Repeated bereavements chastened the strong and decided character of Mr. Morgan. He grew in the grace of patience, and in spirituality and self-abnegation. He was an indefatigable worker, and was fitted to exert, as he did, a commanding influence on the policy of the mission. He soon made himself familiar with the Turkish language, and never wearied of studying its beautiful structure, and wrote some of the best Turkish hymns. The well known hymn,--"Not all the blood of beasts"--he clothed with not a little of the strength and power of the original.[1] [1] See _Missionary Herald_, 1865, pp. 383-385. The year was also signalized by the death of Rev. Hohannes Der Sahagyan, pastor of the church in Nicomedia, and widely known as one of the two young men who first attached themselves to the teaching of the missionaries in Constantinople, also for his consistent piety, earnest zeal, and the severe persecutions which he suffered at different periods, as a follower of the Lord Jesus. A scene at the ordination of a native pastor at Perchenj, a village two hours from Harpoot, graphically described by Mr. Williams, has its chronological place here. It was in a large garden, with the pulpit under the wide-spreading branches of a mulberry-tree, and mats and carpets spread out in front. "Around the pulpit sat the council,--lay and clerical delegates, representing most of the evangelical ministry in this part of Turkey; then the regular Protestants of Perchenj, Harpoot, and the villages about, to whom it was a 'festa,' as was evident from their dress. Outside these were the partially committed ones, who, though they did not 'dress up' for the occasion, seemed to have taken the day for it; and again, outside that company, were men drawn in by the interest of the occasion from their work, with their field dresses on, tools in hand, leaning on their long handled spades, bending forward to catch question and answer, wholly unconscious of the picturesque finish they gave to the scene. "In the afternoon exercises, the pastor of Ichme and the pastor of Harpoot took prominent parts. The same was expected also of the pastors from Arabkir and Shapik, but unfortunately they were not present. The sermon was by Mr. Allen, and was moving and effective. It was very difficult to count the audience, at least from where I was. If I could have exchanged places with some of the boys, and hung myself among the mulberries, perhaps I could have succeeded better. Nothing in all the exercises seemed so American as the natural way in which the boys took to the trees. We judged there were, in the forenoon, about seven or eight hundred, and in the afternoon, six or seven hundred. To the last, everything was quiet, and all went off pleasantly. As you know, the community furnish half the pastor's salary from the start."