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flarbarb Bibinitp ftcfiool 




ANDOVER-HARVARD THEOLOGICAL 

LIBRARY 



Purchased with fiinds 

provided for the 

Women* s Studies in 

Religion Program 

by the Ford Foundation 



i 



.-n 



y 



MEMORIAL BIOGRAPHY 

OF 

ADELE M. FIELDE 



HUMANITARIAN 




BY 

HELEN NORTON STEVENS 




PUBUSHEO BY 

THE FIELDE MEMORIAL COMMITTEE 

NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, SEATTLE 



1 









Copyright, 1918, by 
HE>LEN NORTON fiTEVENS 



Press of 
Pigott Printing Concern, Seattle 

1918 



CONTENTS 

Page 
Preface 7 

Introduction 9 

Chapters 

I. Ancestry, Birth and Parentage 19 

II. Early Environment; Character and Per- 
sonality 27 

III. Character and Personality (Continued) — 39 

rV. A Psychic Experience 50 

V. Attending the Normal College; Friendship 
With Miss Chilcott; Engagement to 
Cyrus Chilcott— 56 

VI. A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Pielde's Own 

Story 66 

VII. Death of Cyrus Chilcott; 111 at Hongkong 77 

VIII. Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 84 

IX. Vacation; in the Lecture Field; Return to 

Swatow 103 

X. The ''Biblewomen'' 111 

XI. Contributions to Chinese Literature; The 
True God; After Death; Life of Jesus; 
Book of Genesis; Swatow Dictionary 123 

XII. Return to America; Preparing for Greater 

Usefulness; More Lectures 144 

Xni. Studying Medicine; Investigating Organic 

Evolution; Creating a College 154 

^g XIV. Change of Religious Opinion; Enlarged 
^ Sphere of Activities; A Dangerous Situ- 
^ ation 168 



^ 



o 






XV. Ill at Pielde Lodjafe ; Resignation Prom Mis- 
sionary Service ; Her Reason for So Doing 181 

XVI. Journey to India; Impressions of That 

Country; The Taj Mahal 190 

XVII. In Egypt; The Holy City; Ancient and 
Modem Greece; Takin^j the Waters of 
Carlsbad - 199 

XVIII. Studying the German Social System; In 

Berlin; Death of Mrs. Davis 209 

XIX. Travel in Russia; Jew-baiting; Invoking 

Aid from America 216 

XX. Travels in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers 224 

XXI. Return to America; Drawing-Room Lec- 

tures 232 

XXII. The League for Political Education; Its 

Organization and Activities 238 

XXin. Miss Pielde As A Writer 250 

XXIV. Miss Pielde As A Scientist 260 

XXV. Her Religious Beliefs 273 

XXVI. Philosophy and Psychology 284 

XXVII. Leaving New York; Seattle; Alaska 296 

XXVIII. Civic Activities; Sanitation; Public Health; 

Direct Legislation 306 

XXIX. The Equal Suffrage Campaign 316 

XXX. Return to Seattle; Prohibition Campaign; 

Trustee on Library Board ; The Western 
Woman's Outlook 329 

XXXI. Intimate Priendships 341 

XXXII. Her Pinal Work 357 

XXXm. Her Last Journey 365 



LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS 

Miss Adele M. Fielde (Her Latest Photograph.) 
Parents. 

Her First Teacher, Mrs. Adeline M. Payne. 
Miss Fielde in 1864. 
Cyrus Ghileott. 
The Biblewomen. 

The True God. (Native Block Printing.) 
Fielde Lodge. 

Kodak Picture of Miss Fielde in Seattle 1907. 
Home of Mrs. John M. Winslow, Meeting Place of the 
Washington Women's Legislative Committee. 



m 



IfsUmt fist mtmtn ttiag in in tint 

marlh, tlrHr rlrtrf atib ntlHaitig IfoUi tm 
tift ratrnn of tlrr Ifttntast fantttg is at- 
taittrii bg ti^Hr nutUnut a« motlrfrB. 

**i^lf ^ mlfii 90M ititii tifr ttallrg of Hft 

BipUloiit of ilra!i( tiprff or fattr tintro tst tl; r rottrw 
of If fr fxiHtntrr anil rftnrtu farif tintr* bristsUtg 
a turn lif r mttlf Inn, hxtB mart for Ipttnatii^ tfian 
tift ntrttrr of bookjB, tlrr opfta aittgfr, tift fittr 
artifit tirr BkUlfnl tdlB'triatt. tift mtar voter or 
ttft tnoman tst intfalir lif r, tuff ttl atiH ttfrruars 
ao tifts all ar». 

'*Q(l|^atrtfit of tl^ (rtottrrr ittotlf^r dfoitUl 

abtllr tst all atomnu fhmttimtB a tnomatt ntifo 
Ipu tto |tro0nig« Ipu to takr a 9taU aa l^fr hmoin 
atili tl|at is a Mbtbrrifooil. too.** 

Kbtlt m. Sitlht 



PREFACE 

THIS book presents the life-history of Adele 
Marion Fielde. It tells of a woman who 
devoted her entire earthly career to doing 
good. It describes a person of world-wide vision 
and transcendent ideals who saw things in their 
true light and strove to make ideals real. It depicts 
a character whose only ambition was to advance 
the cause of humanity. 

This book is published for the purpose of per- 
petuating a great influence for good. By using 
an illustrious example it endeavors to portray the 
grandeur of an unselfish life. It seeks to empha- 
size the truth of the thought that consideration for 
others is the only true culture, the only source of 
true greatness. If it will serve to inspire even a 
few of its readers to seek the higher plane of hu- 
man existence, its efforts will not have failed. 

This book is published by the Fielde Memorial 
Committee, an organization composed of men and 
women whose names are hereto appended, who 
were personal friends, chosen companions and ad- 
mirers of Miss Fielde. They knew her intimately, 

Paffe Seven 



appreciated her wisdom and experienced her love. 
This book comroemorates their deep affection for 
her, acknowledges their obligations to her and 
forms a covenant of abiding faith with her. 

NEW YORK SEATTLE 

Mrs. William P. Hamilton, Mrs. John M. Winslow, 

Mra. Samuel M Cauldwell, ^^ Helen Norton Stevens, 

Mrs. E. M. Poote, ,,__ 11.1,1 

Mr. Robert Erekine Ely. M"^" J°*^ ^riksoD, 

. „„, ,^,„ . Mrs. Eenelm Winslow, 

PHILADELPHIA ,, t 1. m l ., 

T% t;.*. j t »t r^ Mrs. John Trumhull, 

Dr. Edward J, Nolan. »,__ n m 1* r ui- 
Mrs. Geo. N. McLoughlin, 

CHICAGO Mrs. Chaa. Sohalkenbaeh, 

Mrs. Heman H. Field. Mrs. Geo. U. Walker, 

SEATTLE Mrs. Harvey L. Glenn, 

Mra. W. D. Perkins, Mrs. Dean H. White, 

Mrs. A. B. Stewart, Mrs. P. D. Hughes, 

Mrs. Livingston B. Stedman, Miss Sophia C. Johns, 

Mrs. W. S. Griawold, Rev. William K. McKibben. 



INTRODUCTION 

MISS FIELDE was a truly exceptional wom- 
an. She was both good and great. She 
was good because it was her nature to be 
so and great because she possessed the power to 
govern her instinctive promptings with uniform 
wisdom. To her, love of kind is a principle of the 
highest import and to help others the paramount 
duty of mankind. She regarded this principle and 
the performance of its co-ordinate duty as the key 
to the great problems of the universe. On this 
depends the conquest of the earth, the advance- 
ment of the race and the determination of human 
destiny. Both her religious beliefs and scientific 
convictions served to support this doctrine. Relig- 
ion taught her that our nearness to God is in pro- 
portion to our capacity to love His children and 
our willingness to bear their burdens. Science 
demonstrates the truth that moral expansion is a 
condition precedent to the increasing complexities 
of organic evolution. With analogic wisdom she 
once said: 

**Just as natural selection, struggle for existence 
and survival of the fittest procured man to the head- 
ship of the animal kingdom, so will co-operation. 

Page Nine 



loyalty and love promote him into the Kingdom to 
Come." 

Miss Fielde was possessed of three ruling pas- 
sions, love of humanity, love of truth and love of 
country. 

For love of humanity she gave twenty years of 
service as a Christian missionary to the Orient. In 
this, as in all her other undertakings, her achieve- 
ments were marvelous. She not only performed 
her routine duties efficiently and faithfully but her 
contributed works of supererogation were valuable 
beyond appraisement. A few of these latter may 
be enumerated as follows: She compiled, wrote 
and published a dictionary of the Swatow dialect 
with Ejiglish equivalents, wrote and published a 
Life of Jesus in Chinese, wrote over fifty tracts, 
sermons and Gospel Lessons in Chinese, translated 
the Book of Genesis into Chinese, built the Fielde 
Lodge and created the Biblewomen. 

This latter achievement she regarded as the 
greatest work of her life, claiming that it brought 
her the greatest honor of her entire career. From 
the affectionate esteem in which she was held by 
the loyal Biblewomen and the reputation she ac- 
quired from her earnestness as a Christian teacher 
she came to be called 'HThe Love Woman'* by the 
Chinese natives. 

What higher title of nobility was ever conferred 

Pagre Ten 



on Norman blood? What greater source of au- 
thority ever conferred a title of distinction? 

Love of truth caused Miss Fielde to modify 
many preconceived ideas concerning some of the 
more important problems of human existence be- 
fore she reached middle-age. The accepted Script- 
ural conception of the origin, purpose and destiny 
of humankind was largely a matter of inheritance 
and early discipline with her. But the time came 
when she doubted the truth of the Biblical account 
of man*s genesis, became dissatisfied with the 
Christian plan of Salvation and rejected the ortho- 
dox dogma which provides future awards for right- 
eous conduct and future punishments for unright- 
eous persons. In other words, she reached a stage 
in her development sometimes described as the Re- 
ligious Transition. She awoke from the security 
of mental hibernation to a condition of active 
though unorganized consciousness. 

Philosophers have likened an emergence into the 
religious transition to the process of cutting loose 
from a customary mooring and drifting with the 
uncertain tide in quest of some unknown, unchart- 
ed place of anchorage. The change is always at- 
tended by moral danger, usually by intellectual 
waste and often by spiritual submergence. It is 
said that it requires three generations of cultured 
ancestry to bring an individual to this great change 

Pa^e Eleven 



and two more generations to adapt his descend- 
ants to the new order of things. 

Miss Fielde wasted no time in vain gropings 
and suffered neither moral reversion nor intellect- 
ual atrophy. When the Word of God failed to 
satisfy her desire to know the truth she immediate- 
ly began a systematic investigation of His Works. 
She took up the study of science, both organic and 
inorganic, with the result that a veritable fairyland 
of truth was revealed to her. However, her scien- 
tific conclusions concerning the *'Riddle of the 
Universe** had a greater tendency to support and 
sustain the truths of Revelation than to contradict 
them. Or to be more explicit, the objective knowl- 
edge she acquired from her scientific researches 
supplemented and illuminated the subjective wis- 
dom she possessed as a religious heritage. 

On one memorable occasion she was asked what 
effect her scientific attainments had had on her re- 
ligious faith and beliefs. 

"In essentials,** she said, * my faith became more 
pronounced and my religious opinions became 
more fully justified. True, I had to cast aside some 
of the church dogmas and creedal doctrines, once 
high in my esteem, but on the whole my religious 
vision was greatly extended by my scientific 
studies.** 

When asked if she still accepted the teachings 
of the Bible as veridical, she answered : 

Page Twelve 



"I am inclined to believe that the account of 
Jesus contained in the synoptic Gospels is true/* 

**Then," her interrogator argued, "y<>u actually 
believe that Jesus performed the miracles of which 
these records of tradition credit Him?** 

**Yes,** she replied, *'I find no reason to think 
otherwise. When we stop to consider the marvel- 
ous phenomena of the normal functions of the soul, 
such, for instance, as metabolism, reproduction, 
evolution and regeneration, its abnormal activities 
seem insignificant in comparison.** 

"But, Miss Fielde, do you still adhere to your be- 
lief in the divine origin of Jesus?** 

"Certainly, I believe in the biogenetic idea and 
still regard the Deity as the author of organic life 
as well as the creator of inorganic matter.'* 

On being asked, if, in her opinion, there was any 

well established scientific proof that the soul is 

immortal, she said: 

"In my opinion there is not. Science,** she 
added, "teaches that there is no such thing as abso- 
lute annihilation, stnd, it seems to me, that it is un- 
reasonable to believe that the fate of the soul is to 
be an exceptional one. I am inclined to believe that 
the soul, like everything else, will persist forever. 
In our imperfect state of development, however, I 
sometimes doubt if the soul retains its personal 
identity after separating from the body. I hope 
and trust that it does, but I do not know.** 

Love of country prompted Miss Fielde to devote 
the final twenty years of her life to the work of 

Pa^re Thirteen 



teaching civil government and to the duties of poli- 
tical leadership. It was a belief peculiar to her 
mind that ignorance of civil rights was as great a 
source of evil as negligence of civic duties. Be- 
cause of this idea much of her political writings, 
lectures and other teachings were given with a view 
of developing a knowledge of the rights of citizens 
as individuals rather than those involving obliga- 
tions as social units. Also, because of this belief, 
she was always tolerant of Socialism, Syndicalism, 
Anarchy, etc., though not at all in sympathy with 
stny of these heterogeneous doctrines. On the con- 
trary, she was a thorough American, holding that 
the American social compact, whether embodied 
in the written Constitution, legal enactments or 
implied agreements, contains within itself the po- 
tential power of political progress and the needed 
remedies for all our political ills. 

Before she went to the Orient, the right to vote 
was regarded by the American public as a sacred 
trust. Self-respecting citizens exercised this func- 
tion as a conscientious duty, each proud of the priv- 
ilege that gave him equal participation in the con- 
duct of governmental affairs. A great change took 
place while she was absent. On her return she 
found the nation in a state of political degeneracy. 
The elective franchise, once the trusted sentinel of 
our national liberty, had been prostituted to the 

Paffe Fourteen 



service of sordid gain, commercialized vice and of- 
ficial corruption. The political affairs of the land 
had passed out of the hands of the earnest-minded, 
substantial citizens and were now under the control 
and direction of the predatory stnd parasitic ele- 
ments. Political activity had degenerated into a 
vice and was no longer a source of pride but a cause 
for reproach. 

At this period of our nation's history many of 
the political leaders, as well as the followers, were 
men of foreign birth, unaffected by American tra- 
ditions, ignorant of American institutions, often 
contemptuous of the people and laws of the United 
States. Their only interest in the Republic was to 
exploit it for personal gain. However, it is not to 
be understood that the foreign element was alone 
responsible for our departure from the standards 
of good citizenship. Many of our foremost citi- 
zens were equally reprehensible. During the Civil 
War not a few Americans of Puritanic stncestry 
and Colonial descent had acquired some very bad 
habits. They had learned to steal as well as to kill. 
And, while at the close of the conflict they had 
readily laid aside their swords, they persisted in the 
practice of the former accomplishment for many 
years thereafter. It was Miss Fielders belief that 
by organization and concerted action on the part 
of the good citizens of the country the political 

Page Fifteen 



power could be wrested from the evil hands that 
held it, respect for American institutions and Am- 
erican ideals rehabilitated and patriotism reawak- 
ened. She resolved at once to initiate a movement 
for making this experiment. 

She fully appreciated the difficulties of the under- 
taking and the opposition she would encounter and 
must combat. She knew that so-called practical 
politics consisted of nothing less than a species of 
piracy — a method by which the law-abiding portion 
of the public were compelled to pay tribute to or- 
ganized predacity. She also knew that this cor- 
rupt system was thoroughly established and that 
she would be engaging in a war with organized 
greed, vested interest and entrenched conserva- 
tism. But she did not falter. With courage sur- 
passing that of a knight of medieval fame she chal- 
lenged the field and won. 

It is impossible to estimate the measure of credit 
to which Miss Fielde is entitled for the compara- 
tively recent political reforms and advances in both 
New York City and Seattle. She was a pioneer and 
leader in both movements, though she had many 
co-workers and followers. In both cities her 
achievements were indeed wonderful and the 
changes she so efficiently helped to bring about 
were of permanent value. 

Tanmiany is no longer an irresistible force in 

Pasre Sixteen 



the government of New York and the '^upstate or- 
ganization'* is no longer a dependable machine. On 
the other hand, The League for Political Educor 
Hon, of which Miss Fielde was one of the found- 
ers and for a decade its guiding spirit, still exists. 
It is, as ever, a source of patriotic effort, healthful 
instruction and good influence. The Political 
Primer of New York, of which Miss Fielde was 
the author, is still in print and still used as a text 
book by those who wish to acquire a knowledge of 
the first principles of good government. 

Miss Fielde*s political and social service work in 
Seattle was done in the declining years of her life, 
but her achievements were none-the-less great. 
When she took up her residence in the Pacific 
Northwest, Seattle was distinguished as the second 
city in the United States for the importance of its 
white slave traffic. The State of Washington was 
politically ring-ridden and honeycombed with of- 
ficial corruption. Many of the legislative enact- 
ments were framed with a view of increasing pri- 
vate wealth rather than in the interest of public 
welfare. The political conditions of the Northwest 
were no different from those of the Northeast. 

Miss Fielde came to Washington just in time to 
take part in the state campaign for woman suffrage. 
The subsequent enfranchisement of women afford- 
ed her a long-wished for opportunity for political 

Pa^e Seventeen 



house-cleaning, of which she took instant advan- 
tage. She proceeded without delay to organize the 
newly qualified voters of the State into political 
study clubs, legislative committees, good govern- 
ment leagues and quiz congresses, and to teach 
them by means of pamphlets, circulars and lectures 
the duties of citizenship. Before she responded to 
the **call to go up higher,** Washington was the 
most politically advanced State in the Union. Laws 
providing for state-wide prohibition, direct legisla- 
tion, workmen's compensation, protective insur- 
ance, widows* pensions, suppression of prostitu- 
tion, minimum wage for women, were enacted, as 
well as many other measures equally salutary and 
wise. 

It is conceded by all, that these advances were 
due to the initiation, promotion and support of the 
women voters of the State, of which Miss Fielde 
was an acknowledged leader. 



Paflre Eighteen 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 



CHAPTER ONE 



Ancestry, Birth and Parentage. 



DURING the formative period of the Ameri- 
can Republic it was largely a custom with 
biographers to represent their subjects as 
**8elf made.'* This was a convenient term used to 
describe a person of obscure origin and humble sur- 
roundings, who, from some unaccountable mental 
or moral superiority, rose to a high plane of social 



Miss Fielde was not *'self made,** being neither 
a genius of abnormal intuition nor an atavistic 
freak. She was simply the natural product of a 
splendid ancestry and a highly advantageous en- 
vironment. History reveals her ancestors in the 
front rank in each successive stage of American 
development from Colonial times to the present 
era. Social leadership was her birthright. 

She belonged to the famous Field family, of 
which David Dudley Field, C3nrus W. Field, Justice 
Stephen A. Field, Marshall Field and Eugene Field 

Page Nineteen 



Life of Adde Marion FieUe 

are a few of the better known representatives in the 
United States. In Elngland the family is no less 
celebrated. There it is classified as belonging to the 
**le8ser nobility,** knights, baronets, etc., persons 
who, as a rule, have gained renown as the result of 
personal achievement rather than those who had 
inherited their prestige from distinguished ances- 
tors. 

Heman H. Field, author of one of the several 
Field genealogies extant, finds that Miss Adele M. 
Fielde was a direct descendant in the seventh gen- 
eration, of 2^chariah Field and Sarah (Thornton) 
Field, the account of whose courtship and marriage 
forms a romstntic chapter in the historic miscellany 
of Rhode Islstnd G>lony. The fact that Miss 
Fielde*s name does not appear in any of the Field 
genealogies is due to several causes. First, she was 
singularly impersonal, so absorbed in her labors for 
others that she took comparatively little interest in 
herself as an individual. Another thing, her tastes 
were very democratic despite her rich lineage. It 
was a favorite thought with her that a person*s 
birth and breeding is so indelibly stamped on his 
form and face and so well reflected by his manner 
and conduct that records of stncestral virtues pos- 
sess little indicative value. For a further and, per- 
haps, chief cause, she had practically changed her 

Page Twenty 



Ancestry, Birth, Parentage 

name before any of the Field genealogies were 
compiled and printed. From time inmiemorial the 
family name was Field and her parents had called 
her Adelia. When about sixteen years old, she 
became a contributor to the current literature of 
that day under the pen name of Adele M. Fielde. 
She did this at first for the purpose of concealing 
her identity as a writer from her neighborhood as- 
sociates, but in time, as she gained fame and became 
widely known by her nont de plume, she dropped 
her childhood cognomen and used her pen name 
for private as well as public identification. Later on 
she was baptized "Adele Marion'* and her patrony- 
mic appears in the registry of the Baptist Church 
containing the final e. 

Miss Fielde was also descended on her mother's 
side from Jonathan Edwards and his wife, 
Sarah (Pierpont) Edwards. Both the Edwards 
and the Pierponts su-e representative tyi>es of the 
best American lineage. The descendants of Jona- 
than stnd Sarah Edwards have been authoritatively 
distinguished as examples of eugenic excellence. 
In many of the recent scientific treatises touching 
on the value of applied eugenics, the descendants 
of this famous couple are used to illustrate the prin- 
ciple of hereditary virtue. It has been authenti- 
cally found that Jonathan Edwards and his wife 

Page Twenty-One 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

were the progenitors, near and remote, of six hun- 
dred descendants; that fully one-half of that num- 
ber have been distinguished for having occupied, or 
of still occupying foremost places in the business 
and professional life of the nation; among them 
were and are college presidents, statesmen, authors, 
artists, scientists, captains of industry, financiers, 
high military officers and leading divines. The 
same authorities state that not one of this notable 
family has ever been an inmate of a penal institu- 
tion, almshouse or insane hospital. 

While Jonathan Edwards was certainly the 
leading intellectual light of his age, especially so in 
religious thought, still the whole credit of the glor- 
ious heritage of his descendants is not entirely due 
to his blood. Sarah Pierpont Edwards was fully 
his equal in the many qualities that distinguished 
him, and in some things his superior. 

The Pierponts are a family of ancient lineage, 
fine culture and firm social status in both Elngland 
and this country. The English branch had its 
origin in Sir Robert de Pierrepont, who came from 
Normandy with William the Conqueror. At the 
present time the family is represented in the Brit- 
ish peerage by a duke and several other members 
of the nobility, descendants of this ancestral knight. 
In the United States the Pierponts have bred true 

Page Twenty-Two 



Ancestry, Birth, Parentage 

to form. They readily adapted themselves to the 
new civilization without reversionary sacrifice, or 
loss of refinement from the narrowing influence of 
pioneer life. From Colonial days to the present, 
they have represented the best t3rpe of American 
citizenship. 

An American eugenist of recognized celebrity 
is inclined to credit Miss Fielde*s wealth of intel' 
lectual grace, fine poise and perfect manners to an 
inheritance from Sarah Pierpont Edwards. 

**Who*s Who in America** states that Adele 
Marion Fielde was bom at East Rodman, New 
York, March 30th, 1 839. The same authority de- 
clares her to have been the daughter of Leighton 
Field and Sophia (Tiffany) Field. 

From all available accounts, the parents of 

Miss Fielde were exceptional characters. Both of 

them possessed qualities of intellectual refinement, 

moral integrity and personal independence to an 

unusual degree. In writing of them, Mrs. Adele 

Richards Fisher, granddaughter of the couple and 

their only living descendant, states: 

**My grandparents were poor people, having had 
little opportunity to acquire an education, but were 
much respected and beloved. Grandfather was a 
mstn of indomitable will and strong personality. 
Even in his old age he had an aversion to being 
waited on. '1*11 do it myself,* was his frequent ex- 

Tmge Twenty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

pression. He learned the carpenter's and paint- 
er's trade when young, but did not follow either 
occupation consistently or exclusively as a means 
of gaining a livelihood. He painted the high 
steeple of the Baptist church at South Rutland (of 
which he and grandmother were members) after 
he was eighty years old. The church was across 
the street from their home, and he had the care of 
it during the declining years of his life.** 

Another account of Leighton Field, received 
by the writer hereof, describes him as a **man of 
powerful physique and gentle manners.** He was 
looked upon always as one of the first men of 
the community in which he lived stnd a leading 
spirit in all public affairs. His advice was always 
sought in matters of community interest and it was 
seldom rejected. He had no enemies, and no fa- 
miliar friends outside the circle of his immediate 
family. He was a person of intense a£Fection, but 
not at all demonstrative. Adele was his favorite 
child, and only she could influence him to unbend 
from his customary attitude of dignified reserve. 
Like his famous daughter, he possessed deeply 
rooted convictions, great self-reliance and broad 
charity. No one in distress ever appealed to him 
for aid in vain and no one ever suffered from an 
unkind word or unjust deed of which he was the 

Page Twenty-Pour 




MISS FIELDE'S FATHBR AND MOTHER 



Ancettry, Birth, Parentage 

source. He died September 27th9 1878, aged 
eighty-four years. 

Sophia (Ti£Fany) Field was a woman of un- 
usual culture. True, being of pioneer life and ex- 
traction, her educational advantages were meager; 
but she was an omnivorous reader. She eagerly 
devoured the contents of every book that came into 
her possession, reading each several times, often 
aloud to the younger members of her femiily. By 
this latter means the thought of Shakespeare, Mil- 
ton, Addison, Johnson, Scott, Hawthorne, Coop- 
er, Dickens and Thackery became household topics 
of conversation and a source of family refinement. 
Mrs. Field is said to have been **to the manner 
bom.*' While she faithfully performed the duties 
of a pioneer housewife and a pioneer mother with 
self-sacrificing devotion, her instinctive tastes were 
not at all in accord with the primitive surroundings 
and commonplace existence that she was compelled 
to endure. But she accepted her lot cheerfully, 
finding solace in the faith that some way would be 
provided by which her children would escape her 
fate. She had a strong sense of humor that 
prompted her to laugh readily at the small vexa- 
tions and even at the more serious privations of 
her uninteresting career, but she never ridiculed 
persons. She resembled her celebrated daughter 

Page Twenty-Plve 



Life of AdMe Markm Fielde 

in quiet self-possession, graceful manners and fine 
poise. 

Five children were bom to the home of Leigh- 
ton and Sophia Field— Celinda, Albert, Clarinda, 
Orinda and Adele. Three of these were persons 
of exceptional endowment, and all of them were 
of superior characters, intellectually and morally. 
Albert, the only son, was a writer of marked abil- 
ity. For several years he was a paid contributor 
to a number of the larger newspapers of New 
York, and some of his magazine articles gained 
him the local distinction of a promising author of 
certain future fame. Unfortunately he died be- 
fore he became fully mature, too young to have 
achieved any very pronounced literary success. 
Clarinda was another talented member of the femi- 
ily. Her tastes were scientific. She made astron- 
omy her specialty, devoting the spare time of her 
life to the study and research work of that science. 
Soon after her graduation from school she married 
Edward J. Richards and became the mother of four 
children, three sons and one daughter. None of 
her o£Fspring, however, lived to reach adult life ex- 
cept her daughter, Adele, who is now living in Al- 
bany, New York, the wife of Mr. H. A. Fisher. 



Pa^e Twenty-Six 



CHAPTER TWO 
Eariy Environment; Character and Personality. 

EAST RODMAN, the birthplace of Miss Fielde, 
was, and still is, a small village of Je£Ferson 
County in the northern part of the State of 
New York. When the subject of this biography 
was five years old her parents removed with their 
family to South Rutland, then called Tylersville, 
which was about five miles distant, in the same 
county. Both towns are situated in the valley of 
Sandy Creek, a glacial erosion, through which the 
waters drained from the surrounding hills course 
westward to Lake Ontario. South Rutland, where 
Miss Fielde made her home until her twenty-fifth 
year, is a larger and conmiercially a more important 
place than East Rodman. Though its chief source 
of dependence is its retail trade with a rich agri- 
cultural district, it possessed in 1 845 a woolen mill, 
several small manufacturing shops, a tannery and 
an ashery. Besides this it was something of a cul- 
tural center. Here was maintained a conmion 
school, a town hall and a union church, the latter 
being the common place of worship for the Bap- 
tists, Methodists and Universalists. 

Obviously the citizens of South Rutland were ex- 

Pa«re Twenty-Seven 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 

ceptionally liberal in their sectarian convictions, 
and, undoubtedly, any other religious denomina- 
tion besides those enumerated might have had the 
use of the church edifice if desired, except the Ro- 
man Catholic. It is a matter of record that the com- 
munity was not so tolerant of Catholicism. The 
inhabitants were largely made-up of the descrend- 
ants of the Puritan colonists, and even at that com- 
paratively late day, the prejudice against the Cath- 
olic religion was just as pronounced as in the time 
when flame and faggot were popular means of 
adjusting di£Ferences of doctrinal opinion. 

In early life Miss Fielde affiliated with the Uni- 
versalists, though her parents and other members 
of the family were Baptists. At that period in her 
career she was strongly sectarian, strict in the per- 
formance of her church duties, faithfully attentive 
to the prescribed doctrinal observances and eagerly 
responsive to the neighborhood prejudice against 
Catholicism. This latter feeling was the most dif- 
ficult of them all to overcome in later life, persist- 
ing long after she had freed herself from the nar- 
rowing influence of creed and had discontinued 
the performance of the rites and ceremonies of Pro- 
testant usage. A small incident in her middle life 
serves to illustrate this unhappy heritage as well 
as a more interesting phase of her character. 

Pagre Twenty-Eiffht 



Eariy Environment; Character and Personality 

While attending an institution of applied bio- 
logy in the East, one of her preceptors was a man 
whom she herself pronounced ^'delightful.** He 
was a profound scientist, a gentleman of advanced 
culture and a Roman Catholic. In their apprecia- 
tion of literature, paintings, sculpture, music and 
the drama, teacher and pupil were of equal devel- 
opment and of sympathetic tastes; from which 
grew a strong and enduring friendship. But they 
could not agree in matters of creed. Early in their 
association, the professor caught notes of her pre- 
judice against Catholicism and in their daily con- 
verse often tried to soften it by representing the 
ancient faith in its better and brighter lights. Un- 
fortunately she mistook his purpose for an attempt 
to convert her to his own religious views, and not 
unfrequently became bitter and sarcastic in resent- 
ing these supposed e£Forts. 

One day, as the professor himself told the writer 
hereof, she came into his class room somewhat lat- 
er than usual. After the customary exchange of 
greetings, she said abruptly: 

**Dr. , do you know where I have been?*' 

**No, Miss Fielde,*' he answered, noticing that 
she was not in a pleasant mood, **I do not know 
where you have been.** 

"Weill** she resumed, **I have been to your 

Paffe Twenty-Nine 



Life of Adde Markm Fidde 

church; and I have witnessed the 'Elevation of the 
Host/ During the performance I could not help 
but wonder if, in the light of the twentieth century 
civilization, such an exhibition of superstition 
could possibly appeal to the reverential in man." 

The professor wisely refrained from making any 
immediate response, \ostensibly applying himself 
to some research work before him, but in reality 
he planned to administer a rebuke that he thought 
would have a salutary and lasting e£Fect. 

After a time he left the building; went out on 
the street ; returning in the course of an hour. On 
entering their study room, he addressed her using 
the same rhetorically abhorrent form of speech of 
which she had been guilty. 

**Miss Fielde," he began; "do you know where 
I have been?" 

By this time Miss Fielde had recovered from her 
irritability and, perhaps, was repenting her earlier 
rudeness. 

"No, Dr. ," she replied; **I do not know 

where you have been." 

"Weill" he continued, "I have been to my 
church and on my knees I have prayed my Lord to 
forgive you for the insult you o£Fered Him." 

It was her turn to remain silent and absorbed 
for a while, which she did. Later in the day she, 

Pa^e Thirty 



E^y Environment; Character and Personality 

too, disappeared; returning after a time quite 
meek and subdued. 

"Dr. /' she said, again reverting to the ob- 
jectionable petitio princippii, "do you know 
where I have been?** 

"No, Miss Fielde; I do not/* 

"Well, I have been to your church, and on my 
knees have prayed our Lord to forgive me for the 
wicked insult I o£Fered you.'^ 

Miss Fielde was not a handsome child, nor did 
her personal appearance improve as she grew old- 
er. She had a very large head, masculine in its 
proportions, and her features were decidedly irre- 
gular. At first sight she impressed one as being 
positively homely; but her looks improved as ac- 
quaintance with her became more extended. Her 
face was singularly expressive, seldom in repose, 
and in moments of inspirational excitement it re- 
flected the grandeur of her character to such an ex- 
tent that it was exceptionally attractive. She pos- 
sessed that attribute commonly described as 
*'charm,** which, perhaps, was the chief source of 
her power in controlling the semi-savage people 
with whom she lived so many years ; and the secret 
of her leadership among those of the most advanc- 
ed civilization and highest culture. 

In form she was large and stout. When fully 

Pa«re Thirty -One 



Life of AdMe Marion Fidlde 

grown she was about five-feet-six-inches in height 
and during the whole of her life she was af- 
flicted with a superabundance of adipose tissue. 
She nearly always enjoyed the best of health, was 
strong, enduring and athletic. She lived much out- 
of-doors, being fond of horseback riding, boating 
and walking; but despite her several forms of con- 
stant exercise, to use her own words, she never 
succeeded in reducing her figure to anything ap- 
proaching the approved standards of gentility. Her 
rotundity was a source of annoyance to her as well 
as a subject of self-ridicule. Nor was she adverse 
to being made the object of a little fun-making on 
the part of others. In one of her letters she de- 
scribed as amusing occurence that took place on 
the ship *W. B. Palmer,*' while on her first vo3rage 
to the Orient. A delegation of her fellow pas- 
sengers had solemnly requested her not to appear 
on deck while the ship was passing the Solomon 
Islands for fear of exciting the appetites of a horde 
of cannibals, which had assembled on a near-by 
beach. 

According to a recent newspaper article by Mrs. 
Adaline M. Payne, now of Nevada, Iowa, who was 
Miss Fielde*s first school teacher when they both 
lived in South Rutland, Miss Fielde was an ex- 
cellent scholar. She easily led the South Rutland 

Page Thirty-Two 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

the school, which was usually collected monthly. 

Leighton Field's income was small and his em- 
plo3nnent uncertain. He had a large femiily to sup- 
port and educate. The money he was obliged to ap- 
propriate from his slender means was a constant 
drain upon his resources, and had been for years. 
Adele was his youngest child and when it came her 
turn to go to college the family purse ivas too near- 
ly exhausted to be equal to the proposed demand. 
She was very much disappointed, but wasted no 
time in bewailing her fate. Instead, she went to 
work to earn the money. This she succeeded in 
doing in three years by teaching school. It is said 
of her that she gave general satisfaction as a teacher 
of the primary schools where she taught and receiv- 
ed the highest salary for her services ever before 
paid to a woman teacher. This latter condition 
was probably due to her innate thrift and superior 
business abilities. She was a strong believer in the 
proverb that "the laborer is worthy of his hire.'* In 
all business transactions she invariably gave and 
always demanded just equivalents, and seldom fail- 
ed to exact full compensation for her work. Dur- 
ing the whole of her adult life her earnings were 
comparatively large. She always lived comfort- 
ably, spending liberally of her means for travel, 
books, public entertainments and for educational 

Pacre Thirty-Pour 



Early Envircmnient; Character and Personality 

purposes ; and it is safe to assert that fully one-half 
of her income was given to charity and for the ad- 
vancement of social welfare projects ; yet her ledger 
nearly always showed a balance to her credit every 
year until she reached the age of seventy. At that 
time she systematically refused to work for pay or 
to engage in any enterprise with a view of gaining 
a profit. 

Another interesting member of the Field family 
was Mrs. Field's father, ^'Grandfather Ti£Fany/* 
who was very old, but who lived until Miss Fielde 
was ten years of age. He had served as a soldier 
in the war of the American Revolution, and, in the 
later years of his life was a reliable resource for the 
entertainment of his grandchildren because of the 
stories he told of that historic struggle. 

Because of this ancestor, and probably many 
others, Miss Fielde was eligible to membership in 
various patriotic societies, the privilege of which 
she never could be pursuaded to avail herself. 
While quite proud of her patriotic ancestry, she was 
not at all sanguine of pleasure or profit to be de- 
rived from membership in organia^ations of such 
pronounced exclusiveness. In her lectures on 
'*Resisons for a Coterie/* she defines her attitude 
on this subject as follows: 

congeniality depends on similarity of 

Pa«re Thirty-Plve 



Life of Adele Marion Fidlde 

aesthetic and ethical standards. It is true that, just 
as we have the inalienable right to protect our- 
selves from unpleasant odors, harsh noises, and 
other physical nuisances, we have also the right to 
secure ourselves against ungentle and ungrammati-' 
cal speech, uncouth manners and unworthy ideas. 
We have the right to establish for ourselves certain 
standards of behavior, and to admit to our social 
circle only those persons whose standards are like 
our own. It is only through the maintenance of 
correct standards of taste and action, and the strict 
exclusion of all non-conformers from our homes, 
that society reaches any high degree of gentle 
breeding. Consorting with congenial spirits is the 
acme of earthly enjo3nnent, and every e£Fort to at- 
tain this consortation is an e£Fort to gain the best 
that the world a£Fords. 

**But coteries founded on place of birth, national 
preferences or convictional prejudice, ignore the 
fundamental bases for congeniality. They tend to 
narrow the mental horizon, and to limit the sphere 
of social delight. Congenial souls come to us from 
all points of the compass, and from diverse lines 
of parentage. Valuable human beings, like the won- 
derful floral creations of Luther Burbank, often 
appear as sports upon their genealogical trees. To 
fail of including them within one*s acquaintances 
would be a personal calamity. They are not classi- 
fied under ordinary titles, and they would be wholly 
unknown to the systematist. I have friends in 
many countries, and among the most exquisite of 

Pa«re Thirty-Six 



Eariy Environment; Character and Personality 

body and soul, I reckon a high caste Hindu lady; a 
Chinese peasant's daughter; the wife of a Russian 
tanner; and an Irish nurse. 

**We are not yet acquainted with the forces that 
produce the highest order of human creatures. 
Schools and courts are useful educators, and their 
work upon the individual that they discipline is not 
to be under-estimated. But, after all, it is what the 
individual is, not the process by which he has been 
evolved, that we need to consider in admission to 
our coterie. A scheme of existence that allures to 
oneself the largest social satisfaction, is better than 
allegiance to a locality or to a lineage. It therefore 
seems that all coteries in which eligibility to mem- 
bership is based upon anything other than congeni- 
ality, that is, upon ethical and aesthetic standards, 
would be likely to deprive the member of more 
valuable friendships 'than the coterie could pro- 
vide.*' 

Miss Fielde left the home of her childhood to go 
abroad in 1865, never again to return except for 
an occasional visit. Her last trip to South Rutland 
was made in the spring of 1895, when she went to 
supervise the work of placing a memorial to her 
parents in the little cemetery, where repose their 
remains besides those of their son, Albert. The 
substantial shaft, erected on that occasion, bears 
two inscriptions. One of them reads '*Leighton 
Field, died December 28th, 1878, aged 84 years;" 

Fase Thirty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

the other, **Sophia Tiffany Field, His Wife; died 
November 9th, 1880; aged 87 years.** 

In 1911, Miss Fielde wrote to Mrs. Adaline M. 
Pa3me; her letter contained the following com- 
ments regarding the place where both she and her 
corres(>ondent spent the earlier (>ortions of their 
lives: 

**Not unfrequently in my sleeping dreams I start 
from my father's house in Tylersville and, just as I 
really did in my earlier years, walk a mile to visit 
my grandmother on the Maltby Hill. I note each 
house as I pass it, and your father's house is a land- 
mark denoting about a third of the way, and some 
of the inmates are seen about the place. Then I go 
on to the thomapple tree and across the bridge over 
Sandy Creek and up the hill, till I smell the lilacs or 
the Balm-of-Gilead trees in my grandmother's door- 
yard. I know the thickest turf-spots on that road 
and every curve of the creek, and the view of each 
winding of the highway. My feet have traveled 
far since then; but I doubt if a tour around the 
world would now appear to me to be of fuller or 
more thrilling incidents than did that walk of a mile 
when I was but a few years old, and had never been 
more than ten miles from my birth-place. You 
have lately been back to those old scenes ; I do not 
think I could now bear the stress of a return to 
them. The things that are no more wrack one too 
severely." 

Pasre Thirty-Elerht 



CHAPTER THREE 
Qiaracter and Penonality — G>ntinuecl 

TO properly describe A4is8 Fielde*s personality 
and correctly analyze her character is a some- 
what pretentious undertaking. The things 
that were most prominent in her career were her 
altruism, her earnestness, her steadfastness and her 
orderliness. In every undertaking, her first thought 
was to pre-estimate the measure of good to be at- 
tained. Her next concern was the probability of 
success. Every proposition must stand the test 
of her foresight and the application of her reason. 
An illustration of this habit may be seen in an in- 
cident of several years ago. A plan affecting a 
matter of supposedly vital importance had been 
submitted to her, of which the initiators 'were en- 
thusiastically confident of good results. Miss 
Fielde said: *This seems good; but let us care- 
fully examine the ground we will have to traverse. 
We must look ahead to the finish as well as see 
the beginning. We want to be sure that there 
are stepping stones all the way which we may use 
if we reach a marshy place. To be swamped or 
compelled to retrace our steps would be neither 
wise nor profitable.** 

But once a project seemed **wise and profit- 

Page Thirty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

able,** she pushed forward with a determination of 
will and energy that brooked no opposition. In 
commenting on this phase of her character, Rev. 
William K. McKibben, one of her colleagues in 
missionary service, wrote of her: 

**You who have known the determination, en- 
ergy and persistency which characterized her ac- 
tivities in America, for instance in the cause of 
equal su£Frage, or in the prohibition crusade, can 
well imagine what it must have been in the Orient, 
in her younger days. If there were obstacles they 
must be overcome. If houses, churches or schools 
were needed they had to be provided in some way. 
With her, as with Napoleon, there must be no Alps. 
Circimistances, in her etymology, were but things 
that were to be made to stand around. Sight once 
gained of some end, it must be reached; by sheer 
weight of mind and fixity of purpose she pushed 
her way through until the goal was won.** 

Not only was Miss Fielde determined and per- 
sistent, but, it must be confessed, she was likevdse 
(>ositive. Once she felt that she was right her opin- 
ions became fixed. She must be absolutely con- 
vinced of error before it was (>ossible for her to 
change her views or reform her attitude once es- 
tablished. But withal she was tolerant of every 
other person's opinion and attitude. Some time 
ago, a lady who belonged to a social organization 

Pagre Forty 



Qiancter and Personality 

of which Miss Fielde was an active member, wrote 
or this characteristic: 

**We talk, discuss and argue a proposition until 
the matter seems exhausted; and, in the end, A4iss 
Fielde rises with her *queen-mother* air and re- 
duces us all to silence. Her decisions are so abso^ 
lutely final that often we have difficulty in becom- 
ing resigned. On one occasion, when we had been 
thoroughly squelched, a member, who was still de- 
fiant, remarked in an undertone: *Well, there is 
nothing else for us to do but to wait for a lainy 
day and then change the constitution.* ** 

**The allusion to a **rainy day** referred to Miss 
Fielde*s practice of wisely remaining under the 
shelter of her own home when meeting days were 
stormy or the weather otherwise inclement. At 
this time she was seventy-five years old and her 
physical health was such that caution was neces- 
sary on her part. 

It was not to be inferred from the foregoing that 
Miss Fielde was in any sense timid. On the con- 
trary, she was absolutely unafraid. During her ca- 
reer she survived three typhoons that had strewn 
miles of the Chinese coast with the debris of 
wrecked vessels; had faced a Chinese mob, which 
threatened her with a violent death ; had taken part 
in an elephant hunt in Siam, where several of the 
other participants had been killed or maimed; had 

Page Porty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

encountered the dangers of the stormy seas, swift- 
running streams, wild animals and savage men of 
Alaska, at a period when travel in that country 
was thought an even game of chance with death; 
and if she ever experienced the sensation of fear, 
neither history nor tradition has furnished an ac- 
count of it. 

A woman friend of the writer recently described 
Miss Fielde*s wonderful nerve control under very 
exciting circumstances, when bodily injury seemed 
possible and arrest and imprisonment probable. Ac- 
cording to the lady*s story, she and Miss Fielde at- 
tended a meeting of the Industrial Workers of 
the World, at a period when that organization was 
at the acme of its trouble-making. 

**We had no sooner became seated,** she said, 
"when a dispute arose over the selection of a chair- 
man. There were several hundred men and women 
present: in a moment all of them 'were on their 
feet, savagely howling and shouting threats. Many 
of them shook their fists and swung their canes, 
while others searched their pockets for more ef- 
fective wea(>ons. The lights were turned out, leav- 
ing the place in total darkness; and a riot call was 
sent in to police headquarters. 

"Miss Fielde!** 1 screamed, trying to raise my 
voice above the tumult, **let*s get out of here.** 

Page Forty -Two 



Qiancter and Personality 

**No, no!** she answered; **thi8 is so interesting. 
Let us stay and see what else they do.** 

Miss Fielde was a genuine aristocrat, at least in 
one sense of that often misapplied term. The prin- 
ciple of noblesse oblige characterized her every 
action. She was naturally a leader, invariably forg- 
ing ahead in every mov^nent, blazing a trail so that 
others of less robust courage and endurance could 
follow. And she demanded full recognition of her 
sovereignty. She was never familiar with others, 
not even with her most intimate acquaintances and 
friends; and never permitted familiarity from oth- 
ers. True, she had a strong sense of humor, but a 
joke must be made in perfect taste, otherwise she 
would not tolerate it. Any alleged bon mot that 
approached the vulgar was abhorrent to her ; and if 
applied to her or directed towards her, she resented 
it in words and manner that seemed a gift little 
short of inspiration. In an article written for the 
Western Woman*s Outlook, September 19, 1912, 
she gives her conception of an aristocrat, and the 
moral and aesthetic responsibility that attaches to 
an individual who properly represents that exalted 
social status. Parts of the article are here repro^ 
duced: 

**Every nation, as well as every individual in a 
nation, cherishes an ideal of life as it ought to be. 

Pasre Forty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

That ideal moulds to a greater or less degree the 
conduct of the holder. 

**In each of the great religions a person whose 
character and behavior represents that of the ideal 
man, claims the devotion of the disciple and de- 
mands conformity to the example presented by the 
founder. The aristocrat in each country is nomi- 
nally an adherent of the accepted religion. Support 
of l^e established religion is everywhere a social 
function of the aristocrat. 

**The existence and doings of a veritable aristo- 
crat holds the attention of other persons because 
the aristocrat is supposed to live the sort of life 
that every person would like to live. The aristo- 
crat is looked upon as one who holds in his hand 
the possibilities necessary to the creation of the 
ideal life, and the observer is eager to note the re- 
sult of such holding. 

"When a General Nogi quits life in order to ac- 
company his Emperor to the land of shades and con- 
tinue to serve him there, he acts the ideal man 
among his people. When the Countess Nogi delib- 
erately makes ready to accompany her husband in 
the act of fealty due to his Emperor, she behaves 
as would the ideal woman of her country. Such a 
sacrifice of self means that aristocracy in that coun- 
try is (>otent in its claims u(>on the souls of the 
living. It means that the highest qualities yet 
evolved in the human race — chivalry, fidelity, high 
sense of personal duty, correct private relationships 
and lofty standards of public service are preserved 

Page Forty-Four 



Qiancter and Personality 

by the men and women of the class to which hom- 
age is paid, and that the homage paid is that of 
spiritusd fealty rather than that of material dis- 
play. Il means that the inherent and actual dig- 
nity of the aristocrat furnishes to the nation a 
standard that it prizes for the measurement of 
character and behavior for everyday use among the 
commonality. The commonality can a£Ford to pay 
something for such standards, and it pays its hom- 
age, not with bitter jealousy but with reverent 
approval. 

**A true aristocracy, created by eugenic breeding, 
practical education, and divine leadings, is essen- 
tial to the advancement of any nation in true civil- 
ization. 

**When the class nominally highest becomes lux- 
urious, pleasure-loving, inane, unscrupulous, the 
upholder of the low and false standards of human 
conduct and relationships, its overthrow is at hand 
and a French Revolution is imminent. When the 
class, whose function it is to elevate national 
ideals becomes a byword and a reproach, the ob- 
ject of secret contempt and open enmity among 
the commonality, the nation is decadent and its 
future is somber. The demoralizing influence of 
a class, nominally aristocratic and actually degen- 
erate, is beyond compute. Since nations began to 
be, the id^ds of man, far more influential upon 
him than are his usual ideas, have been formed 
mainly hy the privileged class. All below this 
class look up to it to see what it does with its leis- 

Paffo Forty -Five 



life of Adele Marion FieUe 

ure and its appurtenances, and inquires what is the 
life of those who have power to live as they please. 
It behooves them to live rightly. 

**The Countess Nogi, at her home in a thatched 
house in the suburb, lived very simply, with stately 
courtesy and gentle hospitality. Her ideal of cor- 
rect behavior may not have been true to the high- 
est truth when she decided on voluntary death. 
But her notions of social duty, as evinced in her 
demise, stand in sublime contrast to that of a 
woman canying a begemmed lapdog to its birth- 
day party; and we may accept it as logical for a 
real aristocrat in her sphere of Oriental life. She 
had lowered no ideal of the commonality.** 

A summary of Miss Fielde*s character and per- 
sonality could be made from the following analysis 
and classification: Her intellectual faculties were 
evenly developed to a rare degree of advancement ; 
morally she was a Christian; politically, a demo- 
crat; generally described, she was intensely hu- 
man. In commenting upon her fine intellectual 
endowments. Dr. Edward J. Nolan, secretary of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 
makes this statement: 

**I never knew a better balanced human being. 
Her capacity for making warm personal friends 
of everyone she cared to associate with (which was 
not by any means everybody), and the ability 

Paffe Forty-Six 



Character and Personality 

to find for herself a definite sphere were extraordi- 
nary/* 

Miss Fielde believed absolutely in Christianity as 
the essential moral ideal The practice of the 
Christian principles, she thought, was the only de- 
pendable method by which the moral regeneration 
of humanity was to be worked out. Her democ- 
racy was the result of intellectual conviction rather 
than a matter of birth and national environment 
She made a profound study of the several social 
systems of civilized nations and came to look upon 
a democracy as the ultima thtde of governmental 
evolution. In her opinion there were, really, but 
two general systems of social agreement — ^frater- 
nal and paternal. The former has its highest man- 
ifestation in a democracy; an autocracy is the 
primitive form of the latter. Socialism, Syndical- 
ism and Communism are pn^x>8ed attempts to de- 
velop the latter without change in the fundamental 
principles. 

But first of all she vms human. She had a **de- 
cent reispect** for the opinions of all mankind 
whether those of religious creed or political par- 
tisanship. On one occasion she said: **I am not 
at all afraid of Sodalism or S3mdicalism. I believe 
it is the duty of every American to carefully in- 
quire into and learn the causes v^y so many of 

Pagre Forty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

our recent immigrants prefer to cling to their po- 
litical ideals of paternalism instead of joining with 
us in the development of our democracy.** At one 
time she entertained Joseph Ettor after hearing 
that individual deliver a lecture, keeping him sev- 
eral hours while he explained S3mdicalism and at- 
tempted to justify the practice of **direct action** 
and sabotage. When he left her home he took 
with him a substantial present of money, which he, 
perhaps, found convenient in the present condition 
of society, even if not contemplated as a thing of 
value in the Utopia of his dreams. 

Referring to the exclusively human trait in Miss 
Fielde*s character, Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
writes of her: 

**She was a woman to whom the word great de- 
servedly applied; a great character, strong, wise, 
courageous, progressive. I have never known a 
woman more richly *hiunan.* There are many 
women sweet and good, even able along certain 
lines, yet still more feminine than htunan; just as 
some men are more masculine than human. But 
Adele Fielde was a human being as well as a noble 
woman. 

**Her life of varied achievement has left her 
best monument in the hearts and minds of thou- 
sands whom she has taught and helped; and bio- 
logical science is enriched by her labors. 

Fa«e Forty-Eiffht 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

'"Besides all this she was a "likable* person, with 
hosts of friends, and this popularity she retained 
to her latest yearSw Such a life is an inspiration and 
an example/* 



Paffe Forty-Nine 



CHAPTER FOUR 
A Psychic Experience 

EARLY in life Miss Fielde had a strange psychic 
experience, which was, apparently, a mani- 
festation of prophecy. This experience, she 
confessed, made a deep impression u(>on her. It 
prompted her to give a great deal of study and time 
to the investigation of the several phases of Hindu 
occultism, Spiritualism and Christian Science. 
And, while she always seemed greatly interested 
in the various activities of these recondite forces, 
she invariably declined to express an opinion as to 
their source or sources of (>ower. She 'was, how- 
ever, inclined to regard all species of mysticism as 
unimportant when compared with the study and 
research work of the material sciences. It was her 
contention that the phenomena of the normal func- 
tions of the soul were far more wonderful than its 
abnormal manifestations, and that the study of the 
normal functions were far more healthful and in- 
forming than an investigation of its abnormalities. 

However, Miss Fielde was too broad-minded to 
condemn such knowledge as valueless because it 
was difficult to understand or because it lacked re- 
8(>onsivene8s to the law of uniformity. Actuated 
by a general interest in scientific disclosure rather 

Paffe Fifty 



A Psychic Experience 

than from a personal motive, in 1 907 she wrote an 
account of the psychic experience referred to, send- 
ing copies to Professor James H. Hyslop and Sir 
Oliver Lxxlge, the heads of the American and Ejig- 
lish Societies for Psychical Research, respectively. 
In her letter of instruction to these scientists, ac- 
compansring the account, she stipulated that neither 
the substance nor any printed discussion of her ex- 
perience should be made public until after her 
death. Following is a verbatim account of the 
strange affair clothed in her own language, kindly 
furnished the writer by Professor Hyslop: 

"Forty-nine West Forty-fourth Street, 

New York City, N. Y. 

June Third, 1 907. 

"When I was about fifteen years old, living in 
my father's house and sleeping in my own bed- 
room, at Tylersville, Jefferson County, New York, 
I had one night a dream so vivid that when I awoke 
next morning it seemed to have been an actual ex- 
perience. Its details have never become blurred in 
my memory, and during the fifty years since I 
dreamed this dream, its prophetic character has be- 
come overwhelmingly apparent to me. But there 
remains from it something still unaccomplished, 
and now 1 write it out in order that my record may 
stand with the Society for Psychical Research, as 
made previous to a complete fulfillment. 

"From a dreamless slumber I seemed to awaken 

Pagre Fifty -One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

under high green pine trees in a wide forest, where 
the ground was eversrwhere flecked with sunshine 
and thickly carpeted with fallen needles, upon 
which I walked in an undefined but certain path, 
knowing that my fortune was soon to be told to 
me. Thus walking I came to a log cabin, mounted 
a stair, and stood with my back to the single win- 
dow, in a square room draped with cobwdbs. Its 
only furniture was a chair near the middle of the 
room, and upon this sat an aged woman with deep- 
set black eyes, and it was she who knew my fortune. 

**She 'wore a plain brown dress with a white 
kerchief crossed over the breast, and a close white 
cap tied under the chin. Her grey hair floated 
thickly from under the cap. She sat alone aiid mo- 
tionless in the still room, and I stood silently before 
her, while without speaking a word she communi- 
cated to my mind her knowledge of my future. 

*'I should live a long and eventful life, solitary 
though not isolated. The solitariness would be 
the chief element in my consciousness and would 
continue many, many years, but thereafter there 
would come to me honors and uncommon happi- 
ness. The chief happiness of my life would be to- 
wards its close, but the happiness would be real and 
would not be brief. 

**Without speech I turned, went down the stairs, 
back by the path by which I had come, and when I 
reached the s(>ot in the forest where the dream be- 
gan, it there ceased and I slept. 

"I have always felt that this dream was prophet- 

Paffe Plfty-Two 



A Psydiic Ezperimce 

ic; but I am not aware that it has ever influenced 
my decisions or my actions. The first part of it 
has proven true to a degree so impressive that I 
think that the remainder of my life will conform to 
its yet unfulfilled part. In such case, it will be 
necessary for me to live several years longer, per- 
haps a dozen or more. Something that I do not 
now foresee or have reason to suspect must hap- 
pen; because the later years of my life were to be 
essentially tmlike its major portion, and much more 
happy. If the next decade brings me uncommon 
honor and happiness— -or rather honorable happi- 
ness — ^then the dream was truly prophetic. But if 
the next decade does not bring me a degree of hon- 
orable happiness that exceeds anything I have yet 
experienal, then the dream fails of complete ful- 
fillment and is not to be reckoned among curious 
psychic phenomena. 

"Adele M. Fielde." 

