FROM -THE- SCIENTIFIC- LIBRARY-OF JACQUES -LOEB- MEMORIAL BIOGRAPHY OF ADELE M. FIELDE HUMANITARIAN BY HELEN NORTON STEVENS PUBLISHED BY THE FIELDE MEMORIAL COMMITTEE NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, SEATTLE Copyright, 1918, by HELEN NORTON STEVENS 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 IV. 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 Fielde'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 XIII. Studying Medicine; Investigating Organic Evolution; Creating a College 154 XIV. Change of Religious Opinion; Enlarged Sphere of Activities; A Dangerous Situ- ation . 168 779621 XV. Ill at Fielde Lodge ; Resignation From 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 Modern Greece; Taking 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 XXIII. Miss Fielde As A Writer 250 XXIV. Miss Fielde 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 Friendships 341 XXXII. Her Final Work 357 XXXIII. Her Last Journey- . 365 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Miss Adele M. Fielde (Her Latest Photograph.) Parents. Her First Teacher, Mrs. Adeline M. Payne. Miss Fielde in 1864. Cyrus Chilcott. 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. ummrtt mm) &0 fti ttf? morlb, tb. rir rfy i*f anb tfnbnrino, Ijolb on tiff *at**m of tb, human family ia at- taturft by tl|f tr txttlitntt aa "&I|r il}0 90*0 tntn tit? aljatuim of bratly tljr^ nr four tim^ a in tl|e ruttra* of Ijf r ^ xiatf nr* anil r^ tttrna ^ arl| tim^ , bringing a n* m Uf* mitlj ly^r, bow mor^ for b, nmanily tb.an tb.^ mritf r of hooka, tlj* op^ ra aing^r, ilj* fin^ artiat, tb.e akillfnl pljjjairian, ll|r mia? uotrr or tb.* moman in pnblir lifp, na^fnl anb a a thrii all arr. abiiir in all uiomrn. 0omrtimra a moman mini l|aa no prog^ ng, b.aa to takf a ^tatf aa b.?r broob, anb tb.at ia a UJotbf rb.oob, too." H 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, Page Seven appreciated her wisdom and experienced her love. This book commemorates 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, Mrs. Samuel M. Cauldwell, Mrs Helen Norton Ste vens, Mrs. E. M. Foote, ^ T , ^ . Mr. Robert Erskiie Ely. Mrs ' John Erlkson ' __ w Mrs. Kenelm Winslow, _ L T A Mrs. John TrumbuU, Dr. Edward J. Nolan. , T n XT TIT T uv Mrs. Geo. N. McLoughlm, CHICAGO Mrs Chas Schalkenbach, Mrs. Heman H. Field. M rs. Geo. H. Walker, SEATTLE Mrs. Harvey L. Glenn, Mrs. 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. Griswold, Rev. William K. McKibben. Page Eight 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 English 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 "The Love Woman" by the Chinese natives. What higher title of nobility was ever conferred Page 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 Page 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, "you 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, and, 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 Page 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 any 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 Page 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 and 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 ancestry 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 Fielde's 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. Tammany is no longer an irresistible force in Page 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 Educa- tion, 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 Page 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. Page 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 "self 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 esteem. 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, Cyrus W. Field, Justice Stephen A. Field, Marshall Field and Eugene Field Page Nineteen Life of Adele Marion Fielde are a few of the better known representatives in the United States. In England the family is no less celebrated. There it is classified as belonging to the "lesser 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 Zachariah Field and Sarah (Thornton) Field, the account of whose courtship and marriage forms a romantic chapter in the historic miscellany of Rhode Island Colony. The fact that Misa 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 ancestral 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 immemorial 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 nom 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 are representative types of the best American lineage. The descendants of Jona- than and 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 Adele 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 England 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 type 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 born 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 man of indomitable will and strong personality. Even in his old age he had an aversion to being waited on. Til do it myself,' was his frequent ex- Page 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 and 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 affection, 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-Four MISS FIELDE'S FATHKR AND MOTHER Ancestry, Birth, Parentage source. He died September 27th, 1878, aged eighty-four years. Sophia (Tiffany) 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 family. 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 born/* 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-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde in quiet self-possession, graceful manners and fine poise. Five children were born 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 fam- 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 offspring, 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. Page Twenty-Six CHAPTER TWO Early Environment; Character and Personality. EAST RODMAN, the birthplace of Miss Fielde, was, and still is, a small village of Jefferson 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 commercially 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 common 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- Page Twenty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 descend- 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 differences 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. Page Twenty-Eight Early 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 efforts. 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." "Well!" she resumed, "I have been to your Page Twenty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 effect. 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." "Well!" he continued, "I have been to m$ church and on my knees I have prayed my Lord to forgive you for the insult you offered Him." It was her turn to remain silent and absorbed for a while, which she did. Later in the day she, Page Thirty Early Environment; Character and Personality too, disappeared; returning after a time quite meek and subdued. "Dr. ," she said, again reverting to the ob- jectionable petitio principftii, "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 offered 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 Page Thirty-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 voyage 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 Pagre Thirty-Two MRS. ADELINE M. PAYNE. EDITOR OF THE REPRESENTA- TIVE, NEVADA, IOWA, MISS FIELDE'S FIRST TEACHER Early Environment; Character and Personality school in her desire to learn, as well as in educa- tional achievement. She completed the course of the South Rutland school and was graduated from an institution of higher learning in an adjoining township before she reached her sixteenth year. While at this latter place she was a fellow pupil of M. A. Reed, at present a United States senator from the State of Missouri. In response to a newspaper interview regarding Miss Fielde's death, at the time of that occurrence, Senator Reed said: '*! remem- ber Miss Fielde as a serious, meditative girl, who seemed to care little for social life and much for her books; although never lacking in friendliness, and always having a greeting that was pleasant and re- sponsive.*' After completing her full common school course of study, Miss Fielde was eager to continue her edu- cational career at the State Normal College at Al- bany ; but there were obstacles in the way that pre- vented her from at once carrying that plan into ef- fect. In those early days there were no public schools, and compulsory education was un thought of. As a rule the school buildings were owned by the community in the rural districts, but the teach- er's salary, heating and lighting and other inciden- tal expenses, were paid by assessing each pupil a proportional share of the whole cost of maintaining Page Thirty-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde the school, which was usually collected monthly. Leighton Field's income was small and his em- ployment uncertain. He had a large family 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 was 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 Pag-e Thirty-Four Early Environment; 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 Tiffany,** 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 organizations of such pronounced exclusiveness. In her lectures on "Reasons for a Coterie,** she defines her attitude on this subject as follows: "Social congeniality depends on similarity of Page Thirty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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-con formers from our homes, that society reaches any high degree of gentle breeding. Consorting with congenial spirits is the acme of earthly enjoyment, and every effort to at- tain this consortation is an effort to gain the best that the world affords. "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 Page Thirty-Six Early 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 1 895, 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;" Page Thirty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde the other, "Sophia Tiffany Field, His Wife; died November 9th, 1880; aged 87 years." In 191 1, Miss Fielde wrote to Mrs. Adaline M. Payne; her letter contained the following com- ments regarding the place where both she and her correspondent spent the earlier portions 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 thornapple 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." Page Thirty-Eight CHAPTER THREE Character and Personality Continued TO properly describe Miss 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 suffrage, 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. Circumstances, 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 likewise positive. Once she felt that she was right her opin- ions became fixed. She must be absolutely con- vinced of error before it was possible 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 Page Forty Character and Personality of which Miss Fielde was an active member, wrote of this characteristic: "We talk, discuss and argue a proposition until the matter seems exhausted; and, in the end, Miss 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 rainy 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 Forty-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 weapons. The lights were turned out, leav- ing the place in total darkness; and a riot call was sent in to police headquarters. "Miss Fielde!" I screamed, trying to raise my voice above the tumult, "let's get out of here." Pago Forty-Two Character and Personality "No, no!" she answered; "this 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 movement, 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. Page 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 the 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 potent in its claims upon 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 Character and Personality by the men and women of the