Mrs. Bert McCleary lived in Hagerstown, the commercial and transportation center of Maryland’s panhandle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagerstown,_Maryland

(We will learn much more about the McCleary family; I have a dozen postcards related to them.

Herbert McCleary, the husband of Elizabeth (who received this postcard) was a manager for a railroad depot in Hagerstown.)

In March of 1909, Elizabeth McCleary received a postcard from Alice.

Alice mailed the greeting from Washington, D.C.

The face of the postcard is an example of political satire related to the election of William Howard Taft and James Sherman.

This blurb from the archives of Miami University (Ohio) explains the scene:

“A pair of possums with briefcases are walking down a road through a forest to Washington, DC. The possum in the background has a tag on his tail that reads “Jimmy Possum New York”. The possum in the foreground has writing on his briefcase that reads “Billy Possum Ohio”. The road had writing that reads “March Fourth”. At the bottom of the postcard is the text “Moving Day in Possum-Town”.”

The postcard cartoonist was Fred. C. Lounsbury who copyrighted the image in 1909.

Lounsbury was a prolific postcard artist, but I have not been able to find biographical information about him.

On the reverse, Alice reports that she is “having a good time” and “feeling right good but tired”.

Her fatigue, Alice suggests, is because she was “seeing too much”.

We don’t know if Alice had traveled to Washington for the inauguration on March 4, or if she happened upon the political postcard that was widely-circulated at the time.

Mrs. McCleary seems to have appreciated the thoughtfulness of Alice, or enjoyed the political satire, as she preserved the postcard throughout her life.

One hopes that Alice continued to enjoy her visit to the Capitol City and that she shared more impressions with Elizabeth.