YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY mmm? THE LIBRARY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL * THE DAY MISSIONS LIBRARY THE CAPTURE OF AN AFRICAN SLAVE BOY. [p. I94. I. The Boy. 2. His Home. 3. The Slave Dealer's Attack on the Village. THE STORY OF THE LIFE MACKAY OF UGANDA TOLD FOR BOYS BY HIS SISTER NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON SI EAST TEHTH STREET, NEAR BROADWAY PREFACE. r I "HIS book is written especially for boys, in the hope that Mackay's example may lead many of them to think of Africa, and devote their lives to its moral and spiritual regeneration. They will please to remember that, like Livingstone and Krapf, Mackay was a pioneer, and that every year in Africa the difficulties become less and the dangers fewer. In a little while will — " The palpitating engines Snort in steam across her acres." Then missionaries and traders will be borne speedily away from the fever-stricken coast ; over flooded rivers, the weary jungles and the waterless plains, right up to the noble lake, where a commodious and comfortable steamer will be available to transport them and their goods to any port they choose. I desire to tender my thanks to Mr. Eugene Stock for his permission to incorporate in this book Bishop iv Preface. Tucker's account of his visit to Uganda ; also to record my obligation to the Rev. John Stewart, Edderton, N.B., for his trouble in collecting from old friends several incidents of my brother's early life. The whole of the matter in this volume is fresh, and is not found in the larger book, " Mackay of Uganda." If it confirm and increase the good already done by that volume, I shall be richly recompensed. J. W. H. September, 1891. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. A DISCOVERY , . I CHAPTER II. EARLY DAYS 10 CHAPTER III. TRANSMITTED IMPULSES 23 CHAPTER IV. RAPID CHANGES 35 CHAPTER V. LIFE IN BERLIN ,46 CHAPTER VI. UGANDA ....58 CHAPTER VII. ON THE MARCH 65 vi Contents. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE THE COAST AGAIN 8l CHAPTER IX A RAPID JOURNEY • 94 CHAPTER X. THE SILVERY SEA II3 CHAPTER XI. AT THE COURT OF MTESA 1 28 CHAPTER XII. HOSTILE ARABS 1 63 CHAPTER XIII. THE PLAGUE I97 CHAPTER XIV. GOING TO MARKET 2l8 CHAPTER XV. MACKAY AS UNDERTAKER 225 CHAPTER XVI. "THE ELEANOR" ,,233 Contents. vii CHAPTER XVII. PAGE THE KING IS DEAD 25 \ CHAPTER XVIII. THE REIGN OF TERROR 262 CHAPTER XIX. DEEDS OF BLOOD .... . . 273 CHAPTER XX. THE NIGHT IS GONE 290 CHAPTER XXI. THE IRON HORSE , . 309 CHAPTER XXII. BISHOP TUCKER IN UGANDA . . . . . 320 CHAPTER I. A DISCOVERY. "And Afric, sunny Afric,— Where the sand has drunk hot tears, From the brimming eyes of millions, Through the long ungracious years,— Go, call her children brothers, Bid their dark eyes flash with glee, As they list the wondrous story Christ hath made them men and free." W. Wright Hay. IT was the year 1849, in Aberdeenshire. Summei and autumn had gone, the birch and the rowar were stripped of their leaves ; the gowan was no longer under the foot ; and the yellow broom and the purple heather were looked for in vain. True, Tap o' Noth still towered his majestic head above Rhynie village, but this morning he seemed to have wrapped himself in his ermine mantle, for with the exception of here and there a rough-walled, low- thatched cottage, or a crag or two projecting from his side, from summit to base he was white, snowy white. In the village too all was bleak and desolate and still, save for the eerie sough of the wind blow- « I 2 A Discovery. ing across the moor, sighing and moaning among the stiffened branches of the trees, and improvising seolian harps in the draughty windows of the cottages. Already lines of white marked the thresholds, and thistles of frost garnished the window-panes. It was the first cold of the season, and seemed to have arrived too early and to be regarded as an intruder. The suddenness of the invasion had rendered work a little more difficult, and heightened the demand for courage and industry. So evidently thought a minister as he gazed on the dreary scene from his study window ; for, with the scarcely audible reflection that a storm was at hand and that pro bably there would neither be letters nor the Witness that day, he threw out some crumbs to a golden robin who was pleading hard for shelter on the sill, and resumed his chair and his book. A cosy enough study it looked, as the ruddy fire lightened the dim atmosphere and shone out on two large book-cases, the glass doors of which revealed the names of the best thinkers of the day. A profusion of gazetteers, blue-books, atlases, and books of travel littered the table and floor. A picture of the Disruption worthies overhung the mantel, and engravings of the old Reformers filled niches in the walls. Presently the minister rose, and suspended a large map of Africa from a nail on the top of one of the book-cases, in near proximity to the window. A quaint-looking map it was. African Explorers. 3 Certainly no ships sailed on its waters ; neither did rhinoceroses, hippopotami, or ostriches disport themselves on its shores, nor yet had the engraver "O'er uninhabitable downs Placed elephants for want of towns " ; and yet strange it seemed, the greater part being delineated as an immense featureless blank, near the middle of which a solitary caterpillar crawled, with the label " Mountains of the Moon " distinctly printed on its back. For up to this time the continent of Africa had been, as it were, hidden, and its myriad peoples almost unknown. The Scottish traveller Mungo Park had, in 1796, explored the Niger, and corroborated the statement of Herodotus, which few geographers then believed, that the great river flows from west to east before it turns in a south-easterly direction towards the Bight of Benin. Another Scotchman, James Bruce, had as early as 1770 traced the Blue Nile to its source, and although at the time many ridiculed his wonderful stories, more recent travellers have confirmed his re searches ; but the origin of the White, or main stream of the Nile, was still shrouded in mystery. The eminent travellers Burton, Speke, Baker, Grant, Cameron, and Stanley had not yet even dreamed of the honours that awaited them, to say nothing of another Scotchman, David Livingstone, who had been quietly pursuing his missionary labours at Kuruman and Kolobeng. 4 A Discovery. Events, however, had now begun to move apace, for on the ist of August of this year (1849) Living stone sighted Lake Ngami, which was the first of a long chain of remarkable discoveries by that celebrated missionary which have led to the opening up of the '' Dark Continent " to European enterprise and to the messengers of the Gospel of Peace. But the first explorers who penetrated the interior from the east coast of the continent were Johann Ludwig Krapf, and John Rebmann, pioneer mis sionaries of the Church Missionary Society. At the risk of their lives, and enduring untold privations — for they could not even enjoy the luxury of oxen, which Livingstone did — they traversed countries never before visited by civilised man ; and although their object was simply to commence missionary labours among the heathen, the results of their geographical researches have been truly wonderful. The minister's attention seemed riveted on this terra incognita of Eastern Africa ; for, repeating to himself " Lat. 30 30' S., long. 370 E.," he proceeded, with pencil in one hand and magnifying-glass in the other, to note something on the map. Presently a tap came to the door, and a very tall, spare old woman entered with a soft, stately step. This was Ann McWilliam, or " the minister's Annie," as she was called in the parish. She was quite a character in her way, and, as was the wont with better-class servants in those old-fashioned days, was Old Annie. 5 on familiar terms with her employers and had much of her own way with people and things in general. She had been housekeeper to the minister in his bachelor days, and although she had vowed that if he ever married she would quit the house, and really did adhere to her resolution, she very speedily re appeared on the scene ; for, although Annie was no gossip, she liked to be considered as an authority on all matters that concerned her pastor, and found it gall and wormwood to be unable to answer the many questions that were asked her concerning the young wife, what " providin' " she had brought, and especi ally about the piano, for hitherto the fiddle and the bagpipes were the only musical instruments known in the village. Annie had never laid claim to beauty, but, what was better, she was good and true ; and this morning a tender smile brightened and warmed the kind old face and made her he£.. t glow with joy. The minister had neither heard the knock nor seen her enter, but as the firelight leaped up more ruddily as she threw on another log he gave her a passing glance, and she seized the opportunity to say, " I've brocht ye a present, sir." He took no notice of the remark, however, but said, " Do you see this pear-shaped continent, Annie ? This is Africa ; you see that, unlike all the other continents, it has few inlets, no great gulfs nor great river estuaries ; in other words, although it is a mighty mass it has comparatively 6 A Discovery. little coast-line, and as a necessary consequence it has made very little progress in civilisation. Though it is three times the size of Europe, it has far less coast-line than our continent, which fact explains more than anything else its past history and its backward condition. While Europe has surrendered herself to the ocean, as if aware of future prosperity through her navies, Africa has on the other hand shut herself up from the sea, and has ever remained isolated and uninfluenced by the pulse-beats of the world. But should any navigable rivers be discovered, so that missionaries and Christian traders could get with ease into the interior, then no doubt progress would be rapid. " Till now, Annie, the east coast even has been quite unknown to us, but there has been a wonderful discovery. Two German missionaries in connection with the Church Missionary Society have made several journeys inland from Mombasa, and have discovered a great mountain mass of volcanic origin, the culminating peak of which is nearly 20,000 feet high, and covered with perpetual snow. Kilimanjaro, it is called.