spiritual mother and daughter
adulthood, it became clear that this hope was doomed: the League, which the United States had refused tojoin, was impotent. All over the world, fanatic nationalism and sectarian hatreds were stronger than ever. Lidia's generation watched as the dictatorships arose, contemp- tuously rejecting the League and the Treaty of Versailles. All too soon it became obvious that another global war, more devastating than the first, was inevitable.
While many people were cynical about the chances for peace, some, including Lidia, still clung to the hope that through righteousness and education the hearts could be changed, and peace could become a reality and not just a dream. But these were already beginning to see themselves as a besieged few. In his congress speech in Danzig, Edmond Privat evoked this feeling when he told the gathering: 'Now we stand at the bonfire of our great Esperantist encampment. All of you - bring your cares, your yearnings, your inner weeds and your dry branches and throw them into the fire. Let us sincerely grasp one another's hands, let us form a circle round the beautiful flame. May it grow, may it crackle, may it warm our hearts. Outside, in the world, it is still night.'
In Warsaw Lidia had begun to teach Esperanto classes for the Concord Society. Though she earned very little from her classes, she liked teaching and was good at it. She had also begun to publish stories ofher own in Pola Esperantisto ('Polish Esperantist'). Through them she had found another way to spread the ideas dearest to her. In her writing she often clothed in allegory the issue or principle she wanted to express. A chance glimpse of a scene — a family in the park, a sticker on a letter, an article she had read, or a person she met, might move her to write about the deeper meaning she perceived. In the space of about a year she published five articles and stories in Pola Esperantisto.
One of those stories, which would prove ironic in the light ofevents to come, reflected the worsening relations between the peoples, but also the hope of those like Lidia that there was an answer and that it could conquer even hatred.
In her story, she described a traveler passing through an alien land called Chauvinia. 'Already the sun was setting and only tiny clouds in the west, colored red as if by blood, showed where it disappeared,' she wrote. 'It was very warm, almost stifling. Nature seemed ready for a storm. . .
'Long I marched on a rocky, mountainous path. At last I met a man. He looked at me unkindly and suspiciously. I greeted him and asked if he could give me refuge for the night. "Who are you, foreigner? What land do you come from? What do you want in Chauvinia?" His voice had a harsh, unpleasant tone; we understood each other with difficulty.
spiritual mother and daughter
chaired the first Baha'i session on August 2 and introduced Martha Root, who spoke on 'The Positive Power of Universal Religion'.
Afterward there was a talk about the progress of the Baha'i Faith in different lands, with stereopticon slides of' Akka and Haifa, music and readings from the words of Baha'u'llah. Lidia brought her sister Zofia to the meeting. The Swiss scientist and Esperantist Dr August Forel sent the gathering a telegram: 'Long live the universal religion of Baha'u'llah! Long live the universal auxiliary language, Esperanto!'
But the reaction was not universally approving. At the congress, Martha reported, *two people attacked the Cause!' Philosophically she added, 'But one has to expect some criticism.'
The next year's congress, in the Free City of Danzig in 1927, marked the fortieth anniversary of the birth of Esperanto. Lidia, Adam and Zofia all attended. At the opening ceremony, Martha Root had arranged to read a message of greeting from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'1 Faith. 'My dear fellow-workers in the service of humanity,' he had written the congress, 'I take great pleasure in addressing you . . . and in wishing you from all my heart the fullest success in the great work you are doing for the promotion of the good ofhumanity.
'It will interest you, I am sure, to learn, that as the result of the repeated and emphatic admonitions of 'Abdu'1-Baha, His many followers even in the distant villages and hamlets of Persia, where the light of Western civilization has hardly penetrated as yet, as well as in other lands throughout the East, are strenuously and enthusiastically engaged in the study and teaching of Esperanto, for whose future they cherish the highest hopes.
'I am voicing the sentiments of the unnumbered followers of the Faith throughout the world, when I offer you through this letter, the cordial expression of sincere best wishes and fervent prayers for the success of your noble end.'
Martha spoke again at one of the Baha'f meetings, on 'Baha'1 Proofs of Life after Death'. 'The reason for our birth into this world is not only to acquire material happiness or these external conditions which seem to us so important,' she said. 'On the contrary . . . the real reason for our birth is to awaken the spirit hidden in each soul and develop the qualities which it will use in the next realm. The child born into the human realm comes equipped with eyes, ears and other senses, which are already formed and ready for use. In the same way we are spiritually in the uterine world of eternal life and the most scientific knowledge which we can obtain is to learn to acquire the divine qualities, because the awakening spirit can take with it to the higher realm only those divine qualities which it acquires here. It is important that we strive to prepare ourselves as well as possible for rapid progress
'"I come from a distant land and journey far. I only wish to spend this night in your land."
"'What is the name of your homeland?" he asked.
'I said its name. The features of the Chauvinian became contorted, like the features of an enraged dog ready to bite. "We do not give refuge to your citizens!" he said and turned his back to me.
'Alone, I continued on with heavy heart and tears in my eyes. So,
because I was a foreigner I was refused refuge here. I decided not to
search further and to cross the inhospitable land as quickly as possible.
I walked the whole night. Sometimes clouds covered the moon - then
I had to stop and await its reappearance, because without its pale light I
would lose my way. Sometimes a tempest arose, as ifbarring the way,
so difficult was it then to go on. Mountain echoes mimicked the clatter
of my steps and repeated them many times. Loudly, resoundingly. . .
It seemed to me that around me marched some unseen, enemy army f
In the story as Lidia wrote it, the traveler was finally welcomed in green and pleasant 'Esperantoland'. But the ending ofthe story as Lidia was to live it would prove quite different.
Ten years had passed since Dr ZamenhoPs death. Once it had been Ludwik who sat up late, tapping at the keys ofthe old typewriter. Now it was Lidia who had taken his place. In December Pola Esperantisto published a reminiscence of hers, called 'My Father's Typewriter'. 'The old machine stands on its little table,' she wrote. 'Compared with the latest ones it doesn't offer much of value. It lacks some important arrangements and stenotypists regard it with pity, almost with disdain. I, however, respect it. And when I take off the cover it is as if the friendly face is smiling, and before my eyes appears the bright shiny inscription carved on the machine: "Let us work and hope."'
TEN
Believer
There had been a Baha'i meeting at the yearly Universal Congresses of Esperanto ever since 1925. Martha Root had organized those first meetings, but now more and more Lidia helped with the arrangements and took part in the sessions. At the 1928 congress in Antwerp, Belgium, Lidia served as honorary president at both Baha'f sessions and spoke eloquently at the opening. This, her debut as a public speaker, attracted considerable attention: until now she had never consented to make a speech of any kind at the Esperanto congresses.