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CHAPTER II.

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.


Robert Moffat was born on the 21st of December, 1795. His parents dwelt
at that time at Ormiston, in East Lothian, Scotland. They were pious
God-fearing people; the mother though holding a stern religious faith,
yet possessed a most tender loving heart, and very early sought to
instil into the minds and hearts of her children the love of God and a
knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.

Of the early childhood of the future missionary very little is stated.
In 1797 his father received an appointment in the Custom House at
Portsoy, and in 1806 the home of the Moffats was at Carronshore, on the
Firth of Forth. At this time the family consisted of four sons and two
daughters, besides the subject of this memoir.

A glimpse of the interior of their cottage, during the long winter
evenings, is given, which shows how the mother by her gentle influence
may become the means of sowing seed, which shall spring up in after
years bearing fruit a hundred-fold. The lads were gathered by the
fireside learning to knit and sew, and while so engaged their mother,
who took great interest in the missionary enterprises then carried on,