BETWEEN MASSACRES IN VAN 



the kindly people 

 whom he served. 

 Now his is the task 

 of husbanding this 

 pitiful group of Ar- 

 menians until victory 

 shall come to the 

 Allied arms and lib- 

 erty to the land he 

 loves. 



As we returned one 

 day from our tasks 

 to the modest mud 

 house which was the 

 humble home of gov- 

 ernment, we were 

 confronted by a gro- 

 tesque group of tiny 

 lads whose ages ran 

 from eight to twelve. 



The Governor sa- 

 luted the small, but 

 dignified, commander 

 gravely and asked : 



"What can the 

 Governor do for these 

 loyal citizens?" 



"We have come to 

 exchange these wood- 

 en guns which we 

 have made for real 

 guns. We want to 

 protect our country." 



"We have great 

 need for all our guns, 

 my men," said the 

 Governor. "We only 

 issue rifles to those 

 who can drill." 



The reply was immediate : 



"We can drill, sir !" 



The busy man's eyes twinkled a little 

 at this delay, but he said : 



"Let me see what you can do." 



The 1 2-year-old leader gave a sharp 

 command, and 28 wooden guns, carved 

 from light boards, came to the snowy 

 street with a thud. 



Up they came again to "present arms," 

 back to "right shoulder arms," and 

 then to "charge bayonets." Not a smile 

 showed on the youthful faces. 



Then the untanned skin moccasins 

 shuffled back and forth in fours and 

 around to "company front" — just such 

 play at soldiering as makes us smile 



Two privates in the; artemid army oE small boys 



proudly, but with a little catch at the 

 throat, whenever we see this youthful 

 imitation of a world at war. 



But most of these small lads had a 

 murdered father or a suicide mother, 

 hounded to her death by Kurdish fiends, 

 as his background. 



The Governor was deeply moved. 



"Where are your homes ?" he asked, 

 expecting that they came from some near 

 section of the city. 



"We come from Artemid, sir !" was 

 the challenging reply, mentioning a lake- 

 side village six miles distant on the road 

 to the Turkish lines. 



The day before there had been a heavy 

 snow and the afternoon shadows were 

 already lengthening. Even a strong man 



