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PUBLISHED NINETEEN TIMES A YEAR
In the Interest of the BAHAI MOVEMENT
By the BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, 515 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
Publishers: ALBERT R. WINDUST — GERTRUDE BUIKEMA — DR. ZIA M. BAGDADI
Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the postoffice at Chicago, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Terms: $3.00 per year; 20 cents per copy.
Two copies to same name and address, $5.00 per year.
Make Money Orders Payable to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
To personal checks please add sufficient to cover the bank exchange.
Address all communications to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
"Great importance must be given to the development of the STAR OF THE WEST. The circle of its discussion must be widened; in its columns must be published the essential problems pertaining to the Bahai life in all its phases. Its contents must be so universal that even the strangers may subscribe to it. Articles must be published, dealing with the universal principles of the Cause, the writers proving that this Cause takes a vital interest in all the social and religious movements of the age and is conducive to the progress of the world and its inhabitants. In short, the STAR OF THE WEST must promote the aspirations and the ideals that will gather little by little around these general Tablets, bringing into the light of day all the historical, religious and racial knowledge which will be of the utmost value to the Bahai teachers all over the world."
From Unveiling of the Divine Plan.
| Vol. 11 | CONTENTS | No. 7 |
| PAGE | |
Fac-simile page from Caras y Caretas | 106 |
A Bahai Pilgrimage to South America | 107 |
| (First Part). Compiled from letters written by MISS MARTHA ROOT, while enroute. | |
Tablet from Abdul-Baha to Mr. A. W. Randall | 112 |
PERSIAN SECTION—(Continued from page 135). |
O ye who are firm in the Covenant of the Self-Subsistent, Eternal God! Praise God with glad faces, for the favors ye have received and for the gifts which have come successively to ye; for the mercy which has preceded ye, for the blessings which have been fulfilled, and for the gifts which have been assigned unto ye. Verily, ye have attained unto that for which holy men and spiritual women have earnestly longed. Seize the opportunity and use your utmost energy to kindle the fire of the love of God, to publish the knowledge of God, to diffuse the Spirit of God, and the fragrances of the breaths of God, to cause the penetration of the Word of God.
(Words of Abdul-Baha: Extract from Tablet revealed for Hoboken Assembly of Bahais, New Jersey.)
EL BAHAÍSMO Y SUS ADEPTOS
Miss Marta L. Root
Desde hace unos dias, se encuentra entre nosotros la señorita Marta L. Root, norteamericana, en viaje de propaganda de esperantismo y bahaísmo.
Ha llegado del Brasil en donde dió muchas conferencias y seguirá viaje a Chile, Perú, Ecuador, Panamá, para volver luego a Nueva York.
Francamente, esta del bahaísmo es toda una novedad, por lo menos para mí; y eso que procuro estar al corriente del movimíento espiritualista en sus diferentes manifestaciones, venga de donde venga...
La señorita Root se hospeda en el local de la Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes, y allá fuí a visitarla, no sin antes preguntar al personal de la casa si la señorita Root se expresaba en castellano...
—No: inglés, esperanto y un poco de francés...
—Entonces va a ser un asunto serio entendernos, pues si le fuera familiar el francés siquiera... No importa. ¿Quieren anunciarme?
La señorita Root estaba conversando con un doctor, que yo también conozco, y los dos hablaban penosamente medio inglés y medio francés, buscando las palabras y luego mirándose bien en los ojos, como para adivinar si las expresiones verbales correspondian más o menos al pensamiento.
Sin duda, como me vió afeitado y con cara bastante yanqui, me tomó por compatriota y se levantó sonriente de su asiento, viniéndome al encuentro. Probablemente pensó este señor es mi ancla de salvación:
—¿Do you speak English? —¿Que esperanza!... ¿Do you speak Spanish? —¿Esperantó? —Tampoco...
Hubo un ¡ooh! de desaliento...
En fin, entre los dos, yo y el otro señor que ya estaba de visita, empezamos a sacar algo en limpio, como suele decirse, respecto al objeto del viaje de la señorita y los principios a que se ajusta la propaganda bahaísta.
Sin embargo, no pude menos que hacerle presente cómo, teniendo el mundo occidental un Maestro tan elevado como Cristo, me parecía algo raro que tuviéramos que esperar nuevas luces de un persa, pues el fundador de la doctrina bahaísta es un persa, es decir, fué un persa, el Baha, joven de maravilloso ascendiente entre la muchedumbre, y que a causa de sus ideas fué perseguido y martirizado el año 1850.
La señorita Root sonrióse y luego agregó enérgicamente:
—¿Y acaso Cristo era francés, inglés o italiano? ¿No nació en Oriente? Luego ¿de qué se asombra?
La contestación me dejó mal por lo lógica y sencilla.
—Pero entonces ¿en qué consisten los principios del bahaísmo?
—Son enseñanzas que constituyen la escencia de todos los más altos ideales de nuestro siglo, que unifican las aspiraciones de todas las sectas religiosas y filosóficas, abarcan la humanidad y no se limitan a naciones o razas...
—¿Y en Norte América está muy difundido el bahaísmo?
—Muy difundido y está haciendo una propaganda insistente y eficaz. Lo que importa es que los principios vayan entrando en la mente y corazón de los hombres y los tiempos son propicios para esto... El mundo tiene sed de paz y de amor, y la doctrina de Abdul Bahá proclama la unidad de todos los hombres como una sola familia, no pone limites a la investigación de la verdad,
--PHOTO--
Marta L. Root
afirma que el origen de todas las religiones es único y que la religión debe unir, no separar a los seres humanos...
—¿Y respecto a la Igualdad de los hombres y mujeres?...
