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STAR OF THE WEST
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. 12 | CONTENTS | No. 7 |
| PAGE | |
His Holiness Abdul-Baha and friends near the Tomb of The Báb on Mt. Carmel | 130 |
The Dawn of the Sun of Reality and the Power of the Influence of BAHA'O'LLAH | 131 |
| Address by JENABE FAZEL. | |
"In this Dispensation consultation with expert doctors is highly advisable" | 134 |
| Words of ABDUL-BAHA. | |
Pen Pictures of Abdul-Baha in America | 135 |
| From Diary of JULIET THOMPSON. | |
Notes after a visit to Sir Abdul-Baha (Abbas Effendi) | 136 |
| By PATRICK GEDDES (From Bahai News, Bombay). | |
PERSIAN SECTION—Written by Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi | 144-141 |
| 1. Talk by Abdul-Baha given to the Theosophists in New York City. 2. Departure of Miss Lillian Kappes and Dr. Mohammed Khan. |
"Some of the people of the earth desire conquest over others; some of them are longing for rest and ease; others desire a high position; some desire to become famous—thank God. our desire is for spirituality and for union with God."—Words of Abdul-Baha, from Abdul-Baha in London.
--PHOTO--
HIS HOLINESS ABDUL-BAHA AND FRIENDS NEAR THE TOMB OF THE BAB ON MT. CARMEL
"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. 12 | Kalamat 1, 77 (July 13, 1921) | No. 7 |
IT IS indeed a source of great pleasure and joy that again we find ourselves in this splendid audience tonight to speak on the principles of peace, love, and amity which have come to encircle the globe.
It is an incontrovertible fact that the world of humanity today is sick, and the greatest need of this sickness is to have a Divine physician so that He may diagnose the disease and prescribe the medicine.
This disease, however, is not characteristic of our age—the further we advance toward the primitive ages the more we find the traces and the signs of this disease handed to us from age to age, cycle to cycle.
As we study universal history, and scan the pages of those ancient records, we find that the world of humanity in all ages and cycles, has been afflicted with the satan of war, struggle, vicissitude, and carnage.
Long before mankind began to develop sociological groups, and various nation and state feelings—when men were living in the trees and the caves and the rivers, in those primitive ages, still this satan of hatred, animosity and ill feeling held its rein over the minds and hearts of men; but today it has made its appearance under other names, such as, racial, patriotic, and religious distinctions.
Even when the people of the world grew in intelligence and intellectual faith, and began to establish the foundations of states and governments, thinking that these states and governments would protect the people from the ravages of the satanic suggestions of each other—lo and behold, these very governments became the farmers or the sowers of the seeds of suspicion, discontent and ill feeling amongst their own subjects and amongst the subjects of each other.
No one can compute the millions of innocent souls that were killed in order to advance the rapacity and the greed of these governments—except the earth which was crimsoned with the blood of these people and the stars rolling in the immensity of heaven, looking down with wonder and astonishment at the intolerance, ignorance and rapacity of man.
The more science advanced, the greater the display of human intelligence and genius became manifest, the wider became the circle of human bloodshed, carnage, and spoilation.
Science brought into the arena of activity its deadly engines of warfare. Whereas, formerly, in the Dark Ages, in a few years or in a few months only a few thousand people were killed by the two combatants—today, with these
perfected instruments of carnage, in a few days millions of men can be dispatched into the Unknown.
From a philological standpoint, if we compare the conditions of those people, whom we call savages and barbarians, and our own people, especially in this age, calling ourselves civilized and enlightened—the only difference between us is that whereas formerly we killed the people with those primitive instruments, with javelins, darts and others; today we kill them with these perfected scientific instruments and we call ourselves civilized (laughter and applause).
This is, therefore, self-evident that intellectual accomplishments, scientific achievements, by themselves, and through themselves, will not bring about human felicity and prosperity—nay, rather, they increase discontent, turmoil, and conflict; setting class against class and bringing havoc and disorder.
The last world war is the greatest demonstration of this fact; that this war in itself was the result of the human, so-called, enlightenment and civilization.
