The last Sunday evening of the Green Acre session, a 'Peace Pageant' called 'The Fountain of Light', written by Mrs Nancy Bowditch, was to be presented. Mrs Bowditch's pageants, living tableaux on Baha'i subjects, were something of a tradition at Green Acre. People came from the surrounding towns to attend them, and this year 'the largest audience for many years was held spell-bound by the dramatic presentation' of scenes from The Dawn-Breakers, the story of the Bab, forerunner of the Baha'i Faith, and his disciples who met a martyr's death at the hands of the Muslim clergy in nineteenth-century Iran. 'All the cast were in beautiful Oriental costumes with fine lighting effects,' an observer reported. 'The highest spiritual note was maintained throughout with increasing momentum, ending with the Call of the Bab to His Eighteen Letters of the Living as they were setting out all over the East to tell the Glorious Message. It was a masterpiece that will not be forgotten by any who heard it.'
Lidia and Roan had been recruited to act in the pageant. Lidia was cast as Zaynab, a peasant girl who disguised herself as a boy to fight with the besieged Babfs at Fort Zanjan, where she was killed. Roan played the part of Mulla Husayn, the first to believe in the Bab. Once, while being attacked by an armed mob of fanatical Muslims, Mulla Husayn had pursued the killer of one of his companions to the place where his adversary was hiding behind a tree. With his sword he struck a blow of such extraordinary force that the sword cut through the tree, the man and his musket. The Babfs' enemies, observing that feat, fled in consternation.
The cast had only one rehearsal before the performance. For the part of Mulla Husayn, Roan was to carry a big shield and sword, which she did not know how to use. Lidia came to her rescue. 'It was she who showed me how to "murder" the enemy with my sword,' Roan later recalled, 'she, the soft-hearted one, the peace-loving one!' Although Roan had practiced her part all month, during the presentation as she was concentrating on wielding the sword, she forgot her lines.'Again it was Lidia who saved me. Standing near me on the "battle field", she whispered the first words, and all ended well.'
The idyllic days at Green Acre were coming to an end. After Lidia spoke at a Labor Day program on the theme of 'The Baha'i Principles for Peace', it was time to leave for Boston and return to her work once more.
Lidia had already tried to apply to the Immigration and Naturalization Service to extend her permit to stay in America, but the Immigration Office refused to consider the matter until the end of August, when she petitioned again. Mountfort Mills, the lawyer, had examined her papers and pronounced them in order. At his recommendation, her letter stated: i wish to make it clear that I do not intend to stay permanently in this country.' She seems to have felt this was not the same as seeking citizenship. She went on: i wish to call your attention that in my work - teaching Esperanto — I am in no wise displacing any American teacher of this language . . .'
Her application to extend her stay by about eight months stated that she was 'not employed in the United States', but was 'engaged in business in the United States: teaching Esperanto in different cities . . .'andthathermonthlyincomewasfifty tosixtydollarspermonth.
Lidia had not entirely made up her mind about seeking American citizenship. She wrote Roan: 'I myself have not yet received the light about this step: I don't know if I should do it or not.' In any case, she believed that she could not even apply until she had been in America a year.
However, Emest Dodge had leamed from an official in the Immigration and Naturalization Service that if Lidia wanted to apply for citizenship, she would have to leave the United States and come in again on the quota for Poland, which was about sixty-five hundred per year. Mr Dodge advised Roan that if, for an.y reason, the govemment should proceed to deport Lidia, it would send her to the land of her citizenship - Poland. But no one thought such a thing would ever happen.
TWENTY-SIX
Denied
After leaving Green Acre, Lidia spent a week in Boston as a guest ofthe Baha'f Spiritual Assembly, the Esperanto Society and the Esperanto- Rondo Amika (Friendly Esperanto Circle). 'Before and during her visit', Roan reported, 'the Baha'is and the Esperantists worked together in unity and harmony.' Lidia was busy from the moment she arrived in Boston, going from one speaking engagement to another, speaking to the Baha'is, the Esperantists and twoJewish youth groups; as well as attending luncheons and receptions given by the Esperantists, Baha'is and a group of Polish Jews. Apart from her formal engagements, Roan wrote, 'there were many others sandwiched in between these, when Miss Zamenhof talked to individuals on the Cause'.
Her talk before the Boston Esperantists, about memories of her childhood and her father, 'was full of pathos and interest to her listeners,' reported H. B. Hastings, a prominent Boston Esperantist. The next morning, after a radio interview, Lidia was 'formally' received by the mayor of Boston, MauriceJ. Tobin. It was a hot day, Roan later recalled. 'He was in his shirtsleeves. He just said hi, welcome to Boston, had her sign the guest book and that was it.'
Roan had arranged for Lidia to give a short address at Temple Israel during the regular service. 'Rabbi Levi sat on one side of the platform, and she sat on the other side,' Roan recalled. 'When the service was over, the organist came running downstairs and said, "I liked what you said, but tell me, can't you say o?" Lidia said, "Sure I can say o but in Europe we don't say ow, we say oh." When she spoke English she always used the European o.'
Carl Alpert, a correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, had taken an interest in Lidia and arranged two radio interviews and several appearances for her in Boston, including a talk before a group of young Jewish college graduates. Mr Alpert himself interviewed Lidia and his syndicated article, 'Esperanto - A Force for Peace', appeared in many Jewish periodicals all over America. When he asked if there were Esperanto groups in Palestine, Lidia answered, 'Many. Esperanto can really do much to help solve the Arab-Jewish problem in the Holy Land. The Jews don't want to learn Arabic and the Arabs won't leain Hebrew. Thus there is a good deal of misunderstanding of each other's aims. This is a perfect example of the usefulness of this simple language, which can easily be used by both groups as an auxiliary language to carry on their social and economic intercourse, while neither relinquish their national tongues.'
Roan had framed the first letter Lidia had written her and had hung it on the wall of the club room at the Hotel Gralyn where the Friendly Esperanto Circle held its meetings. When Roan took Lidia to see the club room, Lidia was startled to see her own letter hanging on the wall. 'Sheturnedtome,'Roanrecalled, 'andshesaid, "Roan, you'recrazy!"' Lidia did not feel that she should be treated any differently just because she was the daughter ofDr Zamenhof. 'She didn't like that at all,' Roan reflected many years later. 'She wanted to be the same as everyone else.'
At the end of Lidia's stay in Boston, Roan wrote Della a letter that revealed the profound love, admiration and devotion Lidia had inspired in her. 'What a glorious week this has been!' Roan exclaimed. 'Just being with her, hearing her sweet voice, basking in the radiance of her love for Baha'uilah, learning lessons in faith, patience, tact, gentility . . . enjoying her charming English, listening to her Esperanto pronunciation, watching her approach to others, observing her platform presence, thanking Heaven for her sweet smile - oh, just loving the ground she walks on - Della, my dear, I am powerless to put my feelings into words, powerless to express my deep and abiding love for her - but you know how I feel, for I am certain that everyone who knows her loves her the way I do.'