My dear Kate, you have no idea how hard put to it I am to make ends meet. I am so poor it is a scandal.

My dear Kate, you have no idea how hard put to it I am to make ends meet. I am so poor it is a scandal.
My dear Kate, you have no idea how hard put to it I am to make ends meet. I am so poor it is a scandal.

My dear Kate, you have no idea how hard put to it I am to make ends meet. I am so poor it is a scandal.

Date1899
Artist (American illustrator, 1875–1950)
Illustration Citation"Wanted: A Chaperon," by Mrs. Burton Harrison, in The Saturday Evening Post, April 15 and April 29, 1899
MediumWatercolor, gouache, and graphite on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 25 13/16 × 19 7/8 in. (65.6 × 50.5 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 1983
Object number1983-125
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextClass differences were a pervasive theme in illustrated magazine fiction targeting the middle class at the turn of the twentieth century. Plots and characters often reflected aspirations to raise one's social status, ambition that was sometimes complicated by moral quandaries. Henry Hutt illustrated this story in The Saturday Evening Post in which a woman’s marrying into wealth is an escape route, though one that casts some doubt on her values.

Here, Gwendolyn, the woman at left complains about the lowered economic status that early widowhood has thrust upon her. Hutt’s depiction of her diaphanous dress, the home's decorative chairs and silver, and elaborate furniture (none described in the text) makes clear the distinction between a privileged life and the mere “making ends meet” of the caption. Hutt creates an overwhelming plethora of “things” – interwoven with many patterns and textures – in his pyramidal composition. The two women’s faces are almost lost to the swirl surrounding them, emphasizing Gwendolyn's her lack of appreciation of her already-privileged life.
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