"Your dear eyes, I know dear" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box8/Fold4/MMPr/AssortedCorres/FredPL/23 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 22 April 1911 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Frederick ('Fred') Pethick-Lawrence |
| 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. A typescript only of this letter is available. The transcription here follows this typescript and includes uncertain dates, ellipses, mistakes and so on.
|
1
de Aar
2 April 22nd, 1911
3
4 I am writing to Mr Sauer who is the Minister of Railways and will
5write you the result. I am also writing to my brother-in law who is a
6leading man in the Central News Agency to hear if they have the other
7stalls still & if arrangements can be made about them.
8
9 I have read the book you sent; so far from doing the cause harm, I
10think it has done it good! I always knew what a wonderful woman your
11wife was; how many-sided, with such a strong cool intellect as well as
12a great heart. I can never forget her wonderful letter to me on South
13African affairs but I didn’t know what wonderful women Mrs Pankhurst
14& Miss Pankhurst were, if they are as she paints them. Mrs Pankhurst
15is a born leader such as no other cause in England has today, and Miss
16Pankhurst is going to be one of the political leaders, not only of
17women, but of the nation! She has no idea how big she makes them all
18look. People who can lead and rule by love & sympathy, not by
19punishment or bribery, are nature’s natural leaders, for which every
20cause or party waits.
21
22 Is the person she speaks of as being tried by Mrs Pankhurst without a
23trial on p.82, Mrs Montefiore?
24
25 You don’t know how much time I spend answering attacks on Women’s
26Suffrage, especially in the weekly letters I get from England. I am so
27thankful you are none of you going to take the slightest notice of the
28book.
29
30
31
2 April 22nd, 1911
3
4 I am writing to Mr Sauer who is the Minister of Railways and will
5write you the result. I am also writing to my brother-in law who is a
6leading man in the Central News Agency to hear if they have the other
7stalls still & if arrangements can be made about them.
8
9 I have read the book you sent; so far from doing the cause harm, I
10think it has done it good! I always knew what a wonderful woman your
11wife was; how many-sided, with such a strong cool intellect as well as
12a great heart. I can never forget her wonderful letter to me on South
13African affairs but I didn’t know what wonderful women Mrs Pankhurst
14& Miss Pankhurst were, if they are as she paints them. Mrs Pankhurst
15is a born leader such as no other cause in England has today, and Miss
16Pankhurst is going to be one of the political leaders, not only of
17women, but of the nation! She has no idea how big she makes them all
18look. People who can lead and rule by love & sympathy, not by
19punishment or bribery, are nature’s natural leaders, for which every
20cause or party waits.
21
22 Is the person she speaks of as being tried by Mrs Pankhurst without a
23trial on p.82, Mrs Montefiore?
24
25 You don’t know how much time I spend answering attacks on Women’s
26Suffrage, especially in the weekly letters I get from England. I am so
27thankful you are none of you going to take the slightest notice of the
28book.
29
30
31
Notation
The 'book you sent' criticizing the WSPU is: Theresa Billington Grieg (1911) The Militant Suffragette Movement London: Frank Palmer.
The 'book you sent' criticizing the WSPU is: Theresa Billington Grieg (1911) The Militant Suffragette Movement London: Frank Palmer.