Tending the Garden/The Maxwell family

THE MAXWELL FAMILY

ON the slope of the mountain close to the center of Montreal is the only Bahai Shrine in the western hemisphere. Here ‘Abdu’l-Baha resided at the beginning of His week-long stay in the city in 1912. He said, as He entered the house for the first time, “This is My home.” The building was also home to May and Sutherland Maxwell and their daughter, Mary. This family had a

profound impact on the early Canadian Bah@’is. And their impact continues.

By \&

May Bolles Maxwell

May Bolles learned of the Bahai Faith in the last year of the 19th century in Paris, France. It was there she met her future husband, a Canadian architect from Montreal, William Sutherland Maxwell. Rosemary describes how May had early intimations of the Faith in a “remarkable dream’:

We belonged to a discussion group of close friends and naturally we spoke of the Faith to them. It seems that | told these friends of Mrs. Maxwell’s dream when a child ... The members of the group were somewhat skeptical, so the whole group was invited to Pine Avenue to meet May Maxwell. One of the members said: “Rosemary told us of a remarkable dream of yours when you were twelve years of age or so, and we would like to know if it is true.” May turned to me and said, “Rosemary, tell me the dream as you remember it.” This is the way | told it:

Just after [May’s] birthday ... she dreamed that an angel took her up into the sky. There she saw the earth revolving in space. On top of the earth was a birthday cake. The angel had a sword; with his sword he cut the cake into many pieces. From the center of the cake rose a blue-violet mist which encircled the world writing the name “BAHA”. Then the angel declared, “The knowledge of the glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!” From all corners of the globe came people dressed in the different [Page 45]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 45

national costumes to take a piece of this cake. The child was so overcome by this dream she woke up startled and cried out. Her mother heard the sound and the child told her dream so the mother could record it.

After | had ended the story, Mrs. Maxwell said, “That is exactly right!”

May Maxwell was part of the first group of Westerners to visit ‘Abdu ’lBaha in the Holy Land. On her return to Paris, she set to work letting people know about her new-found Faith. Rosemary highlights May’s impact as a teacher and as a person:

... it was ‘Abdu’l-Bahd Who sent Abu’l-Fadl [the great Muslim and Baha’ scholar] to Paris to teach the devoted group there but with special emphasis on May Bolles. May so often used to say that it was this great and wise teacher who taught her to first try to weed or eradicate the prejudices in the seeking soul that might prevent it from accepting the Faith. May would do this, so wisely, questioning one so gently and subtly until finally the seeker would give an answer amazing to himself or herself. May would exclaim joyously, “That is what ‘Abdu’l-Baha said!” and quote His words.

One felt so elated to find that one had had the joy of realizing an aspect, a facet of truth for oneself, through one’s own perception! It could by no means be called manipulation, than that one could say the sun “manipulated” the seeds to grow from the earth. Truly, she had such a love for the seeking soul, and this love, like the warmth of the sun, caused the soul-seed to sprout.

Juliet [Thompson] told me how the Master placed His hand on May when Juliet also was present, with closed eyes as though praying. When, after a second or two He removed His hand He said, “| have planted in you the seed of love. This you will impart to everyone you meet!”

The bond between each member of the family, their love for one another was also part of the “magic” of their home, though May was the radiating center. Her daughter, now Ruhiyyih Khanum, wrote these words: “Many people inspire more or less love in others but | don’t think | ever knew anyone who inspired the love mother did - so it was like an event when one was going to see her. This | felt all my life, day in, day out, and it never became commonplace!”?

We in the Montreal community would get a little disturbed or perhaps jealous [Page 46]46 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

at times of the love and attention May would shower on someone who seemed to us a dried up bulb. Suddenly this dried bulb would give forth green shoots and blossoms! The amazing quality, the universal scope of this love: She wouldn't restrict it only to Baha'is, it was showered on everyone...It was like a garment around one, warmth without restricting weight.’

