Mr. John E. Siegrist lived in Bird-in-Hand, an unincorporated community and one of the colorful place names in Lancaster County of southeast Pennsylvania.
The first European settlers in this area (circa 1715) were English Quakers and Swiss Mennonites.
The name of the community came from a tavern sign.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird-in-Hand,_Pennsylvania
In December of 1913, John was celebrating a birthday.
For the occasion, he received colorful postcard from E. E. S., possibly a relative.
(A reader, married to a grandson of John Siegrist, confirmed that the postcard was probably mailed by John’s brother, Emanuel Eby Siegrist.)
The postcard was mailed from Ronks, an unincorporated farming community that borders Bird-in-Hand.
The large postal area surrounding the community is largely agricultural – with a preponderance of Amish and Mennonite farmers.
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The face of the postcard is a vibrant drawing of children in a gaily-festooned goat cart.
The cart is covered in flowers (including the wheels), and the goat steps proudly with a flowery bonnet on his head.
In the bed of the cart, a girl holds open a large hamper full of blossoms; a small child grabs wildly at the blooms; a boy (ostensibly, the driver) wears a stocking cap and waves a large bouquet tied with a blue ribbon.
Most of the scene is lightly embossed.
A printed greeting in blue letters offers, “Best Birthday Wishes”.
I could not find a trace of the artist or the publisher, but the postcard was “Made in Germany”.
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On the reverse, the sender has inscribed a brief greeting:
“I wish you a happy Birthday”.
There are no clues about the relationship of the sender to Mr. Siegrist.
Mr. Siegrist preserved the pretty postcard throughout his life.
One hopes that he enjoyed many more celebrations and that he maintained a postcard correspondence for many years.