* The results of this discovery will be far- * The actual height of the "great ice dome," which was first seen by Rebmann in 1848, has since been ascertained by Dr. Hans Meyer to be 19,700 ft. high. He declares it to be the loftiest mountain in Africa, and in the German Empire, and has named it "Kaiser Wilhclm's Peak.'' Mount Kenia, to the north of it, discovered by Krapf, in 1849, is said to be 18,000 ft. high. Dr. Carl Peters, how ever, estimates the height to be 23,000 ft. ! Slave Traders. 7 reaching, for the information will give a zest to geographical exploration, and will probably lead to the Church Missionary Society sending inland a great host of missionaries before long, and that will be the first real check to the terrible slave trade which has been carried on for ages between this coast and the ports on the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The cruelty which takes place daily in carrying off these poor people from their homes and transporting them beyond the seas is frightful and beyond description. The slave-traders are chiefly Arabs. They buy or take captive the natives of the far interior, where no white man has as yet ventured to penetrate, and burn their villages. Thousands die on the march down to the coast, from the wounds and bad treatment they receive ; the old and the infants are left to die from exhaustion and starvation, and of course only the strong and the hardy survive, to suffer still greater cruelty on the sea voyage. They are packed like herrings in a barrel, in the holds of wretched dhows, where the half of them perish from foul air and hunger, and then, if a British cruiser gives chase to these vessels and is likely to run them in, the slavers kill their victims by a knock on the head, or throw them into the sea and escape themselves." " Ay, sir ! it is dreadful ; and I aften think we owe a debt o' gratitude to Africa, for it sheltered baith the law and the Gospel ; for the Nile cradled the infant Moses, and our blessed Lord Himsel' learned to lisp 8 A Discovery. and to walk by its banks ; and the Spirit o' the Lord seems to have recognised the obligation, for in the early days o' the Kirk, Philip was ta'en awa frae a great revival in Samaria to send a missionary to the court o' an African queen, although we dinna read o' ony results." " There must have been results, Annie, for we know that Christianity was established 'in the fourth century in Abyssinia, and prevails there still, al though in a very corrupt form, and to this day the sovereign of that country traces his descent to King David, styles himself ' King of Zion, King of Kings of Ethiopia,' and confers the order of Solomon on his favourite chiefs. Yes, Annie : ' He shall speak peace unto the heathen ; and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.' The Gospel banner will yet be planted iA. the very heart of this continent, altho' not likely in ) our day nor mine, Annie." " But maybe it'll be in your son's, sir ! and wha will say he'll nae hae a han' in it ? " Something in her tone made the minister look round, and for the first time he noticed that she was gazing with reverent love at an infant on her arm. The minister drew his hand through his hair : it took him some seconds to transport his thoughts from tropical Africa to his own fireside, but after some explanations, he said, " A boy ! Bring him near the window, and let me see him." The Boy. g " Sic a day, sir ! It's awfu' unlucky to come on sic a day ! He'll hae the win' in his teeth a' his life ! " " Annie ! such superstitions are unworthy a Chris tian woman ! Besides, you know what Samuel Rutherford says, ' Grace groweth best in winter! He will be a better man for adversity ; " and as his eye lighted on an old picture on the opposite wall, he added, " May he be another John Knox, Annie ! may he defend the faith of his fathers before priestly antagonists ! and may his tongue never quail before the sceptre of a queen ! " " I hope he'll hae mair tact and prudence, and hae a safter tongue and a gentler hand, sir, than John Knox ; though nae doot he was raised up for his time. Na ! he is nae gaen to be a John Knox ; he'll gang his ain gait and jest be himsel', jest Alexander Mackay ! " " Oh ! and so you have settled the name, too, have you, Annie ? " " Of course, sir. Fat ither than hae the name o' his father named upon him ? " And Annie retired in her dignified way from the room. She did not quite get her own way in this matter, however, for when the christening took place the name of a Celtic ancestor was revived. This legacy the boy never appreciated, for although he used the initial |;M." to distinguish him from his father, no amount of teasing would tempt him to divulge what \% stood, for, CHAPTER II. EARLY DAYS. • Tis strange how thought upon a child Will, like a presence, sometimes press, And when his pulse is beating wild, And life itself is in excess — When foot and hand, and ear and eye, Are all with ardour straining high,— 1 How in his heart will spring A feeling whose mysterious thrall Is stronger, sweeter far than all ; And on its silent wing, How with the clouds he'll float away, As wandering and as lost as they 1 " N. P. Willis. RH YNIE is forthe most part a high-lying, pastoral, and sparsely peopled district. The inhabitants are believed to be of Pictish origin, and are a sturdy, shrewd, independent, and hospitable class of people. Their history has predisposed them to religion, for the Seceders and the Independents have been in the district for several generations. The Disruption con flict of 1843, which agitated Scotland from the Orkneys to the Solway Firth, reached a climax here, for Rhynie formed part of the famous Presbytery of Strathbogie, Birthplace. 1 1 and its minister was one of the seven deposed by the Evangelical majority of the Church of Scotland ; and no doubt this contest had a large share in quicken ing both the spiritual and intellectual life of the people. Even forty years ago many were wont to walk six miles to church every Sunday and six back. Weather never deterred them ; indeed, their struggle with the elements on the way seemed to harden their frames and develop their brain-power, so that by the time they reached the house of God their appetite was whetted for a good doctrinal discourse and plenty of it. Short measure did not take in those days. They desired a good meal, and on their way home the little companies beguiled the weary miles by recalling the heads of the sermon, the observations on these, and the inferences drawn by the preacher ; while the children were appealed to for the illustrations. The dress of the women was primitive in the ex treme. Many went to church in the mob-caps with a plain band of riband which fastened below the chin ; while the better class wore bonnets made of pasteboard covered with black silk, close-fitting to the face. When these wore out they were replaced by others of the same style and pattern. Linsey- woolsey dresses, spun from a mixture of white and black fleeces, to save the expense of dyeing, and tartan shawls, completed the costume. Each woman carried her Bible neatly tied up in a white handkerchief, together with a sprig of southernwood or a bouquet 1 2 Early Days. Df roses if it was summer, while the other hand in variably held a gingham umbrella ! This fashion is wow, however, quite obsolete, for with the smoke of the railway engine there came a wonderful change in the manners and dress of the inhabitants. Looking back over the forty years of Alexander Mackay's life, it is evident that from the day almost that he emerged from the cradle God was preparing him in His own way and building him a pioneer missionary. Godly parents, a pious nurse who doted on him, the Bible-loving women of the parish, the intelligent workmen in the neighbourhood, each and all, unknown to themselves, and equally hidden from him, contributed a share in his equipment for the sjecial work which the Master needed him to do. In 185 1 the new Free Church was erected close by the Manse ; and as the stones were dressed in the -garden, a golden opportunity presented itself to the boy to acquire practical knowledge and to use his dexterous fingers. His beauty arid extraordinary gentleness, together with his wonderful aptitude for picking up all kinds of handicraft, speedily ingratiated him with the workmen, who took a delight in supply ing him with the necessary tools to enable him to imagine that he was giving important assistance. When he appeared on the scene he was accosted with the question, " Weel, laddie, gaen to gie 's a sermon the day ? " and the invariable reply (in which there was something like prophetic instinct) was, Rival Giants. 