A plump silver kettle whistles and steams with cheerful absurdity above one of the era's cheekiest printed gags: "A Kettle sings when it is full of Water — Who in H- wants to be a Kettle!" — the dashed letter leaving just enough to the imagination for a 1919 postcard to pass the postmaster's scrutiny. The watercolor-style circular vignette gives the kettle an almost animated personality, its spout curling "Z Z Z" steam like a snoring comedian. Postmarked Flushing, New York, September 15, 1919 — just after the end of the Great War — and sent from "Sis" to Mr. C.J. Puff at 42 Beacon St., Middletown, with the pointed message: "Why don't you stand guard over your own door?" A wonderfully sardonic family communication hiding behind a kettle joke.