May spent a great deal of time away from Montreal, partly due to her work for the Faith, and partly because the winters affected her fragile health. Emeric remembers her:

[Without Mrs. Maxwell] the Montreal community appeared to me like a club, consisting mostly of well-brought up elderly ladies, enjoying their firesides, consisting of prayers and reading the Writings of the Master (one seldom heard the name ‘Abdu'l-Baha) and tea with polite social chit-chat, entirely innocent of the fact that they were members of the most world-shaking and revolutionary movement of the century.

The central figure around which the community revolved was May Maxwell. She was an excellent teacher and raconteur. But her overriding quality was love. If we accepted her love, as | did, we had the feeling that she loved us more than anyone else. We knew that this was not true, but she was drawing from an inexhaustible Source, as no one else | know could, such unending, all-encompassing love and concern and sympathy, that we were helplessly overwhelmed, and were anxious to do anything to please her. What saddened us all was that she spent only a small part of each year in Montreal. Most of the time she appeared to have been away to teach and also on account of her delicate health. With many others | felt very close to her. We had many private sessions, since she was my spiritual mother. When she left Montreal, which was often, there was a general letdown. We somehow felt like orphans.

In a letter, May wrote to Emeric about human and divine love:

August 26, 1931

.. Earthly love at best is but a poor imitation of that sacred essence which once it penetrates the human heart transforms the whole life. Human love separates but divine love unites; human love is possessive, but divine love [Page 47]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 47

gives all — even life, in the path of the Beloved; human love brings often bitterness and pain, but divine love brings the ecstasy of joy and self release and its pain is sweeter than honey! ‘Abdu’l-Baha said to me that the human intellect is a fine and valuable instrument of human progress, but that only the rare soul attains the supreme gift of divine love.” °

Anne Savage was a member of a less prosperous branch of a wellknown Montreal family. Rosemary and Anne would meet together for tea and talk about their beloved May Maxwell. Rosemary recorded some of Anne Sav age’s memories.

“The first time | saw May Maxwell was at the University Settlement. She came to tell stories to the children in the library and how entranced and spellbound they all sat and listened! She took me home in a cab and in those days a cab drive was a great treat to me.

“In those early days, before ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s visit, | saw a great deal of her. She taught me everything | know of the Faith. As she talked | felt such a wonderful exhilaration and when | walked home it was as if on air. ...

“One time when | was driving on the mountain with her, she pressed a twenty dollar bill into my hand, which in those days was a fortune to me. She could not keep money if others were in need!

“Once May said, “If only | could ride in the streetcars!” | asked, “Why?’, thinking of the many unpleasantnesses of riding in the streetcars. With a sort of ecstasy she answered, “Oh the people, to be near them!”

“Her sympathy and understanding of the poor was remarkable. Once | asked, “Could you go about smelling unclean?” | spoke from experience. She answered, “If | was a mother of a family living in one room and the only water would be in a small basin at the far end of an entrance hall, the basin about six to eight inches, I’d smell to heaven!””

May Maxwell was involved in philanthropic work in Montreal. In those days the mortality rate of children was very high. Milk dispensaries were [Page 48]48 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

created (in French, Gouttes de /ait) where mothers could get pasteurized milk and medical care for their babies. Colborne Street Milk Station was a dispensary that May helped maintain.*

May was active in the Negro Club of Montreal, and was honorary president for a period of time.’ Once, a visitor arriving at the Maxwell home was told that Mrs. Maxwell could not be disturbed. A woman was upstairs about to give birth. Because she was black, all the hospitals had refused her and Mrs. Maxwell was bringing in her own doctor. The baby would be born in her home."°

May’s thinking could be called ‘cutting edge’. Enthusiastic about a new system of education started by Italian doctor, Maria Montessori, May brought a teacher from New York, converted the top floor of the house into a kindergarten, and thus started one of the first Montessori classes in Canada." In areas of health, she made use of homeopathic treatments. In a letter is this sentence: “...to me there is no medicine outside homeopathy.”””

