is up
7
8 Perhaps I could come on Wednesday if you could send for me early in
9the morning. I would ask the landlady if I could leave my things here.
10& I could sleep the night, & perhaps two nights with you. unreadable I
11do want to see a little of my darling sister
12
13 Is there any way in which I could get a letter to you on Monday or
14Tuesday I mistrust depending on that Maitland post.
15
16 I am going in tomorrow to look for room. Arthur tells me Effie has a
17spare room, perhaps I could hire that. It would be so nice to be near
18them & have the dear children & my staying with them might be a little
19help. My heart bleeds when I think of how dear old Arthur & Effie have
20to struggle. He is a dear sweet fellow striving manfully to do his
21best. I’m glad Lyndall is so fond of him too. He’s such a
22gentleman at heart.
23
24 I do wish I could stay here this place is so lovely. But I must try to
25find a place where I am well enough to work. I could help you all if
26only I could get some work done.
27
28 Good bye dear Wynnie
29 Your little Auntie
30 Olive
31
32
33
2
3 Thank you for your letter. I can’t come out on Monday. I am not
4finding this place suit me. I have to go on looking for rooms, now
5very hard to get that I may be able to leave on Wednesday when my week
6here is up
7
8 Perhaps I could come on Wednesday if you could send for me early in
9the morning. I would ask the landlady if I could leave my things here.
10& I could sleep the night, & perhaps two nights with you. unreadable I
11do want to see a little of my darling sister
12
13 Is there any way in which I could get a letter to you on Monday or
14Tuesday I mistrust depending on that Maitland post.
15
16 I am going in tomorrow to look for room. Arthur tells me Effie has a
17spare room, perhaps I could hire that. It would be so nice to be near
18them & have the dear children & my staying with them might be a little
19help. My heart bleeds when I think of how dear old Arthur & Effie have
20to struggle. He is a dear sweet fellow striving manfully to do his
21best. I’m glad Lyndall is so fond of him too. He’s such a
22gentleman at heart.
23
24 I do wish I could stay here this place is so lovely. But I must try to
25find a place where I am well enough to work. I could help you all if
26only I could get some work done.
27
28 Good bye dear Wynnie
29 Your little Auntie
30 Olive
31
32
33
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/140 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Wednesday 24 April 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner returned to De Aar from Cape Town in early April 1912.
|
1
Wednesday
2
3 My darling
4
5 It is so distressing to me that those dear, strong, beautiful old legs
6are so swollen. But beloved, if you can get a little stronger it may
7go down, & that terrible sense of weight leave you. Oh if only you had
8been in another place but Blauwberg were we could all easily get to
9you & where I did not feel so ill, then I could have stayed with you.
10I shall be so thankful when I know the fireplace is in before the real
11heavy rain & cold of winter set in. I just couldn’t bear to think of
12you lying there at night in the fog with nothing to dry the air for
13the poor chocking lungs
14
15 Good bye, my beloved
16 Your little sister
17 Olive
18
19
20
2
3 My darling
4
5 It is so distressing to me that those dear, strong, beautiful old legs
6are so swollen. But beloved, if you can get a little stronger it may
7go down, & that terrible sense of weight leave you. Oh if only you had
8been in another place but Blauwberg were we could all easily get to
9you & where I did not feel so ill, then I could have stayed with you.
10I shall be so thankful when I know the fireplace is in before the real
11heavy rain & cold of winter set in. I just couldn’t bear to think of
12you lying there at night in the fog with nothing to dry the air for
13the poor chocking lungs
14
15 Good bye, my beloved
16 Your little sister
17 Olive
18
19
20
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/141 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 28 April 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner returned to De Aar from Cape Town in early April 1912.
|
1
Sunday night
2
3 My darling
4
5 I’ve not had you once out of my thoughts today. I feel so anxious I
6suppose because its some days since I heard How are the dear legs? I
7hope the oysters are still suiting you. They’ll be in season now for
8some months I’m glad to think.
9
10 My dear love to you my old Ettie
11 Olive
12
13
14
2
3 My darling
4
5 I’ve not had you once out of my thoughts today. I feel so anxious I
6suppose because its some days since I heard How are the dear legs? I
7hope the oysters are still suiting you. They’ll be in season now for
8some months I’m glad to think.
9
10 My dear love to you my old Ettie
11 Olive
12
13
14
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/142 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 3 May 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to.
|
1
De Aar
2 Thursday night
3
4 Darling, I heard from Fan to-day that if possible our old Will & Bill
5were going out to see you. I am so glad. I can’t help longing &
6longing that you did live at some more get-at-able place where those
7who love you could more easily get to you. I hope the fire place is
8done now & that you have good fuel But for it. One great good of a
9fire is that you can sometimes at night keep the windows open with a
10good fire when you couldn’t possibly with out one. I do hope I shall
11soon get a few lines with news of you. But I don’t expect the dear
12girls to write often. I know they can’t.
13
14 Oh to know that you were suffering less my sweet old Ettie. People
15talk of consumption, & even cancer but no disease inflicts the awful
16anguish of heart failure. It is a continual death, while one yet lives.
17 Oh if I, if any of us could really help you.
18
19 Your little sister
20 Olive
21
22
23
2 Thursday night
3
4 Darling, I heard from Fan to-day that if possible our old Will & Bill
5were going out to see you. I am so glad. I can’t help longing &
6longing that you did live at some more get-at-able place where those
7who love you could more easily get to you. I hope the fire place is
8done now & that you have good fuel But for it. One great good of a
9fire is that you can sometimes at night keep the windows open with a
10good fire when you couldn’t possibly with out one. I do hope I shall
11soon get a few lines with news of you. But I don’t expect the dear
12girls to write often. I know they can’t.
13
14 Oh to know that you were suffering less my sweet old Ettie. People
15talk of consumption, & even cancer but no disease inflicts the awful
16anguish of heart failure. It is a continual death, while one yet lives.
17 Oh if I, if any of us could really help you.
18
19 Your little sister
20 Olive
21
22
23
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/143 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday 16 May 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to.
|
1
De Aar
2 Tuesday
3
4 My darling, I hope I shall get news tomorrow, saying if the doctor did
5come out on Sunday & if he was able to give you any relief. Oh it is
6terrible to think of all your suffering my beloved one.
7
8 Your little sister
9 Olive
10
11
12
2 Tuesday
3
4 My darling, I hope I shall get news tomorrow, saying if the doctor did
5come out on Sunday & if he was able to give you any relief. Oh it is
6terrible to think of all your suffering my beloved one.
7
8 Your little sister
9 Olive
10
11
12
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/144 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Sunday December 1911 ; Before End: April 1912 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner stayed in Cape Town and places near it from December 1911 to early April 1912.
|
1
Sunday night
2
3 Darling I’ve been looking out a far off & yet so near Blauwberg this
4afternoon. I am always thinking of the dear, tired, heart & body lying
5there.
6
7 I have advertised in the Cape Times for rooms, ^in a private house^ & am
8going in tomorrow to try & & find one, but I fear shall not succeed
9every place is so full. There is not a bed in any hotel or boarding
10house. I can’t come till I find some place where I know I can go. If
11I can’t find a place & have to go back to de Aar I will certainly
12come to see you before, I leave, my beloved.
13
14 If I find rooms I will some as soon as I’m settled we had better
15settle nothing now.
16
17 Your little sister
18 Olive
19
20
21
2
3 Darling I’ve been looking out a far off & yet so near Blauwberg this
4afternoon. I am always thinking of the dear, tired, heart & body lying
5there.
6
7 I have advertised in the Cape Times for rooms, ^in a private house^ & am
8going in tomorrow to try & & find one, but I fear shall not succeed
9every place is so full. There is not a bed in any hotel or boarding
10house. I can’t come till I find some place where I know I can go. If
11I can’t find a place & have to go back to de Aar I will certainly
12come to see you before, I leave, my beloved.
13
14 If I find rooms I will some as soon as I’m settled we had better
15settle nothing now.
16
17 Your little sister
18 Olive
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/145 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time. The end of the letter seems to be missing.
|
1
Dear Wynnie
2
3 I have wired to Dr ?Maran’s but not yet been able to get him.
4
5 I am sending a pigeon, on the chance that if it is cooked soft &
6ground up mixed with a little Bath Oliver biscuit & a little gravy she
7will eat it in a spoon. She used to like Bath Olivers so they are made
8of flower that has first been baked like meal ?ball. I left a note at
9Uncle Will’s
10
11[page/s missing]
12
13
2
3 I have wired to Dr ?Maran’s but not yet been able to get him.
4
5 I am sending a pigeon, on the chance that if it is cooked soft &
6ground up mixed with a little Bath Oliver biscuit & a little gravy she
7will eat it in a spoon. She used to like Bath Olivers so they are made
8of flower that has first been baked like meal ?ball. I left a note at
9Uncle Will’s
10
11[page/s missing]
12
13
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/146 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Darling
2
3 I am always with you in though, my sweet old Ellie I think its best
4for you to be quiet; but you must take a little nourishment darling
5you must try & eat some of the pigeon ground fine with biscuit Bath
6oliver or the other.
7
8 I will send that splendid medicine as soon as I can get hold of Marans.
9 He’s been out up till now. Oh my darling you will get better for
10those who love you so.
11
12 Olive
13
14
15
2
3 I am always with you in though, my sweet old Ellie I think its best
4for you to be quiet; but you must take a little nourishment darling
5you must try & eat some of the pigeon ground fine with biscuit Bath
6oliver or the other.
7
8 I will send that splendid medicine as soon as I can get hold of Marans.
9 He’s been out up till now. Oh my darling you will get better for
10those who love you so.
11
12 Olive
13
14
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/147 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 16 March 1912 |
Address From | Alexandra Hotel, Muizenberg, Western Cape |
Address To | c/o J. Muskett Esq, St George's Street, Cape Town, Western Cape |
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 derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was written from.
|
1
Sunday morning
2
3 My own darling
4
5 Oh if the doctors medicines have given you a little ease! If Your
6sufferings are too awful you don’t know how I feel when I look at
7those dear thin hands that have done so much for others for fifty
8years ever since you were a little girl.
9
10 I am going in to town tomorrow & will send you some more of that Pain
11balm & some smelling salts, through dear Mr Muskett.
12
13 I know the good sweet nurse will rub you with the balm – I would
14unreadable try softly wash rubbing your head a little in a way that
15relieves me so much.
16
17 Cron sends his love to you. He is so sorry to hear of your great pain.
18Good bye my own darling
19
20 Your little sister
21 Olive
22
23 My own darling, my sweet old Ettie. Oh do try & get strong dear one
24for the sake of all of us who love you so.
25
26 Your little sister
27 Olive
28
29 ^I hope you got the milk all right.^
30
31
32
2
3 My own darling
4
5 Oh if the doctors medicines have given you a little ease! If Your
6sufferings are too awful you don’t know how I feel when I look at
7those dear thin hands that have done so much for others for fifty
8years ever since you were a little girl.
9
10 I am going in to town tomorrow & will send you some more of that Pain
11balm & some smelling salts, through dear Mr Muskett.
12
13 I know the good sweet nurse will rub you with the balm – I would
14unreadable try softly wash rubbing your head a little in a way that
15relieves me so much.
16
17 Cron sends his love to you. He is so sorry to hear of your great pain.
18Good bye my own darling
19
20 Your little sister
21 Olive
22
23 My own darling, my sweet old Ettie. Oh do try & get strong dear one
24for the sake of all of us who love you so.
25
26 Your little sister
27 Olive
28
29 ^I hope you got the milk all right.^
30
31
32
Notation
Schreiner has written 'Please forward' on the envelope attached to this letter.
Schreiner has written 'Please forward' on the envelope attached to this letter.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/148 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Monday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Monday
2
3 My darling
4
5 I am so glad to hear from Mr Muskett this morning that the sour milk
6seems doing you good.
7
8 There’s nothing like that real Kaffir milk. I do hope it will really
9end the stomach symptoms they are not the most dangerous, but they are
10the most torturing & in the end take all life & strength.
11
12 Your few lines to me were so precious.
13
14 Good bye my darling love to the dear girls.
15 Your little sister Olive
16
17 Fan & Dot would send messages if they were in. Thank Alsie for her
18notes.
19
20
21
2
3 My darling
4
5 I am so glad to hear from Mr Muskett this morning that the sour milk
6seems doing you good.
7
8 There’s nothing like that real Kaffir milk. I do hope it will really
9end the stomach symptoms they are not the most dangerous, but they are
10the most torturing & in the end take all life & strength.
11
12 Your few lines to me were so precious.
13
14 Good bye my darling love to the dear girls.
15 Your little sister Olive
16
17 Fan & Dot would send messages if they were in. Thank Alsie for her
18notes.
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/149 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Friday June 1898 ; Before End: December 1898 |
Address From | Kimberley, 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. This letter refers to Katie Findlay being moved into an asylum in Pietermaritzburg, which occurred in late 1897 or early 1898. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898, with visits, sometimes extended, elsewhere over this period. Content of the letter suggests information had been received about Katie Findlay.
|
1
My darling Ettie
2
3 Isn’t sad about poor old Katie. I always felt perfectly sure it was
4some physical disease which gave her the sensations of pregnancy, &
5her poor old head not being very strong, she couldn’t reason the
6matter out. I am so thankful to hear you have not gone up. You have
7gone though too much lately dear. You can’t stand any more.
8
9 Your little sister
10 Olive
11 Friday night
12
13
14
2
3 Isn’t sad about poor old Katie. I always felt perfectly sure it was
4some physical disease which gave her the sensations of pregnancy, &
5her poor old head not being very strong, she couldn’t reason the
6matter out. I am so thankful to hear you have not gone up. You have
7gone though too much lately dear. You can’t stand any more.
8
9 Your little sister
10 Olive
11 Friday night
12
13
14
Notation
In June 1898, following a visit to Katie Findlay in a Pietermaritzburg asylum, Katie Stuart (a niece of Olive Schreiner's and Katie Findlay's eldest daughter) send the following 'round robin' letter to family members:
Pretoria
June 20th 98
Dear Ones!
You will have learnt from our postcards a good deal about our dear one at Maritzburg, but we would like to share with you many other interesting items regarding her & her surroundings, & as we cannot write to each one we are drawing up this general letter to be sent to each one in turn.
