Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/368

 OBITUARY.

MARY HENRIETTA KINGSLEY.

Born 1862, died 1900.

one has fallen a victim to the war in South Africa whose loss has more keenly struck all who knew her, men and women alike, with a sense of being irreparable, nay national, than Mary Kingsley, daughter of Dr. George Kingsley (a naturalist and traveller himself), and niece to Charles and Henry. The blood of a gifted family ran in her veins, and she knew that their spirit stirred in her. Her training was not that of school or college, but that of home lessons and home influence. Books of all kinds, but especially scientific, abounded in the house, piles lay on the chairs and overflowed on to the floor, while the walls were covered with curiosities brought by the traveller from many lands, every one of which had its tale. The rambling garden at Highgate (where the present writer first knew her), the cocks and hens, her mother's pet cats and dogs, were part of her daily care as she grew up, together with all kinds of household duties. An eager student of natural history, and especially following her father's favourite study of fishes and their ways, geography and literature were not neglected in her education, and she learned German with pleasure, but not much French. When the father came home for a few months in the year the usual lessons were cast aside, but much quiet reading still went on. The doctor's brilliant talk had its unconscious influence upon his daughter; while contact with friends of scientific pursuits added to her knowledge. She took up works on ethnography and anthropology, studied philosophy, mathematics, and electricity, and helped her mother in good works.

About 1884 the family removed to Cambridge, where Mary enjoyed the society of learned and scientific men and women; and new vistas of study and of friendship opened up before her. But in 1888 her mother's ill-health became serious, and she devoted herself with much ability to nursing the invalid, while soon afterwards her father's health began also to cause anxiety. These responsibilities weighed heavily, and when in 1892 the death of both parents within two months set her free, the rebound was great. To