School days

This postcard photo, supposedly of the school that Ilona attended as a little girl, is probably pre-1918. The children appear to be holding flags representing the Triune Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia (1867 - 1918), without the crest in the center, as depicted on this webpage.

Now if I could just find someone to help me translate the back of the postcard!
I see Ilona's childhood nickname, "Lencika" (meaning "red-head"), but cannot read much else.

I had heard the story that Ilona was a good student and her parents were considering continuing her education. Her older sister, however, objected, since the family couldn't allow all of the children to continue their educations. Supposedly, Stjepan & Magdalena decided not to allow their daughter Ilona to continue.

I wonder, if she had gone on to further education, would she have remained living in their village? Would she ever have married her husband and moved to America? Her life (and ours) might have been quite different.

I wonder what they learned in the not-so-little school building pictured above. Patriotism, it appears, was one subject at least. But was it Hungarian patriotism or Croatian? The children look so serious in the picture. I hope they had some fun at school, too.