This comic postcard recalls the time when many homes had servants.

An elderly woman calls from the stairs to her maid who is in an upstairs room.

The woman asks, “Where is the page, Mary ?”

The page, holding a brush, stands beside the maid.

The snowy-white uniform of the maid is besmirched with large, grimy, hand-prints at the waist and shoulders.

The maid responds, “he’s helping me to clean up after the sweep, Ma’am”.

The humor is in the evidence of amorous clutches that appear to have occurred between the maid and the sweep.

That the workplace dalliance occurred under the nose of the lady of the house adds to the comic effect.

One hopes that the helpful page was able to remove the tell-tale smudges and that the maid was not suspected of any wrong-doing.

Published in the series entitled, “Life Comic”, the postcard was printed in the US.

The printing was made before the introduction of the “divided back” postcard in 1907.

The postcard was not mailed, but preserved in the collection of someone who seems to have appreciated the amusing drawing.