"Soldiers outside door, 'when the war is over'" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/494 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 9 January 1911 |
| Address From | Portlock, Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Adela Villiers Smith nee Villiers |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 297-8 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
When Cronwright-Schreiner prepared The Letters of Olive Schreiner, with few exceptions he then destroyed her originals. However, some people gave him copies and kept the originals or demanded the return of these; and when actual Schreiner letters can be compared with his versions, his have omissions, distortions and bowdlerisations. Where Schreiner originals have survived, these will be found in the relevant collections across the OSLO website. There is however a residue of some 587 items in The Letters for which no originals are extant. They are included here for sake of completeness. However, their relationship to Schreiners actual letters cannot now be gauged, and so they should be read with caution for the reasons given.
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1To Mrs. Francis Smith.
2Portlock, Graaff Reinet, 9th Jan.
3
4... I've had a letter that's made me so glad. A man who lives on a
5farm high up in the mountains, a farm where I lived for a year and a
6half as a girl and was so well, has offered to let me come and board
7with them. I am going there soon for a month before I go back to De
8Aar. I have the most ridiculous feeling that if I once get there I
9shall be quite well and a young girl again. I shall go away by myself
10on the dear rocks by the little river and dance and sing and throw up
11my arms from fullness of life and inward joy, like I used to when I
12was a little Boer schoolteacher living there alone and used to escape
13so joyfully too, when my school was over, to rejoice by myself. Of
14course I'm not such a fool as to think it can be the same; but I feel
15as if it would be. I can't realise it! To be at Lelie Kloof again.
16That's the little farm I've always wanted to buy.
17
2Portlock, Graaff Reinet, 9th Jan.
3
4... I've had a letter that's made me so glad. A man who lives on a
5farm high up in the mountains, a farm where I lived for a year and a
6half as a girl and was so well, has offered to let me come and board
7with them. I am going there soon for a month before I go back to De
8Aar. I have the most ridiculous feeling that if I once get there I
9shall be quite well and a young girl again. I shall go away by myself
10on the dear rocks by the little river and dance and sing and throw up
11my arms from fullness of life and inward joy, like I used to when I
12was a little Boer schoolteacher living there alone and used to escape
13so joyfully too, when my school was over, to rejoice by myself. Of
14course I'm not such a fool as to think it can be the same; but I feel
15as if it would be. I can't realise it! To be at Lelie Kloof again.
16That's the little farm I've always wanted to buy.
17