Mr. H. C. Stolzenbach lived in Baltimore, the busy port city and transportation hub for central Maryland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore
In February of 1909, Mr. Stolzenbach received a romantic postcard from Mary.
Mary mailed the postcard from Hagerstown, a city in the “panhandle” of northern Maryland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagerstown,_Maryland
(Hagerstown is about 75 miles northwest of Baltimore)
The face of the postcard is a photograph of a young couple strolling in a park or shaded lane.
The man wears a jacket and tie, and a hat. He appears to have laid a hand on the woman’s waist.
The young lady is in a flowing, white dress – she appears to be gesturing to him.
Beneath the couple, a printed legend asks, “May I Hope, to E’er Be Thine?”
The legend may be the lyric to a popular song.
The postcard was printed by Theodor Eismann of Leipzig and New York.
The image was from the “Illustrated Song Series” of the publisher.
On the reverse, the message from Mary does not suggest any romantic relationship or meaning.
Mary writes, “Received your letter this morning. Am very glad to know Clarence will soon be with us.”
It seems that the postcard may have been selected for the allusion to a popular song rather than for any hints to Mr. Stolzenbach about a romantic relationship.
Nevertheless, one hopes that Mary, and Mr. Stolzenbach, and Clarence, each found romantic success in the early years of the 20th century.
