"Half-dead but into action" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner: Mary Sauer MSC 26/2.11.115 |
| Archive | National Library of South Africa, Special Collections, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 3 December 1897 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Mary Sauer nee Cloete |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 319 |
| 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.
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1
The Homestead
2 Dec 3 / 97
3
4 Darling Mary
5
6 I couldn't get out to see you again. I was so sorry Cron couldn't see
7you ^when he called,^ & so was he. It was so nice to get back to my own
8little cottage again - terrible though the heat is here just now. I'm
9just like a tortoise, I'm never happy when I'm out of my shell, & I
10grow increasingly so as I grow older.
11
12 Public affairs are in such a dark condition now that the less one sees
13of them the happier one is. I was so grateful when Cron gave up all
14idea of entering Parliament now. Things will change in five or ten
15years time years time, but now everything is hopeless. The capitalists
16are buying up men's bodies & their souls, & their news papers, so what
17is to be done - sit still & wait.
18
19 Good bye my darling
20 Your
21 Olive
22
2 Dec 3 / 97
3
4 Darling Mary
5
6 I couldn't get out to see you again. I was so sorry Cron couldn't see
7you ^when he called,^ & so was he. It was so nice to get back to my own
8little cottage again - terrible though the heat is here just now. I'm
9just like a tortoise, I'm never happy when I'm out of my shell, & I
10grow increasingly so as I grow older.
11
12 Public affairs are in such a dark condition now that the less one sees
13of them the happier one is. I was so grateful when Cron gave up all
14idea of entering Parliament now. Things will change in five or ten
15years time years time, but now everything is hopeless. The capitalists
16are buying up men's bodies & their souls, & their news papers, so what
17is to be done - sit still & wait.
18
19 Good bye my darling
20 Your
21 Olive
22
Notation
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.
Rive's (1987) version omits part of this letter and is also in a number of respects incorrect.