Nettie's Little Stone

A retelling for children, based on Mahmúd's Diary (entry of 1 May 1912).

It was a cold, grey day in spring, and the wind blew hard off the lake. In a muddy field just north of Chicago, a crowd of people stood waiting, pulling their coats tight. They had come from all across America and Canada, some traveling for days, to one empty piece of ground beside the water.

Why would so many people gather in such a wet, windy spot? Because something wonderful was about to begin here. On this very field, they hoped to build a House of Worship — a beautiful temple where people of every kind could come together to pray. And today, 'Abdu'l-Bahá had come all the way west by train to start it.

Among the crowd stood a believer named Nettie Tobin. She did not have gold or riches to give. But she had wanted, with all her heart, to help build the temple. So on her way, she had stopped at a building site back in Chicago and picked up a plain little stone — just an ordinary piece of rock that the builders did not need. She had carried it all this way, thinking, perhaps, a stone offered with my own hands might be wanted.

When 'Abdu'l-Bahá arrived in the afternoon, there was already a big block of limestone waiting — the proper cornerstone, smooth and ready. But beside it lay Nettie's small, humble stone.

'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to the crowd, and He prayed. Then He did something no one expected. He reached out and picked up Nettie's little stone — the plain one she had carried so far — and with His own hand He set it down upon the foundation to begin the temple.

Imagine how Nettie must have felt! The stone she had thought was too small, too ordinary to matter, was now the very first stone of the whole House of Worship.

But 'Abdu'l-Bahá was not finished. Mahmúd, who was there and wrote it all down, tells us that "He invited each of the delegates to come forward and to place a stone of his own upon the foundation." Not only the important people — everyone. One by one they came: believers from Persia and from America, Black and white together, men and women, old people and children. Each one bent down and added a stone of their own.

When they were done, the little pile of stones was not neat and matching. The stones were all different shapes and sizes, gathered from many hands and many places. And that was exactly what 'Abdu'l-Bahá wanted. He told the friends that the temple they were beginning would not belong to any one of them alone. It would belong to all of them. It would take many, many years to finish — so long that not one person standing in that field that day would live to see it complete.

And it was true. The great dome was not finished until forty-one years later. But every stone those friends laid that cold afternoon is still down in the foundation, holding the temple up to this day.

You do not need to be rich or important to do something great for others. Like Nettie and her plain little stone, even the smallest, humblest gift — offered with a loving heart — can become part of something beautiful that lasts far longer than ourselves.

This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see "A Stone for the Mother Temple: 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Wilmette".

Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, M.. (1998). *Mahmúd's Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání*. George Ronald.