—Para nosotros es indiscutible... Los jóvenes y las jóvenes deben seguir el mismo orden en sus estudios y tener la misma educación, lo que contribuirá a fomentar la unidad en el género humano... Estas teorías eran proclamadas el año 1844 por el fundador del bahaísmo, y recién ahora empiezan a realizarse.
—¿Dará usted unas conferencias en Buenos Aires?
—A eso vengo... Para dejar semillas de estas ideas...
—Pero el movimiento teosófico, ya tan intenso en el mundo, proclama estos mismos principios...
—Es cierto, pero los estudios teosóficos no son para todos... Son muy metafísicos requieren una cierta disposición al razonamiento abstracto, y no todas las mentes están dispuestas a realizar con provecho un esfuerzo semejante. La doctrina bahaísta se adapta más al nivel general de la mentalidad humana, y, sobre todo, habla al corazón... Nosotros queremos la paz universal, la educación
--PHOTO--
Abdul Baha, El fundador del Bahaísmo. universal y una lengua universal, pues para realizar el sueño de la fraternidad, es necesario que todos los hombros puedan entenderse...
—¿Y los idiomas nacionales?
—Los idiomas nacionales deben subsistir, esto es demasiado lógico, pero cuando todos los seres humanos hablen el propio idioma nacional y el esperanto, podrá usted comprender el inmenso beneficio que podremos esperar en la propagación de las ideas de amor y justicia... Nosotros mismos ahora, si habláramos los tres en esperanto, podriamos pasar un agradable momento de conversación intelectual, mientras luchamos desesperadamente para entendernos a medias.
—¿Y el esperanto está muy difundido?
—Antes de la guerra se publicaban 168 revistas y diarios en el mundo y siguen en continúo aumento...
—¿Pero usted piensa de veras que esa dichosa fraternidad, esa unificación de todas las religiones podrá ser un hecho? ¿No ve usted la oposición formidable que se hace a la Liga de las Naciones, al mismo Tribunal Arbitral Internacional?...
—Para que no hubiera oposición sería necesario que todos los hombres fueran ya convencidos de la bondad de estas medidas, y en este caso no habría necesidad de implantar reformas... Ya se habrían adoptado... Toda novedad debe vencer una resistencia que en lo mejor de los casos es la fuerza de inercia... ¿Pero hace cosa de cuatro o cinco años ¿quién habría podido hablar de Liga de las Naciones? Sin embargo... ya ve... Existe:... será imperfecta, será rudimentaria, pero existe... Poco a poco se irá consolidando: la razón termina siempre por triunfar... A más debemos preparar el terreno al Nuevo Gran Maestro...
—¿Otro?
—El Gran Ser de quien estoy hablando es muy superior a los anteriores, es un Gran Instructor de esos que vienen a determinar el comienzo de una nueva etapa en el progreso... humano...
—¿Un nuevo Profeta?...
—Un gran Ser, un Maestro... Dos mil años han podido apenas contribuir a formar los fundamentos de la nueva humanidad; ahora se trata de levantar el edificio que asegurará la paz y la felicidad entre los hombres que bastante han sufrido a causa de su egoísmo...
—¿Y las características del Nuevo Instructor?
—Los hombres podrán averiguarlas muy pronto:... su inmensa sabiduría y el poder sugestivo de su palabra que humillará a los más malignos enemigos.
—¿Así que a diferencia del Cristo, el Nuevo Instructor hablará a la mente de los hombres y no solamente al corazón?
—Es claro... Pues estando la humanidad de hoy a un nivel intelectual muy elevado, necesita una religión que marche de acuerdo con la ciencia.
—¿Así que tendremos otra religión más?
—De ninguna manera... Las mismas... No es necesario crear nada nuevo... Basta con explicar las existentes... Si todas tienen la misma base de verdad...
—Como... budismo, teosofismo y judaísmo y...
—Todas indistintamente... La única diferencia consiste en la forma exterior, en la veste con la que se han encubierto verdades que antes no se podían comunicar a los hombres sin peligro serio para la evolución... Una vez explicado el sentido esotérico de las religiones, la misma ciencia tendrá que convencerse de la necesidad de sancíonar la religión...
AVE.
Fac-slmlle page from magazine Caras y Caretas, Buenos Aires, South America, October 11, 1919.
"We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; that all nations shall become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men shall be strengthened, that diversity of religion shall cease and differences of race be annulled. So it shall be; these fruitless strifes; these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come."—BAHA'O'LLAH.
| Vol. 11 | Kalamat 1, 76 (July 13, 1920) | No. 7 |
FEELING the urge to go to South America to spread the Bahai Message, Miss Martha Root, of Cambridge Springs, Pa., rose up to obey. Coming to New York, the second evening at a home where she talked on the Bahai Cause, the head of a newspaper syndicate met her and asked her to sell him her articles from South America. This syndicate sends out its stories to over one hundred newspapers. As a courtesy they, at the same time, sent broadcast a short article of three hundred words on the Bahai Revelation.
Expecting to sail June 21st, 1919, it was July 22d when the ship finally sailed, some Chinese sailors being brought out to take the place of striking American seamen. The ship had stood out at the Statue of Liberty eight days.
After real illness from intense fatigue, the strain of the strike and the knowledge that many of the passengers spoke a different language spiritually—smoking, drinking, bridge and poker—Miss Root did not try to solve her problem of giving the Message for two days. Her thought was that she of all people was the least fitted to meet such a group. She did not dance or play cards, neither was she an enthusiastic sportswoman.
Reading the Creative Word, every line seemed a path for her to follow:
"Let not conventionality cause you to seem cold and unsympathetic when you meet strange people from other countries—be kind to the strangers . . . help them to feel at home . . . ask if you may render them any service . . . try to make their lives a little happier . . . let those who meet you know without your proclaiming the fact that you are indeed a Bahai." Again, "If we are true Bahais, speech is not needed . . . our actions will help on the world, will spread civilization, will help the progress of science, and cause the arts to develop . . . it is not by lip service only that the elect of God have attained to holiness, but by patient lives of active service they have brought the Light into the world."