class to which hom- age is paid, and that the homage paid is that of spiritual fealty rather than that of material dis- play. It 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 afford 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 ideals of man, far more influential upon him than are his usual ideas, have been formed mainly by the privileged class. All below this class look up to it to see what it does with its leis- Pag-o Forty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 carrying 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 Page 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 thule 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 proposed attempts to de- velop the latter without change in the fundamental principles. But first of all she was human. She had a "de- cent respect" 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 Socialism or Syndicalism. I believe it is the duty of every American to carefully in- quire into and learn the causes why so many of Page Forty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Syndicalism 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 Oilman writes of her: "She was a woman to whom the word great de- servedty applied; a great character, strong, wise, courageous, progressive. I have never known a woman more richly 'human.' There are many women sweet and good, even able along certain lines, yet still more feminine than human; 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. Page Forty-Eight Life of Adele Marion Fielde " Besides all this she was a likable* person, with hosts of friends, and this popularity she retained to her latest years^ Such a life is an inspiration and an example/' Page 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 upon 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 power. 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- sponsiveness to the law of uniformity. Actuated by a general interest in scientific disclosure rather Page 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 Lodge, the heads of the American and Eng- lish Societies for Psychical Research, respectively. In her letter of instruction to these scientists, ac- companying 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, 1907. "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 I 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 Page Fifty-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde under high green pine trees in a wide forest, where the ground was everywhere 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 cobwebs. 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 and 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 spot in the forest where the dream be- gan, it there ceased and I slept. "I have always felt that this dream was prophet- Page Fifty-Two A Psychic Experience 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 unlike 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 experiencd, 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- Page Fifty-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 "great 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. Page Fifty-Five CHAPTER FIVE Attending the Normal College; Friendship With Miss Chilcott; Engagement to Cyrus Chilcott. IN 1858 Miss Fielde attended the State Normal School at Albany, from which she was grad- uated in 1 860. 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 1858, Dell and I 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 sympathy was created and we became -warm friends and remained together until we graduated. "She was a close student and was very popular Page Fifty-Six Engagement to Cyrus Chilcott with both teachers and pupils but her close applica- tion to her lessons did not prevent her enjoyment 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 1 year 1 after Miss Fielde finished. In speaking of Miss Fielde's college career, Mrs. Magill said: "Miss Fielde was an exceptionally good student, highly Page Fifty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 MISS FIELDE IN 1864 Engagement to Cyrus Chilcott Chilcott's 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 sympathies 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- Page Fifty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde sacrifice; 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 especially 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- Page Sixty Engagement to Cyrus 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 twice-born than to repose under a Bo tree. But I admit that a graceful attitude under 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- Page 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 Page Sixty-Two Engagement to Cyrus Chilcott 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 Page Sixty-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde reached our destination on Christmas Eve, fourteen 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 Page Sixty-Four Engagement to Cyrus Chilcott in January, 1865, 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, 1915; a reproduction of which forms the con- tents of the succeeding chapter. Page Sixty-Five CHAPTER SIX A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fielde'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. There were then no passenger steamers crossing the Pacific. The 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. The 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 Sixty-Six A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fielde's 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 Kiernan and wife going to Chin Kiang, where he would be Consul; Mr. and Miss Sands of Brooklyn, brother and sist- er of Mrs. Kiernan; 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. Then 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. The initial indications pointed truly. Never was there cabin- mate more durably companionable than was Miss Sands. Page Sixty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde "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. There 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. There were four private cab- ins on each side of the dining-saloon and Miss Sands and I had the one nearest the stern 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 belaying 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. "Early 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- Pa.se Sixty-Eight A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fielde'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. Then, 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. The 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. The crew had declared from the beginning of the voyage that bad luck would come to a ship carrying so Pa*e Sixty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 against 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 P x age Seventy A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fielde'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. "Finding 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. They 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 Egypt. On the rocks, simulated by gray can- vas heaped 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-On* Life of Adele Marion Fielde deck house. The 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 stern. The 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. The 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. The signal for good-bye was al- ways raised at parting. If the passing vessel flew old glory at its stern, as did the A T . B. Palmer, we did not thereafter look at one another for a while. It is not polite to observe furtive tears. Page Seventy-Two A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fielde's Own Story "Of land we saw only the coast of Brazil and the islands of Tristan da Cunha in the distance. "Then the tanks rusted, and our drinking water became scant, so that the captain decided to go into Cape Town for fresh supplies. 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. These 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. Page Seventy-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde "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 1 883 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. There 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. The 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-Four A Voyage to the Orient; Miss Fielde's 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 partially 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 Kiernan died in America. Mr. Hart became a bishop of his church in North China. The 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, Page Seventy-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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, carven with the records of five decades. But you are essentially the same. Character is the one unchanging thing in the world/ Page Seyenty-Six CHAPTER SEVEN Death of Cyrus Chilcott; 111 at Hongkong 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 1 865. 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- Page Seventy-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde mitted to witness the initial meeting of the reunited lovers. Consequently, with the other passengers who still remained 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. The looked-for, longed-for lover failed to come. The 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. Each of the passengers was examined in turn but none of them proved equal to the under- Page Seventj'-Eight 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. The 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. Then 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. Page Seventy-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde To Miss Fielde the death of Cyrus 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 well 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 one 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 missionary lover's character Page Eighty CYRUS CHILCOTT, MISSIONARY TO THE CHINESE AT BANGKOK, SIAM Death of Cyrus Chilcott to the extent that she 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 memorj' 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- ern 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 Eighty-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 1 866, 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 Bangkok ; that he had been happy in his work and hopeful of his labors; that with the near prospect of death, he had 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 ready to go at the Master's call. He said : '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 was marked with clear- ness of thought and expressed in chosen language with a pathos that made it appear like an inspira- Page Eighty-Two Death of Cyrus Chilcott 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." Page Eighty-Three 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 are 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 admirably describes Miss Fielde's first appearance at the Teloogoo Mission , then under his charge, which is here reproduced: Page 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 with great calmness 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 Eighty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 them, they responded by brief and appropriate re- marks, and united their prayers in her behalf. They all expressed much sympathy in her sorrow and in- terest in her welfare." 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, 1866. "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 Eighty-Six Life in the 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 off 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 Page Eighty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde changes of environment and preparing herself for future usefulness. 