‘There is much we can learn from May’s ability to deal with gossip and backbiting; from the way she would dig to the source of a misunderstanding through her directness and candor. Rosemary shows one way that she handled

backbiting:

May Maxwell’s disregard of some really dreadful criticism and gossip is a glowing memory with me, alas not always followed. | heard her listen politely to someone telling her of so-and-so saying such-and-such about her. Immediately the story was ended, May unruffled, would talk with joy of some aspect of the teachings. What interested me was that she did not make the narrator feel guilty as a gossiper, she just relegated the subject as one of unimportance to greater things.”

Violette Nakhjavani, in her book, The Maxwells of Montreal, provides

some of Ruhiyyih Khanum’s comments about her mother’s frankness: [Page 49]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 49

She was unspeakably frank—a trait often misunderstood by those who are not by nature themselves frank. If she heard that one of the Bahda’is, or any friend for that matter, was upset over something...which she had actually or supposedly said or done, she would go to the telephone, ring them up and say, “What's this I hear that you, etc.” She always said it to one’s face, whether flattering or otherwise...One of our young Montreal Baha’is—who as it happened was her spiritual child—told me that: “Mother almost killed me the other day. I telephoned her from a booth downtown and she was mad at me for something I had done and she gave me a terrific lecture and the combination of the heat of the lecture and the telephone booth, almost suffocated me!” Needless to say he did not object to

her “lecture” at all! Be

One More Step

Despite frail health, May set out in 1940 on a teaching trip to South

America. Rosemary recalls a visit:

Shortly before [May] left on her journey to South America, and we to Venezuela, we sat on the blue velvet couch in the Maxwell living room ... She told me how she knew the Guardian wished her to take one more step and she prayed she would be worthy to take it! She told me that she knew that God in His mercy would permit her to die before the real forces of war were released; that she could not bear the cruelties and suffering of humanity; that she hoped she would die in February, her favourite month. As we know, she died on March Ist.

Emeric wrote about the last time he saw his dear friend:

Early in 1940 | happened to be in New York, and was the last Canadian to see Mrs. Maxwell prior to her embarking for her fateful journey to South America. | shall [Page 50]50 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

never forget her deep blue eyes and her encompassing love for all of us, including those who are as yet unborn, but will arise to serve His Cause."

Not long after arriving in Argentina Mrs. Maxwell passed away suddenly. She was buried in a suburb of Buenos Aires, in obedience to Baha’u llah’s decree that Bahd’is be buried close to the site of death.

I cannot end this section about May Maxwell, without adding a personal story. My father, Paul, Emeric’s younger brother, immigrated to Canada in 1937. Two years later, he became very ill and needed an operation. One day, as he was recovering in the Royal Victoria Hospital, May Maxwell came for a visit. She sat quietly with him, reciting some prayers, not staying long. Until that time, he had regarded the Baha’ Faith as a logical set of principles with which he was in intellectual agreement. But a shift happened during May’s visit and his heart was touched. He became a member of the Baha'i community not long after, and remained a staunch Baha’ to his last breath.

De William Sutherland Maxwell

Sutherland Maxwell was a distinguished Canadian architect. His work includes Canadian landmarks such as the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City and the Parliament Buildings in Regina, Saskatchewan. However, it is a golden-domed building on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa that remains his preeminent work. Mr. Maxwell designed this superstructure over the resting place of the Bab, Manifestation of God and forerunner to Bahéa’u'llah.

