about fifteen or
sixteen years of age, at once wrote an important epistle giving an
exposition so illuminating as to astonish the Pa_sh_a. This epistle is now
widely spread among the Baha'is, and is well known to many outside the
Baha'i faith.

About this time Abbas was a frequent visitor to the mosques, where He
would discuss theological matters with the doctors and learned men. He
never attended any school or college, His only teacher being His father.
His favorite recreation was horseback riding, which He keenly enjoyed.

After Baha'u'llah's Declaration in the Garden outside Ba_gh_dad,
'Abdu'l-Baha's devotion to His father became greater than ever. On the
long journey to Constantinople He guarded Baha'u'llah night and day,
riding by His wagon and watching near His tent. As far as possible He
relieved His father of all domestic cares and responsibilities, becoming
the mainstay and comfort of the entire family.

During the years spent in Adrianople, 'Abdu'l-Baha endeared Himself to
everyone. He taught much, and became generally known as the "Master." At
Akka, when nearly all the party were ill with typhoid, malaria, and
dysentery, He washed the patients, nursed them, fed them, watched with
them, taking no rest, until utterly exhausted, He Himself took dysentery,
and for about a month remained in a dangerous condition. In Akka, as in
Adrianople, all classes, from the Governor to the most wretched beggar,
learned to love and respect Him.

Marriage

The following particulars regarding the marriage of 'Abdu'l-Baha were
kindly supplied to the writer by a Persian historian of the Baha'i Faith:--

During the youth of 'Abdu'l-Baha the question of a suitable
marriage for Him was naturally one of great interest to the
believers, and many people came forward, wishing to have this
crown of honor for their own family. For a long time, however,
'Abdu'l-Baha showed no inclination for marriage, and no one
understood the wisdom of this. Afterwards it became known that
there was a girl who was destined to become the wife of
'Abdu'l-Baha, one whose birth came about through the Blessing
which the Bab gave to her parents in Isfahan. Her father was Mirza
Muhammad 'Ali, who was the uncle of the "King of Martyrs" and the
"Beloved of Martyrs," and she belonged to one of the great and
noble families of Isfahan. When the Bab was in Isfahan, Mirza
Muhammad 'Ali had no children,