Here’s a divided back postcard by Zim (Eugene Zimmerman), published by H.G. Zimmerman of Chicago. The blue plate on this card is off-register (most obvious on the candle) lending it a vaguely blurry look. For the whippersnappers, the gag is based on the man’s activity — this is what was called  ‘boring a bung hole.’ I think the further gag is that he probably hopes it is a wine or beer cask, and can’t see the writing in the darkness. He’s about to  have a very unpleasant moment if he doesn’t sniff before he quaffs.

The card was postally used in 1909. A woman in Dowagiac, Michigan writes to a relative in Ohio telling her about the terrible tragedy that had just happened at the Geesey Brothers Hoop Mill when a boiler blew. She describes the explosion as feeling like an earthquake, so she must have been very close.