Here are some of Rosemary’s impressions of Sutherland Maxwell:

[Mr. Maxwell] was President of the Art Association of Montreal; as an architect, his work was known and services sought all over Canada. ... May always rejoiced to dwell on ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s promise that her beloved husband would confer great distinction on Canada. Distinction to her was to teach the Faith and she would look for those signs and be happy in his services to the Faith as a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly, [Page 51]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 51

as Treasurer, as Chairman, etc. but would seem to wait expectantly for further flowering as a teacher. The full-flowering of his talent and service to the Cause was only to become known when the outer edifice of the Bab’s sepulcher was built. The association of Mr. Maxwell with the tomb of the Blessed Bab reaches all over the world ... Most assuredly Sutherland Maxwell brought distinction to Canada! ... Sutherland Maxwell ... loved beauty, art. His exquisite sense of form and color reflected in every aspect of his home, built and furnished as a setting in which ‘Abdu’l-Baha would be more than a guest! ... How wonderful that the Master’s words on entering the Maxwell home, “This is My Home’’should find completion in the Guardian's words naming it a Shrine!”

Emeric adds to the picture:

What was he like? He was a gentleman, the ideal of a gentleman. Reserved, reticent, never showed his emotions. He did not attend firesides, didn’t participate in discussions or study of the teachings. Mrs. Maxwell would say he is a wonderful Baha’ but does not know it. He buried himself in his study and his art which he loved. When we had public speakers, sometimes he would be chair, introduce. Later he became more active, member and chair of the LSA of Montreal. Very proper, gentlemanly, created an atmosphere of dignity and respect.!®

A Bahai House of Worship was being constructed in Chicago, the first in the Americas. All costs were borne by Baha’is around the world: a challenge during the Depression of the 1930s. Rosemary recalls:

We used to have what we called economy dinners. Each Baha'i family would invite other Baha'is to come and share a meal. We each vied with one another to find out who could provide the cheapest, most satisfactory, most gourmet meal for the least amount of money. And everyone would come and pay [something for the Temple Fund]. ... We did this apart from Feasts you know, just as a little way of meeting one another. And | remember the Maxwells coming too and sharing in that, and Sutherland who was quite a gourmet in his days, would approve and flatter one ...One felt immensely flattered [Page 52]52 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

if Sutherland said he enjoyed a meal particularly for 32 cents. Which it would sometimes cost in those days of the Depression. ... It was a sacrificial penny, it was that sacrificial mite that ... gave the spirit to the body of the Temple.”

One of Mr. Maxwell’s duties was treasurer of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Montreal:

One of the members of the Montreal community was a labourer’s wife. She had six children to bring up on a very meager salary. As her husband was a non-Baha’i she wished to give her own services to the Faith. She herself cleaned offices to make extra money. | remember Mr. Maxwell, as Treasurer of the LSA, asking it if the members would accept Mrs. —'s offer to clean the Center and the LSA fund would contribute the $3.00 pay into the Fund in her name. This was Mrs. —’'s sacrifice. | was so touched to see Sutherland Maxwell place the receipt in the donor’s hand with a special word of appreciation.”°

Not long after May Maxwell’s sudden death in 1940, Shoghi Effendi invited Mr. Maxwell to come and assist with the work in Haifa. His letter to Mrs. Dorothy Ward, first custodian of the Maxwell home, illustrates his practical, business-like side and attention to detail.

May 9, 1940

Dear Dorothy,

Regarding your living in Pine Avenue during my absence abroad, these are arrangements between us.

You are in charge and are to see that the house is kept clean, free from moths, locked up at night.

Regarding heating—I shall pay for winter coal only (use % coke and % Welsh)

Regarding Baha'i use of house—The Spiritual Assembly may use the house for its meetings, for Feast meetings, and special meetings. It may keep books and pamphlets there. Fireside meetings may be held. [Page 53]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 53

Regarding keys. Only the following may have them. ... Report anything out of order to Mrs. Brooks [Mr. Maxwell’s secretary]”"

Mr. Maxwell arrived in Haifa during the early days of World War II. Once the war ended, he hoped to return to Montreal for a visit as indicated in his reply to one of Rosemary’s letters:

Greetings and Baha’i love to all the friends. ... | have spent many an hour prowling around the old haunts and having imaginary conversations - and re-creations - of the good old times and friends in Montreal...

