Memorial biography of Adele M. Fielde, , humanitarian, by Helen Norton Stevens

Contents

Page Preface 7

Introduction 9

Chapters

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 perpetuating a great influence for good. By using an illustrious example it endeavors to portray the grandeur of an unselfish life. It seeks to emphasize 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 human 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 admirers 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 Stevens, Mrs. E. M. Foote, ^ T , ^ .„

Mr. Robert Erskiie Ely. Mrs' John Erlkson'

__ w Mrs. Kenelm Winslow,

_ ™L™TA 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. Mrs. 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 woman. 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 advancement of the race and the determination of human destiny. Both her religious beliefs and scientific convictions served to support this doctrine. Religion taught her that our nearness to God is in proportion 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 headship 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 passions, 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 achievements 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 acquired 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 authority 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 before she reached middle-age. The accepted Scriptural 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 orthodox dogma which provides future awards for righteous conduct and future punishments for unrighteous persons. In other words, she reached a stage in her development sometimes described as the Religious 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, uncharted place of anchorage. The change is always attended 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 descendants to the new order of things.

Miss Fielde wasted no time in vain gropings and suffered neither moral reversion nor intellectual atrophy. When the Word of God failed to satisfy her desire to know the truth she immediately 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 scientific 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 knowledge she acquired from her scientific researches supplemented and illuminated the subjective wisdom she possessed as a religious heritage.

On one memorable occasion she was asked what effect her scientific attainments had had on her religious 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 marvelous 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 belief 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 absolute annihilation, and, it seems to me, that it is unreasonable 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 political 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. Because 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 obligations 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 contrary, 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 potential 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 function as a conscientious duty, each proud of the privilege that gave him equal participation in the conduct 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 official 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 elements. 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 traditions, 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 citizens 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 American ideals rehabilitated and patriotism reawakened. She resolved at once to initiate a movement for making this experiment.

She fully appreciated the difficulties of the undertaking 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 organized predacity. She also knew that this corrupt system was thoroughly established and that she would be engaging in a war with organized greed, vested interest and entrenched conservatism. But she did not falter. With courage surpassing that of a knight of medieval fame she challenged the field and won.

It is impossible to estimate the measure of credit to which Miss Fielde is entitled for the comparatively 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 organization" is no longer a dependable machine. On the other hand, The League for Political Education, of which Miss Fielde was one of the founders 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 official corruption. Many of the legislative enactments were framed with a view of increasing private 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 afforded her a long-wished for opportunity for political

Page Seventeen house-cleaning, of which she took instant advantage. She proceeded without delay to organize the newly qualified voters of the State into political study clubs, legislative committees, good government 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 legislation, workmen's compensation, protective insurance, widows' pensions, suppression of prostitution, 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

CHAPTER ONE Ancestry, Birth and Parentage

DURING the formative period of the American 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 surroundings, 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 environment. 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 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 ancestors.

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 generation, 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 possess little indicative value. For a further and, perhaps, 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 associates, 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 patronymic 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 Jonathan 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 principle of hereditary virtue. It has been authentically found that Jonathan Edwards and his wife

Page Twenty-One were the progenitors, near and remote, of six hundred descendants; that fully one-half of that number 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 institution, 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 glorious 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 British 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 intellectual 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 declares 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 pression. He learned the carpenter's and painter'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 familiar 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 unusual culture. True, being of pioneer life and extraction, 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, Milton, Addison, Johnson, Scott, Hawthorne, Cooper, 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 vexations and even at the more serious privations of her uninteresting career, but she never ridiculed persons. She resembled her celebrated daughter

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

Five children were born to the home of Leighton 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 ability. 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 before he became fully mature, too young to have achieved any very pronounced literary success. Clarinda was another talented member of the family. Her tastes were scientific. She made astronomy 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 except her daughter, Adele, who is now living in Albany, 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 agricultural 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 cultural center. Here was maintained a common school, a town hall and a union church, the latter being the common place of worship for the Baptists, Methodists and Universalists.

Obviously the citizens of South Rutland were ex-

Page Twenty-Seven ceptionally liberal in their sectarian convictions, and, undoubtedly, any other religious denomination besides those enumerated might have had the use of the church edifice if desired, except the Roman Catholic. It is a matter of record that the community was not so tolerant of Catholicism. The inhabitants were largely made-up of the descendants of the Puritan colonists, and even at that comparatively late day, the prejudice against the Catholic 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 Universalists, though her parents and other members of the family were Baptists. At that period in her career she was strongly sectarian, strict in the performance 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 difficult of them all to overcome in later life, persisting long after she had freed herself from the narrowing influence of creed and had discontinued the performance of the rites and ceremonies of Protestant 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

While attending an institution of applied biology 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 appreciation of literature, paintings, sculpture, music and the drama, teacher and pupil were of equal development 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 prejudice against Catholicism and in their daily converse often tried to soften it by representing the ancient faith in its better and brighter lights. Unfortunately she mistook his purpose for an attempt to convert her to his own religious views, and not unfrequently became bitter and sarcastic in resenting these supposed efforts.

One day, as the professor himself told the writer hereof, she came into his class room somewhat later 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 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 too, disappeared; returning after a time quite meek and subdued.

"Dr. ," she said, again reverting to the objectionable 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 older. She had a very large head, masculine in its proportions, and her features were decidedly irregular. At first sight she impressed one as being positively homely; but her looks improved as acquaintance with her became more extended. Her face was singularly expressive, seldom in repose, and in moments of inspirational excitement it reflected the grandeur of her character to such an extent that it was exceptionally attractive. She possessed 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 advanced civilization and highest culture.