Miss Mary Heizes lived in Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin and a hub of commerce and industry through its port on Lake Michigan.
Milwaukee became the home to many German immigrants who arrived in three waves during the 19th century, and the city became celebrated for its German breweries.
Today, Milwaukee is home to diverse cultures and ethnicities, including large numbers of Poles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee
In August of 1927, Mary received a postcard from her friend, Emma.
Emma mailed the postcard from Boston, the historic city and capital of Massachusetts on the Atlantic coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston
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The face of the postcard is a photograph of the “Interior of the New Church of Christ, Scientist”.
Some time ago, we saw postcard photographs of the stunning exterior of this grand structure.
The denomination was founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy, whose published works recount her recovery from serious by meditation of the New Testament.
Eddy maintained that the Church had lost the power of effective prayer that had characterized early Christians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Christ,_Scientist
Christian Science became popular through the “Reading Rooms” that were established in many cities and by the training of “Practitioners” who focused on healing through prayer and meditation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science_practitioner
(Controversies related to the dismissal of medical care dogged the church for decades.)
Mrs. Eddy was a Bostonian, and First Church was the “Mother Church” of the Christian Science Movement.
The marble interior is austere and monumental – tiers of balconies reflect the enormous capacity.
In the front, an array of pipes for the enormous organ accentuates the height of the sanctuary.
This structure, (called “New”) is an extension of the original Church and was erected 1904 -1906.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Church_of_Christ,_Scientist
The postcard photograph was published by M. Abrams of Roxbury, Massachusetts.
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On the reverse, Emma greets “Dear Mary” and thanks her for a recent letter.
It is not clear what the letter communicated, but Emma was “glad to hear the news”.
Emma announces her plans – “I am spending a few weeks at the B.A.“
Mary seems to have made a similar trip in the past as Emma writes – “The place is enlarged since you were here and they have added a chapel where we have song services every evening.”
I am not sure what the “B. A.” represents – the addition of a chapel (and the song services) suggests a religious affiliation.
Emma promises to write a letter when she gets home, and closes by assuring Mary of “all my best wishes”.
One hopes that Mary was pleased by the postcard, that Emma continued to enjoy her visit to Boston, that Mary was happy in the situation she shared in her letter (she may be engaged to be married), and that Emma composed her letter promptly.
