Practicing Bible Precepts in Bible Lands HANDBOOK FOR BUSY PASTORS CAMPAIGN FOR ^30,000,000 January 12th to 19th, 1919 Practicing Bible Precepts in Bible Lands HANDBOOK FOR BUSY PASTORS FOR USE IN THE Campaign for $30,000,000 . January 1 2th to 19th, 1919 OF THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR RELIEF IN THE NEAR EAST (Formerly The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief) HEADQUARTERS ONE MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK CITY Cleveland H. Dodge, Treasurer Charles V. Vickrey, Secretary BIBLE LANDS TO-DAY In Jaffa there is an orphanage; in Hebron a medical station and a soup kitchen; in Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethle- hem, Caesarea, and almost all towns west of the Jordan relief work of all kinds has been estabhshed. The region about Mt. Sinai no longer echoes to the thunders of the law, but is the scene of ministrations to the needy people by follow- ers of Him who came not to be served but to serve. The region about Mt. Ararat no longer speaks to us only of the story of the Flood and of the Ark that came to rest when the waters abated, but of a suffering and sorrowing popula- tion deported from its home. Antioch (Antakia) Ephesus, Tarsus and Smyrna no longer recall to our minds only the missionary journeys of Paul of Tarsus, but the modem min- istering to the necessities of saints' undertaken in those places by the representatives— often missionary— of the Armenian Committee for the ReKef of the Near East. Babylon, Nineveh and Ardana ring not only of empires and legends of the ancient ages, but of modem lands where the descendants of ancient peoples cry desperately for help — and receive it— from the newest of the world's great nations. Shall we not be worthy of this great call and greater work? Here is a part of our task of laying the foundation- stones of a new world. Let us lay them strongly, with a generous hand, not niggardly in effort or design, that the kingdom of God may come indeed in the Near East, and the places of sacred history receive a new sanctification from the service of God's children in the 20th Century. 2 Table of Contents PAGE A Personal Word 5 Facts about the Need 7 Where Children Are Starving 22 Character of the Peoples Who Come Under the Committee's Care: Armenians 27 Syrians _ 28 Greeks 29 Persians 30 Bible Texts Applied in Bible Lands _ 33 Poetry 15, 37 and 38 Map 20 and 21 Endorsements from Public Men 26 3 A Personal Word HE purpose of this booklet is to obtain the co-opera~ tio of the religious leaders in America in raising the minimum of $30,000,000 necessary for the immediate aid of the nearly 4,000,000 refugees accessible for help. We are endeavoring to present here the salient facts in an easily available form, closely linked with their historical and scrip- tural setting, in the hope that the most powerful appeal that can be made to any audience — the appeal from the pulpit — may be made by every clergyman, minister and rehgious leader in the United States. The need of these deported innocent people of the Near East, in a time of almost univer- sal need, is overwhelmingly greater than that of any other people in the world. They are more widely scattered and hopelessly destitute. A whole nation is utterly dependent upon the mercy of strangers. Tens of thousands have died. The survivors have reached precarious safety in lands where starvation was already following on the heels of war, and where the hosts could only share famine with their guests It is to America that the deported Armenians, Syrians Greeks and other destitute of Western Asia must turn fo! aid. They ask for bread. Shall we offer them a stone? "Covet earnestly the best gifts. Yet I show unto yo\ a more excellent way. . . . Now abide Faith, Hope, Charity these three; and the greatest of these is Charity." Now is our opportunity to show in the lands made luminous to us by the footprmts of Christ and the Apostles what Christianity means today. No other such opportunity for presenting to these mingled races in the Near East the true meaning of that Gospel that came to us from those very lands may present itself in another 2,000 years. With Christlike healing of the sick and feeding of the hungry, we are making a royal highway for our God to the grateful hearts of these people along which the King of Glory may come in with His message of love and light. Let us not fail Him now. 5 If every one to whom this booklet comes will do his part, or it may be her part, in bringing this terrible need and blessed opportunity to the attention of as many persons as possible and giving them an opportunity to make a sub- stantial offering to restore and save life, that otherwise must miserably perish, there can be no possibiUty of failure. We urge you to read faithfully and conscientiously all that fol- lows in this little book and then to act as your heart of humanity prompts. Failure upon your part will mean death to some weary, broken body in the Near East. A cup of cold water now refreshes the Christ. 5. ^-7 Director General of the Campaign. Chairman. Vice-Chairman. Treasurer. Secretary. Facts about the Need Carefully prepared estimates based on reports that have come to the Committee from every part of the Near East in which work is carried on, show that there are 3,950,000 destitute refugees, a large proportion of them in exile. The capitulation of Turkey has made accessible to the Committee this great mass of suffering humanity. At the present time the Red Cross has taken over re- sponsibility for a large part of Syria and Palestine, thus reducing the number of the extremely destitute depending immediately upon this Committee by 1,050,000. This leaves absolutely dependent upon the work of the relief measures for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, a total of 2,900,000 souls all accessible, all in desperate need. ' Of this number, the best estimate obtainable indicates 400,- 000 orphans without fathers, but some with living mothers with no means of support. The same estimate based upon the most reliable in- formation obtainable from Consular and relief agents' re- ports, show that 1,770,000 of these destitute sufferers are away from their homes having been driven out by the authorities, many of whom are in Arabia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia, the Caucasus and. Siberia, while there are large numbers who have been sent to remote districts within the Turkish Empire. Estimate Based on Facts It is difficult to estimate the actual cost of repatriating and reestablishing these people and of supplying their im- mediate needs for food and clothing until they can be re- established and put upon a self-supporting basis. We sub- mit the following, however, as the lowest possible estimate based upon the most accurate obtainable figures. 