TTLES

The artist Millet loved to draw as well as to paint. Black and white
pictures had their charm for him as truly as those in color. Indeed,
he once said that "tone," which is the most important part of color,
can be perfectly expressed in black and white. It is therefore not
strange that he made many drawings. Some of these, like the Knitting
Lesson and the Woman Feeding Hens, were, as we have seen, studies for
paintings. The picture called Filling the Water-Bottles was, on the
other hand, a charcoal drawing, corresponding to no similar painting.
It is in itself a finished work of art.

It is a typical French river scene which we see here, and it gives
us an idea how large a part a river may take in the life of French
country people. Sometimes it is the sole source of water for a
village. Then it is not only the common village laundry, in which all
clothing is washed, but it is also the great village fountain, from
which all drinking-water is drawn.

The women in our picture have come to the bank with big earthen jars
to fill. It is in the cool of early morning, and the mist still lies
thick over the marshes bordering the river. The sun, seen through the
mist, looks like a round ball. On the farther bank, where a group of
poplars grow, some horsemen ride up to ford the stream. They, too, are
setting forth early on their day's work. One is already half across.

The women have picked out, along the marshy bank, a point of land
jutting into the river like a miniature promontory, and seemingly of
firm soil. It is only large enough to hold one at a time, so they take
turns. One is now filling a bottle, while the other waits, standing
beside two jars.

The first woman kneels on the ground, and supporting herself firmly
by placing one hand on the edge of the bank, she grasps the jar by
the handle, with her free right hand, and swings it well out over the
water. Experience has taught her the most scientific way of filling
the jar with least muscular strain. She does not try to plunge it down
into the water, but holding it on its side, slightly tipped, draws it
along with the mouth half under the surface, sucking in the water as
it moves. We see what hard, firm muscles she has to hold the arm out
so tensely. Her arm acts like a compass describing the arc of a circle
through the water with the jar. As we look, we can almost see her
completing the circle, and drawing up the full jar upon the bank.

[Illustration: Fro