Can we imagine that we are through with war! Or we are through forever with human greed, passion and conflict! Any man, studying with seeing eyes and intelligent mind the conditions before his eyes and the events transpiring in different parts of the world—any man, I say, coming to such a conclusion is devoid of intelligence.
Having already traveled for one year throughout the various cities of the United States and Canada and speaking before ever so many clubs, schools, colleges, universities and churches, I have come to a rather startling conclusion; that, nationalism, which is the cause of all warfare, is today more active in the schools and in the colleges of this country than ever before, and we call this country the home of peace, the most progressive, and the most liberal democratic government on the face of the earth.
In many of these so-called common schools I observed with my own eyes that the teachers sowed the seeds of national superiority, or what we call prejudices, in the pure, virgin soil of the minds and the hearts of these children who have to grow in this age with an international mind and a universal conscience. But, they grow up under the present conditions with narrow-minded ideas, with simple thoughts concerning the almost perfection of the conditions of their own country and environment.
The remedy for these diseases is to extricate the very root of these prejudices from the minds and the hearts of the people of the world (applause).
No matter how far we may go back into the dim history of the past, we find spiritual teachers, divine prophets, heavenly poets, who are shining in the heavens of human consciousness like scintillating stars, leading and guiding men to the fountain head of peace, brotherhood, and solidarity.
These holy souls were those who, though surrounded by many difficulties and persecutions and sufferings, stood firm and steadfast, and called the attention of their fellow men to the practice of those primal laws of fellowship and comradeship, and heavenly association.
Although in those ages it was impossible for these inspired teachers to practically lay the foundation of universal peace, yet they did not sleep, they did not rest; they worked and taught, day in and day out, and sowed the seeds of brotherhood, of unity and love in the hearts of men.
Some of these prophets were exiled from their homes through the ignorance of men, others were cut into pieces by the swords of intolerance, some were put on the cross, like His Holiness, Christ—notwithstanding all these insurmountable difficulties they arose to the situation and spread the light and the rays of the Sun of Oneness and Truth.
Then this new age dawned. The breezes of Providence wafted; the nightingales of the love of God sang; the sun
of universal consciousness dawned; and the highway of the Kingdom of God was paved and His Holiness, BAHA'O'LLAH, appeared in the land of Teheran.
When this divine super-human being appeared in that ancient country, then and not till then did the Sun of Reality shine forth; then and not till then did universal peace become the most important problem before the face of the people.
His divine teachings, his spiritual principles, his celestial instructions, shining like unto the refulgent rays of the sun, were spread throughout the East and the West, the North and the South like the leaping forth of the sun from the eastern horizon.
First, through his spiritual power and divine life, BAHA'O'LLAH removed from amongst the religions of the Orient religious prejudice and hatred which had been expressed toward one another for ages.
It is almost impossible for the Western, American, people, who are accustomed to live in a liberal country with practically no religious prejudice, to conceive of that hatred, of that religious intolerance exercised in Oriental countries.
Their fanaticism and dogmatic narrow-mindedness went to such an extent that they did not associate with one another; they thought that they were contaminated if they even shook hands with a man who belonged to a contrary faith. They would not even go into the streets when it was raining for the fear that their wet clothing might come in contact with the clothing of another man walking there who did not belong to their own faith (laughter).
This is not an exaggeration. It happened often in the Orient that if a man was sick, lying in bed, thirsty for a cup of water and some one would come and offer him a cup, he would open his eyes and ask him, "To what religion do you belong?" And if the answer was not to his liking he would rather die, and he actually would die by not drinking the water, because this man did not belong to his own religion (laughter).
Only the power of God could transform the hearts of these people, and throw away these prejudices, which had poisoned the very fountain of their lives for many thousand years.
Through the appearance of BAHA'O'LLAH these people were so united, so well-knit together, their hearts and minds were cemented to one another to such an extent that if a stranger entered in a meeting where these people were, while formerly they belonged to different religions, at that time, their love, their amity, their friendship toward one another was so genuine and so manifest that he could not distinguish them and he could not find out to what religion they belonged in former days.