The foregoing presents only a general state- 
ment. In Miss Fielde's verbal account of the ex- 
perience, the witch did not utter a word during all 
the time she was present, but seemed to communi- 
cate the ''fortune'* subconsciously by a sort of pan- 
oramic exhibition. Every important event that 
was to take place in her career passed before her in 
review. She saw herself making preparations to 
leave her home and go abroad. She felt herself 
crossing the stormy seas and experienced the sensa- 

Pagre Fifty -Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

tion of homesickness from being exiled in a for- 
eign land. She witnessed the death of her affianced 
husband and was overwhelmed with grief and de- 
spair. She experienced the reconciliation that was 
to come from her disappointed hopes and pre-de- 
termined to *'live less herself that others might live 
more through her.'* The many bright spots that 
were to illumine her life were presented as clearly 
as those of darker color. In her vision she saw 
herself a successful teacher, author, scientist and 
social leader and anticipated all the pleasures of 
gratified ambition. The final 'Veat honor/* re- 
ferred to in her written account, came according to 
schedule. In 1914 Miss Fielde was elected a Fel- 
low of the American Society for the Advancement 
of Science at the annual meeting of the delegates of 
that eminent body in Washington, D. C. 

This, indeed, was recognition of her great 
achievements and fine character by a truly high 
source of authority. Membership in the American 
Society for the Advancement of Science is in it- 
self a rare distinction and not easily gained. To 
be eligible a person must have done something 
worth while, distinguished himself in some field of 
scientific research or have been the instrument of 
some important scientific disclosure. And how 
much greater the honor of being chosen a Fellow? 

Page Fifty-Four 



A Psychic Experience 

In the United States there are several thousand 
members, but comparatively only a few Fellows. 
The society was organized in 1 848 and during its 
existence of seventy years only seventy-three 
women have been elected Fellows. 

The passage of the prohibition amendment to the 
Constitution of the State of Washington was ac- 
knowledged by Miss Fielde to have brought her the 
greatest happiness of her life. It was her belief 
that the joy she experienced from this source com- 
pletely fulfilled the prophecy so strangely presented 
to her. 

In discussing the mysterious affair shortly be- 
fore her death, Miss Fielde expressed the opinion 
that the incident was a genuine instance of proph- 
ecy, though she did not regard it as necessarily a 
supernatural occurrence. On the other hand, she 
was inclined to look upon it as the expression of 
some unknown natural force. A force, she be- 
lieved, which some day material science would be 
able satisfactorily to explain. She thought the 
time would come when the phenomena of spirit- 
ism, necromancy, occultism and kindred powers 
would be made manifest and, perhaps, be used for 
the practical benefit of mankind. 



Pa«re Fifty -Five 



CHAPTER FIVE 

Attendiiig the Normal G>nege; FrimdUiip Vfifh 
Miss Qulcott; Engagemmt to Cjfnis QulcotL 

IN 1 838 Miss Fielde attended the State Normal 
School at Albany, from which she was grad- 
uated in I860. Her college career was not 
marked by any unusual event; but a friendship 
that she formed while at Albany led to what she re- 
garded the most important event of her life. 
It was there she met Miss Lucretia M. Chilcott, who 
was her room-mate and constant companion dur«- 
ing the school term. Miss Chilcott writes of this 
intimacy as follows: 

'*In the month of September of the year 1838, 
Dell and 1 went to Albany to attend the State Nor- 
mal School, she from Watertown, Jefferson Coun- 
ty, I from Buffalo, Erie County. We both wished 
to rent rooms and board ourselves. The day of our 
arrival was Saturday, she got there in the morn- 
ing, I in the afternoon. She had been assigned to 
a room and I being sent to the same room found her 
lying on the bed crying with homesickness. It was 
a dismal, rainy afternoon, one of those days that 
requires heroism to be cheerful, but strangers as 
we were, an immediate bond of S3rmpathy was 
created and we became warm friends and remained 
together until we graduated. 

**She was a close student and was very popular 

Page Plfty-Six 



Engagemmt to Cjnrus Qulcott 

with both teachers and pupils but her close applica- 
tion to her lessons did not prevent her enjo3rment 
of the humorous side of school life as the follow- 
ing incident will illustrate: 

'*We were all especially fond of one teacher, who 
excelled in everything but discipline. One day 
with the manner of care-free scholars we started to 
laugh at something ridiculous and prolonged the 
merriment unduly. Dell was requested to change 
her seat to one near the stove. She acquiesed grace- 
fully, pretending that she was cold, and that this 
seat was the one she most desired. She carried 
this ruse successfully until her face became as red 
as a lobster, at which the teacher and class became 
convulsed with laughter. 

**At the time we became room-mates, she was a 
Universalist and I was a Baptist. We agreed that 
we would not argue on religious subjects, but if one 
could convince the other by her life that she had 
the truth, or a clearer conception of it than the 
other, that would be her privilege/* 

In a recent visit to New York City, the writer 
hereof met and enjoyed a conversation with Mrs. 
Sarah Magill, one of Miss Fielde*s intimate friends. 
Mrs. Magill was a student at the Albany Normal 
College, and was graduated therefrom the' year 
after Miss Fielde finished. In speaking of Miss 
Fielde's college career, Mrs. Magill said: *'Miss 
Fielde was an exceptionally good student, highly 

Paire Fifty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

creditable to the school. While at the institution 
she manifested all of the qualities of superiority 
that distinguished her later. She was orderly in 
thought and action, always had her essay ready, 
and was, perhaps, called on for public recitals often- 
er than any of the other students because of her 
pronounced literary talents.'* 

Miss Fielde was in her twenty-second year 
when she was graduated from the Normal. Imme- 
diately after, she resumed teaching, perhaps with the 
intention of making pedagogy her life's calling. At 
first she taught at Watertown and later on at Ma- 
maroneck. New York. At Watertown she made a 
record for fine service and unusual efficiency. By in- 
troducing and applying methods of her own initia- 
tion, she is said to have gained so strong a hold on 
the affections of her pupils that she had perfect 
control of them and to have so stimulated their 
class ambition that the advances made in the de- 
partments over which she presided were unprece- 
dently great. 

While teaching at Mamaroneck an occurrence 
came to pass that changed the entire current of her 
life. While on her way to her home at Watertown, 
at the commencement of the school vacation in 
1 864, she stopped at Buffalo to visit her friend and 
former schoolmate. Miss Lucretia Chilcott. Miss 

Page Fifty-Eight 



Engagement to Cjfnis Chilcott 

Chilcott*8 brother, Cyrus Chilcott, at that time was 
at home preparing to go as a missionary to the Chin- 
ese at Bangkok, Siam. Shortly before the meet- 
ing he had completed his course of study at the 
Rochester Theological Seminary and been ordain- 
ed a Baptist minister at Fredonia, New York. Miss 
Chilcott describes the meeting of Miss Fielde with 
her brother as follows: 

"It was love at first sight with both of them. Of 
course they had known of each other through me 
for years, but had never met till then." 

Miss Fielde was a person of intense affections 
and her desire for love was equally strong. She 
was fitted by nature for wifehood and motherhood 
and to be a wife and mother was the chief ambition 
of her life. Because of her humble home-surround- 
ings, heretofore she had not come into social con- 
tact with anyone of the opposite sex who would 
make a suitable matrimonial match for a woman 
of her superior endowment ; and already her friends 
began to regard her as a "confirmed old maid." 

In one respect she was peculiar, if not somewhat 
contradictory. Although of world-wide s}anpathies 
and genuinely democratic, she was exceedingly 
choice of the selection of her intimate friends. No 
human being was too insignificant or too humble 
for whom she would not make any reasonable self- 

r&ge Fifty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

but she positively would not permit her- 
self to be bored by the companionship of mediocre 
or commonplace individuals. As a consequence 
she was very much alone in early life; and not at 
all popular with persons of either sex. However, 
she was very fond of taking part in social gather- 
ings. She was a brilliant conversationalist, an ap- 
preciative listener, a person of exquisite manners, 
and possessed a strong sense of humor. Also she 
was deeply averse to anything that partook of the 
nature of a practical joke — to anything that tend- 
ed to make a human being seem ridiculous. Pos- 
sibly this latter feeling may have disqualified her 
in a measure from a whole-hearted participation in 
the primitive pleasures of her girlhood days, and to 
have been partly responsible for her lack of suc- 
cess as a social factor at that period of her life. 

Miss Fielde was an intense lover of humanity, if 
not especial^ a respecter of individual persons. 
To her, human dignity, in its true sense, was a 
source of genuine pride ; something to be cherished 
and maintained — something sacred. That **man 
was made in the image of his Maker," was a thought 
that impressed her above all others ; and, in reality, 
was the one that exerted the dominant moral influ- 
ence upon her whole career. An idea of her regard 
for mankind, and her only conception of social dif- 

Pagre Sixty 



Engagemmt to Cjnrus Chilcott 

ferences, may be gained from a remark she once 
made in all earnestness, but the expression of which 
was leavened by a touch of humor. **The twice- 
born/* she said, ''are largely engaged in trying to 
eliminate the evils of this world; a world created 
by a God that loves righteousness and hates in- 
iquity. It is really more alluring to me to work 
with the twice4x>m than to repose under a Bo tree. 
But I admit that a graceful attitude imder a Bo 
tree is admirable.** 

Whether or not Cyrus Chilcott was of the twice- 
born caste, the writer does not know. His 
chosen calling would indicate that he was earnest- 
minded, unselfish, self-sacrificing and devoted to 
high ideals. Miss Fielde was certainly very much 
impressed with him; and, though they were never 
married, she was faithful to her nuptial vows, re- 
maining single. While in Siam she was known 
among the natives as **Teacheress Chilcott,** but 
whether or not she intentionally abandoned her own 
name and assumed his, is problematical. When at 
the height of her fame and popularity as an author, 
she had several offers of marriage, each of which, 
from a worldly viewpoint, was regarded as advan- 
tageous, but which she declined. 

The hours of the long summer days spent at the 
Chilcott home were all too short for the newly en- 

Pa«re Sixty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

gaged couple. They had much to talk about and 
many things to adjust before a date could be fixed 
for their marriage. Love had little difficulty in re- 
moving the obstacles that their differences of opin- 
ion respecting religious creed and doctrinal belief 
might have presented under less propitious circum- 
stances. But the fundamental principles of the 
Universalists and Baptist teachings were so nearly 
alike, that Miss Fielde readily consented to leave 
the church of her choice and unite with his so that 
they might worship God together under the same 
roof. This sacrifice, however, was small compared 
to another that she was called on to endure. Her 
parents were getting old. They were now alone 
except for the presence of their youngest child, 
whose contributions to their support were needed 
by them, but not nearly 'SO much so as the comforts 
of her love and cheerful companionship. Sense of 
duty was the strongest guiding principle that Miss 
Fielde possessed; and not even love could tempt 
her to avoid the natural obligations she felt she 
owed her father and mother. 

It required an all night session to fully discuss 
this phase of the situation, according to Miss Chil- 
cott*s recently related account of the courtship, and 
the return of another day found the problem still 
unsolved. The agreement that was finally reached 

Pagre Sixty -Two 



Engmgement to Cjfnis Qulcott 

was based largely upon two contingencies. It was 
understood by and between them that if her par- 
ents gave their consent, and she could secure an 
engagement as a paid missionary teacher, so that 
she could apply a portion of her earnings for their 
benefit, she would follow her affianced husband to 
the Orient within a year and become his wife, other- 
wise she would remain at home. 

It did not take so long for Mr. and Mrs. Field to 
settle the matter. They were both very much of 
the same heroic material of which their daughter 
was made. Without a moment's hesitation they 
bade her go, declaring themselves fully capable of 
providing for their own support and welfare; at 

the same time, it is not improbable, they realized 
that the chances of again meeting their child on 
earth was very small, indeed. 

Cyrus Chilcott sailed for his post in the month 
of August and arrived at Bangkok Christmas Eve 
of the same year, 1 864. The files of the Baptist 
Missionary Magazine contains the following print- 
ed copy of a letter written by Mr. Chilcott soon 
after his arrival: 

''Bangkok, January 4, 1865. 
*'I am very happy to announce our safe arrival in 
the Promised Land* and that we find it a better 
land than the 'spies* sent before had reported. We 

Pagre Sixty-Three 



Life of Adde Marion FieMe 

reached our destination on Christmas Eve, fourteeti 
days from Hongkong, all well and in good spirits, 
and devoutly grateful to Him whose goodness and 
mercy have followed us over the wide waters and 
whose right hand is upholding us in these uttermost 
parts of the earth. 

**Dr. Chandler publishes a weekly paper called 
the Siam Times and besides does job work and 
some Siamese printing. The paper has just entered 
the seventh month of its existence. 

'*We find the remnants of the old Chinese church 
here but exactly in what condition time will more 
fully develop. ♦ ♦ ♦ 

**I find Dr. Ashmore*s old teacher here and shall 
avail myself of his services. ♦ ♦ ♦ 

*'I like the looks of things much better than I ex- 
pected.** 

Miss Fielde had little difficulty in securing a com- 
mission as a missionary teacher to Siam, when it 
was shown that she was eminently capable of dis- 
charging the duties pertaining to that office, and 
upon the further explanation that she was going out 
to marry Mr. Chilcott. As a preliminary condition to 
the agreement, it was stipulated on the part of the 
Baptist Board of Foreign Missions that she should 
become a member of the Baptist church denomina- 
tion and remain at her post of duty not less than 
five years from the date of her entry into the serv- 
ice. She entered into the prescribed contract; and 

Pagre Sixty-Four 



Engagement to Cjnrus Chilcott 

in January, 1863, was baptised into the Calvary 
Baptist Church, of Washington, D. C, by the Rev. 
T. Reolyn Howlett, who several years previously, 
had been pastor of a Baptist congregation at Al' 
bany. New York. 

She was obliged to wait nearly a year before she 
could secure passage on one of the slow-going sail" 
ing ships, then in use at that period, but finally did 
so. An account of her voyage, written by herself, 
was published in the Spinning Wheel Magazine, 
July, 1913; a reproduction of which forms the con^ 
tents of the succeeding chapter. 



Pagre Sixty-Five 



\ 



CHAPTER SIX 
A Vojrage to the Orient; Miss FieUe's Own Story 

ON THE twentieth day of December, 1865, 
the good ship, N. B. Palmer, fourteen hun- 
dred tons, sailed from New York for Hong- 
kong, with Captain Joseph Steele in command, 
seventeen passengers, an adequate white crew, and 
an inoffensive mixed cargo. Tliere were then no 
passenger steamers crossing the Pacific. Tlie first 
liner to make transit across the greatest ocean was 
the Colorado whose initial trip from San Francisco 
to the Orient began on January first, 1867. Tlie 
securest route to China was therefore thought to be 
by one of the noted tea-clippers, whose captain 
would receive emoluments from the owners in case 
he should make the earliest return with tea of the 
latest crop grown in China. 

"The N. B. Palmer, belonging to A. A. Low & 
Co. of New York was of proven speed and sound- 
ness, and her captain was of notable standing among 
his peers. Most of the passengers, of whom I was 
one, had waited for months upon the movements 
of this particular ship, whose route was to be 
around the southern point of Africa, without stop- 
page at any port, and with the expectation that a 
hundred days would suffice for her transit to the 
other side of the world. 

'Two mission boards had placed nine persons 
among its passengers: Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Hart, 

Page Slzty-Slx 



A Vojrage to the Orient; Mm Fielders Own Story 

Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler with their two tiny girls, 
of the Methodist body, and Mr. and. Mrs. Kreyer 
and myself of the American Baptist Union. The 
other passengers were General Kieman and wife 
going to Chin Kiang, where he would be G>nsul; 
Mr. and Miss Sands of Brooklyn, brother and sist- 
er of Mrs. Kieman; the two Wynn brothers, ex- 
pecting to establish themselves as dentists in 
China; Mrs. Maynard of Boston, an invalid, in- 
tending to spend a year with^ her married daughter 
in Hongkong; and Mr. Rogers, a youthful seek- 
er of fortune. For most of these passengers it 
was the first' sea voyage, with' all experiences new 
and strange. 

''Great flakes of snow fell slowly on the deck as 
we stood watching the receding shore of native 
land, wondering when and whether it would ever 
again be of .our beholding. Hope, prevented heart- 
break. Hien there were immediate cares, the pro- 
vident bestowal of flowers, fruits and confection- 
ery, last tokens of the interest of dear friends 
who had just wished us 'good speed. Miss Sands, 
slightly my junior, introduced to me as my cabin- 
mate, straightway won my regard by proposing 
that we each occupy the lower of the two berths 
a week at a time alternately, and by insisting upon 
an absolutely just allotment of the brass hooks 
that must serve us as wardrobe. Tlie initial 
indications pointed truly. Never was there cabin- 
mate more durably companionable than was Miss 
Sands. 

Pa^e Sixty -Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

**A cursory survey of the ship made us acquaint- 
ed with the after deck, our prospective area for 
open-air exercise; with the middle deck, which we 
were not to cross save with the ' captain*s permis^ 
sion ; and with the forecastle, the dormitory of the 
sailors. 

**Below the after deck was a ladies* cabin, partly 
filled by a grand piano and a semi-circular divan 
following the contour of the stern. Hiere the 
smell of bilge-water was overpowering, and the 
movement of the ship very impressive. Captain 
Steele, forceful, merry and profane, was the only 
person on board who could long preserve equan- 
imity in this handsomely appointed saloon. 

''In front of it was a dining-saloon, with a long, 
narrow table. The captain and the first mate 
sat at the two ends and the passengers had fixed 
seats at the sides. Hiere were four private cab- 
ins on each side of the dining-saloon and Miss 
Sands and I had the one nearest the stem on the 
port side. 

''Gradually we learned the vocabulary of the sea, 
and knew the names of all the sails and spars, the 
location of the scuppers, and the uses of belajring 
pins, bitts and binnacle. We soon prided ourselves 
on fluency and accuracy in nautical terminology. 
I learned to take the sun and to keep the ship's 
log. 

"Elarly in our voyage. Miss Sands suggested that 
its length and leisure ought to conduce to our high- 
er education. That very day we elaborated a pro- 
pane Sixty -Eigrht 



A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fidde's Own Story 

gramme requiring exercise on deck for an hour aft- 
er breakfast, then an hour in the study of French, 
and an hour in the reading of history. In the aft- 
ernoons we were to sew, and were to take turns 
in playing chess with the invalid, for whom chess 
was the sole palliative of misery in a sea-voyage. 
The next day we achieved our programme per- 
fectly ; but during the ensuing night the waves rose 
high and for many consecutive days we were un- 
able to leave our bunks. Hien, in early dawn. 
Miss Sands, peering through our single port-hole 
over the upper berth, called blithely, Oh, Miss 
Fielde, the sun is shining, the sea is calm. To-day 
we can return to our regular habits! And so did 
we; but hourly changes in latitude and longitude 
bring vicissitudes that greatly interfere with regu- 
lar habits. 

**There was frequent call to the after deck for the 
inspection of strange denizens of the deep. Tlie 
propeller of a steamer frightens these creatures 
away; but our sailing vessel was to them only an- 
other water bird disporting itself in their domain. 
Close to her sides came schools of leviathans and 
of gay jelly-fish. We seemed to meet all the inhab- 
itants of the ocean, except the sea-serpent. Some- 
times a shark, a porpoise, or a turtle was captured 
and examined on deck. Once a passenger caught, 
on a fish-hook, a stormy petrel and kept it on board 
until the sailors demanded its release. Tlie crew 
had declared from the beginning of the voyage 
that bad luck would come to a ship carrying so 

Paore Sixty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

many sky pilots, and the capture of the stormy pet- 
rel further aroused their abiding superstitions and 
established a grouch that had no palliative. 

'There was little communication between the pas- 
sengers and the crew, but an exception was made 
in favor of the old quartermaster, Joe, during his 
long illness, when I was permitted to carry to his 
cabin such tidbits as I might secure, after dinner, 
from the captain's table. Another exception was 
made for young Shaw, a Boston lad of seventeen 
years, whose mother had sent to Captain Steele 
a touching appeal, begging him to guard the morals 
of her boy, whose mind was set upon a career at 
sea. Many half-hours did I sit with Shaw upon the 
carpenter's bench and talk of a better life than that 
of the forecastle where boy Shaw was being disil- 
lusioned. Had I myself been rightly educated, I 
might have warned him agsdnst contagion from the 
strange sores that I saw on many of the sailors, but 
I was as ignorant as was he of their terrible signi- 
ficance. 

"Mr. Sands edited a weekly newspaper, The Hur- 
ricane, filled by anonymous communications from 
the passengers and read aloud to them at evening 
assemblages in the dining saloon. The entertain- 
ment was sometimes enlivened by singing. Little 
Miss Wheeler was often called upon for a hymn, 
and she never failed to respond with her whole 
repertoire. Standing very erect, her flaxen hair 
floating, her hands grasping tightly on either side 

I'agre Seventy 



A Vojrage to the Orient; Miss Fidde's Own Story 

her short gingham skirt, her shrill little treble rang 
out: 

I want to be an angel 

And with the angels stand, 
A town upon my forehead, 

A harper In my hand. 

If the encore was loud she would sing it again. 

*Tinding abundant material for costumes in the 
bunting-chest, to which the captain gave us access 
upon our promise to make for him, during the voy- 
age, a complete set of new signal-flags, the pas- 
sengers divided themselves into two groups, each 
group to serve in turn as entertainers and as audi- 
ence. Original dramas, charades, and tableaux 
were presented. Tliey were staged on the edge of 
the after deck, the audience being judiciously seat- 
ed close by on the middle deck. I recall one eve- 
ning when the group with which Miss Sands and I 
were affiliated had undertaken an elaborate tableau 
entitled Miriam and Her Maidens. We meant 
to represent them as rejoicing after the successful 
passage of the Red Sea, when the Israelites fled 
from Eg3rpt. On the rocks, simulated by gray can- 
vas heap^ over sea-chests, stood the maidens in 
bright array, with Miriam in their midst, about to 
clash the cymbals, consisting of shining kettle cov- 
ers from the cook's galley. At the moment of with- 
drawal of the curtain, and the recital by our an- 
nouncer of the lines : 

"Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea; 
Jehovah hath triumphed. His people are free!" 

an unexplained wave struck the ship sending Miri- 
am, maidens and rocks into one heap beside the 

Page Seventy-Ont 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

deck house. Hie audience rescued the players, 
unbroken, but there was no further performance 
that evening. 

''We crossed the line on a sunny day, and Nep- 
tune, with many attendant sea gods, came on board, 
over the stem. Hie gods all bore a striking resem- 
blance to Santa Claus as he appears under the best 
household traditions; but the antics they played 
with tridents, hose and barrels on the middle deck 
where an artificial tempest was created, made the 
passengers very appreciative of Captain Steele*s 
hint, given the previous evening, to the effect that 
the day of crossing the equator was one on which 
one's worst clothes should be worn. 

"We were constant in our lookout for other ships, 
whether they passed by day or in moonlighted 
nights. Leaning against the bulwark, we discern- 
ed on the horizon the tops of masts. Sometimes 
the masts seemed to rise until the hull came into 
view, and the signal flags entered into conversa- 
tion. Hie name of the ship, the last port of call, 
the destination, the recorded latitude and longitude, 
the sort of cargo, the number of passengers, and as 
many other facts as the distance or the light would 
reveal, were made known by each ship to the other 
as it sped by. Hie signal for good-bye was al- 
ways raised at parting. If the passing vessel flew 
old glory at its stem, as did the A"^. B. Palmer, we 
did not thereafter look at one another for a while. 
It is not polite to observe furtive tears. 

Paare Seventy-Two 



A Voyage to the Orient; Miss FieUe's Own Story 



''Of land we saw only the coast of Brazil and the 
islands of Tristan da Cunha in the 



"Then the tanks rusted, and our drinking water 
became scant, so that the captain decided to go into 
Cape Town for fresh suppUes. At Cape Town, I 
ate green figs for the first time, picking them from 
the tree. I saw an antelope no bigger than a fox 
terrier ; went, under guidance, to visit a real Bush- 
man, nested in tall grass in the wilds; heard thrill- 
ing stories from missionaries, experienced in native 
behavior ; and I am tenacious of an impression that 
I inspected a stuffed specimen of the long extinct 
dodo in the local museum. During the five days 
that our ship remained at Cape Town, its passen- 
gers were entertained in the homes of resident 
Americans, and we thus escaped the dangers of a 
mutiny quelled with bloodshed, on its decks. The 
removal of the second mate and the restoration 
of order preceded the continuance of our voyage. 

''In the Indian Ocean we encountered a typhoon, 
that mauled and drove our ship for days, spent in 
bunks by the prostrated passengers, and in terrific 
exertion by the crew. Upon its abatement we re- 
turned to our charted course and in a shining calm 
lingered near enchanting coral beds. Hiese tempt- 
ed some of our men to go off in small boats for the 
gathering of multicolored sprays, which were 
brought on board and were cherished on the roof 
of the deck-house until their unbearable stench 
compelled their return to the ocean. 

Pagre Seventy-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

''By the time we approached Anjer, a town then 
at the west end of Java, the condition of our water 
tanks necessitated our entrance to its harbor. The 
passengers had experience of a sweltering night at 
a hotel on shore, and of some delightful daylight 
hours in a wonderful tropical garden. The old 
Anjer is no longer extant. In 1883 it was cast to 
the bottom of the sea by a volcanic earthquake. 
The newer town has a site further inland. 

*'As our ship passed slowly through the straits 
between Java and Sumatra, strong perfumes from 
jungle flowers were wafted to us on the night 
breezes. A strange insomnia followed the inhala- 
tion of these scents, and then jungle fever seized all 
on board save the captain and the colored steward 
and stewardess. Tliere were degrees in the sever- 
ity of the fever and some of its victims were scarce- 
ly disabled while others were scarcely alive. A chill 
like that of ice in the veins was followed by scorch- 
ing fever, accompanied by unusual strength and 
wild delirium, succeeded by collapse, utter help- 
lessness and possible coma. While in a state of 
coma, I was thought to have died. Tlie distress of 
resuscitation remains in my memory. 

''There was no doctor on board, and no quinine in 
the ship's medicine chest. Sailors, mad with fever, 
were locked in the cabins to prevent them jumping 
overboard. The water tanks were rusty and the 
water foul. One night there was a slight shower, 
and the first mate, by setting pans on the deck, 
caught half a teacupful of rain water which he 

Page Seventy-Pour 



A Vojrage to the Orient; Miss Fielders Own Story 

brought to me. I know how nectar tasted to the 
gods on Olympus. 

''We were three weeks in traversing the China 
Sea. As Victoria Peak came into view the second 
mate, an old whaler, in the delirium of fever, jump- 
ed overboard and was rescued after long pursuit 
in the rowboats, only to die the same day. 

''On a clear morning in May we entered the har- 
bor of Hongkong. Ten of the crew were carried 
ashore for burial. All the passengers survived. We 
were a hundred and forty-nine days from New 
York, had been given up for lost, and the ship's in- 
surance had been claimed. No word from our 
known world had come to any of us in five months. 

"I was barely able to stand, and Miss Sands, who 
had partiaUy recovered, arrayed me in white. The 
passengers hastened ashore, and scattered over 
Asia. I never knew what became of old Joe or of 
young Shaw. Years later Captain Steele died in 
China, and Mr. Sands and General Kieman died in 
America. Mr. Hart became a bishop of his church 
in North China. Tlie little Wheeler girl returned 
to America for her education and then rejoined her 
parents in their mission field. I have been told that 
the old ship became an oil carrier and was eventual- 
ly burned. 

"Forty-seven years after our parting on the N. B. 
Palmer, my cabin-mate and I again met. One of 
us had retained the old name and its appearance in 
a newspaper brought us into communication. We 
were but thirty miles apart, on the Pacific coast, 

Pa?e Seventy-Plve 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

and we set an early day for our reunion in Seattle. 
**She had soon returned to America, and had lived 
a carefully protected life, with sturdy offspring, in 
an opulent home of the middle West. I had been 
tossed between soft pillows and hard posts, on three 
continents. At the end of a day together we each 
said to the other, 'I should never have recognized 
your face, parven with the records of five decades. 
But you are essentially the same. Character is the 
one unchanging thing in the world.* ** 



Page SeTenty-Blx 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

Death of Cyrus Chiloott; Dl at Honfl^ng 

CHAPTER Six left Miss Fielde aboard the 
N. B. Palmer, ill in her cabin and dressed in 
white. In her narrative os **A Sea Voyage of 
Fifty Years Ago/* Miss Fielde did not disclose the 
significance of her unusual costume, or refer to 
the intensely dramatic incidents that immediately 
followed the berthing of the ship. These latter, 
mere personal details, were left to the efforts of her 
biographer, who has gathered them from miscellane- 
ous though concordant sources of information, and 
is therefore able to present them in a meagre, though 
fairly reliable form. 

Soon after Miss Fielde*s death, which event oc- 
curred February 23rd, 1916, the writer hereof 
visited Mrs. Edward L. Marsh, of Tacoma, Wash- 
ington, the Miss Sands of 1 863. Mrs. Marsh took 
up the thread of the story where Miss Fielde had 
left off. She explained that Miss Fielde and Mr. 
Chilcott had arranged to meet at Hongkong and to 
be married aboard the ship. At that time Mrs. 
Marsh had all the romantic ideas of courtship and 
marriage common to an eighteen-year-old girl of 
that somewhat perfervid period. She felt that the 
sacrilegious eyes of no third person should be per- 

Paflre Seventy -Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fiehle 

mitted to witness the initial meeting of the reunited 
lovers. Consequently, with the other passengers 
who still remsdned aboard, she withdrew to the up- 
per deck, leaving Miss Fielde alone in the cabin. 

After several hours of waiting, a small boat row- 
ed by two missionaries left the shore and proceed-^ 
ed towards the ship. Neither of the rowers answer- 
ed the description of Mr. Chilcott, however, and a 
feeling of impending calamity possessed those who 
watched the approaching craft. Tlie looked-for, 
longed-for lover failed to come. Tlie missionaries 
were delegates, appointed to meet Miss Fielde and 
notify her of Mr. Chilcott's death, which occurred 
at Bangkok, the 30th of December preceding, ten 
days after she had sailed from America. 

Consternation seized upon each of the little 
group when a conference was called for the purpose 
of selecting some one of them to break the news 
to the frail woman in her cabin below. No one vol- 
unteered, and each pleaded every available excuse 
for declining the mission. Captain Steele suggest- 
ed that Miss Sands, being more intimate with Miss 
Fielde than any of the others, was the better fitted 
to perform that duty. Miss Sands conscientiously 
tried to summon the needed courage but failed in 
her efforts. Elach of the passengers was examined 
in turn but none of them proved equal to the under- 

Ptige Seventy-Eiffht 



Death of Cyrus Chilcott 

taking. Finally Dr. Legge, a resident physician of 
Hongkong* who had just come aboard, went alone 
to Miss Fielde and performed the painful task. 

Miss Fielde received the heartbreaking news 
with apparent calm. She called her friends about 
her and sought their advice as to how she should 
meet the situation. Captain Steele proposed taking 
her back to New York on the return voyage of the 
ship, which was to begin within a few days. Hie 
passengers seconded his efforts to pursuade her 
that that was the safest and only proper course to 
pursue. But Miss Fielde could not make up her 
mind readily. She thanked them for their genuine 
interest in her welfare, especially the kind hearted 
skipper, begging for further time to think over the 
matter before deciding. At the end of an hour she 
determined to go on to the end of her journey, and 
so informed her friends. She explained her decis- 
ion by stating that she felt she could never be 
satisfied if she failed to, at least, see the place which 
her dreams had so long pictured as the scene of 
her greatest happiness and contentment. Hien the 
tension snapped and unconscious she was bourne 
ashore and taken to a sanitorium, where she lay 
three weeks dangerously ill. Here kind friends 
nursed her continuously, some of them having to 
delay their own journey to attend to her comfort. 

Pasre Seventy-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

To Miss Fielde the death of C3rrus Chilcott was 
the greatest misfortune that could have possibly 
occurred. She was disappointed beyond measure. 
She was naturally domestic, and it was simply out 
of the question for her to conceive of a successful 
life for herself that was not based upon conjugal 
love, the care of a home and the rearing of child- 
ren. 

Mr. Chilcott's death ended all thought of mar- 
riage and children, though it wrought no radical 
change in Miss Fielde*s disposition. True, she was 
a person of intense affection, but her capacity to 
love was not limited to a single individual or a 
group of individuals. It was world-wide and no 
human being was outside the pale of its influence 
or beyond the scope of its activities. While Miss 
Fielde*s disappointment was none-the-less keen, it 
was followed by no world bitterness or misanthrop- 
ic sorrow. The general effect of her tragic experi- 
ence was weir described in her own words: "I then 
resolved to live less myself that others might live 
more through me.** 

The writer will never forget the solemnity 
of oiie summer evening, when seated in Miss 
Fielde*s home in Seattle, listening to a recital of the 
tragedy a half century after its occurrence. Miss 
Fielde idealized the missionaxy lover*s character 

Pagre Eiffhty 




I CHILCOTT, MISSIONARY TO THE CHINESE AT 
BANGKOK, SIAM 



Death of Cyrus Chilcott 

to the extent that ahe considered it flawless. Her 
memory of him was as fresh and her constancy as 
alert as the day he left her for the land of heathen- 
dom, to search for and find his holy grail. In Miss 
Fielde's maiden heart, which was large enough to 
contain the universe, her dead lover represented 
perfection and the memory of his lustrous qualities 
was undimmed, untarnished by the long vista of 
the years that had passed. 

Coming out from her presence that night was 
an experience akin to leaving the Holy of Holies. 
On reaching the city's streets an unbidden, discord- 
ant thought persisted in intruding itself. While 
reverencing the woman's fidelity to an ideal, one 
could not help but question if a*real marriage with 
Mr. Chilcott would have proven as beautifully per- 
fect as the one contained in the imagery of her 
dream. Would the search for truth in after years, 
by each in his own way, have served to strengthen 
or weaken their union? Would she not, in reach- 
ing the heights to which she finally attained in mod- 
em thought, have left him behind, dissatisfied and 
uncomprehending ? 

There is nothing in the foregoing that is intended 
to belittle the character or mental capacity of Cyrus 
Chilcott. He was certainly an exceptional man, 
earnest of purpose, devoted to duty, brave and self- 

Page Eigrhty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

sacrificing. A letter describing his death, written 
by Rev. William Dean, D. D., head of the mission- 
ary workers in Siam, and published in the Baptist 
Missionary Magazine in 1 666, contains suggestions 
on which a good estimate of the man may be 
formed. Following is Dr. Dean's letter: 

"Bangkok, Siam, January 1 , 1 866. 

"I begin this letter with a mournful record. 
Brother Chilcott, my beloved colleague, is in his 
grave. After an illness of three weeks he died of 
typhoid fever on Saturday, December 30th. Yes- 
terday, at the setting of the sun, we laid his body 
away. 

"On Friday morning, the day before he died, he 
gave us his parting address, stating the motive 
which led him to Beuigkok; that he had been happy 
in his work and hopeful of his labors; that with 
the near prospect of death, he liad no regrets that 
he came here; while he would have been glad to 
live and assist in turning the poor heathen to Christ, 
yet he was quite restdy to go at the Master's call. 
He SEud: Tell my friends that I die happy; not with 
the ecstasy that attends some death-bed scenes, 
but my heart is full of heavenly peace.* After a 
pause he took a smiling farewell of the members of 
my family and bade the boys, Willie and Freddie, 
to come to see him in this new home in the happy 
land. His whole address wras marked wth clear- 
ness of thought and expressed in chosen language 
with a patKos that made It appear like an inspira- 

Pase Eighty-Two 



Death of C3mis Chflcott 

tion from the Holy One. After this he failed fast 
and at noon on Saturday he passed into a quiet 
state and slept in Jesus at 2 p. m. 

"He developed into a man of great promise — a 
man of sound judgment and wise counsel, cheer- 
ful piety and Christian faith. The attendance at 
his funeral by the foreign consuls and entire foreign 
community showed how highly he was appreciated 
here. I am bereft. Can you send us another man 
as good to help us in our work> While he lived I 
rested with great satisfaction on his full sympathy 
and hearty co-operation.** 



Paffd Eiffhty-Thratt 



CHAPTER EIGHT 
Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

AN account of Miss Fielde's journey to Bang- 
kok from Hongkong, her experience and la- 
bors during her five years* residence in Siam, 
must be made from very meagre details. She sel- 
dom mentioned her life there, and then only inci- 
dentally. The statements contained in this chapter 
£ure largely excerpts from her private letters, pub- 
lished writings and reports made to the Baptist 
Board of Foreign Missions in America. 

Miss Fielde was naturally reserved. She usually 
refrained from entertaining or discussing anything 
of an emotional character and always avoided sub- 
jects that were disagreeable or painful or those be- 
longing to the past. It is unlikely that her life in 
Siam was reminiscent of many pleasant memories. 
She went there under circumstances far from cheer- 
ful. Her heart was desolate with sorrow and her 
strength broken by physical illness. There she was 
obliged to readjust the entire plan of her life at the 
same time perform the monotonous work pertain- 
ing to her missionary duties. 

A letter from Dr. Dean admirablv describes Miss 
Fielde*s first appearance at the Teloogoo Mission^ 
then under his charge, which is here reproduced : 

PsLge Eighty-Four 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

"Bangkok. July 27th, 1866. 

'^Miss Fielde reached here on the 22nd, after a 
voyage of thirty-four days from Hongkong and 
seven months from New York. She seems wonder- 
fully sustained under her overwhelming bereave- 
ment and affords by her personal cheerfulness, in 
this hour of dire calamity, another proof of the 
divinity of the religion she has come to teach. She 
takes the house fitted up for her reception by Mr. 
Chilcott, her husband, during the last weeks of his 
glowing life. Her first introduction into the room 
where he died, and to the house as it was in his 
health, seemed too much for her to endure and live ; 
but after a few hours, the objects most familiar to 
him in health, and the room that witnessed his dying 
struggle, seemed to speak to her, not only in solemn 
but also in soothing language, while her counte- 
nance was radiant with heavenly light, after arising 
from the flood of deep waters through which she 
has passed. She finds a warm companionship and 
welcome in my family. 

"We went with her yesterday to Mr. Chilcott*s 
grave. At first sight she fainted but soon recov- 
ered, and after spending a little time at the sacred 
resting place of her chosen husband, she came away 
lyith great calnmess and gave directions for a mon- 
ument to be erected over his grave. 

"On the Sabbath morning she attended with us 
the Chinese services at Wat Kob and in the after- 
noon, at the Mission House, where the Chinese 
church members had an introduction to her. After 

Page Eigrhty-Five 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 

listening to an account of her voyage from the 
United States, the friends and home she had left 
there, and her mingled emotions in coming among 
tliem, they responded by brief and af^ropriate re- 
marks, and united their prayers in her behalf. They 
all expressed much sympathy in her sorrow and in- 
terest in her welfzure.'* 

No better idea of Miss Fielde's feelings, impres- 
sions and early experiences could be given than 
that expressed in one of her letters, published in the 
Baptist Missionary Magazine and herein copied: 

"Bangkok, July 20th, 1 866. 

**I have journeyed seven weary months over 
tempestuous seas and in strange lands to meet my 
beloved and I have found his grave with the grass 
upon it seven months old. I have come to my 
house; it is left unto me desolate. While I stood 
holding out my hand for a cup of happiness, one of 
fearful bitterness was pressed violently to my lips. 
I looked joyfully towards Providence and it turned 
upon me a face of inexpressible darkness. And be- 
cause I believe in God I have been able to endure it. 

*'At Dr. Dean's I have received such welcome as 
would be given a beloved and long absent daughter 
and sister. While their loving kindness gives me 
home and friends, they have with delicate consid- 
eration kept the house which my husband had pre- 
pared for my reception just as he left it. I occupy 
it and am far less unhappy than I should be else- 
where. It is so permeated by the atmosphere of 

Page El?hty-Six 



Life in die Orient; Missionary Service 

his holy life and triumphant death that everything 
I see or touch reminds me, not so much of the joy 
I have lost, as the bliss which he has attained. In 
it the 'things unseen* become as real to me as the 
things visible. Here are his cast o£F garments; he 
has put on robes of glory. Here are the lamps by 
which he studied; he has now the light of the 
Throne. Here is his cup ; he drinks now at the foun- 
tain of 'living waters.* Here are the trees which he 
planted; he now walks under those 'whose leaves 
are for the healing of the nations.' Through all 
these mementoes of himself he says to me, 'If ye 
loved me ye would rejoice because I go to the 
Father.* 

"Several of the Chinese members of the church 
have been to see me and Sunday I saw them all to- 
gether. They feel their loss deeply. There is no 
doubt that I have something to do here.** 

At the time of Miss Fielde*s residence in Siam, 
the capital city, Bangkok, was a place of three hun- 
dred thousand inhabitants. It comprised then, as 
now, the town proper, the floating town consisting 
of rafts of bamboo lying in the river Menan, and 
the citadel, the residence of the sovereign and his 
court, situated on an island and composed of pal- 
aces, temples, gardens and many beautiful and im- 
posing structures of Oriental art. 

The five years of her life in Siam seems to have 
been largely spent in readjusting herself to the 

Pagre Eiffhty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion FieMe 

changes of environment and preparing herself for 
future usef ukiess. True, she performed the tasks as- 
signed to her with her customary fidelity and thor- 
oughness but at no time did she display the brilliant 
initiative that afterwards marked her course at Swa- 
tow. Much of her time was devoted to the study 
of the Chinese language and learning the peculi- 
arities of the native character, which afterwards 
proved so valuable in writing her stories of Chinese 
life. In a letter written about three months after 
her arrival at Bangkok, she says : 

''I rejoice in the hope of sometime being able 
to help these heathen. When my tongue is loos- 
ened 1 will praise God in Chinese. 

"I am content in my surroundings and thankful 
for the friends I have found. Everyone since I 
landed in this strange Elastem world has brought 
out the richest stores of kindness to enwrap me. 
Perhaps it is worth while to sufFer that we may 
learn the depths of goodness in our fellow beings 
and the wonderful love of God. Joy has gone 
from my house with my friend; but the faith with 
which he triumphed over death lives with me. In 
my desolation I feel myself held close to the heart 
of God and am happy.** 

A large part of the early missionary work was 

in alleviating the physical ailments of the natives 

to whom the missionaries ministered, and in this 

endeavor Miss Fielde was singularly efficient, prin- 

Paffe Eiffhty-Eisht 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

cipally by teaching them the way to be clean and 
the evils of dirt and foul air. It took optimism, 
though, to report, as she did, of her field and its 
fruits in a letter to the Baptist Union. Under date 

of November 30th, 1 866, she writes : 

• 

''One of the Chinese Christians has been ill and 
will probably stay with us but a little longer. He 
is one of the most humble and simple of souls. To 
such, especially, what a surprise and joy the New 
Jerusalem will be! 

''Among the missionary fields that I visited in 
China, I saw none more interesting and encourag- 
ing than our own. In Siam the character and cir- 
cumstances of the Chinese render our work more 
healthful than it may appear to some. The ma- 
terial may be hard, but is durable. Even in the 

midst of sickness, peace and cheerfulness abide with 

ft 
us. 

When the squalid life by which she was sur- 
rounded became too oppressive. Miss Fielde took 
refuge in her tropical garden. Describing a trans- 
planted rose in June, 1867, she says: 

"I have just been transplanting a rose bush and 
learning a lesson. The plant was a strong one with 
some new branches starting out and with a few 
buds and flowers. I knew that these must be cut 
off, if I would have the plant thrive in new soil ; but 
while I cut them the plant cried out to me: 'Oh, 
why destroy these bright blossoms, my pride and 

Pagre Eigrhty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

glory, that which I delight in possesaing and others 
delight in beholding? Why ruin these beautiful 
buds, that I have been so many long days and dark 
nights in preparing, and which are just now ap- 
proaching perfection ? Why leave me maimed and 
wounded in a strange place?* And I answered: 
*Oh, my beloved, I do this that you may live and 
grow fairer and much more luxuriant than before.* 
Just so we human creatures cry out under God*s 
pruning hand, when our hopes are cut o£F. And, 
if we listen, we may hear Him answer us: 'Oh, 
my beloved, I do this only that your soul may 
live. 

In regard to conditions existing in Siam during 

Miss Fielde*s residence in that country. Dr. Dean 

writes to the Missionary Board: 

••Bangkok, May, 1 867. 
••This year completes the three years of my en- 
listment, which was to be to the end of the war as 
God should decide. We need a reinforcement. I 
should have two young men associated with me in 
this mission, while you have left me only two 
young women. My present colleagues go together 
to some of the out stations and do good service. 
Still in this heathen country of pirates and pesti- 
lence, of robbers and rapine, it is more than we 
ought to ask of young ladies, accustomed to the 
protections and refinements of civilized life, to 
travel in bufFalo carts over the land, or in native 
boats to traverse the jungled rivers and stormy 
gulfs. For this outdoor work we need men.** 

Pagre Ninety 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

A letter written by Miss Fielde to Miss Sands 
affords a very comprehensive idea of the social con- 
ditions of Bangkok in the late sixties. Miss Sands, 
it will be remembered, was a sister-in-law of Gen- 
eral Kieman, American consul to Chin Kiang, and 
Miss Fielde*s cabin mate on the *W. B. Palmer.*' 
At the time Miss Fielde wrote, Miss Sands was liv- 
ing at Chin Kiang. Miss Fielde*s letter follows : 

"Bangkok, October 19th, 1868. 
"My Very Dear Friend: 

"1 feel excessively like talking to you this even-* 
ing; as that is impossible I do the next best thing* 
write in answer to your dear little letter of August 
2nd, received ten days ago. You paint well. The 
picture of your wee house and garden is so vivid 
that I think from it 1 shall recognize the reality 
when I come to Chin Kiang. When, echo an- 
swers or continues to ask, when? I should like to 
come more than I can tell you, but you know we 
missionaries never take journeys except for our 
health and mine is dreadfully good. We do some- 
times make long tours to visit more remote heath- 
en, but, even with our mutual happiness involved, 
I can't conscientiously put you on that list. 

"Since I last wrote you 1 have been very steadily 
in Bangkok — ^have only been away once, down the 
coast to see the total eclipse of the sun on August 
18th. The site, a day*s journey from here by 
steamer, on the east coast of the Malayan Penin- 
sula, was the place where the obscuration was 

Pagre Ninety-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fidlde 

longest and which was selected by French astron- 
omers some months beforehand. 

"The king and many nobles with their attend- 
ants took up their abode there for a half month and 
entertained with royal munificence. A large party 
of Europeans from Bangkok, the Governor of 
Singapore and his suite came also. I think about 
twenty nations were represented. We lived in leaf 
houses that were built in a day and were the cli- 
maxes of rusticity. It was a most curious scene; 
the long, low, sandy beach, backed by a stretch 
of jungle, lying against a line of irregular, sharp 
topped hills, and this mushroom village, sprung 
up just out of the reach of the surf, inhabited by 
people from a score of nations from the most en- 
lightened to the least civilized, all assembled to wit- 
ness a verification of what Western science had 
foretold of what would take place at a certain time, 
at a certain spot in the Eletstem world.** 

"The eclipse came on at half past ten o*clock 
and the light gradually diminished until only the 
faintest line of the sun*s disc was visible. The 
earth looked as it does under brilliant moonlight 
and the stars shone out. When the sun*s face was 
wholly covered the change in the appearance of 
the earth, as well as that of the heavens was won- 
derful. The hills, the sea, the jungle and beach, 
which before had presented a tame scene, in the 
stronger light or lack of light, became awfully 
grand. It was unlike day or night or twilight. I 
think the nearest approach to its semblance is in 

FVigre Ninety-Two 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

the heavy, still darkness that immediately precedes 
a typhoon. The eclipse was total for nearly seven 
minutes. The thermometer fell three degrees. The 
bats came out of the jungle and flew about and 
night-birds sounded their weird notes. There was 
an universal, involuntary sigh, such as one gives 
when recovering from a swoon, when the sun ap- 
peared again. Do not think I exaggerate. It was 
far beyond any description. This is one of the 
things that one can never imagine. He must see 
it to appreciate it. 

^'Bangkok has been very quiet of late. The king 
was ill for several weeks of fever, taken at Hua 
Wan (place of viewing the eclipse) and died on the 
2nd of this month. He is succeeded by his son, a 
lad of fifteen. The late king was in intelligence 
and education first among the Asiatic monarchs. 
He was very liberal in his policy towards foreign- 
ers and much esteemed by all of us. He leaves 
two hundred and fifty widows and seventy small 
children. The Senabodi was assembled when the 
king died, and so quickly were its decisions made, 
that the notice of the new election arrived at one 
of the consulates before midnight, and at the same 
times as the announcement of the death of the king. 
The Prince Chaufa was elected to his father's 
throne, with a half brother of the late king as coun- 
cilor; and Prince George Washington becomes sec- 
ond councilor in place of his father, who died in 
1 860, that office having been vacant until now. 

Pagre Ninety-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

"To Chriatian teachers the late king gave perfect 
freedom in their work and by personal kindness 
encouraged them. Yet, he died, as he lived, a Bud- 
dhist. Christianity has not flourished in Siam. Per- 
haps it requires to wrestle with persecution in or- 
der to grow vigorously. 

"We have croquet almost every evening except 
Wednesdays, when we go to the English chapel 
to practice the chants for Sunday. I am house- 
keeping and have a good cook as a general thing. 
Sometimes, however, unhappily for me, to keep 
his spirits up, he takes some spirits down. When 
this happens, as it did tonight, I get a burned cut- 
let for dinner. !f you perceive anything melan- 
choly in my writing, you may lay it to the account 
of the cutlet. This cook, by the way, is the man 
who accompanied M. Mohot in his explorations, 
and of whom it is recorded in the 'description de 
Stam' that he drank the alcohol from a bottle of 
preserved reptiles. He still lives. 

"I have, like you, many pets, but my dear, big, 
beautiful dog, 'was bitten by a pariah a few days 
ago — so that — he died. I send you his photograph 
and beg you to excuse his mistress for being pres- 
ent in it. He would not sit without me, and with 
me, persisted in taking the attitude in which he al- 
ways was when I held didactic and reformatory con- 
versation with him, as you see by the expression of 
his tail. My grand old Max — I have no consolation 
for his death — there is no heaven for dogs. 

"I go by boat to the chapel every morning and 

Page Ninety -Pour 



Life in the Orient; MiMionary Service 

play the squeakiest of melodeons. I have some- 
times in what was called fine music, heard what 
seemed to be a discord, and been told, 'that is be- 
cause your ear is not educated.' I think the ears 
of the Chinese must be highly educated, for the 
more discordant the sounds, the more attracted they 
appear to be to them. Well, so I play on the 
squeaky melodeon until a congregation is gathered 
from the passers-by, and then my Chinese assist- 
ant preaches. Afternoons I study Chinese, which 
is, I think, worth learning for its own sake. It is 
the language of almost half the population of the 
earth. I am afraid that we shall not be able to 
speak Chinese with each other when we meet, as 
yours is a different dialect. However, we may cor- 
respond in it as the character is the same. I some- 
times go out to dinners or soirees, but usually I 
think that your quiet moods might find full oppor- 
tunity for indulgence. 

**l am very content here, but sometimes fear my 
character develops in just the opposite direction to 
that of other people, for as I grow old, I grow less 
fond of quietude. Indeed, now that I am old I 
care more for live things and less for books, though 
I still prefer a lively book to some live people. 

**If you see anyone I love please tell them so. 
The nearest and only duty you need perform to 
fulfill my request, is to turn to the mirror. I have 
a presentiment that I shall see you, and that we 
shall have that *long taSk in the other room,* and I 
cherish pleasant things however improbable.** 

Paff« Ninety-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

In a report to the Baptist Board of Missionaries, 
written in 1869» Miss Fielde summarizes her 
knowledge of the past achievements, present prog- 
ress and future probabilities of Christianity in 
Siam, which are far from encouraging : 

"Reckoning from the first establishment of a 
Christian mission among the Siamese in 1 832 until 
now, not including any women, nor any person 
who left the country before having time to acquir<& 
the language, and making allowances for sickness 
and other causes, there remains sixteen mission^ 
aries, averaging thirteen years apiece, living among 
and laboring to convert the Siamese. The number 
of native members in the Siamese Mission churches 
is today less than three to each missionary. These 
native Christians are not themselves strong pro- 
mulgators of the faith they have embraced but 
must need hold to the teacher, as well as to the 
teachings to keep from falling back into heathen- 
ism. Among the common people, the half per- 
suaded are very few and in the high places Bud- 
dhism sits as firmly as it did thirty years ago. True, 
intercourse with foreign nations and the study of 
Western sciences has, among the nobles, destroyed 
some superstitions. The Prime Minister, acknow- 
ledged by all to be an able man, is a rank infidel. 
Others might subscribe themselves as did the late 
king to one of the missionaries, *Your friend, but 
a sincere hater of Christianity.' Only a few are 

Paere Ninety -Sir. 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

sufficiently awake to hate; the dead, dread apathy 
of Buddhism is upon them. 

**In considering what has been done for the 
Chinese here I find fourteen Protestant mission- 
aries, under various societies, have labored among 
the Chinese in Bangkok. Of this number three 
have died and three have returned to the United 
States in less than two years of their arrival here. 
Of the remainder six have removed to China. 
Omitting all who have lived in the country less 
thsui two years, there have been seven male mis- 
sionaries, averaging eight years each, who have 
worked among the Chinese between the years 
1834-1869. The present number of nominal Chi- 
nese Christians is eighty. 

'*Of these, some I fear, would not bear any true 
test of their Christianity. To the eyes of those 
who look at missions from the other side of the 
world, increase of membership means progress; 
but sometimes people are added to the church when 
there is little in their habits of thought and course 
of action to distinguish them from the heathen. 
Others may work with less evident results but with 
truer success, and give instruction to many while 
their church members are few. If a temple is of 
hay, wood or stubble, it may build rapidly, but if 
of polished stone the work will be slow. But the 
first has the contempt of all observers and decays 
speedily ; the latter rises firmly and forever towards 
heaven. 

*The statistics above are carefully compiled, 

Pa«e Ninety-Seven 



Life of Adek Marion Fidde 

no one here can dispute them. Some looking with 
anxious eyes would tell you that the throne of 
Buddhism is tottering; but any wholly impartial 
critic would, I think, say as I have written. The 
work to be accomplished is as binding as when 
the command was first given by the risen Savior, 
*Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature.* There is the promise, *A11 na- 
tions shall come and worship before God.* The 
fulfillment of the last rests doubtless upon our 
obedience to the first, but for every heavenly good 
God demands a large price in physical comfort, 
in material substance. By asking such a price 
He teaches us to value it. 

**It took an army of two millions of men and 
cost six billions of dollars to set free three millions 
of bondmen in America. Here in China and 
Siam alone are four hundred millions of people 
in a thraldom far more dreadful than any African 
slave — ^that of a living soul bound to a dead god, 
with all the powers of darkness holding the chain. 

**Against them are arrayed a force of two hun- 
dred men and women. The case is as sad and 
hopeless as that of the three hundred Spartans 
oppressed by the myriads of Xerxes. It cannot 
be done — ^never until a number of men, such as 
are now unthought of are brought into the field, 
and with a degree of devotion now undreamed of 
can we hope 'the kingdom of this world will be- 
come the kingdom of our Lord and of his 
Christ* ** 

Paffe Ninety -Elfirht 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 

It will be seen from the foregoing that Miss 
Fielde had little hope of missionary conquest 
from the methods employed and the limited forces 
available. She did not despair, however. Imme- 
diately she began to contrive ways of overcoming 
this apparently unsurmountable difficulty. Her 
disciplined mind and her altruistic soul function- 
ing in unison, resulted in a new creation — *The 
Biblewomen.** 

How long it took for the plan to fully realize 
may be premised by the time which elapsed be- 
fore it was tried out, but more of the Bible 
women later. 

The weeks were full of tasks, the monotony 
varied only by incidents, often pathetic and dis- 
couraging. Some pleasures were experienced 
from time to time. One of these latter Miss 
Fielde described as an excursion to Buddhist tem- 
ples in January, 1869, she says: 

"Miss Dean and I have just returned from a 
short trip to Ayuthia, the former capital, and 
Pra Bat, the supposed footprints of Buddha. 
Three of the Presbyterian missionaries and an 
American gentleman were our companions. Our 
three boats, with a score of rowers, went in com- 
pany up-stream. At Pra Bat, a day*s journey 
above Ayuthia, we expected to obtain elephants 

Pa«e Ninety-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

to ride out to the sacred 'footprints/ As none 
were available we took horses instead. 

* Today has been a Sabbath full of interest, be- 
cause it is interesting to look at our daily surround- 
ings, that have become somewhat tame to us, with 
the eyes of those just from home. At nine o'clock 
services at Wat Ho chapel in Chinese, at which 
Chek Chong preached to fifty Chinese; at eleven 
English service in the chapel, at which Mr. Part- 
ridge preached to eight or nine pilots and ship cap- 
tains; at four o'clock service in the English chapel 
where all church-going Europeans attend." 

