Representative women of New England/Elida R. Fowle
ELIDA RUMSEY FOWLE. philanthropic worker, one of the founders, in 1863, of the Soldiers' Free Library and Reading Room in Washington, D.C., has been for the past fifteen years, with her husband, Mr. John A. Fowle, a resident of Dorchester, Mass. She was born in New York City, June 6, 1842, daughter of John Wickliffe and Mary Agnes (Underbill) Rumsey.
In 1861 her parents removed to Washing-Ion. Her mother was constant in works of love among the soldiers of the Civil War, and Miss Ruinsey (now Mrs. Fowle) soon began visiting the hospitals with a desire to add sunshine to the dreary days of the sick and wounded. Realizing that her musical talents could be of service, she sang to them songs that were an inspiration. Men released from Libby Prison and located temporarily at the Soldiers' Rest she aroused from a state of apathy and gloom to one of courage and hope. Forming plans for improving the condition of the convalescents and other soldiers stationed at Washington, she received the co-operation of Mr. John A. Fowle, who held a position in the Navy Department at Washington. They established a Sunday evening prayer meeting in Columbian College hospital, an upper room in "Auntie Pomoroy's" ward being assigned for the purpose. It was crowded every night, and overflow meetings were held in a grove near by. A report of these gatherings in "Our Army Nurses" says: "The interest steadily increased, the boys often doing double duty in order to be present. The enthusiasm of the soldiers could not be repressed when Miss Rumsey's sweet voice stirred their souls and rekindled the noble, self-sacrificing spirit that had brought them to such a place; and cheers shook the very walls."
Miss Rumsey also saw active service among the wounded and dying on the battle-field. Mr. Frank Moore, in "Women of the War," gives the following account <if her work after the second battle of Bull Run, fought August 30, 1862: "Mr. Fowle obtained an ambulance, and Miss Rumsey loaded it with some four hundred and fifty loaves of bread, meat, spirits of all kinds, bandages, lint, shirts, and other stores. Leaving Washington late on Saturday afternoon, they drove out by way of Bailey's Cross-roads, and reached Centreville very early on Sunday morning. They halted at a little building near the road, which was already nearly full of the wounded. . . . For some time Miss Rumsey renained in the ambulance, giving out bread to the famishing boys, who crowded around as soon as it was known there was anything to be eaten there. Most of them had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, and were hopelessly separated from their supply trains. After she had given out most of the bread and other eatables, she stepped down from the ambulance, and went inside to see if she could be of any use to the suffering." The terrible odor and scenes of suffering caused her to faint, hut upon recovering she chided her- self, saying: "To think that I have come all this way from Washington to bind up the wounds of these soldiers, and here the first case of running blood I see I have to become help- less. I won't faint. I will go back, and work among these poor fellows. That's what I came for, and I'm determined to accomplish some- thing."
During the year 1862 a great many books, papers, and magazines, received from friends in the North, were distributed by Mi.ss Rum.sey and Mr. Fowle in their hospital visits. In a little more than a year they thus disposed of two thousand three hundretl and seventy-one Bibles and Testaments, one thousand six hun- dred and seventy-fie books and magazines, forty thousand tracts, thirty-five tliousand papers, twenty-five reams of writing paper, nine thousand envelopes, also (juantities of clothing, sheets, wines, and jellies. In the same period they conducted nearly two thou- sand singing meetings at hospitals or in camp. There were times when thirty-four thousand sick, wounded, or convalescent soldiers were gathered in Wa.shington, nearly all of whom could read. Many were able to travel through the streets on crutches, and others could walk a .short distance unaided. For the benefit of these disabled patriots Miss Rumsey, Mr. Fowle, and Mrs. Walter Baker, of Dorchester, Ma.ss., conceived the idea of establishing a free library. To this end Miss Rumsey and Mr. Fowle gave in Washington, Boston, and other places, a number of patriotic vocal concerts, the i)rin- cipal feature of which was the songs of Miss Rumsey, and particularly those stirring ami patriotic airs which she had sung to so manj' of the soldiers.
In the meantime a petition was sent to Con- gress asking permission to erect a library build- ing on land in .Judiciary Square. The result is seen in the following resolution- "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United. States of America in Congress as- sembled,
"That the Secretary of the Interior be and is hereby authorized to grant to John A. Fowle and Elida B. Rum.sey the use of a portion of the land owned by the United States and known as 'Judiciary Square,' to erect thereon, free from charge to the Ignited States, a suitable building for a soldiers' free library and reading- room for .soldiers; provided that the same can be done without prejudice to the public inter- ests, and provided that the expenses shall be borne by said Fowle and Rumsey, and that all benefits and privileges of such library and reading-room be granted to our soldiers free of charge, and that said building be removed whenever the Secretary of the Interior shall require the same to be done.
"Approved January 13, 1863."
Mr. Fowle and Miss Rumsey continued their concerts, the proceeds of which, with one hun- dred dollars contributed l)y Mrs. Walter Baker and sums from other friends, enabled them to erect the builtling. It contained a libiary room, a room for hospital stores, and a reading-room, and was dedicated Sunday evening, March 1, with aiipropriate ceremonies. A circular ap- pealing for funds and books received a generous response. The first books were received from four little girls in Dorchester, Ma,ss. Mrs. 'alter Baker sent eight hundred volumes, and through the efforts of other friends, together with receipts from concerts, six thousand vol- umes of good reading matter were in the library before the close of the war. Miss Rumsej' served as librarian for a while, but later con- valescents from the hospitals were detailed for this position.