When, last year, I arrived in this country, I heard that a large number of Christian ministers had arisen to unite to bring together the various sects and denominations of Christianity under the name of the Inter-Allied Church Movement. It made me extremely happy, because any attempt to bring about unity is indeed praiseworthy.
But, when I investigated the matter a little more, I found that these worthy gentlemen had very interesting conventions, they had banquets, they sat around decorated tables, they ate chicken salad (laughter) and ice cream, they gave very eloquent speeches on the necessity of unity, and agreed; but once they left those halls, they left, likewise, their talks, with the withered flowers on the tables, and thus they continued to practice the same old dogmas, creeds, and traditions, as though there was no attempt whatsoever to unite the churches. Nay, rather, we added another denomination to the Christian churches under the name Inter-Allied Church Movement (laughter and applause).
It is as evident as sunlight, that these denominations and sects are the results of dogmas and creeds. As long as the
leaders of the churches hold fast to these dogmas and creeds, and think they are the essential foundations of their churches, there shall never be unity or agreement.
What did BAHA'O'LLAH accomplish? He simply washed the slate of the religions of the world clean from all caste, creeds and dogmas. He attracted the attention of mankind from exterior sanctimony to interior devotion and worship. He suggested to them to ascend on the top of the mountain where he had given his divine sermons, and once the people of the world gather on the summit of that mountain with those beatitudes, there are no differences, there are no creeds, there are no traditions; but, here, deep in the valley, in the shadow of the mountain there are all kinds of misunderstandings, sorrows and miseries.
BAHA'O'LLAH brought into this world the Water of Life from the Paradise of the Kingdom, and with that Water of Life he washed from the hearts all traces of religious, racial and national prejudices—these hearts which were created by God pure and translucent in the beginning but that became filled with these dark clouds and vapors, he caused to return to their original state.
He baptized the hearts and the souls of men with the fire of the love of God and with the spirit of the Word of God.
As long as this eternal idea of universal peace is not planted in the hearts of men, no matter how many thousand Leagues of Nations we may have, how many Parliaments of Man we may establish, they will be used simply as in the play of checkers; these various nations will be used as excuses and pretexts, and these various organizations for no other purpose but to further the schemes and machinations of the plotting governments.
His Holiness, BAHA'O'LLAH, planted the seeds of love, fraternity, brotherhood, humanity and kindness in the field of the universe, and day by day, we see with our own eyes that these seeds are being watered with the heavenly rain; they are growing and sprouting, little by little, till some day a great harvest will be gathered.
This is, therefore, the glorious cycle in which these universal ideals must be fully practiced; this is the age in which the hopes, the dreams, of all the prophets must come to pass; this is the time in which the flowers of intelligence must spread their perfumes throughout the world, making the world of humanity one home; the people as the members of one family and the growing plants of one garden.
is highly advisable"
WORDS OF ABDUL-BAHA ON PHYSICAL HEALTHONE of the pilgrims to Abdul-Baha sends the following to the STAR OF THE WEST: "I am enclosing a most remarkable message of Abdul-Baha to my mother about her physical health. It seems that during my two interviews with him, I neglected to speak about her condition, so when I left I wrote Shoghi Rabbani and explained fully that the doctors disagreed as to what was her trouble, how some advised an operation while others did not. She did not know what to do. Shoghi has just sent me a letter saying he has explained fully mother's case to the Master and his answer is this:
"I ever pray on her behalf and beg from God His divine remedy and healing. As in this Dispensation consultation with expert doctors is highly advisable and acting in accordance with their prescriptions obligatory, it is well for her to undergo an operation if deemed necessary by such doctors.'"
WASHINGTON was beautiful, the banners of the spring floating out everywhere. The avenues were leafy bowers, the parks gay and fragrant with flowers and blossoming bushes and the grass-plots afire with the color of their flower-beds. . . .
