"Only two questions in South Africa, rank confers duties" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold2/1894/1 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 6 February 1894 |
| Address From | Middelburg, Eastern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Jessie Rose Innes nee Dods Pringle |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 230-1 |
| 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.
|
1
Middelburg
2 Feb 6 / 94
3
4 Dear Jessie
5
6 I am going to be married on the 25th of this month.^ at & later at my f^ I
7think I should have like to come to Cape Town first & seen you all
8first & been married there, but I don’t think I can manage, it.
9
10 We shall just be married in the magistrates office. I was very ill
11some time ago & went to Saunders when I’d been here a week. He said
12the womb was twisted back in a most in a most extraordinary way, it
13must have been the result of a violent fall from a horse he thought.
14He put it quite right, & now I feel better in health than I have felt
15for years. Why none of all the doctors I have been to should have
16suspected that something was wrong & put it right except Saunders I
17don’t know. I have a sense of health & strength, & rightness in my
18body I’ve not had since quite a girl. All the doctors I have had say
19there is no reason I should not have a child at once if I marry. Oh, I
20do wish I could see you & have a long talk with you. We are going to
21live at Krantz Plaats, that place where the wind always blows! The
22Fish River flows just in front of the door. I shall have an old Kaffir
23woman & a little boy for servants.
24
25^Good bye, dear-heart. I wish I could see you.^
26Olive
27
28
29
30
2 Feb 6 / 94
3
4 Dear Jessie
5
6 I am going to be married on the 25th of this month.^ at & later at my f^ I
7think I should have like to come to Cape Town first & seen you all
8first & been married there, but I don’t think I can manage, it.
9
10 We shall just be married in the magistrates office. I was very ill
11some time ago & went to Saunders when I’d been here a week. He said
12the womb was twisted back in a most in a most extraordinary way, it
13must have been the result of a violent fall from a horse he thought.
14He put it quite right, & now I feel better in health than I have felt
15for years. Why none of all the doctors I have been to should have
16suspected that something was wrong & put it right except Saunders I
17don’t know. I have a sense of health & strength, & rightness in my
18body I’ve not had since quite a girl. All the doctors I have had say
19there is no reason I should not have a child at once if I marry. Oh, I
20do wish I could see you & have a long talk with you. We are going to
21live at Krantz Plaats, that place where the wind always blows! The
22Fish River flows just in front of the door. I shall have an old Kaffir
23woman & a little boy for servants.
24
25^Good bye, dear-heart. I wish I could see you.^
26Olive
27
28
29
30
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.