2,900,000 needy and accessible people of whom a large proportion will be dependent upon aid from without for six months at least. We esti- mate $5.00 per capita for the six months as the lowest figure possible, making a total of $14,500,000 7 1,770,000 exiles and refugees to be repatriated, some of them to be carried a thousand miles to their homes. Giving an average of 400 miles per person, estimated cost $3.00 per capita 5,310,000 400,000 orphans included among the above refu- gees to be provided with orphan homes at their destinations. Estimated cost $10.00 per capita for the creation of the home _ 4,000,000 Seeds for sowing, farm tractors, implements and tools, cattle, sheep, motor trucks, autos, etc., to set up these people after they return upon land with facilities for cultivation _ 2,500,000 Providing of houses for 1,770,000 returning refu- gees which so far as reports show have been largely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable without extensive repairs, estimated that 50,- 000 houses will be required at a cost of average of $50.00 each _ 2,500,000 Clothing for at least 2,900,000 needy, including the orphan children, and bedding, of which " they are mostly destitute, at an average of $4.00 per person 8,000,000 Total required to cover period of six months $36,810,000 Must Be Oversubscribed In making the above statement public, the Committee through its secretary, C. V. Vickrey, stated : "Our Committee on Estimates has been laboring night and day for weeks trying to bring our estimates of needs within the compass of our prospective receipts. The first budget prepared, which the Committee thought to be the minimum of requirements, amounted to $118,500,000, and even this did not include all of the real needs. "At the conference in New York, September 19-20, a further drastic reduction of the budget to $56,100,000 was made. Recognizing, however, that the sum of $30,000,000 had already been announced as the financial goal of the Com- mittee for the present year, and that a great many war chests and other local committees had made their plans on 8 the basis of $30,000,000 the Committee was requested to make further reductions in the budget, which they have done, with the present total of $36,800,000. "We, of course, cannot meet the need even as outlined in this reduced budget on a $30,000,000 basis, and are earn- estly hoping for oversubscriptions that will provide for the additional need. If over-subscriptions are not given to us it means that some of the destitute people must continue to suffer while we help as many as possible with the resources placed at our command." 9 Facts about the Work The work being done can be grouped under four divi- sions : Immediate Relief Medical Work Orphanages Industrial Work Of these the most valuable from the point of view of the future is the last, and as soon as immediate relief has been administered it is the desire of the Committee to estab- lish industrial centres at all places where refugees are con- gregated, not only for the new zest in life imparted by work to broken and weary spirits and bodies, but also for the re- vival of natural economic conditions in war-paralized dis- tricts. IMMEDIATE RELIEF Some idea of the meaning of immediate relief may be gained from the following excerpts from recent reports : Cairo, Egypt, May 3, 1918. "I wish you could have seen the hundred and fifty odd new refugees who filed wearily into the Armenian camp at Port Said a week ago last Saturday. * * * They were mostly women and children, the weariest, illest, raggedest, dirtiest set of people I had ever seen. They did exactly as they were told, for it seemed they had no spirit left to do otherwise. About fifteen were taken right into the hospital including one fifteen days old baby. As one watched these people one thought of the thousands who have not been able to' reach such a refuge, but have fallen by the wayside, too weak to go further. As soon as the doctor had made a rapid examination of them all in quarantine, they were ordered out, and grouped according to families, while three of us took down their names, ages, and family relationships. * * * All of them had been driven out of their homes three years ago, and have been wandering and living with the Arabs south of the Dead Sea ever since. 10 "On Tuesday as soon as the clothes had been made ready, they all came in groups of ten, took off their old clothes in Tent 1, got into hospital garments, went into a hot bath, came out to Tent 2, where they got two complete sets of new clothes, and went into Tent 3, to dress. The heads were all examined and those that needed it were shaved. * * * All old clothes were afterwards burned up, as they were incredibly ragged and dirty. That night I heard that they had never even seen soap since they had left their homes. When school opens on Thursday there will be special classes for these 60 new children of school age. * * * Fortunately there is a new school building just being fin- ished, so there will be two tents available for these new classes." Refugees in Jerusalem Jerusalem, April 5, 1918. "The past week has been a period of intense interest and unusual pressure in our relief work, for more than 5,000 refugees have arrived from the towns and villages east of the Jordan. Early Easter morning we received notification that 1,500 Armenians were on their way; so I started off for Jericho with a government officer and a truck load of ra- tions. * * * By evening 210 Armenian exiles had arrived, on foot, weary and hungry, but glad to be in the Promised Land of British rule. Their "Passover" was celebrated that Easter night in a large ruined inn in Jericho, and their Pass- over bread was army biscuits. Early the next morning many others began to arrive. After the morning distribu- tion of rations, we arranged for all of the refugees to ride from Jericho to Jerusalem in army motor trucks. I wish you could have seen their faces when I explained to them that they were to be given a ride all the way up the hills to Jerusalem. "On Monday morning 1,300 more arrived in Jericho. The rations at Jericho and the ride in the motor trucks to Jerusalem were the first acts of kindness which they had met with in three years. 11 "Great numbers of Syrian refugees, both Christians and Moslems, are now arriving in Jerusalem. We are working night and day to provide shelter and food for them. * * * We need additional appropriation of at least $25,000 per month to care for these streams of homeless people suddenly brought in upon us." MEDICAL WORK Outbreaks of dysentery, typhoid, typhus, and cholera follow closely on the heels of starvation and the eating of putrid flesh, raw grain and offal. Without medical treat- ment and large supplies of medical necessaries, terrible epi- demics will inevitably break out in all the districts where refugees are congregated. As it is, disease is rife, and twenty of our own workers and missionaries have succumbed to infection, overwork and under-nourishment. Hospitals and dispensaries are being established as quickly as possible, and a large amount of out-patient work is being done, Medical supplies have been sent in large quantities to in- fected areas, and more will be sent. Large and increasing funds are needed. ORPHANAGES Not only have the 400,000 orphan children among the refugees to be cared for, but orph^iages in the Caucasus and in Palestine have had to be saved from collapse under the overwhelming pressure of high prices and food scarcity, or their present inmates would perforce be turned out to swell the already vast numbers of starving little ones. In Aleppo, over 1,200 oi-phans are under care. In the Russian Caucasus, some 10,000 children already in Russian orphanages, and at least 3,000 more refugees are being cared for by the American Committee. 10,000 children are now being supported at relief centers — being fed, educated, and taught trades. This work is most urgent. In these children lies the hope of Armenia and Syria. Persia and Asia Minor. They are the raw material of the future. 