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 I 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 Eastern 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- Page Eighty-Eight 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, 1866, 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 > 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 Page Eighty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde glory, that which I delight in possessing 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 off. And, if we listen, we may hear Him answer us: 'Oh, my beloved, I do this only that your soul may i* * 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, 1867. "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." Pagce 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 Kiernan, American consul to Chin Kiang, and Miss Fielde's cabin mate on the "N. 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: "I 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 I 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 I have been very steadily in Bangkok have only been away once, down the coast to see the total eclipse of the sun on August 1 8th. 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 Page Ninety-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Eastern 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 Page 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. Page Ninety-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde "To Christian 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, ! get a burned cut- let for dinner. If 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 Siam' 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 -Four Life in the Orient; Missionary 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- limes go out to dinners or soirees, but usually I think that your quiet moods might find full oppor- tunity for indulgence. "I 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 talk in the other room,* and I cherish pleasant things however improbable." Page 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 acquire 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 Fage 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 than 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, Page Ninety-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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, 'All 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/ ' Page Ninety-Eight 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 Page 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 f ollows : "Bonplassi, May 2nd, 1869. "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 our Lord sends His servants on useless er- rands. I will do mine as faithfully and as well as I can; results rest with Him." Page One Hundred Life in the Orient; Missionary Service 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 I gave the books. "During the rainy season I 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 Pag-e One Hundred One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 1872. 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. Page One Hundred Two CHAPTER NINE Vacation; In the Lecture Field; Return to Swatow (The following verse was taken from the Public Ledger of Philadelphia of November oth, 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 night a Chinese moon distils A weird and mystic light 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, timy flies! The worst of ills Is anodyned by Hope's sweet ray; With calm this thought each bosom fills. 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 1 872 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 lime. 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 Page 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 Lamocks, 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 Harbor. Being ten degrees cooler than Swatow, it has be- come a resort and a retreat for enfeebled foreigners Page 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 "Fielde Lodge/* Miss Fielde was the first occupant of the lodge, she having gone there in 1889 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 Page 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- Paere 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 x 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, Page One Hundred Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Page One Hundred Eight Vacation; In the Lecture Field; Return to Swatow tear 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- buffalo and the zebu, milk, in small quantities, and of poor quality, is procured. The Chinese 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 domestics." 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 Fielde's 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 Hundred Ten CHAPTER TEN The "Biblewomen" 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 depar- 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 Page One Hundred Eleven Life of Adele 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 suffer 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 charge their minds with every passing event, and then, when favorable opportunity 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. Page 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 affliction, 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 Page One Hundred Thirteen Life of Adele Marion Fielde success came; and, then, what a change! 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 differ 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 self-concern 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 Fielde's 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~ Page One Hundred Fourteen The "Biblewomen" 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 Page One Hundred Fifteen Life of Adele Marion Fielde means of organization; with elders in every little church; with the leading members trained in Bible study; and Biblewomen taught in the Word, the Southern 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 offer 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: Page One Hundred Sixteen The "Biblewomen" "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 that 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- Page 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 meandering 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 different 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 differ- 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 Page One Hundred Eighteen 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 passage of time and I have a score, at least, of Chinese women within my sphere of life, who 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." Page One Hundred Nineteen Life of Adele 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 off. 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, 'I often observe the courtesy shown towards ladies by the American and English gentlemen here, and wish that my country women were treated by their men folks with like respect. I hope within a hundred years or more?, 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 Page One Hundred Twenty The "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 country 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 printed article: "Speed says: 'A family is like a tub; it cannot be one unless all 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 staunch, 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 when we were on our way to church. She said that everybody scorns us on this Page One Hundred Twenty-One Life of Adele 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 arranged 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 argument, 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.* " Pag-e One Hundred Twenty-Two CHAPTER ELEVEN Contributions to Chinese Literature; The True God; After Death; Life of Jesus; Book of Genesis; Swatow Dictionary SEVERAL of Miss Fielde's co-workers in mis- sionary service have expressed the belief that Miss Fielde's contributions to Chinese litera- ture were fully equal in volume to her English 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 English. 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- Page One Hundred Twenty-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde lect but from books she acquired a writing know- ledge of Chinese that was nation-wide. This she found valuable in training the Bible women. 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 : Page One Hundred Twenty-Four Contributions to Chinese Literature "Soon after I arrived in Swatow, February 2nd, 1873, 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 English Presbyterians during all the years of my stay in China. Mrs. Alexander Lyall, my old colleague (Miss Sophie Norwood), wrote me in 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. Page One Hundred Twenty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde "The True God" in Chinese Page One Hundred Twenty-Six Contributions to Chinese Literature Translation "The True God" 44 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 likewise made. The animals and wild creatures 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- One Hundred Twenty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde iskes 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 burn 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. "This, 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." 1 'After Death" Translation by Rev. Wm. K. McKibben "After a man dies, there are two places to go. One is a place of misery, the other a place of comfort. The 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 Page One Hundred Twenty-Eig-ht 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 Emperor, 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: Page One Hundred Twenty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde "Swatow, October 6th, 1874. ff "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. The brethren, who accompanied me, remained at the door of the house in which I sat, and spoke to the men, while 1 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. "For 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 Page 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 anything 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 Page One Hundred Thirty-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Eng- 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 type. Page 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. There 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 literary 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 Adele 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. The 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 Empire, 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 Page One Hundred Thirty-Four 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- quain,tance 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: 'To 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 Adele Marion Fielde 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 1877, 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. Page One Hundred Thirty-Six Contributions to Chinese 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's 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- ~Pa.se 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- stonal 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 f ollowing letter, descriptive of one of these trips : '*! am homeward bound from Peh Yah, sixty miles west from Swatow, where I have spent three pleasant days. On my arrival there I found a 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- Page One Hundred Thirty-Eight Contributions to Chinese Literature dried 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 paying visits to her own mother, Mue has proclaimed the Gospel as she had the opportunity, but apparently without marked effect upon her hearers. Page One Hundred Thirty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde "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, I pro- posed 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. I am to imme- 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, 1881. "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 Page 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 I had an eye medicine that would cure the blind. I 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 Page 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 womaij 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 Page One Hundred Forty-Two Contributions to Chinese Literature hobbled off homeward, and I heard her saying as she went, as if to fix them firmly in her memory, the words, * Jesus the Lord!' She had never heard the Gospel before, perhaps she never will hear 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." Page 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 Page 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 surfer 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 lying-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 Fielde's 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 Page One Hundred Forty-Five 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 hpr 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 life. Charles Darwin had published his "Origin of the Species" in 1859. 