The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 75
February 8, 1898
“Evangelistic Temperance. Doth Not Nature Itself Teach You?” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, p. 89.
THE leading question just now in our study of breathing is, How shall the necessary space be created in the chest-cavity to enable the lungs to receive the necessary amount of air seventy times a minute? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.1
We have seen that the lungs and heart together form a cone-shaped body which completely fills the thorax, the inside of the chest, and that the strongly built chest is a protecting cover to the vital organs which form this cone. We have inquired whether the cover of this cone shall be raised in order to provide the necessary space for breath; and we have found that answer to be a most emphatic No. The chest cannot be kept in motion for any such purpose, and the lungs cannot be used to produce such motion, without tending directly to disease and death. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.2
Then as the cover of the cone cannot be moved, can the cone itself be moved? As nature teaches so decidedly that the chest, the cover of the lungs, cannot be lifted for this purpose, does nature itself teach that the cone itself can be lowered so as to provide the necessary space for air in breathing? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.3
Well, as something has to move in order to provide the space for the two hundred and thirty cubic inches of air that we must have, and as the chest cannot be moved sufficiently for this purpose, it follows, and nature itself teaches, that the cone itself—the lungs and heart—must be moved. How, then, shall this be done? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.4
In describing these organs at the beginning (see cut in first article), we found that the cone formed by the lungs and heart rests upon the diaphragm as upon a floor. If that floor can be lowered, this will lower the cone. And when the cone is lowered, this will give space as really as though the chest were raised; then the lungs will be expanded by the air which will rush in of itself. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.5
Now this is precisely what is done in right breathing. This is nature’s way. This is just what God has made these organs to do. And this is why the diaphragm is made as it is, and occupies the place that it does occupy as the floor of the lungs, the base of that cone. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.6
The diaphragm is an arched, or rather, dome-shaped, muscle (as it is arched on all sides), which forms the floor of the organs in the chest-cavity, and at the same time forms the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The drooping sides of this dome, all around, are formed of muscle, which reaches up over the curve toward the center, but does not extend entirely to the center. A considerable portion of the center of the diaphragm is not composed of muscle, but is simply a sheet of tendon. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.7
The drooping sides of the disphragm extend downward along the inner surface of the body to the twelfth rib all around, except in front, where it extends only a very little below the tip of the breast-bone; and the edge is fastened all around to the inner surface of the body. By this it is seen that the edge of the diaphragm where it is fastened all around, is a considerable distance below the top of the diaphragm, except immediately in front. It is seen also that the drooping sides of the diaphragm all around, extend downward close to the inside walls of the body. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.8
Now the muscles of these drooping sides of the dome-shaped diaphragm contract, and thus draw down the top of the dome, which is the floor of the cone that is formed of the lungs and heart. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.9
When this floor is drawn down, that which rests upon it—the whole cone-shaped contents of the chest—descends with it. the lowering into a larger cavity of that cone which already only fills the cavity where it is, would leave a space all around and over itself from bottom to top, but for the fact that “nature abhors a vacuum.” Therefore as this cone is lowered, and begins thus to make room, the air, which exerts fifteen pounds of pressure to the square inch outside of the body, rushes through the nostrils into the lungs, and causes the lungs to expand till every particle of this larger space is filled as completely as was the smaller space before the cone was lowered. Thus is created the room for that two hundred and thirty cubic inches of air which must be taken in at each breath. And in this way of breathing, it is perfectly plain that it is all accomplished without a particle of exertion being made by the lungs themselves, and without any pressure being brought upon the lungs. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.10
Now we have taken the breath in, how shall it be got out? Let us follow on and see. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.11
It was stated a little while ago that the top of the diaphragm not only forms the floor of the organs of the chest cavity, but also the roof of the organs in the abdominal cavity. The stomach, liver, etc., fit up under this roof just as closely as the lungs fit down on the floor above. From this it is evident that when this roof descends by the contraction of the muscular sides of the diaphragm, that which is beneath—the contents of the abdomen—is forced downward also. but the abdominal cavity is completely filled already, and there is no vacant place into which to push the contents of the abdomen. Besides, the abdominal cavity is smaller at the lower part than at the upper. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.12
What, then, can be done? That roof is surely descending, and so surely that which is beneath if must be pushed downward out of the way. And this is just right. The Lord has provided for this. It is true that there is no vacant space into which to push these organs. But the Creator made the muscular walls of the abdomen elastic, so that when the diaphragm forces down the contents of the abdomen, these elastic muscles are stretched by the pressure against them, the abdomen swells outward, and thus ample room is made for the contents of the abdominal cavity when the contents of the chest-cavity descend by the drawing down of the diaphragm. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.13
