In other postcard stories, we have noted the outpouring of patriotic correspondence commemorating the birthday of George Washington throughout the years of the early 20th century.
In February of 1914, Mrs. Abbie Phelon received a postcard greeting from her daughter; the postcard celebrates Washington’s Birthday.
Mrs. Phelon lived in Wellington, a village of Lorain County in north-central Ohio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington,_Ohio
The postcard was sent by daughter, “Litta”, perhaps the shortened form of another name.
Litta mailed the postcard from Wooster, a college town in Wayne County of northeast Ohio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooster,_Ohio
The face of the postcard is bordered by stylized, twined, branches surmounted by an axe and bunches of cherries.
The image recalls the famous myth of Washington’s truthfulness as a child.
Within the ornamental border is a short paragraph, entitled, “Washington’s Birthday”.
The lines of prose celebrate Washington as a model of “right-thinking, right-living, heroism, and gentleness”.
The writer seems to claim that these are peculiar American characteristics -which many might dispute today.
The postcard was copyright by a lithography company whose abbreviation I do not recognize.
On the reverse, Mrs. Phelon learns that her daughter has been enjoying a “beautiful morning”.
The daughter is “baking and fixing”.
I am not sure what “fixing” indicates, perhaps icing or decorating.
Litta wishes that she could “send you some good things”.
Litta shares the good news that she is “getting on fine now”, and she thanks her mother for her letter.
In closing, Litta confesses that “Laverne forgot to write his card, so you cannot get it.”
One hopes that Litta and her mother, along with the forgetful Laverne, enjoyed a thoughtful celebration of Washington’s Birthday in 1914.