12 INDUSTRIAL WORK This is in many ways the most important branch of our work for the refugees, weakened and tormented as they are in soul as in body. First, it is the only hope of continuing to supply to these people the means of subsistence. The importation of food and clothing to an idle people cannot, of course, be a permanent arrangement. Second, it is all that makes life worth hving to those whose home, friends, and occupation have been swept away. The eagerness of the response among the Armenians to this kind of work is attested by Dr. F. W. MacCallum, who has been carrying on rehabilitation work at Van. He says : "The thing that impressed us most was the industry and enterprise of the people themselves. It will not be necessary to do everything for them. All they need is a little help in getting started." Refugees JJager to Work Extract from a letter of T. D. Heald : "A canal for car- rying water for the sixteen miles from the Zanga river at Erivan to the town of Etchmiadzin was made many years ago, but owing to faulty work the canal had never served. Large portions of the canal were leaky, and in course of time the banks in many places had broken away. "The town authorities at Etchmiadzin when they heard that our refugee committee was considering undertaking the reconstru;'tion vvork, immediately sent for the engineer who origiixally planned the work, and with our representa- tives surveyed the whole length to see what could be done. Great interest was taken locally in the proposed work for the town of Etchmiadzin had always suffered for want of water, and the project of bringing this would not only serve the town for ordinary house uses, but also lay open the possibility of new expensive watering of barren desert land all around the town, and mean a considerable increase of the productive area. "We started work with a gang of one hundred refugee men under the advice of the engineer at the beginning of March, but the work had to be abandoned, owing to the dis- 13 organization brought about by the approach of the Turkish army, and the impossibihty of our receiving more money for our refugee work. There is no doubt that with the resump- tion of rehef work as soon as the district can again be reached, this project will be continued. Nothing could be more useful to the local population. "A result of this undertaking was an approach from the Caucasian railway authorities with a request that we would organize gangs of labor amongst the refugees and take con- trol of the extension of the railway into the town of Erivan from its present terminus about two miles outside. The rail- road company would pay the wages, if we would do the organizing and take responsibility for the work. The Khurds and Tartars, however, destroyed the station next beyond Erivan, and cut the railway, so that nothing could be done." Cotton Spinning and Weaving Extract from letter of Theodore A. Elmer: "Having arrived in Erivan I was told I was to go on to Etchmiadzin, and open new work in Ashdarag, a town lying 17 versts to the north. I had great difficulty in renting a house as the town was crowded, not only by refugees, but by soldiers and officers of the Armenian Army which was preparing to go to Erzroom. Cotton spinning and weaving had been begun in Etchmiadzin by Mr. Gracey for the refugees before he left to become a Captain in the British Army. This work I took over and extended it. When I left we had 40 looms weaving cotton cloth which was used for making under- clothing for the orphans. 700 women were employed in spin- ning the cotton yam for these looms besides a great many others who wound bobbins and prepared the yam for the looms. 40 then worked the looms. Practically every per- son employed supported an entire family of refugees. " * * * The Monastery authorities seeing the success of our cotton shop asked me to take over their wool shop which they were utterly unable to make go. I paid their debts to 1,000 refugee women who had spun wool for them for two months without pay, and took over the whole busi- ness. The Catholikos gave me two large rooms in the old refectory of the monastery close beside the Cathedral in 14 which to carry on this work. My greatest difficulty was to find trustworthy men to oversee this work. Here we em- ployed 1,500 women preparing and spinning woolen yam which was woven into cloth for the purpose of clothing the orphan children. No cloth could be bought in Etchmiadzin for any price. After getting these two industries under way, I started a similar industry in the town of Ashdarag. Here we also employed the labor of refugee men in building roads and improving the grounds of an ancient church." THE CHILD AT THE DOOR "Four hundred thousand of these suffering Armenians and Syrians are little children." A child is crying beyond our door In the cold and the wind and the wild downpour, (How can we sit at ease within?) A child is calling beyond our gate. Starving and stark and desolate, (How can we bid the feast begin?) The doors of the world are heavy and tall. But the cry of a child can pierce them all (A cry of a child in anguish sore) And though it sounds from a land apart, 'Tis at our threshold and at our heart, (A child is crying beyond our door). How may we sit content and warm, When a child is lost in the night and storm (The night of famine, the storm of War) , How can we break our bread in ease, ■ Hearing the voice of the least of these? (A child is crying beyond our door) . — ^Theodosia Garrison. 15 Testimony of Eye Witnesses Sufifering Children at Aleppo A German eye-witness. Dr. Martin Niepage, gave the following account to the German Reichstag : "Opposite the German Technical School at Aleppo, in which we are engaged in teaching, a mass of about four hundred emaciated forms, the remnant of such convoys, is lying in one of the hans. There are about a hundred chil- dren (boys and girls) among them, from five to seven years old. Most of them are suffering from typhoid and dysen- tery. When one enters t"he yard, one has the impression of entering a mad-house. If one brings them food, one notices that they have forgotten how to eat. Their stomachs, weak- ened by months of starvation, can no longer assimilate nourishment. If one gives them bread, they put it aside indifferently. They just lie there quietly, waiting for death. Amid such surroundings, how are we teachers to read Ger- man Fairy Stories with our children, or, indeed, the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible? How are we to make them decline and conjugate irrelevant words, while around them in the yards adjoining the German Technical School their starving fellow-countrymen are slowly succumbing? Under such circumstances our educational work flies in the face of all true morality and becomes a mockery of human sympathy." What are the facts that produced these results? Im- mediately after the declaration of war, the Turkish govern- ment drafted all the able-bodied men into the army. This depleted the ranks of the farmers, manufacturers and other wage earners and put an end to the wealth producing class of the country. The second step was to commandeer all crops and means of transportation for the use of the army. Under the requisitioning laws all drugs and medical supplies were exhausted, and as a result, disease including typhus, typhoid and cholera became rampant and worked havoc among a poorly clad, half-famished population. The third step was to single out some of the leading families and most progressive individuals and hang them or deport them be- cause of their pro-Arab or pro-French sympathies. 