Giant Almonds

Lena sent these giant almonds to her father, F.M. Barnum,  in Merrill, Oregon for his 55th birthday.  Merrill is a small town, current population of 897, located in Klamath County, not far from the Oregon and California border. The 1904 Klamath County Directory lists F.M. Barnum as a rancher.

In September 1912, the Sacramento Union newspaper reported that:

F.M. BARNUM, living near Merrill, has brought to the 
city a good supply of apples of the Yellow Transparent, Gravenstein and Red June 
varieties, which cannot be surpassed for texture and flavor. A peculiarity of 
this Red June apple is that it ripens in September, thus becoming a fall variety 
instead of a summer one, as is usual. 

Here's the back of the card, sent from San Jose, California.

The message reads:

Dearest papa! - 

Happy Birthday to you - I wish I could be there to help eat your birthday dinner. We are studying hard - Well may your 55th birthday be the happiest you have ever had is the wish of your loving daughter. Heaps of love + kisses.

Lena B.

Ven You See Von Feller Vinking

Thanks to Cora Huffsmith, I have more Dutch stereotype cards to post. I hopes you loves zem.

The sentiment on most of these is very sweet, but not so much on this one.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

Fountain of Youth

Here are a couple of trade cards from the 1880s. These products are sure to take years off your appearance, especially the Laird's Bloom of Youth and White Lilac Soap.

Here's the back of the card. You can buy this at Sager & Jennings Druggist in Cortland, New York if they're still in business.

I know it's done wonders for me. You can see on my new profile picture that I now look much younger.  If only I hadn't followed it up with those Carter's Iron pills. I feel like they gave me an odd coloring.