1 857-58.] FIRST VISIT HOME. 221 



cotton-spinners at the beginning, would have been cotton- 

 spinners to the end. The life of toil was what belonged 

 to the great majority of the race, and to be poor was no 

 reproach. The Saviour occupied the humble position 

 that they had been born in, and he looked back on his 

 own past life as having been spent in the same position 

 in which the Saviour lived. 



"My great object," he said, "was to be like Him — to imitate Him 

 as far as He could be imitated. We have not the power of working 

 miracles, but we can do a little in the way of healing the sick, and I 

 sought a medical education in order that I might be like Him. In 

 Africa I have had hard work. I don't know that any one in Africa 

 despises a man who works hard. I find that all eminent men 

 work hard. Eminent geologists, mineralogists, men of science in 

 every department, if they attain eminence, work hard, and that both 

 early and late. That is just what we did. Some of us have left the 

 cotton-spinning, but I think that all of us who have been engaged in 

 that occupation look back on it with feelings of complacency, and feel 

 an interest in the course of our companions. There is one thing in 

 cotton-spinning that I always felt to be a privilege. We were 

 confined through the whole day, but when we got out to the green 

 fields, and could wander through the shady woods, and rove about the 

 whole country, we enjoyed it immensely. We were delighted to see 

 the flowers and the beautiful scenery. We were prepared to admire. 

 We were taught by our confinement to rejoice in the beauties of 

 nature, and when we got out we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest 

 extent." 



At Hamilton an interesting meeting took place in the 

 Congregational Chapel where he had been a worshipper 

 in his youth. Here he was emphatically at home ; and 

 he took the opportunity (as he often did) to say how 

 little he liked the lionising he was undergoing, and how 

 unexpected all the honours were that had been showered 

 upon him. He had hoped to spend a short and quiet 

 visit, and then return to his African work. It was his 

 sense of the kindness shown him, and the desire not to 

 be disobliging, that made him accept the public invitations 

 he was receiving. But he did not wish to take the 

 honour to himself, as if he had achieved anything by his 

 own might or wisdom. He thanked God sincerely for 



