In the summer of 1915, Miss Anna Kipe was attending Bible School in Grantham, PA.
Grantham, an unincorporated community of Cumberland County in south- central Pennsylvania, grew up around a mill on the Yellow Breeches Creek.
In the early 20th century, a large macaroni plant, served by a Reading Railroad line, dominated the local economy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantham,_Pennsylvania
The Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home was founded in Harrisburg by the Brethren in Christ Church in 1909.
In 1911, the school moved to Grantham where the President (Samuel Rogers Smith) lived and operated the macaroni factory.
Smith was converted to the Brethren in Christ denomination by his wife, and he established the school to provide a church-related education for his own children.
https://www.messiah.edu/office-of-the-president/past-presidents/s_r_smith
Today, Messiah University uses a mailing address of Mechanicsburg – but the university campus extends around the early nucleus of the school in Grantham.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_University
In mid-July, Anna received a postcard from her friend, Alma Cassel.
Alma mailed the postcard from Brookville, a small city in Montgomery County of west-central Ohio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookville,_Ohio
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The face of the postcard is a drawing of the Stivers Manual Training High School in Dayton, Ohio.
Dayton was founded along the Great Miami River (Montgomery County) in 1796.
It has been a leader of industrial innovation and invention (Wright Brothers, e.g.) for many years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton,_Ohio
This school has been part of the Dayton Public School System since the construction of the building in 1908.
In recent years, the building has been renovated and is now a magnet school for the Arts in Dayton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stivers_School_for_the_Arts
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On the reverse, Alma greets Anna and notes that Anna may be busy with school work.
Alma asks, “Does it seem lonely with so few there?”
It is not clear why enrollment in the Bible School was low – it may be that the summer school was not as popular as the regular term.
Alma reports that “Lena is in school at Wittenberg, Springfield.”
I believe that Alma refers to what is now Wittenberg University, founded by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1845.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenberg_University
The biggest news is that “Tent meetings are to begin Sat. near West Milton.”
Bro. Vernon Stump is to be there to preach”.
The Rev. Vernon Stump was a minister of the Brethren in Christ Church, and operated a religious publishing company in Nappanee, Indiana.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22401082/vernon_louis-stump
The message closes with Alma’s identification as “Your sister in Christ”.
One hopes that Anna was pleased by her studies at the Bible School, that Alma was able to hear the preaching of Bro. Stump, and that the friends maintained a postcard correspondence for many years.
