The record-union., 1895-09-07

ing the chief unifying and harmonizing
influence. There is thus no idea or con-
ception of caste or difference between men
in value and importance. In the church
the rich and poor, the ignorant peasant
and the learned physician or lawyer.
stand side by side and worship, and out
side in the relations of the world the
same equality is recognized and acted
upon in the kindly courtesy and human
sympathy freely expressed.
Different stations of life, however, are
not ignored, but accepted in contentment.
Yet it may be truly said that in all of
them the Armenian people have pre-
served an aristocracy based on condi-
ton that deprives no one OF place in it
by reason of his situation in life. That
condition is character.
at is this which guides the Armenian
mother in the choice Of bride for her
son. In the semi-primitive life of the
Armenian highlands there Is little room
for the development of the free social rela-
tions found in the West. The men, over
burdened with the artisan or commercial
life, have to leave the entire work of the
household, its management and develop
ment, in the hands OF the women. Women
are thus absolute rulers in the Armenian
home, in spite OF the fact that the man Is
the head of the household.
There in the little Kingdoms of the
large family not one or all of the men to-
gether, but the old. old woman, the
'medeZ-man,' now perhaps compelled to
spend most of the day in the honored
corner of the sofa. rules supreme in love
and gentle Iirmness with all the expert
ence of her own eventful years and of the
fruitful ages of theiArmenian life gone
before. Surely to her can be intrusted
the task of selecting out from home like
hers gentle maid to take rank in that
royal household and prepare to rule itself
herself some day. And with scarcely any
exception through the centuries the Ar
menian homes have been happy ones in
spite of the disasters that have over
whelmed the nation.
''The Armenian mother knows well
the young maidens of the families in her
circle. She has, moreover, the ready
counsel of other wise heads, and thus,
with great deliberation and due inquiry
and observation she decides upon the
maiden she would wish as bride for her
sou. Then comes one of the greatest
events in the life of the Armenian girl,
when there is a formal visit from num-
ber of ladies with the avowed purpose of
seeing the maid There is great cere-
mony OF hospitality. and during the visit
the maid appears and passes the exami-
nation of well-trained and critical eyes.
She is building character and reputa-
ton all her life, but such All occasion Is
the decisive ordeal to prove her genuine
modesty, womanly reserve, and good
sense as well as the positive charms OF
personal beauty and grace. She seldom
fails.
I'm the large cities of the country
where the influence of Western civiliZa-
ton is being felt all this is much simpli
fed, but throughout the interior, where
neither the railroad nor the iconoclast
has yet penetrated, it goes uninterrupted
with all the pomp and majesty of tradi-
ton which make law in the Orient.
sit is also in the country where be-
trothals, weddings and baptisms are oc
casions of great testivity and cerelhony.
by reason OF the dangers attending
the taking home of the BRIDE or the re-
turning escort from village or town, it is
the custom to have large company, in
Guiding young men mounted on horse
back, perform that office. W eddlng
festivities are therefore first observed at
the brides house for days, ana then
when she is taken not one person froIn
her home accompanies her. She is re-
ceived with great rejoicings at the home
of the bridegroom, where again days are
devoted 10 hilarious gayeties following
the wedding ceremony, performed after
the elaborate liturgy OF the Armenian
Church.
MANY are the awful stories Of young
brides taken in other wayS-when the
Kurdish 3ey who has been waiting in
his mountain home for the coming OF age
of a fair Armenian maiden will come
with his band OF cutthroat followers on
the eve of the wedding, and, defying re-
sistance, by actual or threatened muir
der, will carry away the wretched girl.
1t is not possible for an Armenian to
speak calmly of this. There are hundreds
OF such unfortunate Christian girls in the
possession to-day of these goddess rum
ans These heroic girls refuse to give up
their faith, asking rather to he killed, and
they are dragging out terrible lives and
enduring mlserles that cannot be ex-
pressed. Can there lack IN all Christian
lands multitudeS OF true hearted men and
women who will not cease TO plead and
protest with all the resources at their
command that a speedy end be put to
these dreadful deed5 and the homes of a
martyr nation be delivered from utter de-
struction?
This condition of perpetual terror of
outside foes of the Armenian family ac-
counts in q measure for all the strict rules
and perfect obedience To the social and
family laws which are carefully enjoiued
and passed from one generation 10 an
other. Only through this peace and unity
among themselves has the preservation
OF the nation. with every energy con-
served, been possible IN the afflicted
'motherland.'
1T accounts, too, for the very early
marriages for the preservation OF the
family, though the crushing taxation has
driven thousands OF the stancn young
men of the Armenian peasantry TO leave
home and bride behind them and go away
to Constantinople and other seaport towns
OF Turkey, there TO bend their backs as
beasts OF burden, while the women wait
for them with the patience of long suffer
ing. All the love songs OF Armenia are
tilled with the pain of hope deferred; the
sadness of the women's eyes, too, is q
national characteristic. Who can wonder
when they learn the history OF their lives
for generations?
1.-The Armenian question is pre-emi-
nently a woman's question. The women
OF Armenia keep their faith in the home,
and upon them falls the heavy hand of
merciless oppression. Moreover, while
bishop and priest and teacher have been
the special object of the hatred aud cruelty
of the Moham medau fanatic, the Armen-
ian woman has had the added misfortune
to be ever the object of the brutal lust of
the fiendlsh oppressor. This fact alone
makes the cause of armenia the cause of
women throughout Christendom, and
must appeal to them with overwhelming
force"
An Aid TO Let Things Alone.
Inquisitive Yankee visitors to the Am
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