The day after I arrived, Tuesday, April 23, 1912, I met the Master at luncheon at the Embassy. The table was strewn with rose-leaves, as it always is in Acca, and Oriental dishes were served. . . . There had been a long conversation about material and spiritual diseases, their separate origins and separate cures. Consumption had a spiritual cause; it often originated in grief. The cure, therefore, must be spiritual. The cause of insanity was spiritual. A dear woman present brought up some theories of spiritual causation. Just at that moment they were serving salad.
"If all the spirits in the air," laughed Abdul-Baha, "were to congregate together they could not create a salad! Nevertheless the spirit of man is powerful; for the spirit of man can soar in the firmament of knowledge, can discover realities, can confer life, can receive the divine Glad-Tidings. Is not this greater than making a salad?" (with another bright laugh).
One more sweet thing. One of the dishes was rather late appearing. Florence made some laughing apology for keeping everyone waiting; whereupon little Rahim spoke up.
"Even the King of Persia has to wait, doesn't he, mother?"
"Rahim, dear, Abdul-Baha is King of the whole world."
"Oh." said Rahim, very much abashed, "I forgot!"
After the luncheon a meeting had been arranged for three o'clock to which a number of very distinguished people came. When Abdul-Baha came down, after having rested a little and given several private interviews, he addressed the people, standing in the doorway in the simplest and freest of attitudes and speaking with a captivating sweetness, a startling clarity and the unanswerable logic and appalling simplicity of the basic teaching of the prophet. Near Abdul-Baha stood the Turkish ambassador, his eyes fixed in an intent regard full of deep wonder on that pure, noble figure. When the discourse was ended he turned to me.
"This is irrefutable. This is pure logic," he said. . . . .
After the meeting at Florence's, one was immediately held at Mrs. Parson's—in her beautiful Georgian house. It is a house of rare refinement, and dignity, and there, in a room built especially for this purpose, since the house has been built recently, Abdul-Baha held daily meetings, receiving all the notables of Washington. I think I must describe that room:—A long and lofty hall, all white; its ceilings and paneled white walls carved delicately and ornamented with white garlands; a platform set in front of the fireplace was always banked high with crimson roses, while at the many windows hung curtains of transparent, luminous green silk.
And—the Master!
Entering this room of studied simplicity and conventional elegance with the free step of one who was king and yet friend to all; walking with his natural majesty, yet with the simplicity of his great realness, to one of the windows; standing by the fluttering silk curtains, and, while he talked with that matchless ease to the assembled people, gazing out into the light; turning from the window; striding to and fro
(Continued on page 137)
O thou STAR OF THE WEST!
Be thou happy! Be thou happy! Shouldst thou continue to remain firm and eternal, ere long, thou shall 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 shall become the first paper of the world of humanity. Yet all these depend upon firmness firmness, firmness!
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.
| Vol. 12 | Kalamat 1, 77 (July 13, 1921) | No. 7 |
MY first acquaintance with the illustrious and saintly leader of the Bahai Movement was as one of his chairmen in course of his lectures in Edinburgh on his tour through the West some years ago before the war. After this meeting he became interested in the practical methods of my 'Outlook Tower' at Edinburgh, and found in these something of that incorporation of science into life, and, therefore, into religion, which is one of the tenets in which the Bahai organization, guided by his teaching, takes so eminent a lead among the religious bodies of the present. He indeed then asked me to deliver a public lecture on those lines to those attending his teachings, which I did under his chairmanship.
During each of the past two years I have been town-planning in Palestine and not only for Jerusalem, but also for his own home city of Haifa, and have thus had more than one opportunity of meeting him again.
On the last occasion of calling on him, I had the pleasant duty of conveying to him a unanimous request from "Pro-Carmel," a new Society of Citizens, founded on the lines of the better-known "Pro-Jerusalem," and with the same purpose of advancing all the common interests of the city, without distinction of race, party or creed, and thus embracing all. Their desire was that he should become the President of this new Society, which unites Moslems, Jews, Christians and Bahais in the work of social service and of civic and regional improvements in all respects, moral and educational, as well as material, hygienic, architectural and artistic, etc.
