Mrs. Mabel Bartholomew lived in Oregon, the county seat of Ogle County in north-central Illinois.
This rural area still shows the influence of the first European settlers from New England – who planned communities, founded schools, and established Congregational and Episcopal Churches in the early 19th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon,_Illinois
In November of 1911, Mabel received a comic postcard from her mother.
Mother mailed the postcard from Chicago, the vibrant center of industry and transportation about 100 miles east of Oregon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago
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The face of the postcard is a drawing of a small dog happily accompanying two girls to the soda fountain.
The girls are perched on stools and sharing the soda bottle.
The little dog waits patiently, his tail wagging.
The inscription provides the humorous commentary:
“Wouldn’t Pa be mad if he knew I was drinkin’ an’ tearin’ around with the girls?”
I cannot identify the publisher, but the postcard is from the “Sepia Yad Kids” series.
On the reverse, Ma’s message relates only to the details of domestic management.
Ma writes:
“Dear Mabel, you can bring the butter but not the eggs for fear I can’t spare them.”
The final instruction, I believe, relates to an animal:
“Feed Dusky up well”.
It is not clear what transaction is being defined here – it is possible that Mrs. Bartholomew was caring for her mother’s home while mother was in Chicago.
If so, Ma’s instructions would suggest that she was telling Mabel to “take the butter but not the eggs.”
In any event, it appears that Mabel enjoyed the comic drawing for she preserved the postcard throughout her life.
One hopes that Mabel heeded the postcard instructions, that Ma was not short of eggs, and that Dusky was well-fed.
