of speech. Their sole desire was to please
Baha'u'llah. To them, nothing was a bounty at all, except service at His
Holy Threshold. After the time of the Supreme Affliction, they were
consumed with sorrow, like candles flickering away; they longed for death,
and stayed firm in the Covenant and labored hard and well to spread that
Daystar's Faith. They were close and trusted companions of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
and could be relied on in all things. They were always lowly, humble,
unassuming, evanescent. In all that long period, they never uttered a word
which had to do with self.

And at the last, during the absence of 'Abdu'l-Baha, they took their
flight to the Kingdom of unfading glory. I sorrowed much because I was not
with them when they died. Although absent in body, I was there in my
heart, and mourning over them; but to outward seeming I did not bid them
good-by; this is why I grieve.

Unto them both be salutations and praise; upon them be compassion and
glory. May God give them a home in Paradise, under the Lote-Tree's shade.
May they be immersed in tiers of light, close beside their Lord, the
Mighty, the All-Powerful.

PIDAR-JAN OF QAZVIN

The late Pidar-Jan was among those believers who emigrated to Ba_gh_dad.
He was a godly old man, enamored of the Well-Beloved; in the garden of
Divine love, he was like a rose full-blown. He arrived there, in
Ba_gh_dad, and spent his days and nights communing with God and chanting
prayers; and although he walked the earth, he traveled the heights of
Heaven.

To obey the law of God, he took up a trade, for he had nothing. He would
bundle a few pairs of socks under his arm and peddle them as he wandered
through the streets and bazars, and thieves would rob him of his
merchandise. Finally he was obliged to lay the socks across his
outstretched palms as he went along. But he would get to chanting a
prayer, and one day he was surprised to find that they had stolen the
socks, laid out on his two hands, from before his eyes. His awareness of
this world was clouded, for he journeyed through another. He dwelt in
ecstasy; he was a man drunken, bedazzled.

For some time, that is how he lived in 'Iraq. Almost daily he was admitted
to the presence of Baha'u'llah. His name was 'Abdu'llah but the friends
bestowed on him the title of Pidar-Jan--Father Dear--for he was a loving
father to them all. At last, under the sheltering care of Baha'u'llah, he
took flight to the "seat of truth,