Master Henry Stager lived on College Avenue, a handsome street that borders the campus of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA.

The brick townhouse at 423 College Avenue was built in 1900 and remains a single-family home, in a row of similar townhouses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Pennsylvania

In February of 1911, the Henry received a Valentine postcard from K. Kelley.

The Valentine was mailed from Harrisburg, the capital city on the Susquehanna River about 40 miles northwest of Lancaster.

The face of the postcard is an original drawing by the celebrated postcard artist, Mary Eleanor George.

One can find readily more than a dozen postcards by this artist offered for sale on the web – in addition to hand-printed reproductions of her figures on various objects created by contemporary crafters on Etsy.

Alas, it is difficult to find biographical information about Mary Eleanor George.

Here, a girl wearing the garb of a sailor stands on a beach.

The girl has the face like that of a doll.

The lass is in tears.

Behind her, the green sea stretches to the horizon

A lone sail disappears in the distance.

At the girl’s feet, a triplet in verse:

“The wind that blows, the ship that goes, And the lass that loves a sailor”.

Behind the girl is a printed question:

“Dear Valentine, will you be my Mate?”

The postcard was published by Ernest Nester of London; the postcard was printed in Bavaria.

The poetic triplet seems to be copyrighted by the book publisher, E. P. Dutton & Co. of New York.

Young Henry preserved the postcard throughout his life.

One hopes that he enjoyed a wonderful St. Valentine’s Day in 1911.