16 Thus Syria, which gave the world its Christ, its Bible and its religious literature, is bleeding to death; and the Syrians, the descendants of the Phoenicians, who dissemi- nated the alphabet, and of the Arabs who in the Middle Ages were the only bearers of the torch of civilization, are threat- ened with extinction. Quoted from World Court Magazine, Oct., 1918. In an Orphanage Outside Jaffa Just outside the town is a large square building, before the war used as a Greek Orthodox School, but now the home of 240 small Syrian girls and boys, of ages varying from 3 to 10. At first sight, the building looks somewhat dilapi- dated, but that is owing to war conditions and the natural scarcity of paint, glass, and such things generally. The sombre appearance of the place, however, is soon forgotten in the presence of the bright, capable, EngUsh lady in charge of these stray mites. Very bright some of them are now, yet many still bear traces of the awful suffering they have undergone. This was notably the case with one small child who lay in a dazed condition in a temporised cot, clutching in his hand a piece of bread. The father is "with the Turks", the mother died of starvation, the child was brought in in a dying condition, and is now slowly recovering, and the only words he has yet said are "bread" and "milk", and he just lies with a crust as tightly clasped as his weak little hands will allow. In the same room, almost bare except for these cots, were several other small children in various stages of recovery from ailments, chiefly caused through lack of food, and general privation. The school apparatus is practically nil, even slates are unobtainable ; so lessons have to be of a primitive kind, and are given by some devoted Syrian helpers. A very varied diet is not possible, but in comparison with the starvation of the last three years it is most ample. Rice, served with vegetables, and periodically with meat, is, of course, the principal dish for those well enough for ordinary food. The sick ones depend on condensed milk and other light food supplied by the relief fund. Industrial work, immediate re- lief and medical work, including a hospital, are also being conducted at Jaffa. 17 The Story of Seema Seema had been a pretty little girl, all round curves and dimples, with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. She had been dressed richly in broadcloths and silks with strings of gold coins around her neck and bracelets on her arms, the petted daughter of a wealthy Armenian merchant. But she was a pitiful little creature now, ragged, thin and pale, cringing and afraid. For three years she had known only fear and hunger, beating and abuse and bitter weariness. Father and brother had been killed, she and her mother and sisters had been driven out of their house and herded with other Ar- menians on the endless march of deportation. Her sisters and mother had died on the road. Little Seema Shushan had struggled on alone for the last few months, with other children and surviving refugees, until Bethlehem and help was reached. Seema had been six when she was driven from her home. She was nine now. For three weary years she had been wandering. Her condition when she reached the American Relief Workers can best be described by the mere statement that in all that time she had never seen soap. Think what this means, mothers and fathers of tenderly nurtured children. Now Seema is in the orphanage, but the best that we can give her is far less than what she has lost. And at present the bare necessaries of life are all that can be afforded to any, and then many — even children — must be turned away because there is not enough to go around. A Common Case An Armenian mother and three children, turning up on the doorstep of an American Relief station in the Southern Caucasus. The woman a mere collection of rags and bones, with two great black eyes gazing out over the red fez which covered her face ; three Uttle children clinging to her skirts, and a sick skeleton of a baby in her arms. Two years before the woman and her husband had pos- sessed a small holding in a village beyond Erzingan, where they had Uved and worked in peaceful content. When the war began, the little home was disrupted, the father was conscripted to work on the roads, and before long the wife and children were forced to join the deportation march with 18 thousands of others. After the unspeakable sufferings of the journey this woman had succeeded in reaching Alexan- dropol, having lost only one child on the way. There she is now on the list of employees in the wool or cotton spinning departments of our large refugee clothes making industry. This will enable her to make a home for her children and a comfortable living and maintain her self- respect, while the sick baby has gone on our infant-feeding list, and will receive a bottle a day of pasteurized milk. Is not this work worth doing? From a Relief Worker in Syria Jamal Pasha was not in favor of the massacres which took place. There were no real massacres in his district, I think probably he did countenance the restricting of the food supplies for Syria. He thus had to sign the death warrants for all the Arabs, Moslems and Christians in Beirut. We gave relief to about 15,000 in the mountains and Beirut District. The people bake their bread in loaves which weigh about one and a half pounds. Every individual gets a quarter of a loaf a day. Fifteen thousand people were receiving this ration. They had to make breakfast, dinner and supper of it. It was not much, but it kept them from starvation. Devotion of Missionaries (Extract from Ambassador Morgenthau) "I wish to express my great admiration for the splendid work which our missionaries accomplished as ministering angels among their Armenian friends in their days of sore distress and trial. They carried their abnegation even so far as to desire to share their fate. One of the teachers accom- panied her sixty girl pupils that were deported by the Turks. An Armenian who had heard of the incident said with tears of appreciation in his eyes : "That is what I call a saint in our days ; she ought to be canonized by our church !" 19 Map showing distressed dis- tricts and re- lief stations administered by the Com- mittee for the Relief of the Near East. Each place marked is a centre of relief for the sur- rounding country re- gions. Where Children are Starving Children Eat Dead Camel A crowd collected in the streets. One of our workers went up to investigate and found that a camel had died, and a swarm of children were pulling the raw flesh from the bones and devouring it. Children Eat Vines In the Lebanon the children picked oif the new shoots of the young vines and ate them and pulled up the wheat and also ate the seeds. Scramble for Melon Rind A little incident illustrating the terrible hunger experi- enced by thousands is told by one of our returning consuls : "I was eating a piece of melon," he said, "and paying little attention to the people around me. I tossed aside the rind, when instantly a man pounced upon it like a hungry wolf. He chewed on it for a few moments and then he in turn tossed it aside. Another man who had been watching him with the eyes of a hawk picked it up and devoured the rest." The Last Lap One day a small boy painfully emaciated, his garments in tatters, arrived at a rehef station dragging a little girl almost as large as himself. "Mother said take care of her," was all he could say. An hour later his brave spirit found rest. He had been deported from an Armenian village with his mother, a baby brother and a little sister. Before many days the baby died. Finally the weakened mother could go no further. The little boy had travelled 30 miles, carrying and dragging his little sister, and having given her the last