The early twentieth century saw larger numbers of women working outside the home.

The growth of industry and commerce required clerks, typists, and other office support.

While the vast majority of women remained engaged in home-based activity, the sheer novelty of women at work drew disproportionate attention to their numbers.

This humorous postcard reflects the phenomenon of women in the office workplace.

Miss Mabel Schumann lived in Mazomanie, a village in Dane County of south-central Wisconsin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazomanie,_Wisconsin

In May of 1908, Mable received a postcard greeting from H.

H. wrote from Middleton, a city of Dane County that had a large German population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleton,_Wisconsin

Like Mazomanie, Middleton is now a suburb of Madison.

The face of the postcard shows an office scene in which a young woman is typing at a small table very close to the desk of a man writing on a document.

The woman, whose face is seen only in profile, is wearing a lovely white dress.

The man, in a suit and bow tie, is able to steal a glance at the secretary continuously.

Beneath the drawing is an explanatory couplet:

“Dainty demure she sits and works,

Tho’ over her face a sweet smile lurks.”

The smile, we assume, is due to her knowledge that the man has noticed her.

The postcard was copyrighted and published by the company of Theodor Eismann in New York.

On the reverse, the message from H. has no romantic references at all.

There is some business, related to money and to Jim, which H. and Mable can discuss when H. comes home on Friday afternoon.

One hopes that the matter is resolved in a matter satisfactory to all, and that the friends remain correspondents for many years.