Tuberculosis of the Head

Martha sent this card to her grandmother in May of 1909 from Davenport, New York. At that time her grandmother would have been 73 years old. When Fannie Utter was born in 1836, Andrew Jackson was president, the battle of the Alamo has just been fought, and there were 24 states in the United States. By the time Fannie died in 1915, she had lived through the Civil War, Lincoln's assassination, the invention of the telephone, the automobile, the airplane, moving pictures, and many other historic events. If she had only lived an additional 5 years, she would have been able to vote.

Fannie must have been delighted to get such a beautiful card, but the message probably had her deeply worried.

Dear Grandma

Thanks for the card you sent me I am feeling fine for me and working as hard as ever

Milo is sick again

The Dr. told him Monday he had symptoms of Tuberculosis of the head Wouldn't that be terrible if he has it

you must write a letter soon

from Martha

Oh, I do hope that Milo didn't have tuberculosis of the head. Tuberculosis was one of the leading causes of death at that time.

Did You Really Say That?

This card shows a scruffy, ink-stained photo of L'arc de Triomphe in Paris, not worth posting if it weren't for the message on the back.

The message from Minnie to Seargeant Richard Davis, a patient at the U.S. Army Base Hospital #1  reads:

9-30-18

This arch is but 2 blocks from our hotel I do hope you will get to see Paris for it is a most beautiful city. Although I hate to admit it, I do think it is much prettier than New York. Hope you are still with us so I may see you again.

Sincerely Minnie

I'm afraid I don't know if Minnie was able to see him again or not.

René Bine - Kiss the Hand

Today we have another card from René Bine, sent to his sister Marie and parents back in San Francisco in November 1904. I have posted a number of other cards from René during his time studying medicine at the University of Vienna. I tend to focus on the messages written on these cards, but the cards themselves are also beautiful, and often include streetcars, such as the horse-drawn one on this card.

Here's a close-up of the tram with a Kodak advertisement on the back and a sign for a Zahnarzt (dentist) office on the corner.

The message on this card is a continuation from a previous card that I don't seem to have, although I do have a few others that express frustration with the cultural differences and bureaucracy in Vienna. This one, in which René recounts the comments of Professor Alois Monti, is particularly interesting though!

Every man of sense here laughs at their nonsensical customs. But the people, per se, are sensible. When a big chief comes in hospital, e.g. kids salute him by "Kiss the hand". When he leaves ditto. When sick kid is brought into clinic they do the act and as Professor Monti, one of the greatest kid specialists here says, "they spit the influenza bug, or slobber the germs of diphtheria on your hand + you rub them into your mustache the next minute!

But in spite of all Vienna peculiarities, for us it has its charms which we enjoy; its peculiarities make us fat from laughing at them, so thy too have their good features, you see.

Work continues as usual to be more than interesting and we manage to keep busy, though next month we intend to slacken our pace, to get at least 1 hour a day to read up things. Otherwise no news. regards to all the folks, 

kisses to you all,

Your loving brother and son,

René

Here's the back of the card.

If you're interested in reading more of René Bine's correspondence, go to the bottom of the webpage and click on the tag for Dr. René Bine.