Mrs. Richardson was in Brewer, Maine – a small city on the Penobscot River on the Maine coast.  Brewer is the sister city of Bangor, Maine on the opposite shore of the Penobscot.

While in Brewer, Mrs. Richardson received a postcard reporting on the household in Brooklyn.

The sender appears to be a housekeeper, nanny, or governess.  She reports that the children are well, that they have gone to bed and are asleep.

Although it is 10 pm, the writer plans to finish washing the dinner dishes, do the week’s ironing, and clean up the cellar!

After singing a few hymns, the dutiful housekeeper will also go to bed.

We cannot know the circumstances of this postcard report.

It is too early for Mrs Richardson to be taking a seasonal vacation in Maine, and there is no information suggesting an emergency that would have required her to leave Brooklyn.

It seems that Mrs. Richardson was intimately concerned about the management of the household although she was not present.

This  postcard was printed and sold by the Post Office; the printed stamp commemorates President McKinley who was assassinated in 1901.

One hopes that the children did well, that Mrs. Richardson was pleased with the state of the household, and that the weary writer was richly rewarded for her labors.