1 Hanover C.C.
2
3 Dear Isie Smuts
4
5 It was indeed a joy to me to receive your letter. My thoughts have
6always been with you & yours, especially when I heard the news of your
7sweet little Koosie’s death. I am thankful to know you have got Ella
8with you. Give our warm greetings to your husband if write to him.
9Your good news with regard to this is very comforting. Is your Brother
10quite well? The one I met at your house.
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12 Yes, dear friend, how well I realize your feelings with regard to the
13three little ones who have been taken from you. I always feel that if
14my little girl had lived I could have borne all. For the six months
15while my husband was in England I was alone on a farm in the Victoria
16district. When he came out he returned we came up here & were here for
17a few weeks & then he went down ^to Cape Town^ & could not get a pass
18from the military to return, so I was here quite alone again for thre
19six months. Then I became so ill that with my heart that the doctor
20here got a pass from the Commandant who kindly allowed my husband to
21come up to me & we have been together again for some weeks. He will
22soon have to go down again to try & earn something, & I will have to
23stay here as I cannot go to the coast on account of the asthma & my
24heart.
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26 You know that the Uitlanders burnt everything we possessed before they
27left Johannesburg in October 1899, & it is almost impossible for my
28husband to get any work now, & I cannot write any more. I wrote
29several long things & sent them to England, but the publishers would
30not take them as they are boycotting me.
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32 Please write to me soon & tell me how it goes with you all. You
33don’t know how often I am thinking of you all.
34
35 Yours lovingly
36 Olive Schreiner
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