The Master's Walk Through Byfleet
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When in Bahá'í history
Byfleet (today: Byfleet, Surrey, England)
Those who have been with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá notice how, often, after speaking earnestly with people, He will suddenly turn and walk away to be alone. At such times no one follows Him.
On one such occasion, during His second visit to Vanners, the little farmhouse at Byfleet, a village some twenty miles out of London, which began on 28 September 1911, when He finished speaking and went out through the orchard gate into the village, all were struck with His free and wonderful walk, which has been described by one of the American friends as that of a shepherd or a king.
As He passed along, the ragged children clustered about Him by dozens, the boys saluting Him as they had been taught in school, showing how instinctively they felt the greatness of His presence. Most noticeable was the silence of even the roughest men when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appeared.
He took particular interest in the sick, crippled and poorly nourished children. Mothers carrying their little ones followed Him, and a friend explained that this great visitor had come over the seas from the Holy Land where Jesus was born.
Source: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London (1912), “At Byfleet” (visit of 28 September 1911). The opening lines are also quoted in Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 38.
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