"Detailed advice for nursing Will Schreiner just before his death" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold1/1891/4 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 7 February 1891 |
| Address From | Matjesfontein, Western Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Betty Molteno |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 186 |
| 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 has been written on this letter in an unknown hand.
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1
Matjesfontein
2
3 My dear Miss Molteno
4
5 I knew your friends at once. Of course I liked them. Isn’t it
6delightful to see a woman who’s really alive. I spoke most to the
7unreadable light one, but the dark one seems to me quite as
8interesting to look at.
9
10 The peaches they brought me from you were the best I’ve tasted since
11I was a child.
12
13 Thank you my dear fellow woman for your words of sympathy with my work.
14 They are unspeakably precious to me. I was so glad to see you looking
15so much stronger when you went back. We must not be too tired when we
16see no fruit from our work. The best work has no visible fruit, it
17grows under ground. Give my friendliest greetings to Miss Greene.
18
19 Olive Schreiner
20
21
22
2
3 My dear Miss Molteno
4
5 I knew your friends at once. Of course I liked them. Isn’t it
6delightful to see a woman who’s really alive. I spoke most to the
7unreadable light one, but the dark one seems to me quite as
8interesting to look at.
9
10 The peaches they brought me from you were the best I’ve tasted since
11I was a child.
12
13 Thank you my dear fellow woman for your words of sympathy with my work.
14 They are unspeakably precious to me. I was so glad to see you looking
15so much stronger when you went back. We must not be too tired when we
16see no fruit from our work. The best work has no visible fruit, it
17grows under ground. Give my friendliest greetings to Miss Greene.
18
19 Olive Schreiner
20
21
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.