She concluded: 'If Esperanto had come into the world in some blessed era of universal peace, it would be only a language. But Esperanto stepped into the world-arena at a time when that arena resembles the bloody arenas of ancient Rome. It follows therefore that according to the will of destiny, Esperanto . . . has a mission to fulfill. That mission is - to hasten Universal Peace. Let us not tum away from that mission. Let us work for more than the intemational vocabulary and international grammar. Let us work courageously and openly so that because of the international language, better relations may prevail among the children ofhumanity.'
In another article called 'En la mondon venis nova sento' ('Into the World Came a New Feeling') - the title was taken from the first line of La Espero - Lidia spoke out again about nationalism and hypocrisy and alluded to the anti-Semitism that was breaking out among the German Esperantists. She called to mind the first congress at Boulogne-sur- Mer when, 'free of national prejudices, free of blind dogmas, they met and in brotherhood clasped hands - not Frenchmen with Germans, not Russians with Poles, but men with men.' At that time, she continued, 'into the hearts came a new feeling!. . . From mouths to ears went the new language, but more important, more beautiful and holy than the language, from heart to heart went the new Feeling.'
But, 'the old feeling came back into the world' - the monster of hatred. 'The monster is chained for the moment,' she wrote, 'but not dead yet. At any moment it can break its chains and throw itself anew into the world, more terrible than ever, more bloodthirsty than ever.
'Oh, the lovely days of Boulogne, how distant you are!' she lamented. 'Today even the hearts of the Esperantists are not always free from that accursed old feeling. Today, ifthe Majstro were to come back among us, perhaps in many he would not recognize his disciples, and perhaps he would even find doors that would remain closed to him.'
'And yet,' she observed, 'above our heads the Green Banner still waves. Our voices still sing of the new Feeling . . . Let us be worthy of our banner, of our anthem . . . If night envelops the earth and furious waves foam, let our star be the beacon to mankind that has lost its way. If the waves toss a castaway onto the shores ofour spiritual land, let him know that here he will find a fatherland, that all extend a hand to him in friendship, and, without asking about his origin and religion, will say to him sincerely, "Welcome, samideanol"
'Then, and only then, will we have the right to sing about the new Feeling that came into the world.'
As for those who wanted to jettison the ideals of Zamenhofin favor of current trends, Lidia vigorously expressed her opposition in an article she wrote about the current state of 'Idealism in the Esperanto Movement'. Now, she asserted, idealists were considered by many fellow Esperantists to be only 'irresponsible children whom they indulged for a while'.
'We cannot tolerate that. . .' she exclaimed. 'We must call for fuller recognition . . . The times are too serious to sit hesitatingly on the fence. The world has never been in a situation like that of today; and that terrible situation is the result not only ofeconomic misery, but also the most lamentable of all, spiritual misery. Mankind is sufFocating in the pure atmosphere of materialism. A breath of idealism, the human feeling of the solidarity of mankind is necessary.
'But many in our ranks still do not understand that. Many believe that the concept of materialism is a sign of the times, that it is the fashion of the present era; and fearing to be out of date they turn away from the ideal as if from something long out of style. Fearing to be mocked, they often recant that which they once proclaimed to be their guiding light. When among them someone talks about the inner idea of Esperanto . . . they are annoyed: they'd prefer not to speak of such things.
'It is time to put an end to that cowardly attitude,' she asserted. 'Time to stand up and proclaim to the whole world that the international language opens not only human mouths and ears but also hearts.'
The Esperanto movement seemed endangered from within by those who wanted to rip the language from its idealistic roots. Lidia knew that the Baha'is, at least, were committed to the ideals at the core of the Esperanto's inner idea. If Baha'is were to leam Esperanto in large numbers, it would help ensure that the Esperanto movement would stay on a firm ideological foundation. Even while Lidia was calling on the Esperantists to support the ideal behind the intemational language, she was urging the Baha'fs to learn Esperanto.
In an article in The Baha't Magazine she wrote: 'Baha'fs watch the growth of the Esperanto movement with sympathy and good wishes. Many of them are already Esperantists, but many are only lookers-on. This is not enough. For as Christ says, "Not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only he who does the will of my Father which is in heaven." It is not enough to watch with sympathy. We must accept and follow.
'Once I met a Baha'i who told me he did not intend to learn Esperanto as he knew four languages and that was enough for him. Unfortunately, Polish was not one of the four, and the language in which he was speaking I could hardly understand. So that as far as I was concerned, his knowing four languages did not suffice. One day I asked him if he never meant to visit Poland. He answered that Poland was beyond him, as one cannot easily get about in a country whose language one does not understand. So for him, too, four languages were not enough . . .
'The international language is part of the Divine Plan which is given effect in the era of Baha'u'llah. And the creation and spread of Esperanto are proofs ofthe creative power of Baha'u'llah's words.'
The crisis in the movement invaded even Lidia's dreams. She wrote about it in Pola Esperantisto. 'I dreamed a strange dream,' she mused. 'I dreamed that I had to take an examination. An examination on gardening. A practical examination. I was in a garden. It was a beautiful garden, but long uncared for. And the task which was given to me was: to clear the garden, to make of this disorderly wilderness a place ofbeauty, to make the flowers grow and bloom, and tear out and throw away the weeds.
'I had to fulfill the task as best I could. Dismayed, I asked myself: which plants should stay, and which should I tear out? I looked around. I saw flowers that I myself had planted, and flowers whose seeds an unknown wind had brought and which the black earth had accepted and nurtured. And it seemed to me that the most logical solution would be to leave in the earth and tend that which I myselfhad sowed, and to tear out all the rest.
'But was I right? Doubt nagged me. I asked advice of the old gardener, who plowed the earth in the garden. He raised his face to me, full of furrows, like the plowed earth. He looked at me with his deep- set eyes, and slowly moved his head in a negative gesture. "No," he said. "Do not arrange the garden that way. Do not ask whose hand sowed the seeds. That is not important. But look around and try to understand what the master of the garden intended when he founded this beautiful garden. Whatever fits into his plan, leave it and care for it.
Other plants, even if they stand proudly, tear them up: there is no place for them here."
'At that moment I woke up. A strange dream, I thought, and a strange examination. What did that garden mean, full of flowers of diverse origin; what did the task mean, which had been given to me, and the advice of the gardener? And the exam? Why? . . .'
Lidia tried to analyze it. 'Our whole life is an unceasing test of our strengths', she wrote. 'And the garden? Each of us has in our soul a garden . . . and the great examination of our life is: to keep it in order. Let us not allow the weeds to take the place of the noble plants. And let us not ask whether this or that little flower pleases our taste, because few of us are competent in gardening. Let us only strive that the way in which we arrange our garden conforms to the plan according to which it was founded, to the goal for which it exists.