THE MIDNIGHT VISITORS. 



275 



praise. Oh, how fascinating and how praiseful is the retrospect 

 of years nobly spent in the service of Christ for the help of 

 man ! There is nothing grander in human life than the delib- 

 erate consecration of intelligence and refinement to the real 

 service of the degraded and indifferent. We cannot find a 

 grander specimen of philanthropy than lies before us in the 

 lonely, weary, perilous but willing isolation of the devoted man 

 who was waiting in pain and hunger for the dawning of the 

 day, and loved the scenes of a life of pain and hunger which 

 crowded about him and spread a canopy of memory over him 

 for a tent. 



The stars were on duty still, shining like the camp fires of 

 heaven's protecting army, and the heavy breathing of the dusky 

 company had been undisturbed. It was just two o'clock in the 

 morning when messengers arrived who had been sent forward 

 with welcome and a civilized breakfast from Tete. 



No man could more fully appreciate such attentions than Dr. 

 Livingstone. He seemed unconscious of the weight of obliga- 

 tion which his life of self-sacrifice was bringing the world 

 under. He was only laboring in the love of men and zeal for 

 Christ, and he thought of no reward. No man Avas more sensi- 

 ble to the helpful influences of sympathy ; his heart bounded at 

 the words of cheer which were brought him. The presence of 

 persons who could in any sort understand him and sympathize 

 with him was like the communication of new life; his fatigue 

 vanished, and he walked the remaining eight miles freshly and 

 joyfully. There is wonderful power in sympathy ; loving words 

 are a medicine for the soul better than all things — the specific 

 for all the anxieties of the mind. 



The reception at Tete was as cordial as could be. The com- 

 mandant—Tito Augusto d'Aranjo Sicard — proved himself a 

 liberal and attentive host. The Portuguese authorities had 

 been informed by the friends of Dr. Livingstone in England of 

 his being on his way across the continent, and his expected 

 arrival in their midst ; but as there had been a sort of Caffre 

 war going on for two years, they had lost all hope of his ever 

 reaching their settlements alive. Quite lately, though, Major 

 Sicard's expectations had been awakened by the arrival at Tete 

 of natives who spread the rumor that the "son of God was 

 14 



