Mrs. Alice Farrington lived in Spartansburg, a small borough in Crawford County of northwest Pennsylvania.
(The population in 1920 was almost twice that of the population today.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartansburg,_Pennsylvania
In November of 1917, Alice received a patriotic postcard from her brother who was in the army.
The brother, who is not named, was encamped in Petersburg, Virginia.
Petersburg, the site of a bloody campaign in the Civil War, is located on the Appomattox River about 21 miles south of Richmond.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petersburg,_Virginia
In 1917, the camp for soldiers was Fort Lee – re-named in the 21st century as Fort Gregg-Adams.
This site was developed in 1917 as the draft swelled the size of the army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Gregg-Adams
The face of the postcard displays a whimsical drawing of two children singing from the sheet music for “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.
The girl wears a patriotic, tri-color bow in her hair; the boy sports a tri-color bow tie.
Beneath the singers is the legend, “Yankee Doodle Dandy sounds mighty good to me”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle
On the reverse, our serviceman asks “how are you and Clyde getting along with your work this winter.”
The writer elaborates, “I heard you had 6 to 12 inches of snow, so it must be winter”.
After inquiring about a growing baby, the soldier asks seriously – “Alice, what do you think about the war, the way it is going.”
It was another long year until the Armistice that ended World War I, and there was desperate fighting throughout that time.
One hopes that our soldier returned safely at war’s end, and enjoyed years of prosperity and peace.