Many of the Bahai friends had given gifts to Miss Root. These were distributed for the comfort of others. The passengers represented inhabitants from Bahia, Argentina, Para, Uruguay, Paraguay and business men from Great Britain, Denmark and the United States. Probably a third were Catholics, there was one bishop of a Protestant church commissioned to use a million and a half dollars in spreading his work; there were four Christian Scientists, some other people of various faiths, but the majority were not visibly interested in the life of the Spirit.
Miss Root, after serving everybody and praying for capacity to serve more intelligently and lovingly, received her first opportunity about in this way: All the men had put up money to buy prizes for the sports. She took the best small article in her apparel, did it up as nearly as she could in the artistic fashion in which the Japanese present gifts, and took it to the sports committee to be used as a prize. It was the only woman's
gift. She explained too, that she did not know much about sports, but would join the "family party" and go in for all but the heavy weight contest. [Miss Root is of small and slender stature.]
The next day being the first Sunday at sea, Miss Root asked the captain's permission to speak in the evening on the Bahai Cause. The purser put up a large notice on the bulletin board. No person aboard had heard of the Bahai Movement. The men on the sports committee were the first ones to enter the music room; they helped to make it popular, and every one invited everyone else. All came except a few Catholics and one other young man.
This "one other man" had received a blue booklet* the first day. Once he talked for five hours and another time four hours about the Cause. Drawing the blue booklet from his pocket he said: "I have read this not once or twice, but three times, and it is too Utopian, it will never work out." This man has many men under him, he has tried to inaugurate equality systems and every time the men took advantage, giving him poorer work, so he has gone back to his old stern way with them. He is so near the Kingdom: so fine in his sterling qualities, but just now he doubts people and movements. At the end of every talk he said, "O, I wish I could believe in this as you do. I wish people lived this way."
The captain, purser and several officers came to the talk. The ship pitched so that Miss Root had to hold on to a pillar with one hand while she spoke. After the talk of over an hour, the purser made a little speech of thanks. Then after dismissal the bishop took the floor and spoke against the Bahai Cause. Not that he had ever heard of it before, but he said one could never be a Christian and believe in these other religions
*Containing an outline of the history and principles of the Bahai Movement.
too. Miss Root replied to him point by point and from that evening they became friendly. His very arguments against the Movement later made friends for it. Some young men students also began asking intelligent questions. A little group of onlookers at the discussion said, "When you folk have any more interesting explanations like this, be sure and let us in on them."
This evening lecture so early in the voyage opened the way for many quiet talks on deck. The next morning one Christian Scientist said, "Your talk make a great impression, even the 'beer bums' say it is a good kind of religion." The drinking of this ship is extraordinary. "The grave diggers" and "gentlemen drunkards," as the girls call them congregate around the bar at intervals from 6 A. M. to 2 A. M. Miss Root's room was right across from the bar, this and the fact that her delightful happy-go-lucky roommate had two monkeys, made her understand what Abdul-Baha meant in her Tablet,† "That thou mayest forget rest and composure." These men were bright and represented some of the largest business concerns in the world; they could carry the Message to over fifty millions of people in South America. In talks on deck one learned some of them had religious parents, one or two had been started in ministerial schools, but had broken away from their religion. All had good qualities and manifested some fine traits.
Next morning following the Bahai talk, Miss Root just in fun, read a passenger's hand. Everybody rushed over and wanted their palms read. The captain lined them up to take their turns and held out his own hand first. All day the palm reading continued, even every steward had his turn, and last of all, Snowball, the dear little Barbados boy bugler, came and held out his
†See Tablet, Vol. 10, STAR OF THE WEST, page 30.—Editors
chubby black hands. Miss Root had studied palmistry a little before she was a Bahai and while there is not much in it, Abdul-Baha says that the lines of the hands undoubtedly do show something of the character of the individual. Anyway it helped her to get acquainted quickly, and three days later the captain challenged her before the crowd: "I bet you cannot read my hand exactly the same a second time. If you prove you can I will put it on the records of the ship among the distinguished passengers that you are the first Bahai ever to ride over these lines, and that they can find out all about what a Bahai is by reading the book (Thornton Chase's The Bahai Revelation) you put in the ship's library. Miss Root called his bluff and read his palm exactly the same in the second instance.
Some of the passengers were agnostics. The Christian Scientist said, "My belief is so precious to me, I would not profane it by talking it over with people who would not appreciate it." Even aboard this ship, the conversation with all types of passengers showed that people were ready to hear. Often the ones that the Bahai would expect to accept it, fell back to sleep, and the ones that appeared to be fast asleep, woke up. If one can forget one's own poor capacity and stand evanescent BAHA'O'LLAH can speak. It may help other Bahai teachers to use the prayer revealed for Abul Fazl: 'I pray Thee by the effulgence of the sun of Thy beneficence and by the waves of the sea of Thy generosity, to put into my words and utterances a trace of the traces of Thy Supreme Word, so that the reality of all things may be attracted and drawn."
The words of Abdul-Baha in the Divine Plan came to Miss Root every day of the journey: "O how I long that it would be made possible for me to travel through these parts, even if necessary on foot, and with the utmost of poverty and while passing through the cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, cry at the top of my voice, 'Ya-Baha-El-Abha!' and promote the divine teachings. But now this is not feasible for me, therefore I live in great regret. Perchance, God willing, ye may become assisted therein."
