Through Armenia on Horseback

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIII. WESTWARD BOUND. 1THINK we were all glad to leave Bitlis: I was, at any rate. To be sure, the Turkish officials did all they could to make us comfortable, and put themselves to considerable inconvenience on our account, but when there is a thaw, and the so-called streets are ankledeep in mud, Bitlis is rather inhospitable. I had long talks with the missionary, and felt a kind of reverence for that spirit of martyrdom which faces a continuously impending danger, and is always ready to accept any fate which Providence may allot. It was very pleasant to sit in his little study and talk over the situation, the distresses of the past and the hopes of the future, and to visit his schools where bright-eyed Armenian children, a large proportion of them orphans, were absorbing the rudiments of knowledge. There is a general opinion among the Turks that missionaries are more or less conspirators, and in everything they do they are closely watched with a suspicious eye. I had ample opportunity to converse with them in private, however, and being a fellow-countryman they had every reason to give me their confidence. More than that, I was a brother clergyman, and had a right to know their grievances. They would not hesitate to talk very frankly with me; at least I think so. And yet I have never known a single instance in which a missionary has shown any other desire than to do his work without reference to politics. Of course they expressed a wish that they could have a larger liberty, and not be hampered as they are, and a regret that the government should make it so difficult to establish schools, but so far from inciting the hotheads, their influence is wholly in the direction of restraint. Turkey would do a very wise thing, in my...