Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-01-06

St<seS, eiiSic SdliS d great ueNSlOpIlenl
in literary activity. This chiefly ex-
pended itself in translations from the
Syriac and Greek. The fifth century
was one of the most f1ourishing in Ar
menian literature. Her students were
to be found in Athens, Byzantium, AL
exandria and Rome. To this fact Is
owed the preservation in Armenia of
many works that have perished in their
original tongue.
In speaking recently at gathering
of Armenians, of the coming of the
alphabet in Armenia, Rev. Bishop Sal
adian Of Boston said that all the Ar
menian religious sects have united to-
gether, that they have placed their
nation and country above religious diff
ferences and that henceforth they are
going to present a solid front to their
oppressors"
The Armenian people," he contin-
ued, were the first to accept and be-
lieve in the God of Abraham They
We're the first people to put the Word
Of Gcd into a tongue different from
that in which it was originally writ
ter. Next in importance to this is the
discovery of the alphabet; like the Ten
commandments of Moses no one in all
these ages has been able to suggest an
Improvement upon it.
1t is perfection itself. A language
is the life of nation. We have wealth
ered many tempest in our political
and national life, and yet we still ex-
Isl greater people than ever fur
nishing the brains to our conauerors
In commerce, in art, in literature. and
In every walk of life. We have been
able to do this through the intellectual
supremacy of our people.
we have had our dark days, but
Trey We're as the clouds that for a
moment darken the sun. But without
capable language and the means of
expressing our thoughts, and our cul-
t,lre N the liberal arts of the world
tnere would be no Armenia today.
without this, this the most ancient of
the Arian race would have lost its
identity and would have been absorbed
by Its neighboring and more powerful
nations. Armenia has been the obiec.
OF national crime: it has become a
second Poland-divided up-yet. in
spite Of the abominable dominion of the
TURK and the Muscovite, and in spite
OF the cruel, selfish and criminal in
dlfference of Europe, which is not
ashamed to call itself Christian, the
Armenian people live on, and will live
on as long as the nation has a ma
t1onai language and the means of ex
pressing its thoughts and It's national
culture
AT an early period of human his
tory, when the Armenian people had
developed high degree Of civilization
ana very profound literature, the
ancestors OF the present proud Euro
pean nations We're roaming around
the wilderness with caves for their
hapltation. Thousands of wears aeo
they were highly cultured peonle.
they are still large and important
race, occupying the ground where the
binlical scene of the Garden is laid
While their mighty neighbors of the
Assyr1an' Babylonian. and the Roman
empires are now known only in name.
Ihoueh conquered with arms. we have
conquered our conquerors by art. lit-
erature' science and poetry. We have
!iol only been uncontaminated by our
D.i oafiah conquerors, Turkey and
RUSSIA, but nave helped to even civil
ize them to certain degree. our
language has not even been emascr-
i.'eo. And we owe this to our unfair
nished national existence to the dis
coVery OF our national alphabet. A
nation without spoken tongue is an
anomaly-it is no nation."-New Yorl,
Times.