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148 ' OUR ISLAND STORY .

that Robert Harris practised the fine arts from his‘infancy. In

the intervals of his studies at school and college, when for any reason he was compelled to stay indoors, or when in the fields

~ during summer, or at his home in the evenings, his pencil and note ' book, always at hand, were employed in jotting down his impres—v

sions and making likenesses of persons and things which seemed to him peculiar, beautiful, humorous, or otherwise worthy of re- mark. In this way he gained a habit of quick insight and rapidity of execution by which he profited when his reputation became Widespread throughout Canada and the United States, and orders for p01 tra1ts increased 1n number. ' His first portraits were painted in Charlottetown. There he

I lived with his parents after their arrival 1n the autumn of 1856, p _ when he was but seven years of age. He was born in the Vale of

Conway, North Wales,-—fit birthplace for a poetic soul—in the year 1849. In Charlottetown conditions were not, during. his youth, favorable to artistic development; but, urged by his native genius, and encouraged by the praise bestoWed upon his pictures by companions and friends, he persevered in the study and prac- tice of art. While yet in his teens and before passages by steam-

,ships were common he crossed the Atlantic 1n a sailing vessel and

took lessons 1n draWing and portraiture at the Slade School of Art 111 connection with the University of Lendon. One of his fellow passengers in the ship and fellow students 1n the University was Jacob Gould Schurman.

Returning to Charlottetown, he continued his art studies and practice; and at the same time he was engaged 1n land sur- veys and accounting in theofiices of the late Mr. H. I. Cundall- and the late Hon. E. I. Hodgson. In the meantime he proceeded to Boston where he made copies Of a number of the best portraits on exhibition in the Boston Academy and illustrated Hawthorne’s Twice Told Tales.” Subsequently he painted portraits of the Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island

as well as of the Hon. George Coles, the Hon. Edward Whelan, the Hon. William Garvie, the Hon. Joseph HOwe, Sir William

Young and other prominent politicians and citizens ' of the‘Maria

"times. Then he went to Paris where for some time he studied -

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