The blue booklets were not given out that first Sunday evening. It seemed better to wait for friends to ask for them. A young Western business woman going to Paraguay for a second period of three years' work took several Bahai books and an Esperanto book which Miss Root gave her. Some Bahia Catholics read the booklet. A young man from Montevideo, Uruguay, said Uruguay had made the most progress of any country in South America, and one of the principal causes was that the people had become free thinkers. Passengers from Bahia and Montevedio asked her to be their guest. Every soul proved a friend.
It was indeed a family party. The chief steward said: "Why do you not tell our help about this religion?"—and he complimented it. These stewards were told about the Cause, and the Chinese sailors had the Message sent to them. At the fancy dress ball Miss Root went as a Persian and the captain asked her to present the prizes.
Para was the first city in South America sighted after a voyage of two weeks. It is situated at the mouth of the great Amazon River and has a population of 175,000 inhabitants. It rains every day in this city on the equator and people make all their appointments for "after the rain," which usually comes about 3 P. M. Passengers had one day ashore. Starting out at 9 A. M. the conventional automobile ride was taken.
They say that in South America a woman should never walk out alone, but in the afternoon, "after the rain," when the other passengers were getting on street cars to ride around the city, Miss Root left them saying that she was going to hunt for some newspaper office. After several inquiries among newsboys, pointing to their journals one of the boys took her to a newspaper office. It proved to
be the largest newspaper in Para. Fifteen men sat writing. No one spoke English. She was ushered into a newspaper "parlor" and one of the older editors talked with her in French. She tried to explain the Bahai Cause and Esperanto. He asked her to write one thousand words for their Journal. She had to write it in English, but just as she finished, a man came in and all the others jumped up in excitement for this man could speak English. He is the best lawyer in Para and proved to be the lawyer for the Steamship Company. He said: "If you speak English very slowly, I reply in my bad English. I am a friend of this paper." He translated her article on the Bahai Cause into Portuguese for that paper and brought her down to the ship in his motor car. Nine booklets were given to the newspaper men and the friendship begun with the lawyer may be the means of splendid, spiritual opportunities. So far as is known no one in Para had ever heard of the Bahai Revelation.
Pernambuco, the third largest city in South America, in commercial importance, was reached on August 11, 1919. Bahia, which had been closed on account of yellow fever, lay several hundred miles below, en route to Rio de Janeiro.
Then began the inner drama leading to what was best for Miss Root to do. Abdul-Baha, in his recent Tablets had particularly mentioned the importance of Bahia, and that Bahais should travel there. On the other hand, yellow fever had been ranging in Bahia and the recent rains had only begun to abate in violence. To go to Bahia might mean a long delay and a quarantine of two weeks outside of port Rio de Janeiro when the journey was continued. It meant the loss of the ticket on the ship from Pernambuco to Rio, and every one strongly urged her not to take the risk. From a business standpoint the new Consul General just appointed by the United States Government was to travel on the boat and the days on ship board might mean several articles for the New York syndicate. Added to all this, four cases of yellow fever had developed that day in Pernambuco, and a revolution started in which several were killed, street cars burned, bridges bombed, so the safest outlook seemed to be to keep aboard and journey safely to Rio. Four American business men who had intended to remain in Pernambuco, gave up their plans and returned aboard the ship. Throwing herself down on the bunk in the stateroom after this perplexing day, she looked through the porthole into the darkness where all alone Jupiter shone brightly, steadily unmoved in his course. She rose up, ordered her bags ashore where she had made reservations with two steamship companies, in hope of getting a passage to Bahia on some Brazilian ship. She took the chance, insane as it looked to the other passengers.
There is almost no English spoken in Pernambuco. Portuguese is heard everywhere. Hearing there was an American business woman at the Hotel do Parque Miss Root went there to try to see her and engage a room in the same hotel until a ship would come. The two Bahia people she had met on shipboard were being entertained on a houseboat. The American woman was in. Almost immediately Miss Root said, "I am a Bahai," and the American woman replied "Did you ever know my cousin, Lua Getsinger*?" Through the bounty of the Holy Spirit these two American women, over seven thousand miles away from home, each found a friend in the other! This American business woman, Mrs. Lillyan Vegas, loved Lua Getsinger devotedly. They were favorite cousins, the same age, they had played
*Lua Getsinger was one of the first in America to accept and serve the Bahai Cause. See Volume 7, STAR OF THE WEST, pages 29 and 193.—Editors.
together, worked together but after their early marriages they did not see each other much. Mrs. Vegas never met Lua after the latter became a Bahai, but she heard of this wonderful new religion from Lua's mother.
Mrs. Vegas has made eighteen trips to South America. She speaks Portuguese, French and Spanish as fluently as English. It was she who established milk stations for poor mothers and babies in Brazil; she took charge of supplies during a famine in the interior of Brazil, and in New York City she was one of the most brilliant speakers in the Third and Fourth Liberty Loan drives. At present she is in Brazil as a representative of one of the largest American business houses and has been at the Hotel do Parque for seven months. As there was "no room in the inn" she had a cot put in her room for Miss Root. Business men abroad the ship had heard of Mrs. Vegas' ability and when Miss Root went back to say good-bye and told them who her companion was, it certainly made an impression. The captain and others asked for more blue booklets. Some of the passengers sent Mrs. Vegas some American candy and came with Miss Root to the hotel—along empty streets guarded by soldiers and dully resounding with explosives of dynamite and in the churches people were gathered praying that the revolution would cease. Next morning Mrs. Vegas received a cablegram making it possible for her to travel to Bahia and Rio, in the interest of her firm. Her agents were able to guarantee steamship passage to Bahia, August 16th.
