"Unwise to start branch of Aborigines Protection society; bad name" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Extracts of Letters to Cronwright-Schreiner MSC 26/2.16/97 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Extract |
| Letter Date | 2 August 1903 |
| Address From | Uitkyk, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | S.C. (‘Cron’) Cronwright-Schreiner |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 239 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Extracts of Letters to Cronwright-Schreiner were produced by Cronwright-Schreiner in preparing The Life and The Letters of Olive Schreiner. They appear on slips of paper in his writing, taken from letters that were then destroyed; many of these extracts have also been edited by him. They are artefacts of his editorial practices and their relationship to original Schreiner letters cannot now be gauged. They should be read with considerable caution for the reasons given. Cronwright-Schreiner has written the date and where it was sent from onto this extract. There are some differences between this transcription and the version that appears in The Letters….
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…I had pleasant women & a good little boy in my carriage, & got here
2yesterday afternoon, looking so well that they were all astonished. I
3found the mierries fat & flourishing & Neta too. For four days after I
4left, ‘Arriet would not come to the house to get food: when she
5found I was not there, she went back to her hole & ate nothing for
6four days. When Mrs. Le Roux went to the hole she was sitting on a
7stone at the door but so faint that, when she tried to get off to go
8in, she fell on her side. They brought her pail here & fed her on
9bread & milk & she’s in splendid condition. The Le Roux’s were so
10glad to see me… Dear one, it was so beautiful to be there with you,
11& oh so beautiful to see you get so much better. You have not looked
12young & had that bright light in your eyes once, even for a day, since
13you returned from England. I think to see your face like that is to me
14the most beautiful sight in the world. I am so much better for my
15visit to Cape Town too. I have not felt so fresh for years. I ?
16couldn’t ?write & think. Happiness is very good for my intellect.
17Before this I have got into a state in which I woke up crying every
18night in my sleep, & then sleep doesn’t rest you much…
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2yesterday afternoon, looking so well that they were all astonished. I
3found the mierries fat & flourishing & Neta too. For four days after I
4left, ‘Arriet would not come to the house to get food: when she
5found I was not there, she went back to her hole & ate nothing for
6four days. When Mrs. Le Roux went to the hole she was sitting on a
7stone at the door but so faint that, when she tried to get off to go
8in, she fell on her side. They brought her pail here & fed her on
9bread & milk & she’s in splendid condition. The Le Roux’s were so
10glad to see me… Dear one, it was so beautiful to be there with you,
11& oh so beautiful to see you get so much better. You have not looked
12young & had that bright light in your eyes once, even for a day, since
13you returned from England. I think to see your face like that is to me
14the most beautiful sight in the world. I am so much better for my
15visit to Cape Town too. I have not felt so fresh for years. I ?
16couldn’t ?write & think. Happiness is very good for my intellect.
17Before this I have got into a state in which I woke up crying every
18night in my sleep, & then sleep doesn’t rest you much…
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