Although ‘Abdu’l-Baha was a serious expounder of the Baha’i
Faith He had a fine sense of humor. One day at dinner, we were eating soup, a
nice thick soup. Leaving my spoon in the plate I raised my hand to adjust my
collar. As I brought down my hand my elbow came in contact with the handle of
the spoon. And soup was spread upon the whiskers of the Persian believer on my
right. Of course, I was terribly embarrassed. However, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, observing
the incident quickly said: “Do not worry. That is a blessing” and laughed
aloud. My brother Wendell, then remarked: “Who gets the blessing, Bill, you or
the friend with the whiskers?” And ‘Abdu’l-Baha laughed again. Wendell and I
were so glad to be with ‘Abdu’l-Baha. At some times we were quite jolly. We
were mere boys of 18 and 21. (Excerpt from the transcript of a talk given by William Copeland Dodge relating the account of his pilgrimage to ‘Akka in 1901) (To listen to and read the entire talk please visit Baha’i Talks, Messages andArticles)
