"Du Bois, great desolating native war" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box5/Fold1/1912/18 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 8 May 1912 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | William Philip ('Will') 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.
|
1
De Aar
2 May 8th 1912
3
4 Dear old Man
5
6 I send you a letter which I have just got from Adela for you. The
7doctors have discovered something very seriously wrong with her again.
8They are trying to treat the growth with X Rays, & so to avoid an
9operation She feels so much the separation from her Husband & Children.
10
11 I am feeling anxious for news from Het. She lies like an iron weight
12across my heart. It isn’t death that matters, but her suffering is
13so terrible to me. The terrible thing is that I can’t realize that
14that dear tortured body lying there is Ettie. Down to the time mother
15died I always realized she was mother; but Ettie seems so completely
16changed. She has stood to me ever since I can remember for vigour,
17strength, & the joy of life - mere life. The magistrates wife, Mrs
18Deysdale, came to see me the other day. (The only caller but one
19I’ve had since I returned from Cape Town!) She admires our boy Bill
20very much, as everyone here seems to do! She said he told her about
21Dot & said she was so gifted, he only wished he had her power of
22studying. It seems to me fine of him: the average man never has any
23appreciation to spare for the women who belong to him. It shows that a
24man is a man when he can talk so! He will always be loved wherever he
25goes. There’s a curious charm & fascination about him. unreadable
26I’ve no news. All goes on as usual. Cron sends love. He says you are
27one heroic figure we have in South African life to-day – which is
28about true.
29
30 Good bye dear.
31 Your little sister
32 Olive
33
34 ^The picture has come. Looks beautiful.^
35
36
2 May 8th 1912
3
4 Dear old Man
5
6 I send you a letter which I have just got from Adela for you. The
7doctors have discovered something very seriously wrong with her again.
8They are trying to treat the growth with X Rays, & so to avoid an
9operation She feels so much the separation from her Husband & Children.
10
11 I am feeling anxious for news from Het. She lies like an iron weight
12across my heart. It isn’t death that matters, but her suffering is
13so terrible to me. The terrible thing is that I can’t realize that
14that dear tortured body lying there is Ettie. Down to the time mother
15died I always realized she was mother; but Ettie seems so completely
16changed. She has stood to me ever since I can remember for vigour,
17strength, & the joy of life - mere life. The magistrates wife, Mrs
18Deysdale, came to see me the other day. (The only caller but one
19I’ve had since I returned from Cape Town!) She admires our boy Bill
20very much, as everyone here seems to do! She said he told her about
21Dot & said she was so gifted, he only wished he had her power of
22studying. It seems to me fine of him: the average man never has any
23appreciation to spare for the women who belong to him. It shows that a
24man is a man when he can talk so! He will always be loved wherever he
25goes. There’s a curious charm & fascination about him. unreadable
26I’ve no news. All goes on as usual. Cron sends love. He says you are
27one heroic figure we have in South African life to-day – which is
28about true.
29
30 Good bye dear.
31 Your little sister
32 Olive
33
34 ^The picture has come. Looks beautiful.^
35
36