Traces That Remain:
A Pictorial History of the Early Days of the Bahá'í Faith among the Japanese
edited by Sheridan Sims
Chapter 16
16. Mrs. May Bolles Maxwell
"Whoever meets her feels from her association the susceptibilities of the
Kingdom. Her company uplifts and develops the soul." So did 'Abdu'l-Bahá
describe Mrs. Maxwell in a Tablet addressed to Miss Alexander.
Miss Alexander heard of the Faith in Rome, Italy, Nov. 26, 1900. She knew it
to be true and accepted it immediately, but it wasn't until three months later
in Paris, that she met Miss May Bolles and learned deeply of this new religion
she had embraced.
Miss Alexander wrote of her friendship, "The first meeting with the beloved
May Bolles is one of the precious memories of my life. From that day she became
my spiritual mother and through all the years her tender mother love has been a
guiding star in my life.''
Among her belongings, Miss Alexander had kept two pictures of Mrs. Maxwell and
a letter she had written from her home in Canada to the Japanese Bahá'ís dated
Nov. 26, 1919, exactly 19 years after Miss Alexander accepted the Faith. Mrs.
Maxwell wrote to the Japanese Bahá'ís (in part), "Beloved spiritual children of
Agnes! ... How wonderful is our nearness and oneness to Him. For although you
are in Japan and we are in Canada,
"Beloved May"
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yet we are drawing our light from One Source, the Orb of the Covenant
..."
Miss Alexander and Mrs. Maxwell in 1934.
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