# Yahi-Bahi Society of Mrs. Resselyer-Brown, The

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> I. Introduction
> 
>  Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) had a double career as a professor of 
> political science and a humorist. At the time of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to 
> Montreal in 1912) he was head of the political science and economics 
> department at McGill University in that city. His collection of short 
> stories, Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich, includes a parody 
> of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the story "The Yahi-Bahi Society of Mrs. Resselyer-
> Brown."[1]
> 
>  The figure of Yahi-Bahi is recognizable to anyone familiar with Bahá'í 
> history: the man in exotic costume, speaking through an interpreter, using 
> such terms as Bahee, Boohoo, and Boohooism (the term Bahaism was in 
> common use at the time). It is not necessarily recognizable to those not 
> familiar with the Bahá'í Faith. Lynch's critical work on Leacock's humor, 
> which traces the sources of many of his ideas, does not make the 
> connection.[2]
> 
>  I am presenting a few excerpts from "Yahi-Bahi" with brief commentary 
> in the hope that someone with more time than I will research the 
> historical aspects of this story, including the following questions.
> 
>  How did Leacock get the image of 'Abdu'l-Bahá as a con man? Was he 
> simply prejudiced against anything non-Christian and non-Western? Or 
> were there hostile rumors about 'Abdu'l-Bahá circulating in Montreal? 
> Ward's narrative of the Master's journey to North America mentions no 
> hostility there, but quotes nothing from the Montreal press.[3] Did the 
> image simply blend in with occultists who made money by exploiting 
> people's gullibility --the type of people Harry Houdini loved to expose?
> 
>  What was the source of Yahi-Bahi's curious melange of Hindu, Buddhist, 
> ancient Egyptian, and Islamic imagery? Was Leacock lampooning 
> Theosophy -- or perhaps the syncretistic ideas that were common among 
> Bahá'ís at the time?
> 
>  Could Mrs. Resselyer-Brown have been derived from the famous 
> hyphenated Bahá'í, Keith Ransom-Kehler?
> 
>  How did the Bahá'í community react to the story? Leacock had become 
> Canada's best-loved popular writer and undoubtedly had Bahá'ís among his 
> fans. I have been told that the Canadian NSA once persuaded a radio station 
> to remove the story from a program of readings from Leacock's works.Ralph Wagner
> 
> 
>  II. Excerpts
> 
>  The first part of the story jokingly describes Mrs. Resselyer-Brown's 
> boring, hard-drinking husband and her intellectual daughter. To pass the 
> time, Mrs. Resselyer-Brown goes to such activities as the Dante Society, 
> the Bridge Club, and the Grand Opera. During a lull in the social life of 
> Plutoria Avenue, she and her friends learn of the presence in the city of 
> Mr. Yahi-Bahi, "the celebrated Oriental mystic," and has a conversation 
> with his assistant, Ram Spudd.  "What I like best about 
> eastern people," went on Mrs. Resselyer-Brown, is their wonderful 
> delicacy of feeling. After I had explained about my invitation to Mr. Yahi-
> Bahi to come and speak to us on Boohooism, and was going away, I took a 
> dollar bill out of my purse and laid it on the table. You should have seen 
> the way Mr. Ram Spudd took it. He made the deepest salaam and said, 'Isis 
> guard you, beautiful lady.' Such perfect courtesy, and yet with the air of 
> scorning the money. As I passed out I couldn't help slipping another dollar 
> into his hand, and he took it as if utterly unaware of it, and muttered, 
> 'Osiris keep you, O flower of women!' And as I got into the motor I gave 
> him another dollar and he said, 'Osis and Osiris both prolong your 
> existence, O lily of the rice-field'; and after he had said it he stood beside 
> the door of the motor and waited without moving till I left. He had such a 
> strange, rapt look, as if he were still expecting something!"
> 
>  "How exquisite!" murmured Miss Snagg.[4]
> 
>  But for the time being the interest of Dulphemia, as of everybody else 
> that was anybody at all, centred round Mr. Yahi-Bahi and the new cult of 
> Boohooism.
> 
>  After the visit of Mrs. Resselyer-Brown a great number of ladies, also in 
> motors, drove down to the house of Mr. Yahi-Bahi. And all of them, whether 
> they saw Mr. Yahi-Bahi himself or his Bengalee assistant, Mr. Ram Spudd, 
> came back delighted.
> 
>  "Such exquisite tact!" said one. "Such delicacy! As I was about to go I laid 
> a five-dollar gold piece on the edge of the little table. Mr. Spudd scarcely 
> seemed to see it. He murmured, 'Osiris help you!' and pointed to the ceiling. 
