The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-11-04

Refugees who Made Free with the Gardeu
Sass of Nsnhec Farmers.


NORWICH. Nov. 2.--The Rev. DR.. Leo
nard woolcsey Bacon has taken a great
deal Of interest in the stories OF TURK
Ash atrocities in Armenia. ana mas &c
liyered vigorous discourses on the 'ro-
oeet. II was largely through MS o-
forts that local workers in behalf OF
congregational foreign missions phiIah-
thronists and wealthy church people in
general were persuaded TO cnis' IN Il hlnu
of pracficai crusade with the purpose OF
collecting money and providing other
means 10 transport homeless, suffering
Armonians TO this country. and take
care of them after they should arrive
here.
Many practical hard-hcaded people. es-
peciallv those who who have suffered
from hard times, and believers IN the
old-fashioned rule that charity should
begin at home. criticised the project
They said:
THE two great cotton factories Of
the city, the Falls and shetucket Mills,
employing conformity from 800 TO 1000
hands have been closed since early in
July. and the employees. while the COM
panies have given them the use Of their
little houses rent free. have not had a
stitch OF work TO do, in the period since.
They have thronged the streets daily.
idling; have undergone all sorts Of pri-
Vations. and how they have subsisted at
all Is puzzle. In fact. IL IS reported
that In not few instances families have
eked out niggardy existence by gath
cring wind-fallcn apples along the road
sides ana chestnuts in the woods, with
which they have supplemented their mea-
gre table supplies. Most OF them have
beer helped more or less freely by tho
town. and on some days the Se.ectmcn
Of Norwich have transacted little other
business than that OF doing out the
towns orders for money, fuel, OF gro
ceres, TO the towns outside poor, official
u SO caned. From the townspeople they
have received little or no assistance in
charity"
In view CT these facts. the critics ar
sued that the project Armenian crusade
might be safely delayed until local pow
eity had been in measure attended TO.
with this argument the crusaders did
not agree. For an experiment they had
thfee families Of Armenian refugees trans
ported 10 Norwich and placed in the
deserted mill village OF Versailles, on
inc Shetucket river, seven mile north a
TINS city. in accordance with q rule
about universal in Yankee mill villages.
the hamlet Of Versailles with its ca
pAcious woclen factory, dwellings. COM
pany store and so on, was, not many
years ago, the exclusive property of the
woollen makers, the Heery Brothers. but
the company failed, and for several years
its factory has been idle and the long
rows Of mill cottages have been unten-
snted. The Armenian families were in
stalled In some Of the abandoned toue-
lnents. The experiment Of bringing them
here, though. may hardly be considered
successful They are unable to speak
English. and neither can their Versailles
neighbors understand their speech. More
over. there Is little or no work for them
10 dc. Of the sort they are capable of
performing, since there is none for the
scores Of resident and penniless oilers
VINO had been out of work for months
Furthermore they brought across the
ocean some queer notions. that. in view
OF their forlOrn condition. are more pa
thetic than ludicrous, about America.
land OF the free" Indeed. that phrase
they interpreted literally
Ihey implicitly believe that America.
was a land Overlooking with natures
oounties. ana that crops grew and riDen-
S g., Ni'nout hbcr on the part Of man.
furthermore, they thought that every per
soH was Tree 10 hep himself to all the
products Of the soil. Therefore when
they were hungry, they straigbtwov hon,
pea over division fences into the fields
ana gardens Of the Versailles farmers
ana helped themselves 10 corn. pumpllins
potatoes and all kinds of garden saes
there. '"99
i"en 'here was trouble right away he
tween the puzzled Armenlans ana tho
eA"sPeiated but helpless Yankee bus-
""""ineh. IN their earnest and canfanje-
tIoua DEBATES over the innocentIv n,,r-
'oineu garden sass. the refugees had no
ldea al irst what the farm .rs were dr,,-
ing at. and the farmers couldn't "cop-
triVe what in sum Hill The furriners had
10 oTcr by way of excuse for their CON
duct Finally the controversy was ro-
solved into sort OF am oratorical tan
gle or tumble Of apostrophe. soliloouy
sign language. and pantomime. Uberqliy
sliced with vigorous eosticulations. In
thclr iirst interviews with the astonishcd
versailles farmers. the strangers kent
right on husking corn and digging pota-
toes with irritating coolnoss. pausing
only 10 deliver a broadside Of gibberish
In answer 70 the other fellows jargon.
In time. however they managed to find
out what the trouble was about. and
nv WV ~ "iNLHSttu Win inc lana or
the free on account Of their discovery
that the families an packed their house
hold goods and marched out Of Yer
saines IN dudgson. They have not come
back.
Notwithstanding the termination Of
their venture. the crusaders have pro-
jected new sc1eme on an extensive
scale IN accord with which they propose
20 Introduce several hundred families Of
Armenian refugees into Versailles ana
lofse them IN the unoccupicd mill-housos
there. They have devised no feasible
plan as yet by means Of which they may
be able 10 feed and clothe them and
provide them with employment.-New
York Sun.