Miss Mabel Mechling lived in Elkhart, he city on the Saint Joseph River in north-central Indiana.
The first European inhabitants of this area were settlers from New England, in the early 19th century.
Railroads reached Elkhart in 1851, and industry grew up after that time.
By 1916, the population of Elkhart exceeded 20,000 citizens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkhart,_Indiana
* * * * * * *
In December of 1916, Mabel received a Christmas postcard from Mamie.
Mamie mailed the postcard from Elkhart, suggesting that she was a neighbor, schoolmate, or nearby friend of Mabel.
The face of the postcard is an evocative bit of postcard art, in a dream-like, soft-focused style.
A solitary figure, possibly carrying a small tree, heads toward a solitary structure – its roof covered with snow.
The structure is surrounded by trees and a mostly-frozen lake.
The low clouds create a dim light that adds to the atmosphere of mid-winter stillness.
A viewer hopes that the figure reaches the home and that it will be filled with warmth and light.
Beneath the drawing, a sprig of holly adorns a printed message: “A Merry Christmas”.
The postcard was printed in the US, but I could not distinguish an artist’s mark or a publisher’s symbol.
On the reverse, Mamie expresses her good wishes: “May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.
One hopes that Mabel and Mamie, and all their friends and family members, enjoyed a splendid Christmas.
Genealogical Note
I found only incomplete records for Mabel Mechling.
In May of 1886, Mabel Lenora Mechling was born in Elkhart.
Mabel was the daughter of Jonas Mechling (1843-1923) and Ophelia M. Dorr Mechling (1848-1910).
Jonas and Ophelia were married in Porter Indiana in 1882.
(Porter is a town in northwest Indiana – 70 miles west of Elkhart.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter,_Indiana
The couple had two daughters and one son – but Jonas brought a third daughter to the marriage who is listed as a step-daughter of Ophelia.
One of Mabel’s full sisters died in infancy; Mabel’s mother died in 1910, and her father in 1923.
In the US Census for 1920, Mabel is boarding within another household in Elkhart.
I cannot find another document related to Mabel until her Indiana death record on the 14th of September in 1953.
Mabel never married; she is buried in Elkhart, Indiana.