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 many of you have ever seen wooden shoes? How is the mother dressed? What makes you think it must be a cool day? What do the shadows tell us of the time of day? What game did these children like to play? What did they have to play with? Who made their toys and clothes? What did they do when their mother called them? What makes you think they were happy children?
=To the Teacher:= After the story is told, the children should be allowed to act out the picture. Stools or kindergarten chairs placed in the schoolroom doorway, and a spoon, a doll, a cart, and a basket, which the children will gladly bring from home, are all the accessories needed. It is well to let the pupils act out the game which the children are supposed to have been playing when the mother called them, as well as the story in the picture itself.
=The story of the artist.= Shall we tell you something about the man, Millet, who painted this picture?
Jean François Millet was the son of poor French peasants. His father was a good man, very fond of music and of all beautiful things out of doors. Sometimes he would say to his son, "Look at that tree, how large and beautiful it is; as beautiful as a flower!" He would call his son's attention to the fields, the sunsets, and all things around him.