"Details of wedding day" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Mary Gladstone (Mrs Drew) Add. 46244, ff.173-176 |
| Archive | British Library, Department of Manuscripts, London |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Friday 11 October 1889 |
| Address From | On board ship, Norham Castle |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Mary Drew nee Gladstone (m. 1886) |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the British Library for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections. The letter has been dated by reference to when Schreiner left for South Africa, which was on the Norham Castle on 11 October 1889.
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1
On Board
2 Norham Castle
3 Dartmouth
4 Friday 1889
5
6 My dear Mrs Drew
7
8 The doctors have ordered me home to my own beautiful climate. I am so
9very sorry I have never seen you in England For a very long time (even
10when I answered your last kind letter) I've not be fit for much. I
11hope, not from motives of health but just to see the most beautiful
12free wild country on earth, you will visit us in Africa! I shall spend
13the first seven month on a delightful promontory at the very end of
14South Africa where there are only three cottages & the post comes once
15a week - if you send for it! - & the south sea is all round, & after
16that I hope to visit the gold, & carry out my lifes dream of going on
17into the interior for a year or two. Isn't the world beautiful we
18never get to the end of it. If ever you should have any word to say I
19should be delighted to receive it. My permanent address in Africa will be
20 C/O WP Schreiner
21 Mount Vernon
22 Cape Town
23
24 I hope your health is better than it was last year, but if it isn't
25please remember there's one perfect climate in the world. Yours very
26sincerely, & regretting that I have never seen you.
27
28 Olive Schreiner
29
2 Norham Castle
3 Dartmouth
4 Friday 1889
5
6 My dear Mrs Drew
7
8 The doctors have ordered me home to my own beautiful climate. I am so
9very sorry I have never seen you in England For a very long time (even
10when I answered your last kind letter) I've not be fit for much. I
11hope, not from motives of health but just to see the most beautiful
12free wild country on earth, you will visit us in Africa! I shall spend
13the first seven month on a delightful promontory at the very end of
14South Africa where there are only three cottages & the post comes once
15a week - if you send for it! - & the south sea is all round, & after
16that I hope to visit the gold, & carry out my lifes dream of going on
17into the interior for a year or two. Isn't the world beautiful we
18never get to the end of it. If ever you should have any word to say I
19should be delighted to receive it. My permanent address in Africa will be
20 C/O WP Schreiner
21 Mount Vernon
22 Cape Town
23
24 I hope your health is better than it was last year, but if it isn't
25please remember there's one perfect climate in the world. Yours very
26sincerely, & regretting that I have never seen you.
27
28 Olive Schreiner
29