Miss Matilda Reiser lived at 915 East Orange Street in Lancaster, the charming and historic city in southeast Pennsylvania.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster,_Pennsylvania
Matilda’s home was erected in 1890; it remains a pleasing, stone-faced, singe-family dwelling today.
https://www.trulia.com/home/915-e-orange-st-lancaster-pa-17602-9746329
In February of 1910, Matilda received a Valentine postcard from a friend – “Guess”.
The sender claimed to be “someone you have forgotten all about”, so perhaps this was a former classmate or neighbor.
In 1910, less than ten percent of households had a telephone, and many children did not complete more than an 8th grade of school.
And, then as now, people moved geographically.
Thus, there are many reasons why people might lose contact with one another – and why so many postcards of the early 20th century have messages related to “Remember Me” or are adorned with forget-me-nots.
This greeting for St. Valentine’s Day is adorned with a rhyming verse beneath an elaborate frame adorned with forget-me-nots.
Red hearts are suspended on either side of the printed lines.
Entitled, “To My Valentine”, the verse proclaims that the sender enjoys the beauty of nature because of the loved one.
Matilda preserved the Valentine throughout her life; we suppose that she guessed the identity of the sender and was pleased to be remembered.