> I raised my eyes instinctively and when I lowered them the money had 
> disappeared. I think he must have caused it to vanish."
> 
>  "Oh, I'm sure he did," said the listener.
> 
>  Others came back with wonderful stories of Mr. Yahi-Bahi's occult 
> powers, especially his marvelous gift of reading the 
> future.[5] One example of Yahi-Bahi's prophecies: "Many 
> things are yet to happen before others begin."[6]
> 
>  So Yahi-Bahi and Ram Spudd are invited to the founding meeting of the 
> Yahi-Bahi Oriental Society. The foibles of various of its members are 
> described before the hero's arrival.  Mr. Yahi-Bahi was tall. 
> His drooping oriental costume made him taller still. He had a long brown 
> face and liquid brown eyes of such depth that when he turned them full 
> upon the ladies before him a shiver of interest and apprehension followed 
> in the track of his glance.
> 
>  "My dear," said Miss Snagg afterwards, "he seemed simply to see right 
> through us."
> 
>  This was correct. He did.
> 
>  Mr. Ram Spudd presented a contrast to his superior. He was short and 
> round, with a dimpled mahogany face and eyes that twinkled in it like 
> little puddles of molasses. His head was bound in a turban and his body 
> was swathed in so many bands and sashes that he looked almost circular. 
> The clothes of both Mr. Yahi-Bahi and Ram Spudd were covered with the 
> mystic signs of Buddha and the seven serpents of Vishnu.[7] 
> Mr. Snoop, a member of the club, gives the opening speech and later serves 
> as interpreter for Yahi-Bahi.  All of this Mr. Snoop explained 
> in the opening speech which he proceeded to make. And after this he went 
> on to disclose, amid deep interest, the general nature of the cult of 
> Boohooism. He said that they could best understand it if he told them that 
> its central doctrine was that of Bahee. Indeed, the first aim of all 
> followers of the cult was to attain to Bahee. Anybody who could spend a 
> certain number of hours each day, say sixteen, in silent meditation on 
> Boohooism would find his mind gradually reaching a condition of Bahee. 
> The chief aim of Boohoo itself was sacrifice: a true follower of the cult 
> must be willing to sacrifice his friends, or his relatives, and even 
> strangers, in order to reach Bahee. In this way one was able fully to 
> realise oneself and enter into the Higher Indifference. Beyond this, further 
> meditation and fasting -- by which was meant living solely on fish, fruit, 
> wine, and meat -- one presently attained to complete Swaraj or Control of 
> Self, and might in time pass into the absolute Nirvana, or the Negation of 
> Emptiness, the supreme goal of Boohooism.
> 
>  As a first step to all this, Mr. Snoop explained, each neophyte or candidate 
> for holiness must, after searching his own heart, send ten dollars to Mr. 
> Yahi-Bahi. Gold, it appeared was recognised in the cult of Boohooism as 
> typifying the three chief virtues, whereas silver or paper money did not; 
> even national bank-notes were only regarded as dó or, a 
> half-way palliation; and outside currencies such as Canadian or Mexican 
> bills were looked upon as entirely boo, or contemptible. The 
> Oriental view of money, said Mr. Snoop, was far superior to our own, but it 
> also might be attained by deep thought, and, as beginning, by sending ten 
> dollars to Mr. Yahi-Bahi.
> 
>  After this Mr. Snoop, in conclusion, read a very beautiful Hindu poem, 
> translating it as he went along. It began, "O cow, standing beside the 
> Ganges, and apparently without visible occupation," and was voted 
> exquisite by all who heard it. The absence of rhyme and the entire removal 
> of ideas marked it as far beyond anything reached as yet by Occidental 
> culture.[8] 
> 
>  After this the society was declared constituted, Mr. Yahi-Bahi made four 
> salaams, one to each point of the compass, and the meeting dispersed.
> 
>  And that evening, over fifty dinner tables, everybody discussed the nature 
> of Bahee, and tried in vain to explain it to men too stupid to 
> understand.[9] The next major event is the "reastralisation 
> of Buddha," which draws the members to the home of Mrs. Resselyer-
> Brown at midnight. "Has it ever been done before?" they asked 
> of Mr. Snoop.
> 
>  "Only a few times," he said; "once, I believe, by Jam-bum, the famous Yogi 
> of the Carnatic; once, perhaps twice, by Boohoo, the founder of the sect. 
