SUNSHINE IN TURKEY 



75 



cannot be an educated man unless he 

 knows a great deal about the history and 

 spirit of Christianity, just as we cannot 

 consider ourselves in any way as edu- 

 cated men unless we know about the his- 

 tory of Islam, of Confucianism, and of 

 Buddhism; and they, too, must become 

 men who are acquainted with the history 

 and with the spirit and with the teachings 

 of Christianity; and I am glad to say 

 that in the history of the college, I believe 

 I may say with perfect accuracy, there 

 has never been a case where it has been 

 seriously charged that we took an unfair 

 advantage of these Moslems or Druses 

 or Jews. 



I remember an instance where the 

 Moslem students were observing a period 

 of fasting and prayer peculiar to their 

 faith and were kneeling in the dormitory 

 in an attitude of prayer. I heard one 

 day that some of the so-called Christian 

 students were making sport of the Mos- 

 lems as they were thus kneeling in the 

 dormitory. As this was entirely con- 

 trary to the spirit of the college, when 

 they were assembled the next day I took 

 occasion to speak of it and to apologize 

 to the Moslems for the action of the so- 

 called Christians. It seemed a simple 

 thing to do, but will you believe it when 

 I tell you that my statement made a sen- 

 sation among the students. "Why," the 

 Christian students said, "what does this 

 mean ? Has the president become a Mos- 

 lem, that he is actually apologizing to the 

 Moslems?" And I suppose it was the 

 first time in the history of those Moslems 

 that they had heard a Christian apologize 

 to them as Moslems for any indignity 

 that may have been shown them. 



When Moslems go forth from the col- 

 lege they at least go forth with the knowl- 

 edge of the Christian ideal and with a 

 large appreciation of the idealism that 

 has made Christendom what it is. And 

 so with the Jews and so with the Druses. 

 I simply speak of that to illustrate the 

 method of the college ; to show how it is 

 that in these different religions we are 

 emphasizing the spirit of religion rather 

 than that of religions, with a frank, clear, 

 and open statement of the principles of 



the Christian religion; and that is the 

 reason why that force of nearly nine hun- 

 dred students becomes little by little so 

 unified, although the fraction of the Prot- 

 estant Christian element is as small as 

 it is. 



PRINCE AND PEASANT EQUAL ON THE 

 FOOTBALL FIELD 



So also in political questions. It is 

 understood by every student that enters 

 the college that as students and pro- 

 fessors we believe in revolution without 

 the capital R ; and thus little by little they 

 understand that it is possible for men, 

 differing as they do racially and politi- 

 cally, to have a common ideal and patriot- 

 ism. I remember that many students 

 were surprised when Mr and Mrs Bryan 

 visited us that we, who represented for 

 the most part a party opposed to Mr 

 Bryan, should welcome him so heartily, 

 and I may say that Mr Bryan delivered 

 a magnificent address to the students, 

 that will long remain in their memories. 



The same spirit pervades even the 

 athletics. You will find the son of a 

 prince plying foot-ball under the cap- 

 taincy of a peasant or the son of a cook. 

 We believe in foot-ball there and we have 

 seventeen or eighteen different foot-ball 

 teams in the college. This game devel- 

 ops the ability to receive a hard blow 

 without showing the white feather or 

 drawing a dagger. This means that 

 when the men get out of the college they 

 will stand upon their feet as men. 



The same forces are at work when you 

 go into the dining-room. You will find 

 there students representing all races and 

 all religions and all sects earning their 

 tuition and earning their board by wait- 

 ing upon the table. That is just as much 

 a lesson for the people of America as it 

 is for Syria. Thus the principle of serv- 

 ice receives its daily illustration. 



What becomes of our graduates ? It is 

 easy enough to gather men together with 

 the cry of education and the twentieth 

 century, but the question you are asking 

 may well be this : How do you hold them 

 and how do you send them forth? 

 Eighteen hundred of them have gone 



