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Western Tours |
After His release, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá continued the same holy life
of ceaseless activity in teaching, correspondence, ministering
to the poor and the sick, with merely the change from ‘Akká to
Haifa and from Haifa to Alexandria, until August 1911, when
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He started on His first visit to the Western world. During His
tours in the West, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá met men of every shade of
opinion and amply fulfilled the command of Bahá’u’lláh to
“Consort with all the people with joy and fragrance.” He
reached London early in September 1911, and spent a month
there, during which, besides daily talks with inquirers and
many other activities, He addressed the congregations of the
Rev. R. J. Campbell at the City Temple, and of Archdeacon
Wilberforce at St. John’s, Westminster, and breakfasted with
the Lord Mayor. He then proceeded to Paris, where His time
was occupied in giving daily addresses and talks to eager
listeners of many nationalities and types. In December He returned
to Egypt, and next spring, in response to the earnest
entreaty of the American friends, He proceeded to the United
States, arriving in New York in April 1912. During the next
nine months He traveled through America, from coast to
coast, addressing all sorts and conditions of men—university
students, Socialists, Mormons, Jews, Christians, Agnostics,
Esperantists, Peace Societies, New Thought Clubs, Women’s
Suffrage Societies, and speaking in churches of almost every
denomination, in each case giving addresses suited to the
audience and the occasion. On December 5 He sailed for
Great Britain, where He passed six weeks, visiting Liverpool,
London, Bristol and Edinburgh. In Edinburgh He gave a
notable address to the Esperanto Society, in which He announced
that He had encouraged the Bahá’ís of the East to
study Esperanto in order to further better understanding between
the East and the West. After two months in Paris, spent
as before in daily interviews and conference, He proceeded to
Stuttgart, where He held a series of very successful meetings
with the German Bahá’ís; thence to Budapest and Vienna,
founding new groups in these places, returning, in May 1913,
to Egypt, and on December 5, 1913, to Haifa.
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