Wednesday, October 14, 2020

A fun "Merry Hallowe'en" postcard

Sure, Halloween should be about about chills and thrills. But it should also be about the joy of the season. The spooks and spectres, the ghosts and goblins, should be on our side. That would be nice, anyway. And so I love this illustration of a Pumpkin King and his Vegetable Children. It's kind of wonderful in its insanity, as the anthropomorphic trio from the garden wish us a Merry Hallowe'en.

No publisher is listed for the card. This one was mailed on October 29 in either 1908 or 1909. (The postmark is slightly obscured when it comes to the last digit of the year.) The postmark is from Waterford, Pennsylvania.1 

The postcard stayed in town. It was mailed to a Mr. and Mrs. E.J. Osborn. The cursive note states:
"Better late than never, but it is better to be a little earlier about sending Halloween cards don't you think so. From your sister Maude"
Footnote 
1. Waterford is a tiny borough in Erie County. One of its famous residents is former Penn State and NFL football player Brian Milne. I overlapped with him for about a year at Penn State and thus covered his athletic exploits a bit. I wrote this for The Daily Collegian on April 24, 1992: "Possibly fitting into the equation at fullback is redshirt freshman Brian Milne -- unless he's in Barcelona. Milne is competing with Penn State's track team this spring and is attempting to qualify for the Summer Olympics in the discus."

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