The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-24 00:00:00

DR. LIVINGSTON'S EARLY DAYS.

In the volume of Dr. Livingston's "Journeys
and Researches in South Africa," be gives a brief
but most intcrestingaccount of his early days, which
evely young man may read again and again with
profit. It is as follows :
" Our great-grandfather fell at the battle of Cul-
loden, fighting for the old line of kings, and our
grandfather was a small farmer in Ulva, where my
father was born. It was one of that cluster of the
Hebrides thus alluded to by Walter Scott :

" And Ulva dark, and Colonaay,
And all the group of islets gay,
That guard fawed Staffa round.'

" Our grandfather was intimately acquainted
with all the traditionary legends which that great
writer has since made use of in the Tales of a
Grandfather' and other works. As a boy I remem-
ber listening to him with d,:light, fur his memory
was s'ored with a never-ending stock of stories,
many of which were wonderfully like those I have
since beard whi:e siting by the African evenino.
fires. Our grandfather, too, used to sing Gaelic
songs, some of which, as he believed, had been
composed by captive islanders languishing hope-
lessly Amon.. the Turks.
" Grandfather could give particulars of the lives
of his ancestors for six generations of the family be-
fore him ; and the only point of the tradition I feel
proud of is this:—One of these po3r hardy islanders
was renowned in the district for great wisdom and
prudence ; and it is related that, when be was on
his death-bed, he called all his children aniund
him and said, Now, in my lifetime I have searched
most carefully through all the traditions I could
find of our family, and I never could discover that
there was a dishonest man among our forefathers.
If, therefore, any of you, or any of your children,
should take to dishonest ways, it will not be be-
cause it runs in our blood ; it does not belong to
you. I leave this receipt with you Bo honest.'
If, therefore, in the following pages I fall into any
errors, I hope they will be dealt with as honest
mistakes, and not as indicating that I have forgot-
ten our ancient motto. This event took place at a
time when the Highlanders' according to Macaulay, were much like the Cape Caifres, and any one, it
was said, could escape punishment for cattle-steal-
ing by presenting a share of the plunder to his
chieftain. Our ancestors were Roman Catholics ;
they were made Protestants by the laird coming
round with a man having a yellow staff, which
would seem to have attracted more attention than
his teaching, fur the new religion went long after-
• wards, perhaps it does so still, by the name of the
religion of the yellow stick.'
" Finding his farm in Lrlva insufficient to sup-
port a numerous family, my grandfather removed
to Blantyre Works, a large cotton manufactory on
the beautiful Clyde, above Glasgow ; and his sons,
having had the best education the Hebridesafforded,
were gladly received as clerks by the proprietors,
Monteith and Co. -He himself, highly esteemed
for his unflinching honesty, and employed in the
conveyance of large sums of money from Glasgow
to the works, and in old age was, according to the
Custom of that company, pensioeed off, so as to
spend his declining years in ease and comfort.
"Our uncles all entered his Majesty's service
during the last French war, either as soldiers or
sailors ; but my father remained at home, and
though too conscientious ever to become rich as a
small tea-dealer, by his kindliness of manner and
winning ways, he made the heartstrings of his
children twine around him as firmly as if he had
possessed, and could have bestowed upon them,
every worldly advantage. He reared his chil-
dren in connection with the Kirk of Scotland
—a religious establishment which has been an in-
calculable blessing to that country—but he after-
wards left it, and during the last twenty years of
his life held the office. of deacon of an Independent
church in Hamilton, and deserves my lasting gra-
titude and homage for presenting me from infancy
with a continuously consistent pious example, such
as that the ideal of which is so beautifully and
truthfully portrayed in Burns' Cottara' Saturday
Night. Ile died in February, 1856, in peaceful
hope of that mercy we all expect through the thath
of our Lord and Saviour ; I was at the time on my
way bslow Zumbo, expecting no welter pleasure
in this country than sitting by our cottage firs, and
telling him my travels. I revere his memory.
The earliest recollection of my mother recals
a picture so often seen amontr, the Ecotch poor—
that of the anxious housewife striving to make both
ends meet. • At the age of ten I was put into the
factory as a piecer, to aid by my earnings in
lessening her anxiety. With a part of my first
week's wages I purchased Ruddiman's " Rudi-
ments of Latin," and pursued the study of that
language for many years afterwards with unabated
ardour, at an evening school which met bet A.een
the hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part
of my lebaurs was followed up till 12 o'clock, or
later, if my mother did not interfere by j umping up
and snatcl ing the books oat of my hands. I had to
be back in the factory by six in the morning, and
continue my work, with intervals for breakfast and
dinner, till eight o'clock at night. I read in this
way many of the classical authors, and knew Virgil
and Horace better at sixteen than Ido now. Our
schoolmaster—happily still alive—was supported
in part by the company ; he was attentive
and kind, and so moderate in his charges that
all who wished for education might have ob-
tained it. Many availed themselves of the
privilege; and some of my school fellows now rank
in positions far above what they appeared ever
likely to come to when in the village school. If
such a system were established in England, it would
prove a never-ending blessing to the poor.
" In reading, everything that I could lay my
bands on was devoured, except novels. Scientific
works and books of travels were my especial de-
light ; though my father, believing, with many of
his time who ought to have known better, that the
former were inimical to religion, would have pre-
ferred to have seen me poring over the " Cloud of
Witnesses," or Boston's "Fourfold State." Our
difference of opinion reached the point of open re-
bellion on my part, and his last application of the
rod was on my refusal to peruse Wilberforce's
"Practical Christianity." This dislike to dry doc-
trinal reading, and to religious reading of every
sort, continued for years afterwards ; but having
lighted on those admirable works of Dr. Thomas
Dick, "The Philosophy of Religion," and " The
Philosophy of a Future State,': it was gratifying to
find my own ideas, that religion and science are
not hostile, but friendly to each other, fully proved
and enforced.
"Great pains had been taken by my parents to
instil the doctrines of Christianity into my mind,
and I had no difficulty in understanding the theory
of our free salvation by the atonement of our
Saviour, but it was only about this time that I