Miss Root had been to the editor of the largest newspaper in Pernambuco and after speaking to him in French, she wrote an article on the Bahai Movement and Esperanto. Mrs. Vegas took her next morning to every one of the five large newspapers in the city and explained in detail the Bahai Cause and Esperanto, acting as interpreter for her. The editors listened with great interest. Articles appeared, and before leaving the city, Mrs. Vegas and Miss Root followed the usual custom of going to see the editors again to thank them and to say good-bye.
Going aboard the Brazilian ship Itapuhy, bound from Pernambuco to Bahia, August 16th, in two days Miss Root gave the Message as follows: Hearing Arabic chanting she later spoke to the passenger through an interpreter. She found he lived in Acca and knew Abdul-Baha. He described the majestic presence of the Center of the Covenant with the greatest enthusiasm, his face was full of light as he talked; he said he had often eaten meals in Abbas Effendi's house. "My father knew BAHA'O'LLAH," he exclaimed. This man has been away from Acca seventeen years and is just returning. He is a Mohammedan; he took a blue booklet and is carrying a little gift from Miss Root to Abdul-Baha. This Syrian presented her with a very delicious little Arabian cake and was kind to her on this stormy trip when everybody was seasick. The boats are so small they roll like barrels, compared of course to the great ocean liners.
A custom house official from Pernambuco heard the Message as did also a captain from Denmark, a man from Beirut, a first officer from Africa, a superintendent of schools in Brazil, a young man just leaving with twenty-nine other young men sent out by the Brazilian government to the United States to study for two years.
The next morning the boat stopped for six hours in Maceio, a city of 70,000. A merchant who knew Mrs. Vegas came out with a sailboat and took Mrs. Vegas and Miss Root to see his city. After a motor ride, he drove to all the newspaper offices. When the editors were not in he took his guests to their homes. The editor and owner of the Journal Alagoas, Mr. Jose Magathaes da Silveira, a delightful man said: "I should like to
(Continued on page 113.)
O thou STAR OF THE WEST!
Be thou happy! Be thou happy! Shouldst thou continue to remain firm and eternal, ere long, thou shalt become the Star of the East and shalt spread in every country and clime. Thou art the first paper of the Bahais which is organized in the country of America. Although for the present thy subscribers are limited, thy form is small and thy voice weak, yet shouldst thou stand unshakable, become the object of the attention of the friends and the center of the generosity of the leaders of the faith who are firm in the Covenant, in the future thy subscribers will become hosts after hosts like unto the waves of the sea; thy volume will increase, thy arena will become vast and spacious and thy voice and fame will be raised and become world-wide—and at last thou shalt become the first paper of the world of humanity. Yet all these depend upon firmness firmness, firmness!
(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
O ye apostles of BAHA'O'LLAH—May my life be a ransom to you!
. . . . Similarly, the Magazine, the STAR OF THE WEST, must be edited in the utmost regularity, but its contents must be the promulgator of the Cause of God—so that both in the East and the West, they may become informed of the most important events.
(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
| Northeastern States: HOOPER HARRIS | Western States: HELEN S. GOODALL. |
| Southern States: | Dominion of Canada: MAY MAXWELL. |
| Central States: ALBERT VAIL, CARL SCHEFFLER. | |
| Editorial Staff: ALBERT R. WINDUST—GERTRUDE BUIKEMA—DR. ZIA M. BAGDADI | |
| Honorary Member: MIRZA AHMAD SOHRAB | |
| Vol. 11 | Kalamat 1, 76 (July 13, 1920) | No. 7 |
To his honor Mr. A. W. Randall—
Upon him be the Glory of God, the Most Glorious!
He Is God!
O thou who art firm in the Covenant!—O thou who art attracted to the Kingdom of Abha!
Thy letter has been received. Its perusal imparted greatest joy, because that truthful servant of BAHA'O'LLAH, together with his honorable wife, have really, with perfect love, arisen in the service of the Kingdom. The happiness of Abdul-Baha is confined to this fact: that some souls may, with the utmost purity and severance from aught else save God, become attracted spirit (unmixed spirit) and, wholly submerged in the ocean of mindfulness and piety, dedicate their time, day and night, to the service of the Cause of Ood.
His honor Fazel-i-Mazandarani is from those souls who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Cause of God. It is my hope that his pure breath may be the cause of the union and harmony of the friends.
The papers of Mr. Hearst are verily striving for the protection of the rights of the public. I am supplicating that they may become the first papers serving the good of the world of humanity, so that they may keep alive the blessed name of Mrs. Hearst and that this name (Hearst) may live permanently till eternity.
The model of Mr. Bourgeois, praise be to God, has become acceptable to the friends, especially that it has proved approvable to his honor, Mr. Remey.
Convey on my behalf the utmost kindness to all the friends of God. Upon thee be the Glory of God!
(Translated by Azziz'ullah, Mt. Carmel, Palestine, June 25, 1920.)
see a movement that would bring unity in religions; it is good." He also was in favor of Esperanto, explaining that Esperanto had several followers in Maceio. Another editor said Esperanto had flourished there but that now it had died down again. The Message was given to nine men prominent in newspaper and business circles in Maceio. After breakfast at noon in the home of a pleasant Catholic family, the two Americans returned to the Itapuhy.
Nearing Bahia, so much was said about the yellow fever, and ships from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro were so uncertain, that Mrs. Vegas decided to remain on the Itapuhy and go on to Rio. It was high sea, raining torrents, stomachs were seasick, but when the little boats came out to get the passengers the only two men on board who spoke English were Americans and both offered to take Miss Root up to the hotel. She came with a young man who is coming to Bahia to be a Baptist missionary in the interior of Brazil. He was met by two big strapping young men, one a doctor, who are also in Bahia as missionaries. It was rather thrilling to see them out in this far away place of the earth where 80 per cent of the inhabitants are Africans, to give their lives to improve conditions.
