Robert R. Livingston

“ Livingstone's son, William Oswell, was born on the journey, while his son Thomas was down with fever. They reached Kolobeñ safely in October.
As there was no hope that the Boers would allow the instruction of the natives to proceed peaceably,a strong desire moved Livingstone to explore to the north; so in the spring of 1852, after a short stay with the Moffats at Kuruman, he took his family to Cape Town, and on 23 April, assisted by Oswell's liberality, he sent them to England. Livingstone's uvula had long been troublesome, and he seized this opportunity to have it excised. ”

“ The wonder in Livingston's own mind, during the last few months, was that the chance for a wider fame and a more eminent position in the world of scholars, had come to him, a book seller's clerk who had never entered college.
In 1898 he married Flora V. Milner of Deer Lodge, Montana, a friend of his boyhood. Mr. and Mrs. Livingston made their home at Scarsdale, nineteen miles north of New York City. There he found three acres of woods, cliffs, swamp and proper soil for the garden into which he put the happiest part of every week. ”

“ The library was scattered, the philosophical apparatus destroyed, and the college buildings shared with troops quartered in the establishment; yet young Livingston left college a good scholar. He was a member of the fourth Congress, and there made himself remarkable by his exertions to ameliorate the criminal code of the United States, then as sanguinary as those of the Old World. In 1801 he returned to the practice of his profession of the law in New-York, but was not long permitted to decline public life. He was appointed attorney of the state of New-York, and mayor of the city. ”

“ He did not find the girl in when he reached the boathouse. Biddy was making biscuits and singing.
“You are as happy as I am, Biddy,” said the man as he put down his oars upon the dock, and came into the house.
“Of course I’m happy,” replied the woman, “and why should I not be? Why, Tom, have any two people any more reason to be happier than we are? Think of it, Nellie loves us both, and we are saving money by the quart, and our darling is a lady.” ”

“ In 1759, Livingston's father died, and his funeral obsequies were performed in all the pomp and attended with all the expense customary in colonial times. These took place in New-York. The lower apartments of most of the stores in Broad-street, where he resided, were thrown open—a pipe of wine was spiced—there were eight pall-bearers, and to each was presented a pair of gloves, a mourning ring, scarf and handkerchief, and a spoon. ”

“ After a fortnight's journey they arrived at Mabotsa in the Bakatla country, which Livingstone had previously selected for the station, and where he had placed a native agent named Mebalwe. A large hut was erected and the new station started as a base for operations in the interior. Unfortunately, the 'charming valley' Livingstone had selected for his new home was infested by lions; they attacked the herds in open day, and leaped into the cattlepens by night. Livingstone encouraged the faint-hearted people to destroy them, and accompanied them in a lion-hunt. ”

“ Livingston told him a good many anecdotes of how the beggin' classes in Europe grow rich in this way that he had seen. I 'spose that's the reason he couldn't be cheated."
"Mr. Livingston has been about the world too much to be easily deceived. I guess he would prove a match for you anytime."
"A match for me! ha, I'd like to serve a joke on him fust rate. But he ain't one o' these familiar sort o' folks that you don't mind speakin' to any time. I always feel as if I must stand on ceremony when I'm speakin' to him." ”

“ No family on the face of the globe could have been so helpful to Livingstone in connection with the great work to which he gave himself. If the old Roman fashion of surnames still prevailed, there is no household of which all the members would have been better entitled to put AFRICANUS after their name. The interests of the great continent were dear to them all. In 1872, when one of the Search Expeditions for Livingstone was fitted out, a grandson of Dr. Moffat, another Robert Moffat, was among those who set out in the hope of relieving him ”

“ Livingston never liked city ways, and in 1888 he took up a plot of government land at Melbourne, near the head of navigation on the St. John's River in Florida. The inspiration for this venture came from the books of Thoreau. He was ambitious to emulate the simple life as expounded by the Concord seer. Unluckily the Florida glades concealed no motherly neighbours from whose pantry shelves pockets could be stuffed with doughnuts, and the life proved too simple. After a year of unremunerative grubbing at palmetto roots, Livingston returned to the New York bookstore. ”

