Hand of the Cause John
Robarts recalled the following during his pilgrimage in 1955:
Audrey and I had brought a kaross to the Guardian from
Bechuanaland [today part of South Africa] -- a mat made from the skin of a
springbok, inlaid with designs in other animal skins, black and white. On our
first evening we laid it out on the floor beside his chair. It was a lovely
thing. He said, "That is beautiful! Beautiful! I shall put it in the
mansion."
That was in 1955. He died in 1957, and then the Hands [of
the Cause] met for the first conclave in the mansion [of Bahji], just after his
funeral. The large conference hall has twelve rooms leading from it, one of
which was Ruhiyyih Khanum's bedroom. I searched every room but that one. I told
Audrey, "I don't think the Guardian put the kaross in the mansion."
She said, "He must have. He said he would. It must be there."
A year later at the second conclave, I again looked for the
kaross, and finally asked Ruhiyyih Khanum if Shoghi Effendi had brought it to
the mansion. She said, "Yes, indeed he did. Come into my room and see
it." There it was on the floor beside his bed. She said, "That was
his prayer mat. He loved it."
Hand of the Cause Mr. Collis Featherstone photographed it
for me. I held it in front of me as high as I could reach, and all that can be
seen of me are my fingers. How proud that springbok must have been in its
exalted state!
(Hand of the Cause John Robarts, ‘A Few Reminiscences about
Shoghi Effendi, taken from Pilgrim Notes of January 1955, from the Film
Retrospective, and from Some Other Words
of the Beloved Guardian’)
