EARLY YEARS. 



independent temperament where he supposed himself to be in the right ; 

 and sturdily preferred his own selection of books to " The Cloud of 

 "Witnesses," " Boston's Fourfold State," or " Wilberforce's Practical Chris- 

 tianity." His refusal to read the latter work procured him a caning, 

 which was the last occasion of his father's application of the rod. 



As is the case of many a young man in like circumstances, his father's 

 importunity and unfortunate selection of authors fostered a dislike for 

 merely doctrinal reading, which continued until years afterwards, when a 

 perusal of " The Philosophy of Religion," and the " Philosophy of a Future 

 State," by Dr. Thomas Dick, widened his understanding, and gratified him 

 by confirming him in what he had all along believed, " that religion and 

 science are not hostile, but friendly to each other." Both his parents had 

 taken much pains to instil the principles of Christianity into his mind, 

 but it was only after becoming acquainted with the writings of Dr. Dick 

 and others, that their efforts bore fruit. The depth of his religious con- 

 victions may be realised when we contemplate the sacrifices he afterwards made 

 in his evangelistic labours, but his strong understanding saved him from 

 becoming either a sectary or a bigot. While there was no more earnest- 

 minded or devoted servant of Christ than Dr. Livingstone, there was none 

 so liberal and so large-hearted in his acceptance of all honest and God- 

 fearing men who strove to do good, whatever their creed might be. 



His father died in February 1856, at the time when his son was making 

 his way from the interior of Africa to the coast, on his return to England, 

 " expecting no greater pleasure in this country than sitting by our cottage 

 fire and telling him my travels. I revere his memory." The applause of the 

 best and the highest in the land; in the social circle, or in the crowded 

 assembly; with hundreds hanging on his every word, was as nothing compared 

 to the long talks he had looked forward to with the kindly though stern father 

 he had not seen for so many years ; but it was not to be. He has small notions 

 of the strength of filial affection in the heart of such a man who cannot 

 sympathize with his sorrow and disappointment. 



His mother, a kindly and gentle woman, whose whole thoughts were given 

 up to the care of her children and the anxieties consequent upon narrow 

 means, was the constant instructor of her children in religious matters. Her 

 distinguished son tells us that his earliest recollection of her recalls a picture 

 so often seen among the Scottish poor — " that of the anxious housewife striving 

 to make both ends meet." Her loving and kindly nature acted as a valuable 

 counterpoise to the strict and austere rule of the father, and kept alive in the 

 hearts of her children a love and respect for all things sacred, which an 

 enforced study of dry theological books might have endangered or destroyed. 



The little education which the "piecer" boy of ten had received, had 

 aroused within him the desire for more, and the genuineness of this desire was 



