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Letter ReferenceSchreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/1
ArchiveUniversity of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter DateWednesday 8 May 1872
Address FromDordrecht, Eastern Cape
Address To
Who ToAlice Hemming nee Schreiner
Other Versions
PermissionsPlease read before using or citing this transcription
Legend
The Project is grateful to Manuscripts and Archives, University of Cape Town, for kindly allowing us to transcribe this Olive Schreiner letter, which is part of its Manuscripts and Archives Collections. This letter has been dated by reference to content. Schreiner was resident in Dordrecht from April 1871 to August 1872. Content shows the year was 1872, with the typhoid epidemic in Dordrecht occurring from April to June or July that year. The end of the letter is missing.
1 Wednesday night
2 May 8th.
3
4 My own sister!
5
6 Its near morning, my poor charge has just fallen in to a quiet sleep &
7I am sitting in the next room waiting for the arrival of the Dr. who
8promised to call in about this time, to day was the 21st day of the
9fever, & as she has past it safely we hope all may now go well. She is
10still very ill but better than she was last night when we all thought
11her to be dying but I feel very hopeful tonight & look forward to
12seeing her well in a few weeks time.
13
14 I’ve not been in or even on bed for the last 3 weeks, what sleep I
15have had I have taken in an armchair at her bed side so you may fancy
16how weak I feel, if I can only keep up till she is out of danger I
17don’t care how I break down then, Papa will have told you how many
18persons in Dordrecht have this fever & the best of it is our ?bright
19Drs ?Jules & ?Bird don’t know what to make of it or what to call it. A
20happy thought struck Jules the other day that Mr Gau’s well was
21poisoned & was the cause of all the evil, great nonsense I think but
22we’ve sent some of the water down to unreadable from to be analysed &
23shall hear the result by tomorrows post.
24
25 Friday morn. Miss Gau is worse again. Mr Gau has just sent out into
26the country to try & get a Dutch girl to come in & stay with me as we
27can get no one in town for love or money.
28
29 I am expecting the down country post to arrive every moment but after
30the letter that post brought me I seem to dread rather than look
31forward to its coming What I tell you now dear old girl is for your
32self & no one else don’t say a word to Papa about it what ever you do,
33but I got such a cold little note from Mamma last week in answer to my
34letter telling her that I was
35
36[page/s missing]
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39