The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1913, Page 20

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20

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Easter.

Love’s redeeming work is done,
Fought the fight, the battle won;
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal;
Christ has burst the gates of hell.
Death in vain forbids to rise; €
Christ has opened Paradise.

Livingstone’s Encounter with ‘a Lion.

While Livingstone was at Mabotsa, he had a
thrilling experience with a lion. In the encounter
his arm was injured for life. One day, in 1843,
not Jong after his arrival in Mabotsa, lions killed
a number of sheep not far from his house. Together
with a company of natives, Livingstone went out
to destroy the beasts. Finding after a time that his
presence was not needed, the natives being able to
get along by themselves, Livitigstone decided to re-
turn home. While walking along, he saw a huge
lion crouching on a rock in the rear of a bush

which partly hid it. Bringing his rifle to the shoul-
der, he emptied both barrels at the lion. Living-
stone saw that the lion was only wounded by the
two balls, so he quickly began to reload his gun,
but just as he was in the act of ramming down the
bullets, the lion sprang upon him and caught his
shoulder in its teeth. Both came down together.
Livingstone tells what further transpired in these
words : —

“Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me
as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a
stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a
mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a
sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of
pain nor feeling of terror, though quite conscious
of all that was happening. This peculiar state is
probably produced in all animals killed by the car-
nivora, and if so, is a merciful provision by our
benevolent Creator for lessening the pain of death.
Turning around to relieve myself of the weight; as
he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his
eyes directed to Mebalwe (a native assistant), who
was trying to shoot him at a distance of ten or
fifteen yards. THis gun, a flint one, missed fire
in both barrels; the lion immediately left me, and,
attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man,
whose life I had saved after he had been tossed by
a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was
biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this
man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets
he had received took effect, and he fell down dead.
The whole was the work of a few moments, and
must have been his paroxysms of dying rage. In
order to take the ‘charm’ out of him, the Bakhatla
on the following day made a huge bonfire over the
carcass, which was declared to be the largest lion
they had ever seen. Besides crunching the bone into
splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds on the upper
part of my arm.”

When Livingstone’s faithful followers brought
his remains to England in 1874, it was this crippled
arm which he had in consequence of this terrible
encounter that identified his body beyond the shadow
of a doubt.

Oe

Greetings from the Invalid Chair.

The many letters and cards of sympathy and
assurance of intercession in my behalf have brought
comfort and cheer.to me in my long sickness, and
I wish herewith to extend to all who have so kindly
remembered me my sincere thanks.