I have been made happy and grateful to learn from your first
letter that “throughout the sessions (of the last Convention) the
atmosphere was one of great detachment and spirituality combined
with practical vision and purpose.” I am deeply convinced that if
the Annual Convention of the friends in America, as well as the
National Spiritual Assembly, desire to become potent instruments
for the speedy realization of the Beloved’s fondest hopes for the
future of that country, they should endeavor, first and foremost, to
exemplify, in an increasing degree, to all Bahá’ís and to the world
at large the high ideals of fellowship and service which Bahá’u’lláh
and the beloved Master repeatedly set before them. They can claim
the admiration, the support and eventually the allegiance of their
fellow-countrymen only by their strict regard for the dignity, the
welfare, and the unity of the Cause of God, by their zeal, their
disinterestedness, and constancy in the service of mankind, and by
demonstrating, through their words and deeds, the need and practicability
of the lofty principles which the Movement has proclaimed
to the world.