The president then commissioned Mihran hodja Kurkjian, professor of Armenian, to assign the parts. This measure met with approval, for the boys were very fond of Mihran hodja. The part of Santourt, the martyr-princess, was given to Garabed, because of his pretty face and rather feminine features. Aram and one of the Freshmen were to be his attendants. Archag was to play Yervant, the fiancé of the fair Santourt; Nejib the old king, Sanadroug; Soghomon, the future pastor, was chosen to represent Saint Thaddeus, the Missionary Apostle of Armenia. So they were all satisfied, and set themselves in good earnest to study their parts. All the talk was now about tragedies, famous actors, costumes and acting. The boys called one another by the names of the heroes they were to impersonate, and some of them embellished their conversation with lines from the tragedy. When the dinner-bell was heard, Dikran, who had the part of the king's cup-bearer, would say to his comrades: "Come, noble sons of Haik, to assist at the feast of the gods. The table groans beneath the weight of succulent viands, and the fair-haired Aphrodite will pour us out ambrosia." The others, quite carried away by his poetic ardor, would reply with the chorus of the third act: "Glory be to Aphrodite, the Queen of Cyprus! The whole world acknowledges her power; the flowers bloom in her honor, and the birds sing her praises----," then, O sad return to mundane matters, they would fall to eating their bread, their olives and their cucumbers, and would drink ambrosia--in the form of clear, cold water! Soghomon, in the process of learning the part of Saint Thaddeus, had become convinced that though he was not yet the Apostle of Armenia, he should be some day. Already he beheld the Gregorian Church revolutionized by his mighty words, and the people won by his preaching. He scanned his lines; he labored to make his pronunciation more impressive by dragging out the last syllables, and raised his arms as if in the act of blessing a thousand heads bowed at his feet, to the great amusement of his companions. In the course of a Turkish lesson, in which Saint Thaddeus II had been conspicuous for his stupidity, Professor Hairemian became exasperated, and sent him to his seat. "Go and sit down, Soghomon; you will stay in for an hour and learn this lesson over again for to-morrow morning." The culprit hung his head and murmured, just loud enough to be heard: "Scorned by men, I will take refuge on the barren mountain tops; the birds will provide me with sustenance, and my soul will sing acts of thanks-giving." The whole class broke out into a great shout of laughter, and the professor, dumbfounded, asked: "Come now! Are you making game of me, or have you really gone mad?" "These words of the Saint, expressing my feelings, seemed to me to be adapted to the situation."