The last records of her labors in Siam is con- 
tained in a letter in which she describes her work as 
follows : 

"Bonplassi, May 2nd, 1 869. 

"I came to Anghin the last of March with the 
wife of the English physician at Bangkok, and spent 
three weeks, stopping in the house of a Siamese 
nobleman, then joined Mr. and Mrs. Partridge here. 

"In the forenoons, while Mr. and Mrs. Partridge 
are reading Chinese, I go to the native houses and 
shops to carry the people the 'true doctrine.' This 
manner of working does not produce great and im- 
mediate effects, but it seems to me to be in accord- 
ance with the command, 'Go and teach.' I do not 
believe oiu- Lord sends His servants on useless er- 
rands. I will do mine as feithfuUy and as well as 
I can; results rest with Him." 

Pagre Ono Hundred 



Life in the Orient; Missionary Stfvice 

In 1 869, Miss Fielde, commenting on her life and 
labors in Siam, takes a look backward, thus : 

**In taking a retrospective view of life in Siam on 
the third anniversary of my arrival here, I found 
that I had spent one-third of my time at the out- 
stations and other villages, the remainder in Bang- 
kok, and had distributed several hundreds of books, 
talking as I was able, of the Gospel to those to 
whom 1 gave the books. 

''During the rainy season 1 have made a study 
of the language, with my teacher, my chief work; 
feeling that I could accomplish more in a short time 
with a sharp tool, than in a longer time with a dull 
one. 

"The first of June a sick European child was 
brought by its father to me to be cared for. Its 
mother had died and it had suffered greatly through 
neglect. I hoped with care and affection it would 
soon grow well and strong, but it had acquired 
some wasting disease and grew more weary and 
wailing each day. On my being taken ill on the 
first of August, Mrs. Smith kindly took the sick boy 
to her home, and when I recovered the first of Sep- 
tember he had gone to his own mother. 

*'I am quite well again and as soon as these, the 
heaviest of the rains, are past, shall go out among 
the people again.** 

In a short account of her life in Siam, Miss Fielde 
concludes by stating that she left that country in 

Pace One Hundred One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

1 872. While on her way home she stopped for a 
week's visit at Swatow. Here the European mis- 
sionaries and native converts, who spoke the same 
Chinese dialect that she had learned, implored her 
to return to them. This she promised to do if such 
an arrangement could be made. 



Paere One Hundred Two 



CHAPTER NINE 



Vacation; In the Lecture Field; Return to Swatow 

(The followingr verse was taken from the Public Ledgrer of 
Philadelphia of November Gth, 1887, and was written by a person 
who had never seen Miss Fielde but had read some of her letters): 

"TO A. M. F. SWATOW. CHINA. 

"Ah! Swatow's clime is far away! 

A Chinese vapor wreathes its hills, 
A Chinese sun inflames Its day. 

By nig:ht a Chinese moon distils 
A weird and mystic lierht that chills 

The Western heart that still must stay 
Its time mid loneliness that kills — 

Ah! Swatow's clime is far away! 

"L* ENVOI. 

"Princess. timt> flies! The worst of ills 

Is anodyned by Hope's sweet ray; 
With calm this thoufi^ht each bosom Alls. 

But Swatow's clime is far away! 

"E. R." 

BEYOND the fact that Miss Fielde spent six 
months in the United States and six months 
in Europe, few details are known as to how 
she passed her year's vacation. That she left Siam 
permanently in 1872 is plainly stated in letters now 
extant ; but it is reasonable to presume that she did 
not sever her connection with the Baptist Board of 
Foreign Missions at that time. No mention of her 
European tour is contained in any of her published 
articles, letters to friends or diaries of that period. 
That she delivered a series of lectures on the Orient 
and on her personal experiences as a Christian mis- 
sionary to the heathen is a matter of record as well 
as a matter of recollection to a number of her form- 
er friends, who still reside in New York City. It 

P&ee One Hundred Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

was on one of these occasions, in a talk made be- 
fore the congregation of the Fifth Avenue Baptist 
Church, that she met Mrs. E. M. Cauldwell, with 
whom she established an intimate friendship which 
persisted until Mrs. Cauldwell's death in 1912. 

In February, 1873, we find Miss Fielde again in 
the Orient. This time she took up her residence at 
Swatow, which fulfilled her promise to the Chris- 
tian Chinese women, made the year previous. Swa- 
tow is a city of Southern China, about a thousand 
miles from Bangkok. At that time it contained a 
population of thirty thousand inhabitants and was 
an importing center for surrounding cities aggre- 
gating over a million people. On the southeastern 
coast of China, about half way between Hongkong 
and Amoy, at the .eastern end of the Kwangtung 
province, and just south of the Tropic of Cancer, 
is the bay on which Swatow is situated, five miles 
from the sea. Outside the mouth of the bay are the 
i^amocks, on which wrecks are frequent. Just 
within the mouth is Double Island, formerly the seat 
of the iniquitous cooley traffic, and also the resi- 
dence of the first foreign comers to the port. It is 
now occupied chiefly by the families of the foreign 
pilots, who bring the ships into Swatow ^ Haurbor. 
Being ten degrees cooler than Swatow, it has be- 
come a resort and a retreat for enfeebled foreigners 

Paffe One Hundred Four 



Vacation; In the Lecture Field; Return to Swatow 

during the hottest months. Here many of the for- 
eign merchants and officials have constructed homes 
for occupancy during the months of torrid weather, 
and several of the foreign missions have built hos- 
pitals. It was here that Miss Fielde built Fielde 
Lodge, the final important work of her hands while 
in China. Fielde Lodge was made of concrete with 
a tile roof. It contained a small number of large 
rooms, constructed with a view of admitting the 
continuous passage of an abundance of cool air. 
It is used as a resthouse and sanitorium for weary 
and ill missionaries and missionary workers. Miss 
Fielde made the plans of the lodge herself and di- 
rected the work of building personally. Also she 
was instrumental in securing the needed money — 
about eighteen hundred dollars, the larger portion 
of which was contributed by Mrs. E. M. Cauldwell, 
of New York. When the building was complete 
and ready for occupancy, Miss Fielde wrote Mrs. 
Cauldwell asking that lady to permit her to christen 
it * 'Cauldwell Lodge,** but Mrs. Cauldwell instruct- 
ed that it be called *Tielde Lodge.** Miss Fielde was 
the first occupant of the lodge, she having gone 
there in 1 889 to recuperate from illness due to fe- 
ver. In 1886 Miss Fielde wrote: 

"The outlook over the bay from the hilltops, tak- 
ing in the blue inlets, the fertile ravines, the barren 

Paflre One Hundred Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

slopes, glistening gray and golden in the sunset, 
is as fine as that of the Bay of Naples from Vesu- 
vius. But there is no exhilaration in the view; for 
visible to the eye within its range, and visible to 
the heart, whose perception extends to the limits of 
the empire, on and on from this southern border 
of the land away and away to Siberia, lie thickly 
the low gray villages, made up of filthy huts and 
dingy alleys, and in each men count themselves 
fortunate, if, by daily toil like beasts, they win daily 
bread; and women weep for wrongs that no one 
thinks of rectifying; and children seldom smile, be- 
cause unconsciously they face the vast burden of 
life and are awed by it into solemnity. The sharp 
struggle for life goes on under the incubus of pagan- 
ism, whereby all are crushed into brutishness. The 
crowning glory of creation is its noble and happy 
human beings, and where these are not, Nature 
lacks exalting charm. The beauteous scenery loses 
power to delight, when haunted by base, sad souls. 
So it comes to pass that the bright waters and ferny 
mountains of China communicate no joy. 

**The low latitude puts this region where roses 
bloom in mid-winter ; the banyans and bamboos are 
always green. In the summer, which are at least 
six months long, the heat indoors often rises, and 
stays even through the nights, above ninety de^ 
grees. Though the temperature is lower than in 
many places further north, the long continuance of 
the heat, with the shortness of the cool season, 
makes the climate exhaustive. It is said by experi- 

FaRe One Hundred Six 



Vacation; In the Lecture Field; Return to Swatow 

enced physicians that foreigners should not remain 
here longer than seven years at a stretch. The Eng- 
lish Presbyterian Board not only permits, but re- 
quires, its representatives to return home for recu- 
peration at the end of each seven years of service ; 
while the foreigners in the consulates and commer- 
cial firms rarely stay more than five years. As a 
residence for the white race, Swatow is, however, 
reckoned as one of the most salubrious in the Far 
East. 

**Swatow is not walled, it has the ordinary two- 
yard wide streets, bordered by one-story shops, hav- 
ing their whole fronts open for trade. Centrally 
in the town is the Yamun, the official residence and 
court house for the local magistracy. I have seen in 
its yard crosses on which men had just been 
crucified. In the outskirts of the town is a spot 
where two criminals were, a few years ago, buried 
alive. 

'This port stands as the fifth in China in the im- 
port of opium and over five hundred thousand 
pounds of the drug are yearly brought in. The for- 
eign population consists of the several consuls with 
attaches; some merchants, with complements of 
clerks; an Imperial customs commissioner and staff; 
a physician, who practices in the foreign com- 
munity and has charge of the hospital for English 
sailors and pilots. These, with the wives and chil- 
dren, a dozen members of the English Presbyterian 
mission, the half dozen members of the American 
Baptist Mission, and eleven Roman Catholic priests, 

Pagre One Hundred Seven 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 

make the foreign population of Swatow one hun- 
dred and twenty persons. 

**On the south side of the bay, which is a mile 
wide, is the American Baptist Mission, on a hill 
made verdant and picturesque by trees planted 
among its rocks. It has a chapel, a theological 
school, a Biblewomen*s training school, a boys* 
school, a girls* school, and the homes of its mission- 
aries. The mission has thirty outstations in the 
country, and eight or nine hundred church mem- 
bers. 

"In the south of China, no foreigners live in 
houses of the native pattern. Chinese dwellings 
are but one story ; their best floors are made of tiles 
laid on the ground, and are usually unlighted by 
any aperture except the door. They have no glass 
windows and are crowded closely together, upon 
narrow alleys, where all the sewage of the neighbor- 
hood visibly flows, so that the street gives in as 
obnoxious odors as the house gives out. The China- 
man is a splendid example of the gradual adaptation 
of the physical constitution to its environment. He 
is as happy in foul air as a fish in water, and lives 
to a good old age in a stench which would be fatal 
to an American within a week. 

**Here in Swatow our houses are built chiefly 
of native material; but on a homelike plan. Con- 
siderable experience in building houses for foreign- 
ers has made some of the native artisans skillful in 
this sort of work, and it is now possible to have a 
comfortable dwelling without the extreme wear and 

Pa«e One Hundred Eight 



Vacation; In the Lecture Field; Return to Swatow 

tes^ of health, spirit and temper, which ten or 
twelve years ago made house-building an appalling 
enterprise. There are a few native carpenters who 
make furniture from pine, camphor-wood, or teak, 
imitating, with fair success, the foreign pattern 
given them. Native weavers make straw matting 
for the floors, and if one has pictures, books and 
bric-a-brac, he can make a house here look much 
like a home in the dear, distant fatherland. 

**And, of course, one must eat. Firstly, we make 
use of available native products. From the water- 
bu£Falo and the zebu, milk, in small quantities, and 
of poor quality, is procured. The Qiinese do not 
use milk except as a strengthening medicine. In 
Swatow, a hundred and twenty foreign residents 
are a sufficient number to make a butcher's trade 
profitable, the zebu is fattened and the flesh sold. 
Both prejudice and economy deter the Chinese from 
the slaughter of cattle as food for themselves, but 
they eat the flesh of such as die by disease or acci- 
dent. Pork, without which no Chinese feast is 
served, is rarely used by us, because we know on 
what garbage the animal is fed. I have not myself 
partaken of this viand since early in my missionary 
life I saw a pig feeding on an infant. 

**I think there are few places in the world where 
domestic help is so efficient at its cost as here in 
Southern China. The bound feet of the women 
make them useless in occupations requiring activity, 
and men are employed for all indoor as well as out- 
door work. Women are engaged for the care of 

Page One Hundred Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

children only. A man, taken in the rough, and 
trained as cook, often becomes as skillful in the 
kitchen as his instructress, and remains with her 
for a lifetime, thankful to be established in a voca- 
tion wherein he earns twice as much as among his 
own people. His wages when serving his foreign 
teacher, is five or six dollars a month, boarding 
himself. General housework is done for four dol- 
lars a month. Washing is a distinct business. 

*'A new England woman 'of faculty,* would, in 
her own home, with its labor-saving inventions, 
easily do as much housework as is done here by 
four Chinese 



The Baptist mission at Swatow was far more pre- 
tentious than the one at Bangkok. It covered a 
much larger territory and employed a greater num- 
ber of workers. During Miss Fielders residence at 
Swatow the mission was under the direction of Dr. 
William Ashmore, who bears the enviable reputa- 
tion of being one of the most efficient and success- 
ful foreign missionaries in the entire history of 
missionary service. 



Page One Flundred Ten 



CHAPTER TEN 
The "BiUewomen'' 

MISS FIELDE'S work in Swatow was essenti- 
ally difFerent from that in Siam. At Bang- 
kok, aside from her routine missionary 
duties, she spent her surplus time and energies in 
learning the Chinese language and studying the pe- 
culiarities of the Chinese character. In other 
words, she equipped herself for broader fields of 
endeavor. In Swatow, under the liberal superin- 
tendency of Reverend William Ashmore, her pow- 
ers of initiation were given full rein and she was 
encouraged to experiment with progressive meth- 
ods, even if such procedure required radical depsur- 
ture from long established plans of missionary 
work. Here she conceived a plan, which, in a meas- 
ure, revolutionized the missionary service in the 
Far East. This innovation is comprehensively de- 
scribed as the *'Biblewomen** plan and consisted in 
organizing, instructing and sending out native 
women to do the pioneer work of evangelization — 
work, which heretofore had been done by the white 
missionaries, assisted by Bible teachers and inter- 
preters. 

Chinese women are woefully ignorant, far more 
so than Chinese men. Not more than one in a 
thousand is able to read and their social customs 

Pa^re One Hundred Bleven 



Life of Addle Marion Fielde 

are such that they are invariably excluded from 
public gatherings where current events are dis- 
cussed by those of advanced intelligence. They are 
not supposed to be capable of understanding things 
of greater complexity than those pertaining to the 
common physical needs and desires of mankind; 
and topics of conversation in their presence are 
limited accordingly. As a consequence they su£Fer 
from mind starvation and are uniformly eager and 
avid for any scrap of information or piece of news 
that may be thrown their way. Because of this, 
gossip has been cultivated to such an extent that 
with them it is both a science and an art. They 
chsurge their minds with every passing event, and 
then, when favorable opportimity presents itself, 
confide every detail of their experience and obser- 
vation to neighboring women, female friend or 
acquaintance. Nothing is so unimportant or com- 
monplace that it will not bear endless repetition 
and be regarded as an almost inexhaustible source 
of entertainment. 

Miss Fielde noted this habit and used it to a 
very good advantage, indeed. She prepared and 
wrote in Chinese a dozen or more Gospel les- 
sons, each of which embodied one or more of the 
cardinal principles of Christianity, illuminated by 
excerpts from the personal history of the Savior. 

Paere One Hundred Twelve 



The "Biblewomen'' 

Then she carefully selected a corps of the more 
intelligent Chinese women with whom she came in 
contact and placed them on the missionary pay 
roll. Thus organized, she proceeded to teach and 
train her prospective co-workers. With compara- 
tively little labor she readily impressed them with 
the advantages of a doctrine that promulgated the 
practice of love, by contrasting the Chinese ideal 
with their own loveless estate. But the personality 
of the white man*s God was far more difficult to 
comprehend. The Chinese inherit a belief in 
devils, demons and evil spirits— the dire sources 
of all bodily a£(Iiction, moral degeneration and 
mental disorder. Their prayers had always 
been made to these imaginary agencies with a view 
of softening their own fate by propitiating the pow- 
ers that were supposed to oppress them. It was 
hard to find reason for worshipping a beneficent 
God. If He loved them, they claimed. He would 
confer benefits voluntarily, and certainly would not 
harm them; tributes of praise and acts of service 
for the worship of a good God seemed to them to 
be wasted. 

It required a high degree of keen and discrimi- 
nating logic to meet these arguments, but Miss 
Fielde was equal to the emergency. With inex- 
haustible patience she labored with her pupils until 

Faire One Hundred Thirteen 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 

success came; and, then, what a changel From 
Pantheism to Christianity is a long step, especially 
so when taken by a Mongolian neophyte. The 
religious cult and moral code of the Chinese di£Fer 
greatly from those of the Europeans. Doubtlessly 
the yellow man possesses the same soul attributes 
as those of his white brother; but with the former 
they are potential, not actual; latent, not active. 
True, the pagan is often good natured, hospitable 
and kindly disposed, but he is very seldom self- 
sacrificing. His cultural inheritance, founded on 
Buddhism, Shintoism, Tauism and Confusianic 
philosophy, tends to develop sdf-concem rather 
than social virtue. 

Those familiar with the sordid lives of the middle 
class Chinese women, their inherited prejudices, ap- 
palling ignorance and conservative habits of 
thought, look upon Miss Fielders conversion and 
training of the Biblewomen as almost miraculous; 
not because of the patience and application, but be- 
cause of the great faith required to attempt it. But 
she did her work well, as the changed personalities 
of her converts amply attested. Formerly they 
were dirty, sullen, suspicious, and mendacious. 
Under her tutelage they became cleanly in their per- 
sonal habits, of cheerful demeanor, kindly in their 
treatment of others, and truthful. Edward F. Mer- 

Pafre One Hundred Fourteen 



99 



The ''BiUewomen^ 



riam, in his history of '^American Baptist Mis- 
sions/' says of the Biblewomen of Swatow: 

*'A leading spirit of the last twenty years at 
Swatow has been Miss Adele M. Fielde. A special 
feature of her work has been the Biblewomen 
as developed under her efficient leadership. It was 
Miss Fielde's practice to gather Christian women 
for instruction and to teach them thoroughly one 
lesson from the Gospel. When they had learned 
it, she sent them out, two by two, into the country 
about to tell the lesson to the villagers. After a 
time they were gathered at Swatow and received an- 
other portion of the truth and having obtained a 
thorough grasp of it, went forth to carry the good 
news of salvation. By these methods Miss Fielde 
built up an organized corps of Biblewomen whose 
work, under her direction, has been a model for 
the work of Biblewomen throughout China. In 
the later years, the little country churches, which 
were first considered branches of Swatow church, 
have been organized into independent churches. 
Several new stations have been established, and as 
supplementary to the organization of the churches 
and the excellent work of the Biblewomen, a sys- 
tem of Bible study at central points in the country 
districts has been inaugurated by the Rev. John M. 
Foster, in order to reach the members of the 
churches who are unable to visit Swatow. These 
Bible classes are maintained for a month, the most 
intelligent of the church members being gathered 
for that purpose. By these admirable and efficient 

Pa^e One Hundred Fifteen 



life of Adele Marion Fidde 

means of organization; with elders in every little 
church; with the leading members trained in Bible 
study; and Biblewomen taught in the Word* the 
Soudiem China mission has been welded into an ef- 
fective force for carrying on the work of the Gospel 
among the people in these neighborhoods, and 
reaches out into the region beyond/* 

Under the caption, "Women's Work for 
Women/* in the Encyclopedia of Missions, Rev. 
Edwin Munsell Bliss writes: 

'The Biblewomen are not selected because they 
o£Fer (themselves, but are sought out and invited be- 
cause of their adaptability and Christian thorough* 
ness, and are trained and superintended by Miss 
Fielde, who has a cottage for herself and a house for 
the Biblewomen containing good class-rooms and 
accommodation for thirty persons. Once a year 
they return for three months* Bible instruction, 
living in houses provided by the Mission. Women 
go fifty and sixty miles from Swatow, sometimes 
staying two and three days in a village. 

* Perpetual contact with the heathen benumbs 
their consciousness, so they need a quickening in- 
fluence of a new view of their Lord. This is the 
reason for their frequent return to the missions. 
They eat and dress as poorly as the women to 
whom they go. Educational work around Swatow 
is carried on vigorously.** 

In an ''Annual Letter to Helpers in America,** 
Miss Fielde writes of the Biblewomen : 

Paire One Hundred Sixteen 



The "Bablewomen'' 

^'During the present year sixteen native female 
evangelists have been constantly employed^ under 
my direction, in the outstations of this mission, at 
distances varying from five to fifty miles from 
Swatow. The women spend nine weeks in each 
quarter of the year, at the outstations to which 
they are respectively sent; then, one week at their 
own homes, and two weeks here in class. At the 
quarterly conference they receive instruction in 
diat which they teach to other women, render re- 
ports of their work at the stations, and confer with 
the misssionaries and with each other, upon the af- 
fairs of the church and the church members. The 
lessons given them at the four conferences of the 
past year have been four series of ten lessons each : 
the first on the Ten Commandments; the second 
on Cross Bearing; the third on Truthfulness; and 
the fourth on the Attributes of God. They have 
also learned a little geography from maps, and have 
had lectures, made comprehensible to them by 
views through a microscope upon the foes to life 
in dirty air and water. The microscope has as- 
sisted in the difficult work of persuading Chinese 
women that cleanliness has a relationship to Godli- 
ness. 

'Twenty of our outstations have been used as 
centers from which to work in the surrounding vil- 
lages. In the beginning the Biblewomen went out 
by twos; but the demand for their work being al- 
ways greater than the supply, I have lately sent out 
only one Biblewoman to each station, after engag- 

Pa^e One Hundred Seventeen 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

ing a Christian woman belonging to that station to 
act as local guide to the Biblewoman. A local 
guide, acquainted with the meamdering paths lead- 
ing to the native hamlets, is a necessary adjunct 
to each Biblewoman's work. The number of vil- 
lages that can be visited by the two women de- 
pends upon the distance from the chapel in which 
the two women lodge, and upon weather. The 
average, throughout the year, has been seventeen 
different villages for each Biblewoman during 
each quarter, with fifty-eight di£Ferent families, 
where each woman has found an opportunity for 
a prolonged exposition of the Scriptures to the 
household and neighbors. 

*'On Sundays, before or after the usual service 
conducted by a native preacher, the Biblewomen 
teach the native Christian women at the chapels, 
and in this way five hundred and forty-two di£Fer- 
ent women have received instruction at our chapels 
during the year. 

*The Biblewomen selected and employed by 
me have been Khue (Speed), Yong (Tolerance), 
Mui (Minute), Kem Pheng (Tapestry), Sui Lang 
(Herb), Gek (Gem), Ngun Hue (Silver Flower), 
Phie (Cress), Chia (Rectitude), Gueh Eng (Moon- 
light), Sai Kio (Grace), Lau Sit (Innocence), Niu 
(Button), Tit Kim (Goldgetter) , Chut (Guide), 
Long (Opulence), Tien Chu (Pearl), Sui Khim 
(Lute). 

'The training school for Biblewomen is con- 
tinued through the year, with no vacation, with an 

Paere One Hundred Eifrhteen 



The "Biblewomen" 

average number of seven students and with Chin 
Po (Treasure) as house mother and assistant 
teacher. The studies have been wholly in the New 
Testament, with stories from the Old. During the 
autumn all in the class has accompanied me to 
neighboring villages, that I might test the ability of 
each and give each practical suggestions, in speak- 
ing to pagan women. Four of the class will do 
Biblewomen*s work next year. 

'*The Biblewomen are paid two dollars a month 
and traveling expenses; the local guides five cents 
a day and traveling expenses, the latter amounting 
to about seventy-five cents every three months; 
the students in class a dollar and a half a month, 
as allowance for the cost of food. 

*The superintendence of the Biblewomen has 
become much less wearing to me than formerly, 
because the women have grown in grace and in 
knowledge of the truth, and I now rely much upon 
their helpful wisdom and patience in the manage- 
ment of all trying cases that arise. They are a per- 
petual joy to me. Their abilities and nobilities have 
increased with the i>assage of time and I have a 
score, at least, of Chinese women within my sphere 
of life, ii^o are engaging and estimable associates 
in all good work and aspiration. Could you dis- 
cern, as do I, the blessed changes that the touch of 
Christ has produced in these women, their furrowed 
faces would be as beautiful in your eyes as they 
are in mine, because you would recognize therein 
His growing image.** 

Pafire One Hundred Nineteen 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

Many stories and personal incidents of the Bible- 
women are contained in Miss Fielde's written arti- 
cles, missionary reports and in her book, **Pagoda' 
Shadows/* which are highly interesting, noting, as 
they do, periodic progress in the advancement of 
civilization and development of Christianity on the 
part of the women. In a magazine article printed 
in Boston in 1888, Miss Fielde writes: 

**The light of truth shining in the heart enables 
one to look beond the narrow circle of private in- 
terest, and to appreciate services to those who are 
far o£F. The native converts, who have but re- 
cently become acquainted with the true God, are 
apt to pray for benefits to themselves and their kin- 
dred. The more advanced Christians supplicate 
blessings for the whole human race. A true pa- 
triotism, caring for the unknown masses through- 
out the empire, is manifested in the aspirations of 
those in whom grace has wrought long and deeply. 

"Treasure, the house mother in the training 
school for native Biblewomen, said to me yester- 
day, *1 often observe the courtesy shown towards 
ladies by the American and Elnglish gentlemen here, 
and wish that my country women were treated by 
their men folks with like respect. I hope within a 
hundred years or mor^ when Christianity shall 
have come to cleanse our hearts and change our 
manners, the Chinese wives may walk out with 
their husbands, and go with them to meetings, and 
that those who are married may not be ashamed to 

Pa^e One Hundred Twenty 




< 

X 

o 

o 

< 

m 

O 

i 

K 

pq 
s 



Hie "Biblewomen'' 

have others see that they like to talk with each 
other, and are good friends/ 

"Treasure did not expect that such good times 
would come to her coimtry women during her day, 
but she looked with long range faith down the cen- 
turies, and foresaw a well-being for those who are 
to come. This love of others leads her to work and 
to endure, and makes the childless teacher the 
mother of future multitudes among the faithful.** 

In expatiating on the opinions of **Speed,** an- 
other Biblewoman, Miss Fielde says in another 
article : 



**Speed says: *A family is like a tub; it cannot 
be one unless aU the parts are in place. The hoops 
support the staves, and the staves support the 
hoops; and if either portion fails in its duty, the 
whole is scattered. It is only when each member 
is staimch, firm and in correct position, that the 
household is complete. The wife and mother is 
like the hoops of the tub, when she fails to hold her 
proper place there is a breaking up of the whole. 
She should, therefore, be honored for her useful- 



ness. 



*When I and my husband were first married, 
both being Christians, we ate together, and all our 
neighbors laughed at us. A woman once came to 
me and asked if I did not know that I ought to be 
ashamed of myself for walking along the street 
with my husband ii^en we were on our way to 
church. She said that everybod^r scorns us on this 

Page One Hundred Twenty -One 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

account, and that she considered herself as doing a 
good deed in telling me that I had better adhere 
to the native custom. But I replied to her that 
marriage was instituted by God himself, and that 
my own marriage was suranged for me by the elders 
of my family ; and if my husband and myself were 
ashamed of having been married, then we should 
fail in piety and in filial duty, for we would dis- 
esteem the ordinance of God and the decision of 
our elders. I asked her if it was better for a man 
to go beside his wife and mother in the street, or 
to lead along a courtesan as so many men are proud 
to do, because that shows that they have money 
to spend. When one is ashamed of what is right, 
it will not be long before one is proud of doing 
wrong. When I had finished my argimient, the 
woman said that I was correct in my ideas, and 
apologized to me for having told me that I ought 
to be ashamed of myself. When Christians are 
fearless in following Christian customs the heath- 
en gradually come to see that the Christians are 
right.* " 



Pasre One Hundred Twenty-Two 



CHAPTER ELEVEN 

Contributioiu to Chinese literature; The True 

God; After Death; Life of Jesus; Book 

of Genesis; Swatow Dictionary 

SEVEIRAL of Miss Fielde*s co-workers in mis- 
sionary service have expressed the belief that 
Miss Fielders contributions to Chinese litera- 
ture were fully equal in volume to her Elnglish pro- 
ductions. That may or may not be true, but it is 
certain that she wrote several books, and a large 
number of tracts, pamphlets and leaflets in Chinese. 
It is also said of her that her command of the Chinese 
language has seldom been surpassed by persons of 
European birth and education. She was naturally 
a linguist and after five years* residence in the 
Orient, she could read, write and think in Chinese 
almost as readily as in Elnglish. China, like all 
other nations, is not exempt from provincialisms. 
That vast country is politically divided into a large 
number of provinces, each province having a dia- 
lect peculiar to itself. So distinct are the linguistic 
differences that a person belonging to one province 
is often unable to make himself understood by the 
people of an adjoining province, yet the written 
characters of the language are the same throughout 
the whole of Mongolia. 

Miss Fielde learned to speak in the Swatow dia- 

Pacre One Hundred Twenty-Three 



Life of Adde Marion FieUe 

lect but from books she acquired a writiiig know- 
ledge of Chinese that was nation-wide. This she 
found valuable in training the Biblewomen. It 
was her practice to first write a Gospel lesson in 
terms understandable to the ordinary native intelli- 
gence and then teach its oral recitation to her class. 
As soon as the members had severally learned to 
repeat it, she taught each to read it, having a plen- 
tiful supply of the texts printed for that purpose. 
So apt were her pupils in learning and so am- 
bitious were they to learn, that the preparation of 
the lessons became a task of considerable magni- 
tude. In the sixteen years of her life at Swatow, 
she wrote the entire account of the Nazarine, His 
personal life and His teachings, according to the 
synoptic Gospels, and many papers touching on 
the world-wide significance of His mission on earth. 
At first these were printed separately on the lesson 
leaves convenient for teaching, but eventually the 
several parts were assembled and issued as a bound 
book. She also wrote in Chinese many sermons, 
treatises and theses on the philosophy of the Chris- 
tian religion for general distribution and use in the 
training school ; several of which, at least, are still 
being used in the Orient. In a note contained in 
one of her scrapbooks, she writes of two of her for- 
mer lesson leaves : 

Pafire One Hundred Twenty-Four 



Contributioiu to Chinese Literature 

''Soon after I arrived in Swatow, February 2ncl» 
1673, I composed and had printed two leaflets. 
The True God* and 'After Death/ both of which 
were in constant and practical use by the Baptists 
and Elnglish Presbyterians during all the years of 
my stay in China. Mrs. Alexander LyaSl, my old 
colleague (Miss Sophie Norwood), wrote me ii^ 
1914 that these leaflets of mine were still in use. 
She said, 'A great many of them are being used, 
both those printed from native blocks, like these en- 
closed, and from movable types, also.* 

'To have provided two tracts to be used in two 
missions for over forty years is a good work done. 
Such experiences as that of knowing how long my 
work has continued to be useful is among the dur- 
able satisfactions of life. Now, as I am almost 
seventy-six years old, echoes of words spoken de- 
cades ago come to me with frequency. Tokens 
that I have labored not in vain cheer me as I ap- 
proach the end of labor.** 

On the succeeding page is a reproduction of 
'The True God,** a translation of which is con- 
tributed hereto by Reverend William K. McKibben 
of Seattle, who was Miss Fielde's next door neigh- 
bor in Swatow. 



Paffe One Hundred Twenty-Five 




y life of Adele Marion Fielde 
"The True God" in Chinese 

Page One Hundred Twenty-Six 





Contributions to Chinese literature 

Translation ''The True God" 

**Above the earth there is one true God, His name 
is Jehovah, existing of old, existing now, existing 
always. He is without beginning and without end- 
ing. When there was not yet heaven and earth, 
nor land and sea, nor men nor things, before these 
things, this God existed. He is always present, 
everywhere present, knows all things, can do all 
things, rules all things. In the heavens, the sun, 
the gentle moon, the starry constellations, He made 
them each and all. On earth, the mountains and 
seas, the streams and rivers. He likevdse made. Hie 
animals and wild creatiures on the mountains, the 
hshes and everything in the seas. He likewise made. 
The grass and trees, vegetation, fruits, grains, flax, 
beans, rice, wheat. He brings them forth and gives 
them to man for food. All things on earth, no 
matter what they are. He made them all. 

*'He is Lord of heaven, earth, men and all things. 
Heaven is His throne, earth His footstool. All 
that is in the heavens is under His government. He 
puts forth the sun, lifts the wind, sends down the 
rain, resounds the thunder, drops the dew. 

*'Of all men on earth He is the original ancestor. 
He is the fountain-head of life. Man's life, man's 
death, are as His will. He knows man*s doings. 
He sees man always, whether by day or by night. 
What he does in the darkness, God knows. If a 
man does right. He loves him, protects him, rewards 
him. And if a man commits wickedness He pun- 

Paffv One Hundred Twenty-Seven 



life of Adde Marion FieUe 

ishes him with penalties. In this God all nations 
of men beneath the heavens have an equal share. 
Above heaven or beneath it there is no other God 
to worship. This is the TRUE GOD. Other gods, 
the whole of them, are false. If one would worship 
this, the True and Living God, he need not bum in- 
cense nor paper, nor make offerings, nor go to the 
temple to worship. Let him with true heart and 
true mind come and serve Him, follow His com- 
mands, hearken to His law, flee the evil and follow 
the good. 

'HThis, the One Living God, sent to this earth a 
Savior of the World to redeem men from their sins 
and save men's souls. Believe and trust in Him; 
thus you can reach the: Heavenly Temple.** 

''After Death" Translation by Bev. Wte. K. McKibben 

''After a man dies, there are two places to go. 
One is a place of misery, the other a place of 
comfort. Hie place of misery is called Hell; the 
place of comfort is called the Heavenly Temple. 
In Hell all is darkness. Those who enter there 
are ceaselessly burned with fire, ceaselessly 
gnawed by worms, and live among sorrows and 
wicked men. One enters there and it is impossi- 
ble to come out again. 

''If a man believes in the Gospel teaching and 
follows the precepts of the Savior then after 
death he reaches the Heavenly Temple. There 
everyone is happy, joyous. The streets there are 

Paffe One Hundred Twenty-Eisrht 



Contributions to Chinese Literature 

of gold, the houses of jade, forever imperishable. 
The people there are clad in white garments, for- 
ever clean. In that country, it is neither cold nor 
hot. There are no insect pests. There is no dark- 
ness for it is forever light, the people there 
are neither scorched by the sun nor drenched with 
rain. They do not get sick. They do not die. 
There is no suffering, no sorrow, no shedding of 
tears. There is neither thirst nor hunger nor 
poverty. When they reach that place, those that 
are blind, their eyes are open; those that are deaf, 
can hear. The lame can walk the streets, the dumb 
can speak. The wounded, their wounds are well; 
the lepers, their leprosy is cured. People there do 
not revile one another, nor fight, nor hate. All 
love one another. In peace and joy, they all with 
one heart and one mind, render worship to the True 
and Living God. Bad men cannot enter there. In 
that country the Savior is Elmperor, and His Dis- 
ciples dwell there with Him. When a man reaches 
there he is there forever. He does not have to come 
back to this world for a rebirth. Once reach the 
Heavenly Temple and there one has happiness 
through endless ages. 

"Things in this world are for but a few tens of 
years. Things after death are for endless ages. 
While in this world, endure, be patient, dwell not 
on its troubles. Believe in the Savior, learn His 
ways, follow His rules. If after death one can 
but reach the Heavenly Temple, then all is well.** 

On another occasion she writes: 

Pagre One Hundred Twenty-Nine 



life of Adde Marion Fielde 

"Swatow, October 6th, 1874." 

"I went on difFerent days to several of the vil- 
lages, where there are Christian women, and in 
all, had a splendid opportunity of speaking to the 
villagers. Hie brethren, who accompanied me, 
remained at the door of the house in which I sat, 
and spoke to the men, while I and a Biblewoman 
talked to the women inside. In one village I was 
asked to go and sit in the Ancestral Hall and there 
had a congregation of fifty women. 

*Tor some months we have been looking for a 
piece of land that could be had for building a 
small house for mission work in the villages. We 
fixed on one at Kue Suia, on the bank of the 
river, six miles from the Kit-ie chapel. Within a 
radius of three miles are eighty villages. A 
Christian who lives there, and who is the only 
man who has even a few hundreds of dollars in 
property, bought the piece of land for forty-five 
dollars and presented it to the church, as a site 
for the house. On Sunday, at communion, the 
church members were told of the great use which 
the projected building would be in spreading the 
knowledge of the Gospel. 

"After service a member wrote down the sub- 
scriptions. One gave two stone posts, costing 
four dollars; another, the main beam for the 
roof, and the rest subscribed thirteen dollars. This, 
in consideration of their extreme poverty, was 
very liberal. The work of the building is already 

Pasre One Hundred Thirty 



Contributions to Chinese Literature 

commenced and will cost about three hundred 
dollars. 

*'When we have excited the people to do some- 
thing for themselves, we have accomplished far 
greater good than for ansrthing done for them by us. 
The Chinese are entirely capable of being trained 
for self-help and therefore eminently worth the 
wise care of those who have the power to help them. 

"Last Sunday there were sixty at the morning 
service and thirty-six that partook of the com- 
munion. Two of the brethren were under dis- 
cipline for having helped to carry the appliances 
of a theatre connected with idol worship. Though 
they confessed their sin, they were required to 
abstain from the sacrament for two months. The 
native pastor, Hu Sinsey, is doing valuable work 
and there is real growth in morality and piety.** 

On October 6th, 1875, she wrote: 

**Some of our poor Christian people are being 
persecuted for their Master's sake. One of the 
Biblewomen has been badly beaten at the village, 
to which she went to work, and some of the 
women in that vicinity have had to flee from 
their homes, and stay at the chapel, for some days, 
to escape maltreatment. 

**We have so long been taught to pity the 
heathen, that those who have had no practical ex- 
perience with them forget how wicked and cruel 
and adverse to all good they are. They have to 
be saved by main strength. If we worked for 

Paffe One Hundred Thirty-One 



life of Adde Marion Fidde 

love of them, our impulse would soon fail. Work- 
ing for love of Christ, our impetus grows stronger 
as we see how hard His work was and how un- 
lovely those He loved.*' 

A dictionary of the Swatow dialect, with Ejig- 
lish equivalents, was another of Miss Fielde*s per- 
manent literary contributions to the Chinese. It 
was the only dictionary of the Swatow tongue 
that has ever been printed ; and, up to the present, 
it has done full service for thirty years. Many 
editions of the work have been reprinted since 
the first appeared and many thousands of copies 
are now in circulation. Its use is not confined 
exclusively to missionary purposes, but English- 
speaking merchants, diplomats, explorers and 
travelers, have found it convenient in communi- 
cating with the Chinese of the Kwangtung province. 
The work is quite large compared with other 
Chinese books and it took a year to put it into 
type. It was printed in Shanghai, where its 
author was obliged to remain the whole of that 
time, reading the proof and supervising the work. 
In one of her letters. Miss Fielde writes that the 
process of printing was necessarily slow, as the 
printers were not familiar with the Swatow dia- 
lect, and they did not understand the meanings 
of many of the words they put into t3rpe. 

Paffe One Hundred Thirty -Two 



Contributions to Chinese literature 

An English newspaper published at Shanghai, 

printed the following review of this great work: 

**There is a sentence in the Chinese classics to 
the effect that if the virtues of the Superior man 
are not known, it is the fault of his friends. Hiere 
is much wisdom in the philosopher's remark, for 
true merit, whether moral or intellectual is retir- 
ing, and does not seek for fame or even publicity, 
but rather avoids both; and hence it becomes one 
of the pleasantest duties of an editor, when per- 
sons of this character are discovered, to see that 
justice is done them. Had newspapers existed in 
the days of Confucius, the worthy sage would no 
doubt have given terse directions to editors as to 
their duties, so that they might know how to 
repress and keep in check the over-forward, and 
encourage and bring into notice the more diffident 
among their literar>' acquaintances. But be this as 
it may, we feel that we have been neglectful in the 
case of one of the most talented and at the same 
time one of the most devoted and self-denying phil- 
anthropists that ever came to China. Miss Fielde 
resided at Shanghai for about a year, for the pur- 
pose of putting through the press a work which 
does the greatest credit to her literary abilities and 
indomitable perseverance. Day after day, rain or 
shine, hot or cold, sick or well, she might have been 
seen on her way to or from the printing office, where 
for the sake of expedition as well as convenience 
to the printers, she would sit hour after hour at 
the tedious task of reading over and correcting 

Page One Hundred Thirty-Three 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

proofs which she alone could read and under- 
stand. And thus her elaborate and comprehen- 
sive dictionary of the Swatow dialect, was put 
through the press at a uniform rate of so many 
pages per day. It will remain a lasting monu- 
ment of what a woman can do, whose heart is in 
a good cause, and whose religious sentiments are 
backed up by unusual abilities and untiring zeal 
and enthusiasm. But for us, we will only remark 
that the people of Swatow are to be envied the 
possession of a lady of such accomplishments and 
refinement, coupled with such sensible enthusiasm 
and self-denial in the missionary cause. 

**The dictionary lies before us — a large volume, 
between six and seven hundred quarto pages of 
closely printed matter. Hie Herculean task in- 
volved in the preparation and publication of such 
a book, can hardly be conceived by anyone who 
has never attempted it. We understand that the 
Swatow dialect is spoken by only eight million 
people, over a region some thirty miles wide by 
sixty miles long. The knowledge that the diction- 
ary could be serviceable for this one particular 
dialect and over such a limited area, instead of be- 
ing available for the whole Elmpire, must, we 
imagine, have made the task feel all the more weari- 
some. But we will let the good lady speak for 
herself, as she does in the preface: 

** *The completion of this Dictionary, which 
contains five thousand four hundred and forty-two 
words, has occupied four years, in connection with 

Fagre One Hundred Thirty-Pour 



Contributions to Chinese Literature 

much other work. Thanks are due from the author 
to many who have incidentally assisted her in the 
making of this book, especially to Dr. S. Wells 
Williams, whose labors of like nature have helped 
her to such knowledge as she has to the Chinese 
language; to Dr. William Ashmore, whose ac- 
quaintance with the Swatow vernacular has made 
his advice valuable to her ; to those who at different 
times and places have cared for her during severe 
illness; to those who have furnished funds for the 
publication of this work; and to Dr. and Mrs. M. 
T. Yates of Shanghai, whose home has been hers 
during the year of putting the book through the 
press.* 

**A more modest and unpretentious preface to a 
book involving such an amount of scholarship and 
labor, we do not ever remember to have seen. The 
object for which all these pains have been taken is 
told in an equally concise manner in the dedica- 
tion: 

'* *Ta those who are to come into the American 
Baptist Mission at Swatow, bearing the Gospel of 
Christ to the Tie Cheu people, this book is affec- 
tionately inscribed.* 

''The introduction gives some very interesting 
information respecting the tones of the Swatow 
dialect, and there are tables of exercises on the 
tones, sounds, aspirates, nasals, etc., which must 
prove of great use to learners of this strange and 
apparently harsh sounding language. Beyond this 
observation, we leave the book to those who are 

Page One Hundred Thirty-Five 



Life of Adde Marion FieUe 

versed in the dialect, to determine its general cor- 
rectness, save that we will express our conviction 
that the whole book will be found a counterpart 
of its author, and will possess the thoroughness 
and conscientious accuracy which characterizes all 
her doings. 'Those who are to come,* at Swatow, 
have surely great cause for thankfulness that there 
is such a help to the knowledge awaiting them. 

"We have now done with the Dictionary, but 
not quite with Miss Fielde. Did our space permit, 
we would like to give a comprehensive sketch of 
her life-work in China, of which the book in ques- 
tion is but a fraction. It is in fact, only a small 
part of a scheme for extending missionary work 
in China, the like of which was never yet dreamed 
of or attempted in the Orient — the training and use 
of Biblewomen as evangelists. Those of our 
readers who attended the Missionary Conference 
at Shanghai, in 1677, will remember the speech 
she was pressed to make on this subject, and which 
was allowed to have been one of the most able 
made at the gathering. The worthy chairman, it 
is true, opposed strongly the idea of a lady speak- 
ing in public, and vacated the chair rather than give 
his permission to such an unscriptural proceeding, 
but she made the talk, notwithstanding. The plan 
she so ingenuously described on that occasion was 
already in operation and has now been adopted 
and is in use over the whole of China by every 
Christian Mission here. 

Tage One Hundred Thlrty-Slz 



Contributioiis to Obinese Literature 

**We therefore wish her every success in what 
she has made her work of faith and love/* 

Collaborating with Dr. William Ashmore, Sr., 
Miss Fielde also translated the Book of Genesis into 
Chinese. This was an extremely difficult task, 
because of the labor involved in improvising the 
text so as to adapt it to the understanding of the 
natives. The thought processes of the Mongol are 
unlike those of any other race. The mind of the 
yellow man functions in grooves wholly unused by 
the European peoples. Miss Fielde was singularly 
successful in learning to think like the Chinese. At 
the time she lived in China there were a number 
of Europeans who were her superiors in Chinese 
scholarship, but she had the reputation of excelling 
in the interpretation of Chinese thought. 

But it is not to be supposed that Miss Fielde*8 
work consisted solely in writing tracts, sermons 
and Gospel lessons. Such was not the case. In 
fact her literary compositions were largely super- 
erogatory. She had been appointed to teach Chris- 
tianity to Chinese women. Besides the long tedious 
hours spent in the training school, her duties often 
compelled her to visit missionary stations some- 
times remote from the Swatow compound. Often 
she was detailed to establish new stations in dis- 
tant localities where white people had never be- 

Pase One Hundred Thirty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

fore been seen or even heard of. Many of these 
latter excursions were attended by danger from per- 
tenal violence, and not unfrequently she was 
threatened with death by the unfriendly and suspi- 
cious natives. 

She had three modes of traveling — by foot, 
horseback and by boat. The latter appears to have 
been her favorite, as the river traversed the more 
populous sections of the province, and she 
was provided with a small boat which was built 
and fitted for journeys of several weeks duration. 
On such occasions Miss Fielde and her lady travel- 
ing companion lived aboard the boat, the house be- 
ing commodious enough to cook and sleep in. 
Under date of December 6th, 1 880, she wrote the 
following letter, descriptive of one of these trips : 

''I am homeward bound from Peh Yah, sixty 
miles west from Swatow, where I have spent three 
pleasant days. On my arrival there I found ia 
deputation of Hakka people waiting to invite me 
to visit their village, five miles distant. They had 
already hired a sedan chair for me to go in, and I, 
with a company of the Peh Yah members, ac- 
companied them. 

**Hakka homes are in a lonely and isolated 
cluster of five hamlets, environed by rice-fields and 
sweet-potato patches, with high, bare mountains 
towering in the distance. The dwellings of sun- 

Pa^e One Hundred Thirty-Eight 



Contributions to Chinese Literature 

bricks, made from the mud of the rice-fields ; 
walls without plaster, and no other floor than the 
earth, made level and hard with pounding. Earthen 
tiles are laid on the roof like shingles, but so 
loosely that they clatter in the wind. As it is six 
miles from any stream, on which boats run, they 
have no lime except that carried on men's 
shoulders, and only the rich can afford a firmer 
cement than mud. 

**With all the appearances of poverty, they are 
not very poor. They have shelter, food and 
clothing, the products of their own labor, as good 
as any that they have seen, therefore they are not 
conscious of want. Every man is a tiller of the 
soil, and there are few who do not own a little 
land. All of the men know how to read; none of 
the women bind their feet. They have no idols or 
fetishes in their houses and have fewer supersti- 
tions than other Chinese. They belong to a great 
tribe that has been for generations slowly, con- 
stantly and surely, extending its borders and pos- 
sessing itself of the land. 

**This cluster of hamlets has a population of three 
thousand. One of the hamlets consists of forty 
families, of which thirty-five say they have decided 
to become Christians. This is the childhood home 
of Mue, the only one of our Biblewomen whose 
native tongue is Hakka. In pasang visits to her own 
mother, Mue has proclaimed the Gospel as she had 
the opportunity, but apparently without marked 
effect upon her he2irers. 

Pasre One Hundred Thirty-Nine 



life of Adele Marion Fidde 

'They propose to build a chapel entirely at their 
own expense, if teachers can be sent them from 
Swatow. As some of them understand the Swatow 
dialect, more or less, and as we have no teachers 
that can speak to them in their own tongue, 1 pro- 
loosed that they select a half dozen of their own 
number, upright men and good scholars, to come 
out to Swatow and study in Dr. Ashmore*s class 
until they should be able to teach their own people 
'the true doctrine.* Meanwhile I called Sister Mue 
from a neighborhood station and left her to 'hold 
the fort,* and instruct the women. 1 am to inune- 
diately send in tracts and books for the men. The 
women, poor souls, cannot read. 

"When we see 'an open door,* in this country, 
we are always sure that it is set before us by the 
Lord. The 'childlike and bland* Asiatics hold mo- 
tives in their minds in layers, many as the super- 
imposed villages buried in Vesuvius. Under the 
evident one there is another concealed, and still 
deeper ones may be unearthed by sufficient delving. 
If, when we come to the bottom fact, we find Hakka 
villagers have no less blessed motive underlying 
their desire to learn, saving truth, then the turn- 
ing of a whole village to the Lord will be a move- 
ment unseen in this field and great things are to 
follow.** 

"Swatow, March 7th, 1 88 1 . 

"Yesterday morning. Miss Norwood and I went 
in our punt to some villages three miles away on 
the coast seaward. On the outskirts of the first 

Pagre One Hundred Forty 



Contributions to Chinese Literature 

village, I saw an old woman gathering herbs, and at 
the same time Miss Norwood saw one spinning ; so 
we separated, and each went to her old woman. 
Mine said she was gathering herbs to make a wash 
for her daughter-in-law's sore eyes, and asked if 
1 had an eye medicine that would cure the blind. 
1 told her that if she wished me to do so, I would 
go with her to her house and there tell her what 
medicine I had. So she led the way to her home — 
a new and almost clean white hut — ^in the midst 
of many brown and ill-smelling ones. Her neigh- 
bors saw us going in and fifteen women, most of 
them with small, dirty children in their arms, 
crowded in to inquire what remedy I could offer 
for their varied ills. I talked with them for an hour 
about the one country in all the universe that is 
known to be one in which there are no ills, and 
what a very little way it is for those who wish 
to go, and how blessed is the road to that land 
of health and life. They seemed to be deeply in- 
terested; and the daughter-in-law, who has a dis- 
ease of the eyes which will probably end in total 
and incurable blindness, said she would hereafter 
pray daily to the new old God, Jehovah. 

"I found Miss Norwood, not far off, reading the 
tract 'After Death,* in a little courtyard, to a group 
of women and children. I sat down among the 
hearers. A boy, just as high as my shoulder, kept 
rubbing his frowsy head upon me on one side, and 
a smaller boy tried to project his begrimed little 
face under my other arm in an effort to see the 

Pagre One Hundred Forty-One 



life of Adele Marion Fielde 

reader; while an old woman, a leper from head to 
foot, stood in front of me, asserting that I had 
grown old very fast since she last saw me. She 
endeavored to clasp my hands and I was therefore 
very glad when Miss Norwood invited me to take 
her place and speak to the group. 

'* Afterwards we returned to our boat for lunch- 
eon, and then went to another village. Passing a 
house, at whose door a woman sat, making sweet- 
potato flour, we told her that we had something 
pleasant to say to her, if she would give us a seat 
inside and keep all the men and children out, while 
she let all the women come in. She at once assent- 
ed and we stationed two of our boatmen at the 
door, to carry out the arrangement. We find this 
is the only way we can get quiet congregations. 
The children swarm like locusts; and unless they 
are firmly excluded, they take up the room and 
make teaching difficult by their noise and squab- 
bling. When the women see that the national 
notions of propriety are adhered to, and that no 
men are admitted to our presence, they come 
pouring in from their doorways around and we have 
those hearers who most need us and whom we 
can most effectually help. So it was in this house. 

**One old woman listened with a peculiar earn- 
estness, and several times asked me to repeat a 
sentence that she might be able to remember it 
after I was gone. When our session was broken up 
by the men-folks coming in with farm produce, 
which they wanted to store away, this old woman 

Pagre One Hundred Forty-Two 



Contributions to Chinese Literature 

hobbled off homeward, and 1 heard her saying as 
she went, as if to fix them firmly in her memory, 
the words, * Jesus the Lord I* She had never heard 
the Gospel before, perhaps she never will he£u: it 
again. But it may be, that when she is about 
to cross over into the next world, she will there on 
the border of the vast, dark unknown, recall what 
she yesterday learned, and will cry out, *Jesus the 
Lord,* and that Jesus the Lord will hear His name 
thus called, and will come and take her into His 
heaven. There was a woman once who, in the 
midst of a great throng, crowding after Him, just 
touched the hem of His garment and He turned 
around and sought her out and saved her. I think 
this old woman will call to Him, and He never 
yet failed to respond to His name.** 



Paire One Hundred Forty-Three 



CHAPTER TWELVE 

Return to America; Preparing for Greater Useful- 
ness; More Lectures 

IN 1883 Miss Fielde returned to the United 
States for a vacation. She had spent ten years 
in China under stress of hard work, unpropit- 
ious climatic conditions and insanitary surround- 
ings. At the end of the decade she was physically 
exhausted, in poor health and on the verge of nerv- 
ous prostration. She was badly in need of rest 
and change of environment. 

However, recuperation was not the only thing 
that prompted her to return to the land of her birth. 
She had two other purposes in view, either of 
which she regarded as of much greater importance 
than that of her own health and strength. One of 
these was a cherished plan by which she could still 
further increase her power to respond to the divine 
command to **Go and teach.'* 

Social custom in China prohibits male physicians, 
native or foreign, from attending women during 
parturition. No matter how complicated the case, 
no matter how intense the suffering, not even to 
prevent death, is a man permitted to enter a room 
where a woman is being delivered of a child. There 
are no native women physicians in China. 
Childbirth is largely looked upon as an occasion 

Paffe One Hundred Forty-Four 



Return to America 

for superstitious ceremony, rites and incantations 
rather than one demanding the intelligent practice 
of obstetrics. So it too often happens that a woman 
in child labor is left to suffer hours of excruciating 
agony while her female relatives and neighbors are 
noisily petitioning the devils, demons and evil spir- 
its, not to help the patient, but to refrain from tak- 
ing advantage of her helplessness to do her some 
malicious harm. 

Many of the Christian missions in the Orient 
maintain Isang-in hospitals and employed physicians 
as regular features of their Christian propaganda, 
but to extend this branch of the service so as to 
reach the five hundred million population of China 
presented problems of expense and labor beyond 
the power of Christendom to solve. It was always 
Miss Fielders idea to educate the heathen to help 
themselves materially as well as spiritually, so it 
was her plan to make the study of obstetrics a part 
of the curricula of her training school for Bible- 
women. To do this she must first prepare herself 
to teach. While on her vacation she intended to 
take a special course of study and training in ob- 
stetrics in some medical institution; which plan 
she successfully carried out. 

The second cause of her eagerness to visit the 
United States was a desire to investigate the then 

Paffe One Hundred Forty -FiTe 



life of Adele Marion Fielde 

newly enunciated doctrine of organic evolution. 
Like all other earnest-minded people, Miss Fielde 
regarded a knowledge of the origin, purpose and 
destiny of humankind a matter of paramount im- 
portance. Only recently she had translated the 
Book of Genesis into Chinese. This work had 
caused her to make a closer analysis of the Biblical 
story of creation than she had ever before given it. 
It also induced some wavering doubts on her part 
regarding its truth. To use her own words, her 
strongest impulsion was a desire to know the 
truth even if its disclosure would cause her to aban- 
don every preconceived idea and ideal of her entire 
Ufe. 

Charles Darwin had published his "Origin of the 
Species** in 1839. At first the great work was 
ridiculed by the ordinary reader, discredited by 
many of the leading scientists of that day and thor- 
oughly reprobated by nearly every denomination 
of the Christian church. But still the truths of its 
principles persisted, and, in the course of a quarter 
of a century, it had advanced from the condition 
of a fantastic theory to that of a scientific hypo- 
thesis. When Miss Fielde first heard of it it was 
beginning to be acepted by the more advanced 
thinkers of the scientific world. She was greatly 
impressed with the idea from the start, even though 

Pagre One Hundred Forty-Siz 



Return to America 

presented through devious and unfriendly chan- 
nels. 

It was her purpose to avail herself of a part of 
the time dedicated to her vacation, to thoroughly 
inform herself of the truth or falsity of Mr. Dar- 
win's teachings. If human beings were the result 
of the applied principles of evolution, she wanted 
to know it, even if the beautiful story of Adam and 
Eve must be relegated to the resdms of fairyland as 
a consequence. 

Before leaving China, she planned to go without 
delay and visit her parents in western New York, 
where she proposed to take a much needed rest. 
But she was not permitted to carry out this latter 
part of the program. Her fame as a mission worker 
had preceded her. The Christian people of her na- 
tive land were eager to see her and heai the wonder- 
ful story from her own lips. Scarcely had she landed 
on the western shore when she was plunged into 
a series of missionary meetings that compelled her 
to visit nearly every large city in the United States. 
Within a year of her homecoming she had ad- 
dressed one hundred and fifty large assemblages; 
describing the peculiarities of the Chinese, relating 
her personal experiences with them and reciting sta- 
tistics and telling anecdotes to illustrate the prog- 
ress of Christianity in the Far East. 