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 Page One Hundred Forty-Six 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 realms 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 hear 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. Fage 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- ance 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 selecting Page One Hundred Forty-Eight Return to America ladies to go as guardians and teachers of these classes, it was stated, that the prominent requisites were sound physical health, 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 born 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 Page One Hundred Forty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde these social 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 available 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- Page 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 years 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 Fielde "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- page 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 born 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 pecuniary 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/* Page One Hundred Fifty-Three CHAPTER THIRTEEN Studying Medicine; Investigating Organic Evolu- tion; Creating a College 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 different 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 Page 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 : "All the theoretical argument in the world goes down before one ounce of 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 Page 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, 1 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 suffer life-long agony rather than violate her sense of propriety. Page One Hundred Fifty-Six Studying Medicine; Investigating Evolution 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 suffer- ings of these women, I have been looking in Chris- tian 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 afflicted 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, offered 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 Natural 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 Philadelphia 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-effacement 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 could Page One Hundred Fifty-Eight Studying Medicine; Investigating 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, arrange- 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 "A 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, Jayne, and Page 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 Page 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, 1883, 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 Swa- 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 Page One Hundred Sixty-One Life of Adele 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, 1 885. I remember that in the summer of that year, Dr. Harrison Allen asked me if I knew that I was the originator of the new Biological De- partment. "I 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 I 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 I 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 Studying Medicine; Investigating Evolution During all the two years I 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. "Later 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 1885, 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- Page One Hundred Sixty-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 1 885 ; 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 Page 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- fic 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 natural 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 village-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 Page One Hundred Sixty-Six 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. 4 This morning I went for a drive across the moor with Dr. Kite ; then I went wading along shore with Dr. Sharp, finding lovely little crawling things; and then 1 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. *' Page One Hundred Sixty-Seven CHAPTER FOURTEEN Change of Religious Opinion; Enlarged Sphere of Activities; A Dangerous Situation QEPTEMBER 8th, 1885, Miss Fielde left Am- |^^ erica to return to Swatow. In the two years of her stay in the United States she had ex- perienced changes that were akin to regeneration. Her mental horizon had been greatly extended, her moral perceptions ref ortified and her physical health fully restored. Her chief satisfaction in these changes lay in the fact that she now felt better equipped to fill a much greater sphere of usefulness than ever before. While she enjoyed every mo- ment of her vacation she suffered no regrets when it came to an end. Her feelings were characteristi- cally expressed in a letter to Mrs. W. A. Cauldwell, when she wrote: "I simply feel compelled to re- turn to Swatow, having promised my beloved Chinese women that if I were alive and well I would surely come back to them. Flattering openings in my own country appeared, but the wrinkled faces of the dear women always glimmered in the air be- tween me and any turning that led away from them." Two years' application to scientific study and re- search wrought marvelous changes in Miss Fielde's outlook on life, but the changes were largely in Page One Hundred Sixty-Eight Change of Religious Opinion matters of religious opinion, not at all affecting her moral viewpoint. She lifted the veil that had before limited her intellectual perspective, thus en- abling her to discern the hidden problems of the uni- verse in a greater if not wholly different light. In two years she had delved deep enough into biology to read Darwin's writings understandingly and she knew that his disclosures in organic evolution were true. Her own research work justified in her mind his hypothesis regarding the origin of the species; but she found no reason for accepting the conclu- sions of the so-called agnostic scientists regarding the origin of life. She could not believe that the vital principle was the result of some accidental chemical admixture but clung more tenaciously than ever to the biogenetic idea that life is necessarily the product of antecedent life. Nor could she believe that the workings of Natural law obviated the necessity for a creator. She chose rather to look upon evolution as God's method of creation, operating alike in the production of inorganic as well as organic matter. Nature's laws she regarded as merely incidental properties of Nature's forces and she could not con- ceive the forces of Nature as being self-existent and without some sort of responsible source. Her scientific investigations unquestionably Page One Hundred Sixty-Nine Life of Adele 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 hand, 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. Page One Hundred Seventy Change of Religious Opinion It has a genuine affection 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 affection 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, Page One Hundred Seventy-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 1885, 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 Page One Hundred Seventy-Two Change 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 instant's hesitation in carrying out a command, 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 our 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 Page 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 constantly 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 him with her arm uplifted and a sharply delivered com- mand for peace and silence. Finding her absolutely Page One Hundred Seventy-Four Change 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 Page One Hundred Seventy-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde and seventeen different villages, and taught in six hundred and sixty-one different families. Two weeks out of each quarter are spent here in confer- ence with each other and with 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 summer 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 Page One Hundred Seventy-Six 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 Page One Hundred Seventy-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde did not follow as a result. So she began a vigorous campaign 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 1885, 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 Page One Hundred Seventy-Eight 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 eases. * '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 effects 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 suffering that no one else can reach, and give an uplift to hearts that no one else can touch. "Adele M. Fielde." Page One Hundred Eighty CHAPTER FIFTEEN 111 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 Page One Hundred Eighty-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 of China, giving ill-health as her only reason for so doing. Excerpts 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 I was ill and Dr. Courland came and said I had quinsy. A Page One Hundred Eighty-Two Ill 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 "Fielde 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 during 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 Page One Hundred Eighty-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 summer 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 always 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 1 st, 1 889, 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 Page One Hundred Eighty-Four Ill 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 Elliott Road, Calcut- ta, India, writing so that the letter will reach Cal- cutta before the middle of January next. I cannot Page One Hundred Eighty-Five Life of Adele 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 traipsing 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 Page One Hundred Eighty-Six Ill At Fielde Lodge Europeans. Her opinions regarding them was fairly well summed up in a newspaper article, writ- ten by Augusta Larnard and published in the Bos- ton Register, March, 1 894, from which the follow- ing excerpts are taken: "All 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 Page One Hundred Eighty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Page One Hundred Eighty-Eight Ill At Fielde Lodge floods and pestilence. When a Chinese digs a hole in the ground to lay the foundation of his house, he burns 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 country, 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 modern 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 modern 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 modern 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 self-sacrifice.'