If | shall have the pleasure and satisfaction of returning to Montreal for a visit, it will be a great happiness to me - and a joy to see all the old friends again. I have been very busy here, doing all sorts of things - including architectural work.”

Mr. Maxwell remained in Haifa for 12 years. During that time he assisted the Guardian in a variety of important matters culminating with the design and construction of the superstructure to the Shrine of the Bab. In the early 1950s, he returned to Montreal from Haifa, because of failing health. Rosemary recalls:

In the Canadian Archives are some lovely designs made with bright blue ink that he doodled one afternoon when a group was gathered in his library. ... | saw him drop them in the wastepaper basket, later gathered them and kept them for years until | sent them to the Canadian Archives. Even when he returned to Canada ... and | would have the privilege of sitting with him when the nurse was having an afternoon’s respite, he would arrange pieces of paper he had collected for their texture and color and play with them, commenting on the balance or contrast of color!”

Occasionally he startles one by his perception. After a Regional Conference which had not been too successful, he said, “The Cause will never grow unless the friends show spirituality, enthusiasm towards each other and their guests.’ He greets people, smiles his sweet angelic smile but cannot converse beyond a few moments [because of [Page 54]54 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

his ill-health]. But his sweetness wraps itself around one’s heart!**

The Hands of the Cause of God performed a unique role in the Faith. ‘These were exceptional men and women appointed by Baha’ lah, ’Abdu’lBaha and later by the Guardian, charged with the duties of protection and propagation of the Faith. Rosemary describes a poignant moment:

On Christmas Day, 1951, Emeric and | called at the Maxwell House to say goodbye to Mr. Maxwell and his nurse as we were leaving the next day to attend the Winter School at Beaulac.” We sat down on the high-backed Italian couch in the study, one on each side of Mr. Maxwell. He had come downstairs, but sat there so folded in, so pale and lifeless, our hearts ached. The nurse said that he hadn't slept. Then the telephone rang so the nurse asked me if | would please go and answer the telephone. (She was Swiss and spoke almost no English). So | picked up the telephone and heard the message:

“Pleased to announce your elevation to the rank of a Hand of the Cause of God.”

... [wrote it down; ... | showed it to Emeric and the nurse, and the nurse pulled out of her pocket the same message which had arrived the day before, but she had been afraid to give it to Sutherland for fear it would upset him, so we had the joy of doing this. Emeric wrote in beautiful big letters on a piece of paper, “THE GUARDIAN HAS APPOINTED YOU HAND OF THE CAUSE”. It was wonderful to watch Sutherland. He sat up, his chest filled out and his face lit up. Then he said these beautiful words: “I didn’t do it all alone, there were so many others to help me.”

When Emeric told the nurse the distinction the Guardian had bestowed on her beloved patient, her eyes filled with tears as she expressed her joy. My own eyes were filled with tears as | sat clasping Mr. Maxwell’s hand in both of mine. | could not resist kissing his hand! It was a deeply moving moment. He was strong enough to walk to the door with us, shook our hands, waved goodbye smiling. He was so full of life, spiritual life.

What a privilege for us to be there by happy accident. One of God's bounties.” By \&

The Alabaster Box

Mr. Maxwell passed away in the spring of 1952. Rosemary describes [Page 55]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 55

the Guardian’s request made during her pilgrimage later that same year:

When | was a pilgrim in Haifa, the Guardian gave me an alabaster box containing a piece of the wall of the Prison of Mah-Kd, wrapped ina silk handkerchief ... [He] asked me to take it back to give to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, and to have it interred in the grave of Sutherland Maxwell. So here on Mount Royal we have some of the soil of Mah-KG. And when you go to visit that grave, to think of that connection with the Bab, the sense of the Bab’s nearness is present. Sutherland Maxwell most certainly brought distinction to Canada and to the world.”

