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

DR. LITINGSTON'S EARLY DAYS.

In the volume of Dr. Livingston's "Journeys
and Researches in South Africa," he gives a brief
but moat interesting account of his early days, which
every 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 171va, where my

rather was born. It was one of that clu'ster of the

Hebrides thustalluded to by Walter Scott :

" And ITlva dark, and Colonsay,
And all the group of islets gay,
That guard famed Staffs 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, for his memory
was stored with a never-ending stock of stories,
many of which were wonderfully like those I have
since heard while sitting by the African evening
fires. Our grandfather, too, used to sing Gaelic
sings, some of which, as be believed, bad been
composed by captive islanders languishing hope-
lessly among 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 poor hardy islanders
was renowned in the district for great wisdom and
prudence ; and it is related that, when be was on
his death-ed, he called all his children arJund
him and said, ' Now, in my lifetime I have searched
most carefully tbrough all the traditions I could

find of our family, aid I never could discover that

there was a dishoThest 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 :--‘ Be 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 CapeCaffre9, 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, for 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 ITlva insufficient to sup-
port a numerous family, my grandfather removed
to Blantyre Works, a large cotton manufactory on

the beautiful Clyde, abov—e Glasgow ; and his ions,
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, pensioned 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 conscientio'is ever to become rich as a
small tea-dealer, by Lis kindliness of mariner 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 deac )n 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 bJautifully and

truthfully portrayed in Burns" Cot tara' Saturday
Night. He died in February, 1856, in peaceful
hope of that mercy we all expect through the dr ath
of our Lord and Saviour ; I was at the time on my
way blow Zumbo, expecting no welter pleasure
iii this country than sitting by our cottage fire, and
telling him my travels. I revere his memory.
" Toe earliest recollection of my mo her recals
a picture so often seen among the Ecotch poor—
that of the anxious housewife striving to make both
ends mtet. At the age of ten I was put into the
factory of 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 L ktin," and pursued the study of that
language for many years afterwards with unabated
ardour, at an evening school which met bet -.een
the hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part
of my labours was followed up till 12 o'clock, or
later, if my mother did not interfere by jumping up
and snatcl lug the books oat of my hands. 1 had to
be back in tue factory fay six in the morning, and
continue my work, with intervals for breakfast and
dinner, till eight o'clock at night. 1 read in this
way many of the hlassical 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 far 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 eh° ought to have known better, that the
former were inimical to religion, would have pre-
ferred to have seen mo 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 en 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 Philesephy 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

