46 HIS PARENTS 



the social hours. There was the spirit of heroism in the 

 home. And among the traditions there were those of singu- 

 lar 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 j 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 chil- 

 dren. 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 chose 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 the 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 



