It was "the claims of so many millions of his fellow-creatures, and the complaints of the scarcity, of the want of qualified missionaries," that led him to aspire to the office.

From that time--apparently his twenty-first year--his "efforts were constantly directed toward that object without any fluctuation." [Footnote 6: Statement to Directors of London Missionary Society.] The years of monotonous toil spent in the factory were never regretted by Livingstone.

On the contrary, he regarded his experience there as an important part of his education, and had it been possible, he would have liked "to begin life over again in the same lowly style, and to pass through the same hardy training[7]." The fellow-feeling he acquired for the children of labor was invaluable for enabling him to gain influence with the same class, whether in Scotland or in Africa.

As we have already seen, he was essentially a man of the people.

Not that he looked unkindly on the richer classes,--he used to say in his later years, that he liked to see people in comfort and at leisure, enjoying the good things of life,--but he felt that the burden-bearing multitude claimed his sympathy most.