



Produced by Sue Asscher





THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN FARM

by (AKA Ralph Iron) Olive Schreiner




Preface.

I have to thank cordially the public and my critics for the reception
they have given this little book.

Dealing with a subject that is far removed from the round of English
daily life, it of necessity lacks the charm that hangs about the ideal
representation of familiar things, and its reception has therefore been
the more kindly.

A word of explanation is necessary. Two strangers appear on the scene,
and some have fancied that in the second they have again the first, who
returns in a new guise. Why this should be we cannot tell; unless there
is a feeling that a man should not appear upon the scene, and then
disappear, leaving behind him no more substantial trace than a mere
book; that he should return later on as husband or lover, to fill some
more important part than that of the mere stimulator of thought.

Human life may be painted according to two methods. There is the stage
method. According to that each character is duly marshalled at