Arizona republican., 1899-02-13

country requesting that he be per- mitted to send some seed potatoes to
 Armenia. The governors reply was that he had looked carefully through the koran and he was unable to find potatoes mentioned and that if the bishop sent potatoes to that country, he would do it at his own risk. The bishop thought that if the peO- pie there could once taste the Ameri-
 can potato they would continue to use
 them.
 At the beginning of the ma sacres
 the gates of the cities would be clos 9d,
 a great fire would be built, then the
 Christians would be dragged to the fire
 and given the choice of accepting Mo
 hommedanism and denying Christ. CT
 burning Offers also of gold and silvar
 would be made. But the Christians
 would say, No gold, no silver, Jesus
 only" mothers would give up their
 children rather than deny Chri t.
 They would often follow them to the fire and leap in after them in order to rescue them and the two would burn together.
 Women, and even little girls would be hung up in trees by the hair of the head, and then if they would not deny Christ, they were slain. Three hundred and twenty-five children were burned at one I1Il6. SOI116 Ol IuS S1II IStld11o saved themselves by dressing like Turkish women-with veiIs over their faces-and then fleeing to the jungles- Many of the Christians left the ccun- try; some fled to India, some to Malaysia and some to the Philippine. Seventy thousand were burned, 30O0O were drowned, and 5,C00 were slain by the sword One hundred >and five thousand in all were killed. So many of the Armenians fed to the Philip pines. that it seemed necessary that bishop be sent to them.
 It seemed certain death under the circumstances to undertake the trip, but three bishops cast lots as to who should go and the lot fell on the speak er The bishop then described the trip of himself and wife across the desert. How they lived on little rice soaked in water. and how even this was taken away from them. At last he reached the ocean and embarked unde7 the English flag. He then felt safe. Wherever the English or American flag floats, life and property are safe.
 His trip across the Cc9an was a stormy one, and his description of it was. very interesting. He described Manila as 8 good city; good streets suitable for an American bicycle. The climate of the Philippines he described as hot The country very productive, | but the people poor, ignorant and mis- erable. Spanish rule had been the | curse of the islands.
 It was not, he said, the American forces that had taken Manila and Cuba | and Porto Rico, but it was God who had taken them. The bishop said if he had his choice between the Spanish | or Mohammedan rule, he would take | the MOhammedan. The MOhammedars ! would kill but they were sincere in | their work. They would make good | Christians when once converted.
 He knew a man in Manila who had | been in prison two years for failing to bow at the proper time to a hish Ofj- cial of the Catholic church.
 The people of Armenia were in sad i need of help atNpresent. Their lands ! had been taken away and given to the . AIohammedans; even before the land was confiscated, the landlord got six . bushels of grain out of every eight and i the iaboring man got the other two.
 Bishop Serkin has been a busy man since his arrival in Phoenix last On Friday afternoon he ad- dressed the pupils of the high school and on Friday evening delivere1 an address at the Free Methodist chu- ch. Yesterday morning he spoke at the Christian church and last night at the First Methodist church as given above. On Tuesday night he will lecture at the M. E. church, South.