Miss Root was ill as the result of the storm and had a high fever. How vividly the words came to her, "Let one not call himself a captain until he stands before the opposing army, nor a Bahai until he meets the tests." The words in the Tablets of the Divine Plan and the prayers were her healing.
Bahia is a city of 280,000 inhabitants. The word Bahia means, Bay of All Saints. It was founded in April, 1549, by Thomas Souza, a noble, accompanied by six Jesuits. The present popular man who will probably be re-elected governor, Dr. Jose Joaquim Seabra says: "Bahia first sent out the rays of civilization of Brazil. God placed in its founders the best gifts of the Spirit—and in its soil riches of all kinds." The State of Bahia—the state and city are called by the same name—is one of the richest in Brazil. It produces everything that the other states have but is noted principally for its cocoa, tobacco, coffee, diamonds, sugar, hides. It will in time become one of the greatest world seaports because its natural harbor is good and it is nearer United States, Europe and Africa than Rio de Janeiro.
There are 365 churches in the city of Bahia. One who has made a study of Brazil told Miss Root that many Brazilians are changing their faith. The higher classes among the men do not care much for any religion. The tendency among the literary is to become rationalists, not altogether atheists. Many of them have been educated in France and their literature consists of French philosophy and French novels. Several of the distinguished public men of Brazil are rationalists, but it is said that the women and lower classes are devout Catholics.
Miss Root found the "thinkers" of Brazil much interested in a universal religion, and nowhere did she find antagonism. She visited the Catholic churches and approached the Bahai Cause from the Catholic standpoint. If Bahais come to Brazil they must learn
the Portuguese language (not hard to learn) and learn the customs of these Latin peoples. South Americans meet strangers socially before they do any business. "Paciencia amanha" (patience, tomorrow) is the first lesson to be learned. Brazilians do everything slowly and with ceremony. The Portuguese and Brazilians are born aristocrats.
At the Sul Americano hotel Miss Root met Mr. Miguel P. Shelley, an American who had been doing business in Brazil for the past thirty years; he was the best business man she met in South America. He is also a thinker, a writer, and a man loved by both North and South Americans. She frankly explained to him the purpose of her visit and how she had approached newspapers. He said: "You could not get the Bahai Cause (he had never heard of it) and Esperanto better known in South America than to do exactly as you are doing; bring them to the attention of the editors and have them written in all the newspapers." He also was kind enough to say that a woman could travel alone in South America and that she would be shown respect if she is a good woman—"that is what the people of South America want, good men and good women from the United States to come here and do business," were his words.
Mrs. R.— a woman of influence, gave her time each day to take Miss Root to meet the most distinguished people of that seaport. Mr. Shelley accompanied Miss Root and Mrs. R.— to the newspaper offices where he had previously made appointments, and interpreted for her. First, one makes a friendly call, and then the editors ask questions. Two of the editors have been educated in Europe and speak English. There are eight daily newspapers in Bahia. It is better to go to two or three of the most important ones and give the Message and then call later or write to the others—papers in South America, as elsewhere, like a "scoop." that is, to get a story exclusively. All the newspapers used good articles, illustrated with photographs of Miss Root.
One editor said: "I am interested in this religion. If you have put a book about it in the English section of the public library, I will get it and read it. Many Brazilians are beginning to learn English and they will like English books." Miss Root placed Thornton Chase's book The Bahai Revelation, into the city library and promised six more English books on the Bahai Cause, to be sent from the United States. The head of the library and his assistants were most polite. A beautiful new large library building is just being completed. If any reader wishes to send Bahai books to that great library, the address is: Bibliotheca Publica do Estado da Bahia, South America.
To the Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Joaquim Arthur Pedreina France, to the business people of several countries, an American captain from California just starting for England, missionaries, people of the interior, down to the poorest Africans, the Bahai Cause was explained. People were wonderfully kind. The very fact that Miss Root was a woman traveling alone, not knowing their language touched their hearts. One Portuguese business man and his wife at the hotel, came to her and said in French: "We offer ourselves to serve your religion. If you send us literature, we also shall explain it and give it to the people to read." These same friends gave her a dinner and a large bouquet of roses and put her aboard the ship when she left.
Miss Root had no idea when she could get a ship out of Bahia or what the quarantine regulations would be. Even Bahia people were astonished that she was able to get a ship so easily. The Itassuce, a Brazilian boat, came up unexpectedly from Rio with a cargo. After unloading at the docks, this ship put out to harbor, had the strongest kind of disinfection used and the passengers went out to this boat before the disinfection
was over and had their baggage disinfected too. It was heroic—quite brimstone enough for this world and the next. Doctors examined the passengers and a doctor on board took temperatures each day. (It is important to carry a thermometer and simple remedies.) Thus Miss Root, whom everybody predicted would be delayed for several months in Bahia, voyaged on safely after a six-day stay in Bahia—the city of which Abdul-Baha said: "Visit ye especially Bahia, on the eastern shore of Brazil. Because in the past years this city was christened with the name of Bahia, there is no doubt that it has been through the inspiration of God."
The journey from Bahia to Rio is four days. All boats were pleasant but so small they rolled interminably and some of the most seasoned sailors were seasick. No other woman aboard was able to go into the dining room once during the voyage. Only two persons spoke English on the Itassuce, but several could talk in French, and with so much practice Miss Root now gave the Message in French. One man going to his home in Cortiba, the capital of the state of Parana, took the book, Tablet of Tarazat, etc., and will place it in the city library there. The Message was also given to a man who acts as a guide and interpreter in South American hotels. He is a Roumanian who speaks seven languages; also some rationalists, who had seen the articles in the papers, asked about the Cause.
