It is not often I feel I must perform a public service, and when I feel like that, I generally lie down for a while until the urge goes away. This is why I will never be a star on social media.
But this postcard was such a strain to me I thought I would just improve on it a bit for the modern reader. My complaint is not with its basic precepts, which are appropriate for their day and age, but with the fact that the dang thing had to be printed so small, so everything would fit on a postcard. I bought it largely sight unseen because I couldn’t enlarge the picture online enough to figure it out. I just thought it would be interesting. It was a little easier in person, but even then, it was a trifle small. So we are going to go over it here, at a magnification which will make the whole device easier to handle.
See, this is a postcard meant to be cut apart and reassembled into a fortune-telling device. It’s a rather elementary toy (at this period, books which would do the same thing in greater detail, and take longer to play with, were bestsellers.) Here are the directions.
See, this is a postcard meant to be cut apart and reassembled into a fortune-telling device. It’s a rather elementary toy (at this period, books which would do the same thing in greater detail, and take longer to play with, were bestsellers.) Here are the directions.
Now, to begin. All these magnifications have been kept to scale, so the device, though larger, should work as well or as badly as the original (my thanks to whoever owned this and decided NOT to cut it up, by the way. First, you cut out the arrow, and stick a pin through it. This is your spinner, to be used on the succeeding circles, which should be readable under each other, as they have been measured to work that way.
Spinning the srrow on Circle I will grant you a Yes or No answer to anything you ask (provided you ask a question that can be answered yes or No. Asking “Who will win the World Series this year?” will do you no good.) You should also spin for a number, which will tell you how many times to spin for the next circles (I suppose it’s harder to cheat the spin that way.)
Also making the spin difficult to cheat is that the letters of the alphabet have not been placed on Circle II in alphabetical order. This will give you the first letter of the name of the man you will marry. (YOU pick first name or last name or nickname: there has to be SOME fudge factor in this. These fortunetelling games were, by the way, generally aimed at women, or, to be more precise, women between the ages of 10 and 17. There WERE fortune-telling books which could suit men or women, but these were in the minority.)
Circle III probably is of the most sociohistorical interest. This spin will tell you the profession of the man you will marry, and it is an interesting selection. Farmer, for example, does not get a look in, and neither does Writer (we bloggers are united in our disappointment.) I THINK that’s supposed to be a sailor hat under “Marine”, indicating someone in a seagoing profession and not necessarily a member of the Corps, but I can’t be sure. I am also troubled by the inclusion of “Millionaire” since, after all, any of the other professions COULD become a millionaire (except, possibly, handicraft, whatever that means.) Does this mean if you spin one of the other professions, your hubby will NOT be a millionaire? But since, after all, a Soldier could be an Artist as well, or that odd handicraft person could be an artist, maybe…or am I overthinking this again?
And if you recall the poem—First comes Love, then comes Marriage, then comes Blogsy pushing a baby carriage—you know what Circle IV is all about. You spin to find out how many children you will have in your “married life”. I assume this phrasing does not imply anything about you up to the wedding. Presumably if you spin a 12 ut NOT the twins or triplets spaces, you are going to have all those children one at a time. When does your husband have time for handicrafts? Note, also, that Zero is not a possibility; presumably we could not conceive of that sort of…yeah, I said it, but I’m not proud of it.
So, as Cupid blows on the fires of prophecy to keep them bright, I leave you to print out the blog, assemble the bits, and check on your future. Let me know how the whole handicraft thing works out, won’t you?
Blogsy Babbles 