The Early Years. The remarkable woman, Maggie Lashley, exerted a very powerful influence upon the early development of Karl, her only child. They were extremely close, and from his mother the boy acquired a love of nature and of learning. In later years he was wont to say that he was reared on a combination of Nestle's Food and Nietzsche, although later we shall have something to say concerning Lashley's love of the "low bow.