This office and leadership he cordially accepted to the great satisfaction of all concerned, since all Haifa looks up to and is proud of him as the foremost of their fellow-citizens.
He also approved and authorized the proposed town-planning scheme, as arranged between the City Engineer, Dr.
Ciffrin, and myself so far as his fairly extensive property (on the slope of Carmel above Haifa) is concerned. He granted the land for the two new public roads which are required, without accepting compensation on the land taken, and he also presented a substantial piece of ground for the public school which is required in that vicinity, some 4,000 square metres.
Dr. Ciffrin, in his architectural capacity has produced a fine scheme for a monumental stairway and cypress avenue leading uphill from the Templar Boulevard upon the level plain, to the central meeting place of the Bahai community in Haifa, which as all Bahais doubtless know, contains the Tomb of the Bab.
For this scheme, (of which the design is a gift by Dr. Ciffrin) between £2,000 and £3,000 will be required; but he and I and other friends and sympathizers are confident that this sum will readily be subscribed within a reasonable time by the many members and friends of the Bahai Cause throughout the world. Sir Abbas at once expressed himself as approving the design, and gratified by it, as at once a useful and needed access, and a beautiful and dignified memorial. He granted the land, and promised also to compensate from his own ground, the small portion of a Moslem neighbor's ground which is also required to complete the scheme. He further gave a subscription of £100 to begin the list; but while authorizing us to open a subscription list, and send it to friends and sympathizers, he charged us to be careful to explain this as a purely voluntary matter, and not to represent him as in any way pressing his followers or friends to subscribe, and this we of course promised to do.
We are thus however free to say that all subscriptions may be sent to The Treasurer, Báb Memorial Stairway, c/o Dr. Ciffrin, Municipal Engineer, Haifa, Palestine.
(still pouring forth his utterance)—with a step so vibrant it shook you; piercing our souls with those strange eyes; uplifting his eyes till glory seemed to stream upon them; talking—talking—moving back and forth incescantly, with restless gestures; pushing back his turban, revealing the sweep of the line of his forehead—that great dome; pushing it forward again almost down to his eyebrows,—which gave him a peculiar majesty; charging, filling the room with magnetic currents,—with a mysterious energy. Once he burst into the room, a child upon his shoulder. For a moment he held her, caressing her with richest love. Then he set her down among the roses.
On Thursday Abdul-Baha dined at the Turkish Embassy and I was privileged to be there. Never, I think, have I seen a table so beautiful. It was like a rose-garden. Roses lay in melting loveliness its whole length, rising in a great rose-pink mound in the center, where sat Abdul-Baha.
There are times when he looks colossal, when his holiness shines dazzlingly. That night he was all in light garments. He gave a great address on the civilizations built on the basic teachings of the prophets; then he spoke of the dinner as "a wonderful occasion." "The East and the West," he said, "are met in perfect love tonight."
There was a something in his words as he spoke them, a something so poignant, so revealing of the realities of things, so creative of flame that tears rushed to my eyes. Later he spoke of the deep significance of the two international marriages represented there.
The Turkish ambassador made an address. He called him "the Unique One
of the age," "who had come to spread his glory and perfection amongst us."
"I am not worthy of this," said Abdul-Baha simply.
Oh, the meekness! I used to hate that word meekness, especially in connection with Christ, until I saw Abdul-Baha! Then I realized this: that it is one of the essential attributes of God's Manifestations, and is a ray of unique power; of such power indeed that I have seen it change the atmosphere. I am not speaking at random. This happened at Acca when Abdul-Baha said, "Jesus was the bread that came down from Heaven, but I am the food prepared by the Blessed Beauty BAHA'O'LLAH. A something celestial, affecting me like silver light, filled the room. Perhaps I should put it in this way, that it is one of the attributes of the Servant, and when the Manifestation in the station of the Servant shows forth this attribute, which is identical with self-effacement, and all traces of the Servant disappear, then the station of the Glory alone is seen. "There was God and there was nothing with Him." . . .