* Page One Hundred Eighty-Nine CHAPTER SIXTEEN Journey to India; Impressions of That Country; The Taj Mahal r TjT^HERE 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 voyage 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 Page One Hundred Ninety Journey to India 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 England 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 Ninety-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 their 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. Their 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: Page One Hundred Ninety-Two Journey to India "Agra, India, January 27th, 1890. "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 architecture 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. Everything else is of snowy stone, inlaid with carnelian, 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 Page One Hundred Ninety-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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, 1891, Miss Fielde published a further descrip- tion of the Taj : "The Taj is the Mausoleum 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 corner 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, of 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. Page 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 corners 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, crowned 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 corner of the terrace is a tower of white marble exquisitely proportioned, 1 50 feet high, Page One Hundred Ninety-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 arches extend from pedestal to cornice in the center of the four sides, while on either side of these vast arches are two lesser ones, one above the other, matching the similar arches that form and fill the four corners of the pile. All around the structure between its outer and inner circuits of arched alcoves, there runs an arcade 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 Ninety-Six 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 wrought 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. Music infinitely sweet, clear, and soul-touch- ing, was sent back to us for our poor utterance, multifold responses for our single suggestion. 4 'I 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, wrought be- fore and after they built it. Their descendants still continue their craft, and on paying demand, can build or restore equally fine temples." Page One Hundred Ninety-Eight CHAPTER SEVENTEEN In Egypt; The Holy City; Ancient and Modern 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 Egyptian 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 Karnak, Thebes, Edfu and Philae. She sailed from Alexandria for Jaffa, 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 Adele 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 Lord." It was Miss Fielde's 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 wrest a liveli- Fage Two Hundred At Carlsbad 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 Constan- 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 Esdraelon, 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 ! 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- row, Tiberius." Page Two Hundred One Life of Adele Marion Fielde Six days later the following postal card an- nounces that she is on the steamship "Girond-e," 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 effects 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 19th, 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 Smyrna and expect to stay here eight days longer; then we will go direct to Athens, 136 hours; after which, to Carlsbad, reaching the latter place about the 12th of June. "I went up to Tarsus and spent several hours at Page Two Hundred Two At Carlsbad Paul's 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 wrote 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 "Modern 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, 1890. "I 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 modern Greeks are among the most attractive sights: red caps with a long blue tassel; short jackets covered with embroidery in gold thread; fluffy kilts, pointed shoes and long hose." Page Two Hundred Three Life of Adele 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 5th, 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 1 2,00 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 Page Two Hundred Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde wear thick flannels and add my cloak o'mornings. "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 wrote 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 wrote, "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, studying 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 Hundred Six At Carlsbad 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 Page Two Hundred Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 suc- cessfully 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 the German Social System; In Berlin; Death 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 she defined the difference between the German social compact and that of the United States. "German paternal- ism," she said, "makes society responsible for the well-being of the individual; while American dem- ocracy holds the individual responsible for the 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 she uses the argument that "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 Page Two Hundred Nine 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 their 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 1 st, 1 891 , 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, offer 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 German System 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, 1 890, Miss Fielde took up her resi- dence in Berlin for the 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 Life of Adele Marion Fielde lin, but other selected subjects, also devoting con- siderable time to desultory reading. She also sys- tematically gave five hours each week to sight-see- ing and to other forms of amusement. Of those 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 Hy genie 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 Royal 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 lived in the enlightened worlds 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. I do not think I shall ever learn to speak German. It is harder than Chinese; and I do not care to take so Page Two Hundred Twelve Studying the German System much time for what is after all, not knowledge but only a tool for the acquisition of knowledge. 4 '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 car 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 companion, 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 depression of spirits from which she suffered keen- ly. On May 1 1 th, 1 89 1 , she 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 Syria, 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 Page Two Hundred Thirteen Life of Adele 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 departed 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- Page Two Hundred Fourteen Studying the German System ing any of them. I think I shall start in three 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.'* Page Two Hundred Fifteen CHAPTER NINETEEN Travel in Russia; Jew-baiting; Invoking 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 Russia. 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 Fage Two Hundred Sixteen Travel in Russia to determine the guilt 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 1 6th, 1 89 1 , Miss Fielde's 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- rible outrages. Subsequently, Seer etary-of -State Elaine 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 communities were made to suf- Page 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 Page 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. Their 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 Page Two Hundred Nineteen Life of Adele 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, born 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 Travel 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 Jtt 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 5th and remained Page Two Hundred Twenty-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Eu- rope, but lingered there a week because of her in- terest in the relics of the Norsemen. On July 5th she went to Hammer fest, 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 1 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 Fielde's 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 Travels in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers IN a letter from Paris dated December 2 1 st, 1 89 1 , 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. The clientele, of course, is constantly changing ; but of those who are older inhabitants than I, there is an ancient French countess with 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. "Then 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 fellow-boarder. We also have a youngish child of Israel, born of a German father and French mother, in America, and possessing the advantage of being able to speak 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- Page Two Hundred Twenty-Four Travels 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 Pere 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 'The 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 everything 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 Theatre 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 there 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 Adele Marion Fielde 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 havQ 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- rage Two Hundred Twenty-Six Travels in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers raptured by picturesque costumes and curious cus- toms. Therefore I am expecting great delight 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 thousand 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 Page Two Hundred Twenty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde Titian ; to the best picture galleries and had repeat- edly fed the pigeons on the Piazzetta. Soon after another note states that *'we went over to Ravenna, where St. Appolinaris, a disciple of St. Peter, preached in the year 44; to Dante's 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 j'ears 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 tfiat 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 Mediterranean; Page Two Hundred Twenty-Eight Travels 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, 1892: "I 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 1 st. Here she says, "We came from Cadiz, a six hours sail across to this queer corner 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 Page 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, peaked-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." Escorial, she did not find sq bright and interest- ing. On the 1 Oth 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 Travels in France, Spain, Italy and Algiers on a gridiron after