Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-05-29
Especial ,correspondence.)

r~ ARTS, May Scout, l.iS
American painter of Impression
istic Paris street scenes, whose
- works have lately created such
n stir here, has just purchased the
former hoins and birthplace at Cruelty
Of that great revolutionist in the ar:
tistic ideas of threc-fourths of Il CEN
fury ago-Jean Francois Millet.
As this is the first time that this
property has passed from the hands
Of the Millet family since it was built
over two centuries ago, 1t seems prcri-
DENTAL that it should be Mr., Scott who
gains possession OF it, for he possesses
TO a. marked degree the qualities that
made Millet one OF the greatest paint
cts France has ever produced.
Nh. Scott has purchased the Millet
homestead With the intention of pre-.
serving it as much as possible in Its
original state, turning IT. in fact, into
a yeritable Millet museum, and 1t VIII
retain much OF the old furniture thai
was there in the days OF the great
painters youth. II will be in this old
historic house that Mr.. and Mrs. Scott
will pass their summers. close to ma
tnre. in one OF the mildest and most
poetical spots in France.
At the time of Millet's birth in 1914,
Gruchy was a. little hamlet or cluster
of farm houses belonging to the parish.
of Greyville at the very limit OF La
Hague at the extremity OF la
Manche" or the channel. 1t is still t.a
lost country" as the French say, hut
the access is easy from Cherbourg. On
arriving at Gruchy II first perceives a.
group of granite houses jutting out OF
the rocks like a cluster of black
pines. A long hedge OF wild plum,
with ferocious aspect. seems to defen1
and protect the little hamlet from this
tempest that comes from the nearby
sea. The houses are low. crippled and
crowded, as shoulder to shoulder, they
seem to cling to each other for pro-
lection. The picturesque matched roofs,
easements and round doors, proclaim
to the paSserby the abode of country
folk or peasants. Almost all the houses,
bear on their facade the date of their
construction in centuries past.
MILLETrs DWELLING.
In the center OF this hamlet. to the
right of the road. a tiny lane which
npens into II court containing two rows
of aged but rugged little dwellings,
me may read on one of them this in
ecripuon engraved on a block of rose
granite encased in Intel above .he
door:
lei est ne lie Peintre
Jean Francois Millet.
lie 4 Octobre, 1914"
Opposite the house is the large. stone
well, Millet painted so often, with the
same old. wooden bucket and a rope
50 worn that o II believes it may have
beensused not only by the sturdy young
Francois, but even by his grandfather,
Tor this dwelling had been in the Mil
Jet family for generations.
The little hoy. Francois. was brought
up in the llumblest surroundings. Al
though his mother vas descended from
Henry du Perrons, a family of rich
farmers, she, nevertheless. followed the
custom of the country folk and per-
!ormed all the duties of an outdoor La
oorer. attending to the vows and chick
sns and working in the. fields. His faith
er vas a simple man With tastes which
we're extraordinary for one in his en-
nVironment An Unborn o of music
led him into active church work. He
gathered together a few neighbors and
.ormed a choir, Unde his direction and
instruction 1t became the delight rs
wen as the envy of the surrounding
villages. It was Francois father who
hrst turned the great painters thoughts
toward nature, taught him how to oh
serve. how to seek the beautiful, how
70 look at d landscape as a whole, or,
1t the little things that composed it,.
he grass. the trees the sky Many
walks of father and son were spent In
thls worship of nature. Millet told liz
Liter years how he remembered watch
mg MS father carve in wood little de-
signs for frames. china closets and
stner pieces of furniture, and many
times he posed rs a model while his
parent moulded his head in clay.
Inc fathers ambition for his faYoritc