Elizabeth Stewart
Elizabeth first heard of the Baha'i Movement in 1899 from her aunt M Isabella D. Brittingham, a Baha'i teacher. It is significant that the only question she asked was, "Are there any martyrs in this Cause?',' She possessed the spirit of the martyr, and lived the life of a humble maidservant, never aggressive, but always and sacrificing as a true Baha'i.
She was graduated from the Medico- Chirurgical hospital in Philadelphia in 1899 and in 1911 went to Tihran, Persia, to become the assistant to Dr. Susan I. Moody, who had preceded her by two years. Undoubtedly these two women saved hundreds of lives. Nursing patients with typhoid fever and other contagious diseases, Elizabeth succumbed to typhoid and later to amoebic dysentery, recovering her strength each time sufficiently to resume her professional services.
She was graduated from the Medico- Chirurgical hospital in Philadelphia in 1899 and in 1911 went to Tihran, Persia, to become the assistant to Dr. Susan I. Moody, who had preceded her by two years. Undoubtedly these two women saved hundreds of lives. Nursing patients with typhoid fever and other contagious diseases, Elizabeth succumbed to typhoid and later to amoebic dysentery, recovering her strength each time sufficiently to resume her professional services.
Dr. Moody has written intimately of their life in Tihran, from which we quote the following: "We had visions of a hospital and a training school for nurses, but social conditions proved unfavorable; our practice was largely confined to the homes. . . . Miss Stewart was a skillful assistant, a fine anesthetist . . . . Naturally her work was heavy and often exhausting. Sometimes while I was on a case, another urgent call would come and it was necessary for her to take it and work it out alone, and she never failed. One year she gave instructions in "First Aid" to teachers and the graduating class at the Tarbiyat School for Girls. How many days, months, years, were filled with varied services: out on cases, assisting in office work, directing houshold affairs, trips to the bazaars, supplementing the efforts of our one boy servant.
"In all her association with the Baha’i friends her joy was evident; sacred meetings which brought rest for tired body and nerves; social affairs; school meetings; mother's meetings: wherever Elizabeth Khanum (as she was called by the Persians) appeared, her smile met the answering smile of all. She truly fulfilled as nearly as humanly possible the example of one who 'came not to be ministered unto, but to minister'. . . . But again the falling of a shadow when for the third time Miss Stewart fell ill, stricken with the dread disease, oriental sprue."
Later in 1920 Miss Stewart made a visit to Haifa to see 'Abdu'l-Baha, and from thence journeyed to India. Probably one of the happiest and greatest moments of her life came to her there, when she called attention to the fact that women could be admitted to Conventions in India, that it was in accordance with governmental laws, and one of the outstanding Baha'i principles. She was the only woman speaker at the first Baha'i Convention in India, and the only Person at that time who spoke on the equality of men and women.
Miss Stewart returned to Persia the latter part of 1920 passing again through the Holy Land. She carried on her person over one hundred Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Baha written to Persian Baha'is. It was a most difficult and almost impossible journey at that time, but she very successfully fulfilled the sacred and important mission entrusted to her. While Miss Stewart gradually became stronger, Dr. Moody writes that "she was always subject to recurring symptoms of the malign Oriental disease. Of undaunted courage she continued to assist in all the manifold work which continued without a break until those sad days after the cruel assassination of our Vice-Consul, Major Imbrie. . . . Within three months we left Tihran for a long promised visit to America, stopping en route in Haifa, Palestine, for thirty-four days."
Arriving in America in January,1925, in a condition of weakened health, she had very few well days in the year and nine months she lived at the home of her devoted friends, the Revells, in Philadelphia, where she had every comfort and tender care. She died in Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. 10, 1926, at the home of Mrs. M. J. Revell.. . . Funeral services were conducted jointly by a Christian minister and by Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Interment was in St. Georges, Delaware, her birthplace. Thousands of Baha'i friends the world over are mourning the passing of this Baha'i sister and nurse whose life of deeds will ever be remembered and valued more and more as time passes. She takes her place in the history of the Baha'i Cause in America with those early pioneers who understood deeply its spiritual significance and who lived to serve sacrificially. (Adapted from Star of the West, vol. 17, no. 8, November 1926)
"In all her association with the Baha’i friends her joy was evident; sacred meetings which brought rest for tired body and nerves; social affairs; school meetings; mother's meetings: wherever Elizabeth Khanum (as she was called by the Persians) appeared, her smile met the answering smile of all. She truly fulfilled as nearly as humanly possible the example of one who 'came not to be ministered unto, but to minister'. . . . But again the falling of a shadow when for the third time Miss Stewart fell ill, stricken with the dread disease, oriental sprue."
Later in 1920 Miss Stewart made a visit to Haifa to see 'Abdu'l-Baha, and from thence journeyed to India. Probably one of the happiest and greatest moments of her life came to her there, when she called attention to the fact that women could be admitted to Conventions in India, that it was in accordance with governmental laws, and one of the outstanding Baha'i principles. She was the only woman speaker at the first Baha'i Convention in India, and the only Person at that time who spoke on the equality of men and women.
Miss Stewart returned to Persia the latter part of 1920 passing again through the Holy Land. She carried on her person over one hundred Tablets from 'Abdu'l-Baha written to Persian Baha'is. It was a most difficult and almost impossible journey at that time, but she very successfully fulfilled the sacred and important mission entrusted to her. While Miss Stewart gradually became stronger, Dr. Moody writes that "she was always subject to recurring symptoms of the malign Oriental disease. Of undaunted courage she continued to assist in all the manifold work which continued without a break until those sad days after the cruel assassination of our Vice-Consul, Major Imbrie. . . . Within three months we left Tihran for a long promised visit to America, stopping en route in Haifa, Palestine, for thirty-four days."
Arriving in America in January,1925, in a condition of weakened health, she had very few well days in the year and nine months she lived at the home of her devoted friends, the Revells, in Philadelphia, where she had every comfort and tender care. She died in Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. 10, 1926, at the home of Mrs. M. J. Revell.. . . Funeral services were conducted jointly by a Christian minister and by Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Interment was in St. Georges, Delaware, her birthplace. Thousands of Baha'i friends the world over are mourning the passing of this Baha'i sister and nurse whose life of deeds will ever be remembered and valued more and more as time passes. She takes her place in the history of the Baha'i Cause in America with those early pioneers who understood deeply its spiritual significance and who lived to serve sacrificially. (Adapted from Star of the West, vol. 17, no. 8, November 1926)