Then, when the muscular contraction of the diaphragm has ceased, and the pressure is removed from the elastic abdominal muscles, those muscles naturally return to their former and normal position. This forces the contents of the abdomen back again, up against the diaphragm; this carries the disphragm upward again to its normal position; and this, in turn, carries the contents of the chest cavity back to their normal position by contracting the lungs and forcing out the air which has been taken in at the previous inspiration. And still it is all accomplished without a particle of exertion being made by the lungs themselves. They are not required to do any work at all, but are wholly passive, subject to the movement of the diaphragm. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.14
Thus the abdominal muscles, alternating with the muscles of the diaphragm, carry on the motion which alone is right breathing. The principle is that of the blacksmith’s bellows. The weights attached to the lower part of the bellows draw it down, the pressure of the air outside raises the valves underneath, and the air rushes in and fills the bellows. The blacksmith’s hand presses down the lever, compresses the bellows, and forces the air out. The diaphragm corresponds to the weight on the bellows, the abdominal muscles correspond to the lever, and the lungs are the bellows. As the bellows can do no work except as it is moved by the lever, so the lungs can properly do nothing except as they are moved by the abdominal muscles and the diaphragm. The lungs, as the bellows, are never active of themselves, but always passive; they never act, but are always acted upon. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.15
This, though, is in normal, regular breathing. But when taking a long, full breath, the fullest kind, there is another motion added to these, and that comes only as the consequence of these. It is a slight upward motion of the ribs. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.16
In looking at the course of the ribs, it is seen that from back to front they tend downward, instead of pointing straight around. If the front ends of the ribs could be raised so that they would point straight, or nearly straight, around, instead of downward, it would make the chest larger, and so make more room inside. Now there are muscles attached to the ribs, and interconnected from rib to rib over the whole chest, which are put there for the express purpose of raising the ribs to the position in which they point nearly, if not quite, straight around. This is so arranged in order that the deep, full, long breath can be taken, which is taken only occasionally, in addition to the normal, regular breathing; and which, when it is taken, should fill each cell of the lungs to its fullest capacity. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.17
But, as before stated, this motion is only in addition to the regular motion of the diaphragm and abdomen, and is only the consequence of that motion. It can never be properly made, except as it follows the full motion of the diaphragm and abdomen. 1 Thus the only way to elevate and broaden the chest is by “exercising the abdominal muscles in deep breathing.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 89.18
“Editorial” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, p. 92.
DO you want to get out of this world into a better one? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.1
If you do want this, you can have it; and if you do not want it, you are a very queer sort of person, and we should like to know more of you. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.2
As such a person as that would be so exceptional as fairly to be out of the list, we take it that you would like to get out of this world into a better one. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.3
Why do you want to get away from this world? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.4
Is it because you have to labor so that you are very weary? Very well, Jesus says, “Come unto me, ... and I will give you rest.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.5
Is it because your burden is so great that you are wearied in bearing it? Then “cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.6
Is it because your cares are so many and so perplexing? Then cast “all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.7
Is it because you have so many griefs and so great sorrows? “He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.8
Is it because death reigns, and holds everything under its sway? Ah! but “the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,“—victory over sin, and victory over death because of victory over sin. For, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.9
Do you not see, then, that when you are in Christ, you are in another world? Christ is the only way out of this world into a better one. If you are Christ’s, you are not of the world, because he has chosen you out of the world. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.10
And he is “not far from every one of us.” “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If any man heart my voice, and open the door, I will come in.” And “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” And “ye are complete in him.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.11
Now will you be so inconsistent as to want to get out of this world into a better one, and find the way, and the only way, wide open to you, and then not go? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.12
Come along, friend, and let us together be “giving thanks to the Father, ... who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.13
“Integrity” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, p. 92.
WENDELL PHILLIPS said: “At the outset of life I asked God that whenever a thing was wrong, it might have no power of temptation over me, and that whenever a thing was right, it might take no courage to do it. and from that day to this, whenever I have known a thing to be wrong, it has been no temptation; and whenever I have known a thing to be right, it has taken no courage to do it.” This prayer is worthy to be made by every soul; for such a prayer is the secret of all integrity, and the answer to it is integrity itself. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.1
“Studies in the Book of Daniel” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, pp. 92, 93.