An article in the September 1956 issue of the Canadian Baha'i News reported that:

On Saturday, June 16", friends from the Montreal area gathered at the grave of our beloved Hand of the Cause, Sutherland Maxwell. This gathering was held for the purpose of fulfilling the instructions of the Guardian for the placing, under the headstone of Mr. Maxwell’s grave, of a piece of plaster from the walls of the prison in Mah-Ku where the Bab was incarcerated in 1847.

The Guardian had sent this piece of plaster enclosed in an alabaster box to the National Spiritual Assembly. The Guardian pointed out that another piece of plaster from the same source had been placed under the first golden tile of the dome of the Shrine of the Bab on Mount Carmel. The superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab, as we know, was designed by Sutherland Maxwell. ...

The box containing the plaster was placed in a special excavation in the foundation stone under the headstone and attar of roses, sent by the Guardian for the purpose, was poured over the alabaster box which was then permanently

sealed with tile and cement in the foundation stone in the presence of the friends. By \&

Mary Maxwell — Amatu’1-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum [Page 56]56 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

Mary was destined to become the wife of Shoghi Effendi, ‘AbdwlBaha’s grandson and successor. She would become known as Amatu’l-Baha Ruihiyyih Khinum. Amatu'l-Bahé means “handmaiden of Bahau lah’,

Riuhiyyih means “spirit”, and KAdnum means “lady.” BS

“A Very Wonderful Son”

Rosemary tells the story of an event when Mary was two years old. It was May Maxwell's last meeting with ‘Abdu’ 1-Baha in the fall of 1912, shortly before He left North America.

May carried Mary in her arms as she entered the Master’s presence. He had held the two-year old child in His arms, kissed and embraced her, calling her His daughter, His own dear daughter. May said her farewells and had reached the door, which had been opened, to leave the Master’s presence. Suddenly He called out, “Mrs. Maxwell, someday you will have a very wonderful son.’Again, in a stronger voice, “Mrs. Maxwell, someday you will have a very wonderful son!” Then again, in a voice so resonant and full, He exclaimed, “Mrs. Maxwell, Some day You Will Have a Very Wonderful Son!”

As she left the room, overcome by these words which she understood to mean she would have another child, she saw Montfort Mills and Horace Holley [two American Baha'is] standing looking a little embarrassed as the Master’s voice had reached them also. As time passed May realized that the words could only mean her son-in-law to be! Though she said that the thought of a connection with the Family

of Baha'u'llah was beyond her reach.” By \&

A Dream

One evening, seated together on the blue velvet couch in the Max[Page 57]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 57

well Home, waiting for a Feast to begin, Mary told Rosemary about a remarkable dream she had had. It was in 1932, not long before the passing of Bahiyyih Khanum, the beloved daughter of Bahda’wllah, known as the Greatest Holy Leaf.

Mary (as she was then) appeared to be in Haifa. She entered the room of the Greatest Holy Leaf who was lying ill in bed. At the foot of the bed was a table laden with all shapes and sizes of bottles of different coloured medicines. Mary, longing to help, asked if she could give Bahiyyih Khanum some medicine, indicating the table.

The Greatest Holy Leaf smiled gently, shook her head and replied, “That will not help me. That is the world’s medicine!” Then she asked Mary to go to a table in another corner of the room, remove an exquisitely carved silver or ivory screen and behind it she would find her medicine. Mary did so and saw a goblet of such pure crystal filled with a liquid so clear and pure that one could not know where the goblet began and the liquid ended!

This precious goblet Mary carried with both hands and gave to Bahtyyih Khanum. The Greatest Holy Leaf took a sip, handed it to Mary saying, “Drink it, drink it all up!” Mary then said she could never describe the taste of that divine elixir.

