"My heart is heavy over my work" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Schreiner-Hemming Family BC 1080 A1.7/130 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Saturday 12 March 1912 |
| Address From | De Aar, Northern Cape |
| Address To | Blaauwberg, Western Cape |
| Who To | Henrietta (‘Ettie’) Schreiner m. Stakesby Lewis (1891) |
| Other Versions | |
| Permissions | Please 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. The date of this letter is provided by the postmark on an attached envelope, which is printed with the Alexandra Hotel logo and picture and the address the letter was sent to on its front.
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1
De Aar
2 Saturday morning
3
4 My own Ettie
5
6 I am sitting n my room with a cold rain falling outside but a big
7bright fire burning, & oh how I long to know you have me too. I only
8wish you could see it as you lie on my bed. You ought to try lying
9with your head sometimes towards the foot of the bed. Its looking at a
10fire that is sometimes such a comfort, when one feels so heavy & dead,
11the bright, living fire flashing & flaming gives one the sense of
12something being alive & ?moving still! It’s that awfull feeling of
13deadness in one's self that makes one sometimes feel as if everything
14about one were dead, as if all the world, the dear old world one has
15loved so, were dying too. Oh I do hope the fireplace will be a success.
16 It will make the long night easier for those who are with you too; &
17^you can always have warm water^
18
19 Have you ever tried taking honey? I have not for years been able to
20take jams or sugar in any form except in the tinyest quantities but
21honey is quite different. I can’t take sweet milk either but a
22desert spoon full of unreadable fresh clear honey put into a glass
23with two or perhaps three tablespoons of milk, & eaten together makes
24the milk & the honey quite different from what they are alone. ^The
25milk never gets acid in one.^ You might try it once to see how it suits
26you. Honey is such a different thing from sugar, with so many
27properties in it It helps to kill the germs which may be hanging about
28decayed teeth, & restors the power of taste to the mouth. Your mouth
29feels so nice & clean after it.
30
31 It is so hard to be so far that I can so slowly get news of you.
32
33 Good bye my own much suffering darling
34 Your little sister
35 Olive
36
37
38
2 Saturday morning
3
4 My own Ettie
5
6 I am sitting n my room with a cold rain falling outside but a big
7bright fire burning, & oh how I long to know you have me too. I only
8wish you could see it as you lie on my bed. You ought to try lying
9with your head sometimes towards the foot of the bed. Its looking at a
10fire that is sometimes such a comfort, when one feels so heavy & dead,
11the bright, living fire flashing & flaming gives one the sense of
12something being alive & ?moving still! It’s that awfull feeling of
13deadness in one's self that makes one sometimes feel as if everything
14about one were dead, as if all the world, the dear old world one has
15loved so, were dying too. Oh I do hope the fireplace will be a success.
16 It will make the long night easier for those who are with you too; &
17^you can always have warm water^
18
19 Have you ever tried taking honey? I have not for years been able to
20take jams or sugar in any form except in the tinyest quantities but
21honey is quite different. I can’t take sweet milk either but a
22desert spoon full of unreadable fresh clear honey put into a glass
23with two or perhaps three tablespoons of milk, & eaten together makes
24the milk & the honey quite different from what they are alone. ^The
25milk never gets acid in one.^ You might try it once to see how it suits
26you. Honey is such a different thing from sugar, with so many
27properties in it It helps to kill the germs which may be hanging about
28decayed teeth, & restors the power of taste to the mouth. Your mouth
29feels so nice & clean after it.
30
31 It is so hard to be so far that I can so slowly get news of you.
32
33 Good bye my own much suffering darling
34 Your little sister
35 Olive
36
37
38