Rock River at Shaw's Farm, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 3 May 1910 from Beloit. From M. A. S[…] to Miss Florence Selgren, Janesville.

The picture

A calm, wide stretch of the river framed by leaning trees and brush at left and dense trees at right, with a band of trees across the far shore and a pale clearing or bank at the center distance.

• Printed caption: ROCK RIVER AT SHAW'S FARM, BELOIT, WIS.
• Printing: colored halftone · color
• Condition: light corner wear; faint horizontal banding in the scan

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: Post Card · This Space for Address only.
• Stamp: 1c, green, profile bust in an oval, facing left (no name on the stamp)
• Postmark: BELOIT / MAY 3 / 4-30A / 19 10 / WIS. (machine cancel with flag killer)
• Condition: toning; scattered light soiling; the pencil message is faint

Exact copy

Line for line as written. [?] follows an uncertain word; [illegible] marks one that cannot be read; ~~ ~~ is crossed out, ^ ^ written above the line, […] runs off the card.

Message (front of the card, across the sky, upper center, in faint pencil):

We have got a
show left[?] out[?]
yours[?] dea[illegible] [illegible 2 words]
if you don't believe
it come down and
[illegible] […]

Message (back of the card, left half, the datestamp struck over the right ends of lines 2 to 4):

Hello. Flo:-
Got home al[…] [illegible]
oh you rain got[?] [illegible]
to the skin d[illegible]
you got your clothes
spoiled. Dont get
excited at the
show tonight
and start performing.
We will be around
when you give that
show again
and root
M. A. S[…]

Address:

Miss Florence Selgren
Western Ave.
Janesville
Wis.

A later hand (a price in pencil, cut off at the top edge (likely a dealer's price), top edge, above the flag cancel): 1 00

Reading version

The message joined into sentences, the spelling lightly modernized only where it helps; uncertain words keep their marks.

Hello, Flo:- Got home al[…] [illegible] oh you rain got[?] [illegible] to the skin d[illegible] you got your clothes spoiled. Don't get excited at the show tonight and start performing. We will be around when you give that show again and root. M. A. S[…]

Who

• Florence Selgren — recipient, greeted as 'Flo', Western Ave., Janesville, Wis.
• M. A. S[…] — sender (initials)

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1910-05-03	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1910-05-03	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
card-features	after 1907-03-01	divided back: allowed in the US from 1 Mar. 1907

The readings

Part	Status	Readers
caption	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
postmark	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini

Uncertain readings:

• address, line 1: Selgren (or Selgreen) — the end of the surname is a quick cursive loop
• message, line 2: al[…] [illegible] (or all right) — under the BELOIT lettering of the datestamp
• message, line 3: got [illegible] (or got wet) — the end of the line is under the datestamp
• message, line 4: d[illegible] (or did) — under the datestamp
• message, line 13: root (or rest) — the word is written loosely, the 't' crossed with a long bar
• signature: M. A. S — the initials run off the bottom edge of the card
• front, pencil line 2: show left[?] out[?] (or slow) — faint pencil on the printed sky
• front, pencil line 3: yours[?] dea[illegible] [illegible 2 words] (or yours dead to the whole) — faint pencil, with a stroke across part of the line

Reader's note: The message continues (or was begun) in pencil across the sky on the picture side. Both parts tease the recipient about a 'show' she is in tonight. No publisher imprint appears on either side of the scan.

Scans: 1910-05-03 - Rock River at Shaw's Farm, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1910-05-03 - Rock River at Shaw's Farm, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 ecff0d89a155…, 6ba1339aacd9…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte