"Could Bertrand Russell come & see OS tomorrow" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box2/Fold1/Jan-June1899/29 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 24 June 1899 |
| Address From | Johannesburg, Transvaal |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Betty Molteno and Alice Greene |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 364 |
| 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. The names of the addressees are indicated by salutation and content. Schreiner was resident in Berea, Johannesburg, from December 1898 until late August 1899.
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1
Dear Friends
2
3 Do come out this morning it’s so lovely here, today much nicer than
4yesterday. If you get cab no 15 he will be coming out for his dinner
5at about 12.30 or 1 & bring you for a shilling each, because he has to
6come out. I will keep dinner till 2.30 in case you don’t come
7earlier. I’ve been looking out for you all this morning.
8
9 It’s a great temptation to me to ask you to have our bedroom & I &
10Cron sleep in my study with is just as nice: but I mustn’t do it.
11
12 Cron’s dear old mother wrote to say she & her daughter would come &
13stay with us for a couple of months, & I wrote & told her I could not
14manage to have them now. And if the dear old lady would be broken
15hearted if she thought I could have other folk & not her. I could
16never make her understand the difference between having you & Miss
17Green & her & her daughter. If she were alone I should have her to
18live with us; but her daughter, a very clever & brilliant girl but
19educated at the DSG in Grahamstown only cares for tennis & dances, & I
20feel our mode of life would not be hers. But I could not explain that
21ever to the dear old mother who thinks she is an angel without wings.
22Funny, the complexities of life.
23
24 It’s so beautiful to see you both but it would be much better if you
25were here.
26
2
3 Do come out this morning it’s so lovely here, today much nicer than
4yesterday. If you get cab no 15 he will be coming out for his dinner
5at about 12.30 or 1 & bring you for a shilling each, because he has to
6come out. I will keep dinner till 2.30 in case you don’t come
7earlier. I’ve been looking out for you all this morning.
8
9 It’s a great temptation to me to ask you to have our bedroom & I &
10Cron sleep in my study with is just as nice: but I mustn’t do it.
11
12 Cron’s dear old mother wrote to say she & her daughter would come &
13stay with us for a couple of months, & I wrote & told her I could not
14manage to have them now. And if the dear old lady would be broken
15hearted if she thought I could have other folk & not her. I could
16never make her understand the difference between having you & Miss
17Green & her & her daughter. If she were alone I should have her to
18live with us; but her daughter, a very clever & brilliant girl but
19educated at the DSG in Grahamstown only cares for tennis & dances, & I
20feel our mode of life would not be hers. But I could not explain that
21ever to the dear old mother who thinks she is an angel without wings.
22Funny, the complexities of life.
23
24 It’s so beautiful to see you both but it would be much better if you
25were here.
26
Notation
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.
Rive's (1987) version of this letter is in a number of respects incorrect.