Faere One Hundred Forty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

In reporting one of her talks, a Cincinnati daily 
newspaper of November, 1884, contains the fol- 
lowing: 

'*A large and enthusiastic meeting was held yes- 
terday afternoon at the Ninth Street church, to meet 
Miss Adele M. Fielde, lady missionary in Swatow, 
Southern China, who is making a tour of her native 
land in the interest of the millions of women of 
China who can only be reached by Christian wom- 
en of Gospel lands. Miss Fielde received the most 
cordial welcome from the united churches of the 
Baptist denomination, not the least token being 
the abundance of exquisite flowers and the grace 
of vine and foliage that transformed the spacious 
prayer room to a thing of brightness and beauty. 

**Miss Fielde has a fine presence and the appear- 
ahce of one in excellent physical preservation, and 
proved herself a speaker of no ordinary ability, 
impressing her hearers as eminently fitted for the 
great work she has undertaken, evincing the utmost 
self-possession, sound judgment and an abundance 
of common sense throughout a lengthy address 
bearing upon her recent labors. She said that if 
all the women of China were divided among the 
lady missionaries there would be over a million 
to each missionary, and as many men to each male 
missionary. There are less than three hundred mis- 
sionaries including all evangelical denominations 
in China. The women are by far the most in need 
of help because of their exclusiveness, their ignor- 
ance and deep-rooted superstitions. In 

Pasre One Hundred Forty-El^ht 



Return to America 

ladies to go as guardians and teachers of these 
classes, it was stated, that the prominent requisites 
were sound physical hesJth, the ability to perform 
the work of both a woman and a man, a cheerful 
spirit, the utmost self-possession and, above all, a 
profound conviction of the value and truth of Chris- 
tianity. Instances were related of the power of the 
Gospel to lead Chinese mothers to renounce the 
worship of idols and to cease the practice of infan- 
ticide. 

*'The first question that comes to a girl bom in 
that country, she said, is whether she will be allow- 
ed to live at all. Very many girls are murdered by 
their mothers as not worth keeping, and she told of 
the numbers killed by women under her own ob- 
servation, giving details of the cruelties practiced. 
Many superstitions of the Chinese regarding their 
children were related, and she then told of the pro- 
cess which girls who arrive at the age of six years 
undergo in the course of foot-binding. If there 
were no other ends to be attained, the relieving of 
the vast number of suffering women from physical 
pain would be ample reason for sending missionar- 
ies there. The next horror that awaits the Chinese 
girl is the marriage according to the Chinese cus- 
tom, often being forced to wed men who were cruel 
and worthless. Suicides were unusually common 
among Chinese brides. After marriage the Chin- 
ese wife is ever unhappy. No women there could 
conceive that a husband could exist who did not 
sometimes beat his wife. Christianity remedied 

Pagre One Hundred Forty-Nine 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 

these aocial customs. The woman in heathendom 
has not an equal chance in law, punishments were 
always more severe than those inflicted on men. 
No hereafter was pictured for the wife of a China- 
man save one of gloom and darkness. So great 
were the number of women in this hopeless condi- 
tion that only thousands of women missionaries 
would be avsdlable to help them. The greater ig- 
norance of the women, when compared with the 
men, increased the need of personal work. Their 
deep superstition, as witnessed by their strange 
fetish worship and devotion to idols and their de- 
pendence on soothsayers and fortune tellers, in- 
creased the need for Christian service. The unjust 
and cruel conditions under which the laws and cus- 
toms placed women rendered their state yet more 
deplorable. The laws concerning marriage and di- 
vorce were cited in illustration, a most pitiful pic- 
ture, drawn from personal knowledge, being given 
of their sad workings. Christianity brings to the 
dreary, cheerless homes of these women a comfort 
and balm. In no way could Christian women ef- 
fect more good in China than in working directly 
for its adult heathen women, thus rectifying the 
family relations at the spring and bringing light into 
the home. The work, however, was of such magni- 
tude that it was idle to expect a sufficiency of work- 
ers except through the training of efficient native 
helpers. 

*'Miss Fielde then gave a most interesting ac- 
count of her training school for the native Bible- 

Paere One Hundred Fifty 



Return to America 

women of Swatow, relating the difficulties attend- 
ing the establishment of the enterprise, the meth- 
ods of instruction pursued and the good work al- 
ready performed. During the past eleven yesu's 
she had instructed eight hundred women, each of 
whom had subsequently gone out to repeat in her 
simple but effective way the old story of the Gos- 
pel. Some of them had acquired great power in at- 
tracting and enchaining the attention of the people. 
She had never known but two persons who were 
able to hold an audience in tense interest for more 
than three hours. One was Joseph Cook of Bos- 
ton, with his affluent stores of learning drawn from 
all sources, the other a poor Biblewoman of Swa- 
tow, with nothing but her knowledge of the sacred 
Scriptures. 

''Miss Fielde expects to go back to Swatow in 
September, next year. As a speaker she pleased the 
audience greatly last evening and many expressions 
of gratification and faith in her work were heard at 
the close of the exercises.** 

Miss Fielde incorporated an account of the prac- 
tice of spiritism by Chinese women in her lectures 
on the Orient, which is interesting because of the 
similarity of these performances to the seances of 
the spiritualist mediums of Europe and America. 
Her description of the meetings at which alleged 
communion with disembodied spirits is held is here 
reproduced from a report first appearing in the 
Public Ledger of Philadelphia in 1884: 

Page One Hundred Fifty-One 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

''In the eight month of each succeeding year the 
women of Swatow meet privately and fall into 
trances. Nearly all the native women are interest- 
ed in these secret sessions but many are prevented 
from being present by necessary occupations else- 
where, or from fear of rebuke from the men of their 
households. These conclaves are conducted by 
women alone and are regarded by men with great 
disfavor. From three to a dozen or more women 
gather around a table in the center of a room where 
they can be secure from interruption. Incense 
sticks, spirit money and bamboo roots, bought by 
previous contributions of farthings, are distributed 
among all present. A fetish of some sort, a decayed 
splint hat, an old broom, a chopstick, or possibly 
some more uncleanly object, taken from a rubbish 
heap, is brought in and spirit money is burned be- 
fore it with obeisances. Then those who desire 
to fall into trance sit down at the table, throw a 
black cloth over their heads, hold a sheet of spirit 
money and a lighted incense stick between the 
palms before their faces, shut their eyes and remain 
motionless and silent. Of the other women, some 
light incense sticks and whirl them over the heads 
of the sitters ; some rap constantly, gently and rap- 
idly, with bamboo roots on the edge of the table; 
some chant invocations, petitioning the gods to ad- 
mit these their children to their abode. Many and 
diverse incantations are iterated. Two or three of 
the women, perhaps, fall into trance. Their doing 
so is indicated by their trembling violently, drop- 

Paere One Hundred Fifty-Two 



Return to America 

ping the incense sticks they were holding, begin- 
ning to beat the table with the palms of their hands 
and to discourse incoherently. They speak of meet- 
ing their own lost friends, or those of other women 
who are present. They weep bitterly while they 
appear to be conversing with the dead. They de- 
scribe streets, shops and houses, and say that cer- 
tain persons are engaged in agriculture or trade. 
Sometimes they, by request, make inquiry concern- 
ing the whereabouts of a dead person, and then give 
the information that he has been bom into the hu- 
man family for the second time. Sometimes they 
report that a dead neighbor is shut up in Hades with 
nothing to eat but the salted flesh of the infant 
daughters she destroyed when she was alive. 

**As no pecuni£ay benefit accrues, directly or in- 
directly, to the actors in these scenes, there is less 
reason for suspecting conscious deception than in 
the case of the public interpreters of the gods. 
Through the whole, however, there is an indication 
that the minds of the women are, during these 
trances, moving in customary grooves. They evi- 
dently see what they expect to see. They bring 
back no ideas save those which they took with them 
when starting on their quest, and this leads one to 
doubt, in spite of their disheveled hair, pallor and 
exhaustion, whether they have, after all, really been 
away from home." 



Paere One Hundred Fifty-Three 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN 



Studying Medicine; Investigating Organic Evolu- 
tion; Creating a CoUege 

DURING the spring and summer months of 
1 883 Miss Fielde was busy with her lecture 
engagements. She gave the time to this 
purpose somewhat reluctantly, as she had formed 
a di£Ferent program for spending her vacation. At 
the end of the first five months of her return, she 
found that the demand for her services as a church 
entertainer was increasing rather than diminishing, 
so she instructed her managers to decline all invi- 
tations that required her presence after September. 
Late in September she matriculated at the Wom- 
an's Medical College of Philadelphia for a course in 
obstetrics. At that period of our industrial devel- 
opment women's sphere of usefulness was still 
greatly restricted. True, women were beginning 
to enter the professional fields but by only a very 
small percentage of their numbers, and the institu- 
tions of learning to which they were admitted were 
comparatively few and often of inferior standing. 
The principle of co-education had established a 
firm foothold in the western states but it was far 
from being popular in the more conservative east. 
One or two of the more liberal of the Philadelphia 
schools of medicine for men, however, permitted 

Pagre One Hundred Fifty-Four 



Studying Medicine; Investigating Evolution 

women students to attend their clinics, yet the en- 
couragement offered was not characterized by any 
great degree of spontaneity and often the men stu- 
dents of those institutions openly resented the 
presence of women at such assemblies. Frequent- 
ly the young women were subjected to various 
forms of heckling, such as cat calls, hen cackling, 
etc., on the part of the young men. On one occa- 
sion Miss Fielde was instrumental in putting an 
end to these annoyances, at least from one source, 
and she accomplished her task in such a way that 
she not only won the enduring gratitude and affec- 
tion of the women of the class but the admiration 
and future respect of the offending men students. 
A Philadelphia newspaper published the following 
unique account of the incident at the time of its 
occurrence : 

**A11 the theoretical argument in the world goes 
down before one ounce oiF actual experience. While 
the theorists and re-actionists have been proclaim- 
ing that to admit women into the same institutions 
of learning with men would be absolutely ruinous 
to the character of both men and women, some in- 
stitutions have just gone on and done it. Oberlin 
did this dreadful thing from its opening, as also 
Antioch College. And now, in his annual report. 
Professor Angell of the University of Michigan, 
the largest university in America, states that for 
thirteen years women have been admitted on the 

Paere One Hundred Fifty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

same terms with men, and that nothing but good 
has resulted from that which has long ceased to be 
an experiment. 

''Just here we cannot deny ourselves the plea- 
sure (the editor has so few pleasures) of quoting 
from the Medical News of this city the following 
account of a beautiful thing that was done recently 
by one of the noblest of women : 

" *There are about fifteen students at the Wom- 
an's Medical College in Philadelphia, fitting them- 
selves as medical missionaries for Asia and else- 
where. Three of them attended last Saturday's med- 
ical clinic at Blockley — ^the only women among 
one hundred and fifty young men. The lecturer 
was late, and the class, in their impatience and en-, 
forced idleness, began some noisy demonstration, 
directed, evidently, to the delinquent teacher, but 
later apparently intended for the women present, 
not so much in way of serious insult but of playful 
banter. Miss A. M. Fielde, one of the most widely 
known and eminent missionaries in China, arose, 
and, amidst instant and respectful silence, said: 
'Gentlemen, I have been for eighteen years a mis- 
sionary in China. The Chinese have no medical 
science, and superstitious rites are chiefly relied on 
in the treatment of disease. All the people are in 
need of medical aid, but the women are the neediest. 
A Chinese woman would under no circumstances 
go to a male physician for the treatment of any dis- 
ease peculiar to her sex. She would su£Fer life-long 
agony rather than violate her sense of propriety. 

Paere One Hundred Fifty-Six 



Studying Medidne; Invertigatiiig Evolution 

I 

Her father, her brothers, and her husband would 
even let her die rather than allow her to be treated 
by a male physician. Full of sorrow for the su£Fer- 
ings of these women, I have been looking in Chris- 
tisji America to see what hope for help for them 
might be here. I have been glad to find that in 
some of our great medical schools earnest and self- 
sacrificing women are fitting themselves for a work 
of mercy in Asia and other lands. Unless such 
women learn to do such work well, there is no phy- 
sical salvation for those afilicted ones. In behalf of 
these women, who have no medical care while they 
so sorely need it, I ask from you the courtesy of 
gentlemen towards ladies who are studying medi- 
cine in Philadelphia.' 

''The whole class responded to her earnest ad- 
dress with a cheer, and one of their number, rising, 
o£Fered the women a public apology. Evidently a 
new aspect of the case had been presented to many 
of them — one which claimed their respect and sym- 
pathy." 

It will be recalled that Miss Fielde had proposed 
to make a systematic investigation of the basic 
principles of organic evolution during her vaca- 
tion. She had been advised to apply to the Acad- 
emy of Natiu^l Sciences of Philadelphia for infor- 
mation as to how this plan could be carried out. 
Soon after she had established herself at the Wom- 
an's College of Medicine she called at the Academy 
and made her quest known. Here she was told 

Page One Hundred Fifty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

that there was, actually, no place in Riiladelphia 
where she could be instructed in the higher prin- 
ciples of biology and taught the necessary research 
work that would demonstrate the truth or falsity 
of Mr, Darwin's theory. The Academy, it was ex- 
plained, was an institution of learning, but not an 
institution of teaching. It was fully equipped with 
the facilities for the undertaking Miss Fielde con- 
templated, but was not organized to give the need- 
ed instruction. It was designed as a place of scien- 
tific experiment, review and registry — a school of 
application but not one of instruction. Students 
were welcome to the free use of its library of scien- 
tific books and publications, its museum of natural 
history specimens and its laboratories of apparatus 
and equipment for scientific experiment but there 
was no provision by which they could receive per- 
sonal tuition in any branch or branches of science. 

But Miss Fielde was not to be defeated of her 
purpose. She told her story simply, truthfully and 
powerfully — as only she could tell it. The heads 
of the academy were big men, built on the broad 
lines of self-e£Facement and devotion to useful 
knowledge — as only scientists are so made. She 
saw in them the source of light by which the great- 
est of the three great problems of the universe — 
origin, purpose and destiny of humankind— nrould 

F^flre One Hundred Fifty-Eipht 



Studjring Medicine; Investigatiiig Evolution 

be made plain to her. They saw in her a possible 
contributor to the brilliancy of the light they loved 
so well. At the conclusion of her visit, cmrange- 
ments had been made by which she was to enter 
the Academy as the only student beginner with a 
corps of the most eminent scientists of the age as 
her preceptors. 

Miss Fielde was really, though indirectly, the 
cause of the biological department being added to 
the University of Pennsylvania. Under the cap- 
tion of **-4 Proposed Biological School^ the Pub- 
lic Ledger of February, 1 884, contains the follow- 
ing editorial in which she is given that credit : 

*'It is quite remarkable that the present lively 
discussion and proposal of plans for a biological in- 
stitute or school in Philadelphia should have its im- 
pulse in the inquiry and demand of a woman for 
such facilities in this city. Miss A. M. Fielde, so 
well known for her work and residence in China, 
will be the responsible cause if these plans are car- 
ried out. Just a year ago Miss Fielde came to Phila- 
delphia for facilities of study which do not exist 
here, in the place she naturally regarded as the 
scientific center of the United States. The superb 
collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences is 
here; the great biologist of the United States, Pro- 
fessor Leidy, is here, in himself an institute equal 
to a library of text books. Yet younger lecturers 
and specialists, such as Heilprin, Sharp, Jasoie, and 

Paere One Hundred Fifty -Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

others, owe to Germany their definite training* 
which is gratifying to know is now to be employed 
in lecturing work at home. But the lecture course, 
however interesting, does not make a school. Some- 
thing more is required, and we are glad to learn 
that plans are actively preparing which are design- 
ed to crystallize into the School of Biology, which 
may be in any sort of building or location, so that it 
establishes the Biological Chair with Professor 
Leidy in it, and is open to pupils at some fairly early 
day for practical work. The laboratory for such a 
school, as Professor Huxley and Mrs. Stevenson, 
of Chicago, have shown in their Science Primers 
may be very simple at the start ; the yeast plant ; the 
green *scum' on the standing pool ; the crayfish, etc. 
What is wanted is the brains under hat (or bonnet) 
to direct the research and study, while the school 
makes its own museum; with the splendid collec- 
tion of the Academy, which is open to students for 
reference and research. To go back to the opening 
sentence of this notice, it does not need to be stated 
that such a school must be equally open to both 
young women and young men, as indeed, the little 
Aggasiz Associations, of boys and girls both, are 
preparing for it most intelligent and discriminating 
scholars. To have reached a point where co-educa- 
tion must come in as a matter of course, and with- 
out which no public support could be asked for, 
makes the proposed school an advance all along 
the line.** 

A quarter of a century after. Miss Fielde wrote 

Pagre One Hundred Sixty 



Studying Medicine; Investigating Evolution 

an account of the incident at the request of Dr. Ed^ 
ward J. Nolan, librarian of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia. It seems that Dr. Nolan 
was collecting data of events of scientific interest, 
when he came across the newspaper clipping repro- 
duced in the foregoing, which he himself had pre- 
served and probably forgotten. He wrote Miss 
Fielde asking for her version of the matter and re- 
ceived the following answer from Seattle: 

"Dear Dr. Nolan: — 

'*In December, 1 883, I first went to Philadelphia 
for the purpose of studying biology there. I had 
while in China become deeply interested in reading 
about the theory of evolution, and had determined 
to study along lines that would show me upon what 
it rested. In my journey across the continent, after 
my return to America, I had met Dr. David Starr 
Jordan, who told me that Philadelphia would be the 
best place in which to pursue such studies. Having 
then been in Asia for some fifteen years, I was not 
well acquainted with scientists in my own country. 
With letters of introduction to Dr. Joseph Leidy, 
Professor Edward Cope, Dr. Harrison Allen, your- 
self and others, I enquired from those named how 
and where I should begin in the work I had in mind. 

"I had just completed my Dictionary of the Swor 
tow Dialect in Shanghai and was about to publish 
my Pagoda Shadows in Boston, but there was noth- 
ing that I so much desired as to acquire a knowledge 

Paere One Hundred Sixty-One 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

of biology. I was possessed of a great intellectual 
hunger. One of the leading scientists of America 
had sent me to Philadelphia to get what I wanted. 
I had come from afar and I felt that I must be pro- 
vided with the means of pursuing my quest. 

*'My talks with these scientists caused them to 
talk with one another and with other scientific men 
about the fact that a woman had no place in which 
to study biology under established instruction in 
Philadelphia. Within a year Dr. Jayne had given 
forty thousand dollars* I think* for creating a bio- 
logical department open to women at the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania and the building was complet- 
ed and opened before I left America again in Sep- 
tember, 1 883. I remember that in the stimmer of 
that year, Dr. Harrison Allen asked me if I knew 
that I was the originator of the new Biological De- 
partment. 

'*! did not go to the University after it was creat- 
ed because I had on my first visit to you at the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences received assurances that 4 
should there have every possible help in my quest 
for biological knowledge. The library was at my 
service, a table was placed in a side room for my 
special use and Professor Angelo Heilprin directed 
the dissections 1 made. I studied and dissected 
twenty-six classes of animals from amoeba to mam- 
mals during the two winters of my stay there, and 
began some original research work on regeneration 
of nerve tissue. I was there intellectually equipped 
for whatever scientific work I have since attempted. 

Page One Hundred Sixty-Two 



Studjring Medicine; Investigatiiig Evolution 

During all the two years 1 had friendly advice from 
many of the officers of the Academy and most cour- 
teous help whenever I needed assistance. I got a 
new mental horizon because of my studies. I have 
and shall always hold the most grateful memory of 
those with whom I was associated during my two 
years at the Academy, especially of yourself, Pro- 
fessor Heilprin and Dr. Benjamin Sharp. 

''Uter studies at Woods Hole (1894-1907) 
would probably never have been pursued had I not 
had that first welcome at the Academy of Natural 
Sciences of Philadelphia. But while I did the work 
I had in view at the Academy, the absence of any 
established places for it in Philadelphia impelled 
those who knew my requirements to build the Bio- 
logical Department of the University.** 

In one of her carefully-kept diaries. Miss Fielde 
confesses that the two years' vacation she spent in 
the United States, from 1883 till 1883, was the 
most delightful period of her entire life. True, her 
time was almost constantly taken up with her 
church lectures, biological and medical studies, yet 
she found leisure to make and cultivate many 
charming and profitable social friends and acquaint- 
ances. Her reputation as an author, lecturer and 
Oriental scholar was the cause of her being brought 
in social contact with a host of kindred spirits in 
the several larger cities of the Eastern states. In 
Philadelphia her name appears frequently in news- 

Pagre One Hundred Sixty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

paper notices of that period as a participant in the 
social activities of the literati, scientists and college 
dignitaries. She was a delegate to the World Con- 
gress of Scientists held in New York in 1 883 ; and 
there met many of the most distinguished men and 
women from every civilized nation on earth. On 
this occasion she delivered an address on the con- 
ception and knowledge of science among the Chin- 
ese. Accounts of her talk were printed in several 
of the New York and Philadelphia newspapers, ex- 
cerpts from one of which is herein reproduced: 

''Mathematics and astronomy have been some- 
what successfully studied in China during two or 
three thousand years ; but geography, geology, bot- 
any, zoology, human anatomy, physiology, chem- 
istry and physics have been unknown in native lit- 
erature. Many dreary volumes have been written, 
by Chinese authors, upon plants, animals and eth- 
nology with curious myths, fables and superstitions 
set forth as facts. In spite of the vast bulk of its 
pseudo-scientific literature, no true science can be 
said to have existed in China until it was introduced 
from the West, by the Jesuit missionaries, in the 
fifteenth century. Since that time, and especially 
during the last few decades, many books of Euro- 
pean origin have been translated into Chinese, and 
a goodly number of volumes of a scientific and tech- 
nical character have been prepared by Protestant 
and Catholic missionaries, and by foreigners in the 

Paffe One Hundred Sixty-Four 



Studying Medicine; Investigating Evolution 

service of the Chinese government. The number 
of such books became considerable but no organiz- 
ed system for their sale or distribution throughout 
the Empire had existed until 1 884, Mr. John Fryer, 
of Shanghai, established as an experimental and 
philanthropic undertaking, a Chinese *Scienti- 
fie Book Depot,' for the purpose of facilitat- 
ing the spread of all useful literature in 
the native language. Elementary books on the vari- 
ous sciences studied in Western nations were offer- 
ed for sale, with works on mechanics, engineering, 
surgery, therapeutics, and translations of 'Whea- 
ton's International Law,* and Loomis* 'Differen- 
tial Calculus.' The catalogue contained over two 
hundred scientific treatises, translated or compiled 
and published in Chinese, under foreign manage- 
ment, with a selection of about two hundred and 
fifty of sound and instructive works of native ori- 
gin. The price of the books range between two 
cents and sixteen. The demand for Western learn- 
ing has been greatly augmented during the last year 
by a remarkable change in the scheme of the com- 
petitive examinations whereby successful candi- 
dates for literary degrees obtain honors and offices. 
In the past, only a knowledge of the native classics, 
with skill in the use of the native hieroglyphics has 
been required of the scholar. Now geography and 
natiu^l philosophy have been added to the subjects 
for examination, and this action of the Government 
has turned the attention of students throughout the 
Empire in a new direction. The indications are 

Page One Hundred Sixty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

that China is to follow Japan in the path of pro- 
gress in Western science and philosophy, though it 
may be with the slow step that accords with the 
magnitude of the nation/* 

Miss Fielde spent the first summer of her vaca- 
tion in America at Annisquam, in the Biological 
Laboratory of that place; but for the second sum- 
mer, during the extreme warm weather, she ac- 
cepted an invitation to visit Doctor and Mrs. Ben- 
jamin Sharp at Nantucket. Here she made many 
new acquaintances, chiefly with persons distin- 
guished in scientific circles or of charming social ac- 
complishments. In a letter, dated June 18th, 1885, 
she wrote to the librarian of the Academy of Na- 
tural Sciences describing the pleasures of this oc- 
casion : 

"Dear Dr. Nolan: — 

''I am most pleasantly domiciled with Mrs. 
Sharp in a house a hundred years old, just in the 
center, and in the highest portion of this compact 
town. Nearly all the thirty-five hundred inhabitants 
on this island live in this part ; but it is a vill£ige-like 
spot, with' none of its houses mounting over two 
stories and many of its dwellings and shops only one 
story in height. There are ten good hotels, five 
churches, a skating-rink and a bank here. The is- 
land is level and sandy and is chiefly a common ; so 
that one may ride across country and down to the 
seashore in any direction. There are little bits of 

Paere One Hundred Slxty-Slx 



Studying Medicine; Investigating Evolution 

loveliness everywhere; such as I saw this morning 
— a field covered sparsely with butter cups, white 
daisies and red clover — all on tall stems, and danc- 
ing in the wind. It seemed in looking through them 
that I had come upon a troop of fairies in gold and 
red and white, sporting on a lawn. There are beds 
of blossoming flags around the ponds, and there is 
yellow heath on the moors, and gray-green stunted 
pines on the knolls. The monotony is really very 
charming — ^with no land in sight beside this jagged 
flat island. 

*'This morning I went fo)* a drive across the moor 
with Dr. Kite ; then I went wading along shore with 
Dr. Sharp, finding lovely little crawling things; 
and then I went to such sleep as is only found in 
cool sea air ; and then I went to the shore with Mrs. 
Sharp to see the sun set; and then I went rowing 
by moonlight with seven people. You know I came 
here to study. 

**I should immensely like to spend a whole sum- 
mer here with four choice spirits in sound bodies. 
No, you need not say *How dreadful!* I am capable 
of being agreeable through an entire summer; and 
so are you, though you do not believe it. If man 
in his (and her) normal condition were, like birds, 
fish and squirrels, what lovely times we could have, 
without work or worry, and with sunshine, seashore 
and science. With a bathing dress, some bread and 
milk, a microscope and the four kindred spirits, one 
would be fully equipped for happiness.*' 

Pase One Hundred Sixty-Seven 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

caused a change of belief on her part regarding the 
origin and destiny of mankind, yet her ideas con- 
cerning its purpose remained the same. It was her 
thought that the culture and conquest of nature 
was man's mission on earth. Human selection, she 
was wont to say, is a process exactly opposite to 
natural selection. Animals and plants destroy one 
another that only the fittest may survive on earth; 
while human beings succor, protect and cherish one 
another that the fittest may survive in some higher 
form of existence. One of her favorite expressions 
was that ** Consideration for others'' is the only 
true culture and that the only correct way to meas- 
ure a person is to appraise him in relation to his cap- 
acity to consider others and his willingness to sacri- 
fice self for the welfare of others. "Even in the low- 
er forms of *life,' " she would argue, "the more com- 
plex an organism, the greater its regard for others. 
For instance, the oyster is comparatively low in the 
zoological scale. It is responsive to the first law of 
moral nature only, that of Self-Preservation. It 
gives birth to innumerable progeny, but after being 
thus delivered it has no further regard for its off- 
spring. The snake, on the other band, is of much 
higher organization. It is not only endowed with 
the instinct of self-preservation but has evolved 
Love-of-Offspring, the second law of moral nature. 

Pagre One Hundred Seventy 



Qiange of Religious Opinion 

It has a genuine aJBFection for its young and will 
fight vigorously to protect them and will even die 
in their defense. And, it is not unusual for the 
higher mammals to manifest promptings of Con- 
sanguineous-Propinquity, perhaps the third law of 
moral nature. In fact, the more nearly an animal 
approaches humankind in its stage of evolution, 
the more extended and better graduated are its con- 
siderations for others than self. The a£Fection of 
many of our domestic animals for their owners is 
proverbial. But it is reserved for man, the highest 
known organism, to be capable of loving the whole 
world." 

With this attitude of mind it is not at all strange 
that Miss Fielde returned eagerly and even joy- 
fully to China at the end of her vacation. Never- 
theless, her going involved a high degree of genuine 
self-sacrifice. During her stay in the United States, 
she had received a number of flattering offers of 
employment in positions of distinction and honor, 
one of which was the presidency of Vassar College. 
But she was not to be tempted from what she re- 
garded as her obvious duty. To use her own words : 
"The wrinkled faces of the dear Chinese women 
always glimmered in the air between me and any 
turning that led away from them.** 

A magazine article, published in November, 

Paire One Hundred Seventy-One 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

1883, contains the following account of her re- 
turn voyage: 

"Swatow, October 30th, 1885. 
**I arrived here on the 26th inst, after a sea-voy- 
age which paralleled in wretchedness, though not 
in length, my first trip to China, twenty years ago. 
The City of Peking^ on which I sailed from San 
Francisco, September 19th, carried more than 
twelve hundred Chinese passengers, whose quart- 
ers were in the fore and middle part of the 
steamer, while the European passengers oc- 
cupied the after-part of the vessel. The Chinese 
quarters were aerated by a windsail, extended down 
through the forward hatchway; and the exit of all 
this air was through a skylight just in front of the 
saloon and deck occupied by the European pas- 
sengers. When the wind was ahead, which hap- 
pened for many successive days, there was no air 
to breathe except as such was mixed from the great 
stream of foul exhalations rising from the Chinese 
quarters. Being already supersaturated with the 
effluvia of present and past generations of Chinese, 
the bad air gave me malarial fever. When I reach- 
ed Hongkong, I was unable to be removed from my 
berth, and remained on board the ship four days 
after the other passengers left. I was then trans- 
ferred to the Swatow steamer, and reached my des- 
tination twenty-four hours later. 

**We had but three days of smooth weather dur- 
ing the voyage from San Francisco to Hongkong, 
and encountered two typhoons. The first was on 

Pase One Hundred Seventy -Two 



Qiange of Religious Opinion 

the twentieth day out, three days before we reach' 
ed Yokohama. The steamer abandoned her course 
and devoted herself to outriding the gale with her 
head to the wind. The waves rose as high as the 
smokestacks, dashing into the saloons through the 
uppermost windows, broke up the captain's boat, 
and smote to death one of the great beautiful 
horses on deck. Most of the passengers sat up all 
night, saving themselves as best they could from a 
breakage of bone. 

**The second typhoon, on the day after we left 
Japan, was severer than the first; and our captain, 
who had been forty years at sea, said he had never 
seen worse. The bulwarks were broken, the boats 
all carried away and the decks washed free of cargo 
and living freight. Eighteen sheep and lambs went 
bleating overboard, with other animals, to sink in 
the surges. There were many hours when we 
seemed at foundering point, at a time when the 
slightest misunderstanding of an order, an insteuit*s 
hesitation in carrying out a conmiand, or a second's 
inattention on the part of an officer, would have 
determined for us an adverse fate. But we came 
at last to the haven where we would be. 

*'Since reaching my old home I have rapidly re- 
covered, and am almost well. The missionaries in 
bur compound, Mr. and Mrs. Partridge, Mr. and 
Mrs. Ashmore, Jr., Miss Norwood and Miss Buz- 
zell, are all doing their usual work; but to one ac- 
customed to the bright eyes and rosy tints in New 
England faces, these all look wan. The strain of 

PaiTB One Hundred Seventy-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

the physical, mental struggle for existence is almost 
always visible in the face of the foreign dweller in 
the Far East/* 

On resuming her missionary work at Swatow, 
Miss Fielde added a course in obstetrics to the cur- 
ricula of her women's training school. This great- 
ly increased the burden of her labors. Practical 
demonstration is the most necessary feature of this 
branch of education and she was often compelled 
to take her class on long journeys in order to secure 
the needed clinical instruction. On these trips she 
was constemtly exposed to the discomforts of rough 
travel by day and poor housing accommodations at 
night. Often, too, she was threatened with per- 
sonal violence and not unfrequently her life was 
endangered by superstitious and unfriendly natives. 

On one of these latter occasions she and a lady 
companion were surrounded and assailed by an an- 
gry mob, armed with stones, knives and clubs. The 
leader of the uprising was a large powerful man, 
who had worked himself into a frenzy by hoots, 
howls and various Chinese incantations. He ap- 
proached the women with uplifted spear, manifest- 
ly intent upon instant execution. But Miss Fielde 
anticipated the attack by advancing to meet hini 
with her arm uplifted and a sharply delivered com- 
mand for peace and silence. Finding her absolutely 

Pase One Hundred Seventy-Four 



Qiange of Religious Opinion 

unafraid, the man halted somewhat disconcerted. 
He was not at all sure but that she possessed some 
occult power that human agency could not over- 
come or was under the protection of some guardian 
demon, a source of ever-present dread to the super- 
stitious Chinese. Taking advantage of his hesita- 
tion, she calmed him with a few apt quotations of 
Confucianic philosophy and then proceeded to pre- 
sent her claim to respectful treatment by means of 
the most convincing Chinese logic. Before finish- 
ing her talk, she not only succeeded in gaining the 
friendship of all who heard her, but their good of- 
fices as well. They invited her into their best 
homes, made her comfortable, provided her a place 
to preach and the whole village turned out to hear 
her tell the "old, old story.'* 

In a letter dated January 1 2th, 1 889, Miss Fielde 
tells of another way in which her Biblewomen dis- 
pensed relief to the ill among the Chinese. The let-- 
ter is here reproduced : 

**The average number of Biblewomen at work, 
under my care throughout the year 1 888, has been 
fourteen. These women have been stationed at 
chapels, from five to sixty miles from here, where 
each, accompanied by a local guide, could visit the 
village within walking distance from the chapels. 
During the year the fourteen women have, on an 
average, visited during each quarter, two hundred 

Paire One Hundred Seventy-Five 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

and seventeen di£Ferent villages, and taught in six 
hundred and sixty-one di£Ferent families. Two 
weeks out of each quarter are spent here in confer- 
ence with each other and widi the missionaries. 
The women all have permission to spend at home 
one week in each quarter of the year, but hardly 
half of them avail themselves of this privilege. 

** /Treasure* has continued as house-mother in 
the training-class for female evangelists, in which 
the average number of students through the year 
has been four. 

**During last sunmner cholera raged with peculiar 
virulence in this region. The disease assailed its 
victims so suddenly and fatally that it was common 
for them to die by the roadside, or to be found dead 
in their rooms in the morning without having ut- 
tered complaint during the night. Early in July 
the Biblewomen were supplied with cholera rem- 
edies, and taught how to administer them, and on 
their assembling here for the quarterly conference 
in September, many reported a goodly number of 
lives saved, doubtless by the medicine. One wom- 
an treated eleven cases, all of whom recovered, ex- 
cept one. Some of the Biblewomen themselves had 
need to take the medicine; but all returned to see 
each other's faces, and to thank the Lord together, 
when the pestilence had passed. 

**My work has been desultory; instructing the 
Biblewomen during two weeks in each quarter, 
teaching in the training-class three mornings in each 
week, when at home, and attending to the odds 

Pase One Hundred Seventy-SIz 



Change of Religious Opinion 

and ends of which life is mostly made up. I find 
myself less able than in former years to do country 
work, and the past year have spent but seventeen 
days therein, visiting eight outstations. I am this 
winter superintending the erection of a cottage on 
Double Island, five miles seaward, where we mis* 
sionaries can, in the hot weather, resort for cooler 
air and sea-bathing. The cost of the cottage will 
be about eighteen hundred Mexican dollars, which 
have been supplied chiefly by friends in New York 
City. 

"Very faithfully yours, 

••Adele M. Fielde.'* 
To Miss Fielde is due the credit of inducing sev- 
eral of the Protestant Missionary Societies to add 
women physicians to their corps of Workers in 
China. While in Siam she discovered the Chinese 
antipathy to the employment of male physicians 
in the treatment of sex disorders peculiar to wom- 
en. She felt that if women physicians could be 
made a feature of the missionary service to the 
Chinese, it would not only prove of great practical 
benefit to the native women but would be a source 
of considerable influence as a method of mission- 
ary propaganda. Within a short time after her ar- 
rival in the Orient, she embodied her idea in a let- 
ter to the Baptist Missionary headquarters in the 
United States. Her suggestion was received with 
much favorable comment but its official adoption 

Pase One Hundred Seventy-Seven 



Life of Adde Marion FieUe 

did not follow as a result So she began a vigorous 
caihpaign of letter writing and newspaper and 
magazine publication with a view of creating pub- 
lic sentiment in favor of the plan and forcing public 
opinion, at least, to give it the consideration it de- 
served. But it was not until seven years there- 
after that the seed she had sown bore fruit. An 
article contained . in a Philadelphia publication, 
April 8th, 1886, sums up the final triumph of the 
great task her love for humanity led her to per- 
form. A portion of the article is hereto appended: 

**Away up near the great wall at Kalgan, five 
days* journey by mule-litter from Peking, there is a 
missionary station of the Congregationalists, with 
four American families and many Russian tea- 
traders among 20,000 Mongols and Chinese. 
There, Dr. Virginia C. Murdock has been work- 
ing since 1881. She had patients two hours 
after her arrival, and has since had practice among 
all classes in the city, and from villages as 
far as 200 miles away. Two wild white horses are 
included among the expressions of gratitude that 
she has received from her patients. 

**In 1883, Dr. A. R. Watson of the English Bap- 
tist Mission arrived in China. She is to live in the 
Shantung Province, 240 miles from Chefoo, and 
is to have care of the women's department in a hos- 
pital where her husband has charge of a men*s de- 
partment. Dr. Watson is the only English medical 

Paire One Hundred Seventy-Eigrht 



Change of Religious Opinion 

lady in China, all the dozen other medical ladies 
being American. 

**In Chinkiang, on the Yangtsze river, Dr. Lucy 
H. Hoag of the Methodist mission opened a dis- 
pensary in 1884. She treated over 2,000 patients 
during the first year. 

**At Shanghai, there are two hospitals for wom- 
en. One is in the Seventh Day Baptist mission, 
and is under the care of Dr. Ella F. Swinney, who 
began her work in 1 883. She had nearly six thou- 
sand patients during the first year. The other hos- 
pital is the Woman's Union Mission, and is in the 
charge of Dr. E. Reifsnyder, who began her work 
in 1884. Dr. Reifsnyder's fame has been spread 
among the Chinese by successful surgical opera- 
tions for ovarian tumor, cancer of the breast and 
other important maladies. Dr. Ruth McCown has 
recently arrived in Shanghai to establish medical 
work in the Southern Baptist mission. 

*'There is dire need and limitless opportunity for 
the work of medical missionary ladies in China. 
Doubtless the ideal scheme is that which includes 
a hospital and itinerating work, with two correl- 
lated departments, one for men under the charge 
of a man, and one for women under the charge 
of a woman. This plan among people holding such 
notions of propriety as do the Chinese would prob- 
ably secure the highest success in a medical enter- 
prise. Physicians of either sex may treat persons 
of the opposite sex for many diseases; but they 
may treat only those of their own sex for all dis- 

Pagre One Hundred Seventy-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 



^'Knowledge of the vernacular is indispensable 
to the medical missionary, as well as those engaged 
in evangelistic work, and it is wise to spend one or 
two years in a study of the local dialect before be- 
ginning medical work among the people. When 
once the help of a physician is known to be within 
reach, the demand for it is so constant as to leave 
no time for study. 

''Thorough training is especially necessary for 
this service in Pagandom, because the physician is 
usually isolated from others of his profession and 
is unable to call a specialist, or to secure consulta- 
tion in difficult cases. 

"Skill in surgery is of importance, because the 
native practitioners, who are often learned in the 
use of herbs, are ignorant of anatomy, and in their 
surgical performances make the most harmful mis- 
takes. Moreover, the good eJBFects of skilful surg- 
ery are so evident that they quickly win confidence 
and give prestige to the foreign physician. All the 
insight, the preparation and the appliances which 
are needful for sterling work in America are re- 
quisite here. Having these, the lady medical mis- 
sionary has a sphere all her own, in which she may 
relieve human suJBFering that no one else can reach, 
and give an uplift to hearts that no one else can 
touch. "Adele M. Fielde.'* 



Paire One Hundred Eighty 



CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

At Fielde Lodge; Resignation From Missionary 
Service; Her Reasons for So Doing 

IN THE summer of 1 889, Miss Fielde tendered 
her resignation as a missionary teacher in the 
service of the Baptist church, which was ac- 
cepted the following fall. There are two causes 
which induced her to take this step, one of which 
is a matter of public record, the other, largely tra- 
ditional. Failing health was the ostensible reason 
for her voluntary retirement, but the other, even 
more important to her, was due to conscientious 
scruples. This second cause became apparent when 
we consider that at that time she was possessed of 
very little money, and had she chosen to remain in 
the service only a few months longer, she would 
have been retired on a pension sufficiently large to 
have enabled her to pass the remainder of her life 
in comfortable leisure. But she had outgrown 
many of the dogmas of the church, and, while she 
had no objection to her remuneration as a teacher 
of morality, still her conscience would not permit 
her to accept the gratuitous bounty of the church 
while unable to subscribe to each and every article 
of faith and creed on which that institution was or- 
ganized. Many of her friends and co-workers tried 
to persuade her to take the pension, advancing the 

Paere One Hundred Eisrhty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

argument that by her splendid achievements and 

long and self-sacrificing devotion to duty in the 

Orient, she had honestly earned it. But without 

avail. 

In a number of private letters to Dr. Edward J. 

Nolan, written between the months of June and 

November, 1889, she expresses her determination 

to take final leave oi China, giving ill-health as her 

only reason for so doing. Ejccerpts from several 

of these letters follow, which are here printed for 

the first time: 

*'The summer here has been remarkable for 
heat and unhealthiness. Cholera has raged since 
May, and is still spreading. The superstitions of 
the people tend by their exercise to increase the 
scourge which they pray their gods to remove. Then 
we have had a plague of caterpillars, bred on the 
Pinus Sinensis with which our hills are covered. 
With persistent aspirations, which would ennoble 
creatures with fewer feet, they creep ever upward. 
And when they have left the pine trees bare and 
black, they crawl up the walls of our houses, and 
would swarm into our inmost rooms if we did not 
keep men sweeping them out. All through July 
they were a sickening horror. On the evening of 
the 4th of July I dined at Baron von Seckendoffs 
and was surprised to find the guests and the banquet 
an unutterable weariness. The next morning 1 was 
ill and Dr. Courland came and said I had quinsy. A 

Pagre One Hundred Eigrhty-Two 



At Fielde Lodge 



severe attack of this painful malady kept me in bed 
two weeks, and was followed by a persistent slight 
fever, from which I have not as yet recovered/* 

On June 1 1 th, she writes to Dr. Nolan : 

**I am now staying at Fielde Lodge on Double 
Island. The cottage which I built last winter has 
been so named by the lady who gave the dollars 
(Mrs. E. M. Cauldwell) to make this rest-house by 
the sea, and, though I struggled hard to have it 
named after her, she declared that we would have 
our first quarrel if I did not yield; and so *Tielde 
Lodge'* it is. One cannot quarrel with one*s guard- 
ian angels, even when they refuse to have their 
wings burnished with a little foreign luster. 

**I have not been well since the summer came 
and Dr. Lyall tells me that it will be best for me to 
seek a cold climate soon. My long residence in the 
tropics has produced muscular weakness of the 
heart, which is great enough to prevent my safely 
continuing the work. I am to stay here at the Is- 
land jduring this summer, as I cannot at once lay 
aside all my duties and responsibilities. When the 
weather becomes cool in October I will return to my 
usual domicile and get ready to leave China. It is 
probable that I will leave Swatow at the end of next 
November. So, unless you should hear other ad- 
vice, do not send anything to reach me later than 
that time. I may go via India and Europe but will 
write you later about that. 

**I wish you would send me two or three letters 

Pagre One Hundred Eiffhty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

of introduction to Dr. Dorhn, the superintendent of 
the zoological station at Naples. Probably Naples 
will be so hot at the time of my arrival there that 
it will be inexpedient for me to stay very long. But 
I. hope to be able to visit that delightful institution 
and to spend a little time in it. If Dr. Leidy, Dr. 
MacCook, you or any others whose names would 
be familiar to Professor Dorhn would be so kind to 
give me letters to him, I should esteem the favor 
very highly. I suppose Professor Sharp, who 
knows Dorhn, is away at some simimer retreat or 
perhaps in Europe. If he is in Philadelphia, kindly 
ask him also for a letter. 

"Please do not be at all anxious about my health. 
Dr. Lyall tells me I may live to good old age in a 
cool climate. He prescribes activity without excite- 
ment or fatigue at present, and then no further 
residence in torrid countries. The heart tonics he 
is giving me are acting admirably. I am al^ys am- 
enable to medical remedies, and after this summer 
is gone, I doubt not I shall be myself again, full of 
projects and eager to execute them; but they will 
all lie in Christendom.** 

September 1st, 1889, Miss Fielde again writes 
to Dr. Nolan : 

"Your kind anxiety makes me write at once after 
the receipt of your recent letter. I am no worse 
than when I last wrote you. The fall has been an 
unusually cool one, most fortunately for me; and 
this retreat where the freshest .air of the coast is 

Pafire One Hundred Eighty-Four 



m At Fielde Lodge 

found, has had much to do with my having safely 
passed the hot weather. Lately the thermometer 
has been down to eighty degrees Fahrenheit and I 
have improved in health so much as to be confirm- 
ed in my expectations that I will be sound and sane 
after a year of out-of-door exercise in a cold climate. 
Next week I am to return to my former domicile to 
begin preparations to leave Swatow. I purpose dis- 
posing of all my work as I must hereafter stay out- 
side the tropics. There is a certain satisfaction in 
having this decision made by circumstances, else 
I might not be wholly sure that I had no further 
duty in behalf of the Chinese women, for whom I 
have so long worked, and for the Biblewomen who 
have such a hold on my affections. As it is, I have 
no doubts what I ought to do; and so I close my 
labors here with a peaceful mind. As I shall be 
very busy with preparations for travel, I may not 
send you any more letters from Swatow, but will 
write a postal or two to tell you of my welfare. I 
expect to leave China early in December and go to 
Europe. If I should find Germany cold enough for 
my health I shall probably spend next summer 
there, under medical treatment. If I keep as well 
as I am now, I shall probably journey through 
Northern India, where the air is dry and cold during 
January and February. Direct your next letter to 
me, care of Miss Gardner, 39 EHIiott Road, Calcut- 
ta, India, writing so that the letter will reach Cal- 
cutta before the middle of January next. I cannot 

Page One Hundred Eifirhty-Five 



Life of Addle Marion Fielde 

now give you a later address, but will send one a 
month or so hence. 

"I will not regard the infrequency of your letters 
but will thus *make merit/ like a Buddhist, believ- 
ing that the paper rags I offer will in due time be 
transmuted into what is of greater worth, and come 
back to me for my weal. I hope to write you 
from under the dome of Taj Mahal and perhaps 
from some spot where Mt. Everest will glow upon 
the sheet. And then, sometime, when I am stay- 
ing at home and you are trsdpsing around the world 
you will pay your epistolary debts, good gold for 
my poor script." 

November 30th, 1889, Miss Fielde left China 
for the last time. Despite the philosophical atti- 
tude expressed in the preceding letter, she was al- 
most heart-broken when the moment of her de- 
parture arrived. She had passed a quarter of a cen- 
tury among the Chinese, years of great usefulness 
to others and of great interest to herself. She was 
strongly attached to her missionary co-workers and 
Chinese helpers by ties of genuine affection. She 
knew that she would never again see her beloved 
Biblewomen, and they realized that their ''Love 
Woman" was leaving them forever. 

During her long association with the people of 
China, Miss Fielde had learned to know them and 
to understand the Chinese character as few other 

Pa^e One Hundred Eighty-Six 



m At Fielde Lodge 

Europeans. Her opinions regarding them was 
fairly well summed up in a newspaper article, writ- 
ten by Augusta hamaxd and published in the Bos- 
ton Register, March, 1 894, from which the follow- 
ing excerpts are taken: 

'*A11 Souls' Alliance, at two of its recent meet- 
ings, has had the privilege of listening to addresses 
by Miss Adele M. Fielde, a lady formerly connect- 
ed with the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, 
who spent twenty-five years in China. It is inter- 
esting to note that during her work among the Ce- 
lestials, Miss Fielde grew out of Orthodoxy into an 
enlightened and broad-minded liberalism. She saw 
the good side of Confucianism and Buddhism, and 
was gradually compelled to teach a monotheistic 
creed with strong ethical emphasis. She acquired 
a thorough knowledge of the Chinese tongue after 
several years of study, and was thus enabled to 
travel in all parts of the empire, to penetrate into 
native houses, to converse with people of every 
class, to get more than a glimpse of the Chinese 
consciousness and the inner life of the people — 
their modes of thought, the ideas by which they are 
governed, the genius which controls them. She in- 
terested herself intelligently in their creeds and su- 
perstitions, and strove to understand the springs 
of that strange Mongolian life. 

**On Friday last Miss Fielde gave an instructive 
address on Confucius and the manner in which he 
dominates Chinese thought, even to the smallest 
details of dress and ceremonial. Confucianism is a 

Pagrc One Hundred Eighty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

looking backward; its mainspring, supreme rever- 
ence for the past. The people, therefore, have their 
faces turned away from progress, and are not only 
indifferent but inimical to its results. They have, 
however, great respect for wisdom, and Miss 
Fielde, on her journeys into the interior, when she 
found herself surrounded by a crowd of hostile na- 
tives, had but to repeat one or two of the sayings 
of Confucius to restore them to good humor and 
chase the scowls from their faces. Confucianism is 
grafted on an old nature worship, going back to re- 
motest times. Ancestor-worship is doubtless rooted 
in this same soil. Confucius added little or noth- 
ing to the faith of his fathers. He was a restorer 
rather than a creator. He is believed to have gath- 
ered the wisdom with which he is credited into pithy 
and easily remembered sentences. Although he is 
an historical character whose life is known in every 
detail, by a mythical evolution he has become a 
god — the highest in the Chinese pantheon. Father 
Heaven and Mother Earth are still adored, and 
there are river deities and other genii. The Chinese 
objection to railroads is based on the popular idea 
that Mother Earth is a sentient being, who suffers 
pain when her members are torn or pierced. Min- 
ing is also prohibited, although the country is rich 
in mineral deposits. One short railroad of twelve 
miles, built by an American, has been destroyed 
because of the injury it was supposed to inflict on 
the common mother; for when she is made very 
angry by blasting or boring in her body, she sends 

Pagre One Hundred Eighty-Elfirht 



m At Fidde Lodge 



floods and pestilence. When a Chinese digs a hole 
in the ground to lay the foundation of his house, 
he bums paper money and offers prayers to pro- 
pitiate the offended deity. The cosmogony of the 
educated Chinese is like that of the ancient 
Greeks. They believe the earth to be a flat plain, 
mainly occupied by their own coimtry, literally the 
Middle Kingdom. An ocean stream surrounds it; 
and Europe, America, etc., are dotted about in this 
stream like small islands. The governor of a prov- 
ince who had travelled in Europe, ventured to in- 
troduce to his people a modem map, showing the 
true position of China on the earth's surface, and 
in consequence was deposed from office. 

"When a foreigner speaks to a Chinaman of 
modem inventions, such as the telephone, electric 
telegraph, etc., he replies: 'Oh, yes; we had them 
here seven hundred years ago, but we found them 
not useful and gave them up.* A Chinese ambasssa- 
dor at the court of Berlin, on his return home, wrote 
a little book, in which he imprudently described 
some modem scientific discoveries, and as a reward 
his house was looted and torn down by his coun- 
trymen. Confucius, it seems, was not a great 
truth-teller; and his people have copied him in the 
matter of mendacity. The Chinese honor highly 
superior men. Why have they not more among 
themselves? Miss Fielde finds the cause in Con- 
fucianism, which develops the individual desire for 
perfection in moral and ceremonial, but has no doc- 
trine of the higher idealism, no belief in God or 

Page One Hundred Eishty-Nine 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

Journey to India; Impressions of That Country; 

The Taj Mahal 

THEIRE is no available written account of Miss 
Fielde's journey from Swatow to India, but 
it must have been made by sea. It is also 
probable that she circumnavigated the Malay Pen* 
insula, as there were no railways at that time cross- 
ing that section of the Far East. From Swatow to 
Calcutta is about three thousand miles by water, 
and, as the coastwise steamers of thirty-five years 
ago were comparatively slow, it is safe to presume 
that the voj^ge took two weeks or possibly three 
weeks to make. 

Miss Fielde remained in India nearly three 
months, devoting that time to systematic study of 
the Hindu personality, character, habits of thought, 
intellectual and moral development, advance in civ- 
ilization, progress in art and knowledge of science. 
According to the many published articles and pri- 
vate letters she wrote at that time, now in the pos- 
session of the writer hereof, she was not at all fa- 
vorably impressed with India as a place of resi- 
dence or with its inhabitants as a race. Her con- 
clusions, as a result of her studies and investiga- 
tions, may be summed up as follows: They are 
an indolent, dreamy, improvident people; so 

Pafire One Hundred Ninety 



Journey to Imfia 

wedded to old ideas and old customs, that the race 
is practically at a hopeless standstill. She further 
expressed the opinion that the Hindus are decidedly 
''shiftless*' to use a New Elngland idiom. Though 
the agricultural capabilities of the country are suffi- 
cient to provide subsistence for nearly double the 
population, yet every few years millions die of 
starvation. The rural districts abound with pre* 
datory wild animals and venomous reptiles which 
cause the death of thousands of human beings and 
countless numbers of domestic animals annually. 
This, in face of the fact that these scourges could 
be absolutely exterminated by a few well organized 
drives, such as are made in the wild places of every 
civilized country. Miss Fielde visited a hamlet 
near which a man-eating tiger had occupied a cave 
for ten years, the presence of which compelled 
the hundred or more dwellers in the town to always 
remain indoors after nightfalL On asking why 
the animal hadn't been hunted down and killed long 
ago. Miss Fielde was astonished to be told that such 
an action would be hardly worth the trouble, as the 
tiger did not devour more than five or six children 
a year. 

In Miss Fielde's opinion the much heralded oc- 
cult power and occult wisdom of the Hindus is 
largely imaginary. While some of the fakirs and 

Page One Hundred NSnety-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

yogis do perform marvelous feats of alleged magic, 
yet she felt that the sources of their mysterious 
power were self-hypnotism and their ability to hyp- 
notize others, an art which long study had made 
them familiar with and practice had made them ex- 
pert. She also found them ignorant of the science 
of medicine and their knowledge of the art of heal- 
ing was entirely empirical, of the most primitive 
kind. Their sanitary conditions were frightful and 
uieir social customs abhorrent. Their religion is 
little more than fetich worship and a superstitious 
dependence on the potency of charms and the mys- 
ticism of signs and symbols. Tlieir moral code is 
strictly negative, even more so than the provisions 
of the Hebrew Pentateuch. It simply provides pen- 
alties for offences against ancient and often obso- 
lete customs, with little regard to the administration 
of justice, but with the fine discrimination and close 
adherence to the letter of the law. 

Apparently Miss Fielde is inclined to credit the 
Hindus with pre-eminence in their conception of 
some branches of the fine arts, notably in the man- 
ufacture of textile fabrics and magnificent jewelry, 
and especially in architecture. In a private letter 
to a Philadelphia friend she expatiates on the beau- 
ties of the Taj Mahal as follows : 

Pagre One Hundred Ninety-Two 



Journey to India 

'*Agra, India, January 27th, 1 890. 
**In no one day of my life have I ever seen so 
much magnificence in architecture as today. See- 
ing Notre Dame of Paris, St. Peter's in Rome, St. 
Mark's in Venice, the Ming Tombs, and the House 
of the Prophets, has been but a preparation for 
due appreciation of the Taj. The Cathedral of 
Milan, that mass of frozen music, is so wholly un- 
like this begemmed work of ice and frost, that it 
may be thought of in terms of contrast but not in 
comparison. The mausoleum of Mumtag the Beau- 
tiful surpasses every other piece of eu^chitecture in 
the exquisite loveliness of its detail as well as the 
grandeur of its design. Scores of windows, and the 
spacious screen that surrounds the tomb are of lace- 
like fineness, seen at a little distance. They are 
carved out of pure white marble. The only wood 
in the whole structure is the carved sandal wood 
doors; and the only metal, two bronze doors, all 
in outer alcoves. Everjrthing else is of snowy 
stone, inlaid with camelian, jasper, bloodstone, 
lapis lazula, malachite, turquoise and gems, in pat- 
terns, graceful as nature's own. I cannot tell you 
what it is to see this tomb, built by Shah Jehan for 
the 'Distinguished of the Harem.' It grows on 
one through hours of gazing and seems fairer and 
fairer the longer one looks. Some power in the 
place makes the beholder pensive. I was told to- 
day of a stolid, unimaginative man who burst into 
tears upon entering the Taj, stirred to distress by 
its wondrous spiritual influence. The architecture 

Pagre One Hundred Ninety-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

here is worth a journey around the world to see. 
Not only the Taj, but the magnificent Pearl Mosque, 
the Audience Hall of Akbar, grandson of the first 
Mogul emperor, and other structures are the finest 
I have ever seen." 