of their food, was just able to leave her in safety before he died. Woman Abandons Child One of our church members in Teheran came running in a few days ago crying, "Oh ! give me a httle money. A woman has abandoned her child in the street, saying she cannot feed it, and another child is holding on to her veil 22 crying bitterly and saying, 'Oh! don't leave little sister; don't leave little sister.' " People are eating the heads and bodies of dead animals who have died of starvation. Now that the grain is springing up people are cutting and eating the green blades of the wheat and barley. Dysentery and all kinds of stomach troubles are the result. Children Starving in Streets "Whenever I go out I see men or women fallen on the street, dead or dying; little emaciated children stretching out their wasted hands, 'for just one shahie for bread,' tears running down their cheeks, or sitting propped against a wall, listless and torpid." Food Distribution "We are printing tickets for 'dampokt', rice cooked with grease and meat, making a sort of thick stew which is sold for eight shahies a charak — a little more than one pound. The stew is sold in the city from ten or more centers and has been peddled about the streets by the people who buy it from the big centers. We bought about 4,000 tickets, and dis- tribute them to those who must have food at once. Then the houses are visited and examined, the number of people in a family written down, tickets issued, and rice and money dis- tributed. We are feeding more than 1,700 families; now since the receipt of your recent remittance we can reach four or five times that many and open new quarters." Unburied Dead Left in Streets "People are dying in the streets. Mr. Scott said a man lay on the street near the English Legation just like a dead dog — no one seemed to care to see that he was buried, and this in a city of 350,000 people as some count the population of Teheran! One of our men went into a miserable room, dirt floor, no covering on it. A woman lay in one comer — ^no food, no fire, no covering but rags — on a tattered piece of matting about one and a half yards square. Beside her on this scrap of matting lay a tiny baby bom the night before. Women are confined in the streets and in the public square. Oh! there is no end to the terrible things that people have seen." 23 The Starving Help Each Other "I was walking along the street a few days ago and saw a man lying supported on another man's knee. This man had stuffed some bits of bread into the fallen man's mouth, but the poor jaws did not move. The mouth remained half opened, the eyes glazed. The second man begged me for a little money with which to get a glass of hot tea, which per- haps the other man might drink. There is something so terribly, unspeakably intimate in it all. There is so much that is beautiful in the pathetic way that one poor starving creature will help another. People Eating Blood from Slaughter-Houses "The other day in Hamadan when Mr. Edwards came home he found a man lying in the street in front of his gate exhausted from hunger and weakness. He had him brought into the kitchen, where they warmed hjm up and revived him with some soup and food. While they were busy with him his wife came along, her hands covered with blood. When asked for an explanation she said that she had gone to get a little bread but had not been able, so she had been over to the slaughter-house to get some blood to eat. The poor people even fight for the blood from the slaughter- houses." The Toll of Famine The following extracts are from a letter written to the Committee by W. A. Shedd, from Urumia, Persia: " * * * But famine has taken the heaviest toll. In the course of three weeks we buried over a thousand bodies that had been left unburied in the city. Previously hundreds had been buried, and some have been buried since. Of the thousand only about twenty had been killed by violence." 24 No Government Aid Available We rejoice that our own government is able to loan millions of dollars to Belgium, France, Serbia and other allied nations, with which the war orphans and destitute populations may be supported. But unfortunately there is at present no friendly and responsible government in the Near East to which our government can legitimately make loans for use in behalf of the millions of homeless destitutes in that region. Therefore, our task is not merely that of supplementing government grants, but rather a task in which, temporarily at least, the full responsibility rests upon the shoulders of private philanthropy, though the work is of governmental magnitude. As soon as order is restored in the Near East, an effort will be made to provide proper government assistance to these unfortunate peoples who because of their pro-ally sympathy have suffered more than any others as a result of the war. But in the meantime the situation must be met by private aid. Endorsements from Public Men PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON: "American diplo- matic and consular representatives and other American residents recently returned from Western Asia, assure me that many thousands of lives were saved from starvation by the gifts of the American people last winter. They also bring full assurance of the continued effective distribution of relief, and report that the suffering and death from ex- posure and starvation will inevitably be much greater this winter than last unless the survivors can be helped by fur- ther contributions from America. In view of the urgent need, I call again upon the people of the United States to make such further contributions as they feel disposed, in their sympathy and generosity for the aid of the suffering peoples." EX-PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. TAFT: "The Arme- nian Relief has been organized now for some years ; it needs more money ; it is spending well and effectively ; it is helping the poor people of the Near East wherever it can find them. You can be sure that whatever money is given will be prop- erly administered for a people that need it sorely." THEODORE ROOSEVELT: "With all my heart I wish you Godspeed in the work of relief you have under- taken for the Christians in Western Asia. And particularly do I wish you success in your effort to raise $30,000,000 for the maintenance of the tens of thousands of Christians and other refugees and sufferers, wherever found in the Cauca- sus, in Persia, in Palestine, or in the interior of Turkey." CHARLES E. HUGHES: "Out of the horror and nightmare through which these people have passed comes the gratifying word that we can be of assistance, that our efforts will prove avaiUng, and that we can share with them the bounty which we, as Americans, have enjoyed for years. The work done by this committee has been most unselfish and effective under conditions of great personal sacrifice. - May America respond to their appeals." M Character of the Peoples who come under the Committee's Care Of the 3,950,000 destitute refugees in the Near East, the principal groups are the Annenians, Syrians, Greeks and Persians. They embrace all classes of society, from the humblest and most ignorant peasants, to skilled artisans, wealthy merchants and bankers, and well educated profes- sional people who had been accustomed to all the refinements of life. The Armenians Armenia, roughly speaking, consists of the table land extending from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea. Ar- menia is not a State, nor even a geographic unity, but is a general term for the regions where the