WHAT was taught in the schools of the prophets? To know this is important, not only for its own sake; but because, when we know this, we know what should be taught in the Lord’s schools always. These things are in the Bible. They were written for our learning. And being in the book of Daniel, they are written especially for our instruction and admonition “upon whom the ends of the world are come.” In this article we shall have space only to discover and enumerate these studies. What each subject involved will be studied afterward. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.1
Daniel and his three companions were “skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science.” This education, we have found, was acquired in the college, or school of the prophets, in Jerusalem. This statement, therefore, certifies that wisdom, knowledge, and science were taught in those schools. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.2
Another thing that was taught there was music. This we know from the fact that the first time that we meet any of the students of such a school, they have “a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them;” and they were playing with such spirit and such power in the Spirit that the man who then personally met them was drawn to God and converted. Thus all the circumstances show that this was trained, harmonious music, played by the students of this school. And this is plain evidence that music was taught in the schools of the prophets. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.3
Another thing that was taught there was work, or “manual training,” as it would be called to-day. This we know from the record of these schools in the time of Elisha: “And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray thee, unto Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. So he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they cut down wood.” 2 Kings 6:1-4. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.4
This shows that in those schools, work was taught and the love of it; because when the school-building became too small for the attendance, the students themselves suggested that they themselves should build the new and larger house that was needed. There was no thought of hiring other people to do the work, nor of letting it by contract. No; they themselves said, “Let us go, ... and let us make us a place.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.5
And they were also so in love with work that they would borrow tools with which to work; for when one of the axes flew off the handle and into the river, as one of the students was chopping, he exclaimed to Elisha, “Alas, master! for it was borrowed.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.6
More than this, even the principal of the school—Elisha—went with them to the work, and joined with them in the work; for he was among those who were chopping on the bank of the river when the ax flew into the water. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.7
All this shows, as plainly as needs to be shown, that work and the love of it, real industry, was taught in the schools of the prophets—the Lord’s schools of ancient time. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.8
Another thing that was taught there was temperance—healthful living. This is shown by the fact that Daniel and his companions refused the king’s dainties and royal food, and the wine which he drank, and asked for a simple fare, a vegetarian diet. Daniel 1:5, 12-16. That they were taught this in the school of the prophets which they attended, is plain from the fact that this was a thoroughly grounded principle with them, and that in that school they had been educated. And that such was the diet in the schools of the prophets is taught by the fact that in that school, in the time of Elisha, even when “there was a dearth in the land,” Elisha, giving directions to prepare food, said, “Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage.” And in following this direction, “one went out into the field to gather herbs.” 2 Kings 4:38, 39. When herbs were gathered in response to the ordinary direction to prepare food, and this when “there was a dearth in the land,” surely this is strong evidence that a vegetarian diet was the regular diet in the school. This is confirmed by the further recorded fact that “there came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he [Elisha] said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.” Verse 42. Here was a man bringing a present of provisions to the principal of the school, and he brought only food from the vegetable kingdom. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.9
All this is evidence that a vegetarian diet was the diet of the students and teachers in the schools of the prophets; that this temperate way of living was a part of the instruction; and that temperance was so inculcated as to become a living principle in the lives of the students. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.10
Another thing taught there was law—statutes, justice, and judgment. This was directly commanded to be taught: “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.... What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” Deuteronomy 4:5-9. “Justice, justice, shalt thou follow.” Deuteronomy 16:20, margin. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.11
Another thing taught there, and this “specially,” was morals; for after urging upon them the obligation to teach carefully and diligently the statutes and judgments of the Lord, he commanded them to teach to their sons and their sons’ sons, “specially,” the ten commandments which they heard, said he, “the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children, ... And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 92.12
Another thing taught there was history: “When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes.” Deuteronomy 6:20-22. This study was not confined to the history of the deliverance from Egypt; it embraced all as it was given in the sacred writings. We know that this history was one of the studies of Daniel; for the form of government, having three presidents, one of whom was chief, which was introduced by Daniel as prime minister in the days of Darius the Mede, was adopted literally from the records of Israel as to the government of David. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.1
Yet another thing taught there was poetry. This was an essential accompaniment of the teaching of music, and the songs of worship of which their music was composed. With all this, of course, reading and writing were taught. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.2
We find, then, that the course of study in the school of the prophets embraced at least the following studies:— ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.3
