Evening star., 1915-10-01

of their religion they have been sub
jected to prosecutions that are almost
unthinkable. Yet their faith was not
to be shaken. Those Armenians who
direction of Old Nineveh on the one
hand. and Deir-Zor. west of Euphrates,
on the other. might remain in their
homes If they would give over their
Christianity and declare themselves
Moslems. But they will not.
1t was this devotion to the faith that
first attracted Americans to the Ar
menians. Now it happens that Amer
lea has more to do with these peoples
than any other nation except Turkey.
The devotion of the Armenians to the
religion of Christ caused certain Amer
lean missionary societies to attempt to
better their condition.
* =
1t is seventy-five years since these
missionaries first began to establish
schools among these
Begin Work Christians dwelling
IS Years Ago. Tribes % of Asia
Minor. Today there are six large col
leges maintained in the region by
these American missionary associa-
tions, and a thousand young Armenians
have been attending each. Aside from
these there are several hundred COM
mon schools. Altogether 10000 Ar
menian youngsters have every year
been studying in these American
schools. They have learned English,
have in turn become preachers. mis-
sionaries. merchants, engineers, de-
velopers of the realm. The one germ
of enlightenment that has stolen into
the whole region has thus been en-
gendered by Americans.
So has Armenia become sort OF
stepchild of Uncle Sam. When in 1895
the Turks gave the kurds a free hand
to surfeit themselves with slaughter
ing Armenians, the American mission
aries were present and saw $4,000 or
them killed. Again in 1909 the demon
of bloodshed was unleashed and these
same Americans saw their Christian
charges killed to the number of 10000.
At Van and Mardin they have recently
seen the men and the old women MUIR
away by the hundred to the harems
of the Turks. They are today wit
Messing the driving out of the whole
people.
These missionaries have led tu
multuous life. Many of them have
died in their at
Missionaries Lead tempts to save
Tumultuous Life. Manr Of Them them
have attempted to prevent their massa-
ere and have succeeded. The embassy
at Constantinople has been kept buster
with missionary pleas from Armenia
than with all their other duties COM
bined., When chaos has ragged through
out this lawless. isolated land the gov
eminent at Washington has exerted
vast pressure in the interest of it's
citizens who were conducting Ameri
can schools there. Altogether the
American flag has been extended much
consideration, the Turkish government
passing the word that it was to be re-
Spected.
Armenia is old Persia. The Armenian
OF today has many of the physical at
the Jews. 1t is a saying in the near
east that it would take three Jews to
peat an Armenian in a trade.
They are people who respond
readily to an intellectual opportunity.
youngster in one of the missionary
colleges showed such promise that he
was sent to America to finish at Yale.
He showed such mentality that Yale
refused to let him return to Asia and
he is now a professor of mathematics
at the American institution, the author
ofs books and master of many Ian
guages.
x *
The Armenians of the mountain
regions are tall, handsome sharp-faced
men. Their hair
People Industrious is coarse and black
and Intelligent. IN n IL. their eli noses
decided hook. Nearer the coast they
are shorter and coarser. They are an
industrious, intelligent, apt race, but
are also greedy. quarrelsome. vain and
full of intrigue They are orientals in
cunning and lack of honesty-traits
" hich have not been entirely overcome
by their religion. They live in the
same sort of houses, half underground
in which their ancestors dwelt. 5000
years ago.
They present a mixed problem to the
nations of the west, because of the
suffering that the present conflict has
incidentally brought upon them. They
are 4 problem in which the United
States has u rather direct interest, for
this nation knows that tragedy is
now going forward that would arouse
it's whole people were it not obscured