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. 
 
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 l|aa no prog^ ng, b.aa to takf a ^tatf aa b.?r broob, 
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 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 
 
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 'JUL25 
 
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