Armenian girls are married very young. Eleven or twelve is considered quite old enough, and women still young often have sons twenty years old. Marriages are arranged by parents or by go-betweens. The usual wedding day is Monday, and on the Friday before the marriage the bride is taken to the bath with great ceremony. On Saturday she gives a big feast to her girl friends. On Sunday there is a feast for the boys, and on Monday the wedding takes place. It usually occurs at the church, where the priest blesses the ring and makes prayers over the wedding garments. The numerous other ceremonies make the wedding last from three to eight days. Shortly after her return from the church the children present rush to pull off the bride’s stockings, in which have been hidden some coins for the occasion. Another curious custom is to place a baby boy on the knee of the bride, as she sits beside the groom on a divan, with the wish that she may become a happy mother. While one reason for the hatred of the Armenians is envy of their shrewdness and their wealth, the chief cause of the Turkish outrages is religious fanaticism. The better classes of the Turks and the more intelligent of the Mohammedans would probably stop them if they could. Many of the high officials are afraid of the religious zeal of the people. They realize that if the common people get the idea that they are false to their religion, they are almost sure of assassination. The Imams and the Sheiks, or, in other words, the Moslem priests, are, to a large extent, the rulers of Turkey. They are in most cases ignorant and intolerant. Among the Mohammedan fanatics there are a large number known as dervishes, who roam about from place to place stirring up trouble. They are walking delegates, as it were, for the killing of Christians. They stimulate the religious zeal of the people and make violent speeches against unbelievers. They fