‘Abdu’l-Bahá is staying at the Ansonia hotel in New York City
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
Studio narration for this story is coming — it’ll be generated by the cloud-TTS pipeline (voice: auto-selected from the source author).
When in Bahá'í history
New York (today: New York, USA)
‘Abdu’l-Bahá is staying at the Ansonia hotel in New York City. He agreed to speak at the Bowery Mission and asked Juliet Thompson to take a 1000 franc note (about $250) and have it changed to quarters and put in a bag. He handed another 1000 franc note to Edward Getsinger with the same instructions.
Source: The Diary of Juliet Thompson, p. 251
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: generosity).
Discuss this story
For adults
- If you were to share this story aloud at a devotional gathering, which sentence would you read first?
- What in your own life does this story bring to mind?
- Where do generosity and patience meet in this story?
For teens
- What is one quality you'd want to carry forward from this account?
- Which line in this story surprised you the most?
Reflection
- Is there someone in your life who would be helped by hearing this story?
- Sit quietly for a moment after reading. What does this story stir in you?
- Take one line from this story and let it stay with you today.
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "‘Abdu’l-Bahá is staying at the Ansonia hotel in New York City" drawn from?
Where does this story take place?
What period of Bahá'í history does this story belong to?
Which historical figure is featured most prominently in this story?
Which virtue does this story most clearly illustrate?
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/generosity
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
Juliet Thompson, a devout Bahá’í and a New York artist, was told by…
Juliet Thompson, a devout Bahá’í and a New York artist, was told by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that she taught well. Frankly and lovingly, He said to her: 'I have met many people who have been affected by you, Juliet. You are not eloquent; you are…
Juliet Thompson wrote: “Gently yet unmistakably, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had assaulted the…
Juliet Thompson wrote: “Gently yet unmistakably, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had assaulted the customs of a city that had been scandalized only a decade earlier by President Roosevelt’s dinner invitation to Booker T. Washington. Moreover as a friend who…
On one of His visits to New York He stayed with Juliet Thompson on West 10th…
On one of His visits to New York He stayed with Juliet Thompson on West 10th Street not far from Fifth Avenue. Two or three doors away and across the street, the poet Khalil Gibran was staying with friends. He and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had met in…
Once, when I lived in Baghdad," He [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] went on, "I was invited to…
Once, when I lived in Baghdad," He [‘Abdu’l-Bahá] went on, "I was invited to the house of a poor thorn-picker. In Baghdad the heat is greater even than in Syria; and it was a very hot day. But I walked twelve miles to the thorn-picker's…