Page:François-Millet.djvu/90

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JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET

that was placed upon it fall." Rustic simplicity reigned throughout the house. When Millet entered Rousseau's studio for the first time—a studio by no means opulent—he was alarmed at the luxuriousness of the furniture, which consisted in a sofa covered with very dusty Utrecht velvet. It was something very different when Rousseau took him to see Corot, and they dined together. "At every fresh dish the plates and knives and forks were changed," he wrote to Sensier. "I was more embarrassed than delighted at this way of dining; and more than once I glanced out of the corner of my eye at those who had helped themselves before me, so that I might do much about the same."

In the morning Millet worked in his garden, dug, planted and gathered. Sometimes he even built, like a mason. He and his brother Pierre entirely built a little straw-thatched structure at the end of the garden. After this exercise he used to work in the studio, sometimes sketching the ideas that occurred to him on the walls. When his headaches took hold of him he used to wander about in the forest. "I know no pleasure,"

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