Mrs. Charles Eastman lived in Worcester, now a center of education and high-tech industry about fifty miles west of Boston.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester,_Massachusetts

In May of 1910, Mrs. Eastman received a comic postcard from Bernise.

Bernise mailed the postcard from Exeter, an historic town on the Exeter River in southeast New Hampshire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter,_New_Hampshire

The face of the postcard is a drawing of a woman who has fallen on the sidewalk.

Her purse lies beside her, but her hat is still firmly in place.

A gentleman is bending to assist her to her fee.

The humorous caption reads, “Please Say ‘Dam’ for Me”.

A lady, of course, could not swear – but could ask a gentleman to utter the exclamation for her.

The postcard publisher, also, was reluctant to print “Damn”.

On the reverse, we learn that the phrase had a personal meaning for Bernise.

Apparently, the last letter from Mrs. Eastman was held at the Exeter Post Office for insufficient postage.

Bernise writes, “I had to send two cents to get your letter yesterday”.

The extra attention and pennies required to receive the letter was irritating to Bernise.

She concludes her message with a sarcastic, “You’re a Peach”.

On the face of the postcard, Bernise has also written about the woman swearing., “Said this yesterday”.

One hopes that Mrs. Eastman was more careful with her correspondence, that Bernise came to overlook the inconvenience, and that the correspondents continued to exchange letters in the years to come.