But the noble spirit of Livingstone rose to the occasion.
Rather than have any scandal before the heathen, he would give up his
house and garden at Mabotsa, with all the toil and money they had cost
him, go with his young bride to some other place, and begin anew the
toil of house and school building, and gathering the people around him.
His colleague was so struck with his generosity that he said had he
known his intention he never would have spoken a word against him.
Livingstone had spent all his money, and out of a salary of a hundred
pounds it was not easy to build a house every other year. But he stuck
to his resolution. Parting with his garden evidently cost him a pang,
especially when he thought of the tasteless hands into which it was to
fall. "I like a garden," he wrote, "but paradise will make amends for
all our privations and sorrows here." Self-denial was a firmly
established habit with him; and the passion of "moving on" was warm in
his blood. Mabotsa did not thrive after Livingstone left it, but the
brother with whom he had the difference lived to manifest a very
different spirit.
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