13 " Please give me trowel ; can preach and build, same time ! " He was full of questions, and was never satisfied until he thoroughly understood the reason of every thing. One day he saw a man repairing a fence, and he asked how the fence came to be so broken down. The man replied that the snow had done it. The boy was incredulous, and after reflection he went back to the man and asked if snow was very heavy. " No, not very," was the reply. " Well, then, how could it break down a fence in that way?" But when it was explained to him that it was the great accumulation of snow lying against the fence that caused it to fall, he went away quite satisfied. He was a very meditative boy, and very impressible to the moods of nature. A hot August day was h?s delight, and as the sunbeams played on the heathery slopes of Noth, and glanced on the silvery streaks ,of the burns as they rippled down its brow, he would tell Annie that " the mountain had donned the regil purple in honour of the visitors who had appeared Jn the neighbourhood. You know he must be old, for the Roman fort and the giant's footprints tell of other days.* Still he is neither blind nor deaf. He can * According to tradition, the Noth was guarded by a giant o( extraordinary dimensions — " Eetween his een there was a yaird, Between his shou'ders three." But he required all his ei ormous proportions to combat his foes, 14 Early Days. see the unusual number of carriages in the lanes, and feel the tread of the horsemen on his side, and no doubt connects them with the sudden surprises of the red grouse. Hark to his long sigh accompanying that echo of firing in the glen and the merry laughter of the sportsmen as they bag their game, never thinking that the birds will no more breakfast off the leaves of the heather nor peck the cranberries which hide among its roots ! But, as many of these Southerners have attired themselves, for the nonce, in the kilt and sporan and Glengarry bonnet, he takes it as a compliment to himself, and returns it by putting on his brightest smile and looking his very best. You know you like to look nice too, Annie. But why do you not iron your neck and take out all the creases, and smooth the furrows out of your brow ? " Then Annie's heart experienced a pang which only the aged know, and, yearning for the society of her contemporaries, she replied, " If it's fine the morn, we'll gang to Blackhills for a day or twa." especially the rival giant who guarded the hill of Bennachie, some thirteen miles distant. A frequent exchange of compliments took place between the two, in the shape of huge boulders thrown by the one against the other. On the Tap o' Noth may yet be seen (?) one of these, with the marks of five gigantic fingers thereon. On the occasion on which it was hurled, the giant of Noth retaliated by raising a huge mass of rock with the intention of hurling it at his adversary, who put out his foot and touched the boulder, with the result that it remains still on Noth with the impress of the giant's toe on it to this day ! — See " Legendary Ballad Lore,'- by A. 1 M'Connochie. Among the Heather. 15 " Oh, that will be delightful ! But why do you look so sad, Annie ? " "Only because ye didna ken me when I was young, laddie." " I am glad I did not, for then you would not be old Annie, and you could not tell me all I want to know." On the morrow the pair set out on their excursion to the farm. It was six miles from the village, and situated in a lonely glen at the foot of the Buck,* amidst wild and rugged scenery. Untamed nature on every side, and nothing to disturb the silence but the birr of the moor-cock, the bleating of the sheep, and the song of the burns intersecting the peat-moss. Every now and again a bell-shaped foxglove or a curious-looking rock attracted the boy's attention, and off he darted and forgot to return : "And heedless of his shouted name As of the carol of a bird, Stood gazing on the empty air, As if some dream were passing there." At length they pursued their way along the sheep- track amid the brushwood and heather, until they reached the hospitable home of Mrs. Smith, where fresh milk, new-laid eggs, and heather honey regaled the weary-footed travellers. * The " Buck o' the Cabrach " is mentioned by Elspeth Muckle- backit in "The Antiquary,'' in her account of the coronach ol Highland lament for the dead, after the "Battle o' the Harlaw.' 1 6 Early Days. The repast over, they drew round the blazing fire of wood and peat, for the sun had gone down and a chilly breeze blew from " the Buck." The chimney was open to the heavens, and in the settle hung legs and shoulders of smoked mutton. The busy knitting- needles glanced in the firelight as the two old friends entertained each other with cherished stories which they had learned in childhood ofthe Brothers Erskine and of their father, the sainted Henry Erskine, who had been condemned to imprisonment for preaching at " conventicles," and how through the intercession of friends the sentence was commuted to banishment from the kingdom. The boy, seated on a low stool, listened appreciatively until Mrs. Smith produced her wheel and began to spin the wool yielded by the previous clipping. He then became oblivious to his friends and their conversation, — " While flashes of intelligence dart from his pale-blue eyes, Broad beams of golden humour, and long looks of surprise, And laughter ripples o'er his lips, and joy like sunshine lies Upon the fair fields of his cheeks, and danceth in his eyes." The friends exchanged glances, and in private after wards talked of the peculiar look in his face, which spoke of a future, and wondered what that future would be. " Yet evermore the mystery which rang him round did press Upon their larger sense, and set their riper wits to guess, — To gues«, but ever miss the mark, to flounder and to fail, To wonder quite as much at him, as he, sweet child, at all." The Spinning-wheel. tj For even their love for him did not foresee that the im pression which he took and photographed in his mind of that spinning-wheel would be reproduced thirty-five years afterwards for Mwanga, King of Uganda ! The following summer, when he was nearly four years of age, he spent a month at Blackhills ; and this visit did him much good, for Mrs. Smith would allow him no lessons except to read a chapter from the Bible aloud to her, morning and evening. She was so proud of his attainments, however, that when a distant neighbour from some lonely cottage among the hills dropped in, she would put her hand in the "crap" in the wall beside the "saut poke" in the "ingle neuk " for the big Bible, and calling the boy, would tell him to read aloud the tenth chapter of Nehemiali. He did this, pronouncing with .accuracy the nanus of those who sealed the covenant, and preserving the inflections so as to read gracefully. Mr. Smith, the present tenant of the farm, tells how, on this visit, the boy followed him wherever he went at his work : "Whether the farmer swung the scythe or turned the hay," or " Merrily, with oft-repeated stroke, Sounds from the threshing-floor the busy flail," there the child was, inquiring the reason for every thing he saw done, and understanding the explanation as easily as a grown-up person. 2 1 8 Early Days. "One day," Mr. Smith says, "I was taking up some small stones out of the ground, and I asked him to fetch me a small pick. He went, but as he did not return, I knew that something was preventing him from doing what he undertook. So I went to see what was the matter, and found that he had not fully understood the kind of tool I wanted, but having found a large pinch lever, which he had seen used for taking up stones, he was bringing it. It was six feet long, and by far too heavy for him to carry ; still, he had succeeded in bringing it fifty yards or so. The way he accomplished it was by lifting one end at a time, and going round with it, and then going to the other end and doing the same thing, and every turn brought it six feet on ! This shows his readi ness of resource, ancLhis determination to accomplish whatever he took in hand, even at four years of age." In order to draw him out, the farmer amused himself by arguing occasionally with him on different subjects ; but the boy got tired of arguments, and said, one day, quite gravely, " Now, Mr. Smith, we must not have any more disputes in this way, but, as ' the law is open,' we will settle everything there where it ought to be settled, and let us live in peace henceforward." Another time he went to the byre while the cows were being milked, and expatiated on the difference between the higher and lower animals, taking himself as an example of the higher and the The Old Nurse Falls. 