In June of 1911, Addie wrote “a few lines” to Katherine.

Katherine, in Fort Madison, Iowa, seems to be a relative or close family friend as she is asked by Addie to relate a message to Grandma and Grandpa.

Fort Madison is the site of the first US military installation in the upper Mississippi valley.

The city, nestled between two bluffs along the river in southeast Iowa, is still an important railroad crossing – Amtrak trains cross a double bridge across the Mississippi at Fort Madison.

Addie mailed the postcard from a location in Kansas, but the faint postmark is not decipherable.

Likewise, Addie’s handwriting leaves one to despair of understanding the last names inscribed on the reverse.

In Addie’s message, we do learn that Edwin “is not being well” and that “he is so cross”.

I assume that Edwin is a baby.

“We are having warm weather”, which may be aggravating Edwin’s bad temper.

The face of the postcard is an engraving – a very good example of steel-plate art.

The infant Moses is found in the bulrushes by the Egyptian princess.

This dramatic moment begins the astonishing career of the immigrant baby whose people had been compelled into servitude.

The biblical story of Moses, and the liberation of a people and their eventual acceptance of the Ten Commandments, is a foundation of Judeo-Christian faith.

The story would have been familiar to every Sunday School student in 1911.