They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.
The story of the artist. Sir Edwin Landseer had three sisters and two brothers who liked to draw and paint as well as he did. The father was an artist, and he taught them all how to draw when they were very young.
They lived in the country, and often the father went with his children for a walk through the fields. There were two very large fields separated from each other by a fence with an old-fashioned stile for a gate. This stile had several steps, and was built high so that the sheep and cows could not jump over. One day when Edwin was six years old, and so little that he had to be lifted over this stile, his father tells us that "At his request I lifted him over, and finding a scrap of paper and a pencil in my pocket, I made him sketch a cow." After this Edwin came here nearly every day, and his father called these two fields "Edwin's studio."
When Edwin was only thirteen years old two of his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy. One was a portrait of a mule; the other, of a dog and puppies.
Edwin painted always from life, not caring to make copies from the work of others. All the sketches he made when he was a little boy were carefully kept by the father, and now if you go to England you may see them in the South Kensington Museum in London.
Edwin, we are told, was a bright, gentle little boy, with blue eyes and light curly hair. At fourteen years of age he became a pupil at the Royal Academy. The keeper there was an old man who grew very fond of the boy. He would look all about for him, and if he could not find him he would say, "Where is my little dog boy?" At this time Edwin had three dogs of his own, which he called Brutus, Vixen, and Boxer. They were his inseparable companions, and so intelligent that they seemed almost able to speak.
For many years he lived and painted in his father's house in a poor little room without even a carpet. All the furniture, we are told, consisted of three cheap chairs and an easel. Later, he had a fine studio not far from a park. There was a small house and garden here, and the barn was made over into a studio.