More David Livingstone, a similar theme from the last post about Dr. Livingstone, this time from
The Life and Labors of David Livingstone, 1875.
"There are names that live, and should live. Like the men who make them honorable, there are names which do good, carrying light and strength. There are names about which systems, and histories, and ideal realms of wondrous beauty are; which incite mankind to lofty enterprise, and impart confidence and fortitude and zeal. There are names which honor a world's remembrance. It is well and creditable for the world that some men are never forgotten. But of all, there is no life-work brighter and truer and loftier than that in the service of humanity, and the service of humanity is perfected ill the dignity of Christian effort. Among the securest favorites of history, the worthiest arc those who lived for others, and loved and labored under the impulses of the gospel.
"Such a man was David Livingstone. His child-life was at Blantyre, by the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow, in Scotland. He was born there in the year 1813. The humble home entertained some proud traditions, treasured through eight generations of the family. The young David listened with bounding heart and growing spirit, while his grandfather told the histories and legends of the olden time.
"Culloden was in the story. His great-grandfather fell there, fighting for the old line of kings; and 'Ulva Dark,' the family
home, had been there. Old Gaelic songs trembled off the lips of his grandmother, beguiling the social hours. There was the spirit of heroism in the home. And among the traditions there were those of singular virtue and integrity. He classed the dying precept of a hardy ancestor the proudest distinction of his family: that precept was, 'be honest.' Honesty is a matchless birthright; he claimed it; he was not proud of anything else. His father was a man of 'unflinching honesty,' and was employed by Montieth & Co., proprietors of Blantyre Works, in conveying very large sums of money from Glasgow, and by the honorable kindness of their firm his integrity was so rewarded that his declining years were spent where he had lived, in ease and comfort. He was a man who kept the hearts of his children. His kindness and real love were sweeter to them than all that wealth sometimes bestows as its peculiar gift. He brought his children up religiously; it was in connection with the Kirk of Scotland. It is a beautiful tribute of his illustrious son:
"'My father deserved my lasting gratitude and homage for presenting me from my infancy with a continuously consistent pious example. I revere his memory.' The mother of the man appears only, and passes from the public view. She was a quiet, loving, industrious, self-denying, praying mother. God knows how to choose mothers for the chosen men. This mother was the mother of a great and good man. She was a women who, by her virtue and modesty, and fortitude and courage, could bear a hero and inspire him for his destiny. 'An anxious house-wife, striving to make both ends meet,' found time and place to exert a true woman's singular and mighty influence upon her little boy. We will not presume to estimate the magnitude of that influence. We will not say how much his home had to do with the singular thoughtfulness and distinguished precocity of the child that toiled all day long in the mill with tbe hundreds who worked there. David Livingstone was only ten years old when he was put into the factory. People ought not to despise little factory-boys. He worked from six in the morning until
eight at night; that makes fourteen hours a day, and a child just ten years of age. There were very good schools at Blantyre; the teachers were paid twenty-five pounds a year. The schools were free to the children of the working people. David had been in one of these schools."
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The life and labors of David Livingstone, LL. D., D.C.L., covering his entire career in Southern and Central Africa. Carefully prepared from the most authentic sources ... The whole rendered clear and plain by a most accurate map of the whole region explored and the routes clearly indicated by J E Chambliss
Labels: conscience, livingstone, maclea