In the National Baptist Magazine of April 
9th, 1 89 1 , Miss Fielde published a further descrip- 
tion of the Taj : 

**The Taj is the Mausoleimi of Mumtag, the 
Beautiful. She died in 1 630, when she gave birth 
to Aurangzib, third son of Shah Jehan. For a lit- 
tle while her body lay in the comer of a garden, 
doubtless one in which she had often walked and 
talked with her imperial lover and husband. Then 
her grave was made ready in the center of the gar- 
den, and there she still rests, under the most won- 
drous monument that has ever been raised to love 
and woman. If, as it is said, it took twenty thou- 
sand workmen twenty-two years to build it, they 
were well employed in their day, for the joy of fu- 
ture generations. India, China, Thibet, Ceylon, 
Persia, Bagdad and other countries contributed 
from- their quarries to build the wonderful struct- 
ure. The tribute of all nations under the emper- 
or's rule was, for the time being, taken in stones; 
and native princes made presents, voluntary or 
otherwise, oJF such of their possessions as suited 
the lapidary's hand. Master masons, stone cutters, 
and illuminators were brought from far to exhaust 
their skill upon this sepulchre of the peerless one. 

Paffe One Hundred Ninety-Four 



Journey to India 

And the result stands in the complete, the unique, 
the glorious Taj. 

*'Its outer enclosure is a high thick wall of red 
sandstone with grand gateways on three sides. The 
usual entrance is through the southern gate, a vast 
and noble structure of red sandstone inlaid with 
black and white marble, its lofty arches surmount- 
ed by twenty-six cupolas and flanked by colonades 
extending the Southeast and southwest comers of 
the enclosure, where, at each angle, a beautiful 
three-storied pavilion terminates the rampart. The 
enclosed quadrangle measures eighteen hundred 
and sixty feet from east to west, and one 
thousand feet from north to south. It is laid 
out as a garden, with fine trees and flower- 
ing shrubs shading smoothly paved walks and 
grassy parterres. A marble tank, in which gold 
fish sport along a line of fountains, extends through 
the long vista from the southern gateway to the 
northern end of the garden, and reflects in its shin- 
ing waters the majestic contour of the Taj. Across 
the northern end of the quadrangle is a red sand- 
stone platform, and at either end of this platform is 
a mosque of red sandstone, richly inlaid with col- 
ored marble, and each flanked on both the northern 
and southern sides by beautiful pavilions, clowned 
with white marble kiosks. These two mosques 
face a superb terrace of white marble, which rises 
in the center of the platform and is 3 1 3 feet square. 
At each comer of the terrace is a tower of white 
marble exquisitely proportioned, 150 feet high, 

Pase Od6 Hundred Ninety-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fidlde 

surrounded by three marble balconies on different 
levels. In the center of the terrace, which over- 
looks the Jumna on the north, the two mosques on 
the east and west and the garden on the south, 
stands the Taj. It is an irregular octagon, its four 
chief sides facing the four cardinal points, and each 
of its eight angles formed by a noble pillar extend- 
ing above the roof and terminating in a minaret. 
Four magnificent eu^ches extend from pedestal to 
cornice in the center of the four sides, while on 
either side of these vast eu^ches axe two lesser ones, 
one above the other, matching the similar arches 
that form and fill the four comers of the pile. All 
around the structure between its outer and inner 
circuits of eu^ched alcoves, there runs an eu^cade in 
which octagonal chambers alternate with quadran- 
gular ones. The great central hall is octagonal, 
fifty-eight feet across, and surrounded by arched 
alcoves whose outer wall admits light through mar- 
ble tracery of the most intricate patterns. Under- 
neath the marble floor of this main hall is a vault 
which may be entered by a marble stairway under 
the southern archway. The vaulted crypt is all of 
white marble, and it is lighted only through its 
door. In the center of the vault is the tomb of 
Mumtag, a white marble cenotaph with the ninety- 
nine names of God inlaid in Arabic, in black mar- 
ble. Beside her, under a somewhat higher ceno- 
taph, lies Shah Jehan, who survived her by thirty- 
five years. Immediately above these real tombs 
in the main hall, the two cenotaphs are duplicated 

Page One Hundred Nlnety-Siz 



Journey to India 

on a larger scale, and with still greater and more 
skillful workmanship. They are of white marble, 
inlaid with colored stones, the fairest flowers of the 
Orient being thus made to lie forever fadeless on 
the bank of eternal snow. Half way between these 
tombs and the sculptured and begemmed walls, 
there is an encircling screen, upon which the lapi- 
dary's art has culminated. The screen is over six 
feet high, and is two or three inches in thickness; 
but so delicate is the white marble tracery in which 
iris and rose mingle and repeat themselves, that the 
lace-like softness and the ivory sheen suggest silk 
rather than stone, as the substance Mrrought upon. 
This marble lace-work is surrounded by a frame of 
polished stone, from which orchids and lillies of 
vivid hues gleam forth. 

"And all around, in the halls, alcoves, chambers, 
in and out, are wainscotings, entablatures, cornices^ 
pediments, capitals carved in relief or set with bril- 
liant stones, in flowers in geometrical figures, in 
conventional designs. The whole Koran is said to 
be laid in black marble letters on the white ground- 
work. The work of the jeweler finishes every- 
where the efforts of the architect and mason. Over 
all is the grand dome rising almost twice as high as 
the walls and capped by a crescent, 260 feet above 
the ground level. Under this dome lingers an echo, 
the sweetest in the world. 

"One evening I went with some friends, who 
sang a lament beside the tomb of the fair Mumtag, 
in her native tongue. A whole choir of angels 

Page One Hundred Ninety-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

seemed to be hidden in the dome, and to join in the 
dirge. A musical instrument, carried with us, ut-* 
tered a single note, and gave the key to an invisible 
orchestra, that continued to play a heavenly sym- 
phony long after the ruder sound had sunk into sil- 
ence. Mysic infinitely sweet, clear, and soul-touch- 
ing, was sent back to us for our poor utterance, 
multifold responses for our single suggestion. 

'*! saw the Taj blush roseate at sunrise; gleam 
white as eternal snows at noonday; and glimmer 
like 'a house not made with hands* through the 
moonlight. It is unspeakably beautiful in all its 
aspects; but most impressive when, under the full 
moon, it appears as a spiritual creation. 

'*Art does not at once reach the crest of its high- 
est wave ; and so, as we should expect, this country 
is remarkable for its beautiful structures besides 
the Taj. The workmen who made it, vrrought be- 
fore and after they built it. Their descendants still 
continue their craft, and on pa3ring demand, can 
build or restore equally fine temples.** 



Page One Hundred Ninety-Eight 



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 

In Egypt; Tlie Holy City; Ancient and Modem 
Greece; Taking the Waters of Carlsbad 

FROM India Miss Fielde went to Egypt, mak- 
ing Cairo her headquarters while visiting the 
principal places of interest of that historic 
country. There is little in her writings from there 
that is indicative of her impressions concerning the 
land of the Pharaohs. In a postal card addressed 
from the Hotel D*Angleterre, Cairo, dated March 
9th, 1 890, she states that she has been in that city 
six days and has seen many of the most interesting 
sights. She also expresses the opinion that the 
most impressive of her Elgyptian experiences was 
that of looking into the eyes of those which saw 
Moses, seeing the mouth that commanded his des- 
truction and the face from which the great Law- 
giver fled. The mummies of both Rameses II and 
Seti I lie in the public museum at Cairo. The same 
card contains the information that she had gone up 
the Nile to the first cataract and had seen Kamak, 
Thebes, Edfu and Philae. 

She sailed from Alexandria for Ja£Fa, reaching 
Jerusalem a few days later. 

There are no written or published accounts of 
her stay in Jerusalem, though she probably re- 

Page One Hundred Ninety-Nine 



\ 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

mained there two weeks or longer. Her impres- 
sions of the Holy City were not at all in consonance 
with the sacred traditions of that locality, judging 
from later references made in lectures on the Turk- 
ish Government. In one of these she declared that 
her visit was not at all inspirational, awakening no 
religious sentiments. On the contrary, it served to 
emphasize her sympathy with the prophetic apos- 
trophe of the Gentle Teacher, when He exclaimed : 

**Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem; how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth 
gather her brood under her wings, and ye would 
not. 

**Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; 
and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me, until 
the time come when ye shall say. Blessed is he that 
Cometh in the name of the Lx)rd.** 

It was Miss Fielders belief that nothing but the 
forces of Christian enlightenment and Christian 
civilization would ever restore Jerusalem to even a 
comparative approximation of its former greatness. 
The city has been steadily dying for over two thou- 
sand years; until, at present, it is absolutely unfit 
for human habitation. The people who still live in 
and around the place are either primitive or degen- 
erate. They are too indifferent to properly observe 
the laws of sanitation, too indolent to vrrest a liveli- 

Page Two Hundred 



AtCarisbad 

hood from the soil and too stupid to escape from 
the country. There is no possibility of the regen- 
eration of Jerusalem except that some Christian 
nation "gather her children together as a hen doth 
gather its brood/* 

April 20th she sent a postal from Nazareth, ob- 
viously after having left Jerusalem en route to 
Beirut, from whence she was to sail for Constant 
tinople. This card states: 

'*Our party of five Americans, one Australian, 
one Austrian, one German and two Scots, with 
seven tents, nineteen Syrians and thirty-two ani- 
mals, arrived here last evening. This morning we 
have been to see the place of the Annunciation, 
Joseph's workshop, and the town. During the last 
four days, since leaving Jerusalem, we have been 
to Bethel, Rama, Beeroth, Shiloh, Shechem, Jacob's 
Well, Ebal, Samaria, the Plains of Elsdraelon, Nani, 
Endor, the Fountain of Gideon, Shumen and the 
Mount of the Transfiguration. 

*'We have travelled in the paths trodden by the 
prophets; we have viewed from the hilltops the 
land traversed by the apostles ; we are among peo- 
ple who wear the same attire and have the same 
characteristics as did the neighbors of Jesus. Oh, 
the wild flowers of Palestine I Great fields and hill- 
sides are aglow with them — ^mignonette, larkspur, 
marigolds, anemones, scores of nameless beauties, 
all wild and dense. We spend Sunday here, tomor- 

T^.i • ft 

row, libenus. 

Pagre Two Hundred One 



Life of Adele Marion FieMe 

Six days later the following postal card an- 
nounces that she is on the steamship **Crironde^^* 
bound for Constantinople: 

**The trip across from Jerusalem to Beirut was a 
severe one, but I found it healthful. I enjoyed a 
canter on horseback the last day of the journey 
more than I did the first. Some days I rode five 
hours horseback and then travelled five more in a 
palankeen. Was on Mount of Beatitudes, at Ti- 
berias, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorasin, Dan, 
Caesara Phillippi and the Sea of Galilee. The 
beauty of the last has never been justly described. 
We are to reach Tripoli in Asia Minor tomorrow, 
and the next day, Laodicea, where was one of the 
seven churches of Asia. A tour through this Holy 
Land produces serious e£Fects of some sort upon 
one's faith. There seems to me to be danger that 
Christianity may become as idolatrous as pagan- 
ism, and here one sees as real fetich-worship as in 
China.** 

From Constantinople, May 1 9th, she writes : 

**I am ever so glad to be at last in Europe. I have 
lost many pounds of adipose in crossing Syria ; also 
I am tanned in spots to a chestnut brown. I ar- 
rived here on the 16th, twenty-four hours from 
Smsnna and expect to stay here eight days longer; 
then we will go direct to Athens, 1 36 hours ; after 
which, to Carlsbad, reaching the latter place about 
the 1 2th of June. 

**I went up to Tarsus and spent several hours at 

Page Two Hundred Two 



AtCarisbad 

PauFs birthplace. It is a dull and dirty little town. 
I went also to Ephesus, and saw the extensive 
ruins of what must have been a most magnificent 
city; with the tomb of Luke, the stone-strewn site 
of the Temple of Diana and other relics of ages 
agone. Yesterday I met here Miss Bell, of Phila* 
delphia, and other Americans with whom I had 
mutual acquaintances.** 

Miss Fielde vrrote only a short note from Greece 

at the time of her visit to Athens, which refers only 

to the most casual sight-seeing. Later on, in one 

of her parlor lectures, she discusses **Modem and 

Ancient Greece; its past and present Government,** 

in a way that indicated that she must have made an 

almost exhaustive study of her subject at some 

time in her life. The note referred to contains only 

the following: 

••Athens, Greece, May 29th, 1 890. 
••J have been here two days, and have seen the 
Parthenon, the Temple of Jupiter of Thesus, 
the place where Demosthenes delivered orations, 
the hill on which Paul preached, the mu- 
seums, the Greek theater, of more than two thou- 
sand years ago and the Academy of the present 
time. Dr. Schliemann has three houses here, but 
is himself now on the plains of Troy. The cos- 
tumes of the modem Greeks are among the most 
attractive sights: red caps with a long blue tassel; 
short jackets covered with embroidery in gold 
thread; fluflFy kilts, pointed shoes and long hose.** 

Page Two Hundred Three 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

It will be recalled that one of Miss Fielde*s chief 
reasons for leaving China when she did was be- 
cause of poor health. For several years she had 

suffered from an acute renal affliction, from which 
a change of climate only held any promise of re- 
lief. Before leaving the Orient she had been re- 
commended to try the waters of the famous Carls- 
bad springs as a curative for her disorder and had 
determined to do so. From Athens she went di- 
rectly to Carlsbad, Austria, from which place, un- 
der date of June 1 3th, 1 890, she writes interesting- 
ly of the town and the course of medicinal treat- 
ment she is undergoing: 

*'This is a pretty place; all up hill and down dale; 
with walks and gardens and groves, and cafes in 
every one of them. There are fair green hills all 
around, and the brook Tepl runs crookedly through 
the valley, receiving here and there the overflow of 
the score of hot springs that gives Carlsbad its 
fame. The permanent inhabitants of the place are 
about 12,00 and the visitors 60,000 or more. In 
the morning from seven to eight o'clock, there are 
crowds at the springs, each comer with his cup and 
napkin, getting his portion in the order of arrival. 
There is music somewhere in the gardens all day 
long and an opera house for special concerts, and 
a theatre. All sorts and conditions of men and 
women are here, the majority being Austrian and 
German. There is little fashion and the display of 

Page Two Hundred Four 



At Carlsbad 

dress is chiefly in the shop windows. It takes most 
of the time to carry out the doctor's orders. My in- 
dividual regimen requires me to forego all sweets, 
all starchy foods, all fruits and nearly all liquids 
except spring water. I now, in the morning, take 
three glasses of the schlossbrun, at intervals of fif- 
teen minutes, and then walk an hour before break- 
fast. For my breakfast I may have two eggs or a 
chop, and one roll. For my dinner I can have (no 
soup) either fish or roasted meat, one green vege- 
table, the crust of a roll and a glass of red wine. For 
supper the same as at breakfast. As I must exer- 
cise out of doors for four hours a day, and as I take 
all my meals in restaurants, I have not much leisure. 
I have a small room in the topmost story of a high 
house on the chief hill. My only acquaintances as 
yet are my doctor, in his professional capacity, my 
banker, in his business relations, and one American 
lady who is in the house, and who has given me the 
modus operandi in Carlsbad, and who will leave 
here tomorrow. 

"I may be here a month — ^possibly longer. The 
Keen family, my friends of 1 727 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia, are to be across this summer. And I 
have just heard from Mrs. O'Connor, that she and 
her husband will sail for Europe on the 28th inst. 
All are to be in Berlin for the Medical Congress, 
from the fourth till the ninth of August. I much 
wish to be with them then and there, but am not 
sure that my doctor will think Berlin cool enough 
for me in August. It is deliciously cold here. I 

Paere Two Hundred Five 



Life of Adele Marion FieMe 

wear thick flannels and add my cloak o*moming8. 
*'You will be glad to know that Dr. Kraus tells 
me that I have no organic disease, that my internal 
organs are all sound, and that the fault of circula- 
tion is caused by too much adipose tissue solely. 
This agrees with the diagnosis of my Swatow doc- 
tor, in the main. I am in every way much stronger 
then when I left China; my travels have been emi- 
nently healthful, and the trip across Syria reduced 
my adipose bravely. In fact I am really very well 
now, but I thought it wise to take the treatment for 
adiposis. 

*'I may remain in Europe for a year to study. I 
am a bit homesick, nevertheless, and long for my 
America.** 

September 7th, 1890, Miss Fielde vrrote from 

Dresden, assuring the recipient of her letter that 

she had fully recovered her health, thanks to the 

waters of Carlsbad. She expatiates at length on the 
beauties of Dresden, growing especially enthusi- 
astic over the painting of the Great Madonna of 
that place. 

**The crown and glory of Dresden,** she vrrote, 
*'is the Madonna, which the city has had for two 
hundred years and which cost 20,000 ducats. It 
has a room to itself in the Great Gallery, and I 
have spent many hours there, stud3ring it and hu- 
man nature. Most persons unconsciously behave 
in that room as if they were in church. For me, the 
picture is the most perfect in the world. Of course 

Page Two Hundr«d Six 



AtCarkbad 

I cannot withhold my admiration merely because 
everyone else gives his; and I am always in such 
subjection to that wonderful painting, that I could 
cut off the ears of anyone who adversely criticises 
it. And there are persons who stand before that 
masterpiece and find fault. Humility is a rare hu- 
man virtue. In fact I fear that only a few of us have 
enough moral sense to withhold us from express- 
ing opinions about things of which we are ignorant. 
And the Madonna is the ideal woman, whose Son 
is to regenerate the race.** 

In the same letter she writes of the superior mu- 
sical facilities of Dresden, and, indeed, all the other 
countries of Germany, as well. 

**I am lodging close to the opera house,** she 
says. *'I suppose that the best music in the world 
is now to be heard in Germany, and that the best 
music in Germany may be heard in the Hoftheatre 
at Dresden. I have heard Tannhauser, and Oberon, 
and Carmen, and Aida and many more. The set- 
ting upon the stage is wonderful. The other day 
I went with a party of friends and saw all the ma- 
chinery with the vast paraphernalia and instruction 
rooms ; but I am still unable to comprehend the per- 
fection of the illusions. The costumes are always 
historically correct, and the scenes are painted with 
the scientific accuracy of a Fellow of the Geographi- 
cal Society. Here the drama constitutes almost 
a liberal education. I am delighted because I am to 
do what I have for years wished — to hear the whole 

Paire Two Hundred Seven 



Life of Adele Marion FieMe 



Cycle of the Nibelungen Ring. It begins next 
Wednesday evening and will occupy four evenings 
of four or more hours each/* 

From Dresden Miss Fielde went to Bavaria to 
witness the performance of the Passion Play at 
Oberammergau. For weeks she had hesitated 
about seeing this play, fearing that any attempt to 
stage the "Eternal Tragedy'* could not otherwise 
than fail. She doubted if mortal talent could sue* 
cessfuUy represent the majestic personality or sub- 
lime character of Jesus and she shrank from expos^ 
ing a cherished ideal to possible destruction by any- 
thing approaching a farce. 

But she took the chance and saw the play. She 
was not disappointed but delighted, as many of her 
subsequent letters and writings bear witness. 



Page Two Hundred Eight 



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 

Studying fhe German Social System; In Beiiin; 

Deedi of Mrs. Davis 

MISS FIELDE was a great admirer of the Ger- 
man system of government. True, she 
fully appreciated and admitted the superi- 
ority of a democracy over an autocracy; but she 
credited the German people with developing* to a 
high degree of perfection, a primitive system of so- 
cial organization. In one of her lectures ^e defined 
the difference between the German social compact 
and that of the United States. ^'German paternal- 
ism.** Ae said, **makes society responsible for the 
well-being of die individual; while American dem- 
ocracy holds the individual responsible for tlie well- 
being of society.** In her opinion Socialism, as a 
political ideal, is the natural evolution of imperial- 
ism, and is absolutely alien to the development of 
a democracy. And, she is inclined to doubt if So- 
cialism would prove the panacea for the ills of Ger- 
man autocracy that its protagonists contend for it 
In support of her belief Ae uses the argument diat 
^*the strength of the German government lies in 
the fact that it exacts the most rigid requirements 
of self-sacrifice, self-effacement and self-negation 
from the individual in exchange for social protec- 
tion; and that the weakness of the ^Socialist* plan 

PMtt Two Bundr«d Nia« 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

lies in the demand for greatly increased benefits 
from society without any well-defined reciprocal 
obligation on the part of the individual. She was 
also an admirer of the efficiency, thrift, economy 
and domesticity of the German people; often ex- 
pressing her approval of dieir characteristics in her 
public writings and speeches; but of some of their 
social customs she is not so well pleased. She evi- 
dently believed that many of the social iniquities are 
due to the system of subordination, and official op- 
pression that obtains among the German people. 
In a letter dated May I st, 1 89 1 , she writes : 

* 'Germans are perennially interesting. They are 
more like my Chinese than any other Aryan people 
— but they are unlike them in being frugal without 
being sordid and unlike them in possessing a won- 
derful ideality along with their frank earthliness. 
The German women, on the whole, o£Fer a convinc- 
ing argument against the theory that when women 
have nothing else to do except to make the home, 
they will do that well. German housekeeping is 
bad; ,and the numerous bowlegged and weak- 
boned children are each an argument in favor of co- 
education. There is also an impressive difference 
in the physical development of members of differ- 
ent classes of Germans that is unlike anything I 
have seen in any other country. I wonder if when 
we Americans get a population of fifty millions into 
a space four times as large as the state of New York, 

Page Two Hundred Ten 



Studying the Gemian S]rstem 

and when the struggle for life becomes such as it 
is in Germany, classes will be as distinctly separat- 
ed as they are here — and the highest will be fair, 
trig and spiritual, while the lowest will be stunted, 
flabby and unimaginative. But Germany is safer 
than the United States, for she increases her popu- 
lation with something like a million of native citi- 
zens every year, whereas we Americans are unpro- 
lific, and the worthless scraps of European nations 
come in to possess the land/* 

In October, 1890, Miss Fielde took up her resi- 
dence in Berlin for die purpose of making a study 
of the several and various European governments. 
Here she remained about nine months, making 
daily visits to the Royal Library which offered rare 
facilities for acquiring a knowledge of that branch 
of science. At first she was much handicapped by 
her ignorance of the German language but she over- 
came this difficulty by taking two-hour daily les- 
sons in a three months* course at the Berlitz College 
of Languages. In that time she became able to 
read comprehensively and to write correctly, but 
she never attained any great proficiency in speech. 
In one of her letters she refers humorously to this 
shortcoming: ''German,** she said, *'is spoken ex- 
clusively at the evening meal; I do not talk while 
eating dinner.** 

Not only did she study government while in Ber- 

Page Two Hundred Eleven 



Uim of Adek Mnmi FmU(9 

Hn» but other selected sybjectSi also devpting con* 

sidnable time to desultory reading. She also sye- 

tematically ^ve five hours each "week to sight-see- 

ing and to other forms of amusement. Of thpse 

latter she wrote to Dr. Nolan under date of De- 
cember 25th, 1890: 

*^The museums here are numerous and surpass- 
ingly fine, and one should not hasten through them. 
In fact many of them, from the Art to the Hygenic 
and the Agricultural even, are well worth lingering 
over. And I have been making a special study of 
Egypt in the Egyptian museum and the Roj^l Li- 
brary, finding the pursuit almost as fascinating as 
travel in that historic country itself. 

**You see, I have not that 'familiarity which 
breeds contempt* with either museums or libraries. 
In fact one of the compensations for the outlay of 
my years in dull old China is that I am not a bit 
blase in anything, and I bring to all my occupations 
in Europe a freshness of interest that one who has 
always Uved in die enlightened worids can scarcely 
understand. 

'*Last week I finished my course of Egyptian 
study and began to study German at the Berlitz 
School of Languages. The grammar is fiendish; 
but my disgust towards it is alleviated by my hav- 
ing a very agreeable teacher in the director of the 
school, who is also a student of Natural History. L 
do not think I shall ever learn to speak Germsoi. It 
is harder than Chinese; and I do not care to take so 

Pace Two Hundred Twelve 



Studying die German System 

much time for what is after all, not knowledge but 
only a tool for the acquisition of knowledge. 

**I have seen the Emperor several times in Unter 
den Linden, where royal equipages fly to and fro. 
In the Reichstag I saw von Moltke, who is in his 
ninety-first year. He looks no more than seventy. 
A few evenings ago I saw Bismarck for about five 
minutes, while the train on which he was traveling 
stopped at a station. The crowd constantly cheer- 
ed him as he leaned out of the ear window and shook 
hands with his Berliners. His hair, eyebrows and 
moustaches are snowy white, but he is as straight 
and sturdy as an oak.** 

The program of travel which Miss Fielde ar- 
ranged for herself, provided for her departure from 
Berlin the latter part of April and a visit to Russia. 
But at this time her plans were varied by the illness 
and subsequent death of her friend and traveling 
coihpanion, Mrs. Davis, causing her to remain two 
weeks or longer at the Prussian capital. In a letter 
to one of her correspondents in America, she tells 
of this latter occurrence, expressing her consequent 
depl-ession of spirits from which she suffered keen- 
ly. On May 11 th, 1 891 , die wrote: 

**I have in my former letters mentioned Mrs. 
Davis, whom I first met in Bombay, who was of our 
party all the way from there, up the Nile, through 
Sjrria, in the Levant and on to Greece. Later she 
was with me in Dresden and we came here togeth- 
er. For some months she occupied a room next 

Paffe Two Hundred Thirteen 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

mine while we were sight-seeing in Berlin. We 
then planned a spring and summer tour together, 
and had extended our thoughts over a whole year, 
and a return at the same time to our America. Well, 
on the first she returned here from Paris, and we 
thought we had one week in which to get ready 
for our projected three months* journey in Russia, 
Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The day after her 
arrival she was taken ill with what proved to be 
pneumonia, and last Friday, the day on which we 
thought to have started for Warsaw, she depeuted 
on another journey and will no more come back to 
me. I was almost constantly by her bedside; and 
after her body was embalmed it was today encoffin- 
ed and carried out from her former room, later to 
be taken to New York. Mrs. Harper, of the Harp- 
er Bros.' Harper and Mrs. Dalton, wife of the well- 
known publisher, are her sisters. She was a trus- 
tee of Boston University, and was well known in 
her circle for her loving kindness. I have seen her 
in the trying positions into which the exigencies of 
travel often bring people, and have had ample op« 
portunity to discover her defects, but never for a 
moment have I seen her as other than a true lady 
and a true Christian. Her death has left me feeling 
like jetsam, around which the waves roar and clouds 
roll. I have liked Berlin much until now. It is 
usually a place where one can find countless de- 
lights, social, intellectual, and distractive. But now 
I have given up all my winter's occupations, studies, 
duties and pleasures, and I cannot think of resum- 

Pagre Two Hundred Fourteen 



Studying die German System 

ing any of them. I think I shall start in thr^ or 
four days either for Moscow or Copenhagen. The 
expenditure for a lone Russian journey is for me 
really a reckless one, but I have the plans all studied 
up ; and just now I can't succeed in feeling interest- 
ed in doing anything whatever except that which I 
had expected to do along with my friend.*' 



Paffe Two Hundred Fifteen 



CHAPTER NINETEEN 

Travel m Russia; Jew4Mitiiig; Invokiiig Aid From 

America 



MAY 14th. 1891. Miss Fielde reached Mos- 
cow, the ancient capital of Russia. At the 
time of her arrival one of the periodical 
epidemics of Jew-baiting had broken out in the city 
as well as in several other parts of the Empire. An 
imperial edict had been previously issued expelling 
all the people of Hebrew origin and religion from 
that section of the country designated as Great 






Here she witnessed scenes of cruelty exceeding 
in horror anything ever before enacted in a civiliz- 
ed country since the Middle Ages. Here she found 
thousands of Jews» many of them helpless women 
and children, many of them feeble from old age and 
many of them lying on the bare ground, too ill to 
stand on their feet, all herded together in a cattle^ 
pen where they had waited days without food or 
shelter for trains to transport them to a distant 
country. As usual the ^'Christian** officers, who 
were gladly enforcing the merciless edict, had 
sought to excuse their conduct by charging their 
helpless victims with a variety of offenses against 
the State religion, but no trial at law had taken place 

ragre Two Hundred Sixteen 



Travel in Rustim 

to detennine the guik or innocence of the accused. 
Miss Fielde remained a month in Moscow, 
spending the whole of that time in investigating 
and studying the Jewish problem in Russia. Two 
months later she published accounts of her obser- 
vations and conclusions in a number of leading 
newspapers and magazines in the United States, 
causing considerable of an uproar among the Jew- 
ish citizens of the Republic. 

At the thirteenth annual convention of the Jew- 
ish Ministers* Association, held in New York, June 
16th, 1891, Miss Fielders articles were read and 
discussed. As a result the convention raised a huge 
sum of money for the relief of their distressed co- 
religionists and also strongly petitioned President 
Harrison to exert the influence of the United States 
Government against further repetition of these ter- 
riUe outrages. Subsequently, Secretary-of-Slate 
Blaine took up the matter with the Russian Gov- 
ernment in a diplomatic communication. In reply, 
the Czar gave personal assurances that thereafter 
the Jews of Russia should receive the same treat- 
ment as his other subjects. The Jews of Russia 
were never again persecuted by imperial proclam- 
ation. True, they were often cruelly wronged as 
individuals by the lesser sources of authority, and, 
occasionally, whole conununities were made to suf- 

Pase Two Hundred Seventeen 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

fer because of the religious prejudice of the popu- 
lace ; but, on the whole, the conditions of the Jews 
were greatly improved from that time on. 

It is not the intention of the writer hereof to rep^ 
resent Miss Fielde as the sole instrument of Provi- 
dence by which the Russian Jews secured immunity 
from the official mistreatment which had formerly 
oppressed them, for such is not true. Mr. George 
Kennan and other notable travelers had devoted 
years of labor, both by public writings and lectures, 
to the task of turning world-wide public sentiment 
against the cruelties practiced by the Russian of- 
ficials upon the Jews. She simply happened to pub- 
lish the articles that inspired the Ministerial Associa- 
tion to take the action they did at an opportune mo- 
ment. One of her articles regarding the Russian 
persecution is here reproduced from the New York 
Times : 

*'Late in the winter, before the imperial edict of 
the 9th of March was issued, it was known that the 
Jews were to be expelled from Great Russia, and 
the police began their usual visitations to Jewish 
dwellings. When this edict was published, just at 
the Passover, the Jews had for twenty-five years 
and one day, possessed, unconditionally, certain 
privileges which had been suddenly withdrawn. 
The father of the present Czar permitted Jews who 
were competent artisans, Jews who had attained a 

Paffe Two Hundred Eighteen 



Travel in Russia 

certain degree of scholarship in the Russian schools, 
the children of Jewish soldiers who had served 
twenty-five years in the Russian army» and also 
some other peculiarly serviceable classes to dwell 
in Great Russia. Before that time all the Jews 
were crowded into certain western and southern 
provinces, and were not allowed to enter Great 
Russia. 

**So intelligently had the Jews taken advantage 
of the political opportunity for education and for 
the exercise of handicrafts that they had become 
leaders in Russian progress. Tlieir present perse' 
cution does not originate among the common peo- 
ple, who live very amicably with the Jews, but is 
incited by the Government. 

**Since the Czar escaped assassination two years 
ago he has considered himself to have been especi- 
ally preserved for the defense of the Russian-Greek 
church and the annihilation of heretics. The intol- 
erance of the old Spanish Inquisition marks the im- 
perial decrees and discourages all dissent. As edu«* 
cation undermines that peculiar form of heathen- 
ism called the Greek Faith, education for the masses 
is now discountenanced. The Jews especially may 
not be more than three per cent, of the pupils in 
any particular school, and, as the four or five mil- 
lion of Jews in Russia are permitted to live only in 
certain cities, they there form so large a proportion 
of the population that their education in the public 
schools becomes impossible. In the provincial 

Paere Two Hundred Nineteen 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

cities where they are allowed to live there is not a 
single high school. 

*There are, in fact, today no less than 635 laws 
directed especially against the Jews, and besides 
these, are several thousand regulations affecting 
this people adversely. 

"While they are deprived of the privileges, they 
must perform the duties of Russian subjects, and 
must serve in the army, pay taxes, and remain in 
Russia. Even to advise a Jew to emigrate is itself 
a punishable political offense. Under the Russian 
autocracy, everything and anything is criminal, ac- 
cording to the mood of the Czar, expressed through 
the omniscient and omnipotent police. During the 
last few weeks the expulsion of the Jews from Mos- 
cow has been carried on with cruelty. Houses 
where Jews are supposed to lodge are, between 
midnight and dawn, surrounded, and rooms where 
women and children are sleeping are entered and 
carefully searched. Every Jew, of either sex and 
of any age, who is unable to show an official writ- 
ten permit to live in Moscow is hauled away in 
fetters. 

*'A few days ago a house was thus surrounded, 
and in a family of nine was found a boy of eleven, 
bom in Moscow, whose name was not written in 
his father's permission for residence. The boy was 
taken to prison. The father appealed to an offi- 
cial for his release on the ground that the oversight 
in getting a permission for residence for him was 
not his own and that he would receive great moral 

Page Two Hundred Twenty 



Timvel in Russia 



injury by association with adult criminals* but this 
appeal was roughly disregarded. 

*'In Russia the law is less considered than is its 
latest interpretation, and now even those who have 
permission papers of recent date are often warned 
to leave the city within a day. This forces the Jews 
to depart with business unsettled and debts uncol- 
lected, and often unscrupulous Russians take ad- 
vantage of the opportunity to get the property of 
the victims at a fraction of its value. 

**About half of the Jewish residents of Moscow 
have been expelled within six weeks. Eight thou- 
sand have gone out, and many are daily departing 
towards the Jewish quarters of the few cities where 
they are permitted to live. Within a few days I 
myself have talked with many of the fugitive 
ews. 

Miss Fielde did not mail her manuscript contain- 
ing the account of the expulsion of the Jews in Rus- 
sia, but wisely waited until she reached Stockholm. 
She knew of the Russian censorship and of the 
Russian disregard for the comfort and life of the 
ordinary human being, whether a subject of the 
*'Holy Empire** or a visiting stranger. She also 
knew that she, probably, would be made to quietly 
^'disappear** should the postal authorities learn of 
her intention to publish the story of the awful per- 
secutions. 

She reached Stockholm June 3th and remained 

Pace Two Hundred Tweaty-One 



Life of Addle Marion FieUe 

in Sweden about two weeks. She found the capital 
city a charming place, greatly enjoying her visit 
while there. From her chamber in the Belleview 
Hotel she could look upon a colossal statue of Gus- 
tavus Adolphus» the northern facade of King 
Oscar's castle and a lovely parterre, where, in *'the 
long twilight, hundreds of Stockholmers hear mu- 
sic and drink chocolate.** 

A postal card, written by Miss Fielde from Cop- 
enhagen, dated June 18th, describes that place as 
a city of many beautiful parks, where ^'nightingales 
sing and troops of yellow-haired children with eyes 
fiercely blue chase squirrels." 

Kristiania, she considers the hottest place in En- 
rope, but lingered there a week because of her in- 
terest in the relics of the Norsemen. On July 5th 
she went to Hammerfest, the most northern town in 
Europe. Here she saw the midnight sun and spent 
several hours at a Lapp encampment. She remain- 
ed a month in Norway, writing entertaining letters 
of fjords, snow-capped peaks, rushing waterfalls 
and picturesque costumes. August I st, 1 89 1 , she 
wrote from Amsterdam, saying that she had spent 
four days at the Hague, one at Leyden and she 
would probably stay where she was for a week 
longer. She considered Holland a land of surpass- 
ing wealth and indefatigable industry. "Every- 

Page Two Hundred Twenty-Two 



Travel in Russia 

where/' she wrote, ''are endless great plains with 
herds of spotted cattle, canals reflecting like mirrors 
their willowly banks, windmills galore, long lines 
of dark trees, quaint towns and villages." 

From Holland she visited Antwerp and Brussels. 
Antwerp, she thought remarkable for its museum 
of natural history. She was especially interested in 
the exhibits of anthropology, demonstrating as 
they, perhaps, did several stages in the evolutionary 
progress of man after his emergence from the pithe- 
canthropian primates. At Brussels she went sight- 
seeing to Waterloo, and picked a flower from that 
blood-fertilized battlefield. 

She found Switzerland a country of high moun- 
tains, fertile valleys and independent people. Here 
she spent six weeks, principally at Zurich and 
Berne, studying the principles of the Initiative, Ref- 
erendum, Recall and Imperative Mandate, and mak- 
ing inquiries as to the practical operation of those 
laws. At that time direct legislation in the Alpine 
country had long passed the experimental stage. 
Miss Fielders comments on the Swiss government 
would indicate that she regarded it as the most ad- 
vanced in democracy of any other nation. Twenty 
years later she used the knowledge she gained in 
Switzerland to good advantage fighting for direct 
legislation in the State of Washington. 

Page Two Hundred Twenty-Three 



CHAPTER TWENTY 

Travek in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers 

IN a letter from Paris dated December 2 Ut. 1691» 
Miss Fielde wrote: 

*'I enclose a sheet concerning the board- 
ing house at which I am staying. It may encourage 
you to put up here when you come. Tlie clientele, 
of course, is constantly changing; but of those who 
are older inhabitants than I, there is an ancient 
French countess witii the charming manners of the 
old noblesse, a great variety of lace caps and the 
prettiest mode of salutation in Paris. She is the 
author of a volume of sad poems, a staunch Catho- 
lic, and a Royalist. She bears her fallen fortunes 
and the loss of all her kin with a fortitude that 
makes her nobility seem very real. 

**Tlten there is a Persian general, a brother of the 
Shah*s ambassador to the court of St. James, Prince 
Khan. In spite of his hairless pate, red nose, stony 
black eyes, and the ever hidden probability that he 
owns a harem in Teheran, he is a very agreeable 
and courteous fellow4x>arder. We also have a 
jroungish diiid of Israel, bom of a German father 
and Frendi motber, in America, and possessing the 
advantage of being able to apeak three languages 
like a native of three countries. He is chatty and 
right-hearted and when he comes down to break- 
fast all perfumed, he is the sweetest smelling of his 
tribe. There are also about twenty in the house 
and as most of the comers stay long enough to be* 

Fftffe 'Two HunSreA TwMitr-F9ar 



Travek in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers 

come acquaintances, the life in pension is rather in- 
teresting. 

**I have studied Spanish, three lessons a week 
for one month, and am now able to give orders to 
cab-drivers and chamber-maids in that tongue. Also 
I spend many of my mornings rubbing up my 
French, and all the afternoons sight-seeing. Lately 
I heard Fere Hyacinth on the 'Separation of Church 
and State' — a question which is now rending the 
Chamber of Deputies. Last Saturday I went to 
hear Renan, president of the College of France and 
author of *Tlie Life of Jesus,* but the hall was so 
crowded before I reached it, that I could not find 
even standing room. All the lectures of the Sar- 
bonne and the College de France are free and open 
to women as well as to men. In fact all the great 
galleries, museums, and about everjrthing that one 
goes to see in Paris, are open every day and can be 
visited without cost to the sight-seeker. 

**I have heard Lohengrin and Faust at the Grand 
Opera, and saw the Taming of the Shrew played 
with Coquelin as Petruchio at the Tlieatre Francais. 
Paris is inexhaustible in its resources for pleasure 
and instruction. The grave as well as the gay may 
invest months here with profit. The winter weath- 
er has been unvaryingly bad. The best that I can 
say of it is that Uiere has been neither an earth- 
quake nor a typhoon. 

*'Miss Florence Keen, daughter of Dr. Keen of 
Philadelphia, joined me here the middle of Novem- 
ber, and has since beeen studying music in the 

Page Two Hundred Twenty-Five 



life of Addle Marion FieUe 

mornings and sight-seeing with me afternoons. 
We are to start for Italy on the 4th of January, go- 
ing first to Turin, then to Milan, Verona, Venice* 
Bologna, Ravenna, Florence, Rome, Naples, Sorren- 
to, Capri, Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Pisa, 
Genoa and Nice. We shall probably spend two 
months in Italy, giving about a week to Venice, ten 
days to Florence, two weeks to Rome, eight days 
to Naples and its environs, and a day or two to the 
lesser places named. We expect to return along 
through the Riviera and reach Barcelona early in 
March, to make the tour of Spain in its lovely spring 
weather. Our route is to be from Barcelona, to Tar- 
ragona, Valencia, Seville, Cadiz, Granada, Malaga, 
Cordova, Oporto, Lisbon, Caceres, Madrid, Toledo, 
Escorial, Avila, Salamanca, Valladolid, Burgos, Bil- 
bao, St. Sebastian, Bordeaux, Tours, and so back to 
Paris, so as to reach here early in May. It may be 
that we will cross to Tangier from Southern Spain, 
and that we will also take in Gibraltar. Spain and 
Portugal will complete my tour of Europe, as I 
shall then have visited all its countries, and have 
seen all its capitals. I have been reading Irving*s 
works and am eager to compare the buildings of 
the Moors in Spain with the superb creations of 
their co-religionists in India. I doubt if the Alham- 
bra equals the palace of Akbar. It is said that the 
galleries of Madrid contain more gems than any 
other collection in the world; that the scenery of 
Southern Spain rivals that of Switzerland and Nor- 
way; that all over the peninsula the traveler is en- 

Pa^e Two Hundred Twenty-Six 



Traveb in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers 

raptured by picturesque costumes and curious cus- 
toms. Therefore I am expecting great deUght in 
Spain. I have a vivid remembrance of Italy. All 
my life has been richer and sweeter because of my 
having spent six weeks there years ago. I am de* 
lighted to go again, and with so eager and bright 
a traveller as is Miss Keen. Her enjoyment of all 
that happens doubles my own.*' 

A note in Miss Fielde*s diary, written at Venice 
and dated January 1 4th, states that she spent a day 
at Verona and saw the ancient home and tomb of 
Juliet; also she met many handsome live Romeos, 
who apparently had no other occupation than that 
of singing under balconies. She expressed the 
thought that the great amphitheatre of that city is 
in a better state of preservation than the Coliseum 
at Rome. The seats, capable of holding twenty 
thousemd spectators, are still intact, and the cells, 
where the Christian martyrs were confined while 
waiting on the appetites of the wild beasts, are still 
strong enough to serve that purpose today. She 
also wrote that she and Miss Keen had about 
"done" Venice. They had lingered long in the be- 
loved St. Mark's, been through the palaces of the 
Doges; the ancient prisons; across the Bridge of 
Sighs; to several glass factories; along the Grand 
Canal, beauteous in bank and vista ; to the tomb of 

Fsige Two Hundred Twenty-Seyen 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

Titian ; to the best jHcture galleries and had repeat^ 
edly fed the pigeons on the Piazzetta. 

Soon after another note states that *Ve went 
over to Ravenna, where St. Appolinaris» a disciple 
of St. Peter, preached in the year 44; to Dante*8 
tomb and to the mausoleum of Theodoric the Ostra- 
goth and to the burial place of Americus Vespucius. 

February 5th she spent five hours at Pompeii 
among the roofless dwellings and silent streets. 
While there she and her companion saw a fine fresco 
that had been buried eighteen hundred years exca* 
vated. It seemed as bright as if newly painted. She 
also saw the bread that was baking in an oven when 
Vesuvius overthrew the bakery; the box where a 
sentinel remained at his post until buried by the 
falling ashes; the skeleton of an old woman lying 
on a bed from which she was too weak to flee ; the 
manacles which held prisoners for an unexpected 
doom. On February 9th she made an entry in her 
diary at Naples, to the effect that she had been up 
Vesuvius ; spent a day at Pompeii ; visited the per- 
fect Greek temple, where it stood superb and 
desolate at twenty-four hundred years of age; 
drove from Salerno to Amalfi, and lunched in the 
old Capuchin monastery that is perched like a dove- 
cote on the cliffs over the blue 

Page Two Hundred Twenty-Eight 



Travek in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers 



went to Sorrento and to Capri» the latter being the 
beloved of artists; entered successfully by lying 

down in a little boat, the weird Blue Grotto* and 

encouraged an elf to catch cold by swimming in 

the azure waters for a half-franc. 

Of Rome* she makes this comment, dated Feb- 
ruary 22nd, 1 892 : **1 think there is no city so per- 
manently captivating as Rome. The tremendous 
ruins, especially when illumined by the lectures of 
the fiery archeologist, Spadoni, are utterly fascinat- 
ing. The endless galleries of ancient statuary, the 
four hundred churches, each with a history, and 
with special magnificence of some sort ; the charm- 
ing aged fountains, the countless romance-breeding 
palaces, are each a tie to the Eternal City. And 
I have seen beautiful Queen Margaret. Tonight 
the Coliseum is to be electrically lighted. There is 
nothing so enticing as living in Rome.** 

The next entry in the diary was made at Tangier, 
Morocco, April 1st. Here she says, **We came 
from Cadiz, a six hours sail across to this queer 
comer of the Dark continent. The chief inhabit- 
ants are swarthy Moors, wiry Jews and weird Berb- 
ers from the Atlas mountains. The Oriental aspect 
of affairs make the place well worth seeing and 
draws about fourteen hundred tourists across the 
straits every year. Yesterday we went to the Ba- 
shaw's harem; saw a snake-charmer; gathered 
flowers in an orange grove; rode on donkeys to a 

Paere Two Hundred Twenty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 



hill-top ; and spent several hours in the Great Mar- 
ket, where hundreds of ghostly figures in long» 
pesJced-hoods, woolen brown and white shirts were 
dealing in the products of the land.** 

From Hotel Washington Irving, Granada, April 
9th, 1892, Miss Fielde wrote: **I have never seen 
a city which, omitting all social ties, bound one*s 
heart as does this scenery. Stately in its grandeur, 
beautiful in its towers and surroundings, its ro- 
mances, legends, traditions casting a glamour into 
all its nooks. Art, exquisite as only the Moorish 
can be, fascinating the eye and soul. We have seen 
the casket from which *our* Queen Isabella sold 
her jewels in order to provide money for the dis- 
covery of America; the hall in which the royal 
sanction was given Columbus; have laid a kiss on 
the iron-plated coffin of the noble woman whose 
broadmindedness gave us national existence. Have 
had six bright days and moonlit nights in which to 
haunt the Alhambra. Only a volume written by a 
poet-artist could properly describe it.** 

Elscorial, she did not find so bright and interest- 
ing. On the 1 0th of May, she wrote: "Yesterday 
I went through the vast granite edifice built by 
Philip II., containing a seminary, a monastery, a 
palace, a library, a picture gallery, a church, a mau- 
soleum and many spacious courts ; each expressive 
of something in the character of that moody mon- 
arch, who chose for his patron-saint the cannon- 
ized Lawrence, who ended his days by being fried 

Page Two Hundred Thirty 



Travek in France^ Spain, Italy and Algiers 

on a gridiron after he had fried tens of thousands 
of other saints because they di£Fered with him in 
theology. There is the sternly simple room where 
he received ambassadors, the chairs on which he 
rested his gouty legs, the oratorio, where he expired 
while hearing High Mass, his coffin and the tombs 
of his four wives. There are here most interesting 
portraits of that terrible trio, Philip, Torquemada 
and the Duke of Alva, who form together so sali^ 
ent a point in the history of ecclesiastical bigotry.*' 

From Spain, Miss Fielde went to Vienna, thence 
to Elisenach and on to Dresden, remaining a week 
or more at each place. June 2nd, she returned to 
Paris, where she remained until September 27th, 
when she sailed for the United States. It was a lit' 
tie more than two years from the time she left Swa^ 
tow, China, until she arrived in New York, October 
12th, 1892. 



Page Two Hundred Thirty-One 



CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 

Return to America; Drawing-Room Lectures 

ON arriving at New York Miss Fielde found 
that she must engage in some gainful occu- 
ation. To use her own words, she must do 
something to supplement the small fixed income — 
the semi-annual interest on an annuity purchased 
with the savings accumulated while in the mission- 
ary service. At first she had an idea of writing for 
newspapers and magazines, but was persuaded 
from so doing by her friend, Mrs. W. A. Cauldwell, 
who advised her to enter the lecture field instead. 
Mrs. Cauldwell had been greatly impressed by Miss 
Fielde*s success as a lecturer while under the aus- 
pices of the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society 
twelve years previously. She remembered the in- 
tense interest manifested by the large audiences that 
had heard Miss Fielde relate her experiences as a 
missionary worker in the Orient, and the fact that 
her gifted friend had been the instrument by which 
large sums of money had been raised for mission- 
ary purposes had not escaped her. It was her be- 
lief that Miss Fielde could achieve the same material 
results if she applied her e£Forts for her own per- 
sonal benefit. So the two women resolved to make 
the experiment. They planned to adopt the same 

Page Two Hundred Thirty-Two 



Return to America 

program of arrangements that they had followed 
in the church lectures, except that private drawing 
rooms were to be used instead of church edifices 
and a fixed price of admission was agreed on in- 
stead of relying upon voluntary donations. 

Mrs. Cauldwell launched the enterprise by issu- 
ing six hundred invitations requesting her friends 
and acquaintances to meet at her home, in the af- 
ternoon of January 6th, 1 693, to hear Miss Fielde 
discuss Chinese Civilization and kindred topics. 
The afiFair proved a tremendous success. Mrs. 
Cauldwell's commodious dwelling was filled to 
overflowing. The * guests were evidently highly 
pleased, as, at the close of the entertainment. Miss 
Fielde received so many invitations to repeat her 
talk or make others and so many of her auditors 
ofiFered the use of their homes for that purpose, 
that it required three months at the rate of three lec- 
tures a week to fill the engagements booked on this 
occasion. 

From that time on for the next thirteen years. 
Miss Fielde was steadily employed as a lecturer, 
teacher and publicist. She began as an entertainer 
at the homes of the wealthy, cultured class of New 
York society, but as her reputation grew, she ex- 
tended her field of operations so that they included 
regular appearances before several scientific socie- 

Pa^e Two Hundred Thirty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

ties, numerous religious and philosophic assem- 
blages and many civic and political organizations. 
Before many weeks as a lecturer, she found 
that she must vary her program of subjects. While, 
perhaps, she was better informed on matters per- 
taining to the Orient and Chinese life, the time 
came when those topics failed to interest her more 
regular auditors. In the several voluminous scrap- 
books and diaries, which she kept and faithfully 
posted for a quarter of a century, we find many 
newspaper clippings referring to her talks on the 
following subjects as well as to many others equally 
interesting and attractive: **Our Country and the 
World — Democracy;" "The Making of Laws — 
Legislatures;** "The Administration of Law — Of- 
ficers;** **The Interpretation of Law — Courts;** 
**The Labor Unions;** ^'Industrial Revolutions;** 
*The Coming Revolution in Russia;** "Airships 
and the Law of Gravitation;** "The Russian Peas- 
antry;** *The Greatest Man in China;** "The Em- 
press Dowager;** "What Europeans Are Saying 
About American Women;'* "The Spread of the 
White Race in Africa;** "Curious Facts About 
Travel by Railway;** *The New International 
Language — Elsperanto ; ** **The International Con- 
ference Concerning Morocco;** **The New Theory 
of the Origin of the Species;** "Civilization in 

Page Two Hundred Thirty-Pour 



Return to America 

Siazn;*' "Porto Rico and the Isle of Pines;" "Our 
Island of Guam in Its International Relations;** 
"Our Lesser Possessions in the Pacific — Tutuila 
and Manua;'* "Present Opportunities for Higher 
Education Without Personal Cost;" "What Ani- 
mals Think;" "Natural Evolution of the German 
Government — ^From Autocracy to Socialism;** 
*The Wonders of Ant Life;*' **The Memory of 
Ants;*' "Recent Travels Among the Pigmies of Af- 
rica;" "Evidence That the Planet Mars Is Inhabit- 
ed;" "The Farming Operations of Our National 
Government;" "Arctic Explorations by Airship;" 
"Elffects of the Panama Canal and Pan-American 
Railway on North and South America;" "The In- 
fluence of Sunlight Upon the Present and Future 
Distribution of the Races of Mankind;" "What Re- 
strictions Should Be Placed on Japanese and Chin- 
ese Immigration;** "What Should Be the Status of 
Asiatics in This Country;*' "Affairs in the Congo 
Free State;" "The Giving of Free Meals to Under- 
fed School Children in the Public Schools;'* "The 
New Theory of Matter;** "Poland in Revolution;** 
"Canada and Canadians in Their Present Relations 
to the United States;*' "The World's Battle With 
Consumption;" "The Old and Ncfw Woman in 
Japan;" "The Utilization of Great Deserts;*' 
"Persia in the Politics of Europe;" "The Passage of 

Page Two Hundred Thirty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

a Race — ^the Australian Aborigines;'* "Present As- 
pect of the Negro Question in the United States;** 
"Kingdom Yoked With Ejnpire — ^Austria-Hun- 
gary/* 

The lecture field yielded Miss Fielde greater fin- 
ancial returns than any other one of her several 
enterprises. She was not infrequently paid as 
much as a hundred dollars a night for a ten days* 
course and often her self-managed entertainments 
averaged far greater sums. During her career in 
New York City her earnings were comparatively 
large, but her savings were quite small. This was 
largely due to the fact that she made it a practice to 
contribute liberally for the advancement of every 
movement for public good for which she M^as im- 
portuned, often giving far beyond her means. 
While she was a person of well-defined business 
principles— as systematic and orderly in financial 
matters as in all else — she had no ambition to accu- 
mulate riches. About her only interest M^as the ad- 
vancement of the cause of humanity and to this she 
devoted the greater share of her substance and the 
whole of her energies. A little story told of Miss 
Fielde will serve to illustrate her ruling passion as 
well as her regard for money and her idea of its 
proper uses: 

When the plans were being made for the Prohi- 

Fage Two Hundred Thirty-Siz 



Return to America 

bition campaign in the State of Washington, Miss 
Fielde, then living in Seattle, was approached by 
the Financial Committee and asked how much 
nioney she would donate to the cause. After a 
short, rapid calculation, she replied with a humor- 
ous a£Fectation of confidence: "If I limit myself 
to one new gown this year and to a few other les- 
ser economies, I will be able to give fifteen hundred 
dollars without any very embarrassing depriva- 
tions/* 

Of her vacations at Wood's Hole Miss Fielde 
says : '^Between my return from China in 1 892 and 
my going West in 1 907, 1 spent nine summers, four 
months each, at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, 
studying or in original research at the Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory. In 1894 1 took the course in 
Elmbryology under Dr. Frank R. Lillie, of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, who is the director. In 1873 
Louis Agassiz established a marine biological labor- 
atory on Buzzard's Bay. After his death the school 
was abandoned. The plan was renewed in 1 880 by 
the establishment of a laboratory at Annisquam, 
where Alpheus Hyatt was active. In 1 888 the la- 
boratory was reorganized and placed at Wood's 
Hole, with Dr. Whitman as director. The labora- 
tory has been essentially the contributions of bio- 
logists working there. A new building, provided 
by the generosity of Mr. Charles R. Crane, was de- 
dicated in 1914. Since Professor Lillie has been 
director, Dr. Oilman A. Drew, assistant director, 
has resided permanently at Wood's Hole." 

Paffe Two Hundred Thirty-Seven 



CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 

The League For Political Education; Its Orguiiza- 

tion and Activities 

IM 1 894 Miss Fielde was one of six women who 
founded the League for Political Education of 
New York City. The names of the other 
founders are» Mrs. Henry M. Sanders, Dr. Mary 
Putnam Jacobi, Mrs. Robert Abbe, Mrs. C. A. 
Runkle and Mrs. Ben Ali Haggin. The organizia^ 
tion of the League M^as the outgrowth of a vigorous 
campaign for woman's su£Frage in which the pro- 
su£Frage advocates and workers lost the battle. 

Early in 1894 the Legislature of New York au' 
thorized a Constitutional convention to be held 
during the coming month of June. A movement 
was inaugurated by the women of the metropolis, 
many of them of high social standing and world- 
wide influence, for the purpose of popularizing an 
amendment to the proposed new Constitution 
which would give women citizens the right to ex- 
ercise the elective franchise as well as men. The 
movement had met with opposition, equally vigor- 
ous, led by women of equally high social standing 
and equally influential. A monster petition had 
been secured demanding the enfranchisment of 
women, and an equally large number of women 

Page Two Hundred Thirty-Eight 



The League for PoBtical Education 

had signed a protest to the proposed amendment. 

Miss Fielde» Mrs. Sanders, Dr. Jacobi» Mrs. Abbe» 
Mrs. Runkle, and Mrs. Haggin had led the pro- 
su£Frage forces. They were, of course, greatly dis- 
appointed by the failure of the project, but not at 
all embittered. At a subsequent meeting of these 
women, at which the campaign was reviewed and 
discussed at length, the opinion prevailed that the 
defeat was due, primarily, to ignorance on the part 
of both men and women citizens. Before the wom- 
en separated, plans were outlined for continuing 
the su£Frage work by providing the means of en- 
lightening women as to the great importance of 
political and civic understanding and to educate 
them regarding the obligations and rights of citi- 
zenship. Thus the League for Political Education 
was projected. 