Though we should of course not have undertaken the long journey to Maritzburg had the doctor not answered ^informed^ us that death was imminent, we are very thankful that we did so, & think the expense & trouble more than repaid by the accurate knowledge we have gained by our 12 days stay there of dear Mother's physical & mental condition, & of the character methods of the Institution of which she is an inmate.
We had the free run of the Asylum during our stay, & spent the greater part of each day with Mother, without the presence of anyone else, & had as free intercourse with her as if she were in her own home. In addition we were with her 3 or 4 times when the doctor called & examined her pulse etc, & when the matron & nurses attended to address the surface excoriation caused by the tapping, or to attend to her needs of one kind or another, or just to say a kindly loving word to her. Also at Mother's desire quite a number of the other lady & women inmates came in at different times to be introduced to us by her.
During the first days we sat with her in her room, but after she was up & dressed we walked about with her, & sat & chatted in the beautiful sittingroom which so as free to her ^she & two or three other of the other inmates use as freely^ as if it was their own, in which we also had dinner twice with her, or walked out, or sat for two hours amongst the beautiful trees in the grounds.
We thus had every opportunity of becoming acquainted with all the minutiae of her daily life & surroundings & its effects on her; & the result has been to make us deeply grateful & restful about her.
As to her physical condition: according to the Acting Medical Superintendent Dr. R. Brown who we are informed is a man with the highest credentials & Dr. Ward a surgeon of the hospital ^who together examined her^, she is suffering from dropy dropsy consequent on kidney disease, which they think is in its turn partly caused by the pressure of a large internal tumour, which her present state of general health does not warrant operating upon. This tumour must be about 10 years growth.
Dr. Brown termed it a malignant tumour at first but moderated the expression ^afterwards^ partially malignant; the dropsy had ^if it exists she feels^ no pain directly from its presence.
^The dropsy^ increased to such an extent about a month ago that the action of both heart & lungs was seriously impeded, & her sufferings were great & life was in immediate danger. The weight then was 17 stone 6 lbs, & she was increasing in weight a lb per day. Two gallons of fluid was taken away from her immediately by tapping on May 19th, which together with the slow drainage of the following days reduced her weight amazingly, so that on June the 12th ^although she had already begun to increase in weight again,^ she weighed only 15 stone, having lost ^a difference^ of 34 lbs in the interest. The relief has of course been great, heart oppression has ceased & cough well nigh gone. Of pains in the region of the seat of the mischief she has never complained, except of a great pulling down weight when walking
The doctor thinks the dropsy will certainly increase again as the tapping was merely palliative not curative but her present wonderfully improved condition gives every hope that it will be a long period before her weight approaches 17 stone again, & a further tapping becomes necessary. On the length of this first period which cannot at present be foretold, & of the subsequent periods between each tapping, which will ^likely^ become gradually shorter, depends the length of her life.
Dr. Ward says it may be a year or more as he has tapped some patients 35 times, but Dr. Brown is not so hopeful, he says that at present her system is yielding beautifully to the beneficial influences of digitalis which is keeping the dropsy down, but he fears that later on it may cease to act
We incline to think that owing to her splendid recuperative powers, good digestion & good appetite, sound sleeping faculties, quiet, ^comfortable,^ restful, life, good hygienic treatment & surroundings, & fresh air she may live even much longer than Dr. Ward surmises. She has certainly astonished Dr. Brown by her wonderful vitality. She herself loves ^her^ physical life more than anything else, & says she will never die if she can help it. It is very pathetic, this clinging of hers to the mere condition of living, & her utter shrinking from the idea of death, & oblivion as to its possible nearness.
Dr. Brown says while tapping is the only way of prolonging her life there are certain dangers connected with the operation such as a possible exhaustion of the heart or a possible peritonitis either of which if occurring might prove fatal. Should such a thing take place we know that it will not be for want of the best medical skill & attention obtainable. Doctor Brown is very attentive & kind to Mother, & she likes him immensely, & trusts him as much as she can trust anyone, & is very obedient to his commands. She seems also to like Dr. Hyslop the Medical Superintendent of the Asylum very much. We regret that he & Mrs. Hyslop were absent on furlough in Europe for a few months, so we did not see them, but everyone in Maritzburg testifies to their wholehearted devotion to their life's work at the Asylum, & the same spirit of loving devotion to the needs of humanity in its weakest & most trying condition, seems to permeate all the staff from highest to lowest.
Exercise in the fresh air is of course good for Mother & she is fond of it, walking as much as possible considering her weight. Our carriage drive with her for 2 or 3 hours turned out a successful experiment physically, & the doctor was so satisfied with it, that he says that he will be glad at any time to allow her to go out in the same way, should any friend of hers send him the necessary money, which is one guinea for an afternoon. The Asylum has no carriage or horses at present, & they have to hire some from the Town.
We were under some hopes before arrival at Maritzburg & during our first days there that the physical betterment caused by the tapping might be found to have the effect of somewhat restoring her mind to a more normal condition, but alas! we have regretfully & sorrowfully to say that such is not the case.
When we arrived Dr. Brown said 'You will find Mrs. Findlay at her very best ^physically &^ mentally because of the relief which the tapping has given ^the action of the digitalis on her system'^ & we certainly found his statement correct for the first day or two, & were led to hope that there might be permanent improvement, but alas! it seemed that in proportion as physical health & strength returned in that proportion mental quiet & reasonableness diminished. We hoped for instance that when she knew that 34 lbs of water had been taken from her by tapping, we should be able to prove conclusively to her poor mind that her constant idea of the past 20 years that she is enceinte has been nothing but a delusion. For a day or two she almost seemed willing to accept this as a fact, but then plunged back again into the old delusion, & said that even if they did take so much water away they had only killed the child within her etc. etc. During the operation of tapping she nearly upset the gravity of the doctors by saying 'Doctor don't be surprised to see my ten year old boy', 'Nurse please take care of the little darling' etc. etc. She said to us the very first day that the doctors took something from her but whether it was water or a baby she could not say etc.
She was glad to see us, but with that absence of depth of feeling which is a marked feature of all her mental sensation whether of like or dislike, joy or sorrow, ease or pain, meeting or parting. We want you dear ones to realize, that the expressions she uses universally in her letters to everybody of 'save me, save me', 'have mercy on me', 'give me a home with you' & the like do not spring from nor indicate any agony of mind whatsoever. She uses these same expressions constantly in conversation with a nonchalant, careless, even smiling face, with so much unreality that they give ^carry^ no weight at all to the listener, whereas when read in her letter the reiteration of them becomes a painful, haunting burden to the reader. I wish you could all have heard her read one of her letters to Maggie to us, & how she laughed that giggling laugh which she always laughs when she is saying or doing something wrong, foolish, or unreadable ^unreal^, as she read her own appeals to Maggie to give her a home ^with her.^ We said to her in that instance 'Why do you write what you don't mean?' 'Would you go if Maggie fetched you?' When she answered 'Perhaps not hey' I might go further & fare worse. I think I'd better stop here'. She ^does^ grumble ^every now & then^ about having been put at the Asylum, & wants to know when she may go to her own home; but when we say to her, you know if you went back to Leeuw River you would want to be back here almost at once, she ^would^ says, 'Yes, perhaps I would ^hey'^ & three or four times she said even if she got quite well she doesn't know that she wouldn't prefer staying at the Asylum to going anywhere else. - There is already stated no depth, no absolute reality in any of the expressions she uses in speaking or writing. For instance the expressions 'if they only wont kill me', 'if they only will be kind to me? don't indicate that the 'they' be the doctor or matron or nurses are not kind ^or that she thinks them not kind^: On the contrary she always in their presence & in their absence says how very kind & loving they are, but generally winds up with 'if only they will continue to be kind & not kill me'. This haunting distrust of everyone, especially of those who are kindest & most loving to her has long been a marked feature of her poor disordered mind. One of the kind nurses said quite sorrowfully 'She never trusts us Mrs. Stuart.' But even this fear least people may become unkind to her in the future in an unreal fear without any depth. She would say to us all of a sudden in quite a careless self assuring way 'You & Theo wouldn't kill me, you wouldn't hurt me hey?' I mention these matter so that you dear ones need not be ^over^ weighed & pained by her written talk, as we, or at least Theo, used to be before we went to Martizburg. The real danger to which she is subject from the dropsy she does not believe in saying she is quite well; &, if you can get her to think & talk of other subjects than her self & her fancied ills & woes, she can talk quite sensibly. She took great interest in an article on Kruger in the Westminster Budget & read it to us, commenting on it en passant quite sensibly.
The doctors says that her mental derangement belongs to the peculiar type called the sane insane, which is particularly trying to those who have the care of such patients, far more so than in the care of those who are violent, maniacal, or idiotic, that one nurse would inevitably break down under the strain.
We asked him whether he thought it possible that one of her daughters could take charge of her outside of the Asylum. His answer was that it would be a cruel & impossible attempt ? not even one trained nurse could stand it, he did not think any two nurses could be found to undertake the charge even at a hundred a year each. Even at the Asylum with all its manifold helps he does not allow any one nurse to be exposed to the strain of bearing with the vagaries of such cases for even one day at a time but they are always being changed about ^The Dr. said further 'If I had to look after Mrs. Findlay myself for a year I should be a fit subject for an Asylum myself.'^
This opinion of the Medical Superintendent corroborates what Theo & I have felt through all these years, viz, that no one of Mamma's daughters should ever have been exposed to the torture & strain of taking care of her as they have attempted to do single handed in the past. What is hard to bear up under for a trained nurse is infinitely harder for a daughter.
Even we found the strain of our daily visits for twelve days very heavy to bear, although although dear Mother was loving to us throughout, & we of course laid ourselves out to make her happy, & humoured her wishes in every possible way. She is more like a wilful, obstinate, selfish, spoilt child suffering from delusions with which she will not part, than anything else. She has never been really violent at the Asylum, but now & then gets into a passion & has fits of bad temper.
On the whole her life at the Asylum with its medical regularity, & ^the^ loving, restful yet firm influences to which she has been subjected, together with the material comfort & attendance she has enjoyed have made her mind more quiet & peaceful, & therefore her whole life happier & brighter than she has been anywhere else: just as a wilful child is happiest under kind, wise, judicious control. Another thing which has helped her to be somewhat less self centred & selfish, & therefore more happy than she used to be is her seeing & getting to know & sympathize wh with so many other lives who are really so much more unfortunate than herself. She knows the names & the history (according to their own account of it) of all the inmates in the women's department, & it was one of her greatest pleasures to tell us all about them, & in order to please her we went round with her to be introduced to all of them. There are three or four whose cases are somewhat similar to hers i.e. they are sane insane people, & they are friends, & dine together in the parlour, & you might be an hour with them & not find out that there is anything wrong with their minds, nor do they know or allow that they are anything but sane. But there are others whose derangement of mind is always apparent, & these are the objects of great pity on the part of the first mentioned class. Then there are two or three children & young people who make a deal of brightness in the lives of ^the^ others. It is wonderful to see how God can use the influence of poor people with weak or deranged minds to be a real blessing to one another. Mother has of course no idea that anything is the matter with her mind ^the Rev. Grey of Pretoria said however that when he visited her she said 'It is sad not to have the full powers of one's mind.'^ & she combats the others delusions, such as that of one lady who says she has to be hung in two years time. Dear Mother is a general favourite among the inmates, who look up to her & treat her with respect, & will do so even more after our visit. * She exercises a really good influence in several ways among them, for she is a Christian, & holds fast to her belief in God & Christ & the Holy Spirit, & God's Word & the power of prayer, though even here the want of depth or reality already spoken of manifests itself; & while we were singing together a sweet hymn she would sometimes break in with incongruous words. There is an inmate there whose delusion is chiefly that there is no God, no Christ, no heaven or hell etc. & Mother has to defend the truths of Christianity against her. Mother spends her time in writing, reading, doing needlework for herself, mixing with the inmates, & chatting with them, or with the nurses. She takes a great deal of interest in her dress & dressmaking & as the Doctor said in her presence leads the fashion at the Asylum. She showed us the body of a dress she is just making & also her green velvet dress shot with gilt thread, in which she goes to the concerts & dances, which are held weekly & which the inmates enjoy amazingly.^ As an instance of her influence I may relate that she reproved one lady for snatching a newspaper out of the hands of another who was reading it, & the lady instead of resenting it said 'well I apologize' with a curtsey, whereupon my mother rose from her seat & said with queenly grace & gesture 'I accept the apology.'
There are several girls of the working class who are always ready & pleased to do little things for Mother, & a Zulu girl named Gracie admires her greatly & declares she will accompany Mother if she ^should^ leaves the Asylum. Mother need not mix with the other inmates but she enjoys doing so.
At first some of them used to tease her calling her 'Tant Sannie' & 'Big Dutch Woman' but her illness touched them & our advent completed the change.
We became general favourites with nurses & inmates & many were the promises even volunteered ^by some of the latter^ to be loving & tender to her for our sakes. The Doctor delighted some ^a few^ of them one day by asking Mother whether she would not like to retain us there & not allow us to get out again. The idea tickled them all immensely. I wish you could all have seen her bright face when speaking to the Doctor about the ^prospective^ drive she said 'Must I come back to my prison Doctor?' The remembrance of it cheers our hearts even now. Another brighter picture was when the doctor, & some of the nurses & inmates gathered in a picturesque group around the side door to see us start for our drive, & also inspect an ^Indian^ pedlar's wares, & the Baby of the establishment, a boy of about 9 years of age, who delights in boot blacking, & had managed to smear his face & hands black tumbled into their midst causing dismay & cries of 'Bootles Baby.'
Mother has almost perfect freedom in the Asylum, the one exception being that the outer door is locked & if she wants to go outside to walk or sit among the trees in the beautiful grounds she has only to ask, & if the weather, & time of day & her health does not hinder she can stay outside for hours, & does so without an attendant. In the women's quarters of the Asylum she is free to walk at anytime, & also without an attendant. She writes & receives letters without inspection. Of course the authorities do not like articles being sent to her at the Asylum which are not needed & which they provide if needed.
