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Columbia, Blown Sky-High

By Reg Morris

The first thing to catch ones eye on the back of the post card shown below is not the Youngstown, Ohio / JUL 30 09 Columbia receiving mark, but the cartoon. Indeed, the casual observer would not even spot the Youngstown receiving mark.

[Humorous Postcard with Columbia Receiving Cancel]

Humorous Postcard with Columbia Receiving Cancel

Now the post card is postmarked DERRY, PA., and addressed to Mr. Hiram Shirey of Youngstown, Penn’a. So the Youngstown, Ohio marking is for forwarding purposes. I guess you could say the post office blew this one, too.

But, OK, we confess we paid our quarter for the card, for the cartoon that piqued our curiosity. Was it supposed to be a military card? If so, which war? And if not a military card, was it simply a humorous card that would be sold in a drug store? I would not have thought so. Who would buy such a card?

The card was posted in DERRY at 1 PM on a Friday, and received in Youngstown, Ohio, 9:30 PM that same day, before going off to the correct Youngstown in Pennsylvania.

It was initialed "L.N." in the lower left-hand corner. There were no words of endearment from a lady friend or relative, no message. Could it be from a college student writing to a classmate or roommate? The card is cloistered with my Columbians, but I sure would like to know a little more about the card itself. Any ideas?


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8/29/20, 4:07 PM