JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET
lying in the fields and a plough standing upright beneath a cloud of rooks. Here we behold as Huysmans says again: "a truce between the earth and man; but the truce is on the point of being broken; and we feel that directly the sun is up "the dumb battle will begin again between the persistent peasant and the hard earth." Another chalk drawing again represents a vast plain in the first glow of dawn; and here, in the distance, the enemy is already seen advancing: a shepherd with his flock. "His tall figure black against the light has an indescribable air of hostility." And as the hours of the day go on, this silent struggle continues, ever harsher, ever fiercer beneath the consuming sun, until man is worn out; conquered by his own victory like the Man with a hoe, standing, bent, his body broken, his mind annihilated, in the glory of the light, or the Vine-dresser resting, with his burning eyes, his open mouth, his arms dropping between his outstretched legs, sitting, damp with sweat, stifled with heat;—until at last the inevitable end comes, and Death sets a limit to the long task and the many hardships:
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