As to the Institution itself, it is a perfectly ideal Asylum, as to situation (The Governor declares that it occupies the position that Government House ought to have had), outlook, surroundings, internal arrangements, methods of treatment etc. By keeping a large staff of nurses & attendants a wonderful amount of liberty is granted to ^available for^ the inmates. Everything about the Asylum is spotlessly clean, cheery & bright. The windows of which there are any amount are ordinary windows with no iron bars, only a small wooden arrangement which prevents them from being opened more than about a foot, top & bottom.
Mother now occupies a nice room next to the parlour with lofty walls, & a beautiful large window looking out on the grounds. Her old room was nice enough but faced the yard & there was no view, but Mother says she liked it because it was nearer the other inmates. She likes this one better however. In her bedroom is a nice, wide single bedstead (good linen & 2 beautiful white blankets) a chest of drawers, a marble topped washstand, a neat toilet table, an easy chair, & other chairs & a commode. She has her meals in the parlour, either by herself or with one or two of the others, & is served by one of the sweet, bright, lady nurses. Table linen, silver, crockery, cruet stand all good, & even a vase of flowers to grace the whole. She says they give her very good food, & plenty of it, & certainly what we saw bears out the statement. Good soup every day, (equal to any of my own making), fowls once a week & almost a superabundance of vegetables - one day we had spinach, cauliflower peas & potatoes & the other time turnips, carrots, cabbage & mashed potatoes - & always two kinds of puddings. Mother ^who^ is somewhat of a connoisseur & she says the puddings are always good - genuine articles without stint of butter, milk & eggs. Dinner lasts from 12 to 2 o'clock, Mother?s turn coming at about 1 o'clock. For breakfast she has a chop, toast & butter, & tea ? since her illness she gets a cup of Bovril also at 11 o'clock. After dinner they have coffee or tea. The evening meal is at 6 o'clock, besides ^when in addition to^ bread & butter, radishes & watercress, they then have either fish, an egg, or a little cold meat. Before going to bed Mother & a few others get a cup of cocoa.
Every Monday evening the inmates have a dance which they look forward to much. Both male & female inmates take part. On Sunday afternoons a minister comes up from Town & has service, which Mother enjoys. The authorities know from us that Mr. Rousseau the Dutch Reformed Minister is her minister, & he will see her once a week & visit her if she gets very ill. Doctor Brown is a very kindly able man, & mother is very fond of him, 'too fond perhaps' she says in her old foolish giggling way. The matron Miss Stewart is a ^as^ sweet & yet kindly firm & capable ^a^ gentle ^o^ woman as you could find anywhere in the world.
We really love her & Mother is as fond of her as she can be of anyone whom she has to obey. Miss Stewart has promised me that should dear Mother be dying without one of us there she will lovingly hold her hand & kiss her for us. The nurses are I think exceptionally nice, & kind, & bright, & capable. They are mostly from England. The whole idea of the treatment there seems to be to give as much liberty as possible to the inmates & to make them as happy as possible.
The Institution seems to us just a living exemplification of one of the topmost & most beautiful fruits of Christianity, only possible in this sin & sorrow stricken world because Jesus has lived & taught & died here. People who have never visited such an Asylum as the one at Maritzburg & ascertained the facts in connection with it, have all kinds of terrible & gloomy ideas about the lot of those who dwell as inmates within their walls, as if the Asylums were prisons where harsh restraint is the order of the day; instead of being the bright, cheery, soothing, restful places they are. If any deranged & disordered minds can be led back to sanity it will be in such places.
The Asylum is situated on a rising spur of one of the beautiful hills surrounding Maritzburg & is about a mile & a half from the town. The outlook is beautiful & scarcely to be beaten in South Africa. An amphitheatre of grassy & wooded hills & vales stretches more than half way round, while on the open side lies the town of Maritzburg with its public buildings & hum of active life, & away in the distance Natal's Table Mountain in the direction of the sea. The grounds are large & the men inmates work principally in the Gardens, while the women do needlework etc. Of course paying patients like Mother are not forced to work at all, & those who do work are not driven.
Every day if the weather permits the women inmates go out for a walk in the grounds, like school girls do. It is a matter of constant regret to Mother that ^owing to her weight^ she cannot participate in these walks. On Saturday afternoon there is cricket etc, & the inmates have so strong a team that they play regular matches against elevens from the Town.
Now I think I have told you almost enough about our poor darling, & her surroundings etc. The matron is going to send us a photo of the Asylum, & of a group of herself & the nurses, & when we get them we shall send them the rounds of the family. I trust that what we have written will be comforting as well as interesting to the hearts of all who love Mother.
In conclusion let me say that we think that it would be very nice & a thing which would give our dear one a great deal of pleasure if one or other of those who love her would visit her for a few days, putting up say at the Barrow Green Tea Rooms Hotel where we put up (^price^ 8/6 a day) & going over to the Asylum in a risksha (1/- fare) for a few hours each day & perhaps taking her a drive in a Landau (price one guinea at Birchells)
While there would be no depth of joy at meeting, nor depth of grief at parting on her part (the day we left she chatted brightly up to the last & waved her handkerchief at the window of the sittingroom as long as we were in sight), such a visit would certainly do her good, & be a pleasant remembrance for after days when she has gone home. We would urge any who purpose doing so not to delay too long as her tenure of life is so uncertain.
When death does come to her we have no doubt she will awake to find herself in the Saviour's arms, for even in her weak disordered minds she believes in & clings to Him, & we shall meet her in the resurrection morning with all the clouds & darkness for ever removed from her poor mind & heart.
We had her likeness taken on the afternoon that we took her out for a drive. It was done on a sudden inspiration or thought & therefore she was not as well dressed as she would have liked to have been for likeness taking, & yet she would throw off Maggie's fur cloak which she was wearing on the drive & which would have been swell enough. Theo & I sat with her to ensure a good portrait if possible, & it has not I think turned out badly, though she doesn?t care for it much. She didn't want the full face taken when photographed, now she says she wishes the picture had been full face, & that she had had her jaunty little hat instead of a bonnet & a white blouse instead of a dark one. We shall send you each a copy in the course of a few weeks.
We feel that in going to Maritzburg we have been going on behalf of all the members of the family & we are thankful to dear Hudson's liberality which made it possible. We think it was worth the trouble & expenditure & when you have received this letter we hope you will feel so too. Our special duty ends with the writing & sending off of this account of how things are at Maritzburg but we trust that we shall all remember that one of the great pleasures of our dear one's life which will perhaps now be of but short duration is the receiving of kindly friendly letters, & if we cannot go personally to Maritzburg we can at any rate each manage to write her a loving, cheering letter every fortnight or so, telling her news that will interest her. I am dear ones
Yours lovingly
Katie Stuart
(Copy of letter received from Miss Stewart since this was written)
N.G.A June 20th 98
My dear Mrs Stuart
Thank you so much for your kind letter received this morning.
Mrs Findlay I am glad to say keeps bright & cheerful, out under the trees most of the day, sewing or reading as she feels inclined.
She has been weighed today (Mon) & is 15 st 4 lbs an increase of 4 lbs for the week, which I don't at all like.
I will try & write as often as I can, should Mrs F. get worse you will hear at once, if I possibly can I will write every week.
Will now close with kindest regards to Mr Schreiner & yourself
Very sincerely yours
K. Stewart
Since dinner Mrs F. has been tidying her boxes, & thinks it will be best for her to go to her old room where all her boxes are - if she can have breakfast in bed! - which she can, but she may change her mind again.
K.S.
Findlay Family A1199/3775)
In June 1898, following a visit to Katie Findlay in a Pietermaritzburg asylum, Katie Stuart (a niece of Olive Schreiner's and Katie Findlay's eldest daughter) send the following 'round robin' letter to family members:
Pretoria
June 20th 98
Dear Ones!
You will have learnt from our postcards a good deal about our dear one at Maritzburg, but we would like to share with you many other interesting items regarding her & her surroundings, & as we cannot write to each one we are drawing up this general letter to be sent to each one in turn.
Though we should of course not have undertaken the long journey to Maritzburg had the doctor not answered ^informed^ us that death was imminent, we are very thankful that we did so, & think the expense & trouble more than repaid by the accurate knowledge we have gained by our 12 days stay there of dear Mother's physical & mental condition, & of the character methods of the Institution of which she is an inmate.
We had the free run of the Asylum during our stay, & spent the greater part of each day with Mother, without the presence of anyone else, & had as free intercourse with her as if she were in her own home. In addition we were with her 3 or 4 times when the doctor called & examined her pulse etc, & when the matron & nurses attended to address the surface excoriation caused by the tapping, or to attend to her needs of one kind or another, or just to say a kindly loving word to her. Also at Mother's desire quite a number of the other lady & women inmates came in at different times to be introduced to us by her.
During the first days we sat with her in her room, but after she was up & dressed we walked about with her, & sat & chatted in the beautiful sittingroom which so as free to her ^she & two or three other of the other inmates use as freely^ as if it was their own, in which we also had dinner twice with her, or walked out, or sat for two hours amongst the beautiful trees in the grounds.
We thus had every opportunity of becoming acquainted with all the minutiae of her daily life & surroundings & its effects on her; & the result has been to make us deeply grateful & restful about her.
As to her physical condition: according to the Acting Medical Superintendent Dr. R. Brown who we are informed is a man with the highest credentials & Dr. Ward a surgeon of the hospital ^who together examined her^, she is suffering from dropy dropsy consequent on kidney disease, which they think is in its turn partly caused by the pressure of a large internal tumour, which her present state of general health does not warrant operating upon. This tumour must be about 10 years growth.
Dr. Brown termed it a malignant tumour at first but moderated the expression ^afterwards^ partially malignant; the dropsy had ^if it exists she feels^ no pain directly from its presence.
^The dropsy^ increased to such an extent about a month ago that the action of both heart & lungs was seriously impeded, & her sufferings were great & life was in immediate danger. The weight then was 17 stone 6 lbs, & she was increasing in weight a lb per day. Two gallons of fluid was taken away from her immediately by tapping on May 19th, which together with the slow drainage of the following days reduced her weight amazingly, so that on June the 12th ^although she had already begun to increase in weight again,^ she weighed only 15 stone, having lost ^a difference^ of 34 lbs in the interest. The relief has of course been great, heart oppression has ceased & cough well nigh gone. Of pains in the region of the seat of the mischief she has never complained, except of a great pulling down weight when walking
The doctor thinks the dropsy will certainly increase again as the tapping was merely palliative not curative but her present wonderfully improved condition gives every hope that it will be a long period before her weight approaches 17 stone again, & a further tapping becomes necessary. On the length of this first period which cannot at present be foretold, & of the subsequent periods between each tapping, which will ^likely^ become gradually shorter, depends the length of her life.
Dr. Ward says it may be a year or more as he has tapped some patients 35 times, but Dr. Brown is not so hopeful, he says that at present her system is yielding beautifully to the beneficial influences of digitalis which is keeping the dropsy down, but he fears that later on it may cease to act
We incline to think that owing to her splendid recuperative powers, good digestion & good appetite, sound sleeping faculties, quiet, ^comfortable,^ restful, life, good hygienic treatment & surroundings, & fresh air she may live even much longer than Dr. Ward surmises. She has certainly astonished Dr. Brown by her wonderful vitality. She herself loves ^her^ physical life more than anything else, & says she will never die if she can help it. It is very pathetic, this clinging of hers to the mere condition of living, & her utter shrinking from the idea of death, & oblivion as to its possible nearness.
Dr. Brown says while tapping is the only way of prolonging her life there are certain dangers connected with the operation such as a possible exhaustion of the heart or a possible peritonitis either of which if occurring might prove fatal. Should such a thing take place we know that it will not be for want of the best medical skill & attention obtainable. Doctor Brown is very attentive & kind to Mother, & she likes him immensely, & trusts him as much as she can trust anyone, & is very obedient to his commands. She seems also to like Dr. Hyslop the Medical Superintendent of the Asylum very much. We regret that he & Mrs. Hyslop were absent on furlough in Europe for a few months, so we did not see them, but everyone in Maritzburg testifies to their wholehearted devotion to their life's work at the Asylum, & the same spirit of loving devotion to the needs of humanity in its weakest & most trying condition, seems to permeate all the staff from highest to lowest.
Exercise in the fresh air is of course good for Mother & she is fond of it, walking as much as possible considering her weight. Our carriage drive with her for 2 or 3 hours turned out a successful experiment physically, & the doctor was so satisfied with it, that he says that he will be glad at any time to allow her to go out in the same way, should any friend of hers send him the necessary money, which is one guinea for an afternoon. The Asylum has no carriage or horses at present, & they have to hire some from the Town.
We were under some hopes before arrival at Maritzburg & during our first days there that the physical betterment caused by the tapping might be found to have the effect of somewhat restoring her mind to a more normal condition, but alas! we have regretfully & sorrowfully to say that such is not the case.
When we arrived Dr. Brown said 'You will find Mrs. Findlay at her very best ^physically &^ mentally because of the relief which the tapping has given ^the action of the digitalis on her system'^ & we certainly found his statement correct for the first day or two, & were led to hope that there might be permanent improvement, but alas! it seemed that in proportion as physical health & strength returned in that proportion mental quiet & reasonableness diminished. We hoped for instance that when she knew that 34 lbs of water had been taken from her by tapping, we should be able to prove conclusively to her poor mind that her constant idea of the past 20 years that she is enceinte has been nothing but a delusion. For a day or two she almost seemed willing to accept this as a fact, but then plunged back again into the old delusion, & said that even if they did take so much water away they had only killed the child within her etc. etc. During the operation of tapping she nearly upset the gravity of the doctors by saying 'Doctor don't be surprised to see my ten year old boy', 'Nurse please take care of the little darling' etc. etc. She said to us the very first day that the doctors took something from her but whether it was water or a baby she could not say etc.
