The Last Weeks in New York

Mahmúd's Diary records the return of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and His companions to New York in the early hours of 12 November 1912. They stayed until 5 December, when He sailed for Liverpool on the steamship Celtic.

The autumn journey had taken the Master from Montreal through Buffalo, Chicago and Minneapolis, across the plains by Omaha, Denver and Salt Lake City to San Francisco, Palo Alto and Los Angeles, and back east again through Denver, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington and Baltimore.

In New York He stayed again at the house on Riverside Drive, near the Hudson, that had been rented at His instruction and where He had stayed before. Early on the first morning its owner, Mrs Champney, came with her relatives to receive His blessing. Each morning and evening He walked in the gardens along the river.

At that time the war between the Balkan states and Turkey filled the newspapers. Mahmúd writes that people looked with prejudice on the travellers in their Persian clothes, and that they had even been refused rooms in some of the large hotels because they were taken for Turks. The Master remarked: "Observe how much enmity and hatred prejudices have produced among various parties and peoples and what suffering and hardship have been caused by them."

Mahmúd writes that there was always a crowd of visitors at His residence, and that whether He was in or out, people were waiting for Him. Most of the evening meetings were held at the home of Mrs Kinney and the daytime meetings at the home of Mrs Krug. Some of the New York friends asked Him again and again to visit wealthy people who wanted Him in their homes. Each time He said: "I deal with the poor and visit them, not the rich. I love all, especially the poor. All sorts of people come here and I meet them all with sincere love, with heart and soul. Yet I have no intention of visiting the homes of the rich."

On 29 November, at Mrs Emery's request, He moved to her home. On arriving He said that He must rest that day, for He was extremely tired. Even so, the friends and seekers kept coming to see Him, at Mrs Emery's and at Mrs Kinney's.

As the day of sailing drew near, the friends grew downcast at the thought of the separation. On 5 December a great number of believers from New York and other cities came on board the Celtic to say farewell. The first-class lounge, though large, could not hold them all; some sat and others stood outside, as the Master moved among them and spoke to them for the last time.

A retelling based on Mahmúd's Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání (George Ronald, 1998), entries for 12 November – 5 December 1912. For the fuller account, see the original.

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