“ And may the good Lord of all impart all the strength you need. Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will bless you." Leaving the "Pioneer" at Chibisa's, on 6th August, 1861, Livingstone, accompanied by his brother and Dr. Kirk, started for Nyassa with a four-oared boat, which was carried by porters past the Murchison Cataracts. On 23d September they sailed into Lake Nyassa, naming the grand mountainous promontory at the end Cape Maclear, after Livingstone's great friend the Astronomer-Royal at the Cape. ”

“ Livingston was twice married. His first wife, Mary McEvers, whom he married on the 10th of April 1788, died on the 13th of March 1801. In June 1805 he married Madame Louise Moreau de Lassy (d. 1860) , a widow nineteen years of age, whose maiden name was Davezac de Castera, and who was a refugee in New Orleans from the revolution in Santo Domingo. ”

“ So much interest had been aroused by Livingstone's previous exploits of discovery, that when nothing had been heard of him for some time, in 1869 Mr. H. M. Stanley was sent by the proprietors of the New York Herald, for whom he had previously acted as war-correspondent, to find Livingstone. He started in 1871 from Zanzibar, and before the end of the year had come across a white man in the heart of the Dark Continent, and greeted him with the historic query, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Two years later Livingstone died, a martyr to geographical and missionary enthusiasm. ”

“ Livingston's remarkable memory for minute details and his ability to recognize peculiarities in volumes with which he was unfamiliar had long been an important asset which did much to give the house its preëminent position among American dealers in rare old books. These qualities combined with the instinctive confidence which every one who dealt with him felt in his frankness and sincerity, gave the new firm an unassailable position. ”

“ To this he ascribed most of his success as a missionary and explorer, for Livingstone's way was ever the gentle method of those who comprehend—not the harsh cruelty of those who feel superior to the ones among whom they work. In a day whose superficiality is only equalled by the ease with which we gloze over the faults of the unprepared, this bit of information of Livingstone's preparation comes like a refreshing reminder that true worth is always worth while. ”

“ Livingstone is in great perplexity what to do. At the rate at which his ship is going it would take him fifteen days to reach Bombay, being one day before the breaking of the monsoon, which would be running it too close to danger. He thinks of going to Aden, but that would require him to go first to Maculla for water and provisions. When he tries Aden the wind is against him; so he turns the ship's head to Bombay, though he has water enough for but ten or twelve days on short allowance. "May the Almighty be gracious to us all and help us!" ”

“ Livingstone then organised a little expedition from the crew of the Pioneer, and eventually reached Kota-Kota, on the shores of Lake Nyasa, where they were kindly received by the Arabs. During a short stay they collected information about the slave-trade, and then,going due west along the great route to Central Africa which leads to Lake Bemba or Bangweolo and the Upper Congo, reached a place called Tshimanga, in the vicinity of the Loangwa river, where Livingstone was truly told that he was only ten days' journey from Lake Bangweolo. ”

“ They ascended the Liba to the confluence of the Loeti, and returned to Linyanti in September, having failed to discover a suitable and healthy site for a station. Livingstone now determined to open a path to the west coast. He sent back his Kuruman servants, who had had frequent relapses of fever, and induced Sekeletu to assist him with twenty-seven men and canoes, with the hope of opening up trade between the Makololo and the Portuguese colonies. ”

“ More than ever impressed with the necessity for native agents to reach such large heathen masses, Livingstone determined that his primary duty was to explore and open out the country, teaching as he went, but not settling down. ”