It was not, however, until January 8th, 1895, 
that organiziation of the League was e£Fected. At 
this time a meeting was called at the home of Mrs. 
H. M. Sanders, at which over two hundred men 
and women were present. Here the plans were 
explained, the membership rolls signed, officers 
elected and a committee appointed to secure per- 
manent headquarters. Mrs. Henry M. Sanders was 
elected president ; Mrs. C. A. Runkle and Mrs. Rob- 
ert Abbe, vice-presidents; Mrs. Ben Ali 

Page Two Hundred Thirty-Nine 



life of Adele Marion Fielde 

treasurer; Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi» correspond- 
ing secretary, and Miss Fielde, recording secretary. 

The New York World of February 24th, 1 895, 
under the caption "Will Teach Women Politics,** 
contains the following report of the League and its 
activities : 

'^Certain women who were prominent in the 
suffrage campaign last year, have organized a league 
for political education. They have established 
headquarters in the Berkeley Lyceum, No. 23 West 
Forty-Fourth street, and every day the recording 
secretary, Miss Adele M. Fielde, is present to receive 
visitors and impart information and advice, llie 
object of the League, stated by Miss Fielde, is *to 
arouse among women practical interest in public 
affairs, in civic institutions and in good government 
by means of a broad and systematic study of the 
same. 

** 'At all times, and especially in times of politi- 
cal peril,' she said recently, 'women exert a power- 
ful influence on the weal of the State. It is import- 
ant that this influence should be intelligently exert- 
ed towards wise measures in government. The 
League brings women together for the discussion 
of permanently important topics and makes them 
better acquainted with each other's true characteris- 
tics and capabilities. This will develop a sounder 
judgment of each other, just as men in business 
circles form a correct estimate of each other's fit- 
ness for certain lines of work. 

Paffe Two Hundred Forty 



The League for Political Ed u cation 

" 'As to the question whether women ought to 
vote/ said Miss Fielde, 'that depends, in my opin- 
ion, on the answer to the question whether the in- 
nate tendencies of women, acquired or natural, are 
going to complicate or assist in the solution of the 
pressing industrial problems which at this moment 
imperil our safety as a people. Many women suf- 
fragists are themselves the strongest possible argu- 
ments against woman suflFrage. My own view is 
that all native-bom, self-supporting women should 
be enfranchised. This, however, is not a su£Frage 
league, although the majority of the members thus 
far are su£Fragists, and the officers of the league are 
the same women who comprised the Voluntary 
Committee of the su£Frage campaign of last spring 
before and during the session of the New York 
State Constitutional Convention. 

" 'The League is distinctly for political education, 
and is ready to help women of all beliefs and con- 
ditions so far as it can. Membership in the League 
comes from the payment of an annual fee of two 
dollars and a promise to study the literature issued. 
We are beginning this course of political education 
with Fiske*s Civil Government of the United 
States and An Outline of Study prepared by Dr. 
Mary Putnam Jacobi. This Outline is practically a 
catechism. Questions are asked and the student is 
obliged to look up the answers in the books re- 
ferred to. Many of the questions are from Fiske 
and Bryce, but other works also are to be consulted. 

" 'The plan is to form circles, or clubs, either with 

Paffe Two Hundred Forty-Ona 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

or without special teachers. Anyone who so desires 
may form a study circle and hold meetings in her 
own house, in a hall or club room. The only outlay 
that is required for commencing is the price of the 
books, which may be procured at the League head- 
quarters. So far, two circles or classes have been 
formed. They both meet in the Berkeley Lyceum. 
Mrs. Charles Runkle instructs one of them every 
Tuesday morning at eleven o'clock on the history 
and growth of civil government in the United 
States. I lecture every Friday on the powers and 
duties of the New York officials. We do not teach 
theories, simply facts. By the methods we use we 
advocate no particular theory of government. We 
are simply in pursuit of facts and those truths which 
result in good government. 

** 'And I want to say that the parties which are 
now dominant will find that they have lost their 
strength when that time comes unless they hasten 
to see the handwriting on the wall. Equal suf- 
frage today has a big majority in its favor. Over 
700,000 of the people of New York State, eligible 
to citizenship, have put themselves on record as be- 
ing in favor of granting the franchise to women. 
The officers have decided to leave su£Frage in abey- 
ance for the present and content themselves with 
arousing intelligent womanhood to a knowledge of 
what government is and how it should be adminis- 
tered. Other courses of lectures are to follow, a 
series of them to be on common law.* 

''Mrs. Sanders, the president, is the wife of the 

Page Two Hundred Forty-Two 



The League for Political Education 

Rev. Henry M. Sanders, pastor of the Madison 
Avenue Baptist Church. She is a woman of wealth, 
talent and energy. Mrs. Charles A. Runkle has 
been prominent in many reform movements as the 
east side women and shop girls of that section can 
testify. Mrs. Robert Abbe is the mother of the 
musician, Courtlandt Palmer, and with her first hus- 
band, the late Courtlandt Palmer, took an active 
interest in the Nineteenth Century Club. Both 
Dr. and Mrs. Abbe are ardent suffragists. Mrs. 
Ben Ali Haggin married the son of the California 
millionaire and horseman. Miss Fielde is an au- 
thor, probably best known through her book, 'A 
Comer in Cathay.* For many years she lived in 
China.** 

Miss Fielde was actively connected with the 
League for Political Education for thirteen years; 
at the end of which time she was presented with a 
life-membership from the voluntary subscriptions 
of her many admiring pupils. Though the League 
was an aftermath of the New York Voluntary As- 
sociation of Equal Suffragists, it was, as its name 
indicates, an educational institution. It was open 
to both women and men, though it acquired only a 
few male members during the first ten years of its 



The work of the League was so systematized that 
membership could be had by the pasrment of a 

Paere Two Hundred Forty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

small annual fee and a pledge of earnest attention 
to the prescribed studies and disciplinary routine of 
the institution. However, these conditions entitled 
a member only to the uses of the study-rooms and 
library and admittance to all the free lectures, sev- 
eral of which were delivered each week. But if a 
person wished to take a special course of instruc- 
tion in any one of the several branches taught at the 
institution, a special charge was made. Miss Fielde 
organized and taught classes in civil government, 
parliamentary usage and political ecenomy, the tui- 
tional fees from which she derived a comfortable 
income. Also, each week, during nine months of 
the year, she gave a free lecture on current events, 
municipal a£Fairs and business relations. One of 
the more attractive of this latter part of the program 
was the ''Educational Excursions,** which she orig- 
inated and, for the first eight years, led. Of these 
excursions, the League's official report for the year 
1900 says: 

"During this season Miss Fielde's class studying 
Civil Government has visited many of the City De- 
partments and Ci^ Institutions. The excursions 
have often occupied a whole day, and have included 
the Fire, Police, Docks, Charities and many other 
City Departments; the Institutions of Blackwell's 
and Randall's Islands, and those in Manhattan for 
Deaf Mutes and for the Blind ; many of the courts, 

Pagre Two Hundred Forty -Four 



The League for Political Education 

lower and higher; the Tombs* the Stock and Pro- 
duce Exchanges, the Mills Hotel, the Chinese and 
Italian Quarters, Bellevue Hospital, Governor's 
Island, the Immigrant Clearing House, the Post- 
office, and the Navy Yard. Eighteen such excur- 
sions have been made, the number of participants 
varying from ten to thirty-two, with an average of 
seventeen. 

**The value of these opportunities for the obser- 
vation of civic conditions has been great, and has 
prompted the members of this class to closer study. 
In no preceding year have the members of this class 
spent so much time and energy in the preparation 
and presentation of papers bearing on the topics 
studied by the class.'* 

In 1897 Miss Fielde wrote **A Political Primer 
of New York City and State," a work unique in the 
field of literary production. She presented the 
copyright to the League, which sold the books, the 
proceeds being applied to the current expenses of 
that institution. This must have proved an enter- 
prise of considerable profit, as four editions, each of 
several thousand copies were printed before the de- 
mand for them was supplied. The book was dedi- 
cated to Mrs. Henry M. Sanders, president of the 
League, and is still in print and is still regarded as 
a reliable source of reference. The New York 
Journal of November 7th, 1897, contains the fol- 
lowing criticism regarding the Primer: 

Page Two Hundred Forty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion FieUe 

*'The first election campaign of Greater New 
York is certainly a fit occasion for the production 
for just such a manual as this. Even the politicians 
continue to plead ignorance of many of the details 
of the new charter, but this little primer leaves no 

one in the dark as to the essential features of the 
new government of the great city. Furthermore, 
the book covers New York State as well as city pol- 
itics, and is a complete compendium of the things 

that the voter must know in< order to cast an in- 
telligent vote. Questions connected with natural- 
ization and citizenship are fully discussed, and the 
complicated system of our courts is carefully de- 
scribed. There is no other work of its kind which 
embodies so much information in so small a com- 
pass.** 

In 1899 Miss Fielde wrote and published her 
'^Parliamentary Procedure.** She had taught parlia- 
mentary law at the League since the organization of 
that institution and early discovered the need of a 
text-book that would be adapted to beginners in 
the study of that science. The work that she pro- 
duced is a model of literary skill ; each of the guid- 
ing principles in parliamentary usage being cleverly 
illustrated by a series of questions and answers and 
clearly demonstrated in the form of dramatized 
drills. Two editions of Fielde*s Parliamentary Pro- 
cedure were published ; the first in New York under 
the auspices of the League for Political Education, 

Page Two Hundred Forty-Six 



The League for Political Education 

and the second in 1914, while the author lived in 
Seattle. The latter edition was issued for the use of 
the club women of Washington. 

Miss Fielde became the author of another re- 
markable literary production while connected with 
the League for Political Education. This was her 
**Fourteen Rules for Polite Conversation.** It was 
a small pamphlet of a few pages only, but it is justly 
regarded as a gem. Whether or not the general 
deportment of the League*s membership was the in-* 
spiring cause of the work has never been disclosed. 
Miss Fielde herself was an adept in all forms of po- 
lite conduct and not at all tolerant of conversational 
rudeness. It was her practice, however, to correct 
such o£Fenses on the part of others by a wise hint 
or unobtrusive suggestion that carried with it none 
of the discomforting e£Fects of a personal rebuke. 
The "Rules for Polite Conversation** was gladly ac- 
cepted as a free gift by the management of the 
League and incorporated into its system of instruc- 
tion. Many editions of the pamphlet were printed 
and sold, which brought added laurels to the reputa- 
tion of the author and proved a source of consid- 
erable profit to the League. 

The League for Political Education still exists; 
but only three of the noble women who founded it 
are living. It has recently passed its twenty-third 

Paffe Two Hundred Forty-Seven 



life of Adele Marion FieUe 

anniversary, each year of its existence having wit- 
nessed an increeised membership and a widening of 
the circle of its influence. In all that time it has re- 
mained faithful to the conception of its founders 
and worked consistently for the cause of good citi- 
zenship. During the first ten years of its career, it 
was conducted and maintained by women; but at 
present the sexes are more impartially represented 
in its management. In a recent circular containing 
a report of its past achievements and an announce- 
ment of its future ^tivities, the names of many of 
the most distinguished men and women illumine its 
programs. Among them we find those of Wood- 
row Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Felix Adler, Lil- 
lian D. Wald, Jane Addams, Richard Watson Gil- 
der, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Hamilton W. Mabie, 
Anna Howard Shaw, Thomas Wentworth Higgin- 
son, R. Heber Newton, j. Lincoln Steffens, Agnes 
Repplier, Thomas Nelson Page, John Mitchell, 
Booker T, Washington, William Travers Jerome, 
Joseph H. Choate, Oscar S. Straus, Seth Low, Carl 
Schurz, Edward Everett Hale, Charles Dudley 
Wamer, Mark Twain, Henry Van Dyke, Margaret 
Deland, Ida M. Tarbell, Helen Keller, Mrs. Hum- 
phrey Ward, G. Marconi, Robert E. Peary, James 
Bryce, Prince Peter Krojxjtkin, Rev. Robert Hugh 
Benson, Dlen Terry, J. Forbes Robinson, Lyman 

Page Two Hundred Forty-ElKht 



The League for Political Education 

Abbott, Stephen S. Wise, H. G. Wells, Charles F. 
Aked, General Leonard Wood, Corinne Roosevelt 
Robinson, Ella Flagg Young. 

The present officers and managers of the League 
are Robert Ejrskine Ely, Director; Mary B. Cleve- 
land, Executive Secretary; Christine L. Munger, 
Secretary to the Director ; Evelyn L. Shulters, Mem- 
bership Secretary. The Board of Trustees is com- 
posed of A. Barton Hepburn, Chairman ; Miss Laura 
V. Day, Secretary; Robert G. Mead, Treasurer; 
Mrs. Robert Abbe, Mrs. Henry A. Alexander, John 
Bates Clark, William H. Bliss, Robert Erskine Ely, 
John Martin, Miss Spence. 



Faere Two Hundred Forty -Nine 



CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 

Miss Fielde As a Writer 

MISS FIEUDE attained distinction in no less 
than four fields of personal endeavor. She 
was a Christian missionary of unsurpassed 
achievement; the author of ten successful books; 
a notable scientist; and a profound student and 
teacher of government. Her greatest renown, per- 
haps, is due to her reputation as a writer, though, 
unquestionably, the more enduring measure of 
fame will attach to her name for scientific discover- 
ies and disclosures. 

Her greatest literary production was her **Dic- 
tionary of the Swatow Dialect.** This work requir- 
ed ten years of patient devotion, great tenaci^ of 
purpose and uncompromising industry. But she 
proved herself well qualified for the undertaking. 
It was written while she was an employe of the 
American Baptist Missionary Society, which pub- 
lished the book at its own expense and received the 
full award of all accruing profits derived from its 
sale. The dictionary is still used as a book of ref- 
erence in many parts of China, being equally valu- 
able to Chinese seeking to learn the Ejiglish equival- 
ents to Chinese words as to English speaking deni- 
zens, missionaries, tourists, traders and consuW 

Page Two Hundred Fifty 



Miss Fidde as a Writer 

officials in their desire to hold converse with the 

natives. It has passed through many editions since 

it was first printed, but being so nearly complete 

at the start, comparatively few improvements or 

changes have been made in the intervening sixty 

years. In her opinion, her next most important 

book was ''A Comer of Cathay.** Of this volume, 

The Boston Courier of October 2 1 st, 1 894, says : 

*'This rather exquisite volume is a series of 
sketches made during a residence of fifteen years 
in China, chiefly at Swatow, with frequent sojourns 
in localities and villages which no other foreigner 
had ever visited and with extensive travel in other 
parts of the Empire. The author. Miss Adele M. 
Fielde, had previously written a dictionary of the 
Swatow dialect, a volume called *Pagoda Shadows* 
and other books in the same line, and therefore 
enjoys an acquaintance with the local dialect and 
with native women, so that she was enabled to gain 
information directly from all classes and from both 
sexes. All that she here records has been amply 
verified by personal observation. She has discussed 
the subjects she treats of with many natives, and 
has accordingly set forth only such ideas as were 
generally agreed on as true. Many of the pages in 
the volume were papers that were published in the 
Popular Science Monthly and other periodicals. 
Her present object is to help people to under- 
stand the character of our Mongolian guests, 
and to know whether their thoughts are 

Faffe Two Hundred Fifty-one 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

80 very unlike our own. While many of the 
matters portrayed are local, all are intended to be 
typical of the nation as a whole. The singular ho- 
mogeniety of the Chinese and their general con- 
formity to type renders it more than commonly dif- 
ficult to interpret them and properly depict their 
traits concealed under a mask of facial immobility, 
to those who do not know the people experimental- 
ly and who have not come in touch with them per- 
sonally. 

**The subjects treated are farm life in China ; the 
household and personal economy of the people; 
their marriage laws and usages ; their mortuary cus- 
toms; the babies and their grandmothers; child- 
ren's games; school and schooling; the Chinese 
measures of time ; their suits at law ; fabulous people 
and animals; sundry superstitions; the Chinese 
theory of evolution; Confucius and his teachings; 
the Tauists and their magic arts ; and Chinese filial, 
fraternal and friendly piety. This recital suffici- 
ently shows about aJl the features of Mongolian 
life, as well as the substance of Chinese character, 
brought out into a clearer view through the por- 
trayal of the author. The rather singular thing is 
that it is a woman that makes the mystery of Chin- 
ese life so clear to our comprehension, at a time 
when the desire is as eager as it is general to know 
all that can be known about a nation long buried 
to the world and now being resurrected by the sharp 
spade of war. 

**The illustrations, twelve in number, are a won- 

Page Two Hundred Fifty-two 



MiM FieUe as a Writer 

derf ul addition to the worth of the book. They are 
unsurpassed, on rice paper and the first of the kind 
ever produced in this country. All the illustrations 
are done by Artists in the celebrated school of Go 
Leng, at Swatow. The pages have all the glow of 
a romance. One cannot light anjrwhere on them 
without being instantly fastened to the strangely 
original matter exploited so e£Fectively on them. 
It will save one the trouble of a land journey and 
an ocean voyage to read this author's record of her 
observations with the natives of that far, unknown 
country where life is measured in cycles rather than 
in broken years.** 

Another of Miss Fielders books of Chinese life 
is exceptionally valuable ; describing, as it does, the 
fanciful side of Chinese character. This was en- 
titled "The Strayed Arrow or Chinese Nights* En- 
tertainment,** published in 1893. The following 
review of the work, contained in the columns of 
the Boston Watchman, is a fairly good account of 
its contents and purposes: 

"Children and grown folks may read together 
these tales with and without a moral, and find pleas- 
ant entertainment, if nothing more, on the forty 
stories strung on the thread of a very tenuous fila- 
ment called the romance of 'The Strayed Arrow.* 
Aside from the fun and the story the reader re- 
ceives in a most delightful way, much information 
of the beliefs and customs of the Middle Kingdom. 
As these tales were heard or overheard by the writer 

Paffe Two Hundred Fifty-three 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

in the Swatow vernacular, and have been illustrat- 
ed by native artists in the school of the celebrated 
painter. Go Leng, at Swatow, we may feel warrant- 
ed in accepting their genuineness as a reflection of 
the almond-^yed race's romantic idiosyncrasies. 
Several of the stories are of Betrothal, Marriage 
and the Go-Betweens who make the matches. 
Among them is one which tells how a hunchback, 
with a handsome face, and a hair-lipped girl, with 
a fine form, entrapped each other in a love match, 
he by showing his face to her from a sedan chair, 
and she by concealing her mouth with a fan. When 
the marriage ceremony was over, the bride sudden- 
ly lowered her fan and murmured, 'Our prospects 
are determined by fate.' The groom gazed at her 
an instant, then rising and turning his hunch tow- 
ard her, he exclaimed, 'Your prospect is not nearly 
so bad as my retrospect,' and thus was illustrate 
the Chinese proverb, 'It's no use to try to change 
one's fate in wedlock.* Another proverb, 'The 
devils dance on one who knows no poetry,' gives 
rise to the story of an old woman who learned a 
jingle-jangle, and by repeating it in her sleep was 
saved from robbery. If you wish, then, to spend 
an evening in the Kwangtung province, with queer 
people, take this pretty souvenir from far Cathay 
and you will find Kong Chiang right, that 'Half is 
sweet, half is salt. Stop a bit and take a bite.' " 

With the exception of her dictionary of the Swa- 
tow dialect, "Pagoda Shadows" was the first book 
published by Miss Fielde. It is a volume of three 

Page Two Hundred Fifty-four 



MiM Fielde as a Writer 

hundred pages, well illustrated and full of human 
interest. In 1886, when it first issued from the 
press, it proved a **best seller,'* the entire first edi- 
tion having been disposed of in less than a week. 
It passed through six editions before public inter- 
est began to lag and even at the present time, it is 
still popular with students seeking expert and ac- 
curate information regarding the customs, habits 
and peculiarities of the Chinese. 

The title of the book is perhaps significant of the 
shadows cast over Chinese life due to the influence 
of Buddhism and the depressing terrorism of the 
nation-wide beliefs in demonology and other forms 
of superstition. Mr. Joseph Cook, the noted 
preacher and publicist of Boston, wrote an intro- 
duction to the work in which he pays the author 
some very high compliments. In his closing para- 
graph, he says : 

**I have read much of Chinese history and sta- 
tistics; I have examined the best sources of infor- 
mation as to the Chinese religious and social life; 
I have studied such translations of the Chinese 
classics as have come in my way, but I find the 
simple story written by Miss Fielde has brought 
me nearer to a clear view of Chinese life and Chin- 
ese needs than anything else I have used as a 
guide.** 

The Preshyterian Messenger, of London, Eng- 
land, says of '*Pagoda Shadows**: 

Paffe Two Hundred Fifty-five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

'*Thi8 little volume of some three hundred pages, 
divided into thirty-five chapters* is one of the most 
charming and life-like books on China that Mre 
know. Nowhere else within the same brief com- 
pass can be found so varied and so full an account, 
written in a pleasant and clear style, of many of the 
phases under which life in China presents itself to 
those who visit that strange land. But Miss Fielde 
is more than a visitor, and her studies possess far 
more value than the hastily formed impression of 
travellers, who give but a passing glance at the peo- 
ple and their ways, or make a few inquiries second- 
hand. She has for many years lived among the 
people of whom she writes. She has acquired their 
language and can converse freely in it, and, both in 
Swatow and in many parts of the extensive and 
populous mission-field of which it is the headquart- 
ers, she has had much personal intercourse with 
them. Travelling by boat along the rivers and 
water-ways that so abound in the fertile plains of 
Tie Chiu, or going on foot, or by the slow and 
wearysome sedan chair, she has made many toil- 
some journeys to visit her Chinese sisters. She has 
stopped at the wayside 'inn* and chatted with them ; 
she has put up in their poor and dirty abodes, and 
psutaken of their humble but genuine hospitality. 
She has seen them as they are in their large cities, 
in their towns and villages, in the open air and in 
their homes. And with a graphic and kindly pen 
she has written these very interesting sketches of 
the life and manners of the Chinese, that those who 
read them may be led to think of that multitudinous 

Paffe Two Hundred Fifty-six 



Mist Fidde m a Writer 

people with a living sympathy, and take a practical 
interest in their welfare. Miss Fielde*8 own work 
among the women of the Swatow region has been, 
we have reason to know, fruitful of much bless^ 
ing; and her admirable system of selecting and 
training and superintending Biblewomen, has de- 
servedly attracted much notice. It is as a mission- 
ary that Miss Fielde writes, but it as a missionary 
with a quick and observant eye, a ssnmpathetic 
heart and ready pen. Those who read her book 
will find much in it regarding the social customs, 
regarding the idolatry and superstitions, and re- 
garding the home life of the Chinese, which they 
seek for in vain in larger works. Do our readers 
wish to see some of the fruits of heathenism in de- 
tail, do they wish to see how it deadens natural af- 
fection, how it touches and blights that which we 
in Christendom delight to call *Home, sweet home,* 
how it mars, and degrades and perverts all the vari- 
ous relations of life — ^then let them read *Pagoda 
Shadows.' " 

It was chiefly as the author of newspaper and 

magazine articles that Miss Fielde did her greatest 
and most important writing. She wrote literally 
thousands of short stories, scientific papers, ser- 
mons, lectures, philosophic essays, and political doc- 
uments, all of which presented the highest product 
of human thought as well as genuine proof of her 
really fine literary ability. 

Referring to her work as a writer of short articles 

Pace Two Hundre€ Ftfty-iaoren 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

for current periodicals, a contemporary Seattle au- 
thor of note wrote her the following appreciation 
in a personal letter of June 1 1 th, 1914: 

**Dear Lady of the Beautiful Books: 

**I have just read your article in the Netv Repub" 
lie. To see such work as yours in the midst of a 
generation of slovenly writers and cheap book- 
makers is refreshing indeed. I wish there were 
more like you, with your methodical, tradned, mas- 
terful intellect. Continue, my friend and fellow-- 
traveller, for great is the influence of the printed 
word, especially when it comes from your pen. 
"Yours for still pursuing, still achieving, 

"Emily Inez Denny.** 

Among the short stories that Miss Fielde wrote 
was one entitled: "How An Ant Went to Market 
and Went Home Again.'* This was written for 
Miss Olivia Cauldwell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
Samuel Milbank Cauldwell, on the child's tenth 
birthday. Several magazines printed the unique 
story and pleasure was extended to countless other 
children. 

Her articles on scientific subjects alone would 
furnish material for a half dozen large volumes if 
compiled into book form; and her written contri- 
butions to current literature discussing sociological 
problems, legislative enactments and matters of 
statute law are even more voluminous. 

Page Two Hundred Fifty-elffht 



Mist Fidde m a Writer 



Miss Fielde was a strong believer in publicity. 
She regarded public opinion as the most potent fac- 
tor in the success of every department of human 
endeavor. Whenever she wished to promote an 
advancement or improvement in civic welfare, her 
first steps were to take the public into her 
confidence by describing the manifold advanta- 
ges of the proposed change through the medium- 
ship of the public press. In every community 
wherein she lived any considerable portion of her 
long and useful life, the sands of time are deeply 
indented by her literary footprints. 



Tuge Two Hundred Fifty nine 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 
MBm Fidde As a Sdentbt 

TO PROPERLY appraise Miss Relde s attain- 
ments in science or her achievements in the 
research work of that department of knovrl- 
edge, presents unusual difficulties. In her search 
for facts, she was an indefatigable worker, careful 
in classification and fearless in her conclusions. She 
delved deep in many branches of scientific study 
and investigation, organic as well as inorganic, 
theoretic as well as established, mystic as well as 
pragmatic. Her investigations were made from 
various points of vantage and disadvantage, from 
the fields that surrounded the place of her birth to 
nearly every locality on earth. 

From China she wrote and published papers 
about the strange but **lovely little crawling things** 
that she found along the sea shore of that land. At 
Wood*s Hole she discovered how ants see without 
eyes, hear without ears and smell without noses. 
On the desert of Arizona she demonstrated the 
hithertofore unknown fact that enough water could 
be obtained from the opuntia cactus, if properly 
treated, to sustain the lives of thirst-bound travel- 
ers. In Alaska we find her writing learnedly re- 
garding geological formations in making a report 

Page Two Hundred Sixty 



Mist Fielde m a Sdoitiit 

on some coal prospects. From weird heights in 
the Himalayas she made astronomical observations 
with an opera glass, and wrote interestingly and en- 
tertainingly thereof. In India she investigated the 
psychic phenomena peculiar to the Hindu fekirs, 
and published her conclusion in a number of maga- 
zine articles. While in Berlin she made a scientific 
analysis of the German Government; its origin, 
evolution, relation to socialism and its racial effects. 
In Russia she startled the civilized world with her 
reports of the Slavic practice of persecuting the 
Jewish citizens of the country. She also gained 
membership in the World's Geographic Society be^ 
cause of her scientific discussion of the causes, pres- 
ent effect, and probable future effect, of those bar- 
barities. She made an exhaustive study of Direct 
Legislation in Switzerland; and twenty years later 
helped to induce the voters of the State of 
Washington to enact the Initiative, Referendum 
and Recall into laws for their own guidance. She 
drilled classes in botany during four vacational sea- 
sons in the Catskill mountains, to the end that her 
pupils gained a familiar acquaintance with every 
tree, plant and wild flower in those classic hills. On 
the Pacific Coast she wrote informatively and au- 
thoritatively regarding the bubonic plague, includ- 
ing instructions in ways and means to exterminate 

Pa«e Two Hundred Sixty-one 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

fleas— -the agency of the spread of the terrible Asiat- 
ic scourge. In Seattle her writing on sanitation 
prompted the Board of Health of that city to repro- 
duce her discussions in pamphlet form and distri- 
bute them in such quantities that a copy reached 
every citizen of the community. 

But, perhaps, her greatest successes in science 

were her discoveries and disclosures regarding the 

psychology of ants. Of these achievements, she 

herself writes: 

**My summers were devoted generally to biolog- 
ical pursuits ; and from 1 900 to 1 907 I was a lec- 
turer as well as an investigator at the Marine Bio- 
logical Laboratory at Wood*s Hole, Massachusetts. 
Perhaps I am the only person who knows that some 
centuries from now my name will linger in the 
scientific world because of my discoveries of the 
distribution and localization of the sense of smell 
in ants. These discoveries, made in 1901, have 
not been confuted nor confirmed by any other 
worker. No one during the last decade has under- 
taken the prolonged, unhurried, painstaking experi- 
ments necessary either to the contradiction or con- 
firmation of my published statements. Seven 
years work on the ants, with proof that they can 
remember a smell for at least three years and with 
other new and interesting facts concerning these 
insects, that come next to man in exhibitions of 
mentality, brought variety and delight into my sum- 
mers.** 

Page Two Hundred Sixty-two 



N 



Mist Fielde m a Sdentbt 

An article on the Memory of Ants, published 
in the New York Tribune, December 25, 1904, is a 
fairly good description of Miss Fielde*s chief con- 
tribution to contemporaneous scientific discovery 
of that day: 

**The ant is a constant source of wonder. As in 
the case of Goldsmith's pedagogue, still the wonder 
grows that one small head can carry all he knows. 
The ant has so many human attributes it is difficult 
to imagine them all compacted in a little six4egged 
dumb-bell, not over a third of an inch long. Al- 
though ants were a source of interest long before 
the unknown old Hebrew advised the sluggard to 
go to the ant, consider her ways and be wise, new 
facts are constantly being discovered about this in- 
dustrious and intelligent insect. It is now declared 
that it has the power of recognition, or the faculty 
of remembering for an extended period. Accord- 
ing to Miss Adele M. Fielde, of this city, who has 
been studying ants scientifically for five years, they 
can remember for a period of at lesist three years. 
Miss Fielde, who does a great deal of work at 
Wood's Hole, Mass., is the inventor of a nest which 
entirely deceives the ant and makes it think it is in 
its own native haunt. By means of it she has been 
able to isolate and observe a given ant, or colony of 
ants, continuously for a period of three years. The 
nest is an ingenious little house of glass, divided into 
compartments or rooms. As the insects love dark- 
ness rather than light, but for no ignoble reasons, 

Paffe Two Hundred Sixty-three 



Life of Adele Markm Fidde 

the nest is covered with <^)aque paper and kept in 
a cabinet. 

**The sense of smell seems to be the ant*s leading 
sense, as the sense of hearing is that of the mole, 
the sense of touch that of the caterpillar, and the 
sense of sight that of the eagle. It was through 
this sense that Miss Fielde worked to determine the 
ant's ability to remember. The ant seems to be en- 
dowed with an immense variety of odors. There 
are enough odors among them to puzzle the ordina- 
ry human nose. Apparently each queen has a dif- 
ferent odor. All her descendants have the same 
odor when they are brought into existence, but 
when they grow older their odors change, so that 
ants two years old have a different odor than that 
they had at one year, those of three years have still 
another, and so on till they die. Each nest has its 
own odor, the larvae and pupae have their special 
odors, and each individual ant has an odor that dis- 
tinguishes it from any other ant. When an ant 
meets a neighbor, it does not recognize it by its ap- 
pearance, but by its odor. When two ants meet 
they immediately begin to feel each other over 
with their arm-like antennae feelers. One would 
imagine that they were caressing each other, but it 
is not so. They are finding out each other's odors. 
If the odors are not familiar then a fight ensues, for 
there is no neutral ground in the ant world. If an 
ant is not a member of the home group, it is an 
enemy. The ant code is Tight all strangers on 
smell and beodn first.* 



Page Two Hundred Sixty-four 



Mist FieMe m a Sdeatiit 

**Ant8 fight with the tenacity of bulldogs. Once 
they have grappled, it is fight until one of the com- 
batants is killed or so badly maimed that it can fight 
no longer. Miss Fielde has seen two fight continu- 
ously for eighteen hours. The animosity which 
ants display towards one another is jnrobably due to 
the practice of the tribes of raiding each other's 
niests and carrying off the larvae and pupae. These 
the captors rear so that when they come to matur- 
ity they may work for them as slaves. 

**Miss Fielde, by experiment, has discovered how 
the ants detect the different smells. The feelers 
are divided into joints. Each of these joints is 
equipped to detect a different odor. This she dis- 
covered by a process of elimination. With the most 
delicate of surgical instruments she performed op- 
erations on the antennae of some of her ants. From 
the antennae of one ant she would take off the first 
joint and watch to see what odor the ant failed to 
recognize which it had previously known. Two 
joints were removed from another, three from a 
third and so on. By this method she found that 
with the end of the feelers the ant could recognize 
the odor of its home ; that with the next joint it was 
able to recognize its adult blood relations. The 
third joint guided it home. It is with this joint that 
it scents its own track. This track it pursues with 
greater certainty than a bloodhound does a trail. 
It can detect this scent through obstacles of relative- 
ly great thickness. With the fourth joint it recog- 
nizes the young of its own species. The last joint 

Pa^e Two Hundred Sixty-live 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

informed it if the ant it met with was an enemy or 
not. 

**Knowing that the ants would fight if they did 
not recognize the odor, she put into a nest of ants, 
which she had had for three years, two queens with 
their old wild nest. Although these ants had been 
shut off from all intercourse with any other ants 
from their old home colony throughout this period, 
they indicated that they remembered the odor of 
their old home queen by receiving her into full fel- 
lowship immediately. Miss Fielde made many 
other experiments indicating that ants could re- 
member the odors they had once been familiar with. 

**Miss Fielde has a happy family of ants. In one 
particular nest she had four different species, of 
which some are much larger than others and fully 
capable of 'wiping up the earth* with the latter. 
The different species would have fought if they 
hadn't been brought up together. They had been 
put together before they were twelve hours old, 
and there had never been a quarrel between them. 
One of these species was a strong, hairy ant, one 
of the largest of American ants. Then there are a 
number of gray ants of the kind that live under 
stones in the meadows. These are very gentle, and 
other species often make slaves of them by raiding 
their nests and stealing their larvae. They are 
such industrious workers that other species like to 
keep them. They remain in the nests and turn the 
eggs and do work for their captors without protest. 
The third species were chubby, snuff-colored ants 

Fftge Two Hundred Sixtr-six 



Miss Fidde m a Scientist 

of smaller size. These have such a strong mater- 
nal instinct that when clanger seems to threaten, as 
when the cover of the nest is raised, they grab the 
big fellows by the nose and pull them around as if 
they were eggs which they were tr3ring to secrete 
in some safe spot. They are actually able to pull 
the big fellows along bodily. One of their pleasures 
is riding on these same big ant*s backs. The fourth 
species were little brown ants, smaller than any of 
the others. 

**In all ant communities there are three kinds of 
ants — the queen, which lays the eggs; the spinster 
ants, which care for the larvae and pupae, and the 
males, which are very much like the loafers who 
stand around in country grocery stores, their hands 
in their pockets, going home only at meal time to 
enjoy the food provided for them by their women 
folks. The males do nothing, and even expect to 
be fed by the working spinsters. The queen may 
live to be fourteen or fifteen years old, and workers 
are known to have lived six years. 

**In the course of her experiments. Miss Fielde 
says she has found that ants are blind to all rays 
of light except the ultra violet, or those known to 
the photographer as actinic rays. As soon as a glass 
which transmitted only the actinic rays was placed 
over the ants, they proceeded to carry all of their 
young from beneath it as if they feared impending 
peril. Just why they did it. Miss Fielde could not 
discover, as that kind of rays seemed to have no 
effect upon the health of the community. As a re* 

Paffe Two Hundred Sixty-seven 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

suit of collaborating with Professor George H. 
Parker, of Harvard University, to determine if they 
could hear, she declares that ants are not sensitive 
to vibrations received through the air. 

^'Individual ants have different temperaments, 
according to Miss Fielde. *Ants of some species 
are as varied in character as human beings,' she 
said the other day. *Some are irascible, others do- 
cile; some have strong maternal instincts, while 
others dislike the care of the young ; some like quiet 
home life, while others like to go afield and roam 
about; some learn more quickly than others the 
things which I wish them to do. Ants keep them- 
selves and their young scrupulously clean. I have 
seen an ant, when she wanted to be specially well 
groomed, catch hold of another ant by the leg and 
make her lick her back, which she could not reach 
herself. If the other ant got tired and tried to get 
away, she would catch it again and compel it to 
remain until the work was done thoroughly. When 
their young get soiled, they will pick them up, as 
much as to say, **You naughty boy" and forcibly 
wipe them clean in the nest. The ants carefully 
remove all debris of an uncle2ai character from 
their nurseries.* 

"It is hard to believe that ants have not some of 
the emotions of human beings. Miss Fielde has 
observed instances of grief at the loss of compan- 
ions which were pathetic. She had two little spin- 
ster ants that had lived alone all their lives. She 
put ant eggs into their compartment for them to 

Page Two Hundred Slxty-elgrht 



Miss FieMe m a Scientist 

care for. Then she removed one, to see what the 
other would do— -if she would aj^^ear to be lone- 
some. The one which was left forsook her care of 
the young, to which she had been previously much 
devoted, and spent the time searching for her lost 
companion all through the nest. The next day her 
companion was returned and there was evidence of 
great rejoicing. Both ants again turned their at- 
tention to the young. The other story is that of a 
widowed queen. She refused to leave the side of 
the dead king, remaining beside its body for six 
days, when it began to disintegrate." 

Under the caption of **A Woman of Achieve- 
ment,** a notable woman magazine writer recently 
published a tribute to Miss Fielde, which contained 
some strongly characteristic facts, llie excepts 
are here reproduced as follows: 

"Adele M. Fielde, author, linguist, sdiolar, scien- 
tist, friend— has solved triumphantly the problems 
life has presented to her, and by her own efforts has 
reached a position diat is unique. Her career is in- 
spiring because of achievement in the past and be- 
cause of promise in the future. 

**It was my good fortune to discover Miss Fielde 
at a time when I suddenly realized how ignorant I 
was of certain matters that had become necessary 
to my work. I made inquiries concerning an in- 
structor, an expert in these desirable acquirements. 
What were they> They included the art of conver- 
sation—of learning how to get the best out of oth- 

Faffe Two Hundred Sixtsr-nlne 



Life of Adde Marion Helde 

era and out of myself as well. A knowledge of par- 
liamentary law was another means to widen influ- 
ence and usefulness, and I sought for a teacher who 
had mastered and who could impart these branches 
of equipment. It was not easy to secure the aid I 
needed. After several futile attempts, I met a 
friend at Mrs. John D. Rockefeller's house who told 
me of a woman who *evened up everybody.* 

** *Show me her abode/ I requested; and the very 
next day I betook myself to one of Miss Fielde*s 
haunts. 

**A sign read: 'League for Political Education/ 
It seemed to me that the very name implied enough 
to scare one of ordinary attainments. However, 
the entrance was not so impressive as the name 
and I ventured to ask the attendant for Miss Fielde. 

** *You will find her up one flight/ was the reply. 
*But don*t make any noise; she doesn't like noise.* 
Now I had no desire or intention of being noisy, so 
with a glance of disapproval, I proceeded on my 
way. I hesitated in the corridor, lest some awe- 
inspiring person might suddenly appear and ask 
me what I wanted. Not meeting any such obstacle, 
I proceeded up the winding marble stairway and 
found myself in a room with shelves of books which 
seemed to glare at me. Near the door a lady-like 
little woman sat at a desk. She arose and said *Have 
you your ticket?* I couldn't quite make out from 
her manner whether she knew I had or not, so I 
replied, *I haven't it with me.' She then gently took 
me by the arm and led me to another door, sayings 

Paffe Two Hundred Seventy 



Mist FieMe m a Sdentbt 

'Please bring your ticket next time, to be punched ; 
be very quiet as you enter for Miss Fielde is now 
lecturing on ants.* Merciful heavens! Ants! Ants! 
This struck me so positively ludicrous that I nearly 
laughed aloud, surely I hadn*t come to hear a treatise 
on ants, and, in fact, I could only think that per- 
haps Miss Fielde was instructing her audience 
(which was almost entirely of women) how to care 
for, or be kind to one's relatives. 

*'Not at all! In a few moments the members 
were invited to witness a battle which was going 
on in one of the apartments of the lecturer's ant- 
house. 1 joined them and before I knew it I was 
charmed not only with Miss Fielde's personality, 
but with the evidence of the scientific study and 
patient research which she had made concerning 
the habits, food and customs of ants, which hereto- 
fore seemed to me to be so little and and insignifi- 
cant. Never again would 1 trample down, as 1 had 
done so many times, a little ant-hill just to see the 
lively little insects scatter about with anxious speed, 
striving to rebuild their crushed home. I had learn- 
ed something but not exactly what I had come for. 

"After the lecture I made known my errand. 
Within a few days 1 was deep in the study of the 
adaptation of rules and methods for the proper gov- 
ernment of corporate bodies and the easiest way 
of systematizing the work of organization, the 
framing of constitutions, etc. 

"From that time Miss Fielde has never ceased to 
be a guiding star. Her judgment is absolutely safe 

Pase Two Hundred Seventy-one 



Lif e of Adde Mwion FieUe 

and following her advice will not involve one in 
difficulties. When giving advice, by the way, she 
usually ascertains just about what you intoid to 
do anyway and then shows you the best way to ac- 
complish your own purpose. ♦ ♦ * 

**Miss Fielde*s wonderful development started 
with a bereavement. A beautiful romance made 
happy her early days and its tragic ending was 
heart-breaking. * ♦ ♦ 

**Miss Fielde will always be remembered by those 
who knew her as the woman who was not afraid 
to ToUow Through.* '* 



Paff« Two Hundred SereatT-two 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 
Her ReUgiout Belief t 

MISS FIELDE was intensely religious. She 
regarded religion as the most important de- 
I>artment of man's economy, defining it, as 
she did, to be the **relation of man to God/* How- 
ever, in later life, she came to grow away from her 
belief in it as an abstract quality. She preferred to 
think that our progress towards the Kingdom to 
Come depended more on moral evolution than up- 
on religious covenant. Because of this feeling she 
became imi>atient with church creeds, almost intol- 
erant. It was her thought that creed has a dwarfing 
effect upon the growth of religion, limiting the 
greater benefit that might be derived from church 
influence. 

She believed in Christianity as the ultima thule 
of moral development. In her opinion the time 
would come when Love and Cooperation would 
succeed Natural Selection and Survival of the Fit- 
test as Nature's method of developing the human 
being; and that differences of human opinion 
would in time be adjusted by applying the science 
of peace instead of through the practice of the arts 
of war. Her faith in humanity prompted her to be- 

Paffe Two Hundred Seventy-three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

lieve that the race is rapidly approaching the 'Chris- 
tian ideal, despite occasional reversions to type, 
like instances of the present world-war. 

She was a profound student of the Bible, having 
translated large portions of it into the Chinese 
language for the enlightenment of her native 
proselytes. Her belief or disbelief regarding the 
truth of the Scriptures, she seldom discussed. It is 
safe to say, however, that she did not regard that 
compilation as the infallible work of divine inspira- 
tion. Moreover, she was inclined to the opinion 
that the Book contained many chronological errors 
and not a few scientific absurdities. The Book of 
Genesis she looked upon as the product of the im- 
agination of a primitive tribe, poetic but not true. 
At one time she spoke of the Bible as a book con- 
taining great wisdom but imperfect knowledge. In 
one of her lectures she referred to the Ten Com- 
mandments as a wonderful code for the time in 
which it was written, but wholly insufficient for 
the needs of the complex civilization of the present 

day. "The Law of Moses," she said, "is entirely 
negative, nearly every provision beginning with 
the words, *Thou shalt not,' devoted almost exclu- 
sively to enjoining us from wrong-doing. What 
we now need is something more positive, some- 
thing that will point out the way of duty, some- 
thing that will instruct us in what we shall do.'' 

Paare Two Hundred Seventy-four 



Her ReUgiout Beliefs 



The synoptic Gospels she was disposed to regard 
as true in all essential (particulars. The art of liter- 
ary criticisin. she thqught, has reached such a stage 
of perfection that error in the statement of fact is 
readily discovered. True, some incongruous state- 
ments have been interpolated into the traditional 
account of the personality, character and works of 
Jesus by several compilers of the New Testament ; 
but the spurious parts are very apparent and do not 
affect the truth of the text as a whole. She be- 
lieved that the Master did perform the so-called 
miracles just as He is reported to have done; but 
she was not disposed to dignify those acts with the 
degree of importance that orthodox believers usual- 
ly give them. In her opinion the Savior was not 
necessarily endowed with any supernatural power 
or aided by any supernatural agency. The sup- 
posed acts of changing water into wine ; walking on 
the waters ; and feeding the multitude of five thou- 
sand with the ''seven loaves and a few small 
fishes,*' can be explained, she thought, by hypnot- 
ism; healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, 
and life to the dead, could be accounted for by the 
possession of abnormal psychic power ; calming the 
storm at sea may be attributed to a coincidence — 
possibly the gale had reached its point of subsidence 
just at the time the command was expressed. 

^ Paare Two Hundred Seven ty-flve 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

Her appreciation of die personality and character 
of Jesus is well expressed in a letter to a friend* 
written in 1895. In this she says: 

**The person who has lived in this world who 
seems to me the one that I should like above all 
others to be permanently near, is Christ. I am ut- 
terly unorthodox, taking the creed of any church, 
Protestant, Catholic or Greek, as a standard. I do 
not highly esteem churches of any faith. But when 
I i>ass out of this life I expect to immediately in- 
quire for the Man of Nazareth. I have a conviction 
that He will be accessible, and that the things and 
persons that 1 really care most for will all be where 
He is, and where I am going to be. I have no doubt 
that Confucius and Buddha, both of whom were 
honest truth-seekers, and who are no more repre- 
sented by their present followers than is Christ, will 
be in fellowship with Him. I believe that a vast 
multitude out of each country and language and 
age and creed will have met there; and most of 
them will have come because they were like Him 
without knowing it; like Him in certain essentials 
that are not mentioned in the creeds, but are com- 
monly overlooked. I have really come to enjoy re- 
ligion. I have a creed I can heartily believe in all 
its details ; one that offends neither my intellect, nor 
my heart nor my common-sense. This creed 
prompts me to believe that you, whose creed seems 
to me to be utterly unreasonable, will in the happy 
future be my friend in Heaven, just as really as 

Pacre Two Hundred Seventy-six 



Her Religious Beliefs 

you are now in this poor life that seems such an un- 
heavenly arrangement/* 

A letter, written by Miss Fielde from Swatow in 
1887, to a member of the Philadelphia Academy of 
Natural Sciences, presents some illumining 
thoughts regarding her religious impressions, atti- 
tude towards church creeds, ideas of immortality, 
and admiration for truth. Elxcerpts from the letter 
are here published for the first time: 

**The art of the old masters is not equalled by 
any modems. More than that, you will never see 
art at its highest except in Europe. Oh, the sculp- 
tures of Greece and old Rome I In a basalt lion that 
crouches in the Vatican, one can see the muscles 
contract under the skin and quiver while gathering 
for the spring upon the prey. And, though the 
prey is invisible, one knows that it is human. In 
the Capitoline Museum, a little girl holds a white 
dove to her breast, and looks over her shoulder to- 
wards a snake that is rising to snatch the dove. One 
knows that the child has never before seen a snake 
or heard of one; that she is Innocence Personified. 
The wondering interest with which she gazes at the 
serpent; the pathetic absence of distrust of it; and 
the timid faith in its capacity for good-fellowship; 
are as plain as her delight and restfulness in the 
companionship of the dove. One can see the girl 
breathe quietly; can see the throb of the dove*s 
heart ; and can see such movement of muscle under 
the snake's flecked skin, that it is difficult to be- 

Paffe Two Hundred Seventy-seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

lieve that its head is not approaching the dove 
under one's very eyes. The old Greek sculptors 
could turn a thought into white marble, from which 
it would for thousands of years go out and move 
souls. Nobody knows the names of those men 
who could thus express their thoughts. The mat- 
ter that was them has, since it was them, taken in- 
numerable shapes. Their lives; their histories; 
their hopes; their sorrows; all that they had; has 
I>assed into oblivion. But who can truly say that 
they do not still live in this world. They stir emo- 
tions ; they win affection and admiration ; they con- 
vey ideas; they are powers that influence human 
weal. Their souls are immortal among men. I am 
a believer in another sort of immortality; but if, 
like John Burroughs, I believed in no immortality 
besides this sort, I should feel that sound reason for 
effort still existed ; and that this sort of immortality 
was real. If I believed in no future life, no heaven, 
no hell, no God beyond Nature and no religion but 
the Law of Duty, I do not think I should in my out- 
ward self be markedly different from what I am. 
Cogent reasons for all good works, abundant stim- 
ulus towards being our best selves, infinite argu- 
ment against evil, lie outside of theology and creecL 
I can see that a man may be utterly an agnostic, and 
yet have reasons for being completely good in all 
the relations of life, and earnestly devoted to such 
works as being an earthly immortelle. I, who am 
not an agnostic, can see that John Burroughs may 
be one and yet have as strong reasons for righteous- 

Page Two Hundred Seventy-eiffht 



Her Religious Beliefs 

ness as have I, and as real a hope of eternal exist- 
ence as have I. If any of us are to be holy and im- 
mortal, then holiness and immortality are essential- 
ly natural and sin and death are essentially un- 
natural. 

"Your account of the fray between Dr. M — and 
Professor H — was intensely interesting. The fact 
which Dr. M — stated that *to have anything to do 
with the teaching of the doctrine of evolution might 
compromise him with his congregation/ is hardly 
a sound reason why evolution should not be taught. 
Truth often compromises, in a worldly way, its 
first promulgators; but woe to the world, if the 
discoverers or followers of truth withhold their 
knowledge of it because of private expediency. I 
am honestly grieved that Dr. M — should have set 
forth such a reason for objecting to professor H — 's 
lecture. Such an avowal from him places him in 
the position of a charlatan and vitiates his claim to 
be either a true scientist or a true Christian. Let 
us have truth though the heavens fall! 

*To change the subject: A powerful argument 
on the side of Christianity is, for me, the fact that 
the noblest human beings I have known have been 
Christians. Possibly the masses of Christians, 
ai>art from their higher civilization, are no better 
than Confucianists, Buddhists, or Atheists. In- 
deed, for vindictiveness, self-seeking and mean- 
ness, I believe the so-called Christian churches can 
furnish models for any outside their i>ale. But 
there remains still the fact that the highest order of 

Paffe Two Hundred Seventy-nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

character is to be found where Christianity has in- 
fluenced its development. I have not a wide ac- 
quaintance among European atheists and agnostics ; 
but so far as my experience has taus^t me, I should 
not expect to find among them the highest tjrpe of 
manhood, that in which magnanimity, unselfish- 
ness, and truthfulness were most perfectly manifest- 
ed. The ideal man will always sway the minds of 
the masses more than any man*s idea. He will also 
be a stronger argument than any he can make in 
favor of his principles and doctrines.'* 

In October, 1914, Dr. Sydney Strong, i>astor of 
the Queen Anne Congregational Church, of Seat- 
tle, invited Miss Fielde to join him in an undertak- 
ing to create a body of one hundred persons who 
would agree to make the Sermon of the Mount 
their rule of life and guide to daily conduct. Miss 
Fielde declined the invitation in the following sig- 
nificant letter: 

"Dear Dr. Strong: 

"I have read very thoughtfully about *A Pro- 
posed Elnterprise for the Age.' I have also just 
read again, very thoughtfully, the Sermon on the 
Mount. I have never been able to live up to my 
own interpretation of the Sermon. It is probable 
that I shall fail in the future as I have in the past. 

"The precepts of the Chinese, the Hindu, the 
Greek, the Persian, the Moorish teachers have en- 
tered into my ethical creed without conflict with its 

Paffe Two Hundred Eighty 



Her Religiou8 Beliefs 

Hebrew elements. In a blundering way» I foUow 
the Parsee mandate for the morning — *This day, 
will I speak, think and do only that which promotes 
the true life.* Almost every day, there comes to 
me a clearer conception of the true life. At pres* 
ent that conception does not impel me to unite with 
any organization whatsoever. As a member of the 
human family, I am pressed with the practical 
needs of my kindred. I cannot assume the duty of 
fixed-time meetings, or any of the machinery that 
inevitably comes into use with new enterprises. 
Moreover, I am pledged to certain more or less pub- 
lic undertakings that require my energies. 

**I write all this, hoping that you will truly un*- 
derstand why I do not join in such a fine enterprise 
as that which your printed i>apers propose. I am 
glad I know about your plan and I wish it well.'* 

Miss Fielde, being a true scientist, believed in 
immortality, but she was doubtful if an individual 
soul retained its identity after its sei>aration from 
the body. In an appreciation of her, written by 
Mrs. Adaline M. Payne and published in the Rep- 
resentative of Nevada, Iowa, Miss Fielde is quoted 
as saying: 

**When one who is in the seventies considers the 
future, that consideration must needs extend into 
another world than this. Having studied Bud- 
dhism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, as well as 
Christianity, among the people who profess to be- 
lieve them, I became wise enough to know that I 

F^ge Two Hundred Elffhty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

do not know. I hope and trust. Whatever bit of 
earth I chance to stand upon, it is a bit of the great 
world that I love as God*s footstool. In any place, 
at any moment, still loving the world that I knovr 
so well, I can go serenely into my next life, hoping 
for an endless existence in which love and service 
will be an unmixed joy." 

Regarding Miss Fielde's religious convictions 
and beliefs, Rev. William K. McKibben made the 
following comments at a memorial service held for 
her in Seattle soon after her death: 

**For people whose nature compels thinking 
the missionary service does not offer a favorable 
field for traditionalism in religion. Out there one*8 
views of theology and one*s theories regarding the 
Bible have to be submitted to tests of actual 'life 
such as are less often met here at home. There Is 
many a religious observance, and many a piece of 
church procedure, which peisses among us with- 
out challenge; but which, when examined under 
the white light of truth are found to be accretions 
upon Christianity, and not an original part. These 
often mar instead of improving the sweet gospel of 
the Man of Nazareth. 

**Like some other missionaries Miss Fielde's at- 
tention having been drawn to these accretionary 
elements, candor compelled her to submit them to 
the supreme test of inquiry and thought. She was 
nothing if not a thinker. To her nothing was good 
because it was old, but only because it was true. 

Paflre Two Hundred Eiffbty-two 



Her Religiout Beliefs 

It is not in the least strange therefore, that, when 
in the course of time, these questionings came be* 
fore our friend, her reaction upon them was ener- 
getic and decisive. Nor is it strange that her inten- 
sity of conviction carried her to greater lengths and 
to more radical conclusions than was thought nec- 
essary by most others who have faced the same is- 
sue. We can but honor her stem loyalty to con- 
viction. I am glad to know that the old faith lived 
on even when its externalities were rejected, and 
that nearing the end she solemnly recorded herself 
as a religious woman, one who was too wise to say 
she knew» but was also wise and strong enough to 
say she believed and she trusted. In those hymns 
of the soul that she recorded as her favorites I see 
once more the essential fervent Christian convic- 
tions of her eeu-ly happy missionary days come to 
expression." 



Pftffe Two Hundred Eiarhty-threo 



CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX 
Phflosi^y and PsjrchcJogy 

THE advancement of the race from the King- 
dom of Earth to the "Kingdom to Come/* 
was Miss Fielders idea of the purposes of hu- 
man existence. In fact» she thought all forms of 
life had been designed with this destiny in vie^w. 
In her opinion human progress in this direction 
could only be made by two general methods. The 
first by marriage and production of children, the lat- 
ter in sufficient numbers to insure the race against 
decline and with such regard to eugenic breeding 
that each succeeding generation would be an im- 
provement upon the i>arent stock; the second plan 
she had of bringing the millennium was by means 
of social service. The first, however, she consid- 
ered the greater of the two, offering, as it did, great- 
er facilities for self-sacrifice, self-abnegation and 
devotion to others — the only true culture. 

The bitter disappointment she must have experi- 
enced from being obliged to abandon the plan she 
regarded as the most potent means of contributing 
to the world's welfare, is suggested in a letter to a 
girl friend whom she urged to look forward only 
to a life that contemplated husband and children. 
"Whatever else women may do in the world,*' she 

Pa^e Two Hundred Elffhty-four 



PhOoaophy and Psychology 

wrote, ** their chief and enduring hold on the esteem 
of the human family is attained by their excellence 
as mothers. 

'*She who goes into the valley of the shadow of 
death three or four times in the course of her exist- 
ence and returns each time, bringing a new life with 
her, does more for humanity than the writer of 
books, the opera singer, the fine artist, the skillful 
physician, the wise voter or the woman in public 
life, useful and necessary as they all are. 

**The spirit of the pioneer mother should abide 
in all women. Sometimes a woman who has no 
progeny, has to take a State as her brood, and that 
is motherhood, too." 

