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Letter ReferenceOlive Schreiner: Will Schreiner 97.12.3.6.24
ArchiveNational English Literary Museum, Grahamstown
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter Date20 October 1875
Address FromGanna Hoek, Halesowen, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who ToWilliam Philip ('Will', 'WP') Schreiner
Other VersionsRive 1987: 18-19
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
The Project is grateful to the National English Literary Museum (NELM) for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections.
1 Ganna Hoek
2 Oct 20th 1875
3
4 My dear old Will!
5
6 The Fouches are going into Cradock to have their baby baptised & I
7must take advantage of my chance & send you in a few lines.
8
9 Many thanks for your letter. I suppose you are now in your new
10quarters which I hope you find comfortable & to your taste. What sort
11of persons are the Doctor & his wife? Do you board with them? or have
12your meals alone, just as you would at another boarding house? What
13part of the Town are you in?
14
15 Alice & Robert must now be in Town. Do you see much of them? Is not
16Winnie a little beauty? Give my love to A - & tell her that the last
17letter I have from her is dated the 26th of July so I am beginning to
18despair of ever hearing from her again.
19
20 I hope I shall be able to go into Cradock soon. I have only been in
21once in the eighteen months I have been here & I want to have my photo
22taken for Mamsy. I will if they are at all at all good send you one.
23I am going to have a look for dear little Prue's grave too. I wish I
24could keep a dog here, but pets give you no end of misery - if you are
25staying in another's house so I must wait for that pleasure till the
26golden day comes when I live in a little room all by my-self & be free
27freer freest,
28
29 Of course you have read Ettie's speech. What do you think of it?
30People in Cradock think its very clever good & good & talk ever so
31much of it.
32
33 I have half an idea of joining the G.T.'s but hardly think it would be
34right I'm not in earnest enough about it, & its no use putting your
35hand to work unless your heart can guide it as well as your head. Are
36you joining? Are they strong in Cape Town? I should hardly think so.
37
38 Mrs Cawood sent me word the other evening that her children were ill
39so I went over & she & I sat up chatting all night & when I home
40started at sunrise & she came with me half way. She is such a dear
41noble unreadable woman, she is quite converting my woman hatred into
42woman love. A sex that can contain such women as she & Ettie cannot be
43quite an invention of the devil though I still think he must have been
44very active about the time she came into existence.
45
46 I'm desperately back achey this afternoon & mean to go & lie down all
47little now - One of the girls let a box fall on my back a week or so
48ago, & ever since if I try to sit too long it gets very bad.
49
50 Good bye my own old Bro. This is a scrappy scatter brain letter but
51you must answer it very quickly
52
53 Your loving old sissie
54 Olive
55
56
57
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.