National Teaching Committee Bulletins/1920/September 22/Text

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National Teaching Committee Bulletins September 22, 1920

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[Page 1] A telegram received last week announced the sudden death of our beloved brother Mr. Dahl of Pittsburgh and Verona, Pa. In connection with this sad event, we feel we should share the following letter from Miss Martha Root as it covers the information all will want to know and as it expresses so well the sentiments of all members of the Bahai family. The letter follows:

Cambridge Springs, Pa., September 22, 1920.

My dearest Friends:

Our dear brother, Mr. A. M. Dahl of Pittsburgh passed on to the Supreme Concourse September 15. He was hit with an engine and killed instantly. The body was taken to Chicago and I think a Bahai funeral service was held there, I understood the funeral was to be in Pittsburgh and hastened there. I found they had all gone except the wife of the older son and three little grandchildren. I stayed with them one day. These dear little children were constantly speaking of what Grandpa and Grandma had told them and every little while they would speak of him and put their pretty heads down on the chairs and cry for Grandpa. His photograph framed hung over their cot bed. His influence for good will be a great inspiration in those children’s lives.

A new Bahai in a store said: "Only two days ago Mr. Dahl came in and shook hands with me so cordially and I was so happy to see him". Another friend who had heard of the Bahai Cause said: "O Mr. Dahl was so jolly, so kind and so good!" Every one spoke of him with such tenderness and love. Mrs. Dahl said to the children "We must not cry, I do not think Papa would wish us to cry when he has gone". A neighbor said to me: "Mrs. Dahl has a great blessing in that she has such a wonderful son as Hilbert Dahl. Hilbert is one of the purest Bahai young men I ever met."

Mr. Dahl was so faithful in the Pittsburgh work. Those who worked with him will never forget those days. I never knew him to miss keeping the fast or the feasts. He made photographs of Abdul Baha and gave them to friends to use in the Cause. All the photographs used in the South American newspaper articles were made by Mr. Dahl. Mr. Dahl went without his lunch for years and sent the money to support a girl in the schools in Teheran, Persia. He sent her pretty red hair ribbons, pencils and wrote her letters. He typed the Creative Word to send out. He was always a happy Bahai and so generous that he gave away nearly everything he had. Several times I have seen him take his coat off his back and pass it on to some one. In thinking of Mr. Dahl I felt: "How beautiful that he gave his all to Abdul Baha in the days when he was here to do it!" Now that he has passed it seems like the ceasing of joyous music, but in the Hosts of the Supreme Concourse the music is loved. He can help us from the Other Side and we can pray for him. We are not separated; only he is glorified.

Perhaps you have heard of his passing but am sending out this little line to a few of you who knew him best.

With Bahai love to you all, I am, Yours in the Center of the Covenant, MARTHA ROOT.

Mrs. A. M. Dahl’s address is 236 Railroad Street, Verona, Pa.