Evening star., 1924-01-30
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

miles, under the protection OF Old
Glory. that they might reach safety
and shelter in American orphanages?
4 X X X
The relief does not stop with feed
ing and clothing the children, but 1t
Undertakes to educate and train them
vocationally that they, in turn. may
become not only self-supporting, but
in a few years may be leaders and
teachers Of their people.
One of the outstanding features OF
the landscape in Armenia Is Mount Ara
rat, where Noah first saw the rain
bow Of hope. after the deluge. Again,
from the shadows OF the peak the
people Of Noah's land see the rain
bow in the clouds and are assured
future without tragedy. For they
are no longer under Turkish rule
those who have succeeded in getting
out of Turkey or into the three little
republics which are left of the frag-
ments of the upheaval.
X x y
Before the world war Armenia,
with it's 100000 people, occupied
several states, half of which were
absorbed" into Turkish domain, the
other half becoming a republic. Ad-
joining the Armenian republic. in the
southeast, is Azerbaijan, which also
became an independent republic dur
ing the world war, and the same is
true of Georgia, located on the north
of Armenia These three little repub-
lies were independent for a few years,
and each had representative mem
ber in the assembly of the league of
nations. But short time ago soviet
Russia took possession of all three.
and, leaving them autonomous gov
ernmentS for local affairs made them
part of Russia. So there is no longer
an independent Armenia, but the Ar
menian territory is free from Turk
ish invasion To the south of Ar
ton of 100000, almost entirely Mo-
hammedans. and just as ferocious
against Armenians as are the Turks.
All the world knows the tragic
story of the German invasion of Bel
gium. Gen. Allenby calls Armenia
the Belgium of the East" Its whole
history has been prolonged tragedy.
1t was related by DR.. Doughty in a
talk on the relief given In a Wash
ington Church last Sunday that a
new superintendent of a mission or
phanage was astonished when she
Lad been in charge of its thousand
children for ten days that not once
had she seen even the smallest child
crying. 1t was so remarkab bic that
she took occasion. in the course of
a talk to the children telling them
how well they had worked and play
ed. to ask how it came that not once
had any of them had to cry. An
older child explained:
Its because have all CripI so
much that we have no tears left
The Armenians are the oldest
Christian people in the world. About
120 years ago three Williams College
students held a little prayer meeting
in haystack at which they resolved
to devote their lives to missionary
work. Then they offered their serv-
ices at a church prayer meeting. and
We're told by the preacher that if the
Lord wanted the heather saved He
would find means without their help.
But the young men persisted. They
reached Turkey. but found it impos-
sible to convert the Mohammedaus.
The Armenian and Syrian *Chris-
tians," however, We're ready to be
taught.
Thus began the first American mis-
sionarys work in the near east, and
not many years ago Williams Col
lege celebrated the centennial of that
haystack prayer meeting. The effect
of this teaching was not only to
educate the Armenians in religion but
also indirectly to make them re-
puhlicans and restless under Turkish
despotism. Hence Americans have a
peculiar responsibility.
Copyright 1924, by Paul V Collins)