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Blog > A 1907 postcard poem

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You know how sometimes you stumble on something so nice that you just need to share it? That happened recently to postcrosser Cynthia (aka GoCindy), who found a delightful postal card in a vintage shop in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago:

A yellowed old postcard, with a 1 cent stamp printed on it bearing the image of William McKinley. An address is written in pencil

Cindy explained that the owners of the shop purchase the entire contents of personal estates. They save all of the postcards, photos and cards and stuff them into a big wall unit in the store, and she loves spending Sunday afternoons searching for postcard gems such as this one. She bought this one in particular for the McKinley stamp, but never read the back until recently… and what a nice surprise was hiding there!

Back of the old postcard, with poem written in cursive

It’s a poem and it reads:

From 'round the world these cards have come,
Thro’ every sort of weather.
But here they find a quiet home,
And spend their days together.
Could we but hear with mortal ear,
The tales they tell each other,
What joys of travel we might have
Without a bit of bother.

Is that just brilliant? How fun to imagine all the postcards we receive having a little party together in their box or album, telling tales of their travels! We really wish we could hear them chat…

Have you found some cool vintage postcards lately? Do share them with us and the Postcrossing community on the forum! 😍

60 comments so far

Somaco, Germany

Love it!
The poem and the idea of the sundays spent this way :)

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Mosshumla, Sweden

Aw, that's such a great find and a lovely poem, perfect for us crazy postcrossers :D .

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Kot12, Russia

Super! )))

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walker, United States of America

Very sweet!

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mdmsamm, Canada

This is such a delicious find and the poem well it is something we can all identify with. I am going to copy that for a keepsake.
Lovely share.

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poemaker, United States of America

Fascinating! A while back I sent a couple of postcards with original poems. Time to give it another spin.

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ChattyCathy, United States of America

I like to buy old postcards and always enjoy reading them. This one is a gem!

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Steffi67, Germany

Oh, that's a lovely poem indeed. It should become our motto. So cool.

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princesspamf, United States of America

Did you notice it was written on Christmas Day?
Love the poem and the times when poems were used in communication, as well as postcards.

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chamekke, Canada

That poem is so appealing! I love the image of the postcards discoursing amongst themselves.

Recently I bought a century-old, charmingly embossed Valentine’s card titled “A Heart’s Token” (photo of the front: https://imgur.com/a/p80pWWS ) that was sent to a Miss Mary Gaston in the tiny rural community of Shellbrook, Saskatchewan, Canada.

The back side is in spidery script, and in easy-to-read pen (for some reason, many of the very old postcards I see were written in pencil). Its message is a sweet mix of formal and prosaic. It reads:

Feb 7th 1912
Dear cousin
I now take the pleasure of writing you you a few lines as it leaves us fine and dandy hopping yous all the same have yous got much snow out there we have a lot here. mother and Johnnie is out at Smih’s Falls as Aunt Maggie is awful sick.
Well I guess I close for now
from Nellie
answer soon.

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gabbertm, United States of America

A penny for your thoughts.

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Lies76, Belgium

simply beautiful ❤️

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AGUAYRO197022, Spain

Gran descubrimiento. Esto nos demuestra que cada día nos regala alguna sorpresa. Solo hay que percatarse. El poema es un joya de la alegoría a la belleza y a la amistad, tan necesitados hoy día. Gracias

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Hilleke60, Netherlands

I love the poem 😍

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PostAddy, United States of America

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

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mariocmgomes, Brazil

Magnífico !!!

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thedollydoctor, United Kingdom

I love cross stitching and I think this poem would look amazing down the centre of a sampler with postcards, letters, envelopes, postboxes, stamps, cancels, small maps etc round the edge with a shelf along the bottom with piles of postcards, pens etc on.
Think I might make this after Christmas.
Thank you for sharing this with us 🙏

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Carygirl, United States of America

Thanks for sharing, I am going to look for old postcards.

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Ratchet, United Kingdom

How sweet, I love it! :) <3

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heatherlynn21, United States of America

I love my vintage cards and what people
Write is so elaborate....
It's like a traveling time capsule....
Just waiting to be found and read again 😃

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Carygirl, United States of America

Why does delete appear after my comment?

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Cazstars89, Norway

So wonderful ❤️

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Anurag, India

simply wow!!

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kugusch, Germany

Very, very neat to find a wonderful poem like that, especially as a postcrosser! Thanks for sharing!

