The Washington times., 1918-08-18

Was Soon Torn Aside.
detied his anger and refused. Pssselt was afraid
to punish us, as my father was wealthy, and
through his friendship with the British Consul
at Harpout Mr.. Stevens, had obtained protection
of the Vail, or High Governor, of the Harpout
province. But now the British Consul was gone.
The Vail was afraid of no one And Passelt
Pacha could, 1 knew, do as he pleased. Instinc-
lively knew, too that his visit to our house that
Easter morning, with his. escort of armed sol
diers, meant that he had come again to ask
for me.
l clung to my mother and Lusanne, with my
two younger sisters holding onto my skirt, while
we listened at the head of the stairs to my father
and the governor talking. Passelt was no longer
asking for me-he was demanding. l heard
him say: "Soon the orders from the Sultan will
arrive; you Christian dogs are to be sent away;
not man, woman or child who denies Mohammed
will be permitted to remain. When that time
comes there is none to save you but me. Give
me the girl Aurora, and will take all her family
under my protection until the crisis is past.
Refuse and you know what you can expectl"
My father could not speak aloud. He was
choked with fear and horror. Ny mother
screamed. knew what that threat of the Pacha
meant-a massacrel 1 begged mother to let me
rush downstairs and give myself to the governor.
would do anything to save her and my father
and my little brothers and sisters. Then my
father found his voice, and we heard him saying
to the Pacha
Goods will shall be done-and He would
never will that my child should shame Him to
save us. We will trust in Him!''
My mother held me closer "Your father has
spoken-for you and us. You shall not sacrifice
yourself
poc,o1t Doobo ,rort o,,o,z IN onoar b;e aSnort
marching Stiffly behind. Scarcely had he dis
appeared when there was great commOtiOn IN
the streets. Crowds began to assemble at the
corners. Men ran to our house to tell US the
news that had just been brought by horseman
who had ridden in wild haste from the city of
HarpOut, thirty miles away.
"They are massacreing at Van; men, women
and children are being hacked to pieces, and the
Kurds carrying off the girls!"
Van is the greatest city in Armenia. II was
once the capital of the Vannic kingdom of Queen
Scmirams. It was the home Of Xerxes, and, we
are taught was built by the King Aram in the
midst of what was the first land uncovered after
the DeIuge-the Holy Place where the ark Of
Noah rested and where he sacrificed to God, as
the Bible tells 1t is very dear to Armcnians,
and was the centre of our church and national
life. 1t lies two hundred miles away from our
city, Tchemesh- Gedzak, and was the home of
more than $4,000 of our people. The Vail Of
Van, Djevdet Bey, is the principal Turkish ruler
in Armenia-and the most cruel. massacre at
Van meant that it soon would spread over all
Armenia.
They brought the hOrSeman from HarpOm to
our house My father tried to question him, but
all he could say was
"Ermenleri hep keSdiler-heP Gildi, bildi -
"The Armenians all killed-all gone all dead!'
He moancd it over and over. In Harpout the
news had come by the telegraph, and the horse
man had ridden at once to tell us of his native
city.
begged my father and mother TO let me run
at once to the palace of PaGselt Pacha and tell
him ] would do whatever he wished if he would
save my family when the orders came from the
Sultan to our town. But mother held me close
while father would only say, Gods will be
DONE and that would not be it
| looked at lausanne. whom had angered by
nv pretty ribbons. She was crying. looked
at little Arucia and Sarah my younger sisters
They were crying, too. My father was very
pale and his hands trembled when he put them