"Nothing save the love of God endures!" said Abdul-Baha, as he drove in the park one day with Mrs. —— and myself. "Look at these trees all in blossom now!" And in words which I will not attempt to quote he described the inevitable coming of autumn. "This is a symbol of the human life," he said. "Remember Babylon." He drew vividly for us a picture of the former Babylon, its pomp and splendor; then of Babylon today, the ruins of today, "empty save for the hyena prowling among its crumbling stones, silent except for the voice of the owl at night or the song of the lark in the lonely day." "Remember Tyre," he continued. "Here, too, was beauty and splendor and pomp. Think of Tyre now! I have been there. I have seen." . . .
One day I stayed after the meeting to see Edna Belmont, who was serving Abdul-Baha at the telephone upstairs. While we were talking, suddenly the Master came into the room.
"I am just going out for a drive," he said, "but stay till I return, Edna, and you, too, Juliet, stay. I will see you when I return."
So I waited; I waited and waited. Half-past six came; seven! Our dinner was to be at half-past seven, and where I was going was a long way off, rather indirect on the car line and I had not kept the motor!
"Go, Juliet, I will explain," urged Edna. But I could not. He had told me to stay.
And now I am going to digress and tell you what seems another story! I was certainly no more than ten years old when a very presumptuous aspiration took possession of my infant mind. I began to dream of some day painting the Christ. I even prayed for it! Child though I was I violently hated the accepted conceptions of the Christ—sweet, effeminate, ineffectual. "I will paint a King!" I said, "the King of Love."
And I never lost this hope till I saw Abdul-Baha. Then I knew that no one could ever paint the Christ! The life of the Spirit of Life, that animation, the endless revealing, the glory! How could these be captured in material? Can you paint the lightning?
It was a little after seven when the Master came back. Entering the room where he had left me and where of course I was still waiting, he said:
"Ah, Juliet! For your sake I returned. Mrs. Hemmick wanted to keep me, but I had asked you to wait; therefore I returned." After a slight pause he added, "Would you like to come up and paint me tomorrow?"
So I learned the reward of obedience. Once in Haifa he said to me: "Keep my words; obey my commands and you will marvel at the results."
By a miracle I was not late for the dinner.
The next morning I went to him early with my box of pastels, but though it
was only eight o'clock, quite a crowd had gathered already and I felt that our morning was doomed to be a broken one. Not only that, but the light in all the rooms I saw was very poor and weak and the delicate wallpapers with bunches of flowers on them you could not think of putting behind his head! For a while I was in despair, for I dared not offer the suggestion that was in my mind. In the end, however, the artist overcame the disciple in me and, begging Abdul-Baha to forgive me if I were doing a wrong thing, I asked if he would pose in New York instead. This he consented to do so freely and sweetly that I had no more qualms about it.
The next day, while I was waiting in the hall to be announced, a door opened and there stood Abdul-Baha, beckoning to me. He was alone, so we had to fall back on his English and my Persian. A precious little talk it was!
Then the translator arrived.
"Tell Juliet," began Abdul-Baha at once, "that she teaches well." (I repeat this praise only because it is his!) "I have met many people who have been affected by you, Juliet. You are not eloquent, you are not fluent, but your heart teaches. You speak with an emotion, a feeling which makes people ask, 'What is this that she has?' Then they inquire! they seek and find. It is so, too, with Lua. You never find Lua speaking with dry eyes. You will be confirmed; a great bounty will descend upon you. You will become eloquent. Your tongue will be loosed. Teach, always teach. The confirmations of the Holy Spirit will descend upon those who teach constantly. Never feel fear. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. Never fear. You will grow stronger and stronger."
His vibrant power as he spoke thrilled me and fear was banished forever from my mind. The grand courage of that erect head and uplifted hand, the absolute confidence in God for me—I am sure I shall always see this when in the future I begin to speak.
NEW YORK
On Saturday, Abdul-Baha returned, Saturday, May 11, just one month from his first arrival.
His little apartment at the Hudson Apartment House on Riverside Drive was high above the world; its windows framed the sky. Now they were all open and the breeze blew in freshly from the river.