19 cows of the lower. When some one remarked that " the brute creation know more than they get credit for," he replied, " Oh, yes, I allow the lower animals have instinct, but that is different from the power of reason in man, although it is very useful to them. It helps them to preserve their lives, and sometimes it helps them to preserve the lives of their masters too." A niece of Mr. Smith says, " When my sister and I were children, nothing was such a treat to us as to get our mother to tell us sayings and doings of Mackay when he was a child. She was so happy in recalling them, and invariably concluded her stories with the remark, " I did like that laddie ! " When he was five years of age, the re'gime of his old nurse came to rather a sudden end. One morning a heavy fall awoke him, and as the curly head raised itself from the pillow, the blue eyes opened wider and wider, as he saw his friend lying prostrate on the nursery hearth, with her head in close proximity to the fire. In a minute he was up, dragging and pulling her out of danger ; but, failing in his efforts to move her, with wonderful foresight he returned to his cot, and seizing his quilt, tucked it well over her head; lest a blazing log should fall on her. He then sped like lightning to his parents' room, exclaiming, " Annie is dead ! I am sure she is dead ! " Annie, however, recovered, and in a few days was ¦herself again. But it was thought advisable that she 20 Early Days. should have some lighter occupation, so she invested her savings in furnishing a small house in Old Aberdeen, conveniently situated for lett'ng lodgings to students attending King's College. The prospect of her departure was the boy's first real grief. When the day came for their last walk Annie said, " Cheer up, laddie ! I'm comin' back to see ye ilka summer ; but we'll gang the noo to the Brig o' Bogie. I want to show ye something afore I gae awa'." When they reached the bridge, Annie sat down to rest on the stone coping of the low wall, while the boy leaned idly over, wondering what was to be seen. After a little Annie said, " I'm gaen awa' the morn ! " but he was already absorbed in the click -clack of the mill-wheel, and he heard her not. After repeated efforts to gain his attention, she pulled his sleeve, saying, " I'm nae gaen to let onybody whip my bairn when I'm awa' ; " and pro ducing a little leather " tawse " out of her pocket, she dropped it into the stream. It took the boy a minute to forget the wheel and to realise the situation, but when he did so he darted to the other side of the bridge, screamed, and then rushed down the bank and into the Bogie, Annie was in terror, for she was too weak to follow him, and some parts of the stream were deep. She succeeded, however, in attracting the notice of a man in an adjoining field, who was singing blithely as he followed "Hurrah!" 21 the plough. This man kindly rescued the child from the water and tried to reason with him : " But his young heart was swelling Beneath his snowy bosom, and his form Straightened up proudly in his tiny wrath, As if his light proportions would have swelled, Had they but matched his spirit, to the man." " Ye maun hie hame," said Annie, " and change yer droukit claes " ; but with a determination which sur prised her, he quietly told her that until the tag was recovered, or properly searched for, he would not return. Presently the sound of merry voices coming down the hill announced that the schoolchildren were on their way home, so he climbed up the bank on to the road and told them of his trouble. They were highly amused, and the bigger boys were soon wading in the Bogie. A shout and a loud " hurrah ! " announced its recovery, and a long-legged, red-haired boy, with a twinkle of humour in his eye, restored it to the rightful owner, with the caution, '' Dinna dry it ower fast, or it'll be a' the harder for its doukin.' " On the way home, after reflection, he said, " Perhaps it is best you should go, Annie, for you used to try to make me good, and how can I be good without a tag?" " Ye are aye gude, my bairn ; ye never do naething wrang, except forgettin' to learn yer lessons, and ye shall nae be whipped for that. Ye canna help for gettin', whiles." 22 Early Days. " Yes, I ought not to forget, because if I cannot say my lessons immediately after breakfast, papa has ho time to hear me all day. Have you forgotten about the pilgrims and the black man, Annie ? " Annie, wishing to divert his attention, affected ignorance. " Well, you know, Annie, the pilgrims had stopped all night with the shepherds on the Delectable Mountains, and when they were leaving, the shepherds gave them a note of directions for the way. They forgot, however, to read the note, and they got into a black man's net before they knew, and had to stop there a long time, till a shining one came to them, with a whip in his hand. He let them out of the net and put them on the right way again ; but after he had heard their story, he asked them if the shepherds had not given them a note of direction, and they said, ' Yes.' " ' But did you read it ? ' and they said, ' No.' " ' Why did you not read it ? ' and they replied, ' We forgot ; ' so he ordered them to lie down on the grass and he whipped them sore. Then he bade them get up and go on their way, and not to forget again. And the pilgrims thanked him for his kind ness, and went on their way softly." Annie lived some years after this scene, and many a time she told the story of the boy's inflexible rectitude. CHAPTER III. TRANSMITTED IMPULSES. "Things of high import sound I in thine ears, Dear child, though now thou mayst not feel their power, But hoard them up, and in thy coming years Forget them not." Anon. rTvHE life of Alexander Mackay is not a story J- of self-help in the common acceptation of the phrase. The atmosphere of his early home was high and pure, and his surroundings were very stimulating to literary cultivation. Until he was fourteen years of age he was never sent to school, but enjoyed the valuable instructions of his father, who was conservative in his ideas of education, and believed a good classical and mathematical ground ing to be of the greatest assistance, not only in learning English and modern languages, but for science and general literature also. His father was very apt at making instruction interesting, yet he never gave his pupil much to learn by rote, but taught him to apply his reasoning powers to what he read. Indeed, after seven years of age, his 23 24 Transmitted fmpulses. reading lesson was the leading article in the news paper, which was explained to him paragraph by paragraph. Thus he had a great variety of subjects, and his mind expanded beyond his immediate surroundings. Nothing delighted the father more than to satisfy the boy's intense craving for know ledge, and in their walks abroad nature became an open book affording many a captivating study. The hum of the bee in the golden summer air would suggest a lesson on the important part that insects play in the wonderful mechanism of nature, and the unerring wisdom which adapts each created thing to its own special purpose ; the hoar-frost on the ground, on a wintry morning, one on aqueous vapour and its results ; while excursions to the neighbouring sandstone quarry, armed with geological hammers, were red-letter days in the boy's memory. Frequently he accompanied his father to cottage prayer-meetings, and to " catechisings " in the various districts of the parish. Weather permitting, they lingered on the way gathering botanical specimens ; after a sumptuous tea in the hospitable home of one of the " elders '' they adjourned to the barn, or gathered round the fire of the low-roofed kitchen, where, after religious exercises, the doctrines con tained in the Shorter Catechism were practically opened up ; and on the way home his father stimu lated his interest in astronomy by teaching him to distinguish the fixed stars, by their twinkling and The Mother. 25 pale silvery light, from the mellow, steady ray of the planets. Thus the boy was initiated into many of the mysteries of nature, by the close and minute observance of every object which attracted his attention. There is no doubt, however, that, as in the case of Dr. Moffat, the influence which biassed the mind of Alexander Mackay towards missionary enterprise was the gracious example of his godly mother. Piety does not run in the blood, but it frequently runs in the line ; and it was so in this case, even through generations. Margaret Lillie was alike remarkable for her elevated principles as for her prudence, tact, and thrift. Her sympathies were far-reaching and her affections deep, and her memory is still fragrant in Rhynie, although it is now over a quarter of a century since she entered into the joy of her Lord. She was a true helpmeet to her husband in his literary pursuits, and had great facility in the acquisition of languages. Indeed, during the two years subsequent to her marriage she made consider able progress in the study of Hebrew, under her husband's guidance. Her father, Mr. Alexander Lillie, occupied an influential position in Banff.* He was a Disruption elder, and was sent to represent the Presbytery of Fordyce at the first general assembly of the Free Church. Her venerable grandfather, * Banff is a small town on the Moray Firth, and is well described in the " Life of a Scotch Naturalist," by Dr. S. Smiles. 