ans over to feed the children in turn from a
long-handled wooden spoon. Of course the first taste is for the little
brother, and he stretches out his neck eagerly, opening his mouth wide
so as not to lose a drop. The sisters look on eagerly, the younger one
opening her own mouth a little, quite unconsciously. An inquisitive
hen runs up to see what good things there are to eat. In the garden
beyond, the father works busily at his spading.

The name which Millet gave to this picture is the French word
_Becquee_, which cannot be translated into any corresponding word in
English. It means a _beakful_, that is, the food which the mother bird
holds in her beak to give to the nestlings.

The painter had in mind, you see, a nestful of birds being fed. The
similarity between the family and the bird life is closely carried
out in the picture. The children sit together as snugly as birds in
a nest. The mother bends toward them in a brooding attitude which
is like the bird mother's. Her extended hand suggests a bird's beak,
tapering to a sharp point at the end of the spoon. The young bird's
mouth is wide open, and in pops the nice spoonful of broth! The
house itself is made to look like a cosy little nest by the vine that
embowers it. The sturdy stem runs up close by the doorstep and sends
out over door and window its broad branches of beautiful green leaves.

And just as the father bird watches the nest from his perch on some
branch of the tree, the father at work in the garden can look from
time to time at the little family circle in the doorway. As in the
picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the house is built of stone covered
with plaster. The door casing is of large ill-matched blocks of stone.
The dooryard is made to appear much larger by the glimpse of the
orchard we get through the gateway. No out-of-door picture is complete
which does not show something of the beauty of nature. The dooryard
itself would be a bare place but for the shady garden beyond.

X

THE CHURCH AT GREVILLE

The village-commune of Greville has nothing to make it famous except
that it was the birthplace of the painter Millet. It is at the tip
of Cape La Hague, which juts abruptly from the French coast into the
English channel. The cape is a steep headland bristling with granite
rocks and needles, and very desolate seen from the sea. Inland it is
pleasant and fruitful, with apple orchards and green meadows.

The village life centres about t