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mysweetlife63, United States of America

That would be a wonderful verse to add to a card, especially if one is lacking in words.
Thank you for sharing that.
It is fun thinking about the cards in this way.
d

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idontcollectstamps, Philippines

An old fashioned that never goeas out of fashion :)

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Iris_Khan, Russia

This is really very interesting and important. There is no future without history.

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Dasha2001, Spain

I like it a lot, I think I've seen a vintage postcard at home.

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heyhartmann, United States of America

I love this!

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Debbiemccolgan, Canada

Lovely poem ... I shall have to scour vintage and antiques shops to find such a treasure as this

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burned, Germany

What a beautiful poem! It couldn't fit better with Postcrossing.

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kraghavendrabhat, India

A treasure.

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Flange, Germany

Ich bin auch ein Postcrossing-Fan und habe schon manche Ecken mit den Karten und Grüße aus der ganzen Welt erhalten. Sie zeigen uns auch wie vielseitig die Welt und die Menschen sind.

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Demmi, Romania

W O O O W ! ! !
So cool!!! What beautiful handwriting!
A real treasure! So lucky, Cynthia #GoCindyGo :)

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Mamaduke, Australia

It is so sad to think of how many wonderful postcards and letters would have been destroyed when someone passes and relatives go through their belongs and just dump something like this. It is just an old letter so out it goes.
I have seen this with old stamp collections. People do not know of their value to a collector.

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Nique, Canada

Meiadeleite, you have such a way with words. I enjoy reading everything that comes from your pen (or computer keys) 😉

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Nique, Canada

Thank you GoCindy for sharing‼️

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shalmalidalvi, India

I love this. :)

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HookedonPostcards, Canada

So touching! A mother writes to her adult son of her love for the mail mode of communication with him. Very beautiful.
Reminded me of all of the postcards my grandparents sent to me, as a child and well into adulthood, until their deaths. Such precious and beautiful cards and notes that were the only way that I truly got to know them, as they lived so far away.

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wellbeing, Germany

So sweet! Thank you for sharing. The poem might become part of a future quilt I make about postcards....
Elisabeth

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JOSEMARIE, Netherlands

Love it!

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Flippie, Canada

I always love old cards but they are rare to find. After reading this blog, it inspire me to go over the vintage stores here in town in the winter time, specially on a Sunday afternoon walk. I will let you now if I find something special, OK

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Waldo, United Kingdom

A postcard I have at home, at eatery now, is from a North American chieftain to a London GB secondhand bookshop. It just says 'Any books on hunting and fishing'

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rockycip, United States of America

Thank you, Cindy, for sharing the poim!
It is lovely.
Roxanne

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Elaine66, United Kingdom

How lovely. I love to find old postcards.

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anitachi, United States of America

That is amazing! Cindy, which store is it? I live in Chicago and I would love to check it out.

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Luziaceleste, Brazil

A postacrd is a postacrd is a postcard. each one, unique! Love this post.

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Annabella13, Finland

How wonderful! ❤️

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moonlessnite, Canada

Delightful!

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InTheDoghouse, United States of America

What a wonderful find! I collect antique postcards and would've added this one to my collection without hesitation.

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sara-cat, Sweden

How wonderful the poem is. And what a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. So cozy!

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D_Katrin, Russia

Best message i have ever read)

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shalbukhari, United Arab Emirates

Heart-touching!
:)

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sbunker, United States of America

How fortuitous! Just today I selected a postcard to send to a Postcrosser and found this poem:

SHELL NAMES
They often have a familiar ring
Such as rice, nutmeg, auger, angel wing,
Cat's paw, bubble, worm, peanut shell,
In each case the name describes it well.

Postcard at https://s3.amazonaws.com/static2.postcrossing.com/postcard/medium/dwwr5dmc1fd3x0auozsgpiybrrhbtef4.jpg

Enjoy

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sbunker, United States of America

I also noticed that the poem postcard is Dated Dec. 25, 1907. A Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

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dokudess, Belarus

I adore vintage postcards, the emotions in them came to us through time, how charming...

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LaurnaH, United States of America

This is a cool idea… go to vintage stores and look for old cards

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notenoughpostcards, United States of America

Wonderful message!

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FatimaIgnacio, Brazil

I loved learning about this vintage card and the poem it contains. I have a few like that and I keep imagining the energy they transmitted between friends. I'll post something similar.

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sharon3, Canada

I love this story and poem. Thanks for submitting and sharing your find.
Just found some vintage postcards in an Antique store to-day and sense the treasures that they are.

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