Armenians live. It consists of Turkish, Russian and Persian Armenias with a total area of 133,289 square miles and an Armenian popula- tion of over 4,250,000 souls. The Armenian inhabitants of Turkey are people of great industry, intelligence and aptitude for business, and their success in trade and in the liberal arts has been a valuable asset to the Turkish nation. The Turkish grammar, print- ing press and theatre owe their origin to Armenian initi- ative, and their financial ability made them the leading mer- chants of their country. The Turks have taken advantage of the massacres and deportations to repudiate their debts to Armenians, and to loot their houses and stores. The special characteristics of Armenian women are sensitiveness, gentleness and refinement. They are artistic and have contributed much to literature and art. More de- voted family relationships than exist among the Armenians are nowhere to be found, and this makes their present posi- tion agonizing in the extreme. Many thousands in Europe and America have received no tidings of their relatives in Turkey for over four years. They do not know whether their loved ones are killed, deported or dragging out a weary existence somewhere as refugees. The Armenians have been Christians since the Fourth Century, and their national religion is said to be the oldest of the Christian State Churches. It is called "The Gre- 27 gorian", after Gregory the Illuminator, its founder. The Armenian church differs little from the Greek church in creed, but, unhke the Greeks, the Armenians lay Uttle stress on theological doctrines. They have always been, however, devotedly trinitarian. The Armenians' loyalty to their church is not solely religious, but an expression of their strong national sentiment. Subjected to many forms of political misrule, and knowing no political independence or unity, they have sought unity in their church. The part which the Armenians played in the world war has been fully dealt with by Ambassador Morgenthau. Many of the Russian Armenians, early in 1915, fought bravely with the Russian Armies against the Turks, and the Turkish Armenians, after discovering that they had nothing to hope for by aiding the so-called New Turk government, also became Pro-Ally in their sympathies. When the Turk- ish Armenians of Van, however, were conscripted into the Turkish army, they went for the most part without violent protest, until they found that this conscription was really a method of gaining control of the male population, disarm- ing them, making them practically beasts of burden and pack animals for the Turkish army, and thus rendering the Armenians less able to combat against the wholesale mas- sacres and deportations which were to follow. When the cold-blooded measures were eventually carried into effect to exterminate all the Christians in Turkey, one million men, women and children were shot, hung, starved and tortured. The Syrians The Syrians, inhabitants of Palestine, are a mixed Semitic race, descended from the Phoenicians and Arama- eans of Bible times, and including also Arab ancestry. Mas- sacre and deportation have not flung their gaunt shadows across Palestine, but the spectre of Famine has stalked broadcast through the land, claiming its victims by the hun- dred. Destruction of crops, failure of transportation of sup- plies, uncertainty of government in the face of the advancing British army have united to invite the presence of this most subtle of War's handmaidens. 28 The Jews have shared this suffering, added to as it has been incalculably by influx of thousands of refugees from the interior of the Ottoman Empire, seeking safety behind 'the British lines. The Jews in America are sharing the re- sponsibility of the Armenian and Syrian Relief Committee for the brethren in the Promised Land. New fields for aid were opened up here by the advance of General Allenby's army and the subsequent surrender of Turkey, and the Red Cross Armenian-Syrian Relief Commis- sion augmented by the American colony in Jerusalem and the English-Syrian Palestine Relief Committee are now pro- viding emergency relief to the most destitute, and are be- ginning to provide work for the women and orphanages for the children. America must give further aid, if this work is to be continued adequately. Greeks The story of Armenian suffering in Turkey is paralleled, with certain modifications by the experiences of the Greeks, of whom there were 5,000,000 under Turkish domination at the beginning of the war. The Greeks had built up a sound prosperity and had estabhshed many kinds of successful business enterprises and educational institutions. The war brought to them the seizure of their property, the drafting of their men for the hardest kind of military tasks, and subsequent persecution and deportation. The Turks adopted almost identically the same pro- ' cedure against the Greeks, says Ambassador Morgenthau, as that which they had adopted against the Armenians. They began by incorporating the Greeks into the Ottoman army, and then transforming them into labor battalions. These Greek soldiers, just Uke the Armenians, died by thou- sands from cold, hunger and other privations. The same house-to-house searches for hidden weapons took place in the Greek villages, and the Greek men and women were beaten and tortured just as were their fellow Armenians. Greek girls were stolen and taken to Turkish harems and Greek boys were kidnapped and placed in Moslem house- holds. The Turks used the desire of the Greeks for inde- 29 pendence as an excuse for a violent onslaught on the whole race. Everywhere the Greeks were gathered together in groups, and under the so-called protection of Turkish gen- darmes, they were transported, the larger part on foot, into the interior. Just how many were scattered in this fashion is not known, the estimates of the number who have become destitute refugees varying anywhere from 200,000 up to 1,000,000. A letter from Mr. Macrides, a Greek refugee escaped to New York, describes their plight as follows : "Deportation in Asia Minor is a euphomism for the most heartless and relentless cruelty. It means the loss of home, business property and every personal possession. It means being driven into the desert places, forced to march at the point of the bayonet until strength is exhausted ; being re- fused shelter, food and drink; subject to outrage and cal- culated cruelty; facing always, death by violence or from the cumulative effect of exposure, sickness and starvation. The people are herded and goaded like animals. The despe- rate refugees subsist chiefly on offal ; graze like cattle on the roots of scanty grass tufts that push their dry and dusty stems above the sandy soil. It is impossible for words to give an adequate idea of the tragedy of bare existence under such awful conditions. Many dropped by the roadside, to die where they fell. Others that I know of went insane. And that was only at the beginning. They are still march- ing on." The Persians The Turkish and Russian armies both fought in Persian territory, the latter having surged back and forth across it six times before the war ended. Under these conditions it has been almost impossible to cultivate the crops. The mas- sacre of Christians and the flight of the survivors into Russia deprived Persia of thousands of the agricultural population. These facts have reduced the country to a state of famine, the accounts of which surpass in horror anything in history since the Roman siege of Jerusalem. 