About five o'clock he came. Oh, the coming of that presence! If only, only I could convey to the future the great vibration of it! The hearts are almost suffocated with joy, the eyes burn with tears at that step! It is futile to try to express it! Sometimes when the sun breaks through the clouds and spreads a great glow, like a pouring out of fire from its heart, I get something of that feeling.
Taking a seat by the window Abdul-Baha began to talk to us, with supreme love and gladness, wittily, eloquently, tenderly, carrying us up on wings of fire to the apex of sublime feeling, then turning our tears to sudden little ripples of laughter as an unexpected gleam of wit flashed out, then melting our hearts with his yearning affection.
On the 13th of May a meeting of the Peace Conference was held at the Hotel Astor, at which Abdul-Baha was the guest of honor and the chief speaker. Dr. Grant was one of the speakers. He sat at the right of Abdul-Baha, Rabbi Wise to the left—the Jewish rabbi, the Christian clergyman! Ah, the symbolism of that trio sitting together in the foreground of the platform, with the Center of the Covenant for its center! He who had come to unite the Jews and Christians!
Abdul-Baha was really too exhausted to have gone to that meeting. He had been in bed all day.
"Must you go to the Hotel Astor when you are so ill?" I asked him.
"I work by the confirmations of the Holy Spirit," he answered, "I do not work by hygienic laws. If I did I would get nothing done!"
On the 14th of May, Abdul-Baha went to Mohonk, returning three days later.
A few perfect days, then he went to Boston. In the meanwhile he spoke at the Church of the Divine Paternity. This was unbearably beautiful. My impression, looking back, is that the church was Byzantine, recalling the worship of early Christians. The interior was of gray stone. Ah, the look of him that day! Then, more vividly than ever before, he shone out as the Divine Shepherd, come at last to his flocks.
On the 21st of May, also before Abdul-Baha went to Boston, Mrs. Tatum had a reception to which he came. The people who were there were of the fashionable world, with a sprinkling of artists and the literary set.
Suddenly there was a stir among the people, and Abdul-Baha was in our midst. He walked over to a big yellow couch in the bay-window and sat down. I think I must tell you how he looked there. His surroundings were all white; sunlight streamed in; the shadows on his face were translucent; his profile was outlined with a luminous penciling; his background was the crystal of the wide central window pane, the sky beyond. Behind him stood the Persians.
Soon he began to speak.
He was very happy, he said, to be with us. Think of the contrast! His outlook for years had been a prison window and he had been confined within the limits of a fortress; now he found himself in spacious homes.
His talk, at first apparently desultory, gradually shaped itself toward some distinct point, which, however, he kept veiled until the end. I wondered what was coming. When it came it was like a thunderclap.
"Think of it!" he said. "Two kings were dethroned in order that I might be freed! This is naught but pure destiny!"
"And now," ended the Master, rising to his feet with the action of a king, "you here in America must work with me for the peace of the world and the oneness of humanity."
And with this he left us, the room seeming strangely empty after he had gone.
I must paint one word-picture, a morning in—how curious, I started to say "The Rizwan," I mean—Riverside Drive, in that hallowed little strip of a park which we all love to call "his garden" into which he escaped so often to rest, which is holy with his prayers, or where we sometimes walked with him in the evenings, or he took his daily exercise. Just a gravel path, some benches and young trees and a low stone wall shutting off the slope to the river far below, but unspeakably beautiful forever to me. Morning, as I started to say, in our Rizwan; Abdul-Baha in the sunlight, his turban glistening white in it, pouring attar of rose on our hands and heads, pouring it out lavishly and with an incense of universal love breathing from him as he did it which it is impossible to describe, as though love indeed were the one delectable thing in the universe and the source of all joy. Oh that love! The pale, sparkling early morning sunshine, the perfume, that figure in the graceful flowing robes and the glistening turban, the center of a force which made everyone around him as nonexistent!
There is something almost miraculous in the way Abdul-Baha takes the sunlight. No one else looks so bright in it. It makes him translucent, like a shining mirror.
(To be continued)
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