26 Transmit ltd fmpulses. Mr. William Lillie,* resided at New Deer, Aberdeen shire. He belonged to the Original Secession Church, and was an eminently godly man, as most of those old Seceders were. The Lillies are descended from a Huguenot family who fled from France, after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, " rather than live a daily lie to God by forswearing the religion of their con science." The tradition is that the name was originally De Lille, and that they came from the town of Lille in the country of the French Walloons. The love of religious liberty, the self-reliance, the valour, piety, earnestness, and other characteristic traits of the French Protestant refugees, and the cruel persecutions f which drove them from their native land— the land which is so inexpressibly dear to the heart of every Frenchman — were often and * " Died, at New Deer, 25th February, 1840, at an advanced age (eighty-three), Mr. William Lillie, elder, who had been for nearly forty years precentor in the congregation at Whitehill, and for more than sixteen years an elder. Mr. Lillie was a good, praying man, was much attached to the cause at Whitehill, a most regular attender upon ordinances, and understood the Gospel well. . . . The old are dropping off. May a race be brought forward to do more than fill their places — a race more public-spirited and devoted to the extension of Christ's kingdom at home and abroad !" — "Autobiography and Journals of the Rev. Adam Lind, Whitehill, edited by his nephew, Ihe Rev. Adam Lind." | Two most interesting books on this subject are " The Huguenots in England and Ireland," and "The Huguenots in France," by Dr. Samuel Smiles. Happy Days. 27 touchingly narrated to the boy by his mother, with the injunction, " O ye who boast In your free veins the blood of sires like these, Lose not their lineaments." The impress seems to have been graven deeply, for at an early age he knew all about the " Church in the Desert," while the Tour de Constance, the Bastile, and the galley-slave were familiar words to him. After the departure of old Annie, his mother became the boy's more immediate associate, and thus his character training fell chiefly into her hands. She had a great regard for the sanctification of the Lord's Day ; at the same time she used every endea vour to make it a specially happy day, and one to be looked forward to all the week. For the Sunday evening lesson, of course, the Bible and the Shorter Catechism were the text-books, and if the boy knew his lesson well, the reward was a missionary story. Entertaining books on missions were scarce in those days, but she always managed to glean something fresh to arouse his interest in what she considered a great and noble work. Let us take a peep into the manse study on one of these Sunday evenings. The minister has gone to preach at some distance from home. The night is wild, and hail and sleet beat against the shuttered windows. The lesson is evidently over, for the boy 28 Transmitted fmpulses. claps his hands and exclaims, " Now for the story. Mother ! tell me to-night the one beginning, " ' Hark ! hark 1 — 'tis the sainted Martyn's sigh From Ararat's mournful shades.' " " We talked of Martyn last Sunday, did we not ? " " Yes, but that was about his life in India, and I remember Mrs. Sigourney's lines you taught me : — '"Light on the Hindoo shed ! On the maddening idol-train ; The flame of the suttee is dire and red, And the fakir faints with pain, And the dying moan on their cheerless bed, By the Ganges laved in vain.' Well, let us begin at the beginning, and tell me again how you were first interested in missions, mother. It was through your grandfather's minister, was it not ? " " Yes, through the Rev. Adam Lind, an eminently godly man, and well known in the north for his public spirit and world-wide sympathies. I was at New Deer on a visit to my grandfather. Sunday evening came, and I remember it so well — a lovely June evening. Roses filled the eye with colour and the air with fragrance. I was only a little girl then, probably about twelve years of age. It was the 3innual missionary sermon, and I felt deeply inter ested, as I had heard that Mr. Lind was anxious to go to the foreign field himself, but that his con gregation declined to let him. We went early to A Missionary Sermon. 29 get a good seat, where my grandfather could hear. 1 expected some dry statistics and facts about Canada Old Calabar, Jamaica, etc., where the missionaries of the Secession Church were vigorously working ; but I said to myself, ' I must listen, for Mr. Lind is always so kind and good to me : whenever he sees me he pats my head and strokes my hair. Yes, I will listen.' " Presently the minister entered the pulpit, and he had such a beautiful look on his face : his whole soul seemed to be on fire. The text was, ' If ye love Me, keep My commandments,' with which he coupled our Lord's Ascension command to His disciples — 'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.' It was a most affecting and resistless appeal as to our duty and responsibility with regard to the work of missions. The burning words of his concluding prayer I shall never forget : ' Oh, what an honour to be an am bassador to the heathen, and to be an instrument to gather sinners to the Redeemer ! Lord, raise up many to visit the dark places of the earth ! Oh that we may be honoured to do something in stirring up some to this work of the Lord ! Determine many to occupy a place in Thy vineyard — men prepared by Thyself, full of faith and love, and of the Holy Spirit The Sun of Righteousness has arisen on many dark lands, and the cry becomes louder and louder, " Come over and help us." Arise, O Lord, and plead Thine own cause.' 30 Transmitted fmpulses. "That night I could not sleep. When the dawn came I rose, opened the window, and looked out. A gentle breeze was blowing across the hay-field, and each time it fanned my flushed cheeks it seemed to echo the preacher's words, ' None of us can shirk our responsibilities.' But what could / do ? I was only a little girl, and so helpless ! And yet I felt sure the preacher looked at me as if the message was to me personally. I lay down again, but with the first sound in the house I rose, dressed, got my sun- bonnet, and went out. The carolling of the birds, the tinkling of the sheep-bells, and the merry sound of the mowers whetting their scythes, together with the bracing morning air, revived my spirits and seemed to make me see things differently. Though I could not go to heathen lands myself, yet I might stir up others, and I might help to get money to send out good men. There is Mr. Lind : when quite a young man he came under the liberalising influence of the enthusiasm for foreign missions. He went through the University and Theological Hall with the inten tion of going as a missionary to the United States of America, but the Lord sent him here. He has been the means, however, of sending a nephew to the work in India, and he has started the Buchan Mission ary Society, which sends annually from .£30 to ^45 to missions ; perhaps I too can be of some use. And I went home comforted, and found my grandfather concerned at my absence. I think he must have had Questions. 3 1 his own suspicions, for his grey eyes looked at me keenly. But he merely said, ' Sunday's food will not serve all the week. We need daily bread, worship, and breakfast every morning.' " " What field do you consider most important, mother?" ' " Christ died for all. What we must pray for is the evangelisation of the whole world. All are important, although the eyes of many are now being turned on the land of dusky Ham, and the cry is — " ' Will not some daring spirit, born to thoughts Above his beast-like state, find out the truth, That Africans are men ? ' " " Would you like me to go as a missionary to Africa, mother ? " " If God prepares you for it, my boy, but not unless. You must first come to Him, and if He has need of you, He will call you in a way you will not mistake. You can throw your soul into the missionary enterprise and yet stay at home ; but if the message comes, ' Depart, for I will send thee far hen ce,' take care you do not neglect it. Remember what Jonah got for his pains. But, as I have heard Dr. Duff say, 'The advancement of the missionary cause is not only our duty and responsibility, but it is an enjoy ment which those: who have once tasted would not exchange for all the treasures of the Indian mines, for all the laurels of civic success, for all the glittering 32 Transmitted Impulses. splendour of coronets. It is a joy rich as heaven pure as the Godhead, lasting as eternity!'" " I do not think I could like black people." " Not pity the poor captives — who " ' start at every word As meant to mock their woes, and shake their chains, Thinking defiance which they dare not speak'? " " Oh, yes, I could pity them, and would like to help them, but to love them — I don't know about that." Perhaps considering whence the mother came it is no matter of surprise that she was a diligent reader of the Bulwark, and that she earnestly sought to impress on his youthful mind that the Reformation is a great trust handed down to us by our forefathers. She spent much time in explaining to him the promi nent errors and the lying legends of Popery, so that when occasion offered he would have no difficulty in unmasking its face and exposing its craftiness. In the spring of 1858, as the father was driving to Gartley station, on his way to Edinburgh, he said to Alexander (who was accompanying him to the rail way station in order to take home the conveyance), " Well, what book shall I bring you home from Edinburgh ? " " I think, at this stage, father, I ought to have a printing-press." The father dropped the reins, and in a tone in A Pi inting Press. 