"Goad natives into one more Isandlawana" Read the full letter
| Letter Reference | Olive Schreiner BC16/Box2/Fold2/July-Dec1899/24 |
| Archive | University of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town |
| Epistolary Type | Letter |
| Letter Date | 31 August 1899 |
| Address From | Karree Kloof, Kran Kuil, Northern Cape |
| Address To | |
| Who To | Alice Greene |
| Other Versions | Rive 1987: 376 |
| 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 year of this letter as 1899 has been surmised from content. The name of the addressee is indicated by salutation and content. Schreiner was resident on the farm Karee Kloof from the end of August to early November 1899.
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1
Aug 31st
2
3 Dear Friend
4
5 We seem to be living in heaven here. The only shadow on our happiness
6is that we shall have to go away again: But I won’t think of that.
7There are 23 dogs here & 500 ostriches & there are sheep & horses, &
8coloured & black servants, & lovely koppjes on which the sun shines at
9sunset, as it only can in the karroo. Oh it is all so beautiful &
10restful. I have lain down every night since I came, three nights! It
11all seems like heaven. I ought to live to be a hundred & do all sorts
12of work, if I lived here. Oh it is like heaven. Johannesburg is
13growing more & more dreadful. War is nothing – it’s the people
14whom no war can alter, who are so terrible. I do wish you & Miss
15Molteno were here: we could all be so happy together.
16
17 Cron looks so much better in the three days we have been here, so
18young & happy. When I wake in the morning he is lying in his bed &
19reading Keats. We shall be here for a fortnight or three weeks before
20we return to Johannesburg. I am getting quite strong again. Good bye:
21I wish you were here. Oh the sunlight is so beautiful at sunset they
22never have such sunlight at Johannesburg. This is Heaven.
23
24 Olive
25
26
27
2
3 Dear Friend
4
5 We seem to be living in heaven here. The only shadow on our happiness
6is that we shall have to go away again: But I won’t think of that.
7There are 23 dogs here & 500 ostriches & there are sheep & horses, &
8coloured & black servants, & lovely koppjes on which the sun shines at
9sunset, as it only can in the karroo. Oh it is all so beautiful &
10restful. I have lain down every night since I came, three nights! It
11all seems like heaven. I ought to live to be a hundred & do all sorts
12of work, if I lived here. Oh it is like heaven. Johannesburg is
13growing more & more dreadful. War is nothing – it’s the people
14whom no war can alter, who are so terrible. I do wish you & Miss
15Molteno were here: we could all be so happy together.
16
17 Cron looks so much better in the three days we have been here, so
18young & happy. When I wake in the morning he is lying in his bed &
19reading Keats. We shall be here for a fortnight or three weeks before
20we return to Johannesburg. I am getting quite strong again. Good bye:
21I wish you were here. Oh the sunlight is so beautiful at sunset they
22never have such sunlight at Johannesburg. This is Heaven.
23
24 Olive
25
26
27
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.