Quarters in the Chambermaid's Apron
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When in Bahá'í history
New York (today: New York, USA)
In April 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke at the Bowery Mission in New York, and afterwards gave coins to each of the poor men there. Juliet Thompson was carrying a bag with about eighty quarters left over from the Mission. On the way back to His suite at the hotel, the party met, in the upper hall, the young chambermaid who had told Juliet the day before that she thought Him a great saint.
On this occasion, the Master stopped her and asked her to hold out her apron, whereupon He filled it with all the quarters that had not been passed out at the Bowery, about $20 worth. When one of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's companions told the startled young woman what He had been doing, she immediately replied: “I will do the same with this money. I will give away every cent of it.”
Later, since the Master was leaving for Washington early the next morning, she came to His rooms with tears in her eyes to say goodbye, to thank Him for His goodness to her and to ask Him to pray for her.
Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 88; the scene is recorded in The Diary of Juliet Thompson (April 1912) and in Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: generosity).
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