fe, he made careful
sketches of some of the jugs and kitchen utensils used in the family.
He even carried off to his Barbizon studio one particular brass jar
which was used when the girl went to the field to milk cows. He also
sketched a girl carrying a jug of milk on her shoulder in the
fashion of the place. Out of such studies was made our picture of the
Milkmaid. "Women in my country carry jars of milk in that way," said
the painter when explaining the picture to a visitor at his studio,
and went on to tell of other features of the life in Normandy, which
he reproduced in his pictures, though some of them he had not seen in
all the long time since his boyhood. As a reminiscence of Normandy the
Milkmaid is a companion piece to the Sower. There are other points of
resemblance between the two pictures, as we shall see.

The day draws to its close in splendor, and the western sky is all
aflame. Against this brilliant background the figure of the Milkmaid
looms up grandly as she advances along the path through the meadow.
She is returning from the field which lies on the other slope of the
hill. There the cows are pastured and a rude fence marks the boundary.
The girl has been out for the milking, and a cow near the fence turns
its head in the direction of her retreating figure.

[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co, John Andrew
& Son, Sc. THE MILKMAID]

The milk is carried in a large jar on the left shoulder. By holding
the left arm akimbo, hand resting on the hip, the girl makes her
shoulder a little broader, as it were, enlarging the support of the
jar. The way in which the burden is kept in place is very interesting.
To put up the right arm to steady it would be impossible, for the arm
is not long enough to insure a firm grasp upon so heavy a weight. So
a cord or strap is passed through the handle of the jar, carried over
the head, and held in the right hand. The strong arm is stretched
tense to keep the strap tight. The head must of course be protected
from the straining of the cord, the shoulder from the pressure of
the jar. Both are therefore well padded. The head pad resembles a cap
hanging in lappets on each side. Even with this protection the girl's
face shows the strain.

A picture like this teaches us that there are other ways of giving
a figure beauty than by making the face pretty. Just as Millet's
Shepherdess differs altogether from the little Bopeep of the nursery
tale, so this pe