“ In February 1843 he again set out on a journey of four hundred miles among the tribes he had previously visited (Ba-katla, Ba-kwena, and others) , journeying without knowing it to within a short distance of Lake Ngami, and returning in June to Kuruman. In accordance with directions at length received from the society at home to found a new settlement in the interior, Livingstone set out in August 1843 with a brother-missionary and three English sportsmen, one of whom, Captain (afterwards Sir) Thomas Steele, proved a very constant friend. ”

“ Livingston, having committed himself to the steamboat and holding a monopoly of navigation on the waters of New York State, could hardly be expected to give a willing ear to a rival scheme, and no one then seems to have dreamed that both canal and railway would ultimately be needed. Livingston, however, was an enlightened statesman, one of the ablest men of his day. He had played a prominent part in the affairs of the Revolution and in the ratification of the Constitution; had known Franklin and Washington and had negotiated with Napoleon the Louisiana Purchase. ”

“ Livingston, relieved of the care of the other ladies of his party, watches his valet, assisted by two maid-servants in caps, carrying the hand-satchels, shawls, and minor baggage of the party to the car, then turns his glance towards Miss Travenion. The savageness leaves his eyes, and a little soft passion takes its place. They follow the movements of the girl with prim rapture, as well they may. ”

“ No pro-slavery man in the Southern States dreads more the abolition principles than do the Bakhatla the innovations of the Word of God. Nothing but power Divine can work the mighty change." Unhappily Mr. and Mrs. Livingstone's residence at Mabotsa was embittered by a painful collision with the missionary who had taken part in rearing the station. Livingstone was accused of acting unfairly by him, of assuming to himself more than his due, and attempts were made to discredit him, both among the missionaries and the Directors. It was a very painful ordeal, and Livingstone felt it keenly. ”

“ Livingston's card was handed to Catherine. "Elderly [Pg 216] and investigating gentlemen are exasperatingly prompt," she murmured. "He has evidently taken the 7:15 train from the city and has killed time about the campus or been lost for ten minutes," she thought, as she glided downstairs, settling the bow of her ribbon collar primly in front. "Yes, Mr. Livingston," she rehearsed, "the freshman class contains one hundred and seven girls, average age, eighteen; average height, five feet five inches; average weight—— Oh, dear me! ”

“ Mr. Maclear's reference to Livingstone's work, in writing to Sir John Herschel, was in these terms: "Such a man deserves every encouragement in the power of his country to give. He has done that which few other travelers in Africa can boast of--he has fixed his geographical points with very great accuracy, and yet he is only a poor missionary."
Nor did Dr. Livingstone pass unrewarded in other quarters. In the Geographical Society, his journey to Loanda, of which he sent them an account, excited the liveliest interest. ”

“ The delay gave Livingstone much-needed rest, and he obtained a great deal of valuable information from the Arabs. When the war was over he started, on 22 Sept., in the wake of a large Arab caravan, and passed through the country of Itawa without any trouble, making for Lake Moero, which he reached on 8 Nov., his health having again broken down on the way. From the north-east shores of Moero he turned south and entered the country of the chief Kazembe, a tyrant who lopped off the ears and hands of his people for very trivial offences. The land was fertile and there was abundance of food. ”

“ I was told to find Livingstone. It is to find Livingstone I am here. It is to find Livingstone I am going. Don't you see, old fellow, the importance of the mission; don't you see what reward you will get from Mr. Bennett, if you will help me? I am sure, if ever you come to New York, you will never be in want of a fifty-dollar bill. So shake yourself; jump about; look lively. Say you will not die; that is half the battle. Snap your fingers at the fever. I will guarantee the fever won't kill you. I have medicine enough for a regiment here! ”

“ Probably no human being was ever in circumstances parallel to those in which Livingstone now stood. Years had passed since he had heard from home. The sound of his mother-tongue came to him only in the broken sentences of Chuma or Susi or his other attendants, or in the echoes of his own voice as he poured it out in prayer, or in some cry of home-sickness that could not be kept in. In long pain and sickness there had been neither wife nor child nor brother to cheer him with sympathy, or lighten his dull hut with a smile. ”