The significance of this dream was dimly realized some years later. When one compares the Guardian’s tribute to the Greatest Holy Leaf and his tributes to Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, the station of one incomparably higher but both

serving the Guardian with equal devotion in her own sphere.” By

The Guardian’s Marriage

Following an extended teaching trip in Europe in 1937, May and Mary were invited by Shoghi Effendi to visit Haifa. Rosemary describes the evening in 1937 when Mr. Maxwell left to join them. [Page 58]58 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

The Montreal community met in the Maxwell home for a Feast, the same night Mr. Maxwell left for Haifa, to attend, unknown to us, the Guardian’s marriage. He stood at the door, hat in hand, overcoat on his arm, about to get into the waiting taxi. Goodbyes were said, then | called out impulsively, “Are you going to bring May and Mary home with you?” For one brief moment, one glimpsed a dark look of pain. It vanished, and with a smile and a wave of his hand, he left.

We realized afterwards what that brief glimpse of pain meant when we learned of the Guardian’s marriage, and that Mary, Ruhiyyih Khanum, would not be home again, one of a unit of three.”

May and Sutherland both felt the separation from their beloved daughter, though it did not sadden them. They accepted it as the price of great bounty. *

Emeric once had a dream before the marriage of the Guardian, that the whole Montreal Spiritual Assembly was seated in a circle outside the Master's house, but Ruhiyyih Khanum wasn’t among us. She was standing behind the Guardian. Emeric wondered why. He thought she had been doing something, stepping out of line. This was his immature interpretation at that time.

Then, of course, the cable came. | happened to be secretary of the Montreal Spiritual Assembly. | grabbed up the mail that day and was dashing out of the house to do something or other with some Baha'is. ... | suddenly noticed that one envelope was from Haifa. So | stopped in the middle of crossing the street, opened up the envelope and it said:

“Announce assemblies celebration marriage beloved Guardian. Inestimable honor conferred upon handmaid of Baha'u'llah, RUhiyyih Khdnum, Miss Mary Maxwell. Union of East and West proclaimed by Baha’i Faith cemented.

(Signed) Ziaiyyih, Mother of the Guardian.”

What great excitement! It's a good thing it wasn’t a main highway. | dashed back home again to telephone all the friends.*”

Rosemary recalls conversations with May Maxwell on her return to [Page 59]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 59

Montreal, following the marriage:

May Maxwell, when she came back from Haifa, told me [that] after she and Mary had been traveling in Europe ... teaching ... the Guardian wrote saying that he hoped that after they had completed their teaching plan, that they would visit Haifa. And May, in speaking to a dear old Baha'i friend, said, “When | read this, | felt something in my heart!” ... Then she told me that when they went to Haifa, the Guardian greeted them both very lovingly and warmly. One day the mother of the Guardian, Zia Khanum, invited May to tea. She alone, not Mary. After the tea was over, Zia Khanum put down her cup very formally and said, “And now Mrs. Maxwell, would you consent to the marriage of your daughter with Shoghi Effendi?” Well, you can imagine May’s feelings. She sat there silent for a moment and then she said, “I will have to consult with Sutherland and it is for Mary to decide.’ She went across to the Pilgrim House and Mary was standing by the window, looking up at Carmel. She told Mary. And Mary said, “If the Guardian so wishes.’#

Here are glimpses into the shared life of Shoghi Effendi and Ruhiyyih Khanum. ‘The Swiss nurse who accompanied Mr. Maxwell to Canada on his

return in 1951 shared this with Rosemary:

One day when in her presence the Guardian chided Ruhiyyih Khanum for something she had done, he turned to the nurse with a beautiful smile saying, “Mais je l'adore!”34

Rosemary recalled an incident from her Pilgrimage in 1952:

The Guardian spoke of the Bab for whom he had such love and reverence. In the conversation he lightly touched a turquoise and silver bracelet which Rihiyyih Khanum was wearing, saying that it had been a present the Bab had given to His wife. The tender touch he gave to the bracelet and the sweetness of the smile he bestowed on Ruhiyyih [Page 60]60 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

Khanum was again a glimpse into the privacy of their shared life. Ruhiyyih Khanum sat with bowed head, in such touching humility.”