The same thought is contained in a letter to a 
co-worker in scientific pursuits, written while she 
was connected with the League for Political Educa- 
tion. She says: 

*'Each day I teach civil government, parliamen- 
tary usage and statute law to a hundred and fifty 
women. I am not utterly devoted to my work, 
doubtful if I am pointing out to my pupils their 
highest spheres of usefulness. True, they are 
bright and winsome women ; but, sometimes, when 
I look into the sweet, eager and tired faces of that 
class, I silently say — *Oh, you dear, aspiring, stren- 
uous souls! I wish that every one of you was the 
mother of seven children or the grandmother of 
twelve; and that you had your lives and time full 
of honest, healthy, calm domesticity.* 

Page Two Hundred Blffhty-flve 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

**The woman who has interested me most, is one 
who came to get a book to study, because her boys 
were growing up and she wanted to know "what 
would and should interest them; but she could not 
come to the class, because she always made it a 
point to be at home when the children came from 
school. Of course it is much better to overwork 
in the study of law or science or literature than to 
wreck the health in social dissifiation and nonsense. 
But, well, there is a girl in my class who is about 
to be admitted to the Bar. She has worked tre- 
mendously for years, and has denied herself every- 
thing else for the sake of success in this. She is 
white, thin, and on the verge of a nervous collapse. 
She says I have been very kind to her and useful. 
I am not sure but I will be more useful yet, and say 
to her, *My dear young woman, you have a wrong 
idea of values. Rest; make yourself hearty and 
happy; fall in love with the first upright, capable 
and warm-hearted young fellow that shows sense 
enough to admire you ; drop your law into the first 
ditch you cross with him, and devote your fine 
feminine brain to the making one house more 
heavenly than any other scrap of the world.* ** 

About middle life. Miss Fielde became actively 
interested in Psychology, especially in the abnor- 
mal features of that science. She knew from per- 
sonal experience and otherwise, that there "were 
forces which deeply affect humanity, and of \^hich 
natural science has, as yet, made no satisfactory 

T^ge Two Hundred Elffhty-siz 



Hulosophy ftnd Psychology 

accounting. She had witnessed exhibitions of the 
various phenomena and peculiar manifestations of 
Spiritism, Theosophy, Christian Science, Hindu 
Occultism and African Fetishism, and was eager to 
gain a knowledge of the causative principle of these 
several species of mysticism. She realized that mil- 
lions of her fellow-beings believed that these rec- 
ondite forces were manifestations of supernatural 
origin or of spirit visitation, and that their religious 
faith and hope of a future life depended largely 
upon them. 

With a view of studying this subject she read 
Kant, Swedenborg, Bishop Berkeley, William 
James, Munsterberg, Thompson Jay Hudson, Sir 
Oliver Lodge, James H. Hyslop and Mary Baker 
Eddy. She also read the voluminous reports of the 
Societies for Psychical Research of both this coun- 
try and Ejigland, as well as many other books and 
periodicals devoted to psychology, metaphysics, 
ontology and kindred branches of study. 

She accepted Hudson's modification of the Kan- 
tian idea of the subjective-objective so far as defini- 
tions were concerned. At least she believed that 
the subjective mind was in reality the soul, poten- 
tially perfect, of infinite capacity, and, perhaps, in- 
dependent of the laws of physical nature. But her 
mind was never fully satisfied as to the real relation 

Paare Two Hundred Blghty-ieyen 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

of the objective to the subjective. She could not 
decide whether the <^]ective was an entity, coor- 
dinate and coetemal with the subjective, or simply 
the creation and subordinate agency of the latter. 
As a consequence she had the experience common 
to many philosophers, she failed to classify the 
phenomma of clairvoyance, clair-audience, levita- 
tion, hypnotism and psychic healing, attributed by 
some to the supernatural agency of disembodied 
spirits— called spiritism, and by others to the auper- 
normal activities of the subjective — commonly 
described as "dual-personality." 

If Miss Fielde reached any conclusion regarding 
this highly interesting question during her life time, 
it WEM not disclosed. However, the fact that her 
interest continued unabated up to the time of her 
death is known. In 1 904 she entered into a com- 
pact with Dr. Anna Lukins, of New York, v^fii 
provided that the first of the two to die would, if 
possible, return in spirit and endeavor to communi- 
cate with the survivor. Each wrote the message 
diat she would attempt to deliver to the other, 
which was to remain a secret until given from the 
spirit world. This message was to serve to identify 
the spirit bearing it, also to protect the recipient 
against imposture or to prevent the possibility of 
the proposed communication being made knowm 

TmK» Two Hundred ElKbty-elcht 



Philosophy And Psychology 

by means of telepathy or mind-reading. The mes- 
sage that Miss Fielde prepared she placed securely 
sealed in the keeping of Dr. James H. Hyslop, a 
notable scientist and educator, the then head of the 
American Society for Psychical Research, and a 
personal friend of Miss Fielde. Miss Fielde also 
made a written statement of her understanding 
with Dr. Lukins, which, with a copy of the mes- 
sage that the latter proposed to deliver, is now in 
the custody of the executor of her estate, Mr. 
George H. Walker, of Seattle. 

Two years before Miss Fielde died she entered 
into a similar agreement with Mrs. John Trumbull, 
of Seattle, pass-words having a personal significance 
being agreed on for purposes of identification rath- 
er than written messages. Up to the present time 
no message has been received. Dr. Lukins 
died within a year of Miss Fielde*s demise and Mrs. 
Trumbull still waits the proposed visitation. 

Many of Miss Fielde*s experiments in testing the 
theory of "dual-personality" as the causative prin- 
ciple of abnormal psychic phenomena are highly in- 
teresting. One of them was especially so, attract- 
ing, as it did, the attention of the scientific world. 
An account of it was first published in the Ther- 
apeutic Gazette, of Philadelphia, from which it 
was copied into the scientific journals of England, 

Faere Two Hundred Eiffhty-nine 



life of Adele Marion Fielde 

France and Germany. Her own account of the 
experiment is here reprinted: 

**The hashish of the Arabs, the gunjah of the 
Hindus, is prepared from a species of hemp, Catir 
nabis Indica, grown in a tropical climate. In Siam 
this plcmt, called kang cha, is cultivated in gardens, 
and the spikes of minute female flowers, densely 
surrounding a stalk a few inches in length, have a 
general resemblance to those of catmint. They are 
cut immediately after inflorescence, are slightly 
dried, and are commonly sold in the market places 
at about four cents for a bunch of fifteen stalks. 
The natives addicted to the habit smoke these flow- 
ers in a brass pipe, in which the acrid fumes are 
forced through water before they reach the mouth. 
The immediate and temporary effect is exhilaration 
or delirium; the permanent consequences are yel- 
lowness of the eyeballs, pallor and greasiness of the 
skin, flabbiness of muscle, emaciation and gradual 
destruction of mind and body. It is said that those 
of the European race are less susceptible than are 
the Asiatics to its elating influence. I have heard 
of no foreigner in East India who has the hasheesh 
habit. 

** While living in Siam in 1 868 I saw many suf- 
ferers from this practice, and decided to test upon 
myself the effect of the narcotic. I was at a small 
village a day's journey from any other white per- 
son, cmd was able to secure myself against observa- 
tion or interruption. I extemporized a pipe, and 
smoked six thimblefuls of the hang cha. The smoke 

PAge Two Hundred Ninety 



Philosoi^iy ftnd Psycbology 

was stifling, but I persevered in puffing until I felt 
luxuriously quiet. About ten minutes after laying 
down the pipe, I suddenly became conscious of dual 
being. My usual self was awake, was aware of all 
my actual circumstances, was perceiving with clear- 
ness and recalling with precision the facts of my 
commonplace existence. I knew that I was lying 
on my back in a chamber of a native house at ten 
o'clock at night, and was observing with open eyes 
the details of my familiar surroundings. There 
was complete continuity of thought, and perfect 
cognizance of the mental effect of the herb. 

**My double was standing in an arched and pil- 
lared hall, whose walls, furniture and draperies 
were all encrusted with tinted gems, that shone with 
soft and exceeding brilliancy. Such strength and 
harmony in color, such grace and grandeur in pro- 
portions, such intensity and mildness in illumina- 
tion the sane imagination never conceived. In the 
midst of this radiance and beauty I was infinitely 
joyous. Every atom in me quivered in unspeak- 
able spiritual bliss and I said *This is the house not 
made with hands and I am now in Heaven.* 

**Duality presently ceased as suddenly as it be- 
gan, and dien after a few minutes returned with a 
new phase. My muscles, especially those of the 
eyelids and mouth, twitched spasmodically. My 
appearance must have been that of one in an epilep- 
tic fit, but my mind remained clear, and took note 
that the muscular contractions were simultaneous 
with the quacking of some ducks under my win- 

Paffe Two Hundred Ninety-one 



Life of Adele Marion FieMe 

dow. My second self was an automatic musical in- 
strument, a complex arrangement of strings and 
keys, trembling in rapture while sending forth en- 
chanting melody that resembled sometimes a famil- 
iar, sometimes an unknown tune. The diapason 
was superb, and every note was a throb of exulta- 
tion. I took no heed of moments, but when the in- 
strument ceased plajring I fell into a deep sleep, fol- 
lowed by a slight lassitude on the following day. 

**A fortnight afterward I repeated the experiment 
in the daytime. Before 1 had finished smoking, I 
began to respire loudly and with gaspings, accom- 
panied with violent but painless involuntary con- 
traction of the muscles. Again I entered the separ- 
ate states of consciousness, I was at once awake, 
asleep, awakening and falling asleep. As a cord 
may swing so quickly between two diflFerent points 
as to appear to be two diflFerent cords, each com- 
plete at the limit of vibration, so I passed with such 
rapidity from sleeping to waking and from waking 
to sleeping, that thought and dream were alike in 
consciousness. My condition was neither pleasur- 
able nor painful, but was intensely strange and in- 
teresting to me. Out of it my dreaming self pass- 
ed into another state leaving my waking self awake. 
My duplicate became a boundless sea, ravishingly 
cool, utterly free, rising in vast billows under an 
illimitable sky, and feeling in every drop of every 
wave the transport of my own pulsations. Then I 
became a continent with wide meadows and verd- 
ant forests. A breeze swept over me and rustled 

Paare Two Hundred Ninety-two 



Plulosophy and Psychology 

all my leaves ; I felt my vital forces waking in every 
blade of grass and every spreading tree, sending 
them gently upward. The thrill of growth was in 
them all, and growth was ecstasy. This ended in 
profound slumber. 

**A few days later I smoked the usual quantity 
of kang cha with no noticeable eflFect. Whether I 
made use of a stalk in which the resin had not form- 
ed, or whether I was, from some occult cause, in- 
vincible to its influence, I am unable to guess. 

**A month afterwards, sitting at a table, pencil 
in hand, and resolved to fasten upon paper some 
of the marvelous thoughts that came to me while 
under this intoxication, and that left only their faint 
sembleuice in my memory when the excitation ceas- 
ed, I smoked twice as much kang cha as before. 
In a few minutes I lost all power to judge of the 
lapse of time. I walked a few feet to close a door, 
and seemed to have been millions of years in reach- 
ing it. I left the room to quiet a pet dog and when 
I returned ages appeared to have rolled away. There 
was not, however, in my case, that extension of 
space, as well as of time, which so afflicted Profes- 
sor Ludlow, the hasheesh-eater of Albany. My 
room had only its usual length. My mind was exalt- 
ed by an indescribable increase of consciousness. 
Thoughts crowded upon me in numbers sufficient, 
could they have been recorded, to have filled the 
world with new books. The causes of clairvoy- 
ance, hypnotism, and other psychic phenomena be- 
came temporarily plain to me. I strove to keep the 

Pase Two Hundred Ninety-three 



life of Adele Marion FieUe 

knowledge acquired through this expanded con* 
sciousness, but during the eon required for writing 
a word each thought was swept away by its strong 
successor, and all passed in a current that I could 
in no wise control. Meanwhile, I had, not dual, 
but multiple existence. I had many contemporar- 
ies, living in different spheres and countries, with 
distinct occupations and experiences. * The con- 
sciousness of each was included in my conscious- 
ness, and each was myself. Possibly as I had, in dual 
being, alternated between dreaming and waking 
with such swiftness as to make continuance in each 
seem to be perpetual, so that I now passed from 
dream to dream with such speed as to make several 
distinct dreams seem each to be unbroken. If par- 
allel threads were stretched along the surface of a 
cylinder, and a point were made to revolve around 
the cylinder transversely, while it was at the same 
time slightly projected along the threads, the spiral 
point followed by the point would form a close 
coil, touching every one of the threads by the point 
successively. If the threads represented lives and 
the flying point my consciousness, the latter might 
thus touch and recognize all that was in the former. 
So my consciousness seemed to speed with a veloc- 
ity greater than that of light through an eternity of 
time, and to include and apprehend each of the lives 
that had become mine. The velocity of revolution 
was so great that no appreciable interval lay be- 
tween my passing from one life to the same again, 
and so each life seemed continuous in my conscious- 
ness. No one of my various lives was more im- 
pale Two Hundred Ninety-four 



PhilosoiJiy ftnd Psycbology 

pressive than the others, though each was at the 
time as real to me as my present one now is; and 
when, after a long sleep, I awoke with only my 
usual limited powers, I could recall the full story of 
no one of my multiples. A page that I had written 
during the intoxication contained only parts of 
words, and words having little grammatical relation- 
ship to one another. The only important sentence 
having a subject and a predicate on the same topic 
was this, 'Spiritualism comprehended.* 

"Forewarned by the frightful ruin wrought in 
others by the hasheesh habit, I had resolved before- 
hand that I would limit my experiments to three. 
These having been successfully made, I never again 
smoked hang cha, and during the years that have 
since elapsed I have thought with increasing horror 
of the danger I then incurred. During many years 
thereafter, drudgery or monotony always made me 
unwisely, meditate on this beatification, and then, 
wisely, on its accompanying perdition. 

**I have now written, from the notes I made twen- 
ty years ago, because my experiences, here truly, 
diough faintly set forth, may add something to the 
data from which the problem of consciousness is to 
be studied and solved.*' 



Pasre Two Hundred Ninety-flve 



CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN 

Leaving New Yoiic; Seattle; Alaska 

ON June 1 0th, 1907, Miss Fielde left New 
York City not to return. Ostensibly she 
took this action for the purpose of seeking 
a more congenial climate because of a slight bron- 
chial disorder. But perhaps the spirit of wander- 
lust had as much to do with her leave-taking as any 
other cause. During the whole of her life the vis- 
ion of newer and greater fields to conquer, neiver 
and greater spheres of human usefulness, newer 
and greater opportunities for doing good, was con- 
stantly before her. 

The opinion obtains among Miss Fielde's New 
York friends, that her action in leaving the only 
home she had known in fifteen years, where she 
was comfortably situated financially, surrounded 
by hosts of admiring friends and acquaintances, at 
the age of seventy yeaurs, to go among strangers 
and found new interests and form new friendships, 
was the result of a sudden impulse. But such is 
not the case. From her own statement she took 
the step deliberately, after months of serious reflec- 
tion. True, she did not at once resign from the 
scientific institutions where she was regularly em- 
ployed or cancel her lecture engagements for the 

Paere Two Hundred Ninety-six 



Leaving New Yoiic; Seattle; Alaska 

forthcoming season; but did ask and receive a 
year's vacation. It is not improbable that she took 
this course to avoid the emotional stress that would 
have accompanied announcements of final parting. 
In one of her diary entries, made at Colorado 
Springs, she writes: *'l am now gone from New 
York and have burned my bridges behind me/* This 
perhaps refers to the fact that a week previously 
she had given away all of the household eflFects and 
ornaments that had accumulated during her resi- 
dence in New York, books, natural history speci- 
mens, potted plants, pictures and paintings. The 
latter included her truly valuable collection of twen- 
ty-seven water colors from the studio of Go Leng, 
of Swatow, China, which were used to illustrate 
her several books on Chinese life and which she 
placed in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. 
But the fact that she gave away these articles of 
personal property is by no means conclusive proof 
that she had '*bumed her bridges.'* One of the car- 
dinal principles of her domestic economy was to 
retain possession of nothing of which she had no 
immediate use. She made it a practice to give 
away books of current literature as soon as read; 
letters she destroyed on being answered; ordinary 
pictures she did not care for and great paintings she 
regarded as a poor investment because of the care 

Page Two Hundred Ninety-seven 



life of Adek Markm Fielde 

they entailed; bric-^a-brac and heirlooms she could 
not tolerate. This latter feeling is expressed in her 
lecture on the "Simple Life,*' published in the Seat- 
tle Post-InteUigencer, September 28th, 1907, from 
which the following is cm excerpt: 

**The house should be scrutinized twice a year, 
and everything that is unlikely to be of service with- 
in the next four seasons should be eradicated. It is 
not well to carry a burden of incmimate objects on 
the soul. Last year I visited two New Ejigland 
spinsters, each of whom was the only survivor of 
her colonial ancestors. Each had a house croivded 
with the relics of past generations, hand-spun and 
home-woven fabrics in wool and linen, dishes that 
came across the ocean with early settlers, imple- 
ments for which present days have no uses, cloth- 
ing whose wearers knew George Washington, and 
souvenirs brought by cmcient mariners from distant 
lands. Each woman, gray-haired and solitary, had 
spent her years chiefly in keeping moth and rust 
h'om these dead things. She might, by a judicious 
distribution of them, have enriched the industrial 
departments of a half dozen great museums, where 
they would have been safe from fire, would have 
been of educational use to thousands of persons, 
and would have set her mind free for the following 
of more cheerful occupations. In order to live the 
joyous, simple life, one needs often to struggle suc- 
cessfully against one's inheritance, to dispossess 
oneself of all that forebears have amassed, even of 
their convictions." 

Page Two Hundred Ninety-elsrht 



Leaving New Yoiic; Seattle; Alaska 

Quoting from Miss Fielde*8 diary of 1907, she 
states: 

"I left New York at six p, m, on the tenth of June. 
My dear friends, Mrs. W. A. Cauldwell and Dr. 
Charles M. Cauldwell, were the last acquaintances 
I saw. I spent two weeks in Colorado Springs; 
visited Cripple Creek, Pike*s Peak, Garden of the 
Gods and Manitou; spent six days at Yellowstone 
Park, after which I left for Tacoma, Washington. 
There I met Dr. Foster, my old colleague in Swa- 
tow, who took me to Burton, Vashon Island. The 
landscape has a solemn aspect under the sky and 
the temperature suits me well. In the woods are 
the hemlock trees, such as I loved in my childhood. 
All above the grand, dark green firs, tall and often 
bare against the sky ; it is sad to see them cut down ; 
many of them more than four feet in diameter ; then 
the alders and the bracken, the latter more them four 
feet high. There are wooden houses and shacks in 
clearings; much burning of fallen and standing 
timber and a dreadful waste of wood. The folks 
are not assorted; the educated and the untutored 
mixed in every circle; a curious hodge-plodge, as 
many states represented as there are persons. One 
accurate in speech, his next hand neighbor ungram- 
matical in every sentence. This is not the ^Simple 
Life*; it is the crude; but the impressive feature is 
the mixedness of it all.** 

September 3rd, 1907, Miss Fielde took up her 
permanent residence in Seattle. She had lived 

Page Two Hundred Ninety-nine 



Life of Adele Marion FieMe 

quietly and comfortably during the sununer months 
in the Vashon Island College; but as winter ap- 
proached she strongly felt the call for greater activ- 
ity and greater participation in the life of human 
things. Her first home in the northwest metrop- 
olis was at the Fairfield Hotel. Here she was close 
to the social center of the city and near the Seattle 
public library ; people and books were as necessary 
to her existence as food and shelter. 

She loved Seattle from the start. Here she 
found a great city in the making. At the time of 
her arrival, its heterogeneous mass of people were 
divided into groups, largely on lines of moral de- 
markation. Each group was striving to build up a 
city according to its own business ideas and ideals, 
leavened, of course, by the equation of self-interest. 
The emotions of the city were primitive, not decad- 
ent. Hundreds of Christian churches dotted its 
hills where overflowing congregations sang paeans 
of love and worship, while savage men and soulless 
women brawled and shrilled in saloon, gambling 
house and brothel. She came to understand the real 
spirit of Seattle at once, and within a few months 
was a leading influence in guiding its hesitating 
feet into paths of righteousness and earnestness. 
This position she held until her death, eight years 
later. 

Paare Three Hundred 




SNAI'-SHOT OF MISS FIKLDK TAKKN BY IJll, COItA SMITH 

KINO, NKAl! FOIiT LAWTON, OCT.. 1B07, SOON AFTEIl 

MISS FIELOE'S ARIIIVAL AT SEATTLU 



Leaving New York; Seattle; Alaska 

In many respects Alaska is a part of Seattle, 
though geographically separated by more than a 
thousand miles of ocean travel. A large percent- 
age of the population of Alaska spend the sunmier 
only in the ''North,** mining, hunting and fishing, 
and return to their families in Seattle during the 
winter season. The permanent residents of Alaska 
are strongly bound to Seattle by the ties of busi- 
ness relations, Seattle being the entrepot and source 
of trade supplies for the whole of that vast terri- 
tory. There is some measure of truth in the saying 
that in order to be a full-fledged citizen of Seattle, 
a person must have lived or travelled in Alaska. 
Within a year after she came to Seattle, Miss Fielde 
toured Alaska. Her own account of her experi- 
ences, observations and opinions is epitomized in 
the following excerpts from a letter she wrote to a 
friend in Philadelphia: 

'*As you have visited Southeastern Alaska, I 
will not bore you by expatiating upon the grandeur 
of the snow-crowned mountains, beauty of the crys- 
tal bergs and glaciers, and the soul-inspiring throb 
of its restless waters. And, perhaps, you, too, dis- 
covered the fact that these mighty works of crea- 
tion seem to have an overpowering effect upon sen- 
sitive souls. At least nine-tenths of the one hun- 
dred and sixty-five tourists who were on the excur- 
sion steamer with me, played bridge during most 
of the waking hours while passing through that 

Paffe Three Hundred One 



^ 



Life of Adde Markm Fidde 

glorious scenery. Perhaps they were overcome by 
the beauty of it and were driven to the frivolous 
for refuge. 

**But nobody knows the heart of Alaska before 
being on the Yukon. I spent a week at Sitka, and 
had a week of pioneer life at the Hot Springs on 
Baranof Island. I do not think 1 should have sur- 
vived a second week there. An Indian war-canoe 
took me back to Sitka, and then I went again to 
Skagway, and over the White Pass, with frequent 
glimpses of the old trail where so many perished 
in 1 896-7-8. At White Horse I began the journey 
down the Yukon River; a journey that I shall ad- 
vise no one else to take. From Dawson to Seattle, 
via Nome, I could not obtain a tumblerful of clean 
water to drink, and the few tub-baths I could get 
only added a layer of Yukon mud to my surface. 
Then the mosses of the tundras are breeding 
grounds for swarms of mosquitoes and gnats. So 
fierce are these that prospectors for gold prefer to 
endure a temperature sixty degrees below zero 
rather than meet them, and they prospect in winter 
cold instead of among sununer insects. The food 
is mostly tinned stu£F, carried in from Seattle and 
nothing short of a mining appetite can long toler- 
ate it. During the summer season it is light all the 
time and the diligent sightseer is alert at all hours of 
the night as well as of the day, because the steamers 
stop at most any time and place to unload freight 
and permit the passengers to go ashore. It is not 
a health trip. Nevertheless, having returned alive 

Page Three Hundred Two 



Leaving New York; Seattle; Alaska 

and well, 1 am glad 1 went. It was fun to be carried 
ashore at Nome in the arms of a giant. And when 
1 again took ship, 1 went on a lighter, climbed a stair 
of four bags of coal, stretched my arms as high as 
possible and was hauled into the coal-hole of the 
steamer by sailors when the waves lifted me within 
their reach. On the way through Behring Sea from 
Nome to Seattle, there were three hundred and 
thirty passengers, of as heterogeneous a sort as 
could be brought together from among English 
speaking nations. There were murderers and mis^ 
sionaries, Eastern society dames and dance-hall 
girls, fiends and saints — ^never before have 1 seen 
so strange a gathering. But the thrilling hours 
have been those in which 1 had long talks with those 
who had spent many years in the solitudes near the 
Arctic Circle — ^heroes who have failed and heroes 
who have succeeded in the quest for *pay-streak.* 

**Probably the Eastern newspapers have not men- 
tioned the recent death of Alexander Macdonald, 
*King of the Klondike.* When 1 was in Alaska 1 
heard him spoken of frequently — ^his history there 
being one of the many strange narratives repeated 
in that land of true stories that surpass fiction in 
strangeness. He was a Nova Scotian of Scotch 
descent, who mined rather unsuccessfully in Colo- 
rado for a decade or more; went to Juneau and 
worked in the Treadwell gold mines till the great 
discovery in 1896 in Yukon Territory, and then 
was one of the earliest to make his way over the 
terrible White Pass and into the Klondike region. 

Paffo Three Hundred Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

At the then new town of Dawson, where he arrived 
with only three dollars, he bought town lots» and 
on Bonanza Creek secured mining claims. In about 
three years he possessed five million dollars. He 
had as a partner a young Ejiglishman, named 
Chisholm, and when he had to visit London for 
business reasons, Chisholm very naturally gave him 
letters to his mother. Mrs. Chisholm, a widow, 
doubtless considered the uneducated Alaska min- 
er, sixty years of age, a suitable husband for her own 
town-bred, accomplished, eighteen-year-old daugh- 
ter. She welcomed Macdonald in her London 
home, and, the wedding quickly followed. Mrs. 
Macdonald, the youthful bride, came with her hus- 
band to Alaska but her stay there was brief, and her 
time since has been spent mostly in London and 
Paris, while his fortune, under his personal care in 
Alaska- Yukon has swayed from thirty millions to 
nothing at all. Lately he lived alone in a cabin in 
one of the dreariest regions along the Yukon, a min- 
ing district on the Stewart River; and the other 
day he died suddenly of heart-failure while split- 
ting wood for his solitary fire. His wife, with their 
five-year-old son, was in Vancouver, B. C. So 
passes away one of the great figures from that mar- 
velous stage — ^the Northwest. 

**Even the trying tour of the Yukon has not taken 
Alaska wholly out of my system. No qualifying 
words can express or describe its stillness, its cold, 
its beauty, its terrors, the heroism of its heroes, the 
badness of its villains, the marvel of the human 
lives that are lived there." 

Pagre Three Hundred Four 



Leaving New York; Seattle; Alaska 

Because of her exalted reputation and interest- 
ing personality, Miss Fielde found herself a wel- 
come associate of many cultured people of Seattle 
within a very short time of her arrival in that city. 
Soon after her return from Alaska she bec2une the 
central figure in the organization of what she term- 
ed her "Rainy Day Club," which was composed 
exclusively of women distinguished for social lead- 
ership. Ostensibly the purpose of the club was to 
meet fortnightly and discuss books of merit and 
topics of current literature during the months of 
the rainy season of the year. But, according to 
some of Miss Fielde*s written accounts of these 
meetings, nearly every realm of modem thought 
was sometimes invaded. The by-laws limited the 
membership to a dozen. In 1 908 Mrs. William H. 
McEwan, Mrs. Geo. H. Walker, Mrs. Manson F. 
Backus, Mrs. John H. Powell, Mrs. Robert H. 
Boyle, Mrs. William H. Jewett, Mrs. W. D. Per- 
kins, Mrs. L. B. Stedman, Mrs. J. D. Lowman, Mrs. 
A. B. Stewart, Mrs. William Biglow and Miss Fielde 
made up its personnel; and during the eight years 
of Miss Fielders membership, no changes were 
made. 



Three Huodrad Five 



hHMaaa rsonaHQr. Mim Fir^de foaMJ hrrarH e w£h- 
"^^^VHtssodate of many mttnund peogiie of JMttr- 
*?*'— * a veiy ifaovt taae o^ Wr Brrrwa] in tivt crn- 
~^*'*^aher ber tetam froM ./'liAn ^k IncaHt tK 

Ig^^^er "Rainy Day CW»," *»iiici} ' 
md^^ jshrely of in ■■mi dHbapiiitied inr « 
■riHl^iipL Oateodily the pHtpoar of ^ o 
iQl^et f<»tiii^d3y and Atum Iwaiu of 
Q^IVnica of cui m rt fitetat uar **""^ tiK i 
Sj^e rainy seaaoa of tlie year. B«: aa 
^9 <ine of Mias FicUe's -wxiocx) i 
^ meetings, neatly evoy ] 
K /as acHnet ii ne a ia »aJeA. Tiie xM-a^ .^ 
I nemfaenliip to a doBen. 1b )^tt Jhu^ X-'ji 
I McEwan. Mn. Ceo. H U^ibe W, ;^ 
Backus. Mis. Jobs H T'mscL A^, i^ 
Boyle. Ml., Va&M. H >««: f^^ T 
fcins. Mra. L. R Siiifaiia jfe ' 
A. B. Stewart, 1^ V3bwi3^»^ri^„ 
made ttpkapawMMi: 
o( Mbs FhUc* 



1 




CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 

Activities; Sanitation; Public Healtii; Direct 

Legislation 

WITHIN a few months after Miss Fielde 
established her residence in Seattle, she had 
gained a complete understanding of the 
city and became a participant in all of its public 
activities. Research work in municipal affairs was 
an occupation with which she was especially fam- 
iliar and in which she was especially proficient. 

She found Seattle a **big straggling village with 
a great city in the making/* as she herself describ- 
ed it to one of her correspondents. She also found 
that it possessed the same municipal problems, the 
same civic interests and the same political issues, 
that are manifest in every Western community of 
any considerable size. The same conditions here 
prevailed as elsewhere. A disorganized body of 
good citizens were struggling to defend the general 
welfare of the city against the predations of a well 
organized band of special-privilege seekers ; the af- 
fairs of the city were ring-ruled and official corrup- 
tion was present in nearly every department of the 
municipality. All forms of vice were practiced 
without police restriction or attempted regulation 

Page Three Hundred Six 



Civic Activities 

and very little attention was paid to even the most 
common measures of sanitation. 

The following letter, written to a friend in New 
York, contains suggestions of the many civic needs 
of Seattle at the time of Miss Fielde*s arrival and 
an outline of her labors and achievements during 
the first three years of her residence in the metro- 
polis of the Pacific Northwest: 

"My Dear Friend: 

**You have brought upon yourself these foolscap 
pages, by asking me to tell you what I have done 
since I came to Seattle, Sept. 3rd, 1 907. 

**Anyone having intelligence, experience, leisure, 
and a small surplus beyond necessary current ex- 
penses, can do much service in a city that is still 
in its formative period. Natural and acquired abil- 
ity are sooner applied in a new country, because of 
its inchoate conditions. Leisure is more rarely pos- 
sessed by either man or woman. The small sur-« 
plus is an absolute necessity for the exercise of the 
other three pieces of property in altruistic endea- 
vor; because the struggle of life on the frontier 
makes the strugglers grasp their dollars very tight- 
ly ; and nobody knows who else is trustworthy or 
wise. Being unknown here, that is, just as un- 
known as is everybody else, I have not been called 
upon to do that which I can do best; but I have 
watched events and observed conditions and tried 
to give a better trend to what is happening here. 

Paffo Three Hundred Seven 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 



Acting on my principle of living where I am, I have 
studied Seatde» and become a pott of it. That is all 
I have done. 

**When I first arrived, the health conditions w^ere 
naturally my first concern. I got the very imper- 
fectly recorded vital statistics from the Health 
Board; compiled tables and secured facts relating 
to the preceding three years; and took them to the 
Mayor for his consideration, asking him if he w^ouM 
support an ordinance of the City Coimcil, creating 
an isolation hospital, for the care of sufferers from 
c<mtagious diseases. With a letter of introduction 
from him, I visited many members (18) of the 
City Council, presented the same facts to them as 
individuals, and then urged the plan at a meeting 
of the Council. I wrote articles for the newspapers 
in favor of such a hospital, and then other persons 
wrote also. On December J 5, 1907, the matter 
came before the Council and the Health Board. Dr. 
Crichton, chairman of the Sanitation Committee in 
the Council, with whom I had discussed reasons 
and plans, introduced the ordinance in the Councril. 
Later on, a fine site (but too small) was bought for 
$6500, and last March, 1910, the voters of Seattle 
voted in favor of issuing city bonds, to the amount 
of $25,000 for the building of the isolation hospi- 
tal. The matter is now in the hands of Dr. J. £. 
Crichton, who is now Health Commissioner, and 
who has from the beginning favored the isolation 
hospital idea. All this history will lead you to ex- 
cuse him for putting in the May, 1910, Health 

F^ffe Three Hundred EUcht 



Civic Activities 

Bulletin of Seattle a statement so egregious as you 
see in the subjoined print: *Miss Adele M. Fielde 
has probably given the subject of sanitation and 
hospital construction as much attention as any oth- 
er woman in the United States. Since she became a 
resident of Seattle she has taken a great deal of in- 
terest in such work» and her advice has often been 
sought by this department.* 

**This isolation hospital scheme is now wholly 
o£F my mind. Dr. Crichton is able and active, and 
the said hospital will be duly achieved. 

^'October 31, 1907, the leading newspaper here 
contained a lengthy article of mine, which it en- 
titled **A Woman Scientist on Flea Extermination** ; 
followed on November 24th, 1907, by a lengthier 
one entitled **Urges Fight on the Ubiquitous Flea.** 
The bubonic plague had appeared here in that 
month, (October, 1907) and five persons died of 
it. So indifferent was the public that it was dif- 
ficult to get sane attention to the danger from rats 
and their fleas. The Health Board, however, made 
warfare on rats, and so continuous has it been, that 
no later case has developed. Diseased rats are oc- 
casionally discovered and Seattle has escaped the 
spread of plague that has occurred in California be- 
cause of a concealment of, or failure to publish, its 
first appearance there. 

**In January, 1908, there were extraordinary 
troubles for the unemployed, and uncommon num- 
bers of such congregated in Seattle. I was on the 
committee of the Organized Charities, and 

Pftffe Three Hundred Nine 



life of Adele Marion Fielde 

80 heard much concerning the stress of the time of 
panic. On January 19th, 1908, a Seattle news- 
paper contained my plea of State emplo3rment for 
the unemployed, which it headed *A Woman's 
Plan for the Unemployed/ This article I afterward 
enlarged and repeated, so that some form of it ap- 
peared in several papers: and in October, 1908, it 
formed the gist of my paper, read by me at the 
'State Conference of Charities,* on A Scheme for 
Labor Colonies Under a State Board of Charities 
and Corrections. Besides the copies printed in the 
newspapers, 1 had 1 0,000 copies printed at my own 
expense, and these were distributed by club women, 
and charity societies, throughout the State and 
they have also been distributed from Oregon's char- 
ity organization. The plan has been highly com- 
mended by those conversant with the troubles that 
the unemployed bring to the charity organizations ; 
but there is, and always will be, secret and po^ver- 
ful opposition to the plan, from employers of la- 
bor, who wish to have the demand for work far ex- 
ceed the supply. 

**In December, 1908, I was on the 'tuberculosis 
committee' of the 'charity organization' and intro- 
duced in its meeting the motion to form a county 
branch of the State 'Society for the Prevention and 
Relief of Tuberculosis.' I have never been absent 
from any meeting of this committee, nor of the 
'Anti-Tuberculosis League of King County' into 
which it developed. I made its first Constitution 
and By-Laws; was its first life-member, (when it 

Page Three Hundred Ten 



Civic Activities 

had not money enough even for necessary station- 
ery I) and did whatever I could to establish it. Last 
March, the voters of Seattle voted a $10,000 bond 
issue by the city to build its sanitorium. However, 
the death of the son of Mr. H. C. Henry, last spring, 
placed Mr. Henry in a frame of mind in which he 
was willing to become the president of the Anti- 
Tuberculosis League. He and his tens of thous- 
ands of dollars found such a foundation laid for the 
anti-tuberculosis work, that it can be carried on 
with acclaim ; and it will become one of the greatest 
benefactions ever founded in Seattle. The $10,- 
000 voted by the city will build a city sanitorium 
for the tuberculous. From this time the whole 
*anti-tuberculosis* work will be competently carried 
on. I shall give it no time or thought hereafter. 

**In March, 1 908, I suggested to a few women of 
artistic pursuits, at a meeting for another purpose 
in Mrs. H. H. Field's home, that a Seattle Fine Arts 
Association be organized, with nine departments, 
covering painting, plastic, ceramic, decorative art, 
applied design, art in attire, architecture, landscape 
S^urdening. A conunittee for organization was ap- 
pointed. I prepared the By-Laws ; Dr. F. M. Padel- 
f ord was elected president ; and since then the asso- 
ciation has prospered with monthly meetings 
through the winter. I have given three lectures at 
the monthly meetings. 

**Soon after 1 arrived here, I was asked by the 
(New Haven) secretary of the C>nmiittee of One 
Hundred to be one in the Author's League, work- 

Paffo Three Hundred Eleven 



life of Adde Markm Fidde 

ing for die establidunent of a National Department 
of Health. I assented, and have ever since done a 
considerable bit of writing for that purpose. I am 
all the time writing, or distributing printed matter, 
in furtherance of the National Health Department 
idea. Lately I sent thirty-five letters to Senators 
and Representatives urging their favorable action 
upon the Owen Bill. I have just been making ex- 
tracts (for three days) from Mr. Owen's speech in 
the U. S. Senate, and have edited the extracts, so 
that they will appeal to the editors of the three 
newspapers to which I am sending them for re- 
print. This is a work of education of the people, 
and the formation of a public opinion that will move 
the federal legislators to right action ; and this work 
will probably need to be continued for some years. 

**At odd times I have talked in the 'Story Tellers* 
Association,* and have told them some Chinese 
stories to use in the schools here. And I have lec- 
tured several times in Women's Clubs on subjects 
so familiar to me that no research was needed in 
preparation. 

*'l think my largest undertaking has been that for 
the furtherance of direct legislation in this state. 
Last August I attended a meeting in the Elxposition 
grounds, where Mr. U*Ren, 'father of direct legis' 
lation in Oregon,' gave an address. There was a 
Direct Legislation League in this state, of few mem- 
bers, but it was doing no work visible to my eyes 
or discoverable to my inquiries. I thought 1 would 
work by myself awhile. So 1 wrote the pamphlet 

Paffe Three Hundred Twelve 



Civic Activities 

you have received, eight pages long, addressed to 
voters. It was first printed on November 1 3, 1 909, 
and the whole of it, or portions of it, appeared in 
several State of Washington newspapers. I had 
25,000 copies printed at my own expense, and the 
labor unions distributed by hand many thousands 
throughout the state, while more thousands were 
distributed from the Public Library, at the City 
Hall, and by Single Taxers. All have gone out 
and are influential. Then a committee (all of men) 
met at my home. By-Laws that I had prepared 
were adopted. In April, 1910, the Direct Legisla- 
tion League was organized, officers chosen, and 
work effectively begun. Thirty-five thousand cop- 
ies of Senator Bourne's speech in the U. S. Senate 
will be distributed by the state within a month. 
There are about 200,000 voters in the state. All 
the grangers, all the labor unions, all the Single 
Taxers, all the Socialists, are in favor of direct leg- 
islation, as soon as they understand what it is. Mr. 
Christopher Horr, the secretary, and I work pretty 
constantly, and without hope of other reward than 
the attainment of the object. The great end in 
view is to bring the power of self-government into 
the hands of the people. The opposers to this ef- 
fort are all those who profit by methods of legislar 
tion that they can 'influence' by personal means. 
The 'special interests' are all on the side of indirect 
legislation. We shall win, in time. 

''The first month that I spent here I joined the 
suffragists, and I have spent considerable time on 

Pacre Three Hundred Thirteen 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

their affairs. I have made the Constitution for three 
suffrage organizations, and have written some ar- 
ticles for the cause. *A score of Reasons Why 
Women Should Be Ejifranchised' was printed in a 
large number of newslpapers of this state; and 
15»000 separate copies, printed at the expense of 
the Seattle Suffrage Club, have been distributed by 
hand in Seattle and Tacoma. 

'*The *small surplus* enables me to keep up my 
membership in some twenty organizations, where, 
as a member, I can introduce motions and debate, 
and generally get my way in what I want to do. I 
have done a good bit of talking; and on looking 
over my scrap-book, I find that I have written 
enough since I came here to fill about 100 quarto 
pages, in print. This means that my ideas have 
been set up and sent forth in black and white — ^un- 
counted times. 

**So there is my reckoning for almost three years. 
How small it is in comparison with what many 
other women have done in that same time! Prob- 
ably many women have given birth to poets, art- 
ists, inventors, whose future outputs will bring un- 
reckonable good to the world. Many women have 
bestowed money for the building of hospitals where 
frightful suffering will be abated. Many women 
have written books that will delight tens of thous- 
ands of readers through decades to come. Many 
have been 'angels, unawares,* and who knows how 
far or how deep into the universe the influence of 
any angel extends? 

Pagre Three Hundred Fourteen 



Gvic Activities 

**Real]y, I who live so peacefully and at ease, am 
much ashamed that I should have written nine fools- 
cap pages about my little doings since I came here. 
But I like to do what you ask from me, so I send the 
pages on to you. 

*'Ever most affectionately yours, 

"Adele M. Fielde.*' 



Pace Three Hundred Fifteen 



CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE 
The Equal Suffrage Campaign 

IN the fall of 1910 the Constitutional Amend- 
ment providing for the enfranchisement of 
women was submitted to the electorate of the 
State of Washington. The measure received a ma- 
jority vote of over 40,000 and was proclaimed a 
law very soon thereafter. 

Miss Fielde worked very hard for its success dur- 
ing a year or so prior to the election. She had 
spoken in many cities and towns of the state and 
her contributed writings on the subject of suf- 
frage were voluminous and well circulated. Over 
1 00,000 copies of her newspaper article, '*A Score 
of Reasons for Equal Suffrage,'* alone, were re- 
produced in pamphlet form and distributed among 
the voters. She was highly gratified with the re- 
sults of her efforts. Her first experience as a prac- 
tical politician is entertsdningly described in a let- 
ter to Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, written a few days 
after the momentous election, when sufficient re- 
turns had been received to justify assurances of 
victory. In this she ssud: 

**Last Tuesday, with many other women-suf- 
fragists, 1 stood for hours in the rain to ask the men 
who approached the polling places whether they 

PMr« Three Hundred Sixteen 



The Equal Suffrage Campaign 

would vote in favor of 'Amendment to Article Six/ 
for the enfranchisement of the women of this state. 

**It was an interesting experience. A labor union 
man, who stood near me, canvassing for his party, 
told me much about the men who came to vote. 
My station was on a muddy street, where shops and 
dwellings were commingled. For their favorable 
vote, I asked colored men, some of whom might 
have been slaves or the offspring of those who were 
slaves previous to the Civil War. A majority of 
these refused to vote for the amendment. I lived 
through that war, and worked as hard as I well 
could for the freeing of the black people, but I have 
never voted. I asked foreign-bom men, whose 
s[)eech betrayed the somewhat recent immigration 
of their folk. My forebears came to this country 
and pioneered in its wilderness many generations 
ago. They earned for their descendants the right 
to the franchise. I have never been permitted to 
cast the ballot. I asked gamblers and thieves and 
grafters; some of them said no. I do not think I 
have ever taken from anyone a single penny that 
was not honestly mine. But these men had the 
power to settle the question of my enfranchise- 
ment. I asked politicians, who came in motor cars 
bearing partisan banners, and they said they would 
try to secure votes for the Amendment of Article 
Six if I would work for their candidates. I de- 

Page Three Hundred Seventeen 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 



clined to mortgage my future estate. Every man 
was courteous to me, even a tipsy one, vrho came 
near falling into the gutter when he lifted his hat 
But when I reached home and sat down to think, I 
knew that the iron had entered my soul. I, a teacher 
of government, had been subjected to the humilia- 
tion of asking the ignorant, the vicious, the scomer, 
to vote for my enfranchisement, an enfranchise- 
ment that should be mine by right of birth, of edu- 
cation, and of good works. I decided that I vrould 
cease to love my unjust country unless I should 
hear the news I hoped for within the next few 
hours. 

^'Presently there came over the telephone from 
the newspaper offices the glad tidings: *We think 
the amendment has carried by three to one; the 
amendment has been carried in Seattle by two to 
one ; probably the amendment has a majority some- 
thing like sixteen to one.* That was before the votes 
were really counted. The votes have not as yet 
had their official count completed, but there is no 
doubt that there will be a majority of forty thous- 
and in the state in favor of the amendment. The 
Governor will issue the necessary proclamation of 
the result sometime before Thanksgiving, and then 
the women may at once register as electors. A 
small minority here are opposed to their own en- 
franchisement. But they are, of course, not com- 
pare Three Hundred Elgrhteen 



The Equal Su£Frage Campaign 

pelled to exercise their right to vote. In order to 
disenfranchise themselves they have only to join 
the ranks of the disqualified classes. Here, as else- 
where, the idiotic, insane and criminal are not per- 
mitted to go to the polls. 

**I was bom in New York, and I have been en- 
franchised in Washington. It is better to be en- 
franchised than to be bom; because being enfran- 
chised is a certain good, consciously enjoyed, while 
being bom is an unconscious process of uncertain 
value. I shall stay in the State of Washington, 
where I am now in reality an American citizen/* 

It is significant that the first instance in which 
the women of Washington exercised their newly- 
granted privilege was in the work of moral reform. 
To them chiefly is due the credit of recalling Hiram 
C. Gill, distinguished in local chronology as the 
**vice'* mayor of Seattle. For a year or more prior 
to this event, the civic condition of the metropolis of 
the Pacific Northwest was truly deplorable. Com- 
mercialized vice was dominant. The city was in- 
fested with every known variety of criminal, 
thieves, gamblers, confidence men and prostitutes, 
who plied their respective vocations without police 
interference. 

Pasre Three Hundred Nineteen 



Life of Adde Marum Fielde 

Fortunately the Qty Charter of Seattle provkied 
for the recall of delinquent public officials and this 
law was invoked for the removal of Gill. Numer- 
ous petitions were circulated, and within a com- 
paratively short time, more signatures than 
the law required were secured. At a special 
election in the spring of 1911, Gill was recalled and 
the situation wsis relieved for the time being. 

After equal suffrage had been gained. Miss 
Fielde readily foresaw that the enfranchisement of 
women was little more thsm a promise of better 
things to come rather than the furesent fulfillment 
of that desire. She appreciated the fact that there 
was a vast difference between gaining the right to 
vote and in acquiring the knowledge to vote right. 
A new army had been enlisted, but the soldiers were 
untrained and undisciplined. True, women voters 
had a decided advantage over men, in that they 
were untrammelled by partisan prejudice and un- 
fettered by partisan affiliation; but it was equally 
true that the vast majority of them were ignorant 
of political measures and methods. She realized the 
great need for education in this most important de- 
partment of social economy and she at once com- 

Page Three Hundred Twenty 



The Equal Su£Frage Campaign 

mitted herself to that work with the energy and sys^ 
tematic thoroughness which characterized her every 
undertaking. 

Her first step in this direction was to organize 
the Seattle Civic Forum, of which she herself wrote 
the Constitution and By-Laws. The object of the 
Civic Forum, according to Article II of the latter 
instrument, was to **educate those women and men 
politically who exercise the right of su£Frage, and 
are thereby invested with the power to promote or 
impair the welfare of the people of this city and 
state.'* The same paragraph declares also that: 
**The creation of a keen sense of individual respon- 
sibility for the common weal shall be the primary 
aim of all the Forum's teachings." The control 
and management of the organization was placed in 
the hands of seven trustees and an Advisory Com- 
mittee. Miss Fielde was elected president; Mrs. 
John M. Winslow, vice-president; Mrs. Margaret 
Piatt, secretary; Mrs. I. H. Jennings, treasurer; 
Mr. William Pitt Trimble, fiscal adviser; Mr. Geo. 
H. Walker, legal adviser, and Mr. Geo. F. Cotterill, 
economic adviser. 

In a letter to a friend in the east. Miss Fielde 
wrote: 

"I am quietly engaged in the persuasion of some 

Fagre Three Hundred Twenty-One 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

persons (of quality known to me) to create a Civic 
Forum for Seattle. I who have no family, and have 
only an apartment and a housemaid to look after, 
have more time than the majority of folk to spend 
in persuasion. I have all my life been largely en- 
grossed in doing things that were in sore need of 
being done, and that no one else wanted to do. I 
have never taken labor from the hands of anybody 
who wanted that particular piece of work. Within 
a year I have been anonymously and privately edu- 
cating folk and the Forum plan meets with univer- 
sal approval and the outlook is promising. The 
vice-president, Mrs. John M. Winslow, is a charm- 
ing woman, and it is fortunate that her husband is 
one of our patient and steadfast coadjutors. I am 
not copying the old League for Political Education, 
of New York, but I am making use of the experi- 
ence gained therein. I am determined to live joy- 
fully. So I seek the new. I will stay in Seattle *a 
while at least* and grow up with the country.** 

At the time of the formation of the Civic Forum 
there was a strong public movement throughout 
the State of Washington in favor of direct legisla- 
tion. The legislative session of 1911 had just 
passed a measure submitting the Initiative, Refer- 
endum and Recall to the vote of the people sis a 
constitutional amendment and these three primary 
principles of direct legislation were being discussed 
everywhere. Miss Fielde was a strong proponent 
of democracy in every form, believing that political 

Paere Three Hundred Twenty-Two 



The Equal Suffrage Campaign 

advancement consisted largely in displacing meas- 
ures of government by representation with those 
of government by direct legislation. She had de- 
voted many years of her life to the study of the 
different forms of government of the European na- 
tions as well as that of this country and was un- 
usually well equipped to give instructions in that 
branch of science. It was a peculiarity of her be- 
lief that the democracy of Switzerland and some of 
the democratic principles of New Zealand and Aus- 
tralia presented certain political advantages which 
the United States could adopt with profit. As a re- 
sult much of the teachings of the Civic Forum were 
embodied in lectures on subjects of advancements, 
improvements and reforms in governmental affairs, 
but not exclusively so. In one of the programs an- 
nouncing the exercises of a single meeting we find 
talks on ^'Socialism and Democracy Contrasted — 
Paternalism versus Fratemalism ; " **Human Life — 
the Nation's Most Valuable Asset;" **The Child 
Labor Problem;** "The Eight-Hour Law for Wom- 
en Wage Earners;** **The Proposed Enactment of 
a Workman*s Compensation Law;** "State Super- 
vision of Charities/* etc. 

The Civic Forum lasted just four months, June, 
July, August and September of 1911, but in that 
time it had served the purpose for which it was 

Page Three Hundred Twenty-Three 



Life of Adele Marum Fidde 

created. Similar organizations had been formed 
simultaneously in many of the larger cities and 
towns throughout the State and public sentiment 
was fully aroused to the need of direct legislation 
and the people educated to a knowledge of the im* 
portant uses to which it could be put if enacted into 
an instrument of law. The following year after 
the Civic Forum of Seattle had been dissolved, a 
general election was held in Washington at vrhich 
the proposed Constitutional Amendment providing 
for the initiative, referendum and recall was sub- 
mitted to a vote of the people. The measure re- 
ceived a substantial majority and bcame one of the 
fundamental laws of the State. 

Several months before the Civic Forum disband- 
ed, Miss Fielde organized the Washington Women*8 
Legislative Committee. This organization practi- 
cally grew out of the Civic Forum, the personnel of 
the officers being largely identical, though its mem- 
bership was restricted to women only. The pur- 
poses of the two organizations, however, were en- 
tirely different. The Civic Forum was an educa- 
tional institution, while the Washington Women's 
Legislative Committee was committed to active par- 
ticipation in matters of legislation. 

It was the belief of Miss Fielde and her cowork- 
ers that much good could be accomplished if the 

Pagre Three Hundred Twenty-Four 



The Equal Suffrage Campaign 

intelligent women voters of the State devoted their 
energies and exerted their influence for the promo- 
tion of good legislation. According to Article II 
of the Legislative Committee, the object of the or- 
ganization was, first, ^'Convenience of intercourse 
among the women of Washington and the dissem- 
ination among them of information concerning 
legislation that affects the home, children, foods, 
sanitation, or the general interest of the people of 
this State. Second, the assembling of women in 
large or small groups throughout the State for the 
discussion of conditions, candidates or measures 
that may influence their domestic or political wel- 
fare.** 

Before the summer of 1911 had passed branches 
of the Washington Women's Legislative Commit- 
tee had been formed in several cities and many of 
the larger towns of the State. During its existence 
of five years it proved a highly effective means of 
promoting good legislation and for the repeal and 
amendment of some that was bad. One of the 
most notable achievements to which it was a strong- 
ly contributing factor was the creation and support 
of the public movement that prompted the passage 
of the Initiative, Referendum and Recall, the Red 
Light Injunction and Abatement Law, Repeal of 
the Corroborative Evidence Act, and State-wide 
prohibition. It is not the intention of the writer 

Pasre Three Hundred Twcnty-PIve 



life of AdMe Marion Fidde 

hereof to represent the Washington Women's Leg- 
islative Committee as the only responsible agency 
for the foregoing enactments, for such is not the 
fact. But it is a fact that nearly all the advance 
legislation of that period was due to the efforts of 
the women voters of the State as a whole. Miss 
Fielde feirly well described the cooperation of the 
workers and the coordination of the work they ac- 
complished in a magazine article written in the 
sununer of 1 9 1 4. In this she says : 

''Previous to the convening of the legislature of 
1913, different women's organizations, by mutual 
consent and for the purpose of efficiency, agreed to 
each be responsible for the promotion of one or 
more particular bills to be presented for the action 
of the legislative body. Throughout the session 
these organizations worked earnestly, for their re- 
spective measures, and all worked as a unit whm 
concerted action became necessary. Among the 
measures successfully carried was the pension for 
indigent mothers, advocated by the Mothers* Con- 
gress; the repeal of the Corroborative Evidence 
Act, urged by the Women's Christian Temperance 
Union ; the Minimum Wage for Women, under the 
impulsion of the Waitresses Union ; the segregation 
of the sexes in the Reform School, pushed by a 
committee of women investigators and the State. 
Federation of Women's Clubs; and the Red Light 
Injunction and Abatement Law, made the special 

Paffe Three Hundred Twenty-Six 



The Equal Su£Frage Campaign 

interest of the Washington Women's Legislative 
Committee. Other important bills might be men- 
tioned.** 

Miss Fielde spent the fall of 1911 and spring of 
1912 in Tucson and other localities of Arizona. 
She had passed a strenuous year in her work for the 
cause of equal suffrage and her self-imposed duties 
as a teacher of government of the Civic Forum and 
needed rest badly. Besides her bronchial disorder, 
the cause of her exile from New York, had recently 
renewed its troublous activities and was a constant 
drain on her physical strength. 

But Arizona did not afford her the rest and re- 
cuperation that she sought. At that time the Ter- 
ritory was undergoing preparations for admission 
to statehood and Miss Fielde again found herself 
plunged into the turbulence of another political 
campaign. She reached Tucson about the middle 
of November, 1911, and on December 5th of the 
same year, we read from articles clipped from the 
newspapers of that city that she made a lengthy 
address on equal suffrage before the State Federa- 
tion of Women's Clubs. From the same source of 
authority we learn that she made eight talks on 
equal suffrage and other political issues before large 
audiences during the month of December, twelve in 
January and nine in February; also that she wrote 

Page Three Hundred Twenty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

and published mx lengthy newspaper articles <» 
suffrage, direct legislation and prohibition. This* 
besides making a study of several distinct species 
of the cacti of that locality and writing a number of 
papers regarding that desert product for scientific 
publications. 



Page Three Hundred Twenty -Eight 



CHAPTER THIRTY 

Return to Seattle; the Pnrfiibition Campaign; 

Trustee on Library Board; the Western 

Wonmn's Outlook 

MISS FIELDE returned to Seattle from Ari- 
zona in the spring of 1912. Quite a num- 
ber of things of more than local importance 
had taken place in Seattle during her absence. The 
moral pendulum of the city had swung well forward 
in its arc of oscillation and a **reform** mayor had 
been elected. In 1911 Mayor Gill had been recall- 
ed and George W. Dilling was elected to fill the un- 
expired term of office. At the biennial city elec- 
tion of 1912, Mayor Dilling declined to again be a 
candidate, and George F. Cotterill defeated Hiram 
C. Gill in a close contest. The women's move- 
ment, which Miss Fielde had helped set in motion, 
was still rolling along with unabated speed. New 
advances and reforms in sanitation, legislation 
and social economy were still being discussed, agi- 
tated and promoted with startling rapidity. A 
woman's publishing company had been incorpora- 
ted under the laws of Washington and a twenty-four 
page weekly newspaper, the Western Woman^s 
Outlook^ was launched. The publication was edit- 

Page Three Hundred Twenty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

ed and managed by women only, and the stock- 
holders largely represented the leadership of the 
social, civic, political and religious organizations of 
women in the State of Washington. Its sphere of 
usefulness was self-defined as the mediumship by 
which the attitude of organized women on all pub- 
lic questions would be expressed in a truthful and 
reliable way. A few months later on, it came to be 
adopted as the official organ of publicity for the 
Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs. 
Miss Fielde was delighted with the newspaper and 
from thence forward she was a regular contributor 
to its pages during the whole period of its three 
years' existence. 