Rio de Janeiro harbor is called the most beautiful in the world. It is eighteen miles long and sixteen miles wide—a magnificent "bowl" with its edges stupendous mountains whose slender pinnacles are capped with graceful, restless palm trees; those companionable trees that legend tells cannot live beyond the sound of the human voice. In this "bowl" are a hundred lovely islands. Rio, one of the greatest show places on the earth, is remembered always for its scenery. Miss Root arrived in the best time of all, the glorious sunset hour. It was at six o'clock August 27th, 1919. She went to eight hotels finding them all crowded and at the ninth place took a room in a Portuguese hotel where no other language is spoken. She found her way around Rio by writing her address and showing the paper to policemen and street car conductors.
She gave the Bahai Message about as follows: Interviewing the American Consul-General the first day, he introduced her to the editor of the Journal do Commercio, who was calling at the consulate. This is the largest paper in Brazil and Miss Root learned later that it is one of the influential papers in the world; its news is copied by papers in other cities and small towns throughout the twenty-one states. The editor invited her to call at his office. He was interested in the Bahai Cause and gave it about three-fourths of a column, an excellent article, outlining the vital principles. He also gave her addresses to an Esperanto writer and to the President of the Esperanto Society of Brazil.
After that call Miss Root went out to Copacabana, a fashionable residence section by the sea, to call upon Mr. Miguel Shelly's wife and sister, Mrs. Bertha Thomas—Americans who have lived many years in Brazil. The Bahai Cause was the theme of the conversation and the spiritual friendship has proved beautiful. The sister has the little prayer book, several Bahai booklets and a picture of Abdul-Baha. The following day she came and took Miss Root to the second largest newspaper, Journal do Brazil, and interpreted the Message. They met the owner as well as the editor, and a good article appeared in the Sunday paper. The next call was to Mr. Manoel Cicero, Director of the Bibliotheca do Rio de Janeiro, in the Avenida Rio do Branco. This is the finest library in Brazil and is stacked with 400,000 volumes. The Director received Some Answered Question, What
went ye out to see, Dynamic Power of the Bahai Revelation, a blue booklet and the compilation on Peace and War. The director said he would be very glad to have other books on the Bahai Cause. Many Brazilians are now learning English and frequent the English section of the library as do also the Americans and British. There are over 500 in the American colony in Rio at present.
Exceedingly delightful was the visit to the Esperantists where Miss Root and Mrs. Thomas went after lunch. Dr. Everdo Backheuser, an Esperanto writer, took them to an Esperanto social reception. On the way she presented the doctor with Mr. Esselmont's Esperanto article, "Science and Religion." Miss Root gave them the Message. The President of the Esperanto Society of Brazil, Mr. Alberto Conto Fernandes, knew about the Bahai Movement and showed her Esperanto articles about BAHA'O'LLAH and Abdul-Baha. Mr. Fernandes is an engineer, a distinguished man in business and one of the great Esperantists of the world. He has taught Esperanto to one thousand people in Brazil, and he, as well as Dr. Backheuser, has written several Esperanto books. He reads some English, and speaks and reads French fluently. Esperanto is taught in the normal and primary schools in Rio, classes are held in the fire engine-house departments and in the telegraph offices. A street has just been named, "Dr. Zamenhof." Five National Esperanto Congresses have been held in Brazil. There is constant communication between Esperantists of the different cities, and every two weeks Rio Esperantists meet at their rooms and have programs of Esperanto plays, lectures and songs followed by a social hour. The Esperanto library here is the most complete Miss Root has seen anywhere in the world.
The Young Men's Christian Association in Rio has an Esperanto class and an Esperanto library. She placed Abdul-Baha's London Talks in that library. The Brazil Esperantisto, a monthly magazine, published in Rio, is using an article about the Bahai Cause. Rio newspapers, not only in the interviews but later in reporting the Esperanto meetings and when the books were put in Rio library, spoke again of the Bahai Cause. These articles are often copied in other cities. The best introduction for the Bahai Cause anywhere is through the newspapers.
Miss Root spoke of the Cause in the Consulate, at the American Embassy, Brazilian School of Naval Aviation, Brazilian Army School of Aviation, the American Chamber of Commerce in Rio, to several Brazilian families, a cocoa plantation owner and to the United States, British, French and Brazilian business men whom she met.
Miss Root left Rio de Janeiro, September 5th, at 7 A. M. for Sao Paulo. On the train only two persons could speak English, they only riding for an hour later in the day. She gave them the Message, one a young married man from New Jersey out there for thirteen years, the other a young married woman from Kent, England. The journey, scenically, is like riding twelve hours in Paradise, whose wealth is not yet discovered by the world at large.
Sao Paulo is more like the "Chicago" of Brazil, as it is the place where many of the manufacturies are. Raw materials from the heart of Brazil are poured into Sao Paulo, some to be made up there and more passing down to Santos port and thence shipped. Unlike Chicago, Sao Paulo was created from the beginning with a wonderful love of the beautiful. Its station de luxe is beside a famous park. Its business blocks are nestled amid splendid gardens, its houses "grow" amid tropical palms, Parana pines, yellow roses climbing to the deep red roofs, orchids, calla lilies, night blooming cereus, and most of the rarest flowers, growing in everybody's yard. Miss Root heard a band concert in mid-afternoon in a small park in the crowded business district and violin
playing in a large grocery store. Sao Paulo in climate, beauty and business, is ideal.
Miss Root went to four hotels before she could find a place, then paid as high as the prices in New York, had a room on the fifth floor and no elevator. The owners were Italians but could speak French, though no English. Sao Paulo with her population of 500,000 has as much hotel accommodations as has an American town of 5,000. It is destined, however, to be one of the greatest centers of the business world, perhaps within a century.