1. Wisdom,
2. Knowledge,
3. Science,
4. Manual labor,
5. Music,
6. Poetry,
7. Temperance,
8. Morals,
9. Law,
10. History,
11. Reading,
12. Writing.
ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.4
All these things are written in the Bible for us. They center and are emphasized in the book of Daniel specially for the last days. We are now in the last days. These things are specially for us. The instruction given, the course of study in the schools of the prophets, is instruction for the Lord’s schools for all time. This is the instruction that belongs to-day in every school that makes any pretensions of being a Christian school. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.5
In this study, all that we have attempted is to find what things were taught in the schools of the prophets. We have not studied each particular subject to know what was embrace in the teaching of that thing. It will now be worth while to study each one of these studies that was taught in the Lord’s schools. It is evident, from the simple list of studies, that the field was not by any means a narrow one. And when we shall study each particular subject, this will be yet more apparent. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.6
“The Last Days” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, p. 93.
THE appointment of Governor Griggs, of New Jersey, to the office of attorney-general of the United States, is to be celebrated February 18 by prominent men of New Jersey, at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, with a dinner costing $100 a plate. No one can rightly dispute that those who have money are at liberty to spend it as they choose. At the same time no one can truthfully dispute the fact that there are thousands upon thousands of people who will draw invidious comparisons between a dinner costing $100 a plate and the reduction of from ten to twenty-five per cent. in their own wages, which are already so low that they can scarcely live. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.7
The New York World justly comments on the situation as follows:— ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.8
There are many who will speculate upon what could be done with this $3,00 to be expended upon a single dinner. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.9
The cotton-mill workers in New Bedford, for instance, will be interested in this banquet. The oldest worker, who is able to make $6 a week by the hardest kind of labor, may find food for comment in the fact that powerful political rulers will each eat and drink $100 worth in a few hours. The old cotton-spinner would have to work 1,000 hours to earn that sum. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.10
And those all over the country who are out of employment will think about this dinner, and speculate upon how much could be done with the money expended on it. there are sufferers in this city, like the garment-makers, whose condition would be bettered by it. They will have difficulty in realizing that a single individual can consume $100 worth of food and drink at a single meal. That would keep many a family in victuals for months. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.11
But the feast will no doubt take place without thought of this suffering. The thirty will sit at a table adorned with beautiful flowers,—violets, orchids, and roses. There will be rare old vintage wines with every course. The rarest delicacies that can be found the country ever will be placed before the hosts and their guest. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.12
And the Scripture portrays the situation exactly when it says of the “rich men” of “the last days:” “Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth.... Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton: ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.” James 5:1-5. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 93.13
“Education of the Negro” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, p. 94.
IN a masterly article in the Independent of Jan. 27, 1898, Booker T. Washington points out the essential weakness of the education that has been given to the negro in the South since the war, and also prescribes the only true remedy; and his prescribed remedy is infallibly the infallible one. He says:— ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.1
Negro education immediately after the war in most cases was begun too nearly at the point where New England education ends. Let me illustrate: one of the saddest sights I ever saw was the placing of a three-hundred-dollar rosewood piano in a country school in the South, that was located in the midst of the “Black Belt.” Am I arguing against the teaching of instrumental music to the negroes in that community?—Not at all; only I should have deferred those music lessons about twenty-five years. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.2
There are numbers of such pianos in thousands of New England homes; but behind the piano in the New England home, there was a hundred years of toil, sacrifice, and economy; there was the small manufacturing industry, started several years ago by hand-power, now grown into a great business; there was ownership in land; there was a comfortable home, free from debt; there was a bank account. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.3
In this “Black Belt” community where this piano went, four fifths of the people owned no land, many lived in rented one-room cabins, many were in debt for food-supplies, many mortgaged their crops for the food on which to live, and not one had a bank account. In this case how much wiser it would have been to teach the girls in this community how to do their own sewing, how to cook intelligently and economically, housekeeping, with something of dairying and horticulture, and to teach the boys something of farming in connection with their common school education, instead of awakening in these people a desire for a musical instrument which resulted in their parents’ going into debt for a third-rate piano or organ before a home was purchased. These industrial lessons should have awakened in this community a desire for homes, and would have given the people the ability to free themselves from industrial slavery to the extent that most of them would soon have purchased homes. After the home and the necessaries of life were supplied, the piano could come: one piano lesson in a home is worth twenty in a rented log cabin. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.4
