nd what
good times they must have had playing all kinds of games! They had
lived in the city of Paris several years and for that reason, no
doubt, they liked to play "keeping store" best of all. They gathered
acorns, stones, and flowers, and placed them on a big wooden box for
a counter. Then they took turns being storekeeper.

Perhaps to-day it had been the boy's turn, and he had stood behind the
counter ready to sell his goods. The younger girl had come first,
carrying a basket. Probably they called the stones oranges or apples,
and, judging by the overturned basket, the little girl must have bought
at least a dozen. Next had come the little mother, with her doll baby
riding in the cart. This cart is hardly large enough for the doll and so
it had to be guided very carefully to keep dolly from falling out.

When the mother called, the elder of the two girls had caught up her
doll quickly, leaving the cart behind; the younger sister had tossed
her basket of oranges away in glee, while the boy forgot all about his
store at the thought of the hot broth they were to have.

The high doorway of this little one-story, whitewashed house of
plaster and stones is just wide enough for the three children to sit
one beside the other. That great vine growing up beside the door is
probably an ivy vine, for we are told that the little white cottage is
still standing and is completely covered with ivy.

Everything you see in the picture is home-made,--the clothes, the
doll, the spoon, the cart, the basket, and even the milking stool
upon which the mother is seated.

Sitting there in the bright sunlight, these round-faced, happy little
children will soon finish their broth; then they will be ready to
begin the "store-keeping" game again.

=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= In what country
did these children live? In what kind of house did they live? What
grew up beside the door? What did their father do for a living? What
was his name? Where did he paint his pictures? What kind of pictures
did he like best to paint? why? How did he happen to paint this
picture? Why did he call the picture "Feeding Her Birds"? Upon what is
the mother sitting? What kind of a spoon has she in her hand? What is
in it, and in the bowl in her lap? What makes you think the children
are hungry? Which one is fed first? Which one will probably wait until
the last? why? How are the children dressed? What kind of shoes have
they? How man