She was glad to see us, but with that absence of depth of feeling which is a marked feature of all her mental sensation whether of like or dislike, joy or sorrow, ease or pain, meeting or parting. We want you dear ones to realize, that the expressions she uses universally in her letters to everybody of 'save me, save me', 'have mercy on me', 'give me a home with you' & the like do not spring from nor indicate any agony of mind whatsoever. She uses these same expressions constantly in conversation with a nonchalant, careless, even smiling face, with so much unreality that they give ^carry^ no weight at all to the listener, whereas when read in her letter the reiteration of them becomes a painful, haunting burden to the reader. I wish you could all have heard her read one of her letters to Maggie to us, & how she laughed that giggling laugh which she always laughs when she is saying or doing something wrong, foolish, or unreadable ^unreal^, as she read her own appeals to Maggie to give her a home ^with her.^ We said to her in that instance 'Why do you write what you don't mean?' 'Would you go if Maggie fetched you?' When she answered 'Perhaps not hey' I might go further & fare worse. I think I'd better stop here'. She ^does^ grumble ^every now & then^ about having been put at the Asylum, & wants to know when she may go to her own home; but when we say to her, you know if you went back to Leeuw River you would want to be back here almost at once, she ^would^ says, 'Yes, perhaps I would ^hey'^ & three or four times she said even if she got quite well she doesn't know that she wouldn't prefer staying at the Asylum to going anywhere else. - There is already stated no depth, no absolute reality in any of the expressions she uses in speaking or writing. For instance the expressions 'if they only wont kill me', 'if they only will be kind to me? don't indicate that the 'they' be the doctor or matron or nurses are not kind ^or that she thinks them not kind^: On the contrary she always in their presence & in their absence says how very kind & loving they are, but generally winds up with 'if only they will continue to be kind & not kill me'. This haunting distrust of everyone, especially of those who are kindest & most loving to her has long been a marked feature of her poor disordered mind. One of the kind nurses said quite sorrowfully 'She never trusts us Mrs. Stuart.' But even this fear least people may become unkind to her in the future in an unreal fear without any depth. She would say to us all of a sudden in quite a careless self assuring way 'You & Theo wouldn't kill me, you wouldn't hurt me hey?' I mention these matter so that you dear ones need not be ^over^ weighed & pained by her written talk, as we, or at least Theo, used to be before we went to Martizburg. The real danger to which she is subject from the dropsy she does not believe in saying she is quite well; &, if you can get her to think & talk of other subjects than her self & her fancied ills & woes, she can talk quite sensibly. She took great interest in an article on Kruger in the Westminster Budget & read it to us, commenting on it en passant quite sensibly.
The doctors says that her mental derangement belongs to the peculiar type called the sane insane, which is particularly trying to those who have the care of such patients, far more so than in the care of those who are violent, maniacal, or idiotic, that one nurse would inevitably break down under the strain.
We asked him whether he thought it possible that one of her daughters could take charge of her outside of the Asylum. His answer was that it would be a cruel & impossible attempt ? not even one trained nurse could stand it, he did not think any two nurses could be found to undertake the charge even at a hundred a year each. Even at the Asylum with all its manifold helps he does not allow any one nurse to be exposed to the strain of bearing with the vagaries of such cases for even one day at a time but they are always being changed about ^The Dr. said further 'If I had to look after Mrs. Findlay myself for a year I should be a fit subject for an Asylum myself.'^
This opinion of the Medical Superintendent corroborates what Theo & I have felt through all these years, viz, that no one of Mamma's daughters should ever have been exposed to the torture & strain of taking care of her as they have attempted to do single handed in the past. What is hard to bear up under for a trained nurse is infinitely harder for a daughter.
Even we found the strain of our daily visits for twelve days very heavy to bear, although although dear Mother was loving to us throughout, & we of course laid ourselves out to make her happy, & humoured her wishes in every possible way. She is more like a wilful, obstinate, selfish, spoilt child suffering from delusions with which she will not part, than anything else. She has never been really violent at the Asylum, but now & then gets into a passion & has fits of bad temper.
On the whole her life at the Asylum with its medical regularity, & ^the^ loving, restful yet firm influences to which she has been subjected, together with the material comfort & attendance she has enjoyed have made her mind more quiet & peaceful, & therefore her whole life happier & brighter than she has been anywhere else: just as a wilful child is happiest under kind, wise, judicious control. Another thing which has helped her to be somewhat less self centred & selfish, & therefore more happy than she used to be is her seeing & getting to know & sympathize wh with so many other lives who are really so much more unfortunate than herself. She knows the names & the history (according to their own account of it) of all the inmates in the women's department, & it was one of her greatest pleasures to tell us all about them, & in order to please her we went round with her to be introduced to all of them. There are three or four whose cases are somewhat similar to hers i.e. they are sane insane people, & they are friends, & dine together in the parlour, & you might be an hour with them & not find out that there is anything wrong with their minds, nor do they know or allow that they are anything but sane. But there are others whose derangement of mind is always apparent, & these are the objects of great pity on the part of the first mentioned class. Then there are two or three children & young people who make a deal of brightness in the lives of ^the^ others. It is wonderful to see how God can use the influence of poor people with weak or deranged minds to be a real blessing to one another. Mother has of course no idea that anything is the matter with her mind ^the Rev. Grey of Pretoria said however that when he visited her she said 'It is sad not to have the full powers of one's mind.'^ & she combats the others delusions, such as that of one lady who says she has to be hung in two years time. Dear Mother is a general favourite among the inmates, who look up to her & treat her with respect, & will do so even more after our visit. * She exercises a really good influence in several ways among them, for she is a Christian, & holds fast to her belief in God & Christ & the Holy Spirit, & God's Word & the power of prayer, though even here the want of depth or reality already spoken of manifests itself; & while we were singing together a sweet hymn she would sometimes break in with incongruous words. There is an inmate there whose delusion is chiefly that there is no God, no Christ, no heaven or hell etc. & Mother has to defend the truths of Christianity against her. Mother spends her time in writing, reading, doing needlework for herself, mixing with the inmates, & chatting with them, or with the nurses. She takes a great deal of interest in her dress & dressmaking & as the Doctor said in her presence leads the fashion at the Asylum. She showed us the body of a dress she is just making & also her green velvet dress shot with gilt thread, in which she goes to the concerts & dances, which are held weekly & which the inmates enjoy amazingly.^ As an instance of her influence I may relate that she reproved one lady for snatching a newspaper out of the hands of another who was reading it, & the lady instead of resenting it said 'well I apologize' with a curtsey, whereupon my mother rose from her seat & said with queenly grace & gesture 'I accept the apology.'
There are several girls of the working class who are always ready & pleased to do little things for Mother, & a Zulu girl named Gracie admires her greatly & declares she will accompany Mother if she ^should^ leaves the Asylum. Mother need not mix with the other inmates but she enjoys doing so.
At first some of them used to tease her calling her 'Tant Sannie' & 'Big Dutch Woman' but her illness touched them & our advent completed the change.
We became general favourites with nurses & inmates & many were the promises even volunteered ^by some of the latter^ to be loving & tender to her for our sakes. The Doctor delighted some ^a few^ of them one day by asking Mother whether she would not like to retain us there & not allow us to get out again. The idea tickled them all immensely. I wish you could all have seen her bright face when speaking to the Doctor about the ^prospective^ drive she said 'Must I come back to my prison Doctor?' The remembrance of it cheers our hearts even now. Another brighter picture was when the doctor, & some of the nurses & inmates gathered in a picturesque group around the side door to see us start for our drive, & also inspect an ^Indian^ pedlar's wares, & the Baby of the establishment, a boy of about 9 years of age, who delights in boot blacking, & had managed to smear his face & hands black tumbled into their midst causing dismay & cries of 'Bootles Baby.'
Mother has almost perfect freedom in the Asylum, the one exception being that the outer door is locked & if she wants to go outside to walk or sit among the trees in the beautiful grounds she has only to ask, & if the weather, & time of day & her health does not hinder she can stay outside for hours, & does so without an attendant. In the women's quarters of the Asylum she is free to walk at anytime, & also without an attendant. She writes & receives letters without inspection. Of course the authorities do not like articles being sent to her at the Asylum which are not needed & which they provide if needed.
As to the Institution itself, it is a perfectly ideal Asylum, as to situation (The Governor declares that it occupies the position that Government House ought to have had), outlook, surroundings, internal arrangements, methods of treatment etc. By keeping a large staff of nurses & attendants a wonderful amount of liberty is granted to ^available for^ the inmates. Everything about the Asylum is spotlessly clean, cheery & bright. The windows of which there are any amount are ordinary windows with no iron bars, only a small wooden arrangement which prevents them from being opened more than about a foot, top & bottom.
Mother now occupies a nice room next to the parlour with lofty walls, & a beautiful large window looking out on the grounds. Her old room was nice enough but faced the yard & there was no view, but Mother says she liked it because it was nearer the other inmates. She likes this one better however. In her bedroom is a nice, wide single bedstead (good linen & 2 beautiful white blankets) a chest of drawers, a marble topped washstand, a neat toilet table, an easy chair, & other chairs & a commode. She has her meals in the parlour, either by herself or with one or two of the others, & is served by one of the sweet, bright, lady nurses. Table linen, silver, crockery, cruet stand all good, & even a vase of flowers to grace the whole. She says they give her very good food, & plenty of it, & certainly what we saw bears out the statement. Good soup every day, (equal to any of my own making), fowls once a week & almost a superabundance of vegetables - one day we had spinach, cauliflower peas & potatoes & the other time turnips, carrots, cabbage & mashed potatoes - & always two kinds of puddings. Mother ^who^ is somewhat of a connoisseur & she says the puddings are always good - genuine articles without stint of butter, milk & eggs. Dinner lasts from 12 to 2 o'clock, Mother?s turn coming at about 1 o'clock. For breakfast she has a chop, toast & butter, & tea ? since her illness she gets a cup of Bovril also at 11 o'clock. After dinner they have coffee or tea. The evening meal is at 6 o'clock, besides ^when in addition to^ bread & butter, radishes & watercress, they then have either fish, an egg, or a little cold meat. Before going to bed Mother & a few others get a cup of cocoa.
Every Monday evening the inmates have a dance which they look forward to much. Both male & female inmates take part. On Sunday afternoons a minister comes up from Town & has service, which Mother enjoys. The authorities know from us that Mr. Rousseau the Dutch Reformed Minister is her minister, & he will see her once a week & visit her if she gets very ill. Doctor Brown is a very kindly able man, & mother is very fond of him, 'too fond perhaps' she says in her old foolish giggling way. The matron Miss Stewart is a ^as^ sweet & yet kindly firm & capable ^a^ gentle ^o^ woman as you could find anywhere in the world.
We really love her & Mother is as fond of her as she can be of anyone whom she has to obey. Miss Stewart has promised me that should dear Mother be dying without one of us there she will lovingly hold her hand & kiss her for us. The nurses are I think exceptionally nice, & kind, & bright, & capable. They are mostly from England. The whole idea of the treatment there seems to be to give as much liberty as possible to the inmates & to make them as happy as possible.
The Institution seems to us just a living exemplification of one of the topmost & most beautiful fruits of Christianity, only possible in this sin & sorrow stricken world because Jesus has lived & taught & died here. People who have never visited such an Asylum as the one at Maritzburg & ascertained the facts in connection with it, have all kinds of terrible & gloomy ideas about the lot of those who dwell as inmates within their walls, as if the Asylums were prisons where harsh restraint is the order of the day; instead of being the bright, cheery, soothing, restful places they are. If any deranged & disordered minds can be led back to sanity it will be in such places.
The Asylum is situated on a rising spur of one of the beautiful hills surrounding Maritzburg & is about a mile & a half from the town. The outlook is beautiful & scarcely to be beaten in South Africa. An amphitheatre of grassy & wooded hills & vales stretches more than half way round, while on the open side lies the town of Maritzburg with its public buildings & hum of active life, & away in the distance Natal's Table Mountain in the direction of the sea. The grounds are large & the men inmates work principally in the Gardens, while the women do needlework etc. Of course paying patients like Mother are not forced to work at all, & those who do work are not driven.
Every day if the weather permits the women inmates go out for a walk in the grounds, like school girls do. It is a matter of constant regret to Mother that ^owing to her weight^ she cannot participate in these walks. On Saturday afternoon there is cricket etc, & the inmates have so strong a team that they play regular matches against elevens from the Town.
Now I think I have told you almost enough about our poor darling, & her surroundings etc. The matron is going to send us a photo of the Asylum, & of a group of herself & the nurses, & when we get them we shall send them the rounds of the family. I trust that what we have written will be comforting as well as interesting to the hearts of all who love Mother.
In conclusion let me say that we think that it would be very nice & a thing which would give our dear one a great deal of pleasure if one or other of those who love her would visit her for a few days, putting up say at the Barrow Green Tea Rooms Hotel where we put up (^price^ 8/6 a day) & going over to the Asylum in a risksha (1/- fare) for a few hours each day & perhaps taking her a drive in a Landau (price one guinea at Birchells)
While there would be no depth of joy at meeting, nor depth of grief at parting on her part (the day we left she chatted brightly up to the last & waved her handkerchief at the window of the sittingroom as long as we were in sight), such a visit would certainly do her good, & be a pleasant remembrance for after days when she has gone home. We would urge any who purpose doing so not to delay too long as her tenure of life is so uncertain.
When death does come to her we have no doubt she will awake to find herself in the Saviour's arms, for even in her weak disordered minds she believes in & clings to Him, & we shall meet her in the resurrection morning with all the clouds & darkness for ever removed from her poor mind & heart.
We had her likeness taken on the afternoon that we took her out for a drive. It was done on a sudden inspiration or thought & therefore she was not as well dressed as she would have liked to have been for likeness taking, & yet she would throw off Maggie's fur cloak which she was wearing on the drive & which would have been swell enough. Theo & I sat with her to ensure a good portrait if possible, & it has not I think turned out badly, though she doesn?t care for it much. She didn't want the full face taken when photographed, now she says she wishes the picture had been full face, & that she had had her jaunty little hat instead of a bonnet & a white blouse instead of a dark one. We shall send you each a copy in the course of a few weeks.
We feel that in going to Maritzburg we have been going on behalf of all the members of the family & we are thankful to dear Hudson's liberality which made it possible. We think it was worth the trouble & expenditure & when you have received this letter we hope you will feel so too. Our special duty ends with the writing & sending off of this account of how things are at Maritzburg but we trust that we shall all remember that one of the great pleasures of our dear one's life which will perhaps now be of but short duration is the receiving of kindly friendly letters, & if we cannot go personally to Maritzburg we can at any rate each manage to write her a loving, cheering letter every fortnight or so, telling her news that will interest her. I am dear ones
Yours lovingly
Katie Stuart
(Copy of letter received from Miss Stewart since this was written)
N.G.A June 20th 98
My dear Mrs Stuart
Thank you so much for your kind letter received this morning.
