"Great native question, we shall reap as we have sown" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | HRC/CAT/OS/4a-iv |
| Archive | Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Wednesday 16 February 1887 |
| Address From | Hotel Roth, Clarens, Montreux, Switzerland |
| Address To | c/o Dr Grey, Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria |
| Who To | Havelock Ellis |
| Other Versions | Cronwright-Schreiner 1924: 110; Draznin 1992: 430 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscript Collections. This letter has been dated by reference to an associated envelope and its postmark, which also provides the address it was sent to. Schreiner stayed in Montreux from the end of December 1886 to mid March 1887. The final insertion is on the back of the envelope.
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1Wednesday night
2
3Darling Boy, I feel so loving to you. The reason is I think you are
4not well & you are very tired my Harry. Your heart is so sore. I
5aren’t a loving little Olive. I aren’t good to my boy!
6
7Olive
8
9You were so beautiful in all that matter about Mrs Cobb. It's funny
10that the thing I feel most of all is her having tried to injure you.
11Whenever I think of that all the old flood of fierce bitterness comes.
12She said what she did to Miss Haddon just because she thought it would
13injure you.
14
15^I wonder if one ever quite conquers & kills out one’s own^
16
17^heart. I could work if I didn’t feel so bitter against Mrs Cobb.
18Karl wrote that Mrs Cobb was true in word^
19
20^& thought & deed, & that if I would quarrell with her he could have
21nothing more to do with me.^
22
23^Philip Marston is dead I want to write a notice of him somewhere & an
24introduction to his stories is there’s nobody else.^
25
26
2
3Darling Boy, I feel so loving to you. The reason is I think you are
4not well & you are very tired my Harry. Your heart is so sore. I
5aren’t a loving little Olive. I aren’t good to my boy!
6
7Olive
8
9You were so beautiful in all that matter about Mrs Cobb. It's funny
10that the thing I feel most of all is her having tried to injure you.
11Whenever I think of that all the old flood of fierce bitterness comes.
12She said what she did to Miss Haddon just because she thought it would
13injure you.
14
15^I wonder if one ever quite conquers & kills out one’s own^
16
17^heart. I could work if I didn’t feel so bitter against Mrs Cobb.
18Karl wrote that Mrs Cobb was true in word^
19
20^& thought & deed, & that if I would quarrell with her he could have
21nothing more to do with me.^
22
23^Philip Marston is dead I want to write a notice of him somewhere & an
24introduction to his stories is there’s nobody else.^
25
26
Notation
Draznin's (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription.Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) short extract includes material from a different letter and is also incorrect in other ways.
Draznin's (1992) version of this letter is in some respects different from our transcription.Cronwright-Schreiner's (1924) short extract includes material from a different letter and is also incorrect in other ways.