Two weeks later, Lidia spoke again at the Baha'f Center. Her talk was entitled 'The Return of Spiritual Heroism'. Again it was a success. With delight Della told Josephine: 'Philip Marangella said that he did not see how she could sustain her talk at such a high spiritual level for such a length of time. I think that is the greatest compliment that a speaker has ever received in my hearing.' To Jessie Revell, in Philadelphia, Della wrote: 'Horace said to me tonight that he wished she would settle down here in America. You know he does not praise lightly.' And to Lucy Marshall in San Francisco: 'She has a peculiar quality that I have never run across before. Great simplicity in expression combined with a profound grasp of spiritual reality.'
In spite of the fears Lidia had once confided to Martha Root, that she could not give talks before fellow-believers, Lidia had quickly captured the hearts of the American Baha'fs.
But troubles were just beginning. Relations between the Esperantists and the Baha'i's had become strained at the outset by confusion over what role the Baha'fs expected the Esperantists to play in Lidia's visit. Some of the Esperantists had been hurt because they had never been approached officially by the National Spiritual Assembly itself but only by Dr Charles Witt, chairman of the International Auxiliary Language Committee. They could not understand why Dr Witt never wrote to them again and were puzzled why Della Quinlan was the only one they ever heard from. Somehow she had neglected to tell them that she was the new chairman of the committee. Eventually this problem was resolved, but a certain wariness on both sides remained. It soon became aggravated by a conflict between two members of Lidia's organizing committee, Della Quinlan and Samuel Eby.
In the light of Lidia's first well-received talks in New York, the disparaging statements Mr Eby had made about Lidia's public- speaking ability seemed most peculiar. As events progressed, Della came to feel that, as she put it, the man had 'developed an antagonism to Lidia and to the whole idea ofhaving her here'. She confided to Lucy
Marshall that 'I am afraid this was an indication of antagonism to the Baha'f Faith'.
Lidia's Esperanto classes in New York began with fifty-three students, who paid five dollars for the series oflessons. The Americans had hoped to attract more students and were disappointed. Yet, a report optimistically stated, 'If one considers the difficulties that the Esperanto Movement has experienced in this large city, those results are indeed satisfactory . . . Many Baha'fs, who till now were not interested in the world language, have begun the study of Esperanto.'
According to Della, the poor tumout was largely due to lack of advertising. Although Mr Eby had paid for Lidia to stay several days at the New Yorker so that she could be available to reporters, Della claimed that he had refused to advertise the courses. They had been counting on his newspaper contacts; he had worked at the New York Times as a proofreader.
Although at first Lidia was unaware of the problems Della was having with Mr Eby, Della thought that Lidia sensed the atmosphere of tension, 'the condition around herself, and that it was giving her 'nervous indigestion'. By the middle of October Lidia was so ill she had to cancel a class.
In fact, Lidia had been ill since her first week in America. At a picnic in the country on a cold rainy day, she had caught a bad cold that lingered on. The strain of the ocean voyage and the adjustment to a foreign country no doubt had also taken their toll on her health. To make matters worse, the conditions in the home where she was living were far from ideal. Mr Eby had arranged for her to stay with an Esperantist family in the Bronx during the rest of her time in New York. It was a long distance from her classes and too far for people to come and visit her easily. Although all Lidia had asked for was a clean, warm room, winter was coming and the heater in the house was broken. The man in whose home she was a guest was 'devoted to her', but he displayed alarming and unpredictable behavior. After experiencing one of his outbursts, Mrs Holley was quite upset that Lidia had been placed there.
In spite of Lidia's illness, she had the same dynamic effect on her students in America as she had had in Europe. 'She appears a very quiet person,' wrote Della, 'but when she gets up before a class, she changes. Then one sees a vivacious, interesting personality. One of my friends said to me after watching her, "She is the most fascinating thing I have ever-seen."'
Lidia struggled on with her classes, concealing her illness until it became obvious that she was very sick indeed. Even then she insisted she was only 'a little bit ill' and it was 'nothing serious, probably fatigue'. But after much coaxing, she was persuaded to consult a doctor - an Esperantist who had known her father in Warsaw. He diagnosed her illness asjaundice, and she had to call offher classes for a week.
The tension between Della Quinlan and Samuel Eby was growing steadily. Della felt he had been acting peculiarly ever since his retum from Warsaw. She could not understand why he had suddenly developed such an antagonistic attitude, for they had been on very friendly terms for two years. But now he gave Della to understand that he wished to take over the work of the organizing committee himself and would not consult with anyone about plans for Lidia. Della felt that the eighty-one-year-old man might be suffering from some kind of rapidly progressing senile dementia. As chairman of the organizing committee he still held considerable power, and Della worried what he might do next to sabotage Lidia's visit.
To Della, Mr Eby seemed angered that Lidia was so successful, and irritated that the Baha'fs liked her so much. Della complained to Ernest Dodge: 'He said that he did not intend to send her where there were any "rabid" Baha'is.'
At the height of the furor, Mr Dodge reminded Mrs Quinlan about the matter of Lidia's documents and the waiver from the Contract Labor Law. Della told him Lidia's visa was good for a year. 'Everyone assures you that it can be easily renewed,' she asserted confidently. She would try, she said, to get precise information. But Della was busy with many things - her own job at the Stock Exchange, coordinating Lidia's schedule, writing to all the various groups that wished Lidia to visit them, and dealing with the difficult Mr Eby. Mrs Quinlan herself was not well, and had been suffering from cancer. Thus, once again, the matter of the visa seems to have been dropped.
By the end of October Lidia's health was much improved. But the Holleys and Della Quinlan agreed that she must be moved from the house where she was staying, though they were unsure how to get her out without hurting her host's feelings. Mrs Quinlan and Mr Holley went to visit Lidia, and Mr Holley proposed that the Spiritual Assembly be her host for December, so she might have more contact with the Baha'fs. Lidia agreed.
The doctor who had treated Lidia warned them not to wait that long. According to Della, the conditions he found in the house had shocked him and he did not want her to remain another month there. Lidia was not very strong, he said. She needed to regain her strength and have peace and quiet. He thought there were too many stairs to climb there, the bathroom conditions were not right and she was not being properly nourished.
During these difficult days, Lidia received a letter from Shoghi Effendi in which he sent his 'ardent prayers for your unprecedented success in your historic trip to the States' and told her to 'persevere and be confident'.
In early November, Della and Josephine were stunned to learn that Samuel Eby had lodged a complaint against them with the Executive Committee of the Esperanto Association of North America. More- over, Mr Eby apparently had expressed his opinion that the Esperantists should not cooperate with the Baha'is at all about Lidia's plans. Such cooperation, he felt, meant entangling the neutral Esperanto movement in a dangerous alliance with a religious creed.