Mrs Findlay I am glad to say keeps bright & cheerful, out under the trees most of the day, sewing or reading as she feels inclined.
She has been weighed today (Mon) & is 15 st 4 lbs an increase of 4 lbs for the week, which I don't at all like.
I will try & write as often as I can, should Mrs F. get worse you will hear at once, if I possibly can I will write every week.
Will now close with kindest regards to Mr Schreiner & yourself
Very sincerely yours
K. Stewart
Since dinner Mrs F. has been tidying her boxes, & thinks it will be best for her to go to her old room where all her boxes are - if she can have breakfast in bed! - which she can, but she may change her mind again.
K.S.
Findlay Family A1199/3775)
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/150 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 24 May 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope
|
1
De Aar
2 May 24 / 12
3
4 My darling
5
6 It seems long since I had any news of you I have been hoping Will
7might write a line to tell me what he thought of you. But I know how
8awfully busy he is & what even writing one line means to that dear
9worn body & brain. Do you find the fireplace any comfort if it is as
10hot & dry as it is with us, you will not need it the heat is quite
11oppressive here.
12
13 Good bye, my own darling. Your little sister who longs to see you.
14 Olive
15
2 May 24 / 12
3
4 My darling
5
6 It seems long since I had any news of you I have been hoping Will
7might write a line to tell me what he thought of you. But I know how
8awfully busy he is & what even writing one line means to that dear
9worn body & brain. Do you find the fireplace any comfort if it is as
10hot & dry as it is with us, you will not need it the heat is quite
11oppressive here.
12
13 Good bye, my own darling. Your little sister who longs to see you.
14 Olive
15
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/151 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Monday 27 May 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Monday
2
3 My darling
4
5 I am feeling so anxious about you. Oh my dear old Ettie, that you
6should have to suffer so fearfully. If you were at any other place but
7Blauwberg I would come down to be with you. But I know if I were there
8only three days I should only make another for Wynne & Alsie to nurse.
9Oh to be so powerless to do anything for you. Have you tried drinking
10tea made of tuch leaves Buchu leaves. They helped mother much, & have
11helped me. Oh my darling, my darling, its too terrible to know of your
12sufferings
13
14 Olive
15
16 ^Thanks to dear Wynne for her letter.^
17
18
19
2
3 My darling
4
5 I am feeling so anxious about you. Oh my dear old Ettie, that you
6should have to suffer so fearfully. If you were at any other place but
7Blauwberg I would come down to be with you. But I know if I were there
8only three days I should only make another for Wynne & Alsie to nurse.
9Oh to be so powerless to do anything for you. Have you tried drinking
10tea made of tuch leaves Buchu leaves. They helped mother much, & have
11helped me. Oh my darling, my darling, its too terrible to know of your
12sufferings
13
14 Olive
15
16 ^Thanks to dear Wynne for her letter.^
17
18
19
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/152 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Sunday 14 April 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to.
|
1
De Aar
2 Sunday
3
4 My darling
5
6 I am longing so for news of you, to hear how the oysters suited you, &
7to hear how the fireplace gets on. It will be such an immense comfort
8to me when I can think of you in the damp foggie nights with a bright
9cheerful fire keeping the air dry.
10
11 Cron sends much love to you. Give my best love to dear old John if he
12is with you. Do ask some one to write & tell me how you are, even a
13post card often. You see in town Will was always hearing from Theo &
14Mr Muskett Here I shall have no news that is not direct
15
16 Good bye my own sweet darling
17 Olive
18
19
20
2 Sunday
3
4 My darling
5
6 I am longing so for news of you, to hear how the oysters suited you, &
7to hear how the fireplace gets on. It will be such an immense comfort
8to me when I can think of you in the damp foggie nights with a bright
9cheerful fire keeping the air dry.
10
11 Cron sends much love to you. Give my best love to dear old John if he
12is with you. Do ask some one to write & tell me how you are, even a
13post card often. You see in town Will was always hearing from Theo &
14Mr Muskett Here I shall have no news that is not direct
15
16 Good bye my own sweet darling
17 Olive
18
19
20
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/153 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Tuesday April 1912 ; Before End: June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, 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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness of Ettie Stakesby Lewis. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
De Aar
2 Tuesday
3
4 My darling
5
6 Thank you for your dear letters. I can’t make out how the man has
7been so long putting the fireplace in. I had a fireplace put in the
8corner of my room at Hanover. The man began one morning, & at three
9the next afternoon it was finished, plastered & all - & the man paid &
10gone. I do hope you will find it a comfort. If you have a weather-cock
11for the top it will keep it from smoking under any condition of wind.
12But well built it ought not to smoke without one.
13
14 Have they tried "Buchu" leaves, a tea made from them for your kidneys?
15I’ve drunk a lot & found much help from it: the old Hottentots knew
16its use before we came here. But I think a combination of things that
17act on the kidneys is the most helpful. I find also that working the
18flesh of the hips helps the action of the kidneys. Oh it is so awful
19when they won’t act. I am longing to hear something has helped you.
20I do hope you will find the fire a comfort.
21
22 Good bye my own darling
23 Your little sister who loves you
24 Olive
25
26
27
2 Tuesday
3
4 My darling
5
6 Thank you for your dear letters. I can’t make out how the man has
7been so long putting the fireplace in. I had a fireplace put in the
8corner of my room at Hanover. The man began one morning, & at three
9the next afternoon it was finished, plastered & all - & the man paid &
10gone. I do hope you will find it a comfort. If you have a weather-cock
11for the top it will keep it from smoking under any condition of wind.
12But well built it ought not to smoke without one.
13
14 Have they tried "Buchu" leaves, a tea made from them for your kidneys?
15I’ve drunk a lot & found much help from it: the old Hottentots knew
16its use before we came here. But I think a combination of things that
17act on the kidneys is the most helpful. I find also that working the
18flesh of the hips helps the action of the kidneys. Oh it is so awful
19when they won’t act. I am longing to hear something has helped you.
20I do hope you will find the fire a comfort.
21
22 Good bye my own darling
23 Your little sister who loves you
24 Olive
25
26
27
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/154 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Friday 8 May 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
Thursday Friday
2
3 My darling,
4
5 I felt so depressed all day yesterday for no reason I could think of,
6I’d a feeling you were very bad; but I know those feelings are
7really nothing,& depend often on ones own breathing power. I have
8Alsie’s letter this morning, telling me about the tapping. Dear one
9it is sometimes such an immense relief. I have known cases of people
10who seemed dying, who were tapped & after that took stuff to increase
11the action of the kidneys who not only lived five or six years, but
12were able to walk about. I only hope Dr Williams is skilful.
13
14 Oh my beloved, just to know you have had some relief. That you were
15able to lie down quietly & rest!
16
17 Your own little sister
18 Olive
19
20
21
2
3 My darling,
4
5 I felt so depressed all day yesterday for no reason I could think of,
6I’d a feeling you were very bad; but I know those feelings are
7really nothing,& depend often on ones own breathing power. I have
8Alsie’s letter this morning, telling me about the tapping. Dear one
9it is sometimes such an immense relief. I have known cases of people
10who seemed dying, who were tapped & after that took stuff to increase
11the action of the kidneys who not only lived five or six years, but
12were able to walk about. I only hope Dr Williams is skilful.
13
14 Oh my beloved, just to know you have had some relief. That you were
15able to lie down quietly & rest!
16
17 Your own little sister
18 Olive
19
20
21
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/155 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 24 August 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | The Highlands, Gardens, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope.
|
1
De Aar
2 Aug 24th 1912
3
4 Dear Wynnie,
5
6 I’ve just got a wire to say my dear little Dora Cawood passed away
7peacefully yesterday
8
9 Dear, I want so much to put a plain little round foot stone at the
10foot of Aunt Hets grave with "Ettie from Olive". You don’t mind my
11putting it do you? If you & Uncle Will are willing I will get it when
12I come to Cape Town, just a small stone like this –
13
14 It won’t interfere with any head stone any of you want to put up.
15
16 Good bye darling.
17
18 I fear you are very lonely. I’m glad you have Effie near you. What
19of the Highland? Has Mr Newberry written about them? I hope your work
20there is coming to an end.
21
22 Your little Auntie
23 Olive
24
2 Aug 24th 1912
3
4 Dear Wynnie,
5
6 I’ve just got a wire to say my dear little Dora Cawood passed away
7peacefully yesterday
8
9 Dear, I want so much to put a plain little round foot stone at the
10foot of Aunt Hets grave with "Ettie from Olive". You don’t mind my
11putting it do you? If you & Uncle Will are willing I will get it when
12I come to Cape Town, just a small stone like this –
13
14 It won’t interfere with any head stone any of you want to put up.
15
16 Good bye darling.
17
18 I fear you are very lonely. I’m glad you have Effie near you. What
19of the Highland? Has Mr Newberry written about them? I hope your work
20there is coming to an end.
21
22 Your little Auntie
23 Olive
24
Notation
After 'a small stone like this -', Schreiner has drawn a stylised picture of a semi-circular foot stone with 'Ettie from Olive' written on it.
After 'a small stone like this -', Schreiner has drawn a stylised picture of a semi-circular foot stone with 'Ettie from Olive' written on it.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/156 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Thursday 29 May 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent too.
|
1
De Aar
2 Thursday
3
4 So anxious to know how you get on in your room my darling now there is
5a fire & with the linoleum on the floor it will not strike so deadly
6damp as it did. I hope the new nurse is as nice as the old one. Oh my
7darling old Ettie, if I could know you were really suffering less. I
8do hope that you are now able to take a little more nourishment than
9when Wynnie last wrote.
10
11 Good bye, my old Ettie.
12
13 Your little sister
14 Olive
15
16
17
2 Thursday
3
4 So anxious to know how you get on in your room my darling now there is
5a fire & with the linoleum on the floor it will not strike so deadly
6damp as it did. I hope the new nurse is as nice as the old one. Oh my
7darling old Ettie, if I could know you were really suffering less. I
8do hope that you are now able to take a little more nourishment than
9when Wynnie last wrote.
10
11 Good bye, my old Ettie.
12
13 Your little sister
14 Olive
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/157 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | Tuesday 12 June 1912 |
Address From | Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to. Content indicates that Schreiner was in Cape Town when it was written. She was there in early June 1912 for the funeral of her sister Ettie Stakesby-Lewis.
|
1
Tuesday
2
3 Wynne darling,
4
5 I send you a letter I got from Clifford Cawood to-day. I fear my dear
6little Dora is going too. Dear let me know of your plans. I wish so
7much you were not so far at Blauwberg. I shall be here till Saturday.
8If you are in town let me know & I might come in & we might have lunch
9together. Give my love to Alsie. I wonder what your plans for the
10future are. I suppose you must hear from Newberry before you can
11decide anything about the Highlands. You know I feel I could see
12Blauwberg again, but I could never bear to see the Highlands without
13her. Good bye, dear. Whatever you plan for the future you must have a
14good rest first. If ever you did want a post as a teacher I might be
15able to help you. I could so truly use any little influence I have for
16you, because I do believe you are head & shoulders above the ordinary
17teacher.
18
19 Your little Auntie
20 Olive
21
22 All here are always speaking so lovingly of you & Alsie.
23
24
25
2
3 Wynne darling,
4
5 I send you a letter I got from Clifford Cawood to-day. I fear my dear
6little Dora is going too. Dear let me know of your plans. I wish so
7much you were not so far at Blauwberg. I shall be here till Saturday.
8If you are in town let me know & I might come in & we might have lunch
9together. Give my love to Alsie. I wonder what your plans for the
10future are. I suppose you must hear from Newberry before you can
11decide anything about the Highlands. You know I feel I could see
12Blauwberg again, but I could never bear to see the Highlands without
13her. Good bye, dear. Whatever you plan for the future you must have a
14good rest first. If ever you did want a post as a teacher I might be
15able to help you. I could so truly use any little influence I have for
16you, because I do believe you are head & shoulders above the ordinary
17teacher.
18
19 Your little Auntie
20 Olive
21
22 All here are always speaking so lovingly of you & Alsie.
23
24
25
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/158 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | June 1912 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around the final illness and then death of Ettie Stakesby Lewis in June 1912. Content suggests it was written soon after Ettie Stakesby Lewis’s death and before Wynnie Hemming started work in the Marsh Memorial Home. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
|
1
My darling Wynnie
2
3 I am so glad to hear you have that post as Marshe’s Homes. It will
4be much better for you than an ordinary school & it will be so nice
5for the poor motherless little children to have you.
6
7Thank you dear, for the wire, but it wouldn’t be worth your coming
8for such a short time. I know you wouldn’t like to longer away from
9Guy than 2 months. My dear friend Mrs Murray has offered me her house
10in Graaff-Reinet for as long as I want to stay there, & I thought it
11may be a nice little change for you if you’ve never been there to go
12for two or three weeks in July. Thank you so much darling for wishing
13to come to me. I take the wish for the deed.
14
15I have been getting steadily worse the last year, but about three
16weeks ago I took I took a very hot bath – I was feeling unwell that
17was why I took it I thought it would relieve the internal pains –
18but when I came there out I have a strange ^strange^ attack: it seems as
19if something were swelling up & bursting in my chest, I was almost
20insensible for a time, & for five or six days I never lay down, I had
21to walk day & night with a sense of immediate death & suffocation, I
22could not even put my chin down for a moment with out suffocation, &
23even a mouthful of water choked me. The end must have come very
24quickly if it had gone on, but now I am a little better, but not as I
25was before. I sometimes sleep for a few hours but it is only sitting
26up with my feet raised on other pillows. The weather here has been
27beautiful; I never knew such perfect weather in de Aar: & all the dear
28old world out side looks so beautiful. I am much better to-day. I
29slept about 4 hours last night.
30
31 Thanks for letting me about Eastburgholt, dear. £14 is much too
32expensive: but my friend Mrs Alexander will be back next month &
33perhaps she could get me a room near her house at Muizenberg that part
34of Muizenberg on the Main Road suits me better than any place near
35Cape Town.
36
37 I hope dear Effie & her little one are doing well. When you go to
38Marshes Homes tell me how you like it. Will you live in the home?