Only a few days ago I saw a colored minister preparing his Sunday sermon just as the New England minister prepares his sermon. But this colored minister was in a broken-down, leaky, rented log cabin, with weeds in the yard, surrounded by evidences of poverty, filth, and want of thrift. This minister had spent some time in school studying theology. How much better would it have been had this minister been taught the dignity of labor, theoretical and practical farming, in connection with his theology, so that he could add to his meager salary, and set an example to his people in the matter of living in a decent house, and correct farming. In a word, this minister should have been taught that his condition, and that of his people, are not that of a New England community; and he should have been so trained as to meet the actual needs and condition of the colored people in this community.... ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.5
I stated in the beginning that industrial education for the negro has been misunderstood. This has been chiefly because some have got the idea that industrial development is opposed to the negro’s higher mental development. This has little or nothing to do with the subject under discussion; and we should no longer permit such an idea to aid in depriving the negro of the legacy, in the form of skilled labor, that was purchased by his forefathers at the price of two hundred and fifty years in slavery. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.6
I would say to the black boy what I would say to the white boy, Get all the mental development that your time and pocketbook will afford,—the more the better,—but the time has come when a larger proportion—not all, for we need professional men and women,—of the educated colored men and women should give themselves to industrial or business life. The professional class will be helped in proportion as the rank and file have an industrial foundation so that they can pay for professional service. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.7
Whether they receive the training of the hand while pursuing their academic training or after their academic training is finished, or whether they will get their literary training in an industrial school or college, is a question which each individual must decide for himself; but no matter how or where educated, the educated men and women must come to the rescue of the race in the effort to get and hold its industrial footing. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.8
I would not have the standard of mental development lowered one white; for with the negro, as with all races, mental strength is the basis of all progress; but I would have a larger proportion of this mental strength reach the negro’s actual needs through the medium of the hand. Just now the need is not so much for common carpenters, brick-masons, farmers, and laundry-women as for industrial leaders,—men who, in addition to their practical knowledge, can draw plans, make estimates, take contracts; those who understand the latest method of truck-gardening and the science underlying practical agriculture; those who understand machinery to the extent that they can operate steam and electric laundries, so that our women can hold on to the laundry work in the South that is so fast drifting into the hands of others in the large cities and towns. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.9
And we hesitate not a moment to say that all this is just as good for white people as it is for colored people. It is all just as good for all Seventh-day Adventist schools, and for all Seventh-day Adventists everywhere—grown people and youth—as it is for the Tuskegee school and for the colored people of the South. And compared with our study in the book of Daniel this week, who can say that it is not entirely Scriptural? ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.10
“Armenia” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 75, 6, pp. 94, 95.
IN a letter dated Dec. 16, 1897, and published Jan. 26, 1898, Dr. Geo. H. Hepworth, who is traveling in Armenia for the New York Herald, reports a long interview with a representative Armenian, in which occurs the following passage:— ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.1
“It does not lessen our loyalty to the home government to know that, centuries ago, we were an independent people. We prefer to live in Turkey than to abide in any other country; for we have more freedom here, and if the Turk would simply be fair to us, there would be no trouble. We do not want to emigrate. We have a strong affection for our home; and if allowed even a modicum of liberty, we should be prosperous and happy.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 94.2
“Then you are looking forward,” I said, “to converting yourselves into a Bulgaria?” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 95.1
He smiled sadly: “A wild dream of folly, my friend. You have traversed this country, and can see that such a hope would be the dream of a fool. we do not live in a section by ourselves, we are not accustomed to the use of arms. If you have investigated the subject, you have found, here and there, Armenian villages, but surrounded on all sides by half a dozen Kurdish villages. In the majority of instances there are in the Kurdish villages, ten, twenty, perhaps thirty, Armenian families. What preparation is it possible to make for autonomy? The revolutionists may make their living out of agitation; but we poor creatures are made to suffer for their idiocy. I assure you that no one fears the revolutionist as the average Armenian fears him. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 95.2
“Ah,” he concluded, “we were a happy people then. We paid large taxes, we had large business interests, we were contented and prosperous. But the treaty of Berlin and the interference of England! If Europe would let us alone, we might still have a future; but as it is, we seem to be a doomed people. Europe has interfered in our favor, and ruined us. She has aroused the worst passions of the Turk against us, has excited his suspicious, and left us in the lurch, to die or live, as God may will. Alas! my ruined country.” ARSH February 8, 1898, page 95.3
From personal knowledge, acquired in Turkey itself, we can confirm this as a fair statement of the case. If England and some missionaries would endeavor to dissipate all idea of separate government for the Armenians, instead of favoring it, the Armenian difficulty would be speedily settled, and the Armenians would indeed have “more freedom” there. Armenian revolutionist agitators are the curse of Armenia. ARSH February 8, 1898, page 95.4