Early Life and Training
The twins were brought up by their father John (their mother having died two weeks after their birth), a solicitor and amateur linguist. They were educated in private schools in Birkenhead and London, interspersed with travels in Europe guided by their father.
After John's death, they settled in London and joined the Presbyterian church in Clapham Road. Already conversationally fluent in German, French and Italian, they continued to learn languages and travelled in Europe and the Middle East, including travelling up the Nile and visiting Palestine in 1868. In 1870, Agnes wrote Eastern Pilgrims, an account of their experiences in Egypt and Palestine.
In 1883, Agnes and Margaret,by then also quite fluent in Greek, travelled to Athens and other parts of Greece. beginning a lifelong affectionate relationship with Greek Orthodoxy, whose monks occupied Saint Catherine's Monastery at Sinai. In this year, Margaret married James Gibson; and in 1887, Agnes married Samuel Savage Lewis, librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Both were clergymen. Each marriage was soon ended with the death of the husband.
Read more about this topic: Agnes And Margaret Smith
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or training:
“Quintilian [educational writer in Rome around A.D. 100] thought that the earliest years of the child’s life were crucial. Education should start earlier than age seven, within the family. It should not be so hard as to give the child an aversion to learning. Rather, these early lessons would take the form of play—that embryonic notion of kindergarten.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a human being, goddamn it, my life has value.’ So I want you to get up now, I want all of you to get up out of your
chairs. I want you to get up right now, and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.’”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)
“I am not a suffragist, nor do I believe in “careers” for women, especially a “career” in factory and mill where most working women have their “careers.” A great responsibility rests upon woman—the training of children. This is her most beautiful task.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)