really began
personala
application
f ca
tieoe tnl
of he n e .
the
provisionsess t y and
of valueihat of a
a t
on e_
tobe insuyproowsnedcwasoeu.
dTtahkeecphlaaenge
ewwerase iltikpeosswihbalet
mcoeunitd
to cure a case of colour blind/lE3i! The pelf ct
freen'ss with which the pardon of all cur guilt
is offered in God's book drew forth feelings of affec-
tionate love to Him who bought us with his bl 'od,
anda sense of deep obligation to Him, for His mercy
,has influenced, in acme small measure, my conduct
ever since. But I shall, not again refer to the inner
spiritual life which I believe then began, nor do I
intend to specify with any prominence the evan-
gelistic labours to which the love of Christ bas
since impelled me ; this book will speak not so much
of what has been done, as of what still remains to
be performed before the Gospel can be said to be
preached to all nations.
"In the glow of love which Christ
to the alleviation
I soon resolved to devote my life
of human misery. Turning this idea over in my
mind, I felt that to be a pioneer of Christianity in
China might lead to the material benefit of some
portions of that immense empire ; and therefore set
myself to obtain a medical education, in order to
be qualified for that enterprise.,
" In recognising the plants poiinted out in my
first medical book, that extraordinary old work on
astrological medicine, Culpepper's " lIellaal," I had
the guidance of a book on the plants of Lanark-
shire, by Patrick. Limited as my time was, I found
opportunities to scour the whole country side,
collecting samples.' Deep and anxious were my
studies on the still deeper and more perplexing
profundities of astrology, and I believe I got as
far into that abyss of fantasies as my author said he
dared to lead me. seemed perilous ground to
tread on farther, for the dark hint seemed to my
youthful mind to loom towards 'selling soul and
body to the devil,' as the price of the unfathomable
knowledge of the stars. These excursions, often
in company with brothers, one now in Canada,
and the other, a clergyman in the United States,
gratified my intense love of nature ; and though we
generally returned so unmercifully hungry and
fatigued that the embryo person shed Ulan., yet we
discovered so many to us new and interesting
things, that he was always as eager to join us next
time as he was the last.
" On one of these exploring tours we entered a
limestone quarry—long before geology was so popu-
lar as it is now. It is impossible to describe the
delight and wonder with which I began to collect
the shells found in the carboniferous limestone
which crops out in High Blantyre and Cambuslang.
A quarryman, seeing a little boy so engaged, looked
with that pitying eye which the benevolent assume
when viewing the insane. Addressing him with,
How ever did these shells come. into these rocks I'
When God made the rocks he made the shells in
them,' was the damping reply. What a deal of
trouble geologists might have saved themselves by
adopting the Turk-like philosophy of this Scotch-
man
" My reading while at work was carried on by
placing the book on a portion of the spinning-jenny,
so that I could catch sentencsi after sentence as I
passed at my work ; I thus kept up a pretty constant
study undisturbed by the roar of the' machinery.
To this part of my education I owe my .present
power of completely abstracting the mind froth
sur-
rounding noises, so as to read and write with perfect
comfort amidst the play of children or near the
dancing and songs of savages. The toil of cotton-
spinning, to which I was promoted in my nineteenth
year, was excessively severe on a slim, loose-jointed
lad, but it was well paid for ; and it enabled me to
support myself while attending medical and Greek
classes in Glasgow in winter, as also the divinity
lectures of Dr. Wardlaw, by working with my hands
in summer. I never received a farthing of aid
from any one, and should have accomplished
my project of going to China as a medical mis-
sionary in the course of time by my own efforts,
had not some friends advised my joining the
London Missionary Society, on account of its per-
fect unsectarian character. It ' sends neither Epis-
copacy, nor Presbyterianism, nor Independency,
but the Gospel of Christ to the heathen.' This
exactly agreed with my ideas of what a missionary
ought to do ; but it was not without a pang that
1 offered myself, for it was not quite agreeable to
one accustomed to work his own way to become in
a measure dependent on others. And I would not
have been much put about though my offer had
been rejected.
"Looking back now on that life of toil, I can-
not but feel thankful that it formed such a mate-
rial part of my early education ; and, were it pos-
sible, I should like to begin life over again in the
same lowly style, and to pass through the same
hardy training."

LIEUTENANT SALKELD.—At a meeting held at filiar-
roinster Newton, in Dorsetohire, onThureday afternoon,
to express sympathy with the sufferers in India, and
subscribe to the Indian Relief Fund, the chairman,
Mr. Ker Seyrner, took occasion to remark that a
Dormashire man was the hero in the assault on Delhi,
for Lieutenant Salkeld, the son of a neighbour of his
(the chairman's) was the first to enter the city. One
of the speakers who followed, the Rev. G. F. St. John,
stated that he believed his young friend, Philip Salkeld,
the hero of D, lbi, had laid up 7001 in the Delhi bank,
that he had sent means for a younger brother to bring
him out to India, that he had always given 1001. a-year
towards the education of his other younger brother ;
and he not only lost by the plundering of the Delhi
bank the whole of hie savings and the whole of his
income, but he actually lost his clothes and everything
he possessed. The rev. speaker saw Mr. Salkeld, Lieu-
tenant Salkeld a father, on the previous day, and he
was deeply affected by the late oconrrences in India.
Young Salkeld at the taking of Delhi having escaped
across the ditch of 18 feet into which the soldier fell who
jumped to save himself from being blown up, then, after
he had scaled the wall, beard the cry of women ; in-
stantly he went back, saved the women, and it was into
that very ditch he fell, being wounded by a ball. Re
afterwards was stripped of hos clothes by a marauding
party, and had not a single farthing left to bring him
back to England to cure him his wounds.
MELANCHOLY AND FATAL ACCIDENT TO AN OFFICER.
—CANTERBURY, Monday.—Last evening a sad accident
occurred here to a ysang cornet of the 7th Dragoon
Guards, of the name of Richard Charles Echalaz, which
Las terminated in his death, which took place this
morning shortly after five o'clock. It appears
that the deceased, with several other officers, went
on a visit to Herne Bay. They were retorting
in the evening and had reached the Sturry-road, about
half a mile from the cavalry barraols, when they in-
creased the speed at which they were proceeding (they
were on horseback). Rare there is a turnpike gate,
known as the Van' mll-gate. They attempted to leap the
gate, in which the first horse succeeded ; but the second,
upon which the deceased was riding, missed, caught his
fore hgi in the top bar, and went a complete summer-
sault, falling with great force upon the unfortunate young
man. At this moment, it is stated, a third horse da'hed
on to to the deceased, as he lay en the ground, and threw
its rider, who narrowly escaped sustaining a very serious
injury ; as it was, his head was injured, and he was very
much shaken. Cornet Rchalaz was removed to the bar-
racks almost in a lifeless state. The poor young man
lingered until this morning, when be expired. His friends
are said to reside in the ne'ghbourhood of Warwick,
where his father is a clergyman. An inquest was to
have been opened on the body this afternoon, but it
has been postponed at the suggestion of the military
authorities.