33 which disappointment and disgust were mingledj exclaimed, — " A printing-press ! What do you mean by a printing-press? The thing is to become a good scholar, and if you have anything to say worth writing, any one will print for you. When at the manse of Keig, the other day, I saw one of Mr. Smith's sons* lying on the study floor poring over a great Hebrew Bible ; and you talk about wasting your time with a printing-press." " 1 do not think it would be wasting time, father Skill takes no room in the pocket nor in the travel ling-bag, and some day I might find it useful." " My dear boy, you know that the desire of my heart is to see you become a preacher of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ." " Well, but, father, Martin Luther says that ' print ing is the latest and greatest gift by which God enables us to advance the things of the Gospel.' " It was train time, however, and with a hasty " good-bye " the father was soon out of sight. " What could have put a printing-press into the boy's head?" he pondered. " I expect it is the part it played in fur thering the Reformation. I know he has been reading D'Aubigne. He devours every book he comes across. Filler's Algebra, which I brought him home last year, has been a fairy-world to him ; and yet every now and then this hankering after miscellaneous crafts crops * Now, Professor W. Robertson Smith. 3 34 Transmitted fmpulses. up. He does not play, like other boys ; every spare hour at his disposal, I find, is spent in the smithy or carpenter's shop, handling tools of all kinds, and on occasion lending a helping hand. I must endeavour to remove him from his surroundings. Meantime I shall search for a good book to divert his attention." With this end in view, the father on arriving in Edinburgh made an early visit to Messrs. Black wood's choice assortment of new books, but not finding exactly what he wanted, he unburdened his mind to his publisher, who laughingly replied, " My dear sir, don't worry yourself : it would be a queer world if we were all parsons. No doubt he means to strike out a course for himself. Give him a free rein, and all will come right. You get the printing-press, and we will be most happy to supply the types ; but tell him he must not publish your books as well as print them ! " The Messrs. Blackwood were as good as their word, for in due time a large and varied assortment of types, etc., arrived at the manse ; but little did the donors or any one else think then what the destination of their present would be, or how it would, in Luther's words, " advance the things of the Gospel " on the shores of the sunlit Nyanza. CHAPTER IV. RAPID CHANGES. "He wh} to manhood grows without a grief Is but half-rooted ; with a will untamed, And self undisciplined, he seeks his own : To him no mellowness of being comes." H. Bonar HIPPARCHUS, who flourished 160-125 B.C., and who may be justly styled the founder of the exact sciences of astronomy and geography, traces the sources of the Nile to three great lakes in the interior of Africa. From his day, down through the ages till the middle of the seventeenth century, " the triple lakes " adorn the maps of the Dark Continent, although, as Stanley says, cartographers sketched them sometimes " in line," sometimes many degrees north or south of each other, and on either side of the equator as pleased their fancy. Jacobus Meursius, who engraved a map for " Ogilby 's De scription of Africa," a large volume published at the time of the Restoration, seems to have acquired a good deal of accurate information regarding the far interior from Portuguese and Dutch authorities. One lake, which he names Zafflan, resembles the Victoria 35 36 Rapid Changes. Nyanza in its general configuration ; but he seems to have been confused about the sources of the Nile and the Congo. Ogilby says : " The great river of Zaire or Congo derives its head out of three lakes, the first intituled Zambre, the second Zaire, and the third a great lake from whence the Nyle is supposed to draw his original. . . . Zambre is the principal head that feeds the river Zaire, being set, as it were, in the middle point of Africa, and spreading itself into broad streams into the north, whither, according to common opinion, it sends forth Nylus." Strange to say, from Ogilby's time to the middle of the present century the exploration of equatorial Africa made no advance, and the best cartographers erased the lakes altogether from their maps. In the year 1843 Dr. Krapf heard at a port on the East Coast of a vast inland lake ; and about the year 1856 his companions Messrs. Rebmann and Erhardt traced upon a map " that monster slug of an inland sea," as Speke calls it, which stimulated the Royal Geographical Society to send out an expedition of exploration. Through a curious blending of circumstances, Alexander Mackay was at a very early age deeply interested in this region, where his own lot, in the providence of God, was ultimately to be cast, and the " Nile problem " was a frequent subject of conjecture between father and son. The " Proceedings " of the Royal Geographical Society came regularly to the The Nile Problem. 37 home ; and as soon as they were published Living stone's " Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa," Speke's " Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile," and Captain Grant's "Walk across Africa" appeared likewise on the scene. The old map of Africa (see p. 2) was discarded by the father ; but the boy cherished his familiar friend and suspended it in his own room, where he spent many a happy hour in tracing on it the results of the most recent explorations. He used to say, " I like to think that the missionaries had a hand in promoting these discoveries, and that Captain Speke has so nicely acknowledged it by suggesting Karague, Uganda, and Unyoro as favourable fields for missionary enterprise." " But, father," he remarked one day, " there is one thing that greatly puzzles me. I know that until recent times we had to send across the Channel for engineers when we required any skilled work done, such as piers, lighthouses, or bridges, and that they had to bring with them their own workmen to execute the task. Have we had to send for our missionaries too ? or how is it that these agents of the C.M.S. are described as Germans ? Could Bishop Heber persuade none of his countrymen to go "'Where Afric's sunny fountains Roll down their golden sand ' J Of course I know about Livingstone and Moffat, but they are Scotchmen." " You see, my boy," said the father, " the C.M.S. is 38 Rapid Changes. such a large society and has so many stations that • I suppose enough men were not to be found in the Church of England willing to become poor despised missionaries. Therefore when the C.M.S. were short of volunteers for the foreign field they applied to the famous Missionary Institution at Basle, in Switzerland. But I believe that Dr. Krapf, who may be termed the founder of C.M.S. Missions in East Africa, had his attention drawn to the Dark Continent by reading the ' Travels of Bruce,' our own countryman." " Ah ! that pleases me well. Most pictures are tame to me unless there is a Ben or a Loch in the back ground. But why do you say, ' despised missionaries,' father ? I understood that the vocation of an ambas sador to the heathen is the noblest of all." " Yes, for those who are baptised with the sacrificing spirit of Christ ; and unless a man receive that baptism he had better stay at home." " Well, I like to hear about missionaries, but I have no inclination that way ; and while on the subject, father, I must tell you that I have a growing distaste for the ministry also. I should like to understand thoroughly the construction of machinery and the principles of projections. I believe that your own love of mathematics and of natural philosophy has biassed my mind in this direction. There is a wide field of usefulness for engineers, but a country parish would be no scope for me and my hobbies." " My son," said the father, sadly, " it is wholly out Engineering Tastes. 