Margaret C. Osgood to Mary Alden Childers, [between approximately 1900-1907?]. IE TCD MS 7867/98

Digitised version of IE TCD MS 7867/98, a letter written by Margaret C. Osgood, Vitznau, Switzerland to her daughter Mary Alden Childers (month/year not identified, but between approximately 1900-1907?): "Darling Molly, this is a little private word to you. Don't keep anything from Papa. He is lonely inside, very lonely, and it would break his heart if he thought that you kept a shade from him. He thinks you and he are very intimate & writes me so, and that he & you have a great friendship. I know this by the way he writes. Tell him about the Count & about the photos from [?] Pace, & tell him you thought of concealing it because you were afraid he would try to coerce you. Tell him you must live your own life & have your own experiences, & that he may give you advice as anyone may give another, but you may not take it, that you are a grown up. Be gentle with him & while you say this hug & kiss him a good deal. Moll, don't hide from him. He is a sad person, not matter what he appears. You can't confide in him enough, & you can't begin to love him enough. You know why I say this. You will think so one day when we have left the body. Don't keep things from him. We are all transparent to one another, we four. I hold nothing from you, not one thing, and when you meet my spirit some future day, you will see the same little Maggie, all love and openness..." Margaret Cushing Pearmain Osgood (1847-1941), was an American writer and poet, mother to writer and nationalist Mary ('Molly') Alden Childers who was married to Erskine Childers, and the maternal grandmother of Erskine Hamilton Childers (1905-1974) who became the fourth President of Ireland 1973-1974.