30 To-day, representatives of the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief are to be found in all the prin- cipal cities of Persia, helping the inhabitants to earn their daily bread. ^ The following extracts from letters and cablegrams de- scribe the conditions with which the relief work has to cope: August 1, 1918. "Forty thousand Christian refugees from Urumia have passed Byar en route Hamadan and are followed by 40,000 more is the report. Epidemics and hunger cause many deaths. Turks give up pursuit but rear parties have been robbed of everything." . . . "15,000 are said to have been massacred or died en route. British organizing refugee camps, hospitals, but our assistance required immediately." From Mr. Caldwell, American Minister, Teheran, Octo- ber: "Influenza is spreading rapidly and the retail price of a pound of quinine is $125.00. The American ReHef Com- mission has an enormous supply of medicine which is very much needed, together with a stock of cotton, cotton cloth- ing for the poor, two motors, Ford trucks, etc. The British military forces have requested that headquarters be estab- lished in Mesopotamia at Bakubah district, persons not of military age and women are being maintained, reported from 30,000 to 70,000 ; those of mihtary age being pressed into service. "In order to care for the poor and the refugees in Tehe- ran and in other parts of Persia, it can be seen from the foregoing that additional funds and help will still be neces- sary. It has been reported that about 15,000 Armenian refugees have come from Baku to Resht. There are pros- pects of them returning. "Without further assistance the American missionaries and Legation staff will be unable to carry on the work during the winter, as three of the American missionaries died as re- sult of hard work." June: "We have been oh! so busy with rehef work all these months. . . . Thousands of dollars are being dis- tributed every week. For the past two weeks conditions have been terrible. People crazed with hunger, refusing 31 food to their own children — driving the children out to the street to beg for food or money. The poor httle skeletons wander about, many of them too little to beg. ... A woman killed and ate her own child. When outraged people called her to account she replied: 'It was my own child, not an- other's.' People in eating human flesh appear to have for- gotten everything — have lost human consciousness — ^have even forgotten their names." "We cannot buy sugar, it is more than a dollar and a quarter a pound." "People are in such terrible need that they take the beams and joists out of their houses and sell them — literally destroying their houses. Then they go live under the trees or in comers of the streets. Clothes, furniture, pots, car- pets, anything that will bring a little money the people sell or pawn. Mothers sell their daughters." "The food situation is desperate here now, and with it has come the inevitable sickness and death. ... I sincerely hope our cablegrams will wake things up back there in the States." "There are thousands of Kurdish and Urumia Syrian - and Armenian refugees here, and the Relief Committee with funds from America are trying to keep them from starving and freezing to death. I have been busy since fall superin- tending quilt making, sewing clothing, and am now looking after sewing of cloth for orphans. Mr. Richards is having the clothes made on hand looms by refugees, from wool which has to be prepared first for thread. We get it just as it comes from the sheep's back." 82 Bible Texts Applied in Bible Lands 1 John. 3:17. The following is an extract from a "But whoso hath thiB typical letter received by the Com- world's good, and seeth mittee from a minister and his wife: his brother have need, <,rni i ^ • ^^ i- j and shutteth up hi« "Though financially limited our- bowels of compassion selves, receiving a salary of but $60 from him, how dwelleth per month as pastor of churches, we the love of God in have decided to give one-half of this amount monthly for six months to relieve Armenian suffering and destitution, desiring the con- solation only of Him who centuries ago in those lands said : 'I was hungry and ye gave me to eat ; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me in ; naked ye clothed me ; I was sick and ye visited me ; I was in prison and ye came unto me.' " Mark X. 14. Quaint little creatures some of the "But when Jesus saw orphans are. There are two small it, he was much dis- ^oyg named respectively Pat and pleased and said unto j^^vid, aged apparently about 4 years, them: 'Suffer the little , • , ■■ 1 u- children to come unto ^ho were picked up by our soldiers me, and forbid them and carried along with their regiment not: for of such is the until a place of asylum was found, kingdom of God.' " They salute in the most approved fashion, and are only just getting over their sorrow at parting from our men, to whom they owe their lives. No one knows who they are. For months they were cared for by "Tommies" and were found wander- ing about, too small and too wretched to be able to tell any story even had their Arabic been understood by Tommy Atkins. Matt. 25, 37, 40, 45. Many of the refugees have been "When did we feed literally stripped in the wilderness, thee? clothe thee?" Children have outgrown their clothes in the three years of wandering. A boy of twelve came in to one of the American Committee's centres with only a little shirt on, not nearly big enough to cover him. Money to buy material for clothes, material, and 33 needles and cotton and sewing machines, are constantly needed, that these brothers and sisters of ours may be clothed. A scanty pittance of food, just enough to support life, is all that can be given to each one of those relieved, and even then there is not enough to go round. With 30,000,000 dol- lars we can, humanly speaking, save every life. Matt: IX. 36. "But when he saw the multitude, he was moved with compas- sion, on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shep- herd." Deported from their home in 1916, driven like sheep over the desert, the nearly 2,000,000 Armenian, Greek, Syrian and Persian refugees are gath- ered at various centres of compara- tive safety in Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt and the Russian Caucasus, and are indeed as sheep without a shepherd. Of them Milton's words The hungry sheep look up and are are often literally true- not fed." Thousands of dollars worth of rehef in food, clothing, and best of all constructive work, is being daily distributed by our workers. May we at home be brought into some share of Christ's compassion for the multitude. Matt. XXV. 24, 25. "Then he which had received the one talent came and said. Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: "And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth; lo, there thou hast that is thine." It is possible to argue that we have done all that can be expected of us when we have subscribed for our own country's needs, and fulfilled the de- mands of the Food Controller. This attitude of mind is like that of the man who rendered to his Lord the one talent that he had received — ex- actly, honestly, but without interest. S4 1. John II. 17, 18. "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that do- eth the will of God abideth forever. "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that anti- christ shall come, even now are there many antichrist; whereby we know that it is the last time." An American doctor coming down the mountainside from the Lebanon noticed in the distance a throng of children and wondered why so many were gathered in one place. Upon coming near he discovered that a camel had died by the roadside and these famished children were in des- peration picking the last shreds of flesh from the skeleton of the fallen beast. Children eagerly picking grains from the dung of animals in the street have become a common sight. 