"Du Bois, great desolating native war" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box1/Fold5/1898/11 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | Monday 22 June 1898 |
| Address From | The Homestead, Kimberley, Northern Cape |
| Address To | Chambers, Cape Town, Western Cape |
| Who To | William Philip ('Will') Schreiner |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 331-2 |
| 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, while the address it was sent to is provided by an attached envelope from which the stamp and therefore postmark have been removed. Schreiner was resident in Kimberley from early August 1894 to November 1898.
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1
Monday morning
2
3 Dear Laddie
4
5 I expect when this reaches you we shall know the worst. The only thing
6that gives me a ray of hope is that Rhodes & Co seem so reluctant to
7come to the vote. If they were sure of victory as they profess to be
8would they not hasten things on? I feel much as I might have done had
9I stood on the top of the Koppie at Doorn Kop & seen Jamieson’s
10forces approaching the Boers. This really seems to me a hardly less
11important moment in the history of South Africa than that.
12
13 Never lose heart if you are beaten, dear: you made a fine fight! I
14wonder what the little mother thinks of it all. I never mention
15politics to her.
16
17 Your little sis
18 Olive
19
20
21
2
3 Dear Laddie
4
5 I expect when this reaches you we shall know the worst. The only thing
6that gives me a ray of hope is that Rhodes & Co seem so reluctant to
7come to the vote. If they were sure of victory as they profess to be
8would they not hasten things on? I feel much as I might have done had
9I stood on the top of the Koppie at Doorn Kop & seen Jamieson’s
10forces approaching the Boers. This really seems to me a hardly less
11important moment in the history of South Africa than that.
12
13 Never lose heart if you are beaten, dear: you made a fine fight! I
14wonder what the little mother thinks of it all. I never mention
15politics to her.
16
17 Your little sis
18 Olive
19
20
21
Notation
Rive's (1987) version has been misdated and omits part of this letter.
Rive's (1987) version has been misdated and omits part of this letter.