A curtain of white water spills in an unbroken, foaming arc across the Merrimack River in this vivid hand-colored view of the Lawrence Dam — the great stone weir that powered the mill city's famous textile empire and made Lawrence one of the industrial wonders of nineteenth-century New England. The steel bridge spans the churned water downstream while a tall smokestack punctuates the hazy industrial horizon, an honest portrait of a working city at the height of its manufacturing might, just three years before the famous Bread and Roses strike of 1912 would put Lawrence on the front pages of every American newspaper. On the back, a chatty personal message from a young visitor named Ethel brings the card warmly to life: writing to her friend Carrie on East Main Street in Marlboro, she reports having "lots of fun" with a young boy named Edward ("He is a Terror"), describes Aunt Laura singing a baby to sleep, calls the infant "awful cunning," and closes with a cascade of X kisses. The card was mailed from Lawrence on January 2, 1909, and bears a green 1¢ Franklin stamp.