"Intellect & mothering instinct not at odds, types of minds" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Humpherys Collection/1 |
| Archive | |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 6 February 1898 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | Legitimation League, 16 John St, Bedford Row, London W. |
| Who To | George Bedborough |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to Professor Anne Humpherys for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter to George Bedborough, which is part of her Legitimation League collection.
|
1^Private^
2
3The Homestead
4Kimberley
5Feb 6 / 98
6
7Dear Sir,
8
9I shall be glad to receive the Adult if you are good enough to send it
10me. Out & away the best thing in this no. is your paper. Is
11S-agittarius a man called Aveling?
12
13I take it that your view is exactly mine from the remarks in Mr
14Northcote’s letter with regard to love & friendship. My only objection
15to the exis-ting marriage laws is that they tend to keep people
16together who ought to be separated, because they find they are not
17bound by friendship & sympathy, which in the highly developed human
18creature not only ought but does form the basis from which sex feeling
19springs. The assertion of Ruedebus-ch ^unreadable by unreadable^ that
20neither man or woman is ever jealous on account of a "pure" &
21"spiritual" friendship or love, is so comically opposed to all one
22knows of human nature among the most highly developed persons that it
23is comical ^ridiculous^: There is no jealousy so fierce & absorbing as
24the jealousy of a mother over the affections of her child; & the most
25heartrending cases of jealousy I have ever known between man & woman,
26have ^been^ where the husband or wife felt that the other was perfectly
27faithful but admired & sympathised mentally more with someone else.
28And this is inevitable as sex ^emotion^ becomes more mental than pysical
29in the most developed persons.
30
31The letter by Daylight, your own article & the little quotation from
32Ed Carpenter, are the only things in this no your paper with which I
33find myself at all in sympathy.
34
35Yours sincerely
36Olive Schreiner
37
38^Private^
39
2
3The Homestead
4Kimberley
5Feb 6 / 98
6
7Dear Sir,
8
9I shall be glad to receive the Adult if you are good enough to send it
10me. Out & away the best thing in this no. is your paper. Is
11S-agittarius a man called Aveling?
12
13I take it that your view is exactly mine from the remarks in Mr
14Northcote’s letter with regard to love & friendship. My only objection
15to the exis-ting marriage laws is that they tend to keep people
16together who ought to be separated, because they find they are not
17bound by friendship & sympathy, which in the highly developed human
18creature not only ought but does form the basis from which sex feeling
19springs. The assertion of Ruedebus-ch ^unreadable by unreadable^ that
20neither man or woman is ever jealous on account of a "pure" &
21"spiritual" friendship or love, is so comically opposed to all one
22knows of human nature among the most highly developed persons that it
23is comical ^ridiculous^: There is no jealousy so fierce & absorbing as
24the jealousy of a mother over the affections of her child; & the most
25heartrending cases of jealousy I have ever known between man & woman,
26have ^been^ where the husband or wife felt that the other was perfectly
27faithful but admired & sympathised mentally more with someone else.
28And this is inevitable as sex ^emotion^ becomes more mental than pysical
29in the most developed persons.
30
31The letter by Daylight, your own article & the little quotation from
32Ed Carpenter, are the only things in this no your paper with which I
33find myself at all in sympathy.
34
35Yours sincerely
36Olive Schreiner
37
38^Private^
39
Notation
The address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope. The word ‘Private’ at the beginning and end of the letter has in each case been underlined three times. The particular issue of the Legitimation League’s The Adult that Schreiner is referring to appeared in February 1899 as volume 2, number 1. It includes a thoughtful interesting review of Edward Carpenter's Love's Coming of Age by 'Sagittarius'.
The address this letter was sent to is provided by an attached envelope. The word ‘Private’ at the beginning and end of the letter has in each case been underlined three times. The particular issue of the Legitimation League’s The Adult that Schreiner is referring to appeared in February 1899 as volume 2, number 1. It includes a thoughtful interesting review of Edward Carpenter's Love's Coming of Age by 'Sagittarius'.