Miss Bettie Ott lived in Charles Town, a small city in Jefferson County of northeast West Virginia.
Charles Town is on the West Virginia “peninsula” that juts into Maryland; it is about 38 miles south of Hagerstown.
The city was named for its founder, Charles Washington – younger brother of George.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Town,_West_Virginia
In April of 1916, Bettie received a postcard from Theo.
(This might be an abbreviation of Theodore, Theodora, even “Thos.”, an abbreviation of “Thomas”.)
It is not clear if the writer is male or female.
Theo mailed the postcard from Hagerstown, the center of commerce and transportation on the western panhandle of Maryland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagerstown,_Maryland
The face of the postcard is a drawing of a young woman and a young man – the figures face one another with arms outstretched.
Between the figures is a simple rhyme:
“Lots of Luck,
the best of cheer!
The only trouble is
You’re not here”
On the reverse, Theo asks (without punctuation), “Why don’t you write”
Theo adds, “Are you cross or sick”
The final query to Bettie is, “Did they like your suit”.
In an era when postcards were the fastest and easiest way to communicate with friends, not getting any mail is like having your texts ignored today.
One hopes that Bettie was neither cross nor sick, that the suit was admired by everyone, and that Bettie promptly replied to the questions of her friend.
