Miss Marie Crouch lived in Roseburg, the county seat of Douglas County in the Umpqua Valley of southwest Oregon.
In the early 20th century, Roseburg was the home to lumber production and wood manufacturing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseburg,_Oregon
In the last days of 1914, Marie received a New Year postcard from Addie Lowen.
Addie mailed the postcard from Bartlesville, a city on the Caney River in northeast Odlahoma.
Bartlesville, 40 miles north of Tulsa, has been the home of Phillips Petroleum since 1905.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartlesville,_Oklahoma
The face of the postcard shows a vase of flowers, violets and daisies, within a framed medallion.
Beneath the bouquet, a short verse is printed:
“Although my greeting is not new,
The wish is true,
If the words are few.”
The short verse is attributed to “Vernon” (or Fr. Vernon), but I have not yet identified this author.
The artist of the postcard illustration is identified – the prolific postcard artist, John Winsch.
The artist copyrighted the work in 1914, which was a departure from the usual custom of the publisher holding the copyright.
On the reverse, Addie acknowledges receipt of a postcard from Marie.
Addie confesses, “I have neglected writing but will not put it off much longer.”
From the tone and the contents of the message, I suspect that Addie and Marie are related by membership in a postcard club.
Addie hopes that Marie has had a merry Christmas.
The weather in Bartlesville “was not as good as usual”, Addie reports.
The message concludes with Addie’s wish of a Happy New Year to all.
One hopes that Addie did respond more promptly to Marie’s postcards, and that the two maintained a long correspondence.
