“I Swear to Be True” – Norwell, Massachusetts (1910)

Miss Kathryn Zinn lived in Oxford Mills,  an unincorporated community in east-central Iowa.

The community grew up around a grist mill established in 1857.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Mills,_Iowa

In April of 1910, Kathryn received a postcard from E. B. J.

I believe that this correspondent is a fellow-member of a postcard exchange club.

EBJ mailed the postcard from Norwell, a town on the North River between Boston and Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts.

Norwell was once a prosperous ship-building center; it is now an affluent residential community with a picturesque historic district.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwell,_Massachusetts

The face of the postcard is an uncolored photograph of a romantic scene.

Two lovers snuggle together in the back of a rowboat.

The young man is wearing a white shirt and a suit; he has carefully-brushed hair.

the young lady sports a light summer dress; she holds a parasol above them.

Beneath the lovers is a printed caption: “I Swear I’ll Be True”.

On the reverse, EBJ thanks Kathryn for her “Fine card”.

The sender reports that “we are having cold weather here now.

Kathryn’s correspondent then asks, “What do you think of this card”.

“This is the kind I like”, the writer adds.

The inscribed number beneath the message, and the penciled notation (presumably, by Kathryn) that the postcard was “ans” – strongly suggests that this was an exchange between members of a postcard club.

One hopes that the Spring brought lovely weather to Norwell, and that Kathryn and EBJ maintained a postcard exchange for many years.

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