[Excerpts from two letters by Dr. Susan Moody describing
conditions of women, medical work, bravery of Baha’is, school for girls, and
plans for Mashriqu’l-Adhkar]
Tehran, Persia,
Jan. 11, 1910
Dearest Eva: Please redeem a promise I have made to the
sisters here that their photo should be copied and spread in America. I think I
mentioned that this is an important event in their lives; they have thrown down
one rule, for once, that is, to show their faces to the world. I cannot
describe to you how they are deprived.
Again today I was in a home the wife's mother was closely
veiled because the husband's young brother was in the room; and later all the
women left the room because two men friends of the family were coming. I could
stay and enjoy hearing the newcomers tell of a recent trip to Russia, etc. On
leaving I went to say good bye to the women -- their rooms are in an entirely
separate court, as if in another house. A man servant passed just as I raised
the heavy curtain to leave, and all the women screamed and pulled down their
veils, or drew the "chadur” up over their mouth and nose. The husband we
met in Paris and since being on the continent he is anxious to help free the
women from their dreary life.
The hospital business is now arranged and after this week I
am to be there with the other doctors in the afternoons. I met another, a non-Bahai doctor, this morning, and he
asked me to assist him in an operation later. I liked him and hope to establish
pleasant relations with them all.
