The War Will Be Staged in Europe 1
Two years later, with Roosevelt winning primary after primary, Amos Pinchot, Gifford [Pinchot]’s brother, invited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to their ancestral estate, Grey Towers in Milford, Pennsylvania, to spend two days with them and their friends. It was built in fieldstone like a French château with three tall conical towers, and stood on a hilltop just a mile from the Delaware River. Pinchot had been America’s first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, spearheading the conservation policies that were one of Roosevelt’s highest priorities.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá took the train to Milford on the morning of June 3, 1912, from Penn Station. His chronicler, Mahmúd, said that he conversed so much over the two days that his words alone would fill a book. Given the kinds of people who were Pinchot’s friends, the subject turned, inevitably, to politics and war.
Monday, June 3, 1912
Mr Penshoe [sic], a cabinet member of the United States government, invited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to Milford [his estate outside the city]. For a day and a night many prominent statesmen and dignitaries of the Republic were enraptured, fascinated by the Master. His address to one of the meetings has been recorded separately. A compendium of the addresses and His answers made during that time would be in itself a complete book. In response to a question about the war among nations, the Master said:
“It will certainly come about but America will not participate in it. This war will be staged in Europe. You are in a corner and have nothing to do with others. You have no desire to gain territories in Europe, and no one lusts after your land. You are safe because the Atlantic Ocean serves as a great natural protection for you. Europe and most other areas will be forced to follow your system. Tremendous changes will take place in Europe. The great centralized powers will break up into smaller independent states. In reality it is not just that vast countries should be governed from a single center, for no matter how great the ability and wisdom of the statesmen of that center, or how developed their sense of justice, they will still not be fully informed of the needs of every town and village and cannot exert themselves justly for the betterment of their surrounding dependencies. For example, all parts of Germany concentrate their efforts to serve a single center, namely Berlin; and the whole of France is to serve Paris. Similarly, each of the colonial countries serves to adorn one great capital. But your government has a good system.” 2
New York, Philadelphia, New York 3
Among ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visitors on Monday morning, June 3, was the actor Walter Hampden, who was playing the part of Jesus in The Servant in the House. He came every day thereafter until ‘Abdu’l-Bahá left for New Hampshire. Another visitor was a cabinet member who invited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to visit his estate outside the city, There, as Mahmúd noted, “For one day and night the statesmen and notables of the Republic were immersed in a state of rapture and fascinated at seeing the world illuminating Face.” He further noted that “a resume of all the addresses and the detailed answers to questions which He made during that one day and night” would be in themselves “a detailed book.”
Talk at Church of the Ascension, Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street, New York, 02 June 1912 4
Question: What is the status of woman in the Orient?
Answer: The status of woman in former times was exceedingly deplorable, for it was the belief of the Orient that it was best for woman to be ignorant. It was considered preferable that she should not know reading or writing in order that she might not be informed of events in the world. Woman was considered to be created for rearing children and attending to the duties of the household. If she pursued educational courses, it was deemed contrary to chastity; hence women were made prisoners of the household. The houses did not even have windows opening upon the outside world. Bahá’u’lláh destroyed these ideas and proclaimed the equality of man and woman. He made woman respected by commanding that all women be educated, that there be no difference in the education of the two sexes and that man and woman share the same rights. In the estimation of God there is no distinction of sex. One whose thought is pure, whose education is superior, whose scientific attainments are greater, whose deeds of philanthropy excel, be that one man or woman, white or colored, is entitled to full rights and recognition; there is no differentiation whatsoever. Therefore, the status of women in the East has undergone change. At present they attend schools and colleges, pursue the ordinary curriculum and day by day are becoming indispensable to men and equal to them. This is the present condition of womankind in Persia.
’Abdu’l-Bahá in America, 1912-2012: Calling America to It’s Spiritual Destiny
Mahmud: June 3-4 Many prominent statesmen and dignitaries of the Republic visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Celebrating the Centenary: The Master in America
Curated by Anne Perry
- Menon, Jonathan. “The War Will Be Staged in Europe.” 239 Days in America, 4 June 2012, https://239days.com/2012/06/03/the-war-will-be-staged-in-europe/. ↩
- ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and Mirza Mahmud-i-Zarqani. Mahmúd’s Diary: The Diary of Mírzá Mahmúd-i-Zarqání Chronicling ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s Journey to America. Edited by Shirley Macias. Translated by Mohi Sobhani. Oxford: George Ronald, 1998. https://bahai-library.com/zarqani_mahmuds_diary&chapter=4#section71 ↩
- Ward, Allan L. 239 Days: ʻAbdu’l-Bahá’s Journey in America. Wilmette, Ill: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1979, 86-87. ↩
- ʻAbduʼl-Bahá. The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ʻAbduʼl-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. Edited by Howard MacNutt. 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill: Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1982, 166-167. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/promulgation-universal-peace/12#398468890. ↩
Frameworks for Understanding the World 