What in the world is that ball on a stick that pokes up from the bottom left of this real photo postcard marked, “Osage River”?  It’s credited to “Becraft Photog. (21).” We have half a dozen of his mostly of Osceola and the upriver spa, Monegaw Springs, cards. In our book Damming the Osage (page 7) we used a wonderful image of his that shows a 68 lb. blue cat proudly displayed by two men and a boy on the streets of that old river town.

This enigmatic view is postmarked “Monegaw Springs Aug. 23, 1907.” It was addressed to Miss Mary Mifflin Kansas City, Mo: “Dear Sister, this is a splendid picture of the Osage. Having a royal good time. Am rather used to the strange country ways by now … lovingly, Edna.”  “Strange country” indeed—what IS that ball on a stick?

Did surrealism, the art of incongruous imagery, hit the Ozarks a decade before the term was even coined in Paris?  If you’ve got any idea what that ball and stick are please let us know at lensandpen@yahoo.com