ARMENIANS 



seemed to me a type of the Armenian 

 victim. 



A DISILLUSIONED SOUL 



Hrypsime was not a type at all ; she 

 was a strangely individualized girl, but 

 the product of suffering and revolution. 

 One would not have thought it to see her 

 in school, eager to learn, docile, appreci- 

 ative of all little gaities, patient in 

 her poverty and humiliation. She was 

 scarcely over 15 years old, a preparatory 

 student, but her compositions revealed an 

 embittered, disillusioned heart. She also 

 began to express herself after 1908 and 

 poured out tales of persecution and revo- 

 lution with bitter vindictiveness and hate. 

 On the day of the battle, April, 1909, 

 Hrypsime ran off to join the Red Cross. 

 When I asked whether her mother knew, 

 she shrugged and said : "My father gave 

 his life for revolution ; why should I try 

 to save mine?" I do not know what has 

 become of her, but I have often hoped 



that some one has been able to put into 

 her heart the love and faith in man and 

 God that her cruel childhood seemed to 

 have crushed out. 



Xo account of my Armenian friends 

 would be complete without mention of 

 Hozanna, faithful servant for 30 years 

 at Constantinople College. Dear Ho- 

 zanna, of the beatific name, the Madonna 

 eyes, and the ample bosom, who gave 

 "my teachers," as she called us, the home 

 feeling, who sent us forth for our vaca- 

 tions with the phrase "Go with smiling," 

 and welcomed us back with soft words 

 of greeting. 



To you, Hozanna, living your life of 

 devoted service to the Americans, to you, 

 and through you to the Armenian nation, 

 I send my salaams. 



TYPICAL TOWNS 



A tvpical Armenian town of the better 

 class is Bardezag, near the Gulf of Nico- 



34i 



