Miss Catherine Ziegler lived in Columbia, a pretty borough and a center of industry and transportation on the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia,_Pennsylvania
We met members of the Ziegler family in earlier postcard stories: “Father Time and the New Year Child” (1909), and “Early Settlers” (1906)
In March of 1915, Catherine received a St. Patrick’s Day postcard from her grandma.
Grandma mailed the postcard from Marietta, the charming riverside community a few miles north of Columbia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietta,_Pennsylvania
In 1915, one could travel between Columbia and Marietta by trolley.
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The face of the postcard is a lovely drawing of a barefoot Irish lass bearing an enormous four-leaf clover.
Our heroine is wearing a large white apron over her plaid skirt.
The girl is chasing a piglet who seems to be successful in evading capture.
Above the scene, gilt letters announce: “St. Patrick’s Day – and I wish you luck.”
I do not know if the pig is related traditionally to the concept of “good luck”.
The postcard was published by the English firm of Raphael Tuck & Sons; it was one of the company’s lines of “St. Patrick’s Day Post Cards”.
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On the reverse, Grandma has inscribed a brief message.
The greeting is an unpunctuated question, “How is Catherine”.
Grandma adds a closing, “Love and kisses from Grandma and all”.
Catherine saved the charming illustration throughout her life.
One hopes that all enjoyed a merry St. Patrick’s Day and that Catherine and her grandma maintained an affectionate postcard correspondence for many years.
