In the church to which Joseph Livesey belonged the ringers and singers
were hard drinkers, the gravedigger was a drunkard, and the parish
clerk was often intoxicated!
Living amidst so much sin and misery, this frail lad determined to
strive his hardest to assist others. He found Sunday a day of rest and
rejoicing to him "a feast of good things," and became a Sunday-school
teacher and preacher.
So far as worldly matters went he was not at all successful in early
life. Weaving was so badly paid that he tried several other trades,
but only to meet with failure.
At the age of twenty he received a legacy of a few pounds; and soon
after, having saved a little money, married a good and true woman, who
helped him much throughout life.
"Our cottage," says Mr. Livesey in his autobiography, "though small,
was like a palace; for none could excel my Jenny for cleanliness and
order. I renovated the garden, and made it a pleasant place to walk
in. On the loom I was most industrious, working from early in the
morning often till ten, and sometimes later, at night; and she
not only did all the house work, but wound the bobbins for three
weavers--myself, uncle, and grandfather; and yet, with all this
apparently hard lot, these were happy days.
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