39
40 Good bye dear. Thank you so much for the wire & being willing to come.
41 Your little Auntie
42 Olive
43
44 If you see Ursula when she comes write & tell me about her if she is
45changed much? They arrive next Tuesday.
46
47
2
3 I am so glad to hear you have that post as Marshe’s Homes. It will
4be much better for you than an ordinary school & it will be so nice
5for the poor motherless little children to have you.
6
7Thank you dear, for the wire, but it wouldn’t be worth your coming
8for such a short time. I know you wouldn’t like to longer away from
9Guy than 2 months. My dear friend Mrs Murray has offered me her house
10in Graaff-Reinet for as long as I want to stay there, & I thought it
11may be a nice little change for you if you’ve never been there to go
12for two or three weeks in July. Thank you so much darling for wishing
13to come to me. I take the wish for the deed.
14
15I have been getting steadily worse the last year, but about three
16weeks ago I took I took a very hot bath – I was feeling unwell that
17was why I took it I thought it would relieve the internal pains –
18but when I came there out I have a strange ^strange^ attack: it seems as
19if something were swelling up & bursting in my chest, I was almost
20insensible for a time, & for five or six days I never lay down, I had
21to walk day & night with a sense of immediate death & suffocation, I
22could not even put my chin down for a moment with out suffocation, &
23even a mouthful of water choked me. The end must have come very
24quickly if it had gone on, but now I am a little better, but not as I
25was before. I sometimes sleep for a few hours but it is only sitting
26up with my feet raised on other pillows. The weather here has been
27beautiful; I never knew such perfect weather in de Aar: & all the dear
28old world out side looks so beautiful. I am much better to-day. I
29slept about 4 hours last night.
30
31 Thanks for letting me about Eastburgholt, dear. £14 is much too
32expensive: but my friend Mrs Alexander will be back next month &
33perhaps she could get me a room near her house at Muizenberg that part
34of Muizenberg on the Main Road suits me better than any place near
35Cape Town.
36
37 I hope dear Effie & her little one are doing well. When you go to
38Marshes Homes tell me how you like it. Will you live in the home?
39
40 Good bye dear. Thank you so much for the wire & being willing to come.
41 Your little Auntie
42 Olive
43
44 If you see Ursula when she comes write & tell me about her if she is
45changed much? They arrive next Tuesday.
46
47
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/159 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 1913 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content around Schreiner planning to leave South Africa in December 1913. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
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1
Dear Wynnie
2
3 Letter-writing seems impossible to me now-a-days or I should have
4written to you long ago.
5
6 How do you like your new work & home? Tell me all about it please; &
7how Elberty is getting on. What of poor old Guy?
8
9 I am going on as ever. I shall perhaps go to England in Dec to see if
10the doctors can do me any good; but I have such continual fits of
11faintness that I doubt if I shall get to the end of the voy-age. About
12the mattress you wrote of dear. If I don’t go to England I shall
13much need it this summer in Cape Town. If I had had a decent mattress
14I should never have got ill at the Grand Hotel. At home I put all the
15cushions under me, it hurts me so curiously to lie on a hard thing, it
16seems to stop the circulation & cause real agony on the side you lie
17on. If I go to England would you without great trouble store the
18horsehair for me sometime till I come back – if ever I do? What
19should you think it would cost to make the mattress with a little wool
20& good strong ticking?
21
22 Have you seen Ursie? If I come to Cape Town for the summer, if I
23can’t manage to go to Europe I shall try to take an unfurnished room,
24 & with the tables you said you had & the mattress I shall easily
25furnish the room.
26
27 unreadable How are Effie & her little ones? If they carry out that
28mountain railway scheme won’t it bring the railway close to the
29Highlands? That would greatly increase its value. It would be quite
30nice to live there then.
31
32 Good bye, darling. I do hope you are tolerably happy in your new post
33 Your loving small Auntie Ol
34
35
36
2
3 Letter-writing seems impossible to me now-a-days or I should have
4written to you long ago.
5
6 How do you like your new work & home? Tell me all about it please; &
7how Elberty is getting on. What of poor old Guy?
8
9 I am going on as ever. I shall perhaps go to England in Dec to see if
10the doctors can do me any good; but I have such continual fits of
11faintness that I doubt if I shall get to the end of the voy-age. About
12the mattress you wrote of dear. If I don’t go to England I shall
13much need it this summer in Cape Town. If I had had a decent mattress
14I should never have got ill at the Grand Hotel. At home I put all the
15cushions under me, it hurts me so curiously to lie on a hard thing, it
16seems to stop the circulation & cause real agony on the side you lie
17on. If I go to England would you without great trouble store the
18horsehair for me sometime till I come back – if ever I do? What
19should you think it would cost to make the mattress with a little wool
20& good strong ticking?
21
22 Have you seen Ursie? If I come to Cape Town for the summer, if I
23can’t manage to go to Europe I shall try to take an unfurnished room,
24 & with the tables you said you had & the mattress I shall easily
25furnish the room.
26
27 unreadable How are Effie & her little ones? If they carry out that
28mountain railway scheme won’t it bring the railway close to the
29Highlands? That would greatly increase its value. It would be quite
30nice to live there then.
31
32 Good bye, darling. I do hope you are tolerably happy in your new post
33 Your loving small Auntie Ol
34
35
36
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/160 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 1913 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The address this postcard was sent to and the addressee are on the front of the card; the year is provided by the postmark, although this is not fully legible. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
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1
Dear,
2
3 I wrote you a letter some time ago. As I can’t find it I suppose
4someone posted it while I was ill. I hope you got it. The spring is
5very late this year. It’s quite winter here still. I’ll write a
6letter next week.
7
8 Much love
9 O Schreiner
10
11
12
2
3 I wrote you a letter some time ago. As I can’t find it I suppose
4someone posted it while I was ill. I hope you got it. The spring is
5very late this year. It’s quite winter here still. I’ll write a
6letter next week.
7
8 Much love
9 O Schreiner
10
11
12
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/161 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 3 May 1913 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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.
|
1
De Aar
2 May 3rd 1913
3
4 Dear Winnie
5
6 I was so glad to get your letter today. I’m glad all goes well with
7our little Effie & the children. Its very sad to hear about Cousin
8Tatty & Lilly. Please if you see them any time give them my love. Oh
9its too hard all this suffering at the end of life.
10
11 My darling I can understand how lonely & empty your life seems now,
12with so many of your dear ones gone. If ever you feel a little change
13up here would do you good I would be so delighted if you would come;
14only there is so little here in this barren rather empty place that I
15never like to ask any one. But it would be a joy to me if ever you
16cared to come. I’ve only a very tiny spare room, but I know you
17wouldn’t mind that. I have been worse since I came back here than
18I’ve ever been before, but I still manage enough to look after the
19house, but my garden I’ve had to give up. I can just do the work
20that must be done & then lie down.
21
22 Good bye dear
23 Your loving small
24 Aunt Olive
25
26 I’m so glad you’ve good news of Elbert.
27
28
2 May 3rd 1913
3
4 Dear Winnie
5
6 I was so glad to get your letter today. I’m glad all goes well with
7our little Effie & the children. Its very sad to hear about Cousin
8Tatty & Lilly. Please if you see them any time give them my love. Oh
9its too hard all this suffering at the end of life.
10
11 My darling I can understand how lonely & empty your life seems now,
12with so many of your dear ones gone. If ever you feel a little change
13up here would do you good I would be so delighted if you would come;
14only there is so little here in this barren rather empty place that I
15never like to ask any one. But it would be a joy to me if ever you
16cared to come. I’ve only a very tiny spare room, but I know you
17wouldn’t mind that. I have been worse since I came back here than
18I’ve ever been before, but I still manage enough to look after the
19house, but my garden I’ve had to give up. I can just do the work
20that must be done & then lie down.
21
22 Good bye dear
23 Your loving small
24 Aunt Olive
25
26 I’m so glad you’ve good news of Elbert.
27
28
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/162 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 17 November 1913 |
Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
Address To | Marsh?s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 is derived from the postmark on the attached envelope, which also provides the address the letter was sent to. Schreiner was resident in De Aar from November 1907 until she left South Africa for Britain and Europe in December 1913, but with some fairly lengthy visits elsewhere over this time.
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1
Wynnie dear
2
3 I am burning all my old papers as I have no one to do it after I am
4dead I thought you might like to keep this letter from my darling Leo
5to me, & a sweet letter from your Mother.
6
7 I arrive in Cape Town on the 21st ^of Nov^ & sail on the 4th of Dec if I
8am f well enough
9
10 Good bye dear
11 Aunt Ol
12
13
14
2
3 I am burning all my old papers as I have no one to do it after I am
4dead I thought you might like to keep this letter from my darling Leo
5to me, & a sweet letter from your Mother.
6
7 I arrive in Cape Town on the 21st ^of Nov^ & sail on the 4th of Dec if I
8am f well enough
9
10 Good bye dear
11 Aunt Ol
12
13
14
Notation
Schreiner has enclosed with this letter the birthday letter which had been sent to her by a very young Leo (Leoffric) Hemming; this is on the other side of a letter from her sister Alice, Leo and Wynnie?s mother, dated 20 March 1877.
X March 20th 1877
My dearest Olive
These crosses are X
Leo's own idea of embellishment and beauty, so I hope they will be duly appreciated by you, He is really very fond of you & never forgets you, I wish you many happy returns of your 22nd birthday and may next year find you happier than ever, and so on as long as youunreadable unreadable unreadable When I think of the little red faced baby Mrs Austen held for us (Ettie & I) to kiss this day 22 years ago, I feel I must be getting a very old woman indeed. I am anxious to hear again from you some detailed account of what Mamma calls her accident what was it? and how did it happen? please also tell us more of her life at Cadwalladers
X A letter from dear old Auntie speaks of her not being X
Comfortable there, and makes us very anxious. Goodbye dear O Take the will for the deed & believe
And on the other side of the paper is:
My dear Aunt Olive
Mama says that to-day is your birth-day and so I am go-ing to write you a letter. I am very sorry that I can-not see you to wish you ma my happy returns of the day. I hope you are quite well I send my love to you. Wyn-nie can-not write but she sends her love also and so would Baby if she could. Her name is Ethelwyn and she loves me very much and laughs when I talk to her. When will you come to see us again. I go to scholl every day I am very fond of writing.
Goodbye my dear Auntie
I am
Your little
nephew
Leofric Hemming
P.S.
I am going to send you one of my cards.
Schreiner has enclosed with this letter the birthday letter which had been sent to her by a very young Leo (Leoffric) Hemming; this is on the other side of a letter from her sister Alice, Leo and Wynnie?s mother, dated 20 March 1877.
X March 20th 1877
My dearest Olive
These crosses are X
Leo's own idea of embellishment and beauty, so I hope they will be duly appreciated by you, He is really very fond of you & never forgets you, I wish you many happy returns of your 22nd birthday and may next year find you happier than ever, and so on as long as youunreadable unreadable unreadable When I think of the little red faced baby Mrs Austen held for us (Ettie & I) to kiss this day 22 years ago, I feel I must be getting a very old woman indeed. I am anxious to hear again from you some detailed account of what Mamma calls her accident what was it? and how did it happen? please also tell us more of her life at Cadwalladers
X A letter from dear old Auntie speaks of her not being X
Comfortable there, and makes us very anxious. Goodbye dear O Take the will for the deed & believe
And on the other side of the paper is:
My dear Aunt Olive
Mama says that to-day is your birth-day and so I am go-ing to write you a letter. I am very sorry that I can-not see you to wish you ma my happy returns of the day. I hope you are quite well I send my love to you. Wyn-nie can-not write but she sends her love also and so would Baby if she could. Her name is Ethelwyn and she loves me very much and laughs when I talk to her. When will you come to see us again. I go to scholl every day I am very fond of writing.
Goodbye my dear Auntie
I am
Your little
nephew
Leofric Hemming
P.S.
I am going to send you one of my cards.
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/163 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: June 1914 ; Before End: July 1914 |
Address From | Hotel Augusta Victoria, Bad Nauheim, Germany |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner stayed in Bad Nauheim in June and July 1914. The letter is on printed headed notepaper with a picture.
|
1
Hotel Augusta Victoria
2 Bad Nauheim
3
4 My dear Wynnie
5
6 I was so glad to get your letter. I think so often of you dear, but
7find letter writing more & more difficult I am staying here as you
8will see, in Germany at the heart cure place Uncle Will is here too, &
9Oliver & Ursula have come to see him for two weeks.
10
11 I am much better than when I came here two weeks ago, & have still to
12stay 3 weeks. We are having strong thunderstorms every afternoon
13Yesterday two flashes fell quite close to the house at the back & one
14man staying in this hotel was standing so close to a tree which was
15struck in two that of one of the branches struck him lightly There’s
16a big storm going on now. I am sitting in the writing room downstairs
17writing waiting for Will & the gi ^two^ children to come down to dinner.
18I like the baths here, they are wonderful & I get up at 6.30 every
19morning & go to drink the water at the well. At then I have to go to
20bed again as the doctor says I must lie down as much as I can.
21
22 //I hope all goes well with you dear. Do you like your work & quarters
23pretty well. How does it go with Effie & her little army. Is Elbert
24still in Rhodesia? How is Guy?
25
26 Please write to me some time dear. I value your letters more than you
27would think from my having been so slow in answering your last.
28
29 What of the Highlands? Did Mr Newberry come out?
30
31 I always think of you with love dear in your brave sad life.
32
33 Your small
34 Aunt Olive
35
36 PS
37 Please address if you write
38 c/o Standard Bank
39 10 Clements Lane
40 Lombard St
41 London
42 England
43
44 not to Dr Corthorn’s care as I’m not going to stay there.
45
46
47
2 Bad Nauheim
3
4 My dear Wynnie
5
6 I was so glad to get your letter. I think so often of you dear, but
7find letter writing more & more difficult I am staying here as you
8will see, in Germany at the heart cure place Uncle Will is here too, &
9Oliver & Ursula have come to see him for two weeks.
