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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
30 stories in the library.
The Greatest Holy Leaf tells Lady Blomfield of her family's winter exile from Tihrán to Baghdád: her father still ill from the Síyáh-Chál, the youngest child left behind, and her mother riding a jolting mule through the snow.
Bahíyyih Khánum remembers the freezing winter journey her family made from Tihrán to Baghdád when she was six, and how her mother never complained.
Bahíyyih Khánum, daughter of Bahá'u'lláh, recalls to Lady Blomfield her childhood of danger and exile, her work at her mother's side, and her choice to remain unmarried so as to serve her family.
Ásíyih Khánum, whom Bahá'u'lláh called Navváb, came to her marriage with forty mule-loads of wedding treasures. Her daughter remembered how she sold them for the family's exile, did the hardest work in poverty and prison, and never uttered a word of complaint.
Lady Blomfield told of seeing broad rays of golden light pour from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá over a London congregation as He spoke, flooding some people and avoiding others completely.
A homeless man who had resolved to end his life saw ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s picture in a newspaper and walked thirty miles to find Him; the Master welcomed and comforted him, and he left with a new purpose.
Lady Blomfield recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, arriving home very tired after a crowded meeting, suddenly ran up the stairs to the flat and told the astonished friends that through the power of Bahá’u’lláh all things can be done.
At dinner on Christmas Eve 1912 in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said playfully that two despotic monarchs of the East had not been able to command Him, but the ladies of America and Europe, because they were free, gave Him orders.
Visitors from far countries who stayed on while the Master taught were invited to lunch with Him. So often were there nineteen at table that Lady Blomfield's household came to expect it, and He often served the guests with His own hands.
On 17 September 1911, at the invitation of Archdeacon Wilberforce, 'Abdu'l-Bahá addressed the congregation of St. John the Divine, Westminster, and the congregation knelt to receive His blessing.
At Lady Blomfield's table in London, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke of the blessings of freedom and wished the courses could be shared with the poor and hungry. His hosts at once resolved to simplify their dinners.
During the First World War, when no one could be found to carry a Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá from Haifa to Tihrán, Hájí Ramaḍán, an Arab believer of seventy-five and nearly blind, asked to go, walked there, and came back.
In Paris in 1911 'Abdu'l-Bahá told an artist that all true art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The artist's questions led to the blind eyes that cannot see the Sun of Truth, and the Master answered with a prayer.
Warned in 1918 that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was in serious danger, Lady Blomfield sought Lord Lamington's help; Lord Balfour had a cable sent to General Allenby to protect Him, and when Allenby took Haifa he cabled that 'Abdu'l-Bahá was safe.
In September 1911 Archdeacon Wilberforce invited 'Abdu'l-Bahá to speak at his London church, and the whole congregation knelt to receive His blessing.
During His nine weeks in Paris in 1911, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to a poor congregation in a mission hall, walked through a rowdy crowd that parted for Him, and comforted a weeping widow whose son faced a dangerous operation.
Lady Blomfield recalls meals with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in her London home: He served guests with His own hands, shared a poor workman’s gift of dry bread, and seated the humblest guests at His right hand.
At His first dinner in Lady Blomfield's London home, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gently wished the many courses could be shared with the hungry, and afterwards the dinners were greatly simplified.
Out driving in London, Mrs Thornburgh-Cropper asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá whether He longed to be back with His family in Haifa. He told her and Lady Blomfield that they were as beloved to Him as His own.
When Ridvaniyyih Khánum’s little daughter died, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá comforted her with the image of a Divine Gardener moving a young tree to a better place. Lady Blomfield adds that after her own mother died, a friend dreamed of seeing her young and joyful in a garden.
Lady Blomfield describes how Ásíyih Khánum, Bahíyyih Khánum, Munírih Khánum and the Master’s daughters bore the long years of privation in ‘Akká without complaint, meeting every hardship with radiant acquiescence.
At table with His guests, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá received a poor workman's dinner of dry bread and a shrivelled apple, left His own luncheon untasted, and shared the gift with everyone present.
In Paris, the wife of a Japanese ambassador longed to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá but was ill and leaving early the next morning. Though it was late and He was tired, He went to call on her Himself.
'Abdu'l-Bahá accepted no money or costly gifts; when a lady offered a friend's cheque to buy Him a motor-car, He thanked her, held it as though blessing it, and returned it to be used for gifts to the poor.
Two days before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá left Paris, a mother arrived from America. Her small daughter had pointed at His picture in a magazine store window, and she had caught a boat that same night.
Warned in Paris of danger if He visited a certain country, 'Abdu'l-Bahá smilingly told Lady Blomfield that He had never been a day out of danger, and that His enemies had no power over His life.
In May 1922 the Greatest Holy Leaf went with Lady Blomfield and a party of ladies to the barracks of 'Akká, where she and her family had once been imprisoned, and listened as the rooms of the captivity were described.
Visiting 'Akká in May 1922, Lady Blomfield wrote to her daughter about the small house where Bahá'u'lláh and His family had lived, and about sleeping in the room that had been Ásíyih Khánum's.
In May 1922 the Greatest Holy Leaf visited the old barracks in 'Akká where her family had been imprisoned, and Lady Blomfield wrote that her eyes were charged with memories.
On a visit to 'Akká in 1922, Lady Blomfield slept in the room that had belonged to Ásíyih Khánum, the wife of Bahá'u'lláh, and wrote to her daughter about the peaceful feeling of that room.