39 of my power, with my large family, to give you the necessary training. It implies a long apprenticeship with a respectable engineering firm in Edinburgh or Glasgow, for which a large premium is required ; and at the end of that time, unless you have capital to begin with on your own account, you will remain but a subordinate all your days. I believe you have con structive power, and that you have the perseverance and constancy of character which would enable you to rise to eminence in that profession, but without capital it would be a great struggle. Better go on as you are doing, and when the time comes compete for a bursary at Aberdeen, like all other ministers' sons in this neighbourhood. If you are successful that will take you through the University, and then all will be plain sailing. The red cloak is a wonderful stimulus. You will forget all about your hammer and saw when you don it." In the spring of i860 the boy became delicate, and his lessons seemed to be a burden to him. Naturally of a quiet and reserved disposition, he became more gentle, more meditative, while the healthy humour which had always characterised him ceased to flow spontaneously. He complained of nothing, but his parents became anxious, and as the local physician failed to detect any cause for the debility, his father took him to Edinburgh to consult Dr. Moir, who at once ordered change of air and a long holiday. Accordingly, in the month of August his father gave 40 Rapid Changes. him a tour in the Highlands. Spending some weeks at Strathpeffer, where his wonderful gentleness won for him many friends, they proceeded to Tain, and from thence to the banks of Loch Shin, in Suther- landshire. Here he led a joyous life. A kind friend put a Shetland pony at his disposal, and he enjoyed many a ride across the moors. This was the only time he saw the wild mountainous scenery of the north, and on his return home he had much to say about the red-deer, and the sheep-farms, and the beautiful lake with Ben More in the distance towering into the sky. The bracing air perfectly restored his health, but not his love for books. He learned his appointed lessons conscientiously, but instead of read ing in his leisure hours, drawing, map-drawing, and printing occupied his attention. He was also a very useful member of the household. It was he who cleared away the snow which accumulated every winter in a huge drift in front of the manse, obstruct ing the light, and impeding all communication except by the kitchen-door — and he who in their proper seasons superintended the sowing and reaping of the crops. His energetic disposition forbade idleness. In fact, he always preferred having too much to do rather than too little. His mother was very fond of bee culture ; but, strange to say, her bees were very ir reverent, for they not only chose the Sabbath on which to swaim, but they took the opportunity of doing so during the hours of diviqe service. Neither had they \ " Profane Bees. 4 1 any idea of propriety, for, 1o crown the proceedings, they almost invariably selected for their new quarters an old ivy-covered chimney in the Established Manse, a quarter of a mile distant ! The boy considered this rare fun. One sultry Sunday his mother said to him, " I have a presentiment that the bees will swarm to-day, so I wish you to watch them while I am at church." " Yes, mother ; I suppose I can take ' Living stone's Travels ' with me ? " " No ; because you get so absorbed in that book that I will lose my bees." " I only wish to look if there is any more said about the native smith teaching Dr. Livingstone to weld the iron." " You must not read." The boy went to the garden, but before ten minutes had expired the monotony was so irksome that he felt he must devise some method to make the bees " improve the shining hour " without delay. He tapped the hive and listened. A peculiar sound betokened some commotion within. So far hopeful, he next got a thin stick, and pushing it in at the little aperture, he moved it gently backwards and forwards to entice them out. By-and-by one appeared, and another, and then the queen, followed by a numerous retinue, thronging and pressing on each other until they hung in a dense cluster on his stick and all about the hive door ; while one or two pf a more enterprising turn of mind found their way 42 Rapid Changes. up his sleeve and to his bare knees (for he wore the kilt in those days), and took no pains to disguise their resentment at his inhospitality. Fortunately, the apiary was situated on the south side of the church, hard by the window of the Manse pew, through which the mother heard an extraordinary buz-z-z, accom panied by cries of pain. The congregation were standing at prayer, so she made her exit unobserved, wondering why bees are so profane, and mentally vowing she would rear no more in future, as they seemed determined to desecrate the Sabbath ! Alexander Mackay had been well instructed in religious knowledge, had no foolish companions, had no desire to deviate from the path of truth and rectitude, but the quickening influence of Divine love had not as yet entered his heart. His mother felt that to force religion upon him might be a mistake, but she continued to pray for him often and earnestly. As the time approached when it was desirable he should prosecute his studies in Aberdeen, both parents felt concerned lest his natural amiability and abounding humour might lead him into temptation in a large city. Just then an old friend of his father's, a Mr. Hector, from Aberdeen, appeared in the neigh bourhood. He was very much drawn to the boy, and told him that he also had a son,* who he hoped and believed was going forward to the ministry. * Afterwards known as the Rev. John Hector, Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland at Calcutta. " The Granite City." 43 It was ultimately arranged that this youth should spend his summer holiday at the Manse, and, if the companionship proved congenial to both, that Alexander should accompany his friend to Aberdeen, and remain under Mr. Hector's roof until the follow ing spring, when his mother hoped to go to town and secure comfortable lodgings for him. The boys conceived a strong attachment for each other, for they had much in common, and in October 1864 Alexander Mackay began to attend the Grammar School in the " granite city." This was the beginning of many changes in the old home. In company with his friend he returned to the Manse at Christmas, and in the following April his mother fulfilled her promise. She had been delicate all winter, and was strongly advised to post pone her journey until the weather became warmer ; but with her characteristic spirit of self-sacrifice, she never thought of herself when the welfare of others was concerned. The ten days she spent in Aberdeen ever remained a green spot in the boy's memory, and when he saw her off by the train he little dreamed that this was her last earthly journey, and that her course was nearly run. In three weeks' time he was summoned home, as she was seriously ill. He remained a week, and as she appeared to rally he returned again to school, but on the 8th of June she passed gently away. His childhood was buried in that open grave, but 44. Rapid Changes. her dying charge, faithfully delivered by a relative,* to " road his Bible and to search it, so as to meet her in glory," kindled a light which waxed brighter and brighter until it illumined all his life. While his father still continued to wish him to become a minister, and he himself desired the pro fession of an engineer, God was preparing him for both. Writing to a dear friend at Christmas 1 866, he says, " I cannot see my way for the future, but I feel certain the Lord will make it plain in His own time. I shrink from the ministry. I feel so un worthy of that office. Besides, it seems to me that there are already too many ministers. Three or four wasting their energies in each little parish in Scotland may satisfy a desire for sermon hearing, but is attended, I fear, with little practical good. I believe God gives us talents to use in His service, and that we are bound to turn them to the best account ; therefore I must go on with engineering. You tell me ' it is impossible, as my father cannot help me.' That I will never make an engineer unless I can surmount a greater obstacle than that, I at once allow ; but He who has given me the desire will in some way grant it. This I feel sure of." His way was soon made clear. In November 1877 the family removed to Edinburgh, where for six years he applied himself to his studies with laborious and persistent industry. Two of these * Mrs. James Flett, now residing in the Grange, Edinburgh. Student Days. 45 years he spent at the Free Church Training College for Teachers ; after which the father abandoned his own views in favour of those to which the talents and inclinations of his son were so strongly directed, and no longer urged him to enter the ministry. Every hour of the next four years was precious to Alexander Mackay. He studied engineering and its kindred sciences at the University, and practical engineering at the works of Messrs. Miller & Herbert ; and during all these four years, in order that he might not be burdensome to his father, he taught three hours per day, either in George Watson's College Schools or in private seminaries, by which he earned sufficient money for his class fees and personal necessities. During the greater part of this time in Edinburgh he was greatly influenced by the wise pastoral care and teaching of Dr. Horatius Bonar, who always watched with tender affection over the young mem bers of his flock, and especially strove to produce in them habits of reverent and constant fellowship with God, and daily study of the Holy Scriptures. CHAPTER V. LIFE IN BERLIN. "Then look not back 1 Oh ! triumph in the strength Of an exalted purpose ! Eagle-like, Press sunward on. Thou shalt not be alone. Have but an eye on God, as surely God Will have an eye on thee. Press on ! press on ! " B. B. Thatcher. ON the ist of November, 1873, Alexander Mackay embarked in the S.S. North Star from Leith for Hamburg, his desire being to master the German tongue and fully to qualify himself as an engineer. Amongst the introductions he took with him was one from Dr. Horatius Bonar to a clergyman in Hamburg, who gave him a letter to the Rev. Dr. Baur, Court chaplain and Cathedral preacher in Berlin. Although it was a time of great commercial- de