Miss Ruth Hoppes lived in Mulberry, a small city (2020 population of 409) in Crawford County of southeast Kansas.
The first European settlement was named for a stand of wild mulberry trees at an abandoned indigenous hunting camp.
The city of Mulberry was founded when mines began operating in 1875.
Fun Fact: The Mulberry Advance, a weekly newspaper, continues to operate with a subscription base of 56.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry,_Kansas
At some time, Miss Hoppes became a schoolteacher; we met her in a postcard story of 1916 – “Mae Has a Cooler Visit”.
In January of 1908, Ruth received an art postcard from Edgar Overman.
Edgar mailed the postcard from Weir, a small city (pop. 569 in 2020) in Cherokee County of southeast Kansas.
Once a site of zinc smelting and coal mining, Weir, today, has only 20% of the population that the city recorded in 1900.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir,_Kansas
Weir, KS is about 25 miles south of Mulberry, KS.
+ + + + + + +
The face of the postcard is a drawing of three children engaged in a book.
An older girl sits in an armchair; an open book lies on her lap.
On either side, a girl is kneeling.
Each girl appears to be following with interest the story that is being read,
Additional volumes lie on the carpet; a doll is abandoned carelessly at the legs of the chair.
Behind the attentive readers, a pair of dogs are engaged in a battle over another doll lying on the floor.
Printed letters identify the scene as “Receiving Instruction”.
It is possible that the contrast of the girls and the dogs is an allegory of the superiority of education over mindless, destructive struggle.
The absence of a publisher’s mark, and the quality of the printing, suggest that the postcard was printed in the United States.
(I made digital repairs of many spots of misprinting and of smudged or faded margins.)
+ + + + + +
On the reverse, Edgar begins a message, “Hello Ruth”.
He adds, “I landed here all O. K.”
With no closing phrase, Edgar inscribes his name.
Ruth preserved the postcard with her very large postcard collection throughout her life.
One hopes that Edgar continued to have success and that he sent many more postcards to Ruth.
