"Du Bois, great desolating native war" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Letters/580 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | |
| Letter Date | 1919 |
| Address From | London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Adela Villiers Smith nee Villiers |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 363-4 |
| 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, late 1919.
3
4... I really like the Morning Post better than any of the other papers
5because it's sincere and says what it thinks exactly. I am a democrat
6but I can love and admire a real hard-shell old Tory. Just fancy,
7to-day I got an invitation to a dance! The first invitation to a dance
8I have ever had in my life. I have never even seen a dance, or been in
9a ballroom. All the dancing I've seen has been that of naked Kaffirs,
10which was splendid though terrible, the real war dances, and Boers
11leaping about in their heavy boots. All the dancing I've done has been
12alone in the veld, when I've jumped in the air and thrown up my arms
13and shouted with the mere joy of living. Oh life is beautiful, while
14one has the strength to live it, isn't it, darling?
15
2London, late 1919.
3
4... I really like the Morning Post better than any of the other papers
5because it's sincere and says what it thinks exactly. I am a democrat
6but I can love and admire a real hard-shell old Tory. Just fancy,
7to-day I got an invitation to a dance! The first invitation to a dance
8I have ever had in my life. I have never even seen a dance, or been in
9a ballroom. All the dancing I've seen has been that of naked Kaffirs,
10which was splendid though terrible, the real war dances, and Boers
11leaping about in their heavy boots. All the dancing I've done has been
12alone in the veld, when I've jumped in the air and thrown up my arms
13and shouted with the mere joy of living. Oh life is beautiful, while
14one has the strength to live it, isn't it, darling?
15