Miss Lavinia Briggs lived in Minneapolis, the city on the upper Mississippi River that was an industrial powerhouse for agricultural milling and food production.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minneapolis
In February of 1911, Lavinia received a postcard from Hazel.
Hazel wrote from Alden, a small city in southeast Minnesota, near the border with Iowa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alden,_Minnesota
The postcard is a light-hearted reflection on dating or courtship.
On the face of the postcard, a well-dressed couple is photographed in a pose of friendly conversation.
Beneath the photograph, the legend asks, “What will your friend say?”
We don’t know if the “friend” is a rival, someone who is disapproving of the burgeoning romance, or a person who would be very surprised by this relationship.
On the reverse, Hazel comments in Lavinia’s studies, suggesting that Miss Briggs is in school or college.
Hazel reports on all the local news – Clarence visited today, Earl and Helen had stopped in on Saturday – and she makes sympathetic noises about “poor Meg” who seems to have frequent illnesses.
In closing, Hazel acknowledges that she “should have written before”, but asks Lavinia to “excuse me this time.”
We don’t know if Lavinia or Hazel were entertaining suitors, but the concern of the couple on the postcard may be common to many persons who are entering into relationships.
One hopes that Lavinia was amused by the postcard, that she overlooked Hazel’s delinquent correspondence, and that the two remained friends for many years.
