OLIVE SCHREINER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 62, 14 March 1900, Page 2

OLIVE SCHREINER.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Mr W. Whittaker very properly takes Dr. Cox to task, in dissecting that gentleman's letter on tflie above laidy. The paragraphs are certainly antagonistic in their ruling features; but, sir, that is no reason why Mr Whittaker should compare her noble appeal (?) to Kipling's bloodthirsty babblings? "When Olive Schreiner wrote that powerful and charming book, "Tiie Story of an African Farm," those who have had the privilege of reading it recognised in it a picture from life, and that picture embodied (as was natural) a distinct Boer bias. Recently this talented writer was interviewed by a correspondent te»i one of the Australian papers. And among a lot of things she said that the Boers were the kindest, the most hospitable, religious, and peace loving people to be met with anywhere. Taking all that for granted, and r all the other nice things she had to say of them, how are we to reconcile the hard facts of to-day. Kipling's verses have a cockney twang and a catchy rhyme, but the meaning is plain, and what is more it is true. Take "The Absent Minded Beggar-" for instance, undisguised fact is displayed in every line, in some parts it is painfully true. Yet the ring is there that makes us proud to assist.even in a small way, the credit of the Empire. TVhere would we haVe been at the Cape if Olive Schreiner had had her wish, or that relative of hers had not been pulled up with a round turn. Mr Whittaker knows very well that the Bible thumping, explosive bullet, water poisoning, white flag abusing Boer, will never be beatified in the philosophy of Christian ethics, however much Olive Schreiner may exalt his virtues. I know people in Auckland to-day who have lived in the Transvaal for 20 years. I would like Mr Whittaker to hear their opinion of the Boer, it is slightly different to Olive Schreiner's.—l am, etc., SUPPLEJACK.