The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1904-12-23

Christmas eve in the little Armenian
colony occupying a corner of Il foreign
section of the great western city. The
hall was decorated for the occasion with
the usual evergreens, and oriental hang
ings served to recall in this modern land
the familiar belongings of lost homes
among the Armenian mountains
There was a subdued cheerfulness
among the people present, a tribute to
Christmas, but they could not rejoice
loudly. with aching voids in so many
stricken hearts and the Moslems still op-
pressing the Christians among the far-off
Armenian hills.
They sang, however, Christmas carols
strangely sweet which recalled pictures
of unforgotten homes, and hymns in
which sad minor chords seemed to Vi
brate with hushed tears. What wonder
that real tears welled up from tortured
hearts, and that they sparklcd in pretty
Iiilah's mournful eyes?
Good will to men these exiles could
know and feel, but peace on earth was
not for them, even at Christmas, while
Turkish scimetars still flashed forth the
liGhtnings of fanatic hates, and innocent
blood Redeemed the soil of far Armenia.
There was to be new arrival of Arme-
mans tonight, and they were to recite at
this gathering of their compatriots the
story Of their adventures and their
wrongs.
Similar tales had been often repeated
by similar refugees, but the stories had
tragic interest ever new, while they re-
counted renewed horrors and the con
stantly recurring tragedies which added
to the list of the lost, and the grand
army Of Borrowing survivors.
As the coming OF the visitors was an
nounced the music ceased and all arose
to receive thcm, the hum of the great
CITY without family heard in the hush of
expectancy within, and the Christmas
chimes from an American church near by
ringing checrily, though soft and sub
ducd, through the frosty air.
The door opened and there marched in
the little band who came from the valley
of the shadow of death, and first among
them Abanazar and Akthar, the father
and lover so long listed among the dead.
You should have seen Iillah's beautiful
face, TRANSPORTED, the love light i'll her
large brown eyes, and heard the musical
ly glad cry with which she sprang into
their arms, smuggling close at last with
his stalwart arm cncircling her shapcly
waist. What is ordinary Christmas hap
piness to such Joys as hers, mcasureless
as infInity, deep as the sea: Does not
love fill even the vast spaces of Heaven
And the men were as deeply moved as
the maid, for they had been as certain OF
her death as she of theirs. Precious in
deed are these gifts which fate, stern and
unrelcrting at times, seems to snatch
from the dead to reward the love of the
living.
Never since angels sang at Bethlehem
had Christmas seemed gladdcr to any
human soul, than was this memorable
Christmas eve to the beautiful Armenian
maiden. After the storm the calm. Ak
thar and Zillah were we'd soon after, and
Abanazar became an inmate of their
happy home.
Under the starry flag which, thank
God, tolcrates no religious persecution,
they live in security, doing their duty as
Christian citizens, loving their adopted
land with passionate oriental fervor, and
contributing as they can towards the
needs ofthose still suffering in the beloved
home country.
They are loyal to the core, but hope the
land of their adoption may do something
to STAY the hate which crimsoned the
land of their birth. God grant that their
hope be not in vain.
A simple story, the annals of lives
touched with sorrows deeper than those
most of us in these happier lands have
known.
Remembering our mcrcies at Christmas
tins, let us not forget the griefs which
have burdened and oppressed such rs
these, but apply to them in fullest meas
IRE all that is meant by good will to
men"
To quote from the good old Book,
which was theirs even before it became
ours:
These are they who came out of great
tribulation, and they washed their robes
and made them white i'll the blood of the
Lamb.
For the Lamb which is i'll the midst
of the throne shall be their shepherd, and
shall guide them unto fountains of the
water of life; and God shall wipe away
! every tear from their eyes