hlight a feature of the rise of the Cause in the West to which
the Master drew particular attention:

In America, the women have outdone the men in this regard and have taken
the lead in this field. They strive harder in guiding the peoples of the
world, and their endeavours are greater. They are confirmed by divine
bestowals and blessings.(83)

In the East, social conditions of the time had virtually dictated that the
initiative in the promotion of the Cause would be taken largely by men.
Few such constraints prevailed in North America and Europe, where a galaxy
of unforgettable women became the principal exponents of the Baha'i
message on both sides of the Atlantic. One thinks of Sarah Farmer, whose
Green Acre school provided the infant Baha'i community with a forum for
the introduction of the Faith to influential thinkers; of Sara Lady
Blomfield, whose social position lent added force to the ardour with which
she championed the teachings; of Marion Jack, immortalized by Shoghi
Effendi as a model for Baha'i pioneers; of Laura Dreyfus-Barney, who gave
the Faith the priceless collection of the Master's table talks, _Some
Answered Questions_; of Agnes Parsons, co-founder with Louis Gregory of
the "Race Amity" initiatives inspired by 'Abdu'l-Baha; of Corinne True,
Keith Ransom-Kehler, Helen Goodall, Juliet Thompson, Grace Ober, Ethel
Rosenberg, Clara Dunn, Alma Knobloch and a distinguished company of
others, most of whom pioneered some new field of Baha'i service.

To the list must be added the name of Queen Marie of Romania, whom the
ages will hail as the first crowned head to recognize the Revelation of
God for this day. The courage shown by this lone woman in publicly
declaring her faith, through the letters she fearlessly addressed to the
editors of several newspapers in both Europe and North America, in all
probability introduced the name of the Cause to an audience numbering
millions of readers.

Despite the impressive response that the earliest of these efforts
elicited, the lack of an organized means of capitalizing on the results
initially limited the benefits accruing to Baha'i communities in Western
lands. The rise of the Administrative Order dramatically changed the
latter situation. As Local Spiritual Assemblies came into being, goals
were set, resources were made available to support individual teaching
efforts, and those who declared their faith found themselves participating
in the many activities of an