The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-01-31
His Travels and Experience as
a Missionary in Turkey and
Along the Tigris
YAKIMA WOMAN'S RELATIVE
is A PIONEER CHRISTIAN
Manners and Customs of the Peo-
pie in the Mt. Ararat Country
and the Garden of Eden Coun-
try Are Described


city have received from e. r. Aller
letter written at Jezireh. Turkey
october 80, which contains a grea
deal that must interest Yakima PEG
pie. Mr.. Allen, who Is brother-in.
law of Mrs. Lunn, is a Presbyterian
missionary, and though he writes
merely a friendly personal letter
what he has to say will indicate some
of the hardships against which the
Christian workers in other land!
have to labor. In a POSTSCRIPT to hi.
letter, dated November 2, he say!
''the fall rains have set in with &
vengeance and henceforth we trave
in an abundance of water, which
means wet saddles and much discom
fort" Among things which Mr.. AL
len writes are the following:
Like a Different Land
II you could come by airship ant
suddenly sit down here with me yor
would think yourself on another
planet, having lost the way in the
dark and reached Mars instead Of
the other side of the earth. Yor
would find everything so different ant
so strange.
In the first place you could mo-
speak with the people and would
wonder what they We're making sc
much noise about. There are severa
languages in use, but l fear none
would be Of much avail to you. Ara
bic is most common. Syriac and Kur'
dish come next and Turkish follows
Some of the old fellows speak gum.
Arabic. They have lost their teeth
Unusual Church Service
Yesterday morning in our church
service the opening song was in Kur-
dish, the scriptures were read in Syr
lac and Arabic in succession, othel
songs in Syriac and Arabic sung a
the same time, and most of the ser
mon was preached both in Syriac ant
Ara bic, the minister speaking a sen
tence or two in one language, thei
repeating it in the other. The mel
were seated on the floor along tive
sides, small boys and girls sitting
cross-legged in the center and tn,
women--their faces half covered will
wells and their breasts open-squat
ted on the floor at the rear of tn,
| room which is used for a church
Old Song a Puzzle
There was some confusion whel
| they were singing together in differ
ent languages and the time did no
| always come out evenly, but ther
the matter of time is of small i'm
portance in Oriental singing. TIL,
latest song 1 have heard in Arabic
find is supposed to be when the rol
is called up yonder I'll be there
Perhaps you will remember it. I
was sung in the morning service, ant
in the afternoon service, but it wa
only late In the evening when a few
of the boys were singing it that
recognized it.
Yet it is good to hear them singin.
the songs of Zion, to hear their earn
est prayers and strong discourses ant
to remember that it brings to then
great persecution. And yet all tn,
suffering and persecution canno
make them give up their faitf
in Christ. There is now a Kurd IL
prison for being Christian and it /.
difficult to tell how the case will go
He persists in saying he is a Chris.
tian and in refusing to say the Mo.
hammedan prayers.
Followed Zenophon's Trail
You would have enjoyed the Jour.
ney l am taking---at least you would
have enjoyed parts of 1.-THE scenery
for instance. In places it was very
grand and in other places quite tame
But the historic interests that are
woven into the old roads and mon.
asteries and castles and graves ant
monuments are greater than the
scenery and perhaps more interest.
ing than the people. For instance
during several days we followed dowr
the line of travel taken by Zenophor
and his ten thousand in their famou.
retreat to Trebixond. The Karduchi
who, he said. threw rocks down or
his retreating army from the noun.
tains above, were our one fear and
after these many centuries, it was
necessary for US to take two Turkish
guards with us for safe travel. Those
Karduchi of two thousand years age