"Not a personal matter, all women of Cape Colony, Women's Enfranchisement League" Read the full letter
Letter Reference | Letters/573 |
Archive | |
Epistolary Type | |
Letter Date | 21 January 1916 |
Address From | London |
Address To | |
Who To | Adela Villiers Smith nee Villiers |
Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 355-6 |
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.
2London, 21st Jan.
3
4... I have heard from three people, belonging to very different
5sections of society, that the British only got away by paying "vast
6sums of money" to the Turks. I don't believe it: but the Government
7and the military and the papers all lie so that people will believe
8the most ridiculous stories. If there is one thing my long life has
9taught me it is that absolute truth is always the best in the long run:
10 in the short it generally seems the worse. Just now, I've had a
11curious illustration of this, just lately. I mean something much more
12than not telling a direct "lie,” but keeping up a false relation or
13supposition. I believe that, in the close personal relations of life,
14this is as true as in the life and relations of nations.
15
2London, 21st Jan.
3
4... I have heard from three people, belonging to very different
5sections of society, that the British only got away by paying "vast
6sums of money" to the Turks. I don't believe it: but the Government
7and the military and the papers all lie so that people will believe
8the most ridiculous stories. If there is one thing my long life has
9taught me it is that absolute truth is always the best in the long run:
10 in the short it generally seems the worse. Just now, I've had a
11curious illustration of this, just lately. I mean something much more
12than not telling a direct "lie,” but keeping up a false relation or
13supposition. I believe that, in the close personal relations of life,
14this is as true as in the life and relations of nations.
15