> But it is looked upon as extremely rare. Mr. Yahi tells me that the great 
> danger is that, if the slightest part of the formula is incorrectly observed, 
> the person attempting the astralisation is swallowed up into nothingness. 
> However, he declares himself willing to try."[10] The guests 
> are instructed to bring gold ornaments, which are deposited on a table, and 
> furs, which are piled in the corridor.  "What is he doing?" 
> whispered the assembled guests as they saw Mr. Yahi-Bahi pass across the 
> darkened room and stand in front of the sideboard.
> 
>  "Hush!" said Mr. Snoop; "he's laying the propitiatory offering for 
> Buddha."
> 
>  "It's an Indian rite," whispered Mrs. Resselyer-Brown. Mr. Yahi-Bahi could 
> be seen dimly moving to and fro in front of the sideboard. There was a 
> faint clinking of glass.
> 
>  "He has to set out a glass of Burmese brandy, powdered over with nutmeg 
> and aromatics," whispered Mrs. Resselyer-Brown. I had the greatest hunt 
> to get it all for him. He said that nothing but Burmese brandy would do, 
> because in the Hindu religion the god can only be invoked with Burmese 
> brandy, or, failing that, Hennessy's with three stars, which is not entirely 
> displeasing to Buddha."
> 
>  "The aromatics," whispered Mr. Snoop, are supposed to waft a perfume or 
> incense to reach the nostrils of the god. The glass of propitiatory wine and 
> the aromatic spices are mentioned in the Vishnu-Buddayat."
> 
>  Mr. Yahi-Bahi, his preparations completed, was now seen to stand in front 
> of the sideboard bowing deeply four times in an Oriental salaam. The light 
> of the single taper had by this time burned so dim that his movements 
> were vague and uncertain. His body cast great flickering shadows on the 
> half-seen wall. From his throat there issued a low wail in which the word 
> wah! wah! could be distinguished.
> 
>  The excitement was intense.
> 
>  "What does 'wah' mean?" whispered Mr. Spillikins?
> 
>  "Hush!" said Mr. Snoop; "it means, 'O Buddha, wherever thou art in thy lofty 
> Nirvana, descend yet one in astral form before our eyes!'"
> 
>  Mr. Yahi-Bahi rose. He was seen to place one finger on his lips and then, 
> silently moving across the room, he disappeared behind the screen. Of 
> what Mr. Ram Spudd was doing during this period there is no record. It was 
> presumed that he was still praying.
> 
>  The stillness was now absolute.
> 
>  "We must wait in perfect silence," whispered Mr. Snoop from the extreme 
> tips of his lips.
> 
>  Everybody sat in strained intensity, silent, looking towards the vague 
> outline of the sideboard.
> 
>  The minutes passed. No one moved. All were spellbound in expectancy.
> 
>  Still the minutes passed. The taper had flickered down till the great room 
> was almost in darkness.
> 
>  Could it be that by some neglect in the preparations, the substitution 
> perhaps of the wrong brandy, the astralisation could not be effected?
> 
>  But no.
> 
>  Quite suddenly, it seemed, everybody in the darkened room was aware of a 
> presence. That was the word as afterwards repeated in a hundred 
> confidential discussions. A presence. One couldn't call it a body. It 
> wasn't. It was a figure, an astral form, a presence.
> 
>  "Buddha!" they gasped as they looked at it.
> 
>  Just how the figure entered the room, the spectators could never 
> afterwards agree. Some thought it appeared through the wall, deliberately 
> astralising itself as it passed through the bricks. Others seemed to have 
> seen it pass in at the further door of the room, as if it had astralised 
> itself at the foot of the stairs in the back of the hall outside.
> 
>  Be that as it may, there it stood before them, the astralised shape of the 
> Indian deity, so that to every lip there rose the half-articulated word, 
> "Buddha"; or at least to every lip except that of Mrs. Resselyer-Brown. 
> From her there came no sound.
> 
>  The figure as afterwards described was attired in a long 
> shirák, such as is worn by the Grand Lama of Tibet, and 
> resembling, if the comparison were not profane, a modern dressing-gown. 
> The legs, if one might so call them, of the apparition were enwrapped in 
> loose punjahamas, a word which is said to be the origin of the modern 
> pyjamas; while the feet, if they were feet, were encased in loose 
> slippers.
