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:
“I got a little secretarial job after college, but I thought of it as a prelude. Education, work, whatever you did before marriage, was only a prelude to your real life, which was marriage.”
—Bonnie Carr (c. early 1930s)
“Dragging out life to the last possible second is not living to the best effect. The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat. The best of life, Passworthy, lies nearest to the edge of death.”
—H.G. (Herbert George)
“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)