“Some Answered Questions” and Its Compiler Baharieh Rouhani Ma‘ani A young American living in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century had a life-changing experience. As a result, she was steered in a direction utterly different from anything she and her parents had in mind. Laura Clifford Barney was born in 1879 to Alice Pike and Albert Barney. At a very young age her parents took her to Paris, where she studied at a prestigious school for about nine years. In 1892 she returned to the United States and entered Visitation, a Catholic Convent School in Georgetown. She later returned to Paris, and studied philosophy and religion. She was a bright and serious student with an active and enquiring mind, keenly interested in discovering the frontiers of knowledge. Her mother had established a salon in Paris where artists and writers gathered. Laura “often attended her mother’s circle of friends in the French Salon” and “participated in the intellectual discussions among influential writers and artists…” Her “serious questions often led to insightful observations on the part of those present.” 1 During her stay in Paris in early 1900, Laura heard of the Bahá’í Faith and studied its tenets with May Eliss Bolles (Maxwell), the renowned Bahá’í teacher. Heeding the voice of her conscience, Laura embraced the nascent Faith and pursued a lifelong career of service to humanity, which made her world