Mr. J. L. Gehman lived in Martindale, an unincorporated community in a rural area of eastern Lancaster County, PA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martindale,_Pennsylvania
In September of 1911, Mr. Gehman received a postcard from V. Eby.
Miss Eby wrote from Denver, a borough on the Cocalico Creek in northern Lancaster County.
Denver was settled by Swiss immigrants in 1735.
Martindale is about 7 miles southeast of Denver.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver,_Pennsylvania
The face of the postcard contains two drawings of places in Jerusalem.
The first shows the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives, the second shows an ancient arch on a narrow street in Jerusalem.
The location of Jerusalem is given as “Palestine”.
The postcard images were copyright in 1909 by the J. I. Austen Company.
On this Palm Sunday, a vision of Jerusalem seems appropriate.
On the reverse, Miss Eby begins her message by expressing the pleasant surprise of receiving a postcard from Mr. Gehman.
Miss Eby notes ruefully that she would like to be going to school – “I wish I was preparing to go to school”.
I believe that this reference is to a “Normal School” or teachers’ college.
Miss Eby is engaged already as a schoolteacher, suggesting that she completed high school and may have taken some qualifying examination.
Well into the 20th century, many public schools in rural areas and many private or religious schools did not require that every teacher had a college degree.
In her current position, Miss Eby has thirty-two students, including 8 “beginners”.
It appears that Mr. Gehman may be departing for further schooling as Miss Eby offers, “Success to you”.
One hopes that Miss Eby succeeded with her students, that she was able to pursue further education, that Mr. Gehman achieved his goals, and that the two correspondents deepened their relationship through the experience of teaching.
