We're Used to Hosses
Date: 1902
Medium: Graphite, watercolor, and ink on illustration board
Dimensions: composition: 11 1/4 × 12 1/16 in. (28.6 × 30.6 cm) sheet: 13 1/4 × 12 1/16 in. (33.7 × 30.6 cm)
Illustration Citation: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, by Alice Hegan Rice (New York: The Century Co., 1903 edition)
Credit Line: Gift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1979
Object Number: 1979-75
About: A best-seller of 1902, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is a humorous tale of a poverty-stricken Kentucky family. Here Mrs. Wiggs (at right) chats with a neighbor about a horse that has inexplicably turned up outside her dilapidated house. The novel was made into silent movies in 1914 and 1919. It found further Hollywood success in 1934, when its hope-over-despair film version was an antidote to the Depression. The story also generated a radio show in the 1930s and merchandise such as dolls. Scovel Shinn was one of the few early female associate members of the Society of Illustrators in New York. Women were not admitted to full membership until the 1920s.