Always concerned to do the right thing, she wrote to Shoghi Effendi for his advice. She was still officially and legally a Jew, but, she explained, in Poland belonging to the Jewish community had more of a legal than a religious meaning. Some Jews, she told him, left the community so as not to have an obstacle to their careers. She mentioned the persecution the Jews in Poland were suffering and added that to resign formally at such a time would mean weakening this minority. She did not want to do so, but, she told him, she was willing to do as he directed. Anxiously she waited for his answer.
Lidia was to move out of the house in the Bronx on December i. But the person entrusted with making arrangements for her had not yet done so, so her departure was delayed. Lidia had continued to be ill with a cold most ofthe time she was there. Soon afterward, she moved to Allerton House on East Fifty-Seventh Street, where she stayed until she left New York. When asked, Lidia never spokeofthe problems and gave no hint of the real reason she was moving, allowing only that it was the great distance - an hour's train ride from downtown.
After Lidia moved out of their home, her former host and his wife stopped attending her classes, and Samuel Eby dropped out as well. Her former host began to make, according to Della, 'very wild statements about her' - Della could not even bring herself to tell Josephine what they were. 'They are bad, the things he says,' she hinted darkly. 'And the remarks are legally actionable.'
At last, on January 2, Lidia left New York for Philadelphia, where she remained seven weeks, staying at the home of Mr and Mrsjoseph Dubin.
Things did not go as smoothly in Philadelphia as all had hoped. No radio speeches had been arranged, and although hundreds of
sowing seeds
announcements had been sent to schools and societies, they had little result. The press coverage was disappointing. The Polish papers and one Lithuanian periodical printed small announcements, and only two reporters from major newspapers came to interview Lidia. Only one paper, the Philadelphia Record, printed an article, with a large photograph of Lidia, her marcelled hair shining in the photographer's flash, and her strong chin jutting forward. The article was short, but theheadlinecommandedattention: 'feliĉan novanjaron', exclaims
the bright young lady; 'verboten', growls hitler . . . 'eureka', say 1,000,000.
The reporter found her 'a rather birdlike young woman', and was openly skeptical of the ease with which she assured him Esperanto could be learned. He wrote: 'Like the Hawaiian guitar or aeronautical engineering it can be mastered, she says, in twenty easy lessons.' The article called attention to Esperanto's suppression in Germany and the fact that Esperanto, 'Herr Goebbels found, was inconsistent with the aims of Nazi nationalism', as well as the fact that Esperanto's author was a Polish Jew.
Although the article may not have attracted much attention in Philadelphia, later events would show that publicity like it founi interested readers in Berlin, especially at the Gestapo desk in charge of monitoring the activities of Jews abroad and the foreign press.
The Baha'i meeting the day before the lesson was a catastrophe. Horace Holley introduced Lidia, but he had to catch a train and left as she began to speak. Later, Lidia was 'almost happy' that he wasn't there to hear what happened. Jessie Revell had suggested Lidia give her talk in English, but Lidia, wishing the audience to hear Esperanto spoken- and probably still hesitant about her own ability to speak in English — insisted on speaking with a translator. Afterward, she was sorry she hadn't taken Miss Revell's advice.
From the first phrases that the translator spoke, Lidia realized some- thing was dreadfully wrong. The translator, a long-time Esperantist, was not interpreting her words properly. Rather than ofFend him by asking him to sit down, and begin to speak in English herself, Lidia struggled on. But it only grew worse. Several times she had to stop him and insist on a more correct translation: what he was saying was completely different from what she had said - almost the opposite! And she grew more annoyed at the lack of seriousness with which he was treating the matter. There was no excuse for his performance - she had given him the text of her remarks to study several days earlier.
Della expressed surprise about his conduct. 'He knows Esperanto well and certainly could translate correctly for you,' she told Lidia. 'I think perhaps he had difficulties with the Baha'is previously, and doesn't like them.'
The episode depressed Lidia, and the next day - the day of the introductory lesson - things went wrong all day until evening. But suddenly that evening, Lidia felt, 'the barometer changed'. At dinner, her host had been called away for a few minutes to attend to a visitor and the conversation 'gave me a chance to say some words about Baha'u'llah. Perhaps those words will be completely lost, I don't know,' she wrote Della, 'but I noted almost with astonishment that that short conversation completely restored and revived me.'
Although two hundred people attended the demonstration lesson, the course began with only twenty-five students. Lidia had insisted on holding the classes three times a week, but few people were willing to attend that often.
Della wrote to encourage her: 'Know that the friends surround you with their loving thoughts. At the Holleys Wednesday night when I said goodbye to Doris Holley, she said to me, "I think that Baha'u'llah loves Lidia Zamenhof very much."'
Even though things did not go smoothly for Lidia in Philadelphia, those who met her there were attracted to and impressed by her. Jessie and Ethel Revell entertained her ovemight in their home several times. Later, Jessie Revell wrote Della Quinlan: 'Lidia is a very good Baha'f teacher, her depth of Baha'f knowledge is very wonderful. . . While here we took her to Cedarville, NJ, to visit a Baptist Minister, an Esperantist, and it was such a pleasure to us to hear her teach the Cause tothisman. She also attracted a young couple. . .totheCause. . . She is very dear to the hearts of all the friends here and also the Esperantists.'
Joseph Dubin, Lidia's host in Philadelphia, came to admire Lidia. He told Della that at first he had offered Lidia hospitality to help the Esperanto movement. But after her arrival, he 'saw and understood that she is a person who deserves to be given hospitality as a friend. She was no bother; she caused no inconvenience. She ate what we had, slept peacefully, came and went quietly.
'I enjoyed very much talking with her because she is highly intelligent. She understands deeply the problem ofpeace and ofhuman life. . . One can only regret', he added, 'that she is so busy that she has little time for diversion, or to spend on social life. But that is the destiny of her ideal and of her work, and she does not complain about it. She wants only to help the movement.'
While staying in Philadelphia, Lidia also spoke in Baltimore (though it was a very stormy night and not many people came) and in Washington, DC, on 'The Return of Spiritual Heroism'. Doris Lohse, who met Lidia in Washington, later recalled that when Lidia came into a meeting, she was 'so very humble, very shy'. The people in the audience would look around the room for the speaker, not expecting it
47- Della Quinlan
48. Cartoonfrom the September 1937 issue o/La Praktiko: 'Miss Lidia Zamenhof (traveling to America): Now Iamflyingfrom place toplace!'
49- Part °f the Intemational Auxiliary Language Committee in 1941. From left: Della Quinlan, Mabelle Davis, Mabel Vicary, Louella Beecher, Lucy Marshall, Charles Witt, Roan Orloff,Josephine Kruka