The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-08-27

~ 4ll
piasters cannot now be had for twenty
piasters. for the reason that no matter
how aluch MAJ be offered the grain is NOT
to be had. Owing to hardships many OF
the people desert their villages and wan
der about the country In search OF some
thing to eat. Many Christians are said to
be selling their girls and boys to Moslems
In Mosul. hat they themselves may-liye.
In Mardin crowds swarm about the Hour
shops unable to procure food, and in
Bohtan, where the people were able to
crop of acorns and juniper berries, these
are now exhausted, and the weaker are
starving to death in great nunbers.
Entering the mountains Missionary La
baree found that the sirlnic had extended
its ravages there, and that the people
were living on rice in very limited guam
titles, and millet, which latter is little
better than nothing. Large numbers OF
the Bias and Jelu people go down TO the
plains every fall, and work through the
winter and spring as masons, biacksmlths
in trade throughout Turkey for the past
three years has prevented them from
earning anything, so that they return
this year, some of them on foot, not hav-
ing earned sufficient to pay their travel
ling expenses The valleys of these noun
tain people are so narrow and rugged
that fields are made with the greatest
difficulty. A wall of stone is built, but
earth being too scarce to fill all of the
space thus made. stones are put at the
bottom, the earth forming the surface.
The field is never a quarter OF an acre
in extent, and often not larger than q
room. Wheat, corn and rye are planted,
but even here the sinnic has found its
way. Corncobs are mixed with the little
fiour the people have in order to help 1T
out in quantity. To make matters worse
in some villages the Koords have carried
off the sheep, and the. people have no
milk. At Gawer a sad state Of affairs
nxrfe+N Ne hairo mr. HynTk the men
nave come back to their deGolate homes.
Nightly the Koords come and carry OF
grain. Asked why they permit these
Koords to enter the very room it may
be in. which the are, their reply is that
they are not make q noise lest they pc
killed.
The Government is forcing these people
at this time to pay Up. All the. back taxes
at an unjust rate. What the people have
planted Is not enough for the wants of
the country, and that little is apidly pc
ing eaten by ~locusts, which are there IN
swarms-theF ground actually black with
them in places. In thousands of so-called
homes there is not a blanket to sleep on
Ind when the cold of the approaching
winter comes there will be none for
warmth. Many women are SO destitute
of clothing that they cannot leave their
zones. Hundreds of families have for
weeks had nothing but herbs for food,
and these will not last long on account OF
the drought. Gawer is expecting grain
from Oroomiah. but lone can be sent.
On account of the scarcity in Persia, the
Government has forbidden the exporta-
ton OF grain. At OrooIniah harVests TINS
year are so poor that grain is twice its
usual price. Thousands Of families are
living on what they can pick up each day
with no provision whatever for winter.
"As winter approaches" says the mis-
sionary, matters will grow worse. The
Gawer people W been notified that un-
der no circumstances must they come to
Orooniah. If we have any help for them
IA = 49, TE&-- il 800
send help they must die there, for the
people of Oroomiah are utterly unable to
help them in the present condition But
we knew that the mountain people will
not stay at home and die. They will
flock here in spite of our warnings and
when they do there will be disease added
to terrible privation and more terrible
hunger. May the Lord in some way show
mercy to these poor people"
The United Brethren, the headquarters
of whose Home, Foreign and Frontier
Missionary Society is at Dayton. o., has
just sent the Rev. A. 7. Howard to Japan
Toxic. He sailed from San Francisco
two weeks ago. The United Brethren
have recently suffered the loss from mas
sacre in Sierre Leone, West Africa, of
seven missionaries. The British Govern
ment expects to restore order soon, and
the United Brethren intend to send new
men in their places at as early a date as
possible. The Rev. Or. w. w. Bell. gem
eraI secretary of the United Brethren So
eiety, is going TO Cuba and Porto Rico as
soon as political conditions permit, to
make personal observations on which the
denomination contemplates undertaking.
The conference of Friends just held at
Richmond represents the progressive ele-
ment anon the Hicksite Quakers, a
branch of the society which is far strong
er in Philadelphia than the Orthodox, but
which throughout the West is compare
lively weak in numbers. This conference
meets every two years. and is made up
of a number of organizations, such as the
Friends Union for Philanthropic Labor,
the First Day School, and the religious
and educational conferences. There were
present at it members of the seven yearly
meetings in Hicksite Quakerism. Almost
all of the speakers were from Philadel-
phia and Baltimore yearly meetings. The
Conference of two years ago was held in a
large tent on the grounds of SWarthrnore
College. A curious phase of the meetings
even of the educational ones, is the re-
framing from applause, no matter how
good the points made by the speakers.
The same rule was adhered to this rear
at Richmond.
not only erecting one of the finest build
ings in the world devoted to religious
uses, but of placing upon that building.
in ornamentation, the finest series of ar
chitectural statues of heroic size ever
placed on any structure anywhere. The
Witherspoon Building, in Philadelphia,
which cost 81, 000,00 is now being enriched
with statues of famous Presbyterian lead
erS, with BlDie ana New testament cHdr-
acters and forty historical tablets. Among
the statues chosen are John Witherspoon,
moderator of the first Presbyterian Cen
eral Assembly, president of Princeton and
signer of the Declaration of Independence;
Marcus Whitman. who made the famous
winter ride from Oregon to Washington;
the Rev. John Mckenzie. the founder of
Presbyterianism in America. and the
prophets and Old Testament characters
Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, jeremiah.
Ezekiel. Daniel, Deborah and Huldah, and
John the Baptist Of the New Testament
The figures are in terra-cotta and life
size. The sculptor was A. Sterling Calder,
who modelled the heroic figure of Will
liam Penn. which surmounts the great
tower OF the City Building in Philadel-
phia.
SHAKEsPEARE's CHURCH.