17c will keep a child alive for a day. $5.00 keeps one person alive for a month. $60.00 keeps one person alive for a year. Matt: VII. 12. "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." Henri Barbusse has made the state- ment that suffering is always soli- tary. With all our efforts after sym- pathy, all our horror at the sight or sound of another's anguish, we cannot feel their pain as they feel it; as we should feel it if it were gnawing at our own vitals. Yet let us pray to be given something of the insight of Christ, something of his capacity for bearing the burdens of others. Let us try to picture weariness, bereavement, absolute poverty, bitter hunger and cold, and to realize what we should wish others to do for us if we were in this piteous extremity. Then let us strain every nerve to do for these our brothers what we would that they should do for us if our positions were reversed. $30,000,000 is not a great sum for a great nation to raise in a great Cause. $5.t)0 will support a life for a month. John XXI. 15-17. "L o V e s t thou Feed my sheep." All the long way across the desert me? the driven people fell and died. Those who have now reached safety in Palestine, Egypt, and the Russian 35 Caucasus, are hungry for physical, mental and spiritual food. The children have forgotten how to smile or play, the men and women have forgotten how to think. Their very pray- ers are long-reiterated outcries for more food and water. For the sake of the love which Christ puts into our hearts towards all mankind, let us bestir ourselves to help these our comrade followers of Him to a restoration not only of the life of the body but of the spirit. Let us put whole- some occupation in their way, by which they may regain their self-respect in ultimate independence, and by which their mind may be distracted from the continual, weary treadmill of dull horror and misery that it has trod for many months. $30,000,000 will go far to provide schools for the chil- dren and industrial centres for the adult people that will prepare both to become happy and useful citizens in their own land again. James I. 27. There are at least 400,000 orphan "Pure religion and un- children among the refugees. The defiled before God and large majority of the adults are the Father is this. To ^q^q^ ^any of them widows who do visit the fatherless and , , . ,„u„4. widows in their afflic even know, m some cases, what tion, and to keep him- has become of their husbands. They self unspotted from the only know that they are almost cer- world." tainly dead. Last week we came into a house of which the occupants had not eaten anything for three days. The wife had a child in her arms and tried to give it a crumb of bread to eat. The child could not move ; it groaned and died in her arms. In this very moment I came in with C. ; he gave her a Ura. The woman took it and then cried, in tears : "Ah, if you had brought this only one day earlier, my child would have been still alive." A family went to bed hungry; the child could not sleep and cried for bread. At last the Arabian owner of the house was moved with compassion and gave the little one a piece of bread. The child took it, was going to eat it, but then bethought himself, held it close to him and said: "If I eat it now I will be hungry again tomorrow," and with the feeling to have the bread near him, went off to sleep. 36 A mother threw herself into the Euphrates, after she liad seen her child die of hunger ; a father did the same. On account of the general deamess, the need increases very much. When one gives a few madjids, the people pay first their bread debts, have bread for a few days, and hunger presents itself again. Whenever and wherever there is any help, God will use it and us — no trouble will be too much for us. The people live on what we are able to give them. The people that we meet in the street hardly look like human beings ; if one has money it is not necessary to look for the poor, you find them in crowds. Rich and poor do not exist any more. If one should go from door to door distributing ^ifts, one could be sure to have given nothing unnecessary. ARMENIA Armenia! The name is like a sword In every Christian heart. O martyr nation. Eldest of all the daughters of the Word, Exceeding all in bitter tribulation ! Armenia! The name is like a cry Of agony that shrills around the sphere. Bread, bread before her last starved children die And tell to Christ how cold our hearts are here. Armenia! A figure on a cross. Pale, wasted, bleeding, with imploring eyes ! Except we save her, darkness lies across, All Christendom, shamed in her sacrifice. ■ — Katherine Lee Bates. SPECIAL HYMN (Tune — 'Matema'. "Oh beautiful for spacious skies.") Oh ! land of legend rare and old, Oh ! land of ancient peace From whose fair mountain fell the fold Of flood when God said "Cease !" Armenia ! Armenia ! God shed his grace on thee, His ravished reign restore again From mount to shining sea. Oh ! beautiful for martyr feet — Whose weary, bleeding stress A line of life in death hath beat . Across the wilderness ! Armenia ! Armenia ! To God thy dead arise And low at even songs of heaven Acclaim thy sacrifice. America, thy heart awake. Thy gold and silver spare, Or see the heart of Syria break Beneath her burden there. For hungry children, crying sore, For women reft of all. For all the choir of wretched poor We make this urgent call. Oh ! land still free from foeman's feet Oh ! land of com and oil. Of bounteous harvest, orchard sweet. And full reward of toil America ! America ! Their cry comes up to thee For life's bare gift, that they may lift The banners of the free ! Then let us take our lighter Cross With hearts and courage high, And give until we feel the loss, — Our faces to the sky! Armenia ! Armenia ! We share our best with thee Our hearts and hands, our harvest-lands. Our Christianity ! —J. P. Whitney. 38 Index of Pastor's Handbook Page A Common Case 18 Armenia, geographically 27 historically 27 workers of 27 character of 27 church of 28 effect of the war of. 28 Bryce, description of Armenia 3 Canal-building by refugees 13 Cotton-spinning and weaving 14 Children eat dead camel 22 Children eat vines 22 Children starving in streets 23 Deportation in Asia Minor. 30 From a Relief "Worker in Syria 19 Food distributing 23 Greeks — character of 29 effect of the war of. 29 deportation of 30 Hughes, Charles E., endorsement of.... 26 Hymn, special 38 Immediate relief 10 Industrial work 13 In an orphanage outside Jaffa 17 Medical Relief 12 Page Orphanages 12 Last Lap 22 Missionaries — death from overwork — devotion of 19 No Government aid available 25 People eating blood from slaughter- houses 24 Refugees in Jerusalem 11 Roosevelt, Theodore, endorsement of.... 26 Persians, effect of the war on 30 stories of distress 31, 32 Poetry 15, 37, 38 Suffering children at Aleppo 16 Story of Seema 18 Scramble for Melon Rind 22 Starving help each other. 24 Syrians — character of 28 effect of the war of 28, 29 Taft, ex-President — endorsement of 26 Toll of famine 24 Women, Armenian 27 Woman abandons child 22 Wilson, President, endorsement of 26 Unburied dead left in streets... 23 I 39 DATE DUE FEB 1 't'Bd I 1 ! GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A.