The Shared Book

*A retelling for children, based on **Portals to Freedom** by Howard Colby Ives (George Ronald, 1937). The words in quotation marks are the young woman's own, as Ives wrote them down.*

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In 1912 a minister named Howard Colby Ives took a trolley ride to the city of Newark. The ride took an hour and a half. He had a book with him called *Some Answered Questions*, in which 'Abdu'l-Bahá explains many things about the spiritual life.

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A young woman was sitting beside him. After a while Howard noticed that her eyes kept straying toward his book.

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So Howard moved the book a little toward her, and they read it together all the way to Newark. Neither of them said a word, but Howard could feel that she was deeply moved by what she read.

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When they reached Newark and he closed the book, she asked:

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> I think that is the most wonderful book I ever saw. Won't you tell me, please, who is the author?

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Howard told her about 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and that He was coming to speak at Howard's church in Jersey City the next Sunday evening. "I will surely be there," she said.

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She kept her word. On Sunday evening Howard saw her in the audience, and he talked with her after the meeting.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["The Book on the Trolley"](/stories/pf-the-book-on-the-trolley).*

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