There are postcard stories that allude to personal trials and difficulties and so draw our sympathy.

This postcard message describes the anxious waiting of a woman seeking a rest home.

Mrs. Mary Porter lived in Pittsburg, a city in southeast Kansas, near the Missouri border.

The city was developed when a rail line was extended to the place in 1876.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburg,_Kansas

In January of 1910, Mary received a postcard from her cousin, Stella.

Stella wrote from Chanute, a city in southeast Kansas that grew up around the junction of railroad lines, including the forerunner of the “Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad”.

Chanute is almost 60 miles northwest of Pittsburg, Kansas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanute,_Kansas

The face of the postcard is a drawing of a bouquet of flowers, including the snowdrop, pansy, bluebell, heather, and forget-me-not.

A verse, “The Language of flowers” ascribes some positive attribute to each blossom.

The verse is attributed to C. Preston-Wynne.

On the reverse, Cousin Stella pleads, “will you please let me know if you have heard from the home”.

If this application is not successful, Stella says, “we will try here”.

Stella reports, “my health is not good at all”, and she is uncertain about her next steps –

“We don’t know what to do until we hear from you.”

Cousin Stella writes a local address, but it appears to be in the household of another person.

Stella writes, “if you have written, we haven’t got it.”

We cannot know what kind of help Stella was seeking, but a variety of Rest Homes were established in the early 20th century.

https://www.4fate.org/history.pdf

One hopes that Mary had good news to share, that Cousin Stella found a place of refuge, and that the cousins remained helpful to one another for many years.