re is the man?
in what country? How can you tell what time of the day it is? Why does
he not seem weary? Why do you think he must be very tired? How early do
the French peasants usually start to work? What must this man do before
daybreak? Why do you think he is not lazy? Why do we respect and admire
him? How could his work be made easier now? How do most of our farmers
sow and plant their seed? How did this man plow his ground? What is a
harrow for? What kind of a harrow did this man have? What is the team of
oxen at the farther end of the field doing? Does this man seem to be
looking at the ground or far ahead? How did the artist, Millet, know so
much about this kind of work? What would this man probably do after his
day's work? Why did he not read the newspaper, as our farmers do? What
did Millet do in the evening? How did this help him? What did Millet
wish to make us feel in this picture? How does the horizon line divide
the picture? How are the sky and ground held together? Why do you
suppose Millet did not paint details, such as the features of the face
or the buttons on the coat? What did the critics say about this picture?
How many agree with them? why? why not?

=To the Teacher:= Ask one of the pupils to take this position while the
others sketch the action, finishing the sketch from memory--and adding
their own background. Use ink silhouette, or charcoal on manila paper.

=The story of the artist.= Jean Francois Millet was the son of poor
French peasants who lived on a farm and worked hard to take care of
their large family of eight children. Jean was the eldest boy. The
father was very fond of music and of all beautiful things out of
doors, and often he would say to his son, "Look at that tree, how
large and beautiful! It is as beautiful as a flower." He would call
the boy's attention to the beauty of the fields, the sunsets, and all
things around them.

Millet's mother worked out in the fields with the father all day long,
so it was the grandmother who took care of the little boy. It was she
who named him Jean after his father, and Francois after the good Saint
Francis. She was a deeply religious woman, and nearly all the pictures
Millet saw when a boy were those in her Bible. He copied these
pictures many times, drawing them with white chalk on the stone walls
of the house. This pleased his grandmother very much, and she
encouraged him all she could.

At the age of six he was sent to school. When h