Mother's Stories M O T H E R 'S S T O R I E S and S T O R I E S O F A B D U ' L - B A H A as told by M O T H E R Copyright (c) 1970, 1998 all rights reserved. page 1 Mother's Stories Contents Part One Mother's Stories Part one contents .................................................................................. 2 Part two contents ................................................................................. 3 Photo of Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall .................................................... 4 Introduction ...................................................................................... 5 O Thou help me .................................................................................. 6 I am doing .......................................................................................... 7 What really happens ............................................................................. 8 Tea in Paris ....................................................................................... 9 Pamphlets ........................................................................................ 10 Teach, Teach, Teach ............................................................................11 Interactive Guidance ........................................................................... 12 Interactive Guidance II ........................................................................ 13 Character development ........................................................................ 14 Gift ................................................................................................. 16 Service ............................................................................................. 17 Marriage .......................................................................................... 20 Wheel chair pioneer ........................................................................... 21 To the Light .................................................................................... 22 Unstated invitation ............................................................................ 23 Interactive guidance III ....................................................................... 24 If poverty ........................................................................................ 25 Green Acre ...................................................................................... 26 Deserving boots ............................................................................... 28 May waits for Thomas ...................................................................... 29 The meeting .................................................................................... 32 Sketch of Abdu'lBaha ........................................................................ 34 page 2 Mother's Stories Contents Part Two Stories of Abdu'l - Baha as told by Mother Introduction ............................................................................................ 36 Repetition .............................................................................................. 37 Golden rain ............................................................................................ 37 Not yet known ........................................................................................ 37 Translation ............................................................................................ 38 Dedication ............................................................................................. 38 At the zoo ............................................................................................. 38 Questions not asked ................................................................................. 39 Books .................................................................................................... 39 Study, study, study .................................................................................. 39 Sow the seeds ........................................................................................ 39 A Book ................................................................................................. 40 Obedience and trust .................................................................................. 40 Charity .................................................................................................. 40 Lover of truth ......................................................................................... 40 Detachment ........................................................................................... 41 In His footsteps ...................................................................................... 41 page 3 Mother's Stories Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall page 4 Mother's Stories Introduction These stories were recorded by my mother, Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall, in the late 60's. They are her personal recollections of events related, in most part, by those directly involved. Mother met Abdu'l-Baha in 1912, when she was 15 years old. He told her that she would grow like a tree and have many branches. Years later she realized, as so often happens, the meaning of this prediction. It was twenty years before she declared her belief in Baha'u'llah, and she has observed many times 'it takes a tree 20 years to mature'. She had four children, fifteen grand children, and a couple of dozen great grand children. In the early 30s Mother, who was divorced from her first husband, Theodore Obrig, married the Reverend Reginald G. Barrow. The wedding ceremony was performed by her father Howard Colby Ives. It is family history that they spent their wedding night on a park bench, as they could not obtain a room in a hotel in Boston. Bishop Barrow, was a man of color, who was born in the West Indies. Rev. Barrow was a Bishop of the African Orthodox Church. He had been ordained an Anglican Priest on Barbados, and when he learned, upon coming to the United States, that the Episcopal Church was segregated , he ultimately decided to work with the African Orthodox Church. The African Orthodox Church had similar origins to the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches. Dad retired as the Archbishop of the African Orthodox Church for North America. In addition to raising her children, mother was an active Baha'i. She served on assemblies, lived in a cooperative house with other believers, was a homefront pioneer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, pioneered to Madera for several years; and practiced her faith in her daily life. As you will see, these stories are, in most cases, her recollections of events which the participants related to her. There are slightly different versions of some of them published elsewhere. We are not offering these as alternatives to other versions, but as what one person, Mother, remembered in her early seventies. What we feel is important in these stories is the message and feelings they bring, not the historical facts. We will leave the facts to researchers and historians. We offer the images and emotions which shaped the path for one Friend of God and which may point out a direction to others. While we have changed the spelling of some names to conform to the current Baha'i Dictionary, we have not edited the stories, as we are presenting Mother's Stories for you to savor as she wrote them. Reginald Grand Barrow Jr. Shawnigan Lake, BC March 1998 page 5 Mother's Stories O Thou help me... It was in 1912 that Dr. Ali Kuli Khan - preparing for the visit of Abdu'l-Baha to Washington - began to consider the questions he would ask Him upon His arrival. And, thinking it over, Dr. Khan realized that the one thing he wanted most to know was some prayer he might utter quickly and from deep within his heart, when the moment came when, as the representative of his country (then Persia) in Washington he must make some instant diplomatic decision. When these moments came, as they did frequently - Dr. Khan felt that while he always sincerely did his best, his wisdom was very limited and finite. If only he might have a prayer that would draw to him a greater wisdom Ah, if he only might have such a prayer. So the day came when Abdu'l-Baha was to arrive and Dr. Khan, accompanied by the Washington believers, drove to the station to meet Him. The greeting was warm and deeply moving, and Khan's heart was still filled with this one question he wanted most to ask the Master. And they were perhaps halfway back, driving up Pennsylvania Avenue, when Abdu'l-Baha suddenly told Khan this story: It had happened when Baha’u’llah had been gone from Baghdad for some two years. At that time no one knew where He was and all hearts were sick with the fear that they never would see Him again. At this time Abdu'l- Baha was a small boy, and the continued absence of His Beloved Father had become unendurable. So, one night, all night long, the little boy (whom, even then, Baha'u'llah referred to as The Master) paced restlessly up and down saying, shouting, beseeching, Ya Allah el Mustaghas! Ya Allah el Mustaghas! all night long. And in the morning, when dawn was breaking, a messenger came to the door to say that a stranger was at the city gate and had sent word to the Family that He wished them to bring to Him fresh raiment and water to bathe in... So Abdu'l-Baha knew His beloved Father had returned. And Dr. Khan knew the cry that he, too, might utter in his moments of need Ya Allah el Mustaghas (which I am told means Oh, Thou help me in my extremity! ). This was told me by Ali Kuli Khan at Green-Acre in 1933 MIBN page 6 Mother's