The very able pleas by the Protestants of the two cities drawn up in the spring of 1872, are before me, in the English language. The Aintab document opens with an interesting statement of their past progress in the matter of education. "We well remember," they say, "what our condition was, twenty-five or thirty years ago. We had then not even a thought about the necessity or advantages of education. A population of ten thousand Armenians was content with a single common school, where only reading and writing were taught. When, however, through the agency of the American Board, the Bible was translated into our modern language, it soon changed our opinions as to the importance of education, we can hardly explain how. Soon, the evangelical Armenians, not to speak of members of the Old Church, were not content with even three or four schools, nor were they satisfied with educating their sons, but began to plan for the education of their daughters. We discovered that mere reading and writing were not enough, and saw plainly the necessity of a higher grade of studies. Whereas once, we were hardly willing to send our children to schools where all the expense was borne by the missionaries, we were now anxious to open schools of a still higher character, and support them ourselves. We now realized, under the light of God's Word, that if men are to be good Christians, good fathers and mothers, and useful members of society, they must be educated. In this respect, our desires have been greatly strengthened by watching in our churches the constantly increasing demand for a stronger class of preachers and teachers. All the churches within the bounds of the Union are convinced of the necessity of a more thoroughly educated ministry. Hence the desire for a college in this section of the country." The decision was in favor of Aintab in view of its greater financial ability, its centrality, its comparative healthfulness, the abundance of good building materials, the lower price of skilled labor, the prospective railway communication between the coast and the interior, the proper distribution of educational advantages (the Theological Seminary being already at Marash), and the interest felt by all classes at Aintab, including the Old Armenians and the Moslems. CHAPTER XLV. THE ARMENIANS. THE PRESENT CONDITION. 1872. It seems often to be required of missions, though not properly, that they shall exert a vastly greater reforming influence on unevangelized countries, than the Gospel has yet done in Christian lands. When we speak of "the conversion of the world," we are generally understood as meaning the introduction of the "Millennium." But what we refer to is not the millennial state, but such a diffusion of gospel agencies and influences through the unevangelized world, as we see in the most favored Christian communities.