Wednesday, February 27, 2019

A cheery chicken postcard


Chickens are very nice. I'm terribly sorry that I ate them for so many years, not stopping until 2013. This dandy postcard was one of my Christmas presents. The caption on the front states:
"The careful hen calls all her chirping family around
Fed and defended by the fearless cock"
This is attributed to the British poet James Thomson (1700-1748). It is part of his long poem Spring, which was part of his The Seasons cycle. After the above excerpt, the poem continues:
"Whose breast and ardour flames, as on he walks,
Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond,
The finely-checkr'd duck, before her train,
Rows garrulous. The stately-sailing swan
Gives out his snowy plumage to the Gale;"
Someone has written "Jessie" on the front of this card. The postmark is slightly blurred, but it looks like it might have been mailed in 1906. The only thing written on the back is the address, which makes sense if 1906 is indeed the year. "Divided back" postcards, in which the Post Office allowed private citizens to write on the back, alongside the address, weren't allowed until March 1, 1907.

This postcard is a Photochrome card published by Raphael Tuck & Sons as part of the "Animal Studies" series. It was addressed to Miss Louise Hershey, who lived on Carlisle Street in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

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