Owing to Extreme Pressure...

The text of this card reads:

Dear Marjore

I received your card a long time ago and have been a going to answer it for a good while

I suppose your are a going to school

from Maud Cleveland

RFD #5

RFD stands for rural free delivery, although it obviously wasn't free. Before rural free delivery, rural residents had to go to the post office in a nearby city to pick up their mail.

This is one of the numerous cards I have to and from the Woodin family. To see photos of the Woodins, see this other post.

Godt Nytt År

This New Year's card appears to have been sent in 1908.
Although this is a Swedish card, the spelling for Happy New Year is the Norwegian spelling, not the Swedish spelling, which would be Gott nytt år.
Maybe someone can clarify this...and provide a translation. There is so much text; I'd love to know what it says.

UPDATE - September, 2010

Thanks to Postcrossing member, Kjell, from Sweden, we have a translation. Here's what Kjell has to say:
Godt nytt år (Happy New Year) is Swedish but written in the old spelling!
Picture side, at the left;
You can write a letter and tell me how nice it is there. We haven’t had any snow here yet so it does not look like Christmas. Do you have any snow in America?
On the right side;
I don’t have anything more to write this time xxx  Karlsson is at my place, he is asking for a greeting. It was that man who was at the train. Writing this in a hurry. Gunnar Best greetings to Georg.
Address side;
Wishing You a Happy New Year. As you can see I’m sending you some one-hundred crown bank-notes as you well need. I hope you have had a fine Christmas. Are you still working at the mines, it’s a hard work. I do wonder why you take so long time before writing to me. I have sent you 2 postcards. Have you got them. It’s very hard to find work. I have got a longing for America.
Some lines to the left are difficult to read!

By the way, Kjell has a website too; check it out here: Kjelle's hemsida

Catch On - A Mutoscope Card

This is not actually a postcard; it's a Mutoscope card. A Mutoscope was an early penny arcade motion- picture device. You would insert your coin and look through the stereoscope to see rapidly moving cards that gave the impression of motion - perhaps a woman getting out of a bathtub, or a view through a keyhole of a woman getting undressed. There were  other subjects on the Mutoscope, including baseball, boxing, and comedy, but the female figures seem to have been the major attraction. The Mutoscope operated on the same principle as a flipbook. The whole show consisted of about 850 cards - or about a minute's viewing.

Mutoscopes were originally manufactured from 1895 to 1909. The early Mutoscopes used black and white silver-based photographic prints. There was a revival of the Mutoscope machines, with new machines and reels being produced between 1926 and 1949. Mutoscopes were still popular in U.K. amusement parks until 1971. In England, Mutoscopes were commonly called "What the butler saw" machines, because many of them showed views through keyholes of women undressing. They were, however, very tame by today's standards.

Mutoscope cards such as this one were sold as souvenirs for about two cents each in the 40s. They are blank on the back, as they were not intended to be postcards, although sometimes they were used as such. In case you want a Mutoscope machine for your living room, you can occasionally find vintage ones in antiques stores; they range in price from $3,000-$8,000.

This card is part of the Festival of Postcards, hosted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault. This month's theme is "white." To view other postcards in the festival, click here.