y from them into
heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us go even to Bethlehem
and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made
known to us. And they came with great haste, and found Mary and
Joseph; and the babe lying in a manger. At first a bright cloud
overshadowed the cave but on a sudden the cloud became a great light
in the cave, so that their eyes could not bear it. But the light
gradually decreased until the Infant appeared, and sucked the breast
of his mother, Mary."

The picture shows us the shepherds in the cave worshiping the young
child, Jesus, the Christ.

[Illustration: Courtesy of Pratt Institute

FIG. 30. THE HOLY NIGHT. CORREGGIO. DRESDEN GALLERY]

THE GLEANERS

JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET (1814-1875)

Millet was a French peasant boy--very poor. He says his grandmother
would come into his room early in the morning and call:

"Awake, my little Francois; if you only knew how long a time the birds
have been singing the glory of the good God!"

He would insist when he was helping in the fields that there was
beautiful color over the plowed ground, and when the other fellows
laughed at him, he would say:

"Wait, some day I will paint a picture and show you the color."

After he was an artist he was going by a field one day when a peasant
cutting grain called to him:

"I would like to see you take a sickle."

"I'll take your sickle," Millet answered quickly, "and reap faster
than you and all your family."

Of course the man laughed, for how could an artist cut grain. He soon
stopped laughing, for Millet cut much faster and farther than he
could.

Millet would often go into the forest just back of his house to rest
after painting all day. Then he would say:

"I do not know what those beggars of trees say to each other, but they
say something which we do not understand, because we do not understand
their language."

Millet's work is often called "the poems of the earth."

Once when I was in Barbizon I found the gate open into Millet's
door-yard. Of course I walked in, but the owner insisted that I walk
out again. I shall never forget the peep I had of the little garden
and the doorway and the long rambling house. That Millet lived there
with his large family and there painted the pictures we love makes the
place a joy to us.

[Illustration: FIG. 31. THE GLEANERS. MILLET. LOUVRE, PARIS]

ST. CECILIA

RAPHAEL SANZIO (1483-1520)

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