he had fried tens of thousands of other saints because they differed 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 Eisenach 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- tle 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; Dra wing-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 efforts 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, 1893, to hear Miss Fielde discuss Chinese Civilization and kindred topics. The affair 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 offered 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- Pagre 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 Esperanto;" "The International Con- ference Concerning Morocco;" "The New Theory of the Origin of the Species;" "Civilization in Page Two Hundred Thirty-Four Return to America Siam;" "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;" "Effects 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 New 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 Empire 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 was 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 was 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- Page Two Hundred Thirty-Six 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 money she would donate to the cause. After a short, rapid calculation, she replied with a humor- ous affectation 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 1892 and my going West in 1 907, I spent nine summers, four months each, at Wood's Hole, Massachusetts, studying or in original research at the Marine Bio- logical Laboratory. In 1 894 I took the course in Embryology 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. Gilman A. Drew, assistant director, has resided permanently at Wood's Hole." Page Two Hundred Thirty-Seven CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The League For Political Education; Its Organiza- 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 organiza- tion of the League was the outgrowth of a vigorous campaign for woman's suffrage in which the pro- suffrage 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 Fage Two Hundred Thirty-Eight The League for Political 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- suffrage 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 suffrage 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 organization of the League was effected. 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 AH Haggin, 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. The 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. Page Two Hundred Forty The League for Political Education ' '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 suffrage. My own view is that all native-born, self-supporting women should be enfranchised. This, however, is not a suffrage league, although the majority of the members thus far are suffragists, and the officers of the league are the same women who comprised the Voluntary Committee of the suffrage 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 Page Two Hundred Forty-One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 suffrage 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 Corner 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 career. The work of the League was so systematized that membership could be had by the payment of a Page 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 affairs 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 City 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, Page 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 Fielde '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 offenses on the part of others by a wise hint or unobtrusive suggestion that carried with it none of the discomforting effects 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 Page Two Hundred Forty-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde anniversary, each year of its existence having wit- nessed an increased 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 Activities, 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 Warner, 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 Kropotkin, Rev. Robert Hugh Benson, Ellen Terry, J. Forbes Robinson, Lyman Page Two Hundred Forty-Bight 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 Erskine 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. Fag-e Two Hundred Forty-Nine CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Miss Fielde As a Writer MISS FIELDE 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 tenacity 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 English equival- ents to Chinese words as to English speaking deni- zens, missionaries, tourists, traders and consular Page Two Hundred Fifty Miss Fielde 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 Corner of Cathay/* Of this volume, The Boston Courier of October 21st, 1894, 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 Page Two Hundred Fifty-one Life of Adele Marion Fielde so 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 all 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 Miss Fielde as a Writer derful 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 anywhere on them without being instantly fastened to the strangely original matter exploited so effectively 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 Fielde's 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 Page Two Hundred Fifty-three Life of Adele 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-eyed 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 illustrated 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 Miss 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 Presbyterian Messenger, of London, Eng- land, says of "Pagoda Shadows": Page Two Hundred Fifty-five Life of Adele Marion Fielde "This 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 we 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- sbme 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 partaken 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 Page Two Hundred Fifty-six Miss Fielde as a Writer people with a living sympathy, and take a practical interest in their welfare. Miss Fielde's 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 sympathetic 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 Page Two Hundred Fifty-seven 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 New Repub- lic. 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, trained, 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-eight Miss Fielde as 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. Page Two Hundred Fifty nine CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Miss Fielde As a Scientist TO PROPERLY appraise Miss Fielde's attain- ments in science or her achievements in the research work of that department of knowl- 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 Miss Fielde as a Scientist 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 fakirs, 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 Page Two Hundred Sixty-one Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 1900 to 1907 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 Miss Fielde as a Scientist An article on the Memory of Ants, published in the New York Tribune, December 25, 1 904, 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 grws 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 six-legged 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 least 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, Page Two Hundred Sixty-three Life of Adele Marion Fielde the nest is covered with opaque 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 'Fight all strangers on smell and begin first.' Page Two Hundred Sixty-four Miss Fielde as a Scientist 44 Ants 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 probably due to the practice of the tribes of raiding each other's nests 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. 4< 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 Page Two Hundred Sixty-five 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 Page Two Hundred Sixty-six Miss Fielde as a Scientist of smaller size. These have such a strong mater- nal instinct that when danger 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 trying 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- Page Two Hundred Sixty-seven Life of Adele 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 unclean 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 Sixty-eight Miss Fielde as a Scientist care for. Then she removed one, to see what the other would do if she would appear 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. The excerpts are here reproduced as follows : "Adele M. Fielde, author, linguist, scholar, scien- tist, friend has solved triumphantly the problems life has presented to her, and by her own efforts has reached a position that 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- Page Two Hundred Sixty-nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde ers 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, saying, Page Two Hundred Seventy Miss Fielde as a Scientist '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. I 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 I trample down, as I 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 I 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 Page Two Hundred Seventy-one Life of Adele Marion Fielde and following her advice will not involve one in difficulties. When giving advice, by the way, she usually ascertains just about what you intend 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 'Follow Through/ ' Page Two Hundred Serenty-two CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Her Religious Beliefs MISS FIELDE was intensely religious. She regarded religion as the most important de- partment 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 impatient 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 tliule 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- Page 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." Page Two Hundred Seventy-four Her Religious Beliefs The synoptic Gospels she was disposed to regard as true in all essential particulars. The art of liter- ary criticism, she thought, 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. Page Two Hundred Seventy-five Life of Adele Marion Fielde Her appreciation of the 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 pass 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 I 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 Page 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. Excerpts from the letter are here published for the first time: "The art of the old masters is not equalled by any moderns. More than that, you will never see art at its highest except in Europe. Oh, the sculp- tures of Greece and old Rome ! 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- Page 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 passed 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 creed. 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-eight 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, apart 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 pale. But there remains still the fact that the highest order of Page 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 taught me, I should not expect to find among them the highest type 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, pastor 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 Enterprise 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 Page Two Hundred Eighty Her Religious Beliefs Hebrew elements. In a blundering way, I follow 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 papers 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 separation 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 Page Two Hundred Eighty-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 know 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's 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 passes 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. Page Two Hundred Eighty-two Her Religious 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 stern 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 early happy missionary days come to expression." Page Two Hundred Eighty-three CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Philosophy and Psychology THE advancement of the race from the King- dom of Earth to the "Kingdom to Come," was Miss Fielde's idea of the purposes of hu- man existence. In fact, she thought all forms of life had been designed with this destiny in view. 