io DAVID LIVINGSTONE. [chap. i. 



expressed his feelings in these words, deliberately refusing 

 to change the " and " of the last line into " but" : — 



TO SHOW THE RESTING-PLACE OF 



NEIL LIVINGSTONE, 



AND AGNES HUNTER, HIS WIFE, 



AND TO EXPRESS THE THANKFULNESS TO GOD 



OF THEIR CHILDREN, 



JOHN, DAVID, JANET, CHARLES, AND AGNES, 



FOR POOR AND PIOUS PARENTS. 



David Livingstone's birthday was the 19th March 

 1813. Of his early boyhood there is little to say, except 

 that he was a favourite at home. The children's games 

 were merrier when he was among them, and the fireside 

 brighter. He contributed constantly to the happiness of 

 the family. Anything of interest that happened to him 

 he was always ready to tell them. The habit was kept 

 up in after years. When he went to study in Glasgow, 

 returning on the Saturday evenings, he would take his 

 place by the fireside and tell them all that had occurred 

 during the week, thus sharing his life with them. His 

 sisters still remember how they longed for these Saturday 

 evenings. At the village school he received his early 

 education. He seems from his earliest childhood to have 

 been of a calm, self-reliant nature. It was his father's 

 habit to lock the door at dusk, by which time all the 

 children were expected to be in the house. One evening 

 David had infringed this rule, and when he reached the 

 door it was barred. He made no cry nor disturbance, 

 but having procured a piece of bread, sat down contentedly 

 to pass the night on the doorstep. There, on looking out, 

 his mother found him. It was an early application of the 

 rule which did him such service in later days, to make 

 the best of the least pleasant situations. But no one could 

 yet have thought how the rule was to be afterwards 



