The Feast of St. John Baptist is celebrated on June 24, and this day (for centuries) was also the folk celebration of “Mid-Summer Night”.
Upon meeting his cousin, Jesus, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, St. John proclaimed that he world now diminish as the light of Jesus grew.
Thus, the longest day, and the beginning of diminishing days, became associated with St, John Baptist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_of_John_the_Baptist
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Mrs. Joseph Palm lived in McCoysville, an unincorporated community in Tuscarora Township of Juniata County in central Pennsylvania.
Located between ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, this sparsely-populated township had a peak population of about 1400 in 1900.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuscarora_Township,_Juniata_County,_Pennsylvania
In August of 1908, Mrs. Palm received a postcard from her son – whose initials are E. O. P.
The postcard was mailed from Honey Grove, another unincorporated community of Tuscarora township.
McCoysville is about 5,5 miles north of Honey Grove.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_Grove,_Pennsylvania
Readers of these postcard stories may remember that we saw other stories related to Honey Grove last year: “Foster Sends a Picture of the Harvest”, and “Abbie Has a Lot to Tell”.
The face of the postcard is a beautiful drawing of a very young St. John Baptist with the iconic attributes that identify him – the garment of hide, the lamb, and the banner containing the Latin inscription, “Ecce Agnus Dei”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei
Published by the firm of Julius Bien & Company of New York, the postcard is from the “Art Series, Religious Subjects”.
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On the reverse, we learn that the postcard is intended for an entire family; it opens, “Dear Mother, Bro and Sis”.
The sender is “right well now” and “hopes you are same”.
This morning, EOP cut himself with the hoe, but the injury does not seem to be serious.
On Saturday evening, “Jimmie and I are going to the Social”.
One hopes that the damage caused by the hoe healed quickly, that the Social was enjoyable for all, and that the Palm family maintained regular postcard correspondence.
RESEARCH NOTE
I have reached an impasse with this postcard story.
I have found a family of Joseph R. Palm in McCoysville, but the children of this family were born after 1908.
Several generations of Palms lived in Juniata and Mifflin Counties, but I cannot (yet) find a family configuration that would fit the details of this postcard.
