"Don't come, Cron's dear old mother" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box5/Fold1/1912/53 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 12 November 1912 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | Chambers, St Georges Street, Cape Town, Western Cape |
| 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. The date of this letter has been derived from the postmark on an attached envelope, which also provides the address it was sent to.
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1
Dear Laddie
2
3 I shall have to come down to Cape Town soon – as soon as I’m able
4to get my packing done. I’ve written to the dear little mother to
5ask if its quite convenient for me to come. I could go to Jessie
6Innes’s & & Minnie de Villiers for a bit first, but I’d rather
7come to you. I^’m^ feeling something like Het was the last two years,
8always sick on the stomach, I can take nothing but lime juice & soda,
9but I shall feel better as soon as I get off these heights.
10
11 Adela Smith writes me that Lady Betty Balfours eldest daughter (Betty
12Balfour is Con’s sister married to Gerald Balfour Arthur Balfour’s
13brother, you know) has just gone to Nauheim to start studying medicine.
14 Its a sign of the times when the daughters of people in their
15position begin to study for professions. I wonder if she will meet our
16lassie. But she is 25 years old & I expect at Colleges the older women
17don’t see much of the younger. Our little lass has got a great pull
18by starting two or three years younger. She will be nearing the end of
19her course when she is 25. It makes all the difference.
20
21 The little kitten is angelic. I never knew a cat like it. When I’m
22in my room & call its name "Boy-boy, Boy-boy!" it comes tearing up the
23steps from the garden & up the passage & into my room; it answers to
24its name just like a dog. It comes & sinks its face against you, &
25licks you: I hope the golf goes on well.
26
27 Cron says he feels 10 years younger since he’s given up all meat. He
28looks splendid; the swelling has quite gone from his leg.
29
30 The drought grows worse & worse. We keep things green about us but the
31veld is a desert.
32
33 Good bye dear. Take care of my brother; its no use his working too
34hard. Don’t break the back of the horse on which so much depends.
35 Olive
36
37
38
2
3 I shall have to come down to Cape Town soon – as soon as I’m able
4to get my packing done. I’ve written to the dear little mother to
5ask if its quite convenient for me to come. I could go to Jessie
6Innes’s & & Minnie de Villiers for a bit first, but I’d rather
7come to you. I^’m^ feeling something like Het was the last two years,
8always sick on the stomach, I can take nothing but lime juice & soda,
9but I shall feel better as soon as I get off these heights.
10
11 Adela Smith writes me that Lady Betty Balfours eldest daughter (Betty
12Balfour is Con’s sister married to Gerald Balfour Arthur Balfour’s
13brother, you know) has just gone to Nauheim to start studying medicine.
14 Its a sign of the times when the daughters of people in their
15position begin to study for professions. I wonder if she will meet our
16lassie. But she is 25 years old & I expect at Colleges the older women
17don’t see much of the younger. Our little lass has got a great pull
18by starting two or three years younger. She will be nearing the end of
19her course when she is 25. It makes all the difference.
20
21 The little kitten is angelic. I never knew a cat like it. When I’m
22in my room & call its name "Boy-boy, Boy-boy!" it comes tearing up the
23steps from the garden & up the passage & into my room; it answers to
24its name just like a dog. It comes & sinks its face against you, &
25licks you: I hope the golf goes on well.
26
27 Cron says he feels 10 years younger since he’s given up all meat. He
28looks splendid; the swelling has quite gone from his leg.
29
30 The drought grows worse & worse. We keep things green about us but the
31veld is a desert.
32
33 Good bye dear. Take care of my brother; its no use his working too
34hard. Don’t break the back of the horse on which so much depends.
35 Olive
36
37
38