DEATiI OF PROFESSOR FLEMING —We learn with deep
regret that Dr, John Fleming, the distinguished Profes-
sor of Natural Science in the Free Church College here,
died on Wednesday at two o'clock, of a spasmodic com-
plaint. He had beefs rather unwell (or a few days, but
hi+ death was Sudden and unexpected. He has long
had a place in the first rank of British naturalists.
From an early age he was a patient stud nt of nature,
and an able and original observer, while he spared no
labour to store his mind with all that had bees written
on the science in this and other countries. He pos-
sessed a vigorous intellect, was distrustful of specu-
lation, cautions and practical in his views. His
" History of British Animals," and "Philosophy of Z
1 ,ge," though writt-n 30 years ago, are still standard
books. tie was be-ides the author of a great variety of
papers and treatises in the Eacyclopoe tia Britannica,
the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, and other publi-
cationei. He had reached his 733 year, and until within
a few days his activity seemed unabated. Dr. Fleming
was till 1834 minister of the parish of Flisk, in Fife- •
shire when he was appointed Professor of Natural Phi.
losophy in Kieft's College, Aberdeen. To the Profes-
sorship in the 'Free Church College he removed from.
Aberdeen in 1845.—Scotsman.
Tus Drum' Purrross.—We have been favoured with
the following extracts from the letter of a young officer
to his friends in England. It is dated Dogsbale, a place
about 40 miles from Delhi, the 29th of September la-t :
--.‘ A few days ago Captain Hodgson (of ours) weitt out
and captured the Keg, and brought him in a prisoner.
He is at present confined in his own palace. A few day
later he went out again, and came up with the King's
sons and grandson. Us bad oily 100 native horsemen
of his own regiment with him, and the enemy about
10,000, 3,000 of whom were fully armed Sepoyr.
Hodgson saw it was of no use attacking them, so be
sent an emissary to tell the princes that the game was
up with them, and that they had better surrender,
which they did after some time, and came up to Hodg-
son, who immediately surrounded the carriage with his
men. He sent for arms, and, after hesitating :0L1313
time, these a!so were Oven up, with seven elephants
and lots of stores. Oa reaching the 5,,a0l Hodgson
ordered the princes out of the vehicle; they, iniagieing
all was right for themselves, began (eative-like) to talk,
and say they hoped there might bean inquiry into their
conduct. Hodgson said 6eheeproks' (be quiet), and
ordered them to take off all their fine clothes. When
this was done lie said, Now get in again,' and ordered
the driver to proceed. He then beckoned to one of his
men, and asked for a carabine, and with his own hand
shot each and all of the three princes. He then took
their bodies into the city, and laid them out for inspec-
tion in front of the Kotswallie, where these wretcbes
had laid out the7r victims during the massacre. There
are lacy upon lace of treasure and prize property in the
city, and if the city itself was put up for ransom it
would fetch upwards of 50 lacs.—Ayrshire Express.