"Serf in the palace, where is Czar, meet incoming tide" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box5/Fold3/1914/79 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 29 November 1914 |
| Address From | Kensington Palace Mansions, De Vere Gardens, Kensington, London |
| 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. The date has been written on this letter in an unknown hand. The letter is on printed headed notepaper.
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1Telephone: 3675 Kensington.
2Telegrams: Apartment, London.
3
4Kensington Palace Mansions & Hotel,
5De Vere Gardens,
6W.
7
8My dear Laddie
9
10I enclose card from Lady Lytton. I wrote last Monday to tell her I
11would come & send Saturday with them, she send back a card saying she
12would be glad to see me & you too, if you cared to come with me. But
13I’d just heard of the execution of the 11 men in the Castle ^at Cape Town^
14from a woman who comes from South Africa, & I felt so unable to meet
15people, I decided not to go. But on Saturday I decided I’d better go.
16 It’s better than being shut up here alone, but ^one only wants to
17creep away where one can see no-one^ If one can’t die, one must keep
18ones lip stiff, so I went with Adela. When I came back I found this
19card from Lady Lytton. She thought I wasn’t coming!
20
21Con looks very ill. The mere excitement of seeing me brought on a bad
22heart attack, but she’s beautiful & lovely as ever, & certainly is
23better than last Xmas. The terrible thing about the heart is that its
24so influenced a by mental course. When do Fan & Dot come? I am anxious
25about our Bill I wish he would come too. God knows what will yet
26happen in that bloodstained land of ours.
27
28Good bye dear
29 Olive
30
31 Opie de Villiers younger brother is ^was^ with Maritz’s commando. They
32can hear nothing of him. His wife & two young children are with his
33mother at Stellenbosch. He was a BA of the Cape University & had much
34property.
35
2Telegrams: Apartment, London.
3
4Kensington Palace Mansions & Hotel,
5De Vere Gardens,
6W.
7
8My dear Laddie
9
10I enclose card from Lady Lytton. I wrote last Monday to tell her I
11would come & send Saturday with them, she send back a card saying she
12would be glad to see me & you too, if you cared to come with me. But
13I’d just heard of the execution of the 11 men in the Castle ^at Cape Town^
14from a woman who comes from South Africa, & I felt so unable to meet
15people, I decided not to go. But on Saturday I decided I’d better go.
16 It’s better than being shut up here alone, but ^one only wants to
17creep away where one can see no-one^ If one can’t die, one must keep
18ones lip stiff, so I went with Adela. When I came back I found this
19card from Lady Lytton. She thought I wasn’t coming!
20
21Con looks very ill. The mere excitement of seeing me brought on a bad
22heart attack, but she’s beautiful & lovely as ever, & certainly is
23better than last Xmas. The terrible thing about the heart is that its
24so influenced a by mental course. When do Fan & Dot come? I am anxious
25about our Bill I wish he would come too. God knows what will yet
26happen in that bloodstained land of ours.
27
28Good bye dear
29 Olive
30
31 Opie de Villiers younger brother is ^was^ with Maritz’s commando. They
32can hear nothing of him. His wife & two young children are with his
33mother at Stellenbosch. He was a BA of the Cape University & had much
34property.
35