HARNESSED TO BUSINESS.
“O life! how pleasant in thy morning,
Young fancy's rays the hills adorning
Cold-pausing caution's lesson scorning,
We frisk away,
Like schoolboys at th' expected warning,
To joy and play.”
JAMES HANNINGTON'S boyhood ran out in a happy, heedless fashion. Unlike most boys who have afterward engraved their names deep upon universal history, he cared nothing for books. The great book of nature was the only one he manifested any enthusiasm for. In his boyhood and youthhood, he had not the least ambition to become a distinguished scholar. In fact, he had very little ambition of any kind. Night followed the morning, the end of the years followed the beginning, but they brought very little of serious consequence to the child who had been nursed in the lap of luxury. James Hannington's boyhood was neither interesting nor inspiring. Perhaps its only redeeming feature was his engrossing love for his mother. In all things she was his guide, counselor, and comforter. He would eagerly carry to her choicest specimens which he had picked up in his many rambles through the sweet meadows and along the breezy seashore. The lad was full of childish glee, ever romping, ever laughing, ever in mischief. This characteristic he carried with him almost to his death, although those who were privileged to come within the almost magic sphere of his personal influence after his return from Africa, remarked with pain how much of his playfulness had been destroyed, or at least subdued, by those terrible journeys to and from Lake Nyanza.
In his boyhood James and one of his brothers had a private tutor, with whom, in the summer of 1860, they enjoyed a pleasant tour through the most interesting portions of Wales. Soon afterward, however, this gentleman accepted a curacy, consequently James and Joseph were despatched to a private school at Brighton—eight miles from his home.
During the two years and a half he remained there, the future missionary derived very little advantage. So bold and excitable was he in almost all things, that his companions, ever anxious to establish for a new boy an unenviable cognomen, called him "mad Jim," in memory of his many mischievous transgressions.
In spite of his temperament, he possessed a great, warm, sympathetic heart, that yearned for a greater degree of affection than he generally received. Occasionally, in later life, he indulged in some bitter reflections upon this school. Several times he was caned with disagreeable severity, and on more than one occasion he made up his mind to run away.
And yet he was a great favorite with his school fellows. They admired his cool, intrepid spirit. He was born to be a leader both amongst boys and men. There was a frankness, a boldness, a generosity, a kindliness that endeared him to both scholars and masters. The head-master (though he punished him severely for his wilfulness) endeavored to lead him into a better path. James knew nothing then of the religious fervor which afterward made his life so inspiring. This force entered into his life long afterward-after he attained to manhood.
When he was as fifteen years of age, his father took him from school and placed him in his large business house in Brighton. It soon became evident, painfully evident to his parents, that his heart was not in his work. This was not altogether due to idleness, for in the pursuits which lay near his warm heart he was tremendously diligent. In spite of all his weakness, he was a dutiful son. For the sake of his parents he did all he could to conquer the intricacies of trade, but his young soul revolted against its depressing influences.
He was more or less connected with this business until he attained his majority. But most of his time was spent in traveling hither and thither, chiefly on the Continent. This was his great delight, and in God's good time this boyish recreation became an influence which tended to qualify him for the work—the imperishable work—with which his name will be forever identified.
These oft-recurring trips can only be very briefly glanced at. Just after leaving school he was sent, in the company of his late schoolmaster, Mr. W. H. Gutteridge, for a trip to Paris. The sights he saw appealed forcibly to his vivid imagination. Six months later he had another Continental trip with Mr. Gutteridge.
After one or two brief yachting cruises, James, in March, 1864, joined the 1st Sussex Artillery Volunteers, and in October he and his parents had a yachting trip to the island of Alderney.
About his eighteenth birthday a seriousness concerning religious questions manifested itself. He seemed to be well nigh the kingdom of God, but the time for his entrance was not yet. It is worthy of note that he closed his diary for 1864 with the following original verse—
“My heart, Lord, may I ever raise
To Thee in humble thanks and praise
For keeping me throughout this year,
Lord, guard and guide me while I'm here;
And when to die my time is come,
Oh! take me to Thy heavenly home.”
But after events and later entries in the diary which he faithfully kept almost throughout his life conclusively prove that his heart had not yet been touched with the live coal from the altar. How earnestly he sought for the truth in those days no one will ever know altogether. Only glimpses of his struggles can be got from his writings. Certain it is that Roman Catholicism threw a transient spell over him in the following year, but a sermon by Cardinal Manning completely altered his views. "I shortly afterward gave up all idea of departing from our Protestant faith," is the almost pathetic entry in his diary. Suggestion of these tendencies was made to his parents, who, at that time were prominent members of the Independent body of Nonconformists. Mr. Hannington was at that time generously maintaining out of his private purse a chapel which he erected on his estate, and in which for a long while Nonconformist services were regularly held under the ministry of an Independent pastor.
At the Volunteer review before the Prince and Princess of Wales on Easter Monday, James Harming ton was appointed major of his battalion. On that occasion he nearly met with a violent death through the restiveness of his horse. But he was in God's hands; He had a work for him to accomplish, though his early inclinations seemed to be leading him in an altogether different direction. In May, 1866, he went on a yachting cruise in the Mediterranean with his parents. On returning to England he gave himself up to a life of ease and pleasure. He moved in the highest society. In his own fashion he was ever busy. He had not any positive wickedness in his generous temperament, but he did not feel the least incentive to live a higher or a nobler life. He loved to wander over the meadows, gun in hand, in search of partridge or pheasant. On one occasion he was temporarily, blinded by the explosion of a cartridge; on another, the thumb of his left hand was shot away whilst playing with gunpowder. But these incidents never for a moment interfered with his natural intrepidity.
After a short trip to Paris, he and his brothers had a yachting cruise in the Baltic, during which they visited several of the most interesting sights on the Continent.
This trip closes James Hannington's career as a man of the world. The divine inspiration did not really enter into his heart until a considerable period after this, but henceforth he was a searcher after divine truth. God led him after His own way, and though some of his wanderings may seem inexplicable to mortal vision, he kept his face steadfastly towards light and God.