Mr. Felix Sturm lived in Viropa, an unincorporated coal town in Harrison County, West Virginia.
The town is located in the northwest corner of the State – and name of the place is a combination of the names of surrounding states -Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
The Post Office in Viropa closed in 1930.
Near Christmas in 1908, Felix received a postcard greeting from his friend, Marguerite in Pittsburgh.
The face of the postcard bears an illustration of an automobile filled with sprigs of holly and mistletoe.
Above the drawing is a legend, “A Very Happy Christmas”; beneath the drawing, the filled spaces, “To Felix” and “From Marguerite”.
The postcard was published by the International Art Publishing Company of New York and Berlin; we can assume the postcard was printed in Germany.
On the reverse, Marguerite acknowledges receipt of a postcard from Felix and announces that she received “a letter from my H.”.
Alas, H. “cannot come up for Xmas”.
Marguerite confesses, “Oh, but I feel disappointed”.
Nevertheless, Marguerite wishes “a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all”.
One hopes that Marguerite enjoyed a wonderful Christmas, even if H. is absent, and that Felix and all others did the same.