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“The Artist’s Daughter” , Nancy Douglas Bowditch, p255-6
55. Letter from The Guardian via Ruhi Afnan to Nancy Bowditch. Dated 20-6-’32, Persian Colony, Haifa, Palestine.
Dear Mrs. Bowditch:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated May 18th, 1932. He is very glad to know that you have liked the “Dawn-Breakers’, for his greatest reward is to see that this work, which has cost him much labour and anxiety, is helping the friends to understand better and more fully the spirit that animates the movement and the exemplary life of the heroic souls that ushered it into the world.
The Guardian sincerely hopes that by reading this book the friends will be stirred to greater activity and a higher measure of sacrifice, that they will obtain a deeper realization of this Cause whose spread and ultimate victory is entrusted to their care. As some who have read the book have remarked: no one can become familiar with those lives and not be inspired to follow in their way.
It is surely true that the spirit of those heroic souls will stir many artists to produce their best. It is such lives that in the past inspired poets and moved the brush of the painters.
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to impress you with the importance of keeping in touch with those two young architects in Prague. The Cause has not yet been established in that country and Shoghi Effendi is doing his best to start something there. Through correspondence you could help them to be confirmed.
Shoghi Effendi was very glad to hear of the engagement of Polly. May God help her to establish a family fully representative of the true Bahai spirit. The Guardian will pray for both of them and ask God to shower His blessings upon them. Please convey to her as well as to the other members of your family Shoghi Effendi’s loving greetings and best wishes.
With best wishes and loving greetings,
Yours very sincerely,
Ruhi Afnan.
Note in Shoghi Effendis handwriting:
Dear and valued co-worker:
I wish to assure you in person of my deep and genuine appreciation of the splendid work you have achieved and the valuable contribution you have made to the Mansion of Baha ulláh in Bahji. The portrait will adorn its walls, and serve as a constant reminder of your last visit to the Shrines, the memory of which is still fresh in my mind. I pray that you may be sustained and guided by the beloved Master to accomplish all that is your hearts desire in the service of the Cause, and may be enabled to undertake another pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the not distant future.
Your true brother,
Shoghi.
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