Mrs. Julia McLaughlin lived in Rhinelander, a small city in the North Woods of northeast Wisconsin.
The building of a railroad spur in 1882 enabled this settlement, near falls on the Wisconsin River, to develop a lumber industry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinelander,_Wisconsin
In April of 1908, Mrs. McLaughlin received a postcard from her niece, Agnes.
Agnes mailed the postcard from Marathon, a small town in Marathon County of central Wisconsin.
Rhinelander is about 68 miles north of Marathon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon,_Wisconsin
Agnes may have had few postcards available, as the one she selected is a greeting for the New Year.
(I saved the scan in a computer file related to “Holidays”, but this postcard is difficult to classify as it is a New Year’s Greeting sent in celebration of Easter.)
The face of the postcard bears an elaborate design, crafted to resemble a stock certificate or Promissory Note.
“The Bank of Happiness”, a subsidiary of the “National Bank of Fortune”, will pay to the bearer “Three Hundred & Sixty-five Prosperous Days”.
The certificate is adorned with a medallion drawing of the “Wheel of Time” and bags of coins, an hourglass, and a swastika.
Mrs. McLaughlin is invited to draw upon this institution in the “State of Happiness” in remembrance of friendship.
The postcard illustration was copyright by E. Phillips in 1907 – and the copyright holder is the most likely publisher.
On the reverse, Agnes greets Mrs. McLaughlin as, “Hallow (sic) Auntie”.
Agnes struggles with grammar and spelling – it is possible that she is not a native speaker of English.
“Today is Easter” and Agnes writes, “I wish you all a Happy Easter”.
Some family news follows, “Auntie Helen was sick, I was there one week.”
Agnes complains that her aunts do not write, and she closes with “answered (sic) soon”.
She signs, “your loving nese (sic)”.
Mrs. McLaughlin saved the greeting throughout her life, but the postcard suffered severe damage at some time in the 116 years since it was mailed.
I made significant digital repairs to the face.
One hopes that Agnes improved her language skills, that Auntie Helen recovered her health, that Mrs. McLaughlin wrote to Agnes, and that the family members maintained friendly correspondence for many years.
