"Intellect & mothering instinct not at odds, types of minds" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Jessie Rose Innes MSC 26/2.6.9 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 26 April 1920 |
| Address From | 9 Porchester Place, Edgware Road, Westminster, London |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Jessie Rose Innes nee Dods Pringle |
| Other Versions | |
| 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. A typed transcript only of this letter is available; the original cannot be traced.
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1
9 Porchester Place
2 Edgware Rd.
3 April 26th 1920
4
5 Dear Jessie,
6
7 I was so glad to get a letter from Dorothy yesterday, & to hear it was
8all going fairly well with them, & that she was hoping to go out to
9Africa next Jan. with the two youngest children. One cannot help
10feeling anxious about friends on the continent in these times.
11
12 I hope you are liking your new house & not finding it too old; I'm
13sure you'll make it lovely.
14
15 I'm hoping to come out to Africa in Aug. when Oliver and his wife go
16out. But sometimes I feel that it's only a dream that won't be
17realized. I am getting quickly worse, but it may be if this terrible
18damp spring is over one may pull up. Its the dampest spring known in
19England for over 50 years: it pours & pours, all the country is under
20water. The worst rainy winter in Cape Town is heaven to this. You seem
21to breathe water not air, & its very bad for the crops --- which is
22serious.
23
24 I wonder if you've seen Cron? I've just had a very interesting letter
25from Dot. You know she expects her baby at the end of July.
26
27 Dear little Edna is still in the nursing home, suffering terribly with
28her breast. I think the doctor badly mismanaged it. Her baby is two &
29a half months old. It is a lovely babe, very like its sweet mother.
30
31 Goodbye, dear.
32
33 Greetings to Sir James. It will be so beautiful if I can see you all
34again.
35
36 Olive
37
38 Ruth Alexander has been here for two weeks. She comes to see me every
39day: it has been such a joy.
40
41
42
2 Edgware Rd.
3 April 26th 1920
4
5 Dear Jessie,
6
7 I was so glad to get a letter from Dorothy yesterday, & to hear it was
8all going fairly well with them, & that she was hoping to go out to
9Africa next Jan. with the two youngest children. One cannot help
10feeling anxious about friends on the continent in these times.
11
12 I hope you are liking your new house & not finding it too old; I'm
13sure you'll make it lovely.
14
15 I'm hoping to come out to Africa in Aug. when Oliver and his wife go
16out. But sometimes I feel that it's only a dream that won't be
17realized. I am getting quickly worse, but it may be if this terrible
18damp spring is over one may pull up. Its the dampest spring known in
19England for over 50 years: it pours & pours, all the country is under
20water. The worst rainy winter in Cape Town is heaven to this. You seem
21to breathe water not air, & its very bad for the crops --- which is
22serious.
23
24 I wonder if you've seen Cron? I've just had a very interesting letter
25from Dot. You know she expects her baby at the end of July.
26
27 Dear little Edna is still in the nursing home, suffering terribly with
28her breast. I think the doctor badly mismanaged it. Her baby is two &
29a half months old. It is a lovely babe, very like its sweet mother.
30
31 Goodbye, dear.
32
33 Greetings to Sir James. It will be so beautiful if I can see you all
34again.
35
36 Olive
37
38 Ruth Alexander has been here for two weeks. She comes to see me every
39day: it has been such a joy.
40
41
42