'
[Footnote: Phelps, pp. 47-51.] Happily Abdul Baha had in his baggage
some quinine and bismuth. With these drugs, and his tireless nursing,
he brought the rest through, but then collapsed himself. He was seized
with dysentery, and was long in great danger. But even in this
prison-city he was to find a friend. A Turkish officer had been struck
by his unselfish conduct, and when he saw Abdul Baha brought so low he
pleaded with the governor that a _h??ak?®m_ might be called in. This
was permitted with the happiest result.
It was now the physician's turn. In visiting his patient he became so
fond of him that he asked if there was nothing else he could do.
Abdul Baha begged him to take a tablet (i.e. letter) to the Persian
believers. Thus for two years an intercourse with the friends outside
was maintained; the physician prudently concealed the tablets in the
lining of his hat!
It ought to be mentioned here that the hardships of the prison-city
were mitigated later. During the years 1895-1900 he was often allowed
to visit H??aifa. Observing this the American friends built
Baha-'ullah a house in H??aifa, and this led to a hardening of the
conditions of his life. But upon the whole we may apply to him those
ancient words:
'He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.'
In 1914 Abdul Baha visited Akka, living in the house of Baha-'ullah,
near where his father was brought with wife and children and seventy
Persian exiles forty-six years ago.
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