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Letter ReferenceOlive Schreiner BC16/Box3/Fold6/1907/14
ArchiveUniversity of Cape Town, Manuscripts & Archives, Cape Town
Epistolary TypeLetter
Letter Date20 May 1907
Address FromHanover, Northern Cape
Address To
Who ToWilliam Philip ('Will') Schreiner
Other Versions
PermissionsPlease 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 Hanover
2 May 20th 1907
3
4 My dear old Laddie
5
6 Welcome back to the land of our birth. I hope you had a restful, good
7voyage out, & feel a bit fittened up for work again.
8
9 How did you leave our little girl? Did she seem to like Newnham?
10
11 I enclose you Con Lytton’s note. She doesn’t make reflections
12about your manners!! But you see it’s just because you can have the
13most delightful manner of any man I know that I object to your wearing
14another!
15
16 Adela was delighted with your visit to her, & wrote me four sheets
17about it. I wonder if you saw her little children, they seem more like
18my own, than any other woman. I shall like to come ^hear^ about them if
19I came to Cape Town on the 21st with Cron when he goes down to
20Parliament.
21
22 Con Lytton is without any exception the most perfect woman
23intellectually & emotionally that I know; & I would be glad if she
24could see something of our little girl. Just in her stage of live one
25is so much influenced for life by the people one is thrown among.
26
27 I am still living here alone; the cold & fog & mist are a little bit
28trying. This is "sunny South Africa", but we have only had a little
29pale sunlight on two day in the last three weeks, & the mist often at
30ten o’clock, often it is so thick you cannot see the verandah poles.
31I expect there are great rejoicings to have the old man back at
32Lyndall. I hope he’s a rested old man.
33
34 Olive
35
Notation
On 2 May 1907, Schreiner received a letter from Constance Lytton about her having met Will Schreiner during his visit to Britain to take his daughter Lyndall (Dot) to Cambridge, as follows:

Homewood
Knebworth
Herts

Thurs: May 2.07

My dearest Olive

I had the most delightful seeing of your brother on Thursday last. I sat next to him at lunch and stayed on for some time after to hear him talking with Aunt Lizzie. What a magnificent looking man he is, & his calm, reserved ways gave me great pleasure. There were many other people present so there was no chance of a real prolonged talk, but nevertheless I had enough to be very fascinated by his personality. I had hoped that your niece might also be there, but she was already at Newnham. I hope, however, that I may see her later on. Did I tell you in my last letter that the head of Newnham College, Mrs Henry Sidgwick is sister to my brother-in-law, Gerald Balfour. She is a most dear woman – I feel sure that your niece & she will like each other. Your brother told me that Nora Sidgwick had entertained them both on their arrival at Cambridge & been nice to them.

It is too unlucky that Mother & I were leaving home for our house to be done up just as your brother came (I am away from home now) so that we couldn’t ask him down to us which Mother very much wished to do. But I hope your niece may come later on.

I am just now staying with a dear friend whom I seldom see – am here only for 2 days, so I will not write more.

I do hope you are better again.

I saw Miss Molteno & Miss Greene again at Adela’s & had a delightful talk with Miss Molteno.

Your always loving
Con