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 parent 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 Page Two Hundred Eighty-four Philosophy 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 Eighty-five 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 dissipation 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 which natural science has, as yet, made no satisfactory F!age Two Hundred Eighty-six Philosophy and 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 England, 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 Page Two Hundred Eighty-seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde of the objective to the subjective. She could not decide whether the objective was an entity, coor- dinate and coeternal 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 phenomena 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 super- 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 was 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, which 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 that 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 known Page Two Hundred Eighty-eight 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, Fage Two Hundred Eighty-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, Can- nabis Indica, grown in a tropical climate. In Siam this plant, 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 1868 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, and was able to secure myself against observa- tion or interruption. I extemporized a pipe, and smoked six thimblefuls of the bang cha. The smoke Page Two Hundred Ninety Philosophy and Psychology 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 then 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- Page Two Hundred Ninety-one Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 playing 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 I 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 different points as to appear to be two different 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 Page Two Hundred Ninety-two Philosophy 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 effect. 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 semblance 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 Page Two Hundred Ninety-three Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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- Page Two Hundred Ninety-four Philosophy and Psychology 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 kang clia, 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, though faintly set forth, may add something to the data from which the problem of consciousness is to be studied and solved.*' Page Two Hundred Ninety-five CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Leaving New York; Seattle; Alaska ON June 10th, 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, newer and greater spheres of human usefulness, newer and greater opportunities for doing good, was con- stantly before her. The opinion obtains among Miss Fieide'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 years, 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 Page Two Hundred Ninety-six Leaving New York; 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: "I 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 effects 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 "burned her bridges.** One of the car- dinal principles of her domestic econom}' 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 Adele Marion 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-Intelligencer, September 28th, 1907, from which the following is an 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 inanimate objects on the soul. Last year I visited two New England spinsters, each of whom was the only survivor of her colonial ancestors. Each had a house crowded 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 ancient mariners from distant lands. Each woman, gray-haired and solitary, had spent her years chiefly in keeping moth and rust from 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-eight Leaving New York; Seattle; Alaska Quoting from Miss Fielde's 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 than 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 Fielde quietly and comfortably during the summer 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. Page Three Hundred SNAP-SHOT OF MISS FIELDE TAKEN BY DR. CORA SMITH KING, NEAR FORT LAWTON, OCT., 1907, SOON AFTER MISS FIELDE'S ARRIVAL AT SEATTLE 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 summer 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, 1 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 Page Three Hundred One Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 I 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 summer insects. The food is mostly tinned stuff, 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, I am glad I went. It was fun to be carried ashore at Nome in the arms of a giant. And when I again took ship, I 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 I seen so strange a gathering. But the thrilling hours have been those in which I 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 I was in Alaska I 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. Page Three Hundred Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 Englishman; 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." Page 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 became 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 modern 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 Fielde's membership, no changes were made. Page Three Hundred Five CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Civic Activities; Sanitation; Public Health; 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. Page Three Hundred Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde Acting on my principle of living where I am, I have studied Seattle, and become a part of it. That is all I have done. "When I first arrived, the health conditions were 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 would support an ordinance of the City Council, creating an isolation hospital, for the care of sufferers from contagious diseases. With a letter of introduction from him, 1 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 15, 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 Council. 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. E. 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 Page Three Hundred Eight 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 off 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 advisory committee of the Organized Charities, and Page Three Hundred Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde so heard much concerning the stress of the time of panic. On January 19th, 1908, a Seattle news- paper contained my plea of State employment 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 power- 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 ! ) 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 gardening. A committee 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 I arrived here, I was asked by the (New Haven) secretary of the Committee of One Hundred to be one in the Author's League, work- Page Three Hundred Eleven Life of Adele Marion Fielde ing for the establishment 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. "I think my largest undertaking has been that for the furtherance of direct legislation in this state. Last August I attended a meeting in the Exposition 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 I would work by myself awhile. So I wrote the pamphlet Page Three Hundred Twelve Civic Activities you have received, eight pages long, addressed to voters. It was first printed on November 13,1 909, 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 legisla- 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 Page 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 Enfranchised* was printed in a large number of newspapers 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 1 00 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? Page Three Hundred Fourteen Civic Activities "Really, 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 1 like to do what you ask from me, so I send the pages on to you. "Ever most affectionately yours, "Adele M. Fielde." Page 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 entertainingly 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 said: "Last Tuesday, with many other women-suf- fragists, I stood for hours in the rain to ask the men who approached the polling places whether they Page 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-born men, whose speech 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 Adele Marion Fielde clined to mortgage my future estate. Every man was courteous to me, even a tipsy one, who 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 scorner, 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 would 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- Page Three Hundred Eighteen The Equal Suffrage 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 born in New York, and I have been en- franchised in Washington. It is better to be en- franchised than to be born; because being enfran- chised is a certain good, consciously enjoyed, while being born 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. Page Three Hundred Nineteen Life of Adele Marion Fielde Fortunately the City Charter of Seattle provided 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 was relieved for the time being. After equal suffrage had been gained, Miss Fielde readily foresaw that the enfranchisement of women was little more than a promise of better things to come rather than the present 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 Suffrage 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 suffrage, 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 Platt, 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 Page Three Hundred Twenty-One Life of Adele 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 as 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 Page 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 Fraternal ism;" "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 191 1, but in that time it had served the purpose for which it was Page Three Hundred Twenty-Three Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 which 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's 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 Page 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 Page Three Hundred Twenty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 fairly well described the cooperation of the workers and the coordination of the work they ac- complished in a magazine article written in the summer 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 when 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 Page Three Hundred Twenty-Six The Equal Suffrage 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 six lengthy newspaper articles on 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 oS- H * Pi H H EH H 02 O .