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332 The Century of the Child
growth of this class of workmen, that any-
country to-day can stand the pressure of
foreign competition. But the chief condition
of this growth is that the bodily and mental
powers of the child shall be used for his own
development in school games and play; at the
same time his capacity for work must be
trained by occupation at home and in the
technical school, not by work in a factory.
Some years ago, a poem created a furore
over the whole civilised world, from Canada
to the islands of Polynesia. The author of
this poem, Edwin Markham, was inspired by
Millet’s simple and wonderful picture, The
Man with the Hoe. An agricultural labourer
with bowed back stands there, one hand folded
on the other, supported on the handle of the
hoe. Millet in him has eternalised the ex-
pression so often observed in old workmen,
especially in those who are w^orn out by day
labour. The man’s face is empty, says no-
thing, every human aspect has disappeared ; we
only see in his face the look of the patient beast
of burden. For while moderate work ennobles
the animal in man, immoderate work kills hu-
manity in the beast.
Millet’s picture was to the poet, who was once
himself a slave to bodily labor, a revelation.
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