Among the Syrians a hold was obtained in spite of the intense opposition of the Roman Catholics who claimed all Syrians as belonging to them. The severest opposition during the first twenty-five years of mission effort in Turkey came not from the Turks but from the Roman Catholics, who did not stop at the employment of any measure which would tend to banish the printing-press and curtail the work of the Protestant missionaries. The Mohammedans commanded early attention. They were drawn to the missionaries by the fact that no pictures or images were used in Protestant worship nor gaudy display made in any public services. Repeatedly Turks said to the missionaries, “You are like us, you are good Moslems.” As acquaintance increased, interest deepened in this dominant race. Conditions were such that little directly aggressive effort could be wisely made for their immediate enlightenment. Much was done in the way of private conversation and through the preparation and publication of a Christian literature adapted to their needs. It may be said, however, that the Armenians most completely commanded both the interest of the missionaries and the attention of the constituency at home. The most of the stations in the country were established especially for this race. They were found at every center. Even in Syria and in all of the interior stations, Armenians and Turks were the chief people with whom the missionaries constantly came in contact. Interest in Armenians was strengthened by the intense persecutions through which the evangelicals passed in the early ’40s, at the hand of their own ecclesiastics. They were open-minded, able, and devout, and presented a wide opportunity for sowing the seeds of intelligent belief. At that time little had been done for the Bulgarians in European Turkey and Macedonia. The more remote Asiatic field had proved to be so large and so interesting that there had been scant pause to look into the conditions and needs of the people so near at hand, occupying the southeastern corner of Europe.