> 
>  Buddha moved slowly across the room. Arrived at the sideboard the astral 
> figure paused, and even in the uncertain light Buddha was seen to raise and 
> drink the propitiatory offering. That much was perfectly clear. Whether 
> Buddha spoke or not is doubtful. Certain of the spectators thought that he 
> said, "Must a fagotnit," which is Hindustanee for "Blessings on this 
> house." To Mrs. Resselyer-Brown's distracted mind it seemed as if Buddha 
> said, "I must have forgotten it." But this wild fancy she never breathed to 
> a soul. 
> 
>  Silently Buddha recrossed the room, slowly wiping one arm across his 
> mouth after the Hindu gesture of farewell.
> 
>  For perhaps a full minute after the disappearance of Buddha not a soul 
> moved. Then quite suddenly Mrs. Resselyer-Brown, unable to stand the 
> tension any longer, pressed an electric switch and the whole room was 
> flooded with light.
> 
>  There sat the affrighted guests staring at one another's pale faces.
> 
>  But, to the amazement and horror of all, the little table in the centre 
> stood empty -- not a single gem, not a fraction of the gold that had lain 
> upon it was left. All had disappeared.
> 
>  The truth seemed the burst upon everyone at once. There was no doubt of 
> what had happened.
> 
>  The gold and the jewels had been deastralised. Under the occult power of 
> the vision they had been demonetised, engulfed into the astral plane along 
> with the vanishing Buddha.
> 
>  Filled with the sense of horror still to come, somebody pulled aside the 
> little screen. They fully expected to find the lifeless bodies of Mr. Yahi-
> Bahi and the faithful Ram Spudd. What they saw before them was more 
> dreadful still. The outer Oriental garments of the two devotees lay strewn 
> upon the floor. The long sash of Yahi-Bahi and the thick turban of Ram 
> Spudd were side by side near them; almost sickening in its repulsive 
> realism was the thick black head of hair of the junior devotee, apparently 
> torn from his scalp as if by lightning and bearing a horrible resemblance 
> to the cast-off wig of an actor.
> 
>  The truth was too plain.
> 
>  "They are engulfed!" cried a dozen voices at once. It was realised in a 
> flash that Yahi-Bahi and Ram Spudd had paid the penalty of their daring 
> with their lives. Through some fatal neglect, against which they had fairly 
> warned the participants of the seance, the two Orientals had been carried 
> bodily in the astral plane.
> 
>  "How dreadful!" murmured Mr. Snoop. We must have made some awful 
> error."
> 
>  "Are they deastralised?" murmured Mrs. Buncomhearst.
> 
>  "Not a doubt of it," said Mr. Snoop.
> 
>  And then another voice in the group was heard to say, "We must hush it up. 
> We can't have it known!"
> 
>  On which a chorus of voices joined in, everybody urging that it must be 
> hushed up.
> 
>  Couldn't you try to reastralise them?" said somebody to Mr. Snoop.
> 
>  "No, no," said Mr. Snoop, still shaking. "Better not try to. We must hush it 
> up if we can."
> 
>  And the general assent to this sentiment shewed that after all the 
> principles of Bahee, or Indifference to Others, had taken a real root in the 
> society.[11] The police are waiting, however, and arrest 
> Yahi-Bahi and Ram Spudd. The police explain that this is the fourth city in 
> which they have pulled this scam since their release from prison six 
> months earlier.
> 
>  The Yahi-Bahi Society dissolves, but the members remain convinced that 
> they have seen a reastralisation of Buddha.  Nor was anyone 
> more emphatic on this point than Mrs. Resselyer-Brown herself.
> 
>  "For after all," she said, "if it was not Buddha, who was it?"
> 
>  And the question was never answered.[12] Notes:
> 
>  ________________
> 
>  [1] Stephen Leacock, "The Yahi-Bahi Society of Mrs. Resselyer-Brown," 
> in Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (New York: John Lane, 
> 1914), 115-55.
>  [2] Gerald Lynch, Stephen Leacock: Humor and Humanity (Kingston 
> and Montreal: McGill University Press, 1988), 140-45.
>  [3] Allan L. Ward, 239 Days: 'Abdu'l Baha's Journey in America (Wilmette, 
> IL: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1979), 131-37.
>  [4] Leacock, "The Yahi-Bahi Society," 128-29.
>  [5] Ibid., 131-32.
>  [6] Ibid., 132.
>  [7] Ibid., 136-37.
>  [8] Ibid., 137-39.
>  [9] Ibid., 139.
>  [10] Ibid., 143.
>  [11] Ibid., 146-52.
>  [12] Ibid., 155. 
> 
> 
> 
> Fiction
> 
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> — *Yahi-Bahi Society of Mrs. Resselyer-Brown, The (Used by permission of the curator)*