10
11 I am much better than when I came here two weeks ago, & have still to
12stay 3 weeks. We are having strong thunderstorms every afternoon
13Yesterday two flashes fell quite close to the house at the back & one
14man staying in this hotel was standing so close to a tree which was
15struck in two that of one of the branches struck him lightly There’s
16a big storm going on now. I am sitting in the writing room downstairs
17writing waiting for Will & the gi ^two^ children to come down to dinner.
18I like the baths here, they are wonderful & I get up at 6.30 every
19morning & go to drink the water at the well. At then I have to go to
20bed again as the doctor says I must lie down as much as I can.
21
22 //I hope all goes well with you dear. Do you like your work & quarters
23pretty well. How does it go with Effie & her little army. Is Elbert
24still in Rhodesia? How is Guy?
25
26 Please write to me some time dear. I value your letters more than you
27would think from my having been so slow in answering your last.
28
29 What of the Highlands? Did Mr Newberry come out?
30
31 I always think of you with love dear in your brave sad life.
32
33 Your small
34 Aunt Olive
35
36 PS
37 Please address if you write
38 c/o Standard Bank
39 10 Clements Lane
40 Lombard St
41 London
42 England
43
44 not to Dr Corthorn’s care as I’m not going to stay there.
45
46
47
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/164 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 25 December 1914 |
Address From | Kensington Palace Mansions, De Vere Gardens, Kensington, London |
Address To | Marsh's Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope. The letter is written on printed headed notepaper.
|
1
Kensington Palace Mansions
2 De Vere Gardens, W.
3 Telephone: 3675 Kensington. Telegrams: Apartment, London.
4 Xmas Day
5
6 Wynne, dear,
7
8 Thank you so much for your letter I wish I could bring some joy &
9colour into your life Wynnie. You have always worked & done your duty,
10& that joy you have, but so little of the colour of life seems to have
11come to you. My dear brave Wynnie.
12
13 How is Guy? I had a sweet letter from Effie.
14
15 I went out one day last week & whom should I come on but Effie King,
16looking very young & fresh & happy, but one of her children has had to
17be operated on for appendicitis but is better.
18
19 I have been trying an electric treatment but have given it up as it
20costs much & does n’t really my great difficulty is that I am getting
21like Aunt Het & can’t eat anything. Everything causes me agony except
22jelly & oysters, even drinking water brings on the pain. And I’m
23always so sick on the stomach Perhaps when the spring comes I shall
24get better: but oh I should be so glad of Rest Wynnie!
25
26 Good bye, dear. I wish I wish I could do something to make life
27beautiful to you. I do love you
28
29 Auntie Olive
30
31
32
2 De Vere Gardens, W.
3 Telephone: 3675 Kensington. Telegrams: Apartment, London.
4 Xmas Day
5
6 Wynne, dear,
7
8 Thank you so much for your letter I wish I could bring some joy &
9colour into your life Wynnie. You have always worked & done your duty,
10& that joy you have, but so little of the colour of life seems to have
11come to you. My dear brave Wynnie.
12
13 How is Guy? I had a sweet letter from Effie.
14
15 I went out one day last week & whom should I come on but Effie King,
16looking very young & fresh & happy, but one of her children has had to
17be operated on for appendicitis but is better.
18
19 I have been trying an electric treatment but have given it up as it
20costs much & does n’t really my great difficulty is that I am getting
21like Aunt Het & can’t eat anything. Everything causes me agony except
22jelly & oysters, even drinking water brings on the pain. And I’m
23always so sick on the stomach Perhaps when the spring comes I shall
24get better: but oh I should be so glad of Rest Wynnie!
25
26 Good bye, dear. I wish I wish I could do something to make life
27beautiful to you. I do love you
28
29 Auntie Olive
30
31
32
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/165 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 21 June 1915 |
Address From | Bad Nauheim, Germany |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark, and the addressee and the address it was sent to are on its front. Schreiner stayed in Bad Nauheim in June and July 1914.
|
1
Dear, can you tell me if Arthur Brown’s mother is living anywhere
2near London. I should so much like to see her if she is. I’ll write
3a real letter you soon dear.
4
5 Your small Aunt
6 Olive
7
8
9
2near London. I should so much like to see her if she is. I’ll write
3a real letter you soon dear.
4
5 Your small Aunt
6 Olive
7
8
9
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/166 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 18 June 1916 |
Address From | Llandrindod Wells, Wales |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The address this postcard was sent to is on its front.
|
1
c/o Dr. Parker
2 Llandrindod Wells
3 Wales
4 June 18th 1916
5
6 Darling Wynnie
7
8 I’ve been so ill for a long time I’ve not been able to write to
9any one. I am back here now in my old quarters & feel a bit better.
10I’ll write a real letter soon.
11
12 Your small Auntie Ol
13
2 Llandrindod Wells
3 Wales
4 June 18th 1916
5
6 Darling Wynnie
7
8 I’ve been so ill for a long time I’ve not been able to write to
9any one. I am back here now in my old quarters & feel a bit better.
10I’ll write a real letter soon.
11
12 Your small Auntie Ol
13
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/167 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 3 July 1917 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
|
1
London
2 July 3rd 1917
3
4 My darling Wynnie
5
6 Your sweet letter has just reached me. You & I are the only
7humanbeings who always have our wonderful darling in our hearts.
8Wynnie I think of her every day. Oh if I could have done more for her.
9As my condition becomes more & more like hers at the end I seem to
10come nearer & nearer her. I can’t eat anything now with out agony &
11my body is more & more swollen. I went to a woman doctor on Saturday
12She thinks I ought to go to a hospital & be cut open to find if there
13is not some large growth or whatever which explain my condition But
14another I went to says she will not have it, my heart is too weak to
15stand a operation & the wounds would not heal in my present inflamed
16condition. So I must go on so to the end. Sometimes I think if I could
17get to Germany or France if the war were over the doctors might do
18something for me, they are so much more clever & scientific than here,
19& so much cheaper.
20
21 I am so sorry Effie & her little ones have to leave the Highlands If
22they got a tiny cottage down near the sea it would be better for the
23children but there would be the expense of Arthurs season ticket. Give
24my dear love to them all. What news have you of Elberty?
25
26 It would be beautiful if you were here dear even if I could only see
27you once a week. As one grows weaker human love seems to mean more &
28more to one.
29
30 I don’t see much of Uncle Will or his family. I suppose you knew
31Ursula is to be married next month to a Dr. Percy Scott, who was head
32of the hospital where she has been nursing in France. Oliver is in
33India. You will of course have heard that he was torpedoed in the
34Mediterranean on his way out but was saved. Lyndall is still nursing
35in France. She did not look well at all when she was over here six
36months ago. I am anxious about her. My friend Miss Molteno is over
37here, & is a great comfort to me. She is almost the only person who
38ever comes to see me. Sometimes I pass ten days with out speaking to a
39human creature except the girl who brings does my room.
40
41^Good bye my darling this is not much of a letter ^
42 Your little Auntie.
43
44 Are you keeping well.
45
2 July 3rd 1917
3
4 My darling Wynnie
5
6 Your sweet letter has just reached me. You & I are the only
7humanbeings who always have our wonderful darling in our hearts.
8Wynnie I think of her every day. Oh if I could have done more for her.
9As my condition becomes more & more like hers at the end I seem to
10come nearer & nearer her. I can’t eat anything now with out agony &
11my body is more & more swollen. I went to a woman doctor on Saturday
12She thinks I ought to go to a hospital & be cut open to find if there
13is not some large growth or whatever which explain my condition But
14another I went to says she will not have it, my heart is too weak to
15stand a operation & the wounds would not heal in my present inflamed
16condition. So I must go on so to the end. Sometimes I think if I could
17get to Germany or France if the war were over the doctors might do
18something for me, they are so much more clever & scientific than here,
19& so much cheaper.
20
21 I am so sorry Effie & her little ones have to leave the Highlands If
22they got a tiny cottage down near the sea it would be better for the
23children but there would be the expense of Arthurs season ticket. Give
24my dear love to them all. What news have you of Elberty?
25
26 It would be beautiful if you were here dear even if I could only see
27you once a week. As one grows weaker human love seems to mean more &
28more to one.
29
30 I don’t see much of Uncle Will or his family. I suppose you knew
31Ursula is to be married next month to a Dr. Percy Scott, who was head
32of the hospital where she has been nursing in France. Oliver is in
33India. You will of course have heard that he was torpedoed in the
34Mediterranean on his way out but was saved. Lyndall is still nursing
35in France. She did not look well at all when she was over here six
36months ago. I am anxious about her. My friend Miss Molteno is over
37here, & is a great comfort to me. She is almost the only person who
38ever comes to see me. Sometimes I pass ten days with out speaking to a
39human creature except the girl who brings does my room.
40
41^Good bye my darling this is not much of a letter ^
42 Your little Auntie.
43
44 Are you keeping well.
45
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/168 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 13 June 1918 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh's Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
|
1
London
2 June 13th 1918
3
4 My darling Wynne
5
6 Thank you for your letter. How I wish I could see you I don’t often
7see Uncle Will or Aunt Fan only once a fortnight or so. Ursula is in
8France nursing. Dot is living in her little cottage in the country The
9heat here is very great now, but damp & oppressive as it is I think
10its better than the winter with the unbroken fog & dark that choak one.
11
12 I hope you are feeling better dear. Take care of your teeth. Don’t
13have them stopped if they are bad rather have them drawn. People are
14finding out now how much ill health & disease comes from stopped teeth.
15 The poison at the root strikes inward & gets into the blood. My life
16here is strangely lonely. I never see any one. Its strange to think
17this is the old London where I had so many friends Of course I am a
18pacifist & opposed to all war & that divides one from every one here
19now.
20
21 Give my love to Effie & Arthur & the children. Have they raised
22Arthur’s salary? Is he still at Cartwrights? Food is getting dearer
23& dearer here. It takes every farthing of money one has just to get
24enough food to keep alive. Selfishly, I wish you were here; but for
25their sakes I’m so glad for every one I love who is not here.
26
27 I’m glad Elbert’s wife is so nice. What has become of that boy
28Aunt Het was so fond of? Do you ever hear from him. Is he still in
29Rodesia?
30
31 Good bye my darling Wynnie. Life’s a stiff fight.
32 Good bye
33 Your small Aunt
34 Olive
35
2 June 13th 1918
3
4 My darling Wynne
5
6 Thank you for your letter. How I wish I could see you I don’t often
7see Uncle Will or Aunt Fan only once a fortnight or so. Ursula is in
8France nursing. Dot is living in her little cottage in the country The
9heat here is very great now, but damp & oppressive as it is I think
10its better than the winter with the unbroken fog & dark that choak one.
11
12 I hope you are feeling better dear. Take care of your teeth. Don’t
13have them stopped if they are bad rather have them drawn. People are
14finding out now how much ill health & disease comes from stopped teeth.
15 The poison at the root strikes inward & gets into the blood. My life
16here is strangely lonely. I never see any one. Its strange to think
17this is the old London where I had so many friends Of course I am a
18pacifist & opposed to all war & that divides one from every one here
19now.
20
21 Give my love to Effie & Arthur & the children. Have they raised
22Arthur’s salary? Is he still at Cartwrights? Food is getting dearer
23& dearer here. It takes every farthing of money one has just to get
24enough food to keep alive. Selfishly, I wish you were here; but for
25their sakes I’m so glad for every one I love who is not here.
26
27 I’m glad Elbert’s wife is so nice. What has become of that boy
28Aunt Het was so fond of? Do you ever hear from him. Is he still in
29Rodesia?
30
31 Good bye my darling Wynnie. Life’s a stiff fight.
32 Good bye
33 Your small Aunt
34 Olive
35
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/169 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 21 December 1918 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
|
1
Dec 21st 1918
2
3 ^(I can’t be a merry Xmas to any of us)^
4
5 Wynnie, This is an awful blow that has fallen on you, my dear, dear,
6child. I know how you will always regret it was not possible for you
7to have been with him. Aunt Ettie’s treasured little Elberty, to
8have died so alone! But it is beautiful that he & Norah went together.
9I’m so glad Cron went to the station to meet them. Do write & tell
10me any further news you have. Oh Wynnie life is so sad.
11
12 Yes I have always realized what Elbert had to contend with born from
13the body of his dying mother. She was comparatively strong when you &
14Effie were born. The wonder is he had the vitality & strength he had.
15Sometimes when I think of you I just long to go out to South Africa to
16see you & be near you sometimes. But I should be no good if I came if
17I was as I am now. The attacks of angina are so persistent, they
18simply pass from one to another, & I can with great difficulty walk a
19few steps without bringing an attack on, & everything I eat seems to
20to make me sick. I am trying some vibratory massage which seems to
21help, but it is expensive 10/- a treatment ^so^ I can’t have it often.
22
23 Dot is looking quite well again & is working at Portsmouth. Ursies
24husband has been home for a short visit & has gone back to France. She
25is becoming so angelically sweet since her marriage, & so pretty. She
26is really lovely now, only so very very thin. Oliver wrote me a letter
27from Bagdad in Mesopotamia but unreadable said nothing as to the date
28of his coming back. I wonder if you will meet the girl who is engaged
29to. I think from her letters to Uncle Cron & to Fan & Will she must be
30very sweet & lovable.
31
32 Give my love to dear Effie. I am so thankful they all got through that
33terrible influenza all right.
34
35 I was in bed with it ten days in July, & have been much worse ever
36since.
37
38 Good bye, darling. I know what a blank Elberty has left in your life.
39It is beautiful he had those happy years. Take care of yourself. Your
40little old Aunt likes always to know you are somewhere in the world.
41
42 Good bye
43 Aunt Ol
44
2
3 ^(I can’t be a merry Xmas to any of us)^
4
5 Wynnie, This is an awful blow that has fallen on you, my dear, dear,
6child. I know how you will always regret it was not possible for you
7to have been with him. Aunt Ettie’s treasured little Elberty, to
8have died so alone! But it is beautiful that he & Norah went together.
9I’m so glad Cron went to the station to meet them. Do write & tell
10me any further news you have. Oh Wynnie life is so sad.
11
12 Yes I have always realized what Elbert had to contend with born from
13the body of his dying mother. She was comparatively strong when you &
14Effie were born. The wonder is he had the vitality & strength he had.