Going to the largest newspaper, Estado do Sao Paulo, to meet the editor and explain the Bahai Cause, Miss Root, at the same time, met a Syrian lawyer from Mt. Lebanon. He was educated in Beirut College and has resided in Sao Paulo twenty years. His name is Assad Bechara; his passionate aim and ideal is the liberation of his country and that the United States shall be "its brother's keeper" until Syria like Cuba can be independent. She gave him the Message, seeing him each day, and as the 15,000 Syrians in Sao Paulo, some of whom are from Beirut, have a semi-public library, presented them with Mons. Dreyfus' book, The Bahai Revelation. There are 100,000 Syrians in Brazil.
The Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. S. F. Darling, who has been in Sao Paulo for five years making a demonstration for the Brazilian Government, listened to the Message, and the book, Divine Philosophy, was presented to the Faculada de Madicina library. Dr. Darling is one of the renowned men of the world. He made the famous hookworm demonstration (under the Rockefeller Foundation) in Africa, Panama, Java and Fiji Islands and is making a similar demonstration in Brazil. He said he would read the Bahai literature. This great new institution is going to play a leading part in the medical profession in Brazil. The United States or any other country, would be proud of an institution such as this is going to be. It is one and one-half years old now, housed in the palace of a former coffee baron, and attended by hundreds of medical students, who came to work in the laboratories and to attend Dr. Darling's lectures. It is the most advanced institution Miss Root saw in Brazil. The Brazilian Government invited the Rockefeller Foundation to come and the two are working together. Bahai books on social lines would be very good for this library.
Taking the train, September 10th, from Sao Paulo for Santos, a two-hour's ride, Miss Root saw probably the richest short railroad in the world, and most perfect. An American railroad president when asked what could be done to improve it said he knew of nothing unless to set its rails with diamonds. The train hovers like a bird around the mountain sides, and one is thrilled, awed by the grandeur of millions of forest trees, above and below. Eleven tunnels are blasted through solid rock and there are mountains of granite. Arriving in Santos she left her bags at the station and walked half a mile to a small Brazilian Hotel which proved to be a very good one. The population of Santos is 200,000. During the first six months of 1919, Brazilian exports were $274,304.000, of which $147,526,000 passed through the port of Santos.
The next morning, Miss Root looked up the library; it is not a city library, but one for all people employed in the business world of Santos. Its name explains it: Sociadade Humanitaria des Empregades, no Commercio. There are five thousand volumes and newspapers and magazines from all Brazil. The Director, who speaks English, was not in, but it was an easy matter to turn to their files and show them articles about the Bahai Cause in a dozen papers. They seemed delighted with the books she left there: Abdul-Baha's London Talks, Table Talks with Abdul-Baha (the Winterburn's book) and the blue
booklet. The Library though small had a delightful atmosphere.
In the evening, Miss Root went to see the editor of the principal newspaper, A Tribuna, and on the following evening, Theosophists, seeing the Bahai article in the paper, called and invited her to address their society. As she was sailing the next day they appointed a "commission" to meet at her hotel in the morning.
Sometimes the most glorious events in life come upon one unaware and this was one of them. Three men came, the president of the Theosophical Society, Mr. Guido Gnocchi, a great worker since its beginning five years ago, and two other distinguished Theosophists. Miss Root at first asked them about their society and said she would write about it in the North American papers. The president, through an interpreter (one of their own number), explained that he had come to learn more about the Bahai Cause. He had articles in his home about BAHA'O'LLAH and Abdul-Baha, and believed that they are the World Teachers today; he spoke of them at a Theosophical Conference in Sao Paulo recently. He said he wished to write about them in the different newspapers throughout Brazil, just as he had written to help Theosophy.
Miss Root had a number of Portuguese newspaper clippings explaining the Cause and its principles. The young man—who is an Italian by birth, an artist, and very psychological—said immediately that he would translate the blue booklet into Portuguese and get its thoughts into the newspapers of Brazil. He said: "I will work for this Bahai Cause in Brazil. I will try to learn English to propagate it further and I have a great longing to travel around the world to spread its Teachings." This man had never heard of traveling Bahai teachers. He had only glimpsed the principles, but like Paul he had the vision. They talked for hours and she gave them Thornton Chase's The Bahai Revelation, Abul Fazl's Bahai Proofs, the Divine Plan, and several booklets. One of the other men is from Fiume, though all three have been in Brazil many years. He had a vision of "the oneness of the world of humanity," and wrote a book on this subject which is in its second edition. He is much interested in the Bahai Cause and can read English.
When the Santos friends came to bring Miss Root to the ship outward bound for Buenos Aires, Mr. Guido Gnocchi had with him a friend from Sao Paulo to whom he had spoken of the Bahai Cause. This man, J. R. Goncalves da Silva, who for many years has been a free thinker, occultist and scholar said he had come to ask for literature. He will tell others in the state and city of Sao Paulo of this Bahai Revelation.
Mr. Gnocchi read to the group a long article which he had just finished for a Brazilian paper, giving the history of the Bahai Cause; it would appear that week.
Brazilians of the better classes in the large cities have much broader views and are much more refined than people in the United States realize. They are not specialists but have a general and very real culture. Many of them have been educated in Europe and all have centuries of refinement back of them. Their manners are so perfect and pleasing, one cannot help wishing other countries had ways as gentle and as truly polite. They are not creed-bound and the very broadness of the Bahai Movement makes it appeal to them. Within a century there will be Mashrekol-Azkars in Brazil. The wonderful souls, the good articles in the newspapers, the books in the libraries will be enveloped in the clouds of the Holy Spirit, and the Bab, BAHA'O'LLAH and Abdul-Baha, the Center of the Covenant, will be known in every city and hamlet. "Verily, He is the Powerful over all that He wisheth."
(To be continued.)
(Continued from page 135.)
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