May Maxwell told Rosemary that:

The Guardian wrote her [May] that the time would come when a little scrap of paper on which Ruhiyyih Khanum had written would be precious.”

Rosemary would use stories such as this one to illustrate the nearness of the afterlife:

The interrelationship between the worlds is a thin veil, like an onion skin separating the layers, as May used to tell us the Master said. | give this illustration: Ruhiyyih Khdnum told me that one day (in Haifa) after her mother’s passing, [while] tidying her cupboards she came upon some of the little gifts her mother had sent her from time to time. She began to weep, realizing that now she would no longer receive such gifts. Then she seemed to hear her mother’s voice telling her that of course she would send her gifts, but through others. A few days later, a Persian pilgrim came to her with some little gift, excusing herself saying that when in downtown Haifa shopping she had felt impelled to buy it for her. RUhiyyih Khanum then felt it was as a confirmation of her mother’s words to her.”

After World War II ended, Rosemary and Emeric were able to go on a teaching trip to South America. Thus they had the opportunity to visit the grave of May Maxwell, in Quilmes, a suburb of Buenos Aires.

Argentina, Dec. 31, 1945: We had breakfast in our room ... then dressed to go out to Quilmes to Mrs. Maxwell’s grave. It was a pleasant trip by train through lovely suburbs like the lakeshore with palms and firs alternating almost. We bought four dozen small roses which | placed on the grave, naming each one for a Canadian person or family, for Ruhiyyih Khanum and Mr. Maxwell ... | got the feeling that used to flood the Maxwell home some years ago - that golden flood. The wings express pure joy...” [Page 61]THE MAXWELL FAMILY 61

Emeric had ended a report to the Guardian by describing May’s gravestone as “the wings of Quilmes”. Ruhiyyih Khanum referred to this phrase in a letter. (See the next chapter for an excerpt of Emeric’s report on the South American teaching trip.)

Haifa, March 22, 1946

I just read what you said of the “wings of Quilmes” in your letter to our beloved Guardian

Did you know I modeled the wings? For many, many years I felt whenever Mother died I wanted to make for her the figure of an Angel with wings as her tombstone. When she did die I realized it was a purely Christian motif. So Daddy and IJ together worked that out.

I thought “how close he is to Mother” when I read your words. Indeed a hand everlasting binds you to her, dear Emeric.

To me she is what Swinburne wrote once, “the angel that presided at my birth...” She was the angel of my whole life!

You are doing so much to serve the Cause and I am so proud of your book! And how lucky you are to have Rosemary by your side - she has such a deep devotion to the Faith and so constantly strives to wing her way ever higher spiritually. I admire that so much as sometimes one sees the believers complacent, anxious to reform the world and neglectful of the ever-constant necessity of self reform!

l owe you both a proper letter - but am so terribly, terribly busy!29 By &

The Shrine

As mentioned before, when Mr. Maxwell moved to Haifa in 1940, he placed the Maxwell House in the care of Mrs. Dorothy Ward. A letter from

Rosemary to Dorothy contained words of premonition:

I'm so excitedly happy to hear ... that you are in the Maxwell home! ... Pictures of you moving about, up and down stairs, working in the familiar kitchen, acting as host[Page 62]62 THE MAXWELL FAMILY

ess fill my mind as well also as the indescribable atmosphere of the home the last time we visited it, the very evening of the day we left. Then, even the tables and chairs, every object in the room was bathed in heavenly peace. Emeric said its atmosphere reminded him of the Holy Shrines.“°

In 1953, Shoghi Effendi wrote to the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly saying that the Maxwell home in Montreal:

... should be viewed in the nature of a national Shrine, because of its association with the beloved Master, during His visit to Montreal.”

By \&

[Page 63]Adolf and Charlotte Sala,