April 2nd, 1912, Mayor Cotterill appointed Miss 
Fielde a trustee of the Seattle public library. Aside 
from the high honor she received, she vras especial- 
ly distinguished as the first Seattle woman to be ap- 
pointed to a political office. In a letter to one of 
her eastern correspondents she tells of her prefer- 
ment and expressed her appreciation of the 
mayor's act. On April 24th she wrote: 

'*Since I came from Arizona, (arriving March 
30th), I have been a *city official' and on that fact 
vras based my attendance at an informal, very in- 
formal, dinner, last evening, where fifty persons 
were present, and I the only woman among them. 

Paffe Three Hundred Thirty 



Return to Seattle; Pnrfiibition Campaign 

It was a gathering of the official family of the new 
mayor, Mr. Cotterill, whose election and the decent 
government it assures, was the work of the women 
voters of this city. I had scarcely taken off my 
traveling wraps, when I was informed that I had 
been selected to fill a vacancy on the board of trust- 
ees of the public library, and there seemed to be 
sound reasons why I should accept. What 
with this bran-new occupation, cleaning house, 
giving two afternoon talks of Arizona, (one in a 
private drawing room and one at the Woman's 
Club house, so as to economize tongue-wagging for 
myself in lesser circles,) with taking bearings on 
the political situations that are going to appeal to 
all electors during the coming months, and the cold 
breaths of perils that menace my friends across the 
sea, I have had to leave letter writing till now. 

'*Our public library has a fine central site and a 
dignified granite building, with several branches 
and 150,000 books. Nearly $200,000 a year is 
spent by the city in its maintenance. There are 
but seven trustees, each appointed for seven years, 
without remuneration. I am already on three com- 
mittees of the board, * Art ; ' 'Books and Periodicals* 
and 'Branches.* I have a lot of literature inform- 
ing me concerning my duties, the attitude I should 
maintain towards my work, etc., and I am gradual- 
ly discerning my sphere of individual usefulness 
on the Board.** 

During the years 1912 and 1913, Miss Fielde de- 
voted herself to a multiplicity of duties, both old 

Page Three Hundred Thirty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

and new. She was greatly interested in her work 
as a trustee of the Seattle public library and strove 
consistently to make the service of that institution 
efficient and satisfactory. She herself ^was an onuii- 
verous reader and possessed unusual catholicity of 
taste in literature; but she read only the veiy best 
of the several kinds of books and periodicals and 
was especially eager that all booklovers should have 
the full advantage of her knowledge and experience 
in the selection of reading matter. The 
shelves of the Seattle public library contain many 
rare volumns, the private gift of Miss Fielde, for 
which she had tried and failed to secure appropria- 
tions from the library funds for their purchase. 

Besides this work she contributed two pages a 
week to the Legislative Department of the Western 
Woman's Outlook; served as the official corres- 
pondent of the Committee of One Hundred on Na- 
tional Health for the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science; was an active member 
of the executive council of the Washington State 
Committee of the Progressive Party and chairman 
of the women's department; presided at the semi- 
monthly meetings of the Washington Women's 
Legislative Committee and took part in the fort- 
nightly activities of the Women's Good Govern- 
ment League. The foregoing catalogues her regu- 

Page Three Hundred Thirty-Two 



Return to Seattle; Prohibition Campaign 

lar work; her irregular activities demanding, per- 
haps, equal drafts upon her time and efforts. She 
wrote, lectured and taught with almost tireless en- 
ergy concerning a great variety of subjects — any- 
thing which in her opinion would contribute to the 
sum total of human uplift and human betterment. 

In January, 1914, an active campaign for state- 
wide prohibition was launched in Washington. It 
was here that the first instrument of direct legisla- 
tion, the Initiative, was first employed to secure 
the enactment of a law. The initial step consisted 
in circulating petitions for signatures favorable to 
the proposed measure. Miss Fielde enlisted her 
whole soul and wonderful energy in the work, and 
throughout the entire movement maintained a lead- 
ing part. In a diary note, dated December 19th, 
1913, she describes the beginning of the undertak- 
ing and tells of some of her own achievements : 

**I was, at my own request, appointed a commit- 
tee of one, and given full power to act independ- 
ently, with the unanimous consent of the Washing- 
ton Women's Legislative Committee, to prepare 
and issue circulars to be used in an educational 
campaign in favor of state-wide prohibition of the 
manufacture and sale of intoxicants. I began the 
work in September, wrote three circulars, paid for 
their printing, and on October 23rd. the addressing 
of specially printed envelopes began in the office 

Page Three Hundred Thirty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

of the Anti-Saloon League. To address the envel- 
opes, women were employed by me at one dollar 
and a half a day for sixty-two days, addressing 
forty thousatnd envelopes and stuffing them ivith 
/ the circulars. The printing of fifty thousand of 
each of the three circulars and forty thousand en- 
velopes cost me three hundred and seventy dollars ; 
work of the women in addressing the forty thous- 
and envelopes, ninety-three dollars; postage on 
forty thousand packages, four hundred dollars ; to- 
tal, eight hundred and sixty-three dollars. My 
friend, Mrs. Chas. M. Shalkenbach sent me fifty 
dollars to help pay for the office work; the rest of 
the expense I met myself. I have also given five 
hundred dollars to aid the Anti-Saloon League to 
print the Initiative petitions. The forty thousand 
packages will be mailed January 2nd, 1914, to 
women voters in the State ; the remaimng ten thou- 
sand will be distributed by hand.'* 

The result of the Prohibition campaign in the 
State of Washington was a great triumph to the 
cause of temperance. The Initiative petitions con- 
tained over one hundred and twelve thousand sig- 
natures, though only thirty-two thousand 'were 
needed to comply with the law; and the referen- 
dum vote, cast November 6th, 1914, sustained the 
measure by nineteen thousand majority. 

The victory, however, was not bloodless or easily 
won. The liquor forces made a hard fight, employ- 

Paffe Three Hundred Thirty- Pour 



Return to Seattle; Pnrfiibition Campaign 

ing a corruption fund that has been variously estima- 
ted from five hundred thousand to three million 
dollars. Whatever the amount expended, huge 
sums were used in the purchase of newspaper in- 
fluence ; bribing voters, directly and indirectly ; cor- 
rupting election officials; and putting into practice 
those many dishonest schemes by which wily poli- 
ticians defeat the will of the law-abiding people 
and elect unworthy candidates to public office. In 
consonance with this implied program of activity, 
Hiram C. Gill was for the third time elected mayor 
of Seattle. Under GilFs administration the power 
of the municipal police force, the prestige of the 
city officials and the cunning of the criminal ele- 
ment were alike used effectively to defeat the Pro- 
hibition measure. Seattle was about the only lo- 
cality in Washington that gave a very decided 
majority against Prohibition, but that was feur from 
being large enough to overcome the favorable vote 
of the smaller cities and rural districts of the State. 
As one of the results of her political activity in 
behalf of Prohibition, Miss Fielde was ousted from 
her office as a trustee on the Seattle Public Library 
Board. Mr. Gill removed her a few days after 
being reinstalled as mayor of Seattle. The West' 
em Woman's Outlook referred to the incident in 
an editorial, from which the following is taken: 

Paffe Three Hundred Thirty-Five 



Life of Adde Marion Fidde 

*'Mayor Gill's removal of Miss Adele M. Fielde 
from the Seattle Library Commission was not at all 
unexpected. Beyond the kinship of race, there is 
nothing in common between the newly elected 
mayor and the lately removed commissioner. Miss 
Fielde is truly representative of that small group of 
individuals to whom social service, moral enlight- 
enment and human welfare are the paramount pur- 
poses of life. She is a woman of international rep- 
utation, eminent as an author, scientist and edu- 
cator. To her interest and activity in library work 
the credit of the many recent improvements and 
advancements in the Seattle Public Library is large- 
ly due. On the other hand, Mayor Gill is a local 
politician. To him efficiency in public service 
means ability to secure votes. Presumably he 
knows nothing of the upbuilding and upkeep of a 
public library and cares very little more. The City 
Charter gives him the power to make a certain class 
of appointments and to remove the same class of 
appointees at will. That Miss Fielde*s removal 
from the sphere of usefulness to which she is so 
well adapted to fill, is sincerely deplored as has 
been already well attested. Over one-half of the 
women's organizations of Seattle have made of- 
ficial protests against the mayor's action, and pub- 
lic feeling is such that many others will probably 
do so in the near future." 

Another sacrifice, which Miss Fielde regarded 
as a personal loss, was the martyrdom of the West- 

Pagre Three Hundred Thlrty-Slx 



Return to Seattle; Prohibition Campaign 

ern Woman's Outlook. Because of its aggressive 
and fearless activity against the liquor interest, the 
Outlook gained the reputation of being the leading 
newspaper champion of Prohibition in the State. 
It also attracted the hostile attention of the Liquor 
Dealers Political Association, which proved its un- 
doing. By means of stock manipulation, involving 
treachery, partisanship and some highly discred- 
itable professional tactics on the part of sev- 
eral lawyers, agents of the saloon interests secured 
the legal right to the Outlook's management. But 
before the actual control had passed, the journal 
was practically wrecked. In a diary note of Sep- 
tember 3rd, 1914, Miss Fielde refers to the incident 
in the following terms: 

**Western Woman's Outlook, the Washington 
club women*s organ of publicity, is now in peril. It 
did such valiant service in the Prohibition campaign 
that the liquor traffic set are striving to destroy it. 
By the liberal use of their great corruption fund, by 
bribing women, lawyers and courts, the brave little 
paper may not be able to hold out against the 
machinations of the enemy.** 

One of the conditions of the Prohibition referen- 
dum provided that, if sustained, it was not to go 
into effect for two years, or until January, 1916. 
this interval the matter was taken into the 

Paflre Three Hundred Thirty-Seven 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

courts by the liquor interests in hopes of defeating 
its final enactment into law. This placed an addi- 
tional, and apparently, an enormous expense upon 
the friends of Prohibition. Miss Fielde alone con- 
tributed five hundred dollars as her share of the bur- 
den of defending this action at law. In one of her 
diary notes, entered December, 1916, she writes: 

'*! put nine hundred dollars into the Prohibition 
campaign of the Washington Women's Legislative 
Committee; five hundred dollars into the work of 
the Anti-Saloon League; gave five hundred dollars 
to the expense of defending the court action ; mak- 
ing a total of nineteen hundred dollars.** 

But in the achievement of so great an object. 
Miss Fielde did not count the cost. She regarded 
the expenditure of time and money as insignificant 
compared with the future benefits that would ac- 
crue to humanity. This thought is expressed in an 
exchange of letters at the time the Prohibition law 
became effective with Mr. C. Allen Dale, the latter 
then a city councilman of Seattle. On that occa- 
sion Mr. Dale wrote: 

*'My Dear Miss Fielde: 

**I wish you a happy New Year and many more 
to come. I also wish to congratulate you on the 
part taken in the Prohibition movement as I know 
of the strength you must have expended in that 

Paire Tbree Hundred Thirty -fiiffht 



Return to Seattle; Pnrfiibition Campaign 

work. Although we business men cannot agree as 
to whether it is the practical thing to do, at the same 
time we realize, as you made the statement to me at 
one time, that it will probably work out to the great 
advantage of our children. I hope the influence 
that you good women exert will result in better 
government for the people so that nearer justice 
may be done one toward the other. 

"Yours truly, 

"C. AUen Dale.*" 

To which Miss Fielde replied: 

"My Dear Mr. Dale: 

"I thank you for, and heartily reciprocate, your 
kindly wish that I may have a happy year. 

"I have never worked harder for any public good 
than for state-wide prohibition in Washington. All 
along I have had a vision of two possible evenings 
for a Washington woman in the future. In the 
one, she waits and listens to see how badly her hus- 
band staggers as he approaches the home at a late 
hour; in the other, she watches joyously for his 
coming at the end of the day*s work, confident of 
sane companionship. If just one woman, ten years 
hence, awaits her husband with serenity rather than 
with anxiety as to his condition, that alone will pay 
me for all that I have done to further prohibition. 
And then there are the little children that will have 
more food and better clothing; and the mothers 
who will find it easier to rear their sons to right 
lives. 

Paflre Three Hundred Thirty-Mine 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

"Within ten years, *we, the people' of Washing- 
ton, have gainad equal suffrage; die initiative sukI 
referendum; the red light abatement, and the pro- 
hibition law, with several other good enactments — 
Hallelujah, Amen. 

**I herewith enclose a printed sheet that will tell 
you of a little plan that I made, some months ago 
for the help of young mothers. The work is being 
carried on by the Mother's Congress. It is highly 
commended by the health commissioners and the 
school officers. I am hoping that it may soon be 
taken up by the Health Department so that the 
psmiphlet conmiittee will not have to raise the 
money, as well as do all the work involved. 

**1 share your right aspiration that 'justice may 
be done, one toward the other.' 

"Sincerely yours, 

"Adele M. Fielde.** 



Paflre Three Hundred Forty 



CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE 
Intiiiiate Friendships; Social Inddents 

HAVING no family ties to bind her, Miss 
Fielde formed attachments of friendship 
that were exceptionally strong. Not every 
one, however, was so fortunate as to gain an en- 
trance to the charmed circle of her esteem. She se- 
lected her friends as carefully and cautiously as she 
did everything else. A person must be necessarily 
distinguished in some way in order to attract her 
attention and secure her confidence — ^must possess 
exceptional attributes of personality, rare traits of 
character or elements that make for social leader- 
ship. But once having gained her interest or affec- 
tion, nothing short of a positive violation of one or 
more of the cardinal principles of her moral or ethi- 
cal code would serve to alienate her friendship. 

Perhaps the strongest friendship of her life was 
that existing between herself and Mrs. William A 
Cauldwell, of New York Gty. Her first meeting 
with this lady took place sometime in 1870, on 
Miss Fielders return from Siam. At that time the 
latter had been engaged to deliver a series of lec- 
tures at the First Baptist Church of New York, of 
which Mr. Cauldwell was the Sunday-School sup- 
erintendent and Mrs. Cauldwell one of its most 

Page Three Hundred Forty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

active members. On this occasion the returned 
missionary was entertained at the home of the 
Cauldwells and the friendship thus begun endured 
for forty years. 

The five Cauldwell children, at this time, ^^ere 
quite young and proved a source of constant pleas- 
ure to Miss Fielde during her visit. They were 
each of a distinctively American type, alert, inde- 
pendent, though somewhat in awe of their visitor 
because of her wisdom and renown. There was 
such a refreshing difference between them and the 
phlegmatic young Chinese that Miss Fielde was de- 
lighted and practically adopted the whole brood. 
From that time on she watched each of them ma- 
ture and grow into manhood or womanhood with 
as much maternal concern as if they were her own ; 
even transmitting her interest and affection to the 
offspring of the second generation — the grand- 
children of her early friend. 

When Miss Fielde visited the Cauldwells on her 
second vacation, the children were considerably 
older. They had nearly forgotten their mother's 
friend, about their only remaining impressions be- 
ing her dignified personality and religious earnest- 
ness. On being told that Miss Fielde was again to 
be a guest at their home, the young people failed 
to anticipate pleasure in that prospect. To use a 

Page Three Hundred Forty-Two 



Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents 

quotation from one of them, recently expressed, 
they half expected that the most proper behavior 
would be (exacted during her stay and that much 
time would have to be spent in prasring for the 
heathen. Nor were their misgivings allayed at the 
appearance of their visitor, dressed as she was in a 
sort of Mother Hubbard gown of her own construc- 
tion, obviously intended for comfort only. But 
disillusionment and relief did come upon Miss 
Fielde declaring her intention to celebrate her home- 
coming by attending Beumum's circus, then exhibit- 
ing in Brooklyn, to which she invited the whole 
family to accompany her. 

While sight-seeing at the circus an amusing in- 
cident occured. Miss Fielde found a former ac- 
quaintance in the person of the Chinese Giant, 
whom she had known in China, and with whom she 
entered into an animated conversation. This unpro- 
grammed feature of the entertainment attracted 
considerable attention from the onlookers, especi- 
ally so on the part of a small child which excitedly 
shrilled out, "See, mamma, the Fat Lady is talking 
to the Giant.** Miss Fielde heartily joined in the 
laugh at her own expense that followed, which 
served to cement the feeling of affectionate com- 
radeship that existed between the young people and 
herself from that time on. 

F&ffe Three Hundred Forty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

During nearly the whole period of Miss Fielde*s 
missionary service she was in receipt of constant 
help and advice from Mrs. Cauldwell. This truth 
is beautifully reaffirmed in the dedication of her 
book, ''A Comer of Cathay/* which reads thus: 

"To Mra. E. M. Cauldwell, 

whose patient love» steadfast as the stars, 

self-lighted far away. 

Illumined for me, through all the years 

My Comer of Cathay." 



Mrs. Cauldwell contributed generous 
aid to all of Miss Fielde*s projects of missionary im* 
provements and advancements in the Far Esist. It 
is conceded by those in a position to know, that the 
maintenance of the Biblewomen plan and the es- 
tablishment of the Training School for Chinese 
women would have been exceedingly difficult if not 
impossible but for her assistance. She also made 
substantial donations to many of the buildings of 
the missionary compound at Swatow and she is en- 
titled to the credit of supplsring the entire cost of 
building Fielde Lodge. It was Mrs. Cauldwell ^vho 
originated the plan of the Drawing Room lectures* 
which Miss Fielde delivered on her final return from 
China and which proved of such inestimable value 
to a large number of New York women. In this 
she conferred a great benefaction upon Miss Fielde. 
It not only gave her well paid emplo3rment but was 
the means of bringing her in contact with persons 

Page Three Hundred Forty-Four 



Intiiiiate FriemUiips; Social kadents 

of wealth and culture who subsequently aided her 
to establish herself in other and broader fields of 
activity. 

This latter action was one of purely disinterest- 
ed friendship. The bond of S3rmpathy between the 
two women had its origin in their affiliations with 
the Baptist church, to which, in the beginning, 
they were both strongly attached. But in the long 
stretches of time in which they had lived apart. Miss 
Fielde had gradually discarded the tenets of her 
former religious faith, while Mrs. Cauldwell re- 
mained an orthodox Christian. Under such cir- 
cumstances, it would be only natural that feelings 
usually described as "strained relations** should 
have resulted from Miss Fielde*s divergence from 
the common religious path they had both followed 
so long and faithfully, but such was not the case. 
Dr. Charles M. Cauldwell, son of Mrs. Cauldwell, 
quite young at that time, tells of the first meeting 
of the friends after this momentous event had taken 
place. "When Miss Fielde returned from abroad,** 
he said, **she came directly to our home. After the 
customary greetings, she and Mother retired to the 
privacy of an unoccupied room and had a long talk, 
the substance and nature of which never has been 
disclosed. On their reappearance in the family 
room, both were serene and both seemed satisfied.** 

PaK« Thre« Hundred Forty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

As before stated, Miss Fielcle*s affections were 
not limited to a single generation of the Cauldwell 
family. In the later years of her life she was great- 
ly attached to the wife and children of Samuel Mil* 
bank Cauldwell, son of Mrs. William A. CauldwelL 
She expressed her sentiments for this branch of the 
family in a letter written to Mrs. Samuel Milbank 
Cauldwell, dated October 6, 1 9 1 4, as follows : 

*'l have heaps of enjoyment in your new house; 
in its spaciousness and comfort, and in the fact that 
it is your own, after you have made it to your mind. 
It is good for the dear children to have through 
their lives the memory of a permanent home, where 
a tree, a toad and an ant-hill were close acquaint- 
ances. I have now on my table a little plant that 
folds up its broad, spotted leaves and goes to sleep 
about my bed-time and wakes up and stretches 
while I am eating my break^t. It is a sort of com- 
panion. Give my special love to each of your 
children; of whom I think often, trying to follow 
their growth and new attainments. All that you 
write of them interests me greatly — Olivia, and the 
school which will prepare her more solidly for col- 
lege; Katherine, and her heart-attracting helpful- 
ness ; William, and his finely-cherished ideals ; Paul- 
ine, and her winsome ways. Bless the dear four, 
and you in your care of them. I am so glad to hear 
that Milbank is stronger. You are indeed a fortun- 
ate woman to have such a family as you have. Not 
all who deserve the best get it.** 

Pase Three Hundred Forty-Six 



Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents 



While wintering in Tucson, Arizona, Miss Fielde 
received the news of Mrs. William A. Cauldweirs 
serious illness. Under date of December 15th, 
1911, she replied to a letter written by Mrs. Ed- 
ward M. Foote, Mrs. CauldwelFs daughter, as fol* 
lows : 

"Dear Kittie:* 

"I am grateful for your letter of the 8th inst. I 
had begun to be anxious because there was delay in 
the coming of any letter from your dear modier. 
You write hopefully concerning her regaining of 
strength, and it is comforting that the Doctor thinks 
she may get about again in a few weeks. 

"Dear Kittie,'did you ever think what courage 
is required for the meeting of age? In a tsrphoon, 
an earthquake, a malignant disease, or any com- 
mon disaster, there is always hope of such an escape 
as will end in complete restoration of the usual con- 
ditions. But when one has reached old age, no 
hope of restoration to the activities of youth is per- 
missible. One must face the fact, and make the 
best of it, without hope I This world no longer of- 
fers a future, glittering with possible betterment. 
I am an exceptionally happy woman; but 1 am 
aware that no past peril was destitute of hope, and 
that my present tranquil and comfortable state, 
lacks the glamour that has illumined preceding 
years. It is good to live many decades, because 
each decade brings knowledge that no earlier one 



*The name used by Miss Fielde alone for Mrs. Foote. 

Page Three Hundred Forty-Seren 



Life of Adele Marion Helde 

had capacity to grasp. Now I know how I have 
failed to comprehend much that was near me, and 
that I might have mended by comprehension. 

**Christma8 will bring me many thoughts of you 
and yourst as did Thanksgiving. Were I just a little 
stronger, I should try to journey to New York, with 
this imperative want that I feel to see my dear 
friend, your mother. But I am withheld with the 
fear and probability that I should myself be a care 
to her. Since I came here my bronchial ailment 
has lessened and I believe that it may disappear in 
this arid air in two or three months more. I had 
become strangely weak ; and I am getting stronger. 
In order to occupy my mind with something out- 
of-doors, 1 am making a superficial study of the 
cacti, an order of plants that have in this region 
their greatest development. 

"I shall depend on you to keep me informed re- 
garding the progress made by our dear invalid. Give 
her much love from me and say that I shall soon 
write to her. Do not consider plain postal cards 
beneath my grateful recognition. I know you are 
busy and that the wee ones, dear Kittie, must have 
most of your minutes.'* 

In April, 1912, while living in Seattle, Miss 
Fielde received news of Mrs. Cauldwell's death. 
Later on she wrote a beautiful tribute to the mem- 
ory of her friend in reply to a request from Mrs. 
Edward M. Foote, asking for any letter written by 
the latter *s mother that might be in Miss Fielde*8 

Page Three Hundred Forty-Eight 



Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents 

possession. Parts of the tribute are herein repro- 
duced: 

'^Dearest Kittie: 

''I think I should have kept all of your mother's 
dear letters, had 1 ever believed that she would go 
before me to our next world. Knocked about as 
I have been, between soft pillows and hard posts, 
maintaining always a happy sense that, whatever 
happened, she was at her beautiful house, ready to 
welcome, advise, or console me, I have never made 
any provisions for being without her. Her letters, 
sure to come, sure to be bright, loving and satisfy- 
ing, were always about immediate concerns. She 
wrote little about herself, and never expatiated up- 
on books, theories, or public affairs. When I had 
read them a few times and answered them, I began 
to think when she and I would next meet, and 
sprinkled the latest letter into the waste-basket. 
Therefore I have but two letters of hers remaining 
and I am sending them to you, herein enclosed. I 
have kept only a scrap of her handwriting, you are 
the one to ke^ permanently this last record that 
she made of what your children had said. She 
knew that I liked to hear about her grandchildren, 
and seldom feiled to insert in her letters to me some 
amusing account of their doings. 

*'I know whatever I can write concerning her 
lovely life, but when I try to narrate something, I 
can only think how perfect a friend she was; how 
utterly reliable in every time of need; how appre- 

Pasre Thre« Hundred Forty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

ciative of every good trait in others. She was faith- 
ful unto death. I conceive of no friendship more 
flawless than hers and mine. In all the forty years 
there was never a moment of distrust or misunder- 
standing. We never had anything to explain; we 
had always much to tell. She wrote no books ; she 
was not a leader in public undertakings; she pro- 
jected no new philosophy of life. But minute by 
minute she was doing good and the results ^vent 
into that great sum, that keeps the human family 
from sinking into a slough of despond. May your 
children be like her, because of an inbred inherit- 
ance of the finest qualities that can be handed down 
to one*s posterity.** 

Mrs. William A. Cauldwell died April 24th» 
1912. Under a newspaper clipping announcing 
her death, contained in one of Miss Fielde*s diaries, 
the following comments are written : 

**My very soul is bereft by her departure. For 
forty years we were friends and no cloud ever came 
between our hearts. Without her, this world never 
can be so good a place for me to live in. She never 
once failed me in fidelity or affection. A. M. F.** 

Another very strong attachment was that exist- 
ing between Miss Fielde and Mrs. William Pierson 
Hamilton, of New York. The two women first met 
on business, Mrs. Hamilton having gone to consult 
Miss Fielde and employ her to write a constitution 
for a New York charity in which the former was 

Page Three Hundred Fifty 



Intimate Friendships; Social Inddents 

then interested. This task entailed several meetings ; 
and the mutual attraction felt from the beginning 
developed rapidly into a friendship that was an in- 
spiration and help to both sides. Miss Fielde was 
then well advanced in life; her judgment rip<ined 
by age and contact with the many phases and forms 
of human experience ; Mrs. Hamilton was a young 
matron, enthusiastically engaged in the activities 
and responsibilities of modem motherhood. The 
latter sometimes found herself facing problems of 
unusual complexity; and, on such occasions, she 
sought Miss Fielde*s advice. This she found invari- 
ably sound and helpful as a rule, and in course of 
time, grew to depend on her friend's counsel and 
wisdom. In a recent letter, Mrs. Hamilton writes: 

**Miss Fielde had a positive genius for friend- 
ship. Her talents in this direction won her deep 
and abiding love from many separated by the cir- 
cumstances of age, of living and of environment 
She had an eternal youthfulness of heart and soul 
which made the difference in our ages quite neglig- 
ible; while her wide experience made her friend- 
ship of infinite value to me. She was frequently 
at the Hamilton home and her influence and inspi- 
ration were experienced by the HamUton children 
as well as by their mother. They found her as eag- 
erly interested in their lives as they were them- 
selves; and in addition she had the power to make 
the commonplace world around them as fascinating 

Page Three Hundred Fifty-One 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

as fairyland. Ants, for instance, she could turn 
into human beings with funny little individualities 
and characteristics of their own. No part of the 
earth was so remote that she could not make it near 
and real; and no child could listen to her charming 
collection of horrible tales of experiences in China 
and Siam without being thrilled. When she went 
West her letters were a constant source of delight, 
they were so full of the new and wonderful experi- 
ences she was living; and the old ties were never 
forgotten or neglected. 

**I visited Miss Fielde in Seattle and we had a 
truly joyous time. Our affection for each other 
was just as fresh as when at the acme of its devel- 
opment. We spent three delightful days together, 
one of which was on a motor trip to Snoqualmie 
Falls, where we picnicked and returned to Seattle 
in a glorious sunset. 

**We never met again, though we corresponded 
until her death. One of my most cherished posses- 
sions is a letter she wrote me when she knew she 
was dying. Its contents expressed the same steady 
bravery, the same great hopefulness that made her 
an inspiration to everyone who knew and loved 
her." 

The friendship between Miss Fielde and Dr. Ed- 
ward J. Nolan had its origin in the sentiments of 
gratitude which the former entertained for the lat- 
ter, but it grew and ripened into a much broader 
field of interest. Dr. Nolan is the secretary and li- 
pase Three Hundred Fifty-Two 



Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents 

brarian of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia, having been in those positions many 
years before Miss Fielde studied Natural History 
at the Academy in 1885-6. It was largely due to 
his interest that she entered the institution as a 
student, the account of which has been told in a 
previous chapter. 

Miss Fielde and Dr. Nolan were congenial and 
companionable. They were both exceptional per- 
sonalities ; their resp>ective. characters had been de- 
veloped along similar lines of culture. Both were 
highly artistic, both devoted to scientific pursuits 
and both gifted writers. After Miss Fielde left the 
Academy the friends did not meet again except for 
short visits at long intervals, but they communicat- 
ed with each other by an exchange of letters at short 
intervals for thirty years. 

It is largely due to the letters written by Miss 
Fielde to Dr. Nolan, that the writer is enabled to 
depict the more intimate side of Miss Fielde*s char- 
acter, to relate many incidents of a personal as well 
as public nature and to follow her through nearly 
every civilized country on the globe. The letters 
themselves are of genuine literary value, contain- 
ing as they do the views of a trained observer, the 
opinions of a logical mind and conclusions that in- 
a rare gift of analysis. Many of them are 

Page Three Hundred Fifty-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

written in a spirit of quiet humor, with which the 
writer was often inspired, and others are filled mth 
sparkling repartee, obviously called forth by some 
sally on the part of her correspondent. But the 
greater share of them contain only plain statements 
of fact and opinion, Miss Fielde's most notable 
style of expression. 

Mrs. Rose Reed McBride, wife of Mr. F. T. Mc- 
Bride, of Portland, Oregon, was another of Miss 
Fielde*s cherished friends. Their first meeting took 
place in 1911 and thereafter they kept in touch with 
each other by exchanging letters and by an occa- 
sional visit until Miss Fielde's death in 1916. Mrs. 
McBride tells of their friendship, its beginning and 
progress, in a charming letter to the writer hereof, 
dated December 1 1 th, 1916. Her letter is here re- 
produced as follows: 

'Thank you for including me in the category of 
Miss Fielde's intimate friends. There was a mutual 
attraction, I think, from the start. A few days 
after we met in Tucson, Arizona, she said to me 'I 
would liked to have been your mother.' The com- 
pliment, coming as it did from such a fine and ^won- 
derful source, could not otherwise than impress 
me highly. 

'*We spent two months in Tucson, meeting every 
day. We both loved the sunshine, the mystic haze 
of the desert and the grandeur of the canyons. Once 

Fase Three Hundred Fifty-Four 



intimate FriendsluiM; Social Incidents 

we spent a whole day in one of these beautiful na- 
tural chambers, she seemed so carefree, enjoying 
making coffee on the campfire and doing a lot of 
other happy things. She spent much time at the 
University studying the cactus family. On one of 
our trips to the canyon, she spoke of a belated trav- 
eler who had been refreshed and probably saved by 
extracting and drinking the water of a mammil- 
larian cactus. So we experimented and by hard 
labor found we could get enough water from the 
plants to quench thirst. She loved to try things 
out. 

*'We parted at Tucson and did not meet again 
for over a year, but we exchanged letters regularly 
from that time on. In October, 1915, we attended 
the Panama Exposition at San Francisco together. 
She has often remarked since then that our com- 
panionship on this occasion had been one of great 
pleasure to her. The California weather was per- 
fect, the sky cloudless and the sea air sweet and 
balmy. We took breakfast together every morn- 
ing, dien strolled a couple of hours over the grounds 
en]03ring the beautiful flowers, the magnificent 
buildings and the charming statuary. When the 
galleries were opened we usually separated as we 
were not always interested in the same exhibits. 
In the evening we dined at the same place and rested 
an hour in her room, then back to the grounds 
where we each took rolling-chairs in which we made 
the rounds. 

'*She was indeed wonderful, her mentality simply 

Pasre Three Hundred Fifty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fidde 

astonishing. During our stay in San Francisco, my 
happiest experiences consisted in lying curled-up 
on the foot of her bed listening to her talk. There 
was no subject that she could not discuss learnedly 
and interestingly. We often sat up very late "while 
she told me of her life in China. On the way home, 
she wanted me to stop o£F and spend a few days at 
Mt. Rainier. I am now glad we did not do so, the 
only letter of hers now in my possession tells me 
that she felt ill on reaching Seattle, due to drinking 
ice-water while on our way." 



Paffe Three Hundred Flfty-Slz 



CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO 

Her Fmal Work 

IN the final two years of her life on earth Miss 
Fielde devoted her eflForts largely to child wel- 
fare projects. It was her conviction that the 

progress and improvement of the race depended 
principally on the intuitive promptings of mothers 
in the care and cultivation of children, though not 
exclusively so. In justification of her faith in 
womenkind generally, she frequently made use of 
a quotation from "The Woman With Empty 
Hands:" 

"Stop and think what instinct really means. 
When Nature wants a job done — a big job like 
keeping alive a species or populating the earth; a 
job requiring sacrifice and self-eflFacement and end- 
less work and watching — does she call in reason, 
argument, philosophy, art, science, religion, econ- 
omics, or philanthropy? Not a bit of it I She 
hands that job over to a fundamental instinct and 
instinct gets that job done. The hardest thing in 
the world to change is a fundamental instinct; for 
it will live on for generations through untold cen- 
turies after the natural object of it has disappeared. 
Women will stop at nothing once the instinct calls 
her to act, whether the call comes from a beloved 
person, a beloved institution, a beloved cause, a 

Page Three Hundred Fifty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

beloved ideal. That is the psychology of the whole 
woman's movement." 

But she also was a firm believer in the eugenic 
culture of child life, accepting the comparatively 
modem idea that environment is equally as 
strong a factor in human development as heredity. 
She manifested this latter feeling in a variety of 
practical ways. In 1913 while attending a meet- 
ing of the Woman's Century Club» of Seattle, Miss 
Fielde was impressed with the annual report made 
of the Washington State Federation of Women's 
Clubs Educational Loan Fund. She soon after 
called upon her friend, Mrs. W. S. Griswold (at 
the time recording secretary of the Federation), 
for detailed information. Upon Mrs. Griswold 
relating that the Loan Fund was the result of a plan 
by which the women's clubs of the State sought to 
aid ambitious young women by lending them 
money to enable them to complete courses in high- 
er branches of study, or to make it possible for spe- 
cially endowed young girls to secure technical 
training in the development of artistic talents, Miss 
Fielde commended the project by a subscription of 
two hundred and fifty dollars to this fund, the larg- 
est single donation up to that time. The donation 
referred to was only one of many acts of like char- 
acter. There was scarcely a period in the final 

Paffe Three Hundred Fifty-Eight 



Her Fmal Work 

twenty years of her life in which some struggling 
student did not depend on her bounty for the means 
of acquiring an education, and not infrequently 
she contributed aid of this kind to more than one 
individual at the same time. 

The Children's Orthopedic Hospital, of Seat- 
tle, was an institution receiving Miss Fielde's high- 
est approbation. From Mrs. John W. Roberts, 
secretary of the Board of Trustees, the following 
facts were obtained: 

"Miss Fielde joined the Orthopedic Hospital 
Association as an active member in January, 1 908, 
during the first year of the institution. 

*'She gave valuable aid to the Trustees in re- 
vising the By-Laws, and in the formation of the 
Guilds which have done most eflFective work in 
support of the hospital. She always attended the 
business meetings of the active members and the 
open meetings held at the hospital. 

**She was present at the little public party given 
on the first day of June, 1915, at the hospital on 
Queen Anne Hill, and went about carefully inspect- 
ing the wards, surgery, kitchen, etc., speaking lov- 
ingly as she passed to the little ones in the snowy 
beds, and all th&Vhile asking shrewd and intelli- 
gent questions of the Trustee who accompanied 
her, 

**A few days later, the writer was pleased to re- 
ceive a checque for $250 for a Life Membership 

Pagre Three Hundred Fifty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

for Miss Fielde and a letter characteristic of this 
good woman, in which she paid deserved praise to 
the surgeons who give their services free to the 
destitute crippled child, and extending appreciation 
and encouragement to those in charge of the hos- 
pital." 

In June, 1915, Miss Fielde systematically took 
up the work of distributing circulars of instruction 
and information to mothers, actual, prospective and 
potential, regarding the scientific care and upbring- 
ing of children. One of her diary notes of about 
that date contains this significant entry: 

"Yesterday I walked on Capitol Hill. The sky 
was gloriously broad and blue ; the mountains loom- 
ed resplendent in the azure; there were stretches 
of bloom in the Park where I lingered long. Then, 
on my way homeward, I passed a little go-cart 
holding a baby girl who smiled enchantingly at me, 
a stranger. Ever since 1 have not thought much 
of the broad sky, the mountains or the flowers, but 
of the smile of that baby. When one is about to 
plunge into the last quarter of a possible century of 
life, one thinks carefully of what one might do to 
make the State a better place for babies to grow up 
in. To me that is politics; and I am merged in 
politics." 

A written account of other incidents which 
prompted Miss Fielde to engage in the undertaking 
is contained in one of her scrapbooks as well as a 

Paffe Three Hundred Sixty 



i 



Her Fmal Work 

printed outline of her plan of operation. Of the 
incidents she wrote: 

**A few days ago I went to see some trained ani- 
mals at Pantages Theatre. A young woman hold- 
ing on her lap a sleeping infant sat beside me. I in- 
quired the age of the child and received the reply: 
'She is five weeks old today; and this is the first 
matinee she has been to.* Tlie child slept constant- 
ly through the hours and seemed to have been 
doped. In a street car, I saw a young mother teach- 
ing an infant to suck its thumb. At political meet- 
ings I have seen young children kept awake until 
after eleven o'clock. Such observations have made 
me feel that a most useful undertaking would be 
the dissemination of selected pamphlets among 
mothers, who should pay the cost of the pamphlets, 
as an evidence of interest in them. To start this 
work, I have supplied the necessary money for the 
pamphlets selected by me ; and it will be called the 
'Fielde Pamphlet Fund,' to be permanently used by 
the Seattle Congress of Mothers for the object 
designated.** 

Regarding her methods of doing this work, she 

wrote : 

**I got the assent of the Congress of Mothers, of 
Seattle, to co-operate with me ; Mrs. C. E. Bogardus, 
the chairman, giving the use of a room in her home 
for office purposes, storage of supplies, etc. The 
literature, selected by me, consists of three pam- 
phlets, of the highest authorization : ' ( 1 ) 'The Care 
of the Baby,* issued by the United States Public 

Paffe Three Hundred Sixty-One 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 



Health Service, Washington, D. C; (2) *The Care 
of the Baby/ issued by the Russel Sage Founda- 
tion, New York; and (3) *Save the Babies,' issued 
by the American Medical Association, Chicago, 
Illinois. Then I wrote and had printed eight thou- 
sand copies of the following circular letter: 

** To the Parents of the Northwest from the 
Pamphlet Committee of the Seattle Central Council 
of the Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher 
Associations : 

** 'Probably the greatest joys and the dec^>e8t 
sorrows of life ordinarily come to men and "women 
through their children. 

** *The family is the source of well-being for the 
individual and for the nation. Instruction of the 
mother in the care of the infant, before and after its 
birth, will greatly help the baby and the family in- 
to which it comes. 

** 'Pamphlets giving advice concerning the care 
of infants are many and excellent, but the best are 
not always on hand when most needed. For the 
convenience of mothers of the Nordiwest» the 
Pamphlet Committee of the Seattle Central Council 
of the Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher As- 
sociations has undertaken to disseminate selected 
pamphlets instructive to those who have the care 
of infants. 

" 'By acquiring many thousands of these pamph- 
lets in a large order, doing the work of distribution 
without compensation, and engaging the interest 
and help of many persons as volunteer workers, 
these pamphlets can be supplied at lowest cost. 

Paffe Three Hundred Sixty-Two 



Her Fmal Work 

** *A fund sufficient for buying the pamphlets 
at cost of printing and transportation has been pro- 
vided, with the expectation that all income from the 
sales will be returned to the fund so that it may be 
repeatedly used and always preserved without di- 
munition of the original amount. 

** *No pamphlets will be delivered in any way but 
by mail, addressed to the person who has prepaid 
the required sum marked on the wrapper of the 
pamphlets. Only one set will be sent to one ad' 
dress. The name and address should be given with 
care. 

** *In addition the Pamphlet Committee expects 
that two valuable pamphlets, **Prenatal Care'* and 
**Infant Care*' will be mailed direct from the Chil- 
dren's Bureau at Washington, D. C to each address 
recorded, these addresses being forwarded by the 
Pamphlet Committee to said Bureau on forms ob- 
tained therefrom. 

** *With an individual library consisting of these 
authoritative instructions, the careful mother will 
equip herself with necessary knowledge, and her 
outlay need be but one dime. 

** *By a generous eflFort, any person can bring 
these helpful pamphlets to the attention of young 
mothers, so as to benefit any who would otherwise 
know nothing of these pamphlets. 

** *A strong, handsomer, happier folk may live 
in the Northwest fifty years hence, if we do this 
work now. Remember that it is all unremunerat- 
ed work if we consider the purse alone; but it is 

Page Three Hundred Sixty -Three 



Life of Adde Marion Fielde 

most remunerative if we consider human health 
and happiness. Take hold of it with us and help 
the parents of the Northwest rear perfect chil- 
dren/ ** 

The three pamphlets and the circular letter "were 
enclosed in one envelope and sent to the mothers 
of young children in all parts of the State. In order 
to learn the names and addresses of those most like- 
ly to be interested in this class of literature. Miss 
Fielde practically organized a State-wide bureau of 
vital statistics, secured by volunteer helpers. Her 
contribution to the work of race improvement from 
her eflForts in this direction is a problem that only 
the coming ages can solve. 



Page Three Hundred Sixty-Four 



CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE 

Her Last Journey 

EARLY in the month of February. 1916, Miss 
Fielde reached the end of her work on earth. 
At that time she experienced what really 
amounted to a physical collapse. While she did not 
at once take to her bed, she was in such a condi- 
tion of bodily weakness that she remained closely 
confined to her home and strictly avoided every 
eflFort that required the expenditure of physical 
energy. In a letter to an eastern friend she wrote 

* Please do not send me newspaper clippings, 
pamphlets, books or anything else that must be re- 
turned, no matter how good. These are days when 
the slightest duty is irksome to me. 1 have reach- 
ed the time when the 'grasshopper seems a bur- 
den.* ** 

The breakdown came very suddenly and was a 
great surprise to her friends, if not wholly unex- 
pected by herself. Only a few weeks previous she 
had been as active as at any other time of her life, 
despite the fact that she had just passed the seventy- 
seventh anniversary of her birth. Apparently she 
had been for the past year in good health, contented 
with life and greatly enjo3ring the work that the 
passing days brought to her hands and the recrea- 
tions that she so abundantly earned. In the latter 
part of November she had attended a **Parliamen- 

Page Three Hundred Sixty-Five 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

tary Breakfast/' a social function given to celdbrate 
the close of the second class for women in parlia* 
mentary procedure, which she herself had organized 
two years before.^ On the occasion of the **Break- 
fast'* she took the leading part in the discussions 
and festivities as usual. Subsequent events proved 
this to have been her last public meeting. 

Also during the fall of 1915 she seemed to take 
unusual pleasure in the society and companion- 
ship of her more intimate friends. While planning 
and preparing for the **Breakfast/* she was a guest 
at Braebum, the country home of Mr. and Mrs. 
A. B. Stewart, of Seattle; and at Christmas of the 
same year» contrary to a long established custom* 
she spent the day at the home and with the family 
of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Perkins. 

The opinion obtained among a number of Miss 
Fielde's more intimate friends that the suddenness 
of her decline was largely due to reaction. For two 
years she had worked very hard for State-wide pro- 
hibition, devoting nearly the whole of her time, 
energy and eflFort to the success of that movement. 
When victory was finally won at the polls in No- 
vember, 1913, she was very happy, feeling that she 
had been singularly blessed in being permitted to 

*The Interest manifecrted In Parliamentary Procedure In wom- 
en's organizations in Seattle is largely due to Miss Fielde. The 
Rota Club of New York City, taught by her. for years, \b also 
doingr efficient work along parliamentary lines. 

Page Three Hundred Sixty-Six 



Her Last Journey 

crown her long and useful life by her contributions 
to that glorious achievement. It is not an improb- 
able theory that the strenuous work that she per- 
formed in the cause of prohibition may have ex- 
hausted her vital strength beyond her power to re- 
cuperate. 

But it is not to be understood that her mentality 
suflFered any loss of strength because of her physical 
disabilities. On the contrary her mind remained 
as alert as ever and her interest in current events 
undiminished. She was intensely interested in the 
world war and followed the daily movements of 
the contending forces with the most minute atten- 
tion to details; the fact that she was personally 
familiar with many of the localities in which this 
great struggle was taking place was a decided help 
in carrsdng out this program. In a letter to an 
intimate friend, written shortly before her death, 
she wrote touchingly of the war and makes some 
significant comments concerning herself, a part of 
which follows: 

**I am very, very sorrowful under the daily news 
of the fiery maelstrom in Europe; sick at heart on 
account of the killing of men and all the evils that 
come of war. It is all so horrible that I cannot let 
myself think of it much less write of it. The situa- 
tion with us is ominous and I can only say 'Heaven 
hdp and keep America.* In my heartsickness I 
have turned again to my beloved natural sciences 

Pa^re Three Hundred Sixty-Seven 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

for consolation and distraction, and am reading J. 
Henri Fabre, entomologist, and am fascinated. 

**Years ago I decided to repose, read and medi- 
tate ; but things in the Northwest so appealed to me 
that I have not yet fully quitted work. I am strug- 
gling out of it, however, and will soon be soaring 
on my two dependable wings, simplicity and spon- 
taniety. More than two years ago I plunged into 
the last quarter of my possible century of life. I 
am just as happy as I was in the first quarter. I find 
little cause for worry, or disquietude. News has 
come recently of the death of Mrs. John D. Rocke- 
feller, who was a member of my Tuesday Round 
Table. She was bom in the same year as was I. 
My contemporaries are falling like leaves in Au- 
tumn." 

The writer hereof spent the evening of FAruary 
seventh with Miss Fielde in her apartments at the 
San Marco. During the visit she noticed that her 
hostess* appearance denoted certain physical 
changes that were not at all reassuring, though her 
mind seemed as clear as ever and her conversation 
sparkled as usual with entertaining thoughts and 
humorous sayings. Before leaving the writer told 
Miss Fielde of her impressions and misgivings and 
begged her to consult a physician regarding her 
health. Miss Fielde in reply said: I have an ap- 
pointment with my physician for 9 o'clock tomor- 
row morning, though expressing doubts as to her 

Paffe Three Hundred Sixty-Eight 



Her Last Journey 

need of medical attention. Before noon the fol- 
lowing day the writer received a message, tele-* 
phoned by Miss Fielde's maid, to the eflFect that 
Miss Fielde wished to see her at once. On arriving 
at the San Marco she was informed that Miss Fielde 
was ill and was shown directly into the bed-room. 
After the exchange of customary greetings, Miss 

Fielde said: **My dear, Dr. C. W. Sharpies has 
just told me that 1 am aflFlicted with a malady for 
which, at my age, there is no remedy or cure. As I 
wished to be fully informed I asked him to tell me 
how long approximately I would remain here. In 
reply he said 'it might be several months, but more 
probably it would be only for a few weeks and per- 
haps but for a few days.* I am perfectly satisfied 
to go into my next life and I hope the call will soon 
come; but we will talk of my journey to eternity 
later on. At present I have many things to do be- 
fore I go. My financial affairs are already off my 
mind, as this morning I gave them into the hands 
of Mr. George H. Walker, my friend and lawyer. 
Now I must go to work to 'set my house in order* 
while I have possession of my mental faculties and 
the necessary physical strength. I sent for you and 
Mrs. W. D. Perkins to help me do this." 

Miss Fielde's idea of "setting her house in or- 
der'* consisted of an ante-mortem distribution of her 
personal effects, which was done under her direc- 
tion, and which left her rooms stripped of nearly 

Pag"? Three Hundred Sixty-Nine 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

everything except the ordinary articles of house- 
hold furniture. Her comparatively large collection 
of valuable books she gave to the University of 
Washington, insisting on their being removed at 
once; her author's copies of the ten books she her- 
self had written were sent to the Smithsonian In- 
stitution; her six scrap-books, containing a collec- 
tion of the many newspaper notices, comments and 
criticisms which were published concerning her life 
and public works for nearly forty years, which she 
called her literary remains, were expressed to Mrs. 
Samuel Milbank Cauldwell, of Hartsdale, New 
York; also many packages containing souvenirs 
and keepsakes, which she herself had wrapped and 
addressed, were distributed among her more intim- 
ate women friends and acquaintances of Seattle. 

This work was followed by Miss Fielde's dicta- 
tion of letters to friends in the Elastem states, an- 
nouncing the fact of her illness and the probable 
event in her early death, of which the writer 
served in the capacity of amanuensis. These let- 
ters were written to Dr. Charles M. Cauldwell, of 
New York, for the Cauldwell family; to Mrs. Wil- 
liam Pierson Hamilton, of New York; and to Dr. 
Edward J. Nolan, of Hiiladelphia ; and were in real- 
ity gems of literary art, expressing as they did the 
most beautiful sentiments of philosophic vision and 

Pagre Three Hundred Seventy 



\ 



Her Last Journey 

religious conviction. For obvious reasons the let- 
ters cannot be reproduced here in their entirety, but 
permission has been granted to publish an excerpt 
from one of them, which follows: 

**It is expedient for you to know that I am seri- 
ously ill. I may stay several months longer where 
I now am, but yesterday my physician informed me 
that he had no cure for my ailment. I su£Fer much, 
but my friends here are very good to me, and all 
that can be done to alleviate my distress will receive 
attention. The patience that I must exercise in this 
last span of my long life journey is probably a need- 
ed test of the discipline that life has given me. How 
glad I am that you and I have had so profound a 
friendship and so much of true happiness in our 
converse. 

**Any world is good enough for me to live in. 
Through all the centuries great throngs have been 
passing over into the 'Great Silence.* The universe 
could not stand the strain were there not something 
desirable and joyous in the progress of mankind 
from this life to the next.** 

The day following Miss Fielde's confinement to 
her bed, Dr. Sharpies installed Miss Leila R. Ben- 
nett as the nurse of his distinguished patient. It 
proved a fortunate selection. Miss Bennett had 
known Miss Fielde in New York City, where she 
attended a class in parliamentary procedure, of 
which Miss Fielde was then the teacher. She was a 

Page Three Hundred Seventy-One 



Life of Adele Marion Flelde 

great admirer of Miss Fielde and was happy that 
the privilege of serving her had fallen to her lot. 
Dr. Sharpies instructed Miss Bennett not to attempt 
any control over Miss Fielde, but to let her have 
her own way in all things. 

7*he patient herself decreed that the normal life of 
the household should be maintained. There vrere 
to be no tears or other exhibitions of grief, but each 
day was to be happy and joyful. She instructed 
Miss Bennett not to administer opiates in any form 
to relieve her sufferings and to give her no food that 
would prolong her life. In commenting on the in' 
junction regarding the use of opiates Miss Fielde 
Said: "I want to die intelligently. 1 have many 
friftnds who have gone over and I wish to be in a 
condition to speak to them at once if I should chance 
to meet them. As long as my brain is alive I will 
endure the pain that will come with my peissing." 

One day in discussing self-destruction and the 
use of opiates in that connection with the nurse she 
said: 

"1 believe that in the world to which I am to go 
preparations are being nuide for me just as my 
mother awaited my infant advent. If everjrthing 
was ready 1 would automatically go hence. I was 
bom into this life at full time and I want to go into 
my next life at full time in order that my develo|>- 
ment may be complete. I do not want to enter a 
weeJcling as one does who goes prematurely." 

Page Three Hundred Seventy -Two 



/ 



H«r Last Journey 

She justified her refusal to partake of nourishing 
food by declaring that there was no wrong in ab- 
staining from an attempt to perpetuate life in a 
worn-out and useless body. 

Miss Fielde's illness lasted just two weeks. Dur- 
ing that time she persistently declined to receive 
visitors except Dr. Sharpies, her physician, and Mr. 
Walker, her lawyer, both of whom made daily calls. 
Those who were privileged to come to her bed- 
side at her request were Mrs. W. D. Perkins and 
the writer aside from Miss Bennett, the nurse, and 
Nora Muman, the maid. Miss Fielde had a large 
number of cherished friends among the women of 
Seattle, many of them anxious regarding her wel- 
fare and all of them eager to see her. But she stead- 
fastly refused to have any of them admitted to her 
sick-room. She explained her attitude in this re- 
spect by saying that she could easily anticipate 
pleasure in the visits of her friends but the stress 
of parting from them would be too great for her to 
bear in her weakened condition. Notes of inquiry, 
messages of love and flowers in abundance were 
being constantly sent her, which pleased her very 
much. It was one of the duties of the writer to 
receive these tokens and take them to Miss Fielde*s 
room, where notes would be read and reread be- 
fore being destroyed and the flowers displayed and 
admired. 

Pase Three Hundred Seventy-Three 



Life of Adele Marion Fielde 

One afternoon two messages were received by 
the writer for Miss Fielde which were nearly iden- 
tical. They were from Mrs. John M. Winslow and 
Mrs. John Trumbull requesting Miss Fielde to con- 
sider a suggestion to the effect that possibly she was 
making a mistake in accepting the pathological ver- 
dict that her death was imminent ; and both begged 
her to make an effort to get well. The argument 
was used by both that the patient had been a strong 
factor in the development of Seattle women, who 
still needed her ; that if her life could be prolonged 
for a few years only, even greater good would re- 
sult. 

Miss Fielde was strongly touched by the senti- 
ments thus expressed, and a look of happiness over- 
spread her face when she said: **Tell them that I 
am truly glad that they wish me to stay longer ; but 
my going is irrevocable ; nothing can delay it ; and, 
this is for you and for them alone, my knowledge 
of that fact is not so recent as may be supposed/* 

It was another of the duties of the writer to re- 
cite the gist of the daily news as gleaned from the 
newspapers to Miss Fielde each morning. For the 
first ten or twelve days of her illness she was inter- 
ested in all of the daily happenings in all parts of 
the world, especially so in the progress of the world 
war. But as time passed her interest became grad- 

Patre Three Hundred Seventy-Four 



H«r Last Journey 

ually less diversified until only accounts of the war 
seemed to appeal to her. These in time lost their 
savor and were finally discontinued at her request. 
She took a scientific interest in death which re- 
mained undiminished to the end. Her own ap- 
proaching demise she seemed inclined to regard as 
an experiment, something impersonal, for which 
she had no regret and of which she felt no fear. In 
this light she often discussed it during her illness 
and apparently enjoyed exchanging views concern- 
ing its mysteries with those around her. A few 
hours before death came to her she aroused fron\^ a 
state of coma and said to Miss Bennett: **I am 
passing through a very peculiar phase of existence ; 
I am not here, nor am I there. I am now on the 
brink.** Few words were spoken by her after. 

Just before daybreak on February twenty-third 
the vigil of Miss Bennett, Nora Muman and the 
writer ended ; the great soul of Adele Marion Fielde 
had passed the portals of eternity. 

The funeral of Miss Fielde, held three days after 
her death, was a very simple a£Fair. She herself had 
arranged the program of observances. It was her 
expressed wish that no clergyman or minister of 
the gospel be appointed to officiate and that no eu- 
logy of her should be delivered or tribute of any 
kind offered. She asked only that her three favor- 
page Three Hundred SeTenty-Plve 



Life of Adeie Marion Fielde 

ite hsonns be sung, "Lead' Kindly Light/* "Abide 
With Me," and "Jerusalem the Golden." How- 
ever, the services were lengthened so as to include 
the reading of two {>oems, one, written by Richard 
Watson Gilder, called "Lines on the Death of Alice 
Freeman Palmer;" the other "Crossing the Bar." 
The first had been suggested by Miss Dorothy 
Winslow, who was a personal friend of Miss Fielde 
and an admirer of Mrs. Palmer. It was her impres- 
sion that the poem was equally applicable as a tri- 
bute to Miss Fielde as to Mrs. Palmer. It was read 
by Mrs. John H. Powell. "Crossing the Bar" was 
read by Mr. O. H. P. LaFarge at the close. 

The last direction Miss Fielde gave is significant : 
"My ashes are to be cast on the waters of Puget 
Sound. I have loved this old earth and I belong to 
it, the air, the sea and the sky, so I want my ashes 
to be washed and purified before returning to their 
natural elements." 

A public memorial service was held at the Moore 
Theater, Seattle, the Sunday following the funeral, 
at which time tributes to the exalted character of 
Miss Fielde were given by her intimate friends. 

In closing this volume the thoughts and senti- 
ments expressed in a paragraph of a letter written 
by a friend in the Eastern states to Miss Fielde dur- 
ing her last illness, seem especially appropriate: 

Pagre Three Hundred Seventy -Six 



Her Last Journey 

"You have no reason in any case to dread the 
'Great Silence* for you have been an inspiration 
and a help to all who have had the blessing of your 
friendship. I am indebted to you personally for an 
enlarged appreciation of life; and if this has to be 
good-bye it is in the loving hope of a joyful reunion 
in the gladness of our dear Lord.'* 



Pase Three Hundred Seventy-Seven 



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