DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 147, 6 June 1936, Page 13

DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Kneeling by his bedside in a hut which his faithful servants had built in the heart of Africa, miles away from his homeland, David Livingstone, the great missionary and traveller, was called Home as he held converse with God. The day before, overtaken by his last illness, he had been compelled to rest at Ilala. “Build me a hut to die in,” lie had said to his servants. And later, “I am very cold; put more grass on the hut.” They had done as he had bidden, and in the morning had found him dead. Knowing that his friends would desire that his body should be buried in England, they conveyed the corpse to Zanzibar, hundreds of miles away, whence it was brought to England and buried in Westminster Abbey. Livingstone was born at Blantyre in Lanarkshire, on March 19, 1813. His parents were of humble origin mid devout in character, and at ten David became a worker in a cotton factory, where ho remained for fourteen year's. His thirst for knowledge caused him to read every book that ho could get, and, in spite of long hours in the factory, led him to attend night classes, where he learned Latin. His reading awakened a desire in him to become a missionary, and the advantage of a medical training to a missionary so impressed itself upon his mind that ho resolved to become a doctor. A war breaking out in China prevented his taking up missionary work in that land, and the visit to England of the Rev. Robert Moffat, tho African missionary, directed his attention to that vast continent. Under the direction of the London Missionary Society he became a missionary in the Bechuuiia country and other parts of Africa. Combining exploration with his missionary activities, Livingstone discovered Lake Ngami and found the country in the neighbourhood traversed by fine rivers, and thickly populated.

His passion to benefit the people of this district decided him to explore the continent from the Atlantic to tho Indian Ocean, and he sent his wife (the daughter of the Rev. R. |'oflat) and their children to England, 111 order that ho might be free for the task. During this perilous adventure he ;i;ithered a vast amount of information regarding the geography and natural history of the country, and made some wonderful discoveries, including the finding of the Zambesi Falls.

Further visits to Africa, in face of •sickness and other difficulties, greatly mcreasoo his knowledge of the land. He was much disappointed to find that slave dealers were using his discoveries to further the slave traffic, and set himself out to expose their atrocious deeds, and wrote a book with that object in view. At one time Livingstone had nut been heard of lor so Jung that another

explorer, Air. 11. Al. Stanley, was sent to Africa to tmd him. Penetrating <<> Ujiji, Stanley found Livingstone, but was at first »•: surpiised at seeing him that he could only say: “Dr. Livingstone, I presumef ’ The curt greeting seemed so strange in that far-off forest that Livingstone smiled, and politely answered, “Yes.” Then the two men clasped each other’s hand, and spent some hours in relating their experiences to each other. While Stanley returned to tell the world the stirring story of Dr. Livingstone’s endeavours, Livingstone remained in Africa to die. AN OPEN MIND I would not be sane did 1 not believe that all 1 hold is true, but 1 would not be sensible if 1 believed that 1 held all the truths! 1 cannot empty my mind, but I must keep it open, attentive, free from prejudice and presumption; sympathetic towards others who view things differently, and with a sense of humour towards myself, to keep me from the ills of superiority and exclusiveness. PRAYER Prayer unmasks evil. Prayer is “the vision infinite.” The mint where golden thoughts are coined is prayer. Prayer is spiritual far-sightedness. 3'ho healing agency that is within the reach of all is found in prayer. Prayer is not mysterious, it is as divinely natural as tho sunrise. i Prayer brings us into dose relationship with God.

GETHSEMANE (“Come unto Ale ami rest.”—Matt. 11:28.) Somewhere within our life’s brief span There is a place that none can Hee; The testing-time for every man Is sad, tear-dimmed Gethsemane. It may be as on wings we rise And watch our hopes put out to sea. i Close by, tho’ veiled from youthful eves. | Waits that dark place, Gethsemane We run the race in noontide heat, | Our purpose firm, when suddenly, We find ourselves with stumbling feet | Groping in dread Gethsemane. Of when tho sun, its western course j Tells of a day far spent, then ve 1 M ho bravely stood the tempter’* force, | May faint within Gethsemane. Yet in the shadows, standing there, If we but lift our eyes to see, Waits, with pierced hands our cross to bear, Him who first trod Gethsemano. —“Monowai.”