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Photo by Stephen Van R. Trowbridge 



THE HOME OF A TURKISH VILLAGE CHIEF 



These local officials often have winked at massacres; the masses delight in them, since it 

 gives the Moslem a chance to divide up the property of the more provident Armenians 



church all over the land ; furthermore, 

 Armenian churches were closed and their 

 services forbidden. 



The government next attempted to 

 bribe the Armenians to join the Ortho- 

 dox Church ; but neither coercion nor 

 bribe could turn the faithful Armenian 

 from the church of his fathers. This 

 loyalty can hardly be said to spring from 

 religious principle ; for, as Ave have said, 

 the two great Eastern churches differ 

 practically not at all ; it was merely an- 

 other expression of the intense national 

 feeling of the Armenians. Bandied from 

 one political rule to another, never know- 

 ing political independence nor unity, 

 they have sought that unity in their 

 church. When they were thus suffering 

 persecution, a traveling American mis- 

 sionary asked them, "Don't you wish you 

 were still under Turkey?" And the re- 

 ply came, "Yes : for Turkey lops off our 

 branches, but Russia digs us up by the 

 roots." 



But in 1904 a new viceroy took the 

 government of Russia and the policy was 

 completely changed. The property taken 

 was restored to its former owners, the 

 Armenian Church was once more free, 

 and with the freedom of the church has 

 come the freedom to use their dearly 

 loved vernacular and to maintain their 

 excellent schools. The Armenians of 

 Turkey, noting the improved conditions 

 of their brothers in Russia, are emigrat- 

 ing thither in flocks, and at the outbreak 

 of the present war in Europe many went 

 over the frontier to offer their services 

 to Russia, and many more are watching 

 with eager hope the progress of the Al- 

 lies at the Dardanelles. 



AMERICANS MAKERS OF ARMENIA 



If the Powers have done little for Ar- 

 menia but raise false hopes, that is not 

 true of the people of Europe and Amer- 

 ica. French missions are dotted all over 

 Asia Minor, and German societies have 



357 



