Vigo County Historical Society

Old slides show randy scenes

For those who have become dispirited due to the ravages of relentless winter, we have great news. No longer must you remain confined, subject to fits of depression induced by watching soap operas on television.

Spring is here (almost) and you are now free to venture out to watch the real thing--a Victorian classic featuring the frisky husband and the French maid.

This splendid opportunity is available through the generosity of Cecelia Hanley, who presented the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley with an intriguing set of stereopticon slides. Their pictures attest to the fact that Victorian life was not all Tennyson and tedium, but had its jolly side as well.

We open in the first frame with a shot of Michelle, the delectable French cook putting up some pie dough--right there we know we’ve got trouble. No. 2 shows the about-to-be-errant husband checking out the scene like a stout Cortez surveying the fresh wonder of the Pacific.

"Why, you little beauty," he says, "How long have you been our cook?" Not a great move, but it does the trick.

We now get down to business as we find Michelle perched on the kitchen table while hubby warms up with a little preliminary chin chucking. In slides 3 and 4, we advance from "You bashful little creature" to "Oh! you naughty man!" but, just when things are heating up, in walks Mrs. Spoilsport with the time-old-question, "What goes on there?"

Naturally, this brings the festivities to a jarring halt.

Unfortunately, in the fierceness of her fervent embrace, Michelle has left imprints of her floury fingers all over the master’s back. Wife, no dummy, takes note: "Hands! Hands!" she cries, "What does this mean!" She, thereupon, does a lot of accusatory finger pointing, and, it should be noted, reinforces this by displaying what appears to be a lady-size blackjack.

Last scene of all, that ends this strange, eventful history, shows Michelle headed out the door toward a life on the streets; the repentant husband is one again in the arms of his temporarily estranged spouse. Incredibly we’re asked to believe that, divorce not yet having become the universal uncoupling, they lived happily ever after.