The Green Forest tribune., 1911-11-03
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

| ly universally accepted religion, PaleS- tine has now become headquarters of
 faith, Behaism, formerly called Bab- | ism, which it's followers and some
 writers in Europe and America, claim
 to be the universal and final religion.
 Since I have found religion to be, in l practice, fundamental to my main the
 sis in this series of articles, The Awaking of the Older Nations I re- | paired hither to the home of the head of the Bahists and it's Messiah" Alb dul Baha Abbas.
 It was somewhat of shock to be told, when l made inquiry at the large l gray stone house here, that Abbas Elf | fendi was away on vacation for his | health. The house was full of people, as l could tell by the voices of scurry- | ing females in the echoing hall, when l succeeded in making my presence known at the knobless doorbell There were several children playing in the | large, unsodded yard, and doubtless i one of these reported the strangers | coming. These were grandchildren; for Abbas Effendi has four daughters, | but no sons. The whole family, or | group of families, live in the one house, Oriental fashion. An English governess, who is not a Behaist, lives with them to teach the children | A Messiah" at Summer Resort.
 There are no disciples of the Beha- ist Messiah" in Syria, except the pilgrims who come here, and the num- Der of these is regulated by Abbas Eff | fendi himself He is highly spoken of by his neighbors. and especially by the poor, to whom he gives presents, some | times standing on the corner, and giv- | ing away a hundred garments. He is | enabled to do this by the rich pres ents of his followers, who are said to number several million in Persia
 Abbas Effendi makes no claim to be a healer. and he himself occasionally needs the doctors attention. He is | simple in his manner of life, and has steadfastly refused to take more than one wife, despite the fact that he has no son. and that his father before him. ''Fhe Blessed Perfection" had two wives. His teachings permit polyg- amy, but they counsel against it.
 Incongruous though it seemed to | find a Messiah" gone away to a health resort, I followed Abbas Effendi to Alexandria, in Egypt, where I trailed him by trolley car from a huge sum- mer hotel to a magnificent private house which he has rented for his sojourn. There, hospitably received, for Abbas Effendi is fond of visitors, had a most interesting interview with the man whom considerable number of Americans and Britons, and mil lions in Asia, call Master" and hail as the latest and fullest manifestation of the Deity
 A New Religion and Its Martyrs.
 The proof of martyrdom has been abundantly given to Babism, or Beha- ism. The Bab himself was executed at Tabriz in 1850, at the age of 31, six years after he had enunciated his gen tie doctrines, and had called himself "The Gate" to knowledge, recalling the prophecies of the Bible and the Koran, concerning a coming one In the bitter prosecutions by the Mos lens that ensued, the followers of the Bab met death finely. There were few recantarions, and in a single year the | number of martyrdoms amounted to as many as 10000
 |, Two years after the death of the Bab, group of leaders fled to Bagdad. among them Mirza Hassyn Ali. whom the Bab had called "Beha Ullah,'' "The Glory of God" He spent two years in the mountains fn seclusion and medi- | tation. After time he announced to few of his closest friends, that he was the Manifestation" of whom the Bab had been the forerunner In 1863 the Bagdad Babists were sent into exile at Adrianople. Five years sater Beha. who had come to be gen. | erally accepted by Babists as the Messiah (although not without rivals) who thenceforth called themselves HBehaists,' was sent into confinement at Akka, few miles north of Haifa, where he produced many writings, and died in 1892. He Was succeeded by his s0@. Abbas Effendi, who is called by Bahists Our Master" and "Our Lord" He, too, has had rivals-and the contentious of aspirants for the leadership has been a blot on the his tory of Behaism, but he seems now to be generally accepted by nearly all professors of the faith His Tablets" or messages, are regularly read in the meetings of the faithful.
 A Picturesque Personality.
 The essence of Behaism is the doc Urine that messengers, or manifesto tions of God, are sent whenever the voice of their predecessor becomes ob- l scured. These "Messiahs" are ire quently given as Moses. Zoroaster, Buddha, Christ, Mahomet, and the founders of the Behai faith Of the | Behai manifastations, the last is the l fullest ~evelation of all So read in | the book upon Behaism which finds most favor with the leaders of the cult. Of course this doctrine makes
 Abbas Effendi the greatest of all the prophets and incarnations of God; is it any wonder that l should want to see him? Especially so, as all the ar ticles I have read upon him picture him as a very wonderful individual
 In an elegantly furnished modern house I found Abbas Effendi seated on a sofa, waiting for me- He is striking figure in any garb, and when clad in white tarboosh, or 1 fez, with white cloth wound around it, Moslem Style, and long gray outer cloak of mohair, like a motor coat, and two white cloaks beneath 1t, he would attract attention anywhere. He