The curfew tolls the knell of parting day    The ploughman homeward plods his weary way.

Post marked Redford, Mich., Jan 18, 1911.  Addressed to Mrs. Effie L[ee] Weaver, 94 Tireman Ave., Detroit, Michigan.

“Jan 17, 1911.   Aunt Effie, Grandma [Esther Jenks Lee] said you were coming out Sat.  Uncle Willie [Lewellyn Lee, Effie’s brother] is going to the Hill Sat. morning.  You wait to Aunt Ora’s [Ora Lee Churches, Effie and Lewellyn’s sister] till he calls for you.  If it is bad weather you can get off at the hill. Uncle Willie and Wesley are flailing beans.  I  have just been out and see how it was done.  All are well.  Hope you folks the same.  Estelle [Wright]”

No idea who Wesley was.  I have checked the 1910 census and he does not appear to be a neighbor.  Since Willie was farming his parents’ land on his own, there is a good chance that Wesley was a hired hand.   Charles Norton Lee, Esther’s husband, and Willie’s father died in 1905.

Flailing was the method of threshing the beans after they were harvested and dried — long before the modern combines which do it all.