The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-12-24
Miscellanenus.
TWO CHRISTMAS EYES.
An Armenian Maiden's Escape and
Its Happy SequaI.
BY I. EDGAR JONES.

NHRISTMAS amid the mountains
NJ of Armenia. The scene of our
: story is a little oriental village,
in 1879, nestled amid the rugged cliffs
at the head of a smiling valley.
The site of the hamlet was a ravine
running up the mountain side into a
rocky pass, as though the great valley
opening hey ond had been whitfield to
Il narrow point that it might penetrate
the hills.
Great precipices yawned on either
side and towering cliffs which seem TO
have grown gray with age, even as
the snow or the higher peaks of the
mountains seemed the hoary locks of
those ancients, which there had for
centuries watched over the old world.
Near by Mount Ararat, where rested
the ark after the flood. 1t was here
Noah titled his vineyard and the
human race begun anew after the
foods subsidized, for Armenia is one of
the oldest lands and its people trace
their lineage direct to that Biblical
emigrant ship which colonized it when
the world was young.
From many Il quaint, tlat-roofed
dwelling arose Christmas carols to
which soft-voiced echoes sang respon
sive choruses among the cliffs, and at
least one church bell tried bravely,
singly and alone, to supply an imita-
ton of Christmas chimes.
1t was a peaceful picture, upon
which the stars twinkled approvingly
as they bespangled the slopes with
frost diamonds and coated countless
sparkles from the paid snow. The
Armenians are devout people, and
make much of the Christmas festival.
This little hamlet was in many re-
spects not unlike Bethlehem, and near
it were many shepherds who guarded
their flocks by night, as did those of
Judea when the angels sang of peace
on earth, good will to men.
At the home of Abanazar, the head
man of the village, there were quiet
festivities, decorations of holly and
other evergreens, songs of praise and
and stories which for generations had
handed down cherished traditions and
legends of Armenia.
There were the aged grandfather
,lrnathnr A hano1np an1 hi
good wife, three little girls ranging
from six to twelve years old, and Zillah,
the sixteen-year-old daughter, with
her affianced lover Akthar, the stall
wart young herdsman.
She was Il beautiful maiden, with
regular features, long eyes aglow with
characteristic of so many women of
her race.
In her picturesque costume she was
marvellously handsome, and her tones
were as musical as the tinkle of silvery
bells or the low notes of Akthar's
flute, to which she sometimes sang a
soft accompaniment, The pleasant
scene in this home was duplicated in
many others that starlit Christmas
eve.
Suddenly the scene changed. The
church bell rang in sharp, short
strokes, a spirited alarm, confusion
succeeded calm, and there were ex-
- !, iY,l ~
haste as rider dashed madly down
the one central street, shouting: Save
yourselves, Christians, the kurds are
comingn
But there was no time. Close upon
his tracks came hundreds of swathy
horsemen, turbaned and fierce, with
loud Mohammedan maledictions
shouted in deep-voiced hate, and eyes
which cleaned like live Goals from be-
meath beetlIng brows.
In moment pandemonium seemed
to have broken loose, the guns spoke
sharply, scimitars flashed in silver and
turned crimson, and soon the flames
from burning buildings cast their lurid
glare over an earthly hell wherein
fiends held high carnival in shedding
innoc ent blood.
Abanazar and his family, with 9th
ers, gained the church which stood on
the edge of the precipice, and there
made Il brave stand, but it was use
less. Breaches were made in the
walls, the place carried by storm, and
hundreds slain before the altar dedi
Gated to peace and decorated with
/ Christmas symbols in readiness fol
( the morrow.
The floor literally ran in blood, and
ZiIlah in speechless anguish beheld
the men of her family and her lover
cut down, and women subjected tc
| forfnrac VI bioh nl,ilIa1 To tho SoDl