*, CHAPTER THIRTY Return to Seattle; the Prohibition Campaign; Trustee on Library Board; the Western Woman'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 \V. 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 Fielde 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 was 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 was based my attendance at an informal, very in- formal, dinner, last evening, where fifty persons were present, and I the only woman among them. Page Three Hundred Thirty Return to Seattle; Prohibition 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 1 91 2 and 1 91 3, 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 omni- verous reader and possessed unusual catholicity of taste in literature; but she read only the very 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 thousand envelopes and stuffing them with 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 remaining 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- Page Three Hundred Thirty-Four Return to Seattle; Prohibition 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 Gill's 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 far 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- ern Woman's Outlook referred to the incident in an editorial, from which the following is taken: Page Three Hundred Thirty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde "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- Page Three Hundred Thirty-Six 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. During this interval the matter was taken into the Page Three Hundred Thirty-Seven Life of Adele 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: "I 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 Page Three Hundred Thirty-Eight Return to Seattle; Prohibition 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, "G Allen Dale." To which Miss Fielde replied: 44 My Dear Mr. Dale: 44 I thank you for, and heartily reciprocate, your kindly wish that I may have a happy year. 44 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. Page Three Hundred Thirty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde "Within ten years, 'we, the people' of Washing- ton, have gained equal suffrage; the initiative and 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 pamphlet committee will not have to raise the money, as well as do all the work involved. "I share your right aspiration that 'justice may be done, one toward the other.' "Sincerely yours, "Adele M. Fielde." Page Three Hundred Forty CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents 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 City. Her first meeting with this lady took place sometime in 1870, on Miss Fielde's 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, were 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 praying 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 Barnum'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. Page 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 Corner of Cathay/* which reads thus: "To Mrs. E. M. Cauldwell, whose patient love, steadfast as the stars, self-lighted far away, Illumined for me, through all the years My Corner of Cathay." Mrs. Cauldwell contributed generous financial aid to all of Miss Fielde's projects of missionary im- provements and advancements in the Far East. 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 supplying the entire cost of building Fielde Lodge. It was Mrs. Cauldwell who 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 employment but was the means of bringing her in contact with persons Page Three Hundred Forty-Four Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents 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 sympathy 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." Page Three Hundred Forty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde As before stated, Miss Fielde'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, 1914, as follows: "I 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 breakfast. 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." Page Three Hundred Forty-Six Intimate Friendships; Social Incidents While wintering in Tucson, Arizona, Miss Fielde received the news of Mrs. William A. Cauldwell's serious illness. Under date of December 1 5th, 1911, she replied to a letter written by Mrs. Ed- ward M. Foote, Mrs. Cauldwell's 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 mother. 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 typhoon, 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! This world no longer of- fers a future, glittering with possible betterment. I am an exceptionally happy woman; but I 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-Seven Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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. "Christmas will bring me many thoughts of you and yours, 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, I 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's 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 I 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 keep 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 failed 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- Pagre Three Hundred Forty-Nine Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 went 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 Incidents 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 ripened 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 modern 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 Hamilton 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 Fielde 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- Pagre 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 1 885-6. 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 respective 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- dicate 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 with 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 1th, 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. 44 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 Page Three Hundred Fifty-Four Intimate Friendships; 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. 44 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, then strolled a couple of hours over the grounds enjoying 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. 4 'She was indeed wonderful, her mentality simply Page Three Hundred Fifty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde 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 off 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." Page Three Hundred Fifty-Six CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Her Final Work IN the final two years of her life on earth Miss Fielde devoted her efforts 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-effacement 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! 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 modern 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 1915 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 Page Three Hundred Fifty-Eight Her Final 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 effective 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 the while 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 Page 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 I 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 Page Three Hundred Sixty Her Final 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.' The 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 Page Three Hundred Sixty-One Life of Adele 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 : 1 'Probably the greatest joys and the deepest 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. 1 '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 Northwest, 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. 1 '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. Pagre Three Hundred Sixty-Two Her Final Work 4 '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. 1 'By a generous effort, 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 Fage Three Hundred Sixty-Three Life of Adele 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 efforts 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 effort 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. I 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 enjoying 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- Fage Three Hundred Sixty-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde tary Breakfast," a social function given to celebrate 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 Braeburn, 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 effort to the success of that movement. When victory was finally won at the polls in No- vember, 1915, she was very happy, feeling that she had been singularly blessed in being permitted to *The interest manifested 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, is also doing 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 suffered 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 carrying 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 help and keep America.' In my heartsickness I have turned again to my beloved natural sciences Page 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 born in the same year as was I. My contemporaries are falling like leaves in Au- tumn." The writer hereof spent the evening of February 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 Page 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 effect 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 I am afflicted 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 1 ? 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 Eastern 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 Philadelphia; and were in real- ity gems of literary art, expressing as they did the most beautiful sentiments of philosophic vision and Page 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 suffer 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 Fielde 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. The patient herself decreed that the normal life of the household should be maintained. There were 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. I have many friends 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 passing.*' One day in discussing self-destruction and the use of opiates in that connection with the nurse she said: 4< I believe that in the world to which I am to go preparations are being made for me just as my mother awaited my infant advent. If everything was ready I would automatically go hence. I was born into this life at full time and I want to go into my next life at full time in order that my develop- ment may be complete. I do not want to enter a weakling as one does who goes prematurely." Page Three Hundred Seventy-Two Her 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 Murnan, 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. Page 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- Page Three Hundred Seventy-Four Her 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 from 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 Murnan 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 affair. 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 Seventy-Five Life of Adele Marion Fielde ite hymns 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 poems, 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: Page 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." Page Three Hundred Seventy-Seven 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. dFP 1 1 HP 17 Q J. UCU * JL 1*300 o fit 5-&6-4P 1 BEC.CIR.SEP 2578 'JUL25 LD 21A-60m-3,'65 (F2336slO)476B General Library University of California Berkeley YO U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES UNIVERSITY QF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY