8.] In his reading, he tells us that he devoured all the books that came into his hands but novels, and that his plan was to place the book on a portion of the spinning-jenny, so that he could catch sentence after sentence as he passed at his work.

The labor of attending to the wheels was great, for the improvements in spinning machinery that have made it self-acting had not then been introduced.

The utmost interval that Livingstone could have for reading at one time was less than a minute.
The thirst for reading so early shown was greatly stimulated by his father's example.

Neil Livingstone, while fond of the old Scottish theology, was deeply interested in the enterprise of the nineteenth century, or, as he called it, "the progress of the world," and endeavored to interest his family in it too.

Any books of travel, and especially of missionary enterprise, that he could lay his hands on, he eagerly read.