"Air raid, a wonderful & impressive thing" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | John X. Merriman MSC 15/1898:8 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 9 February 1898 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | John X. Merriman |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 325 |
| Permissions | Please read before using or citing this transcription |
| Legend |
The Project is grateful to the National Library of South Africa (NLSA), Cape Town, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Special Collections. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898, with visits, sometimes extended, elsewhere over this period. There is a page or pages missing from the letter after 'told, on very' at the end of the penultimate paragraph.
|
1
Feb 9 / 98
2
3 My dear Mr Merriman
4
5 I was indeed sorry to receive your letter which confirmed the bad news
6with regard to your election which I had heard else-where. Politics
7are so sad & depressing at the present time that one hardly likes to
8think of them. The thought that always forces itself on one, is, how
9few men & women there are in a community who cannot be bought; & it is
10this which depresses one so, because of the side light it throws on
11human nature. It is not the deliberately anti-social folk who depress
12one particu ^such as^ Sievewright or Rhodes or Harris; but the people
13who would be social, & are not, when pressure is put on them. You must
14not risk standing for Namaqualand if you are not sure to win. You must
15not give them the triumph.
16
17 I was so grateful, grateful beyond words, when my husband gave up all
18thought of standing for Parliament. This is not the time for a
19straight independent man of any school to enter public life at the
20Cape. He must either make a martyr ?of of himself or sell his
21principles I am told, on very
22
23[page/s missing]
24
25 ^Let me know if you have any good news with regard to your election.^
26
2
3 My dear Mr Merriman
4
5 I was indeed sorry to receive your letter which confirmed the bad news
6with regard to your election which I had heard else-where. Politics
7are so sad & depressing at the present time that one hardly likes to
8think of them. The thought that always forces itself on one, is, how
9few men & women there are in a community who cannot be bought; & it is
10this which depresses one so, because of the side light it throws on
11human nature. It is not the deliberately anti-social folk who depress
12one particu ^such as^ Sievewright or Rhodes or Harris; but the people
13who would be social, & are not, when pressure is put on them. You must
14not risk standing for Namaqualand if you are not sure to win. You must
15not give them the triumph.
16
17 I was so grateful, grateful beyond words, when my husband gave up all
18thought of standing for Parliament. This is not the time for a
19straight independent man of any school to enter public life at the
20Cape. He must either make a martyr ?of of himself or sell his
21principles I am told, on very
22
23[page/s missing]
24
25 ^Let me know if you have any good news with regard to your election.^
26
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of the letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
Rive's (1987) version omits part of the letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.