Eight Thousand Miles to See You

When John Bosch heard that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was on the high seas, he went to San Francisco to get permission from the president of the California Wine Association, Percy T. Morgan, to go East. Morgan said, ‘Why do you want to go, in this bad April weather?’ John said: ‘Because I feel like it.’

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John took the first train East, fretting because it didn't go fast enough. In Washington he phoned one of the believers and learned that the Master was still in New York. John left on the night train. At five-thirty the next morning he was at the Hotel Ansonia, and he went upstairs to see the door of the Master's room. Dr. Getsinger (Lua's husband) was there and recognized John from a photograph. John asked for an appointment and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent word, ‘In a few minutes.’ Then Dr. Getsinger called John in.

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‘I went as a business man. I had some questions to ask. When I saw Him I forgot everything. I was empty.’ Then, in the conversation that followed, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told John all the things he had wanted to know.

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‘Foolishly I said, “Oh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, I came three thousand miles to see you.” He gave a good hearty laugh—you know what a wonderful laugh He had (here John laughed as the Master had, that faraway morning, and I caught the sound of that world-shaking laughter: Olympian—knowledgeable—the laughter of omniscience—I don't know how to say it. This was not the only time John seemed to me like a reflection of the Master.

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There was something about his presence; something spotless or fragrant, but not as we know the words. I had noted this in Ḥájí Amín, too, in Persia). And He said, “I came eight thousand miles to see you.”’

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