pression, consequent on the late Franco-German war, he speedily found congenial employment in a great engineering firm in Berlin. In his letters home he frequently speaks of the dangerous fascination attend ing the designing of machinery. He writes : " Some times a new design so absorbs my whole thoughts that I cannot drive it out of my mind. It ever keeps 46 His German Home. 47 coming up for improvement and perfection. I would fain give it the first place, as it is my work to a certain extent ; but when it would take such complete mastery of me, I find the word in my conscience, ' Love not the world, neither the things of the world : if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' " His profession led him amongst Rationalists, and he sorely missed com munion with the Lord's people. He says : "Carnality and unbelief have got such a hold upon me, that if it were not that, now and again, in reading the Word of God, I get a fresh ray of light, I would fall away altogether." He soon, however, formed the acquaint ance of Dr. and Mrs. Baur, who took a great interest in him, and did for him what Aquila and Priscilla did for Apollos. Dr. Baur writes : " The image of Alexander Mackay, my friend, I might almost say my son, stands forth clearly to my mind, as it was imprinted by a long daily, intimate life together, and by the reports of his later efforts in the work of our Lord. I remember quite distinctly one day he came to see us. I sat conversing with him for a long time in my study. I ' hardly spoke any English — he little Ge man. I invited him to come back at any time : he would always be welcome. He answered, with his own peculiar, frank, humorous smile, that he did not wish to visit us from time to time, but to live with us, as, living in a large town with so many infidel she, 48 Life in Berlin. longed for a Christian home. I spoke to my wife, and as we had room we received the young man into our house, to our great joy. My wife and I always looked on him as a dear son, and he was a true-hearted brother to our own son. At that time he had just entered his twenty-fifth year, but appeared to be younger. He was scarcely of middle size, and had a slender but well-knit figure. He had a fine head, with a noble forehead and an open face. In his blue eyes, which looked bright and clever, there was a soft, kindly light, revealing a deep love to God and man. He took the most lively interest in my work, which con sisted not only in the care of a congregation scattered far and wide in the great city, and in preaching in the Cathedral, the Parish Church of the Emperor and his household, but also in the direction of institu tions and societies, in addresses at large meetings, and Bible readings — in short, in Home Mission work of the most varied kind. He conscientiously fulfilled his profession of an engineer, but the centre of his interest lay in the kingdom of God. I remember how one Sunday morning, at breakfast, he directed the question to me with deep emotion : ' What shall we do to send the Berliners to church ? ' With his faithfulness in little things, he did bring many a young man to church. What was a benefit to himself he longed for others also to enjoy. He himself went regularly with us to the Cathedral, and did not feel repelled by our carefully-selected Litany. With a Room for All. 49 friend of ours (Rev. G. Palmer Davies) he sometimes went to the American Church, and joined actively in the Biblical discussions." What Alexander Mackay saw of Christian home life in Germany gave him a great love for the country and for the people. Indeed, some of his most choice friends belonged to the " Fatherland." No doubt his residence there did much also to broaden his sympathies, and to show him that unity in diversity and diversity in unity must ever be a fundamental article of the Christian faith. Writing home in the end of 1873, he says : " I very much deplore the bitter tone of the .... papers. While the world stands there is room for all ; for God has not cast all in one mould. All trees are not oaks, nor weeping willows either, but that is no reason why each species should look askance at the other. All are of God, and all have their respective uses and peculiar beauty. Let us therefore strive to be useful in the Lord's vineyard, and to attain to some measure of the beauty of holiness. The Master said in the tersest words, ' Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness.' Just as far as we follow that precept can we claim at all to be His disciples. ' Let each man, wherein he was called, therein abide with God. There will then be less bitterness between parties and sects, and more of the love that seckcth not its own.' For some years prior to Alexander Mackay's arrival in Germany, he bad neither read much nor thought 4 50 Life in Berlin. much of Foreign Missions, so absorbed had he been in his professional studies ; but, strange to say, a few weeks after reaching Berlin, before he had made any Christian acquaintances, and while he was stand ing aghast at the infidelity of his associates, a simple account of an address given by Dr. Burns Thomson, in Chalmers Memorial Church, Edinburgh, on Mission work in Madagascar, was put into his hands. This appeal, and the remembrance of his sainted mother's injunction, "If the call comes to you take care you do not neglect it," kept ever coming up before him, until at last the claims of the heathen world took such possession of him that he described it as a new conversion. He was greatly encouraged by Dr. Baur to follow out his idea, viz., to become an engineer- missionary. Dr. Baur had been intimately acquainted with John Coleridge Patteson, the martyr-bishop of Melanesia, and at the very time he received Alexander Mackay into his home, he was occupied in writing a short biography of the Bishop for his German countrymen. Dr. Baur, in his character sketch of Mackay* points out the great resemblance between these two devoted missionaries, although they were so different in their spiritual origin, Pusey and Keble having influenced the one — Bonar and (he ought to have added) Baur the other. Diaries are seldom interest- * See Introduction to the German Edition of "A. M. Mackay, Tioneer Missionary ofthe Church Missionary Society to Uganda." Twenty-five Years Old. 51 ing, but a few extracts from one Mackay kept in Berlin show his spiritual experiences from time to time : — "October nth, 1874. — Led the Bible-class in American Church this evening. Subject, John vii. 37-9. May much result from our meeting. A Chris tian a life-giver. Give me Thy spirit without measure, O God, that I may be mighty rivers. What a barren soil is here to irrigate ! " " Oct. 12th. — This the last evening of the quarter of a century in which I have lived so much in vain. Lord, forgive me, and enable me henceforth to spend and be spent in Thy blessed service." " Oct. 17th. — This day enabled by God's grace tc preach to ten souls. But oh, with what feebleness ! Do thou, O Spirit of the living God, open their hearts every one ; yea, and they shall live. Empty me 01 self, O God, and fill me with Thee. Oh for more communion with God ! " " Oct. igth. — These souls, by God's grace, to seek to save. . . . Mighty harvest ! Lord Jesus, do Thou be found of them all. Thou, and Thou alone, canst save. Give me faith in Thee." " Oct. 20th. — Lord bless abundantly two or three grains of seed sown. What an idle day ! God enable me to buy back opportunities, because the days are evil." "Oct. 21st.— Oh for nearness to God! God grant me, I pray Thee, a deep spirit of humility — the broken will and the contrite heart. Oh for the single 52 Life in Berlin. eye ! What pride is in my heart ! Carnality and unfaithfulness too ! How much in me alone the Blood has to cover ! " " Oct. 22nd. — Much departure from the living God. Much unbelief and hardness of heart. Lord Jesus, destroy the power of evil within me. Baptise me with the Holy Ghost and with fire." " Oct. 2yd. — God forgive an empty day. Have done nothing for Christ, yet He has taught me to say, with a fuller heart than ever before, with H. Bonar : ' Lord, sift me — the process may be sore ' ; and with McCheyne, ' If nothing else will do to sever me from my sins, Lord, send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awaken me from earthly slumbers.' " Lord, Thou art merciful." Many such entries show how he bemoaned his sinful nature, and reveal his fervent desire to become a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. Especially does he long for greater tenderness in seeking to win souls by proclaiming the good tidings. "November 12th. — Slept in. Notes from home of Bonar 's sermon on ' This is My beloved Son — hear ye Him.' This seems to be the lesson God means to teach me by His rod at this time. How prone I am to do anything but learn. Teach me, Lord, this lesson above all others. " A seed sown, Lord, Thou alone canst bless." "Nov. 2yd. — Slept in again. No time for prayer or reading God's Word in the morning. Yet the How the Call Came. 53 Lord is gracious to me. Thy goodness is leading me to repentance. Oh for more faith, more hope, more love ! How dead I am ! Give Thy Spirit, Lord Jesus, even unto me." "December \\th.-~ Attaining day by day to a little mere childlike faith in Jesus, and therefore joy and peace. Faith i3 Thy gift, O God. My Father, give Thy son faith.