VI

THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS


In walking through a French village, we get as little idea of the home
life of the people as if we were in a large town or city. The houses
usually border directly upon the street, and the spaces between are
closed with high walls, shutting in the thoroughfare as completely as
in a city "block." Behind these barriers each family carries on its
domestic affairs in the privacy of its own domain. The _cour_, or
dooryard, is the enclosure adjoining the house, and is surrounded on
all sides by buildings or walls. Beyond this the more prosperous have
also a garden or orchard, likewise surrounded by high walls.

In the dooryard are performed many of the duties both of the barn and
the house. Here the cows are milked, the horses groomed, the sheep
sheared, and the poultry fed. Here, too, is the children's playground,
safe from the dangers of the street, and within hearing of the
mother's voice.

It is into such a dooryard that we seem to be looking in this picture
of The Woman Feeding Hens. It is a common enough little house which
we see, built of stone, plastered over, in the fashion of the French
provinces, and very low. In the long wall from the door to the garden
gate is only one small high window. But time and nature have done much
to beautify the spot. In the cracks of the roof, thatched or tiled,