Miss Rumsey's daily journal of March, 1863, gives information of interest: "Number of bortks about five thousand, all covered, num- bered and catalogued. Reading-room opened daily from 9 a.m. State papers kept on file. The decorations of the hall the donations of soldiers' friends at the North. Writing pajjci-, ])en, and ink always to be found on tahles for u.se of soldiers. On an average fifty letters sent to the post-office daily.
"A soldiers' prayer and conference meet ing Sunday afternoons. Room accommodates about four hundred with comfortable settees. Soldiers take an active part. Citizens, too, attend these meetings, and the citizens cheer the soldiers. Tuesday evenings a soldiers' con- cert, the room always crowded. The use of the building free to all soldiers, State associations, and all benevolent objects. The privi- lege of fifty volumes or more is offered to the chaplain and friends, to be distributed in hospi- tals out of the city, to be returned or exchanged for others within two weeks.
"The store-room in the building always con- tains a goodly supply of articles suitable for the soldiers' use, and is often replenished by the noble women of the North."
A soldiers' church was formed, having about two hundred members, of all denominations; and to each soldier member of the little free library church was given a small certificate, having a picture of the library and bearing the name of the soldier, his company and regi- ment, the State where he lived, ancl these three simple articles: "(1) I will try to the best of my ability to be a Christian. (2) I will take the Word of God for my guide and trust in Christ alone for salvation. (3) I solenmly pledge myself to abstain from profane language, from alcoholic drinks as a beverage, and from all vices of the army and camp, and will be a true soldier of my country and the cross." This certificate was signed by Mr. Fowle and Miss Rumsey, with date. More than one soldier boy was identified on the battle-fields by this little certificate, found in his pocket.
Miss Rumsey was married on Sunday, March 1, 1863, to Mr. John Allen Fowle. The cere- mony was performed by the Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, Chaplain of the Second Massachusetts Regiment and pastor of the Congregational Church, Jamaica Plain, Mass., where Mr. Fowle attended. The bride and bridegroom were leaders of the Capitol Choir, which furnished the music for the Sunday services established in the House of Representatives in 1862; and their work, which had given them a national reputation, was appreciated by their friends in Congress. Representatives' Hall in the Cap- itol was offered them, and the announcement that the wedding would take place there re- sulted in an attendance of four thousand people. President Lincoln, who had signified his intention of being present, but was unex- pectedly detained, sent a magnificent basket of flowers.
Mr. Fowle was born April 4, 1826, son of George Makepeace and Margaret L. (Eaton) Fowle. He is a descendant in the seventh gen- eration of George Fowle, who was born in Scot- land in 1610, and was admitted a freeman in Concord, Mass., in 1632. He has been a dry- goods and wool merchant in Boston since 1855, with the exception of some years after the Civil War, when they lived in Brooklyn, N.Y. They were active in the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's church. In Dorchester they are interested in the Pilgrim Congregational Church. Mr. Fowle is a member of the Dorchester Historical Soci- ety and the Improvement Association. Of the " Bungalow," the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. Fowle at North Scituate, a newspaper corre- spondent has said, "Not to have known the ' Bungalow ' is to have missed one of the quaint- est nooks on the South Shore."
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Fowle in Dorchester contains many valuable relics. "There on the wall is an old flag with its thirteen stars, which saw service in the War of 1812 as well as in the Civil War. Here over the case is a Confederate flag, one of the first captured, and presented to Mrs. Fowle by Admiral Foote, now intertwined with the stars and stripes. Among other relics are a Washington plate and a china saucer, both of which were presented to Mrs. Fowle by Aunt Sally Norris, who was a slave in the family of General Lee; some pieces of shell taken from the battle-field; an autograph album containing the names of thousands of soldiers; several letters from S. F. Smith, the author of 'America'; one from Oliver Wendell Holmes, with his additional verse to the 'Star-spangled Banner'; a directory of the soldiers and the hospitals, issued by Mr. Fowle in Washington." Mrs. Fowle has the writing-desk which was sent her from Dorchester and which she used during the war; an old chair made of hardtack boxes used in camp of the Fourth Delaware Battery; also a melodeon, useil in camp, ho.spital, and library; and many other interesting anil valuable souvenirs of those dark years. On the walls is a copy of the above mentioned resolution of Congress. This copy was signed by Abraham Lincoln in the presence of Mrs. Fowle.
Mrs. Fowle and her mother, Mrs. Ramsey, were among the earliest workers in Mrs. Burnap's Free Home for Aged Women, on Hanover Court (North End), Boston; in Mrs. Charpiot's Home for Intemperate Women, on Worcester Street; the New England Helping Hand Home for Working-girls, on Carver Street; Home for Aged Couples, on Shawmut Avenue; and the Charity Hospital, on Chester Park. At present both Mr. and Mrs. Fowle are interested in establishing a library and reading and recreation room for boys and girls on old Boston Street, near Upham's Corner, Dorchester. She has been connected with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Dorchester; is a member of the Woman's Charity Club; of the Massachusetts Army Nurses' Association; of the Ladies' Aid Association of the Soldiers' Home; and of Bunker Hill Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mrs. Fowle claims the honor of having been the first person to sing the ^Battle Hymn of the Republic" at a public meeting in Washington. Its previous use was by a secret society as a club song. The Rev. Dr. Sunderland read it to her one afternoon in his home, and at her request gave her a copy, that she might include it among the war songs she was to sing in the evening at a meeting of the New York State Society in one of the churches. The meeting was presided over by Senator Ira Harris. Toward the close she sang the inspiring words of Mrs. Howe to the old familiar tune of "John Brown," and "as the audience joined in the chorus, especially after the last verse, beginning with 'In the beauty of the lilies,' the very foundation stones of the church," she .says, "seemed to vibrate with applause."