"Soldiers outside door, 'when the war is over'" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | T120 (M722): W.T. Stead Papers/2- pages 42-4 & 218-220 |
| Archive | National Archives Depot, Pretoria |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Tuesday 16 April 1889 |
| Address From | 25 Montague Street, Camden, London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | William Thomas Stead |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 163 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Archives Repository, Pretoria, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Micofilm Collections. The year has been written on this letter in an unknown hand; Schreiner stayed in Montague Street for a short period in April 1889 and had left Paris on 13 April, so this Tuesday was 16 April.
|
125 Montague St.
2Russell Sq.
3Tuesday
4
5Dear Mr Stead
6
7Your letter after wandering all over Europe has just this moment
8reached me here. I’ve been spending some time in Paris & came over on
9Saturday.
10
11As to your friend. No man has a right to put his individual health
12before the health of so-ciety, & I believe every secret or left handed
13union is a disease spot in society. If the man were noble he would
14endure the ill health as thousands of others do: If the woman he loves
15were brave & faithful she would for the sake of her love for him not
16endure he should fail in openness & sincerity. I feel less & less able
17to call that relation love, in which one draws the other from the
18higher for the sake of possessing them. You will understand what I
19mean when my book is published. I can't express myself satisfactorily
20didactically.
21
22With regard to yourself ^in the matter of the paper^ one aim only say;
23hold to your principles what ever they are, & apply them to yourself
24with bloodless impartiality as if you were another man.
25
26Will you tell me who wrote the article in P.M.G. on Lady Dilke’s first
27husband? I guess but am not sure I am right.
28
29My mother has written me an article ^a letter^ wildly enthusiastic about
30the Bismark article, & begs me to try & find out the writer! May I
31tell her who he is?
32
33Yours Always
34Olive Schreiner
35
2Russell Sq.
3Tuesday
4
5Dear Mr Stead
6
7Your letter after wandering all over Europe has just this moment
8reached me here. I’ve been spending some time in Paris & came over on
9Saturday.
10
11As to your friend. No man has a right to put his individual health
12before the health of so-ciety, & I believe every secret or left handed
13union is a disease spot in society. If the man were noble he would
14endure the ill health as thousands of others do: If the woman he loves
15were brave & faithful she would for the sake of her love for him not
16endure he should fail in openness & sincerity. I feel less & less able
17to call that relation love, in which one draws the other from the
18higher for the sake of possessing them. You will understand what I
19mean when my book is published. I can't express myself satisfactorily
20didactically.
21
22With regard to yourself ^in the matter of the paper^ one aim only say;
23hold to your principles what ever they are, & apply them to yourself
24with bloodless impartiality as if you were another man.
25
26Will you tell me who wrote the article in P.M.G. on Lady Dilke’s first
27husband? I guess but am not sure I am right.
28
29My mother has written me an article ^a letter^ wildly enthusiastic about
30the Bismark article, & begs me to try & find out the writer! May I
31tell her who he is?
32
33Yours Always
34Olive Schreiner
35
Notation
‘When my book is published’ is likely to refer to From Man to Man. The unsigned article on Mark Pattison is: "Mark Pattison's Essays" Pall Mall Gazette 1 April 1889, p.3. An article on Bismark could not be found in the Pall Mall Gazette in any of the issues around the date of this letter, although earlier there were reports of a scandal involving Bismark and a forged letter. Cronwright-Schreiner’s (1924) extract from this letter is incorrect in various ways.
‘When my book is published’ is likely to refer to From Man to Man. The unsigned article on Mark Pattison is: "Mark Pattison's Essays" Pall Mall Gazette 1 April 1889, p.3. An article on Bismark could not be found in the Pall Mall Gazette in any of the issues around the date of this letter, although earlier there were reports of a scandal involving Bismark and a forged letter. Cronwright-Schreiner’s (1924) extract from this letter is incorrect in various ways.