15Sometimes when I think of you I just long to go out to South Africa to
16see you & be near you sometimes. But I should be no good if I came if
17I was as I am now. The attacks of angina are so persistent, they
18simply pass from one to another, & I can with great difficulty walk a
19few steps without bringing an attack on, & everything I eat seems to
20to make me sick. I am trying some vibratory massage which seems to
21help, but it is expensive 10/- a treatment ^so^ I can’t have it often.
22
23 Dot is looking quite well again & is working at Portsmouth. Ursies
24husband has been home for a short visit & has gone back to France. She
25is becoming so angelically sweet since her marriage, & so pretty. She
26is really lovely now, only so very very thin. Oliver wrote me a letter
27from Bagdad in Mesopotamia but unreadable said nothing as to the date
28of his coming back. I wonder if you will meet the girl who is engaged
29to. I think from her letters to Uncle Cron & to Fan & Will she must be
30very sweet & lovable.
31
32 Give my love to dear Effie. I am so thankful they all got through that
33terrible influenza all right.
34
35 I was in bed with it ten days in July, & have been much worse ever
36since.
37
38 Good bye, darling. I know what a blank Elberty has left in your life.
39It is beautiful he had those happy years. Take care of yourself. Your
40little old Aunt likes always to know you are somewhere in the world.
41
42 Good bye
43 Aunt Ol
44
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/170 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 24 February 1919 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 is derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
|
1
Darling Wynnie
2
3 Will you please send the enclosed letters to Emma Earp. I don’t know
4her address It is too dreadful that her boy is gone just when they
5must have been expecting him back soon
6
7 We are expecting Oliver in a few weeks.
8
9 Erol is the second of our family go go with this terrible disease,
10which is raging here again.
11
12 It is bitterly cold & we are having heavier floods of rain than have
13been known in England in the memory of living man but I would rather
14have it than the heat & damp of the summer here. I’ll write a better
15letter soon. Give my love to Effie & to Arthur & all the little ones.
16
17 You know how I do love you.
18
19 Your little Auntie
20 Olive
21
22 I have not heard any news of the Musketts for a long long time.
23
24
25
2
3 Will you please send the enclosed letters to Emma Earp. I don’t know
4her address It is too dreadful that her boy is gone just when they
5must have been expecting him back soon
6
7 We are expecting Oliver in a few weeks.
8
9 Erol is the second of our family go go with this terrible disease,
10which is raging here again.
11
12 It is bitterly cold & we are having heavier floods of rain than have
13been known in England in the memory of living man but I would rather
14have it than the heat & damp of the summer here. I’ll write a better
15letter soon. Give my love to Effie & to Arthur & all the little ones.
16
17 You know how I do love you.
18
19 Your little Auntie
20 Olive
21
22 I have not heard any news of the Musketts for a long long time.
23
24
25
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/171 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 11 November 1919 |
Address From | Maer Lake, Bude, Cornwall |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The addressee and the address this postcard was sent to are on its front.
|
1
Maer Lake
2 Bude
3 North Cornwall
4 Nov 11th 1919
5
6 I got here yesterday dear, from London. Hope the clearer fresher air
7will pull me up. Thank you so much for your most interesting letter I
8got this morning. I do hope Barbarer is better. Will write soon
9
10 OS.
11
12
13
2 Bude
3 North Cornwall
4 Nov 11th 1919
5
6 I got here yesterday dear, from London. Hope the clearer fresher air
7will pull me up. Thank you so much for your most interesting letter I
8got this morning. I do hope Barbarer is better. Will write soon
9
10 OS.
11
12
13
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/172 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 24 February 1920 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Rosedale, Harpford Avenue, Wynberg, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Effie Hemming m. Brown (1903) |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
|
1
Darling Effie
2
3 Thank you for your sweet letter I shall perhaps come out to Africa in
4September when Oliver & Edna come in September, but it seems so
5difficult to find a place where I can stay Cape Town itself is too hot
6& close to the sea at St James too damp for me. My dear love to you all
7
8 Auntie Olive
9
10
11
2
3 Thank you for your sweet letter I shall perhaps come out to Africa in
4September when Oliver & Edna come in September, but it seems so
5difficult to find a place where I can stay Cape Town itself is too hot
6& close to the sea at St James too damp for me. My dear love to you all
7
8 Auntie Olive
9
10
11
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/173 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 15 June 1920 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
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1
Dear,
2
3 I think I told you I am sailing on the 13th of August with Oliver &
4Edna for the Cape.
5
6 It will be good to see you dear. I can’t realize I shall ever get
7there.
8
9 It is very hot here now quite as hot & oppressive as the Cape, & we
10have thunderstorms every day. Love to Effie.
11
12 Your small Aunt
13 Olive
14 June 15 1920
15
16
17
2
3 I think I told you I am sailing on the 13th of August with Oliver &
4Edna for the Cape.
5
6 It will be good to see you dear. I can’t realize I shall ever get
7there.
8
9 It is very hot here now quite as hot & oppressive as the Cape, & we
10have thunderstorms every day. Love to Effie.
11
12 Your small Aunt
13 Olive
14 June 15 1920
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/174 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | 10 March 1920 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope.
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1
9 Porchester Place,
2 Edgware Rd
3 March 10th 1920
4
5 My darling Wynnie
6
7 I can’t thank you enough for your beautiful letters to me. They have
8comforted & helped me as only love can. I am going to try & come out
9when Oliver & Edna come out in August or September but my great
10difficulty is to find a place to stay in, when I land. I could go to
11any hotel or boarding house for the first day – but the difficulty
12will be to find a place where I can stay through the heat of summer. I
13dread the heat more than any cold.
14
15 Dear Aunt Fan has asked me to come & stay with her at St James but I
16cant spend even one night there on account of the asthma if the worst
17comes to the worst I must just come out & look for a place when I got
18there. In Cape Town its too hot & near the sea (right on the shore) I
19get asthma. Plumstead & Kenilworth are the parts that have suited me
20best. I hope that perhaps some one who has a larger house than they
21need might hire me a room or rooms where I could do for myself or get
22a girl in for a couple of hours every day. I have some furniture at
23Mrs Purcell’s. if I could get unfurnished rooms it would do. But I
24feel I cant stay here any more I must come.
25
26 I long so to see you all. It would be better to die in the heat there,
27than alone in the fog here.
28
29 I went to see Edna today. The babe is long with large large round full
30eyes – but dear Edna had to be operated on yesterday for an ulcer in
31the breast & will of course be in bed a long time.
32
33 I am hoping with much joy to see dear Ray Brown soon. She landed
34yesterday. She’ll tell me about you all.
35
36 Good bye my darling Wynnie. You are such a comfort & help to me.
37
38 Your small
39 aunt Olive
40
2 Edgware Rd
3 March 10th 1920
4
5 My darling Wynnie
6
7 I can’t thank you enough for your beautiful letters to me. They have
8comforted & helped me as only love can. I am going to try & come out
9when Oliver & Edna come out in August or September but my great
10difficulty is to find a place to stay in, when I land. I could go to
11any hotel or boarding house for the first day – but the difficulty
12will be to find a place where I can stay through the heat of summer. I
13dread the heat more than any cold.
14
15 Dear Aunt Fan has asked me to come & stay with her at St James but I
16cant spend even one night there on account of the asthma if the worst
17comes to the worst I must just come out & look for a place when I got
18there. In Cape Town its too hot & near the sea (right on the shore) I
19get asthma. Plumstead & Kenilworth are the parts that have suited me
20best. I hope that perhaps some one who has a larger house than they
21need might hire me a room or rooms where I could do for myself or get
22a girl in for a couple of hours every day. I have some furniture at
23Mrs Purcell’s. if I could get unfurnished rooms it would do. But I
24feel I cant stay here any more I must come.
25
26 I long so to see you all. It would be better to die in the heat there,
27than alone in the fog here.
28
29 I went to see Edna today. The babe is long with large large round full
30eyes – but dear Edna had to be operated on yesterday for an ulcer in
31the breast & will of course be in bed a long time.
32
33 I am hoping with much joy to see dear Ray Brown soon. She landed
34yesterday. She’ll tell me about you all.
35
36 Good bye my darling Wynnie. You are such a comfort & help to me.
37
38 Your small
39 aunt Olive
40
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/175 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 15 August 1919 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the addressee and the address it was sent to are on its front.
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1
Thank you for your letter dearest, & thank my dear little Wynne for
2hers. How blank it is for me I can’t tell you dear. I will write
3soon. Now I’m not very well
4
5 OS.
6 9 Porchester Place
7
8
9
2hers. How blank it is for me I can’t tell you dear. I will write
3soon. Now I’m not very well
4
5 OS.
6 9 Porchester Place
7
8
9
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/176 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 15 April 1920 |
Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The day and month of this postcard are provided by the postmark, with content indicating the year as 1920. The addressee and the address the card was sent to are on its front. Schreiner was resident at Porchester Place from early April 1917 until August 1920, when she left Britain for South Africa.
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1
I wonder if you have seen Uncle Cron, dear. He writes me now he is not
2leaving till the middle of June. I’ve not seen Ol for a long time,
3but saw Edna on Friday. Her breast is still troubling her but she
4looks better & the babe is lovely. Quite an exceptionally pretty child.
5
6 Much love to you dear
7 Aunt Olive
8
9
10
2leaving till the middle of June. I’ve not seen Ol for a long time,
3but saw Edna on Friday. Her breast is still troubling her but she
4looks better & the babe is lovely. Quite an exceptionally pretty child.
5
6 Much love to you dear
7 Aunt Olive
8
9
10
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/177 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Letter |
Letter Date | After Start: Wednesday August 1919 ; Before End: September 1919 |
Address From | London |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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. This letter has been dated by reference to content, around when Fan Schreiner left Britain for South Africa in September 1919. An attached envelope with an illegible postmark provides the address the letter was sent to.
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1
Wednesday
2 London
3
4 Darling Wynnie
5
6 I send you a letter from May Parker - the doctors wife at Llandrindod
7wrote me when Uncle Will died. You can show it to Effie & Alice &c if
8they care to see it but return it. Aunt Fan & the others leave in 7
9days. It seem terrible to think I shall not see them again.
10
11 Much love to you dear
12 Your small Aunt
13 Olive
14
15
16
2 London
3
4 Darling Wynnie
5
6 I send you a letter from May Parker - the doctors wife at Llandrindod
7wrote me when Uncle Will died. You can show it to Effie & Alice &c if
8they care to see it but return it. Aunt Fan & the others leave in 7
9days. It seem terrible to think I shall not see them again.
10
11 Much love to you dear
12 Your small Aunt
13 Olive
14
15
16
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/178 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | Saturday 19 October 1920 |
Address From | Lyndall, Garden Street, Plumstead, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front.
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1
Darling Wynne
2
3 I am still at Aunt Fan’s as I have not yet been able to find a room.
4As soon as I am settled you must come & spend a long day with me. Do
5come & see me here if ever you are able. I will try to come & see
6Effies little home some day, but am less & less able to walk: the
7angina comes on sometimes when I am only walking across the room, it
8is worse than in England. I made a big mistake coming out here, but I
9can’t go back now. My love to you dear.
10
11 OS
12 Lyndall Garden Street
13 Plumstead
14 Saturday
15
16
17
2
3 I am still at Aunt Fan’s as I have not yet been able to find a room.
4As soon as I am settled you must come & spend a long day with me. Do
5come & see me here if ever you are able. I will try to come & see
6Effies little home some day, but am less & less able to walk: the
7angina comes on sometimes when I am only walking across the room, it
8is worse than in England. I made a big mistake coming out here, but I
9can’t go back now. My love to you dear.
10
11 OS
12 Lyndall Garden Street
13 Plumstead
14 Saturday
15
16
17
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/179 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 17 November 1920 |
Address From | Oak Hall, Wynberg, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | Marsh’s Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the addressee and the address it was sent to are on its front. Schreiner stayed with her sister-in-law Fan Schreiner and her friend Lucy Molteno in Cape Town after her arrival from Britain on 30 August 1920, moving to a boarding-house in Wynberg in late October, where she was resident until her death on 11 December 1920.
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1
Dear, the buttermilk was such a treat the nicest thing I’ve tasted
2for months. Next Saturday I am going to Lady Innes’s at Newlands to
3spend a few days. I am looking forward so to sleeping in the cool airy
4room. Thank you dear for the sweet note you wrote me.
5
6 Your small Aunt
7 Ol
8
9
10
2for months. Next Saturday I am going to Lady Innes’s at Newlands to
3spend a few days. I am looking forward so to sleeping in the cool airy
4room. Thank you dear for the sweet note you wrote me.
5
6 Your small Aunt
7 Ol
8
9
10
Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/180 |
Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
Epistolary Type | Postcard |
Letter Date | 6 December 1920 |
Address From | Oak Hall, Wynberg, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Address To | Marsh's Homes, Rondebosch, Cape Town, Western Cape |
Who To | Wynnie Hemming |
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 postcard, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. The date of this postcard is provided by the postmark and the address it was sent to is on its front. Schreiner stayed with her sister-in-law Fan Schreiner and her friend Lucy Molteno in Cape Town after her arrival from Britain on 30 August 1920, moving to a boarding-house in Wynberg in late October, where she was resident until her death on 11 December 1920.
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1
Dear ^Wynnie^
2
3 I hope you are keeping well I am so sorry to hear from Fan that Effies
4little ones have the flu. I wish I could get to see them.
5
6 Please send me Ely’s full address as I want to go to see her. If ev
7I am going to try again next week to find some place at Sea Point. The
8heat here is too awful, & the damp. Sea Point is drier. I know how
9busy you are, but I long to see you. When do your holiday come?
10
11 Love to you dear
12 Aunt Olive
13
14
15
2
3 I hope you are keeping well I am so sorry to hear from Fan that Effies
4little ones have the flu. I wish I could get to see them.
5
6 Please send me Ely’s full address as I want to go to see her. If ev
7I am going to try again next week to find some place at Sea Point. The
8heat here is too awful, & the damp. Sea Point is drier. I know how
9busy you are, but I long to see you. When do your holiday come?
10
11 Love to you dear
12 Aunt Olive
13
14
15
Notation
An unknown hand, which will have been that of Wynnie Hemming, has written on this postcard 'The last I got from Aunt Olive'.
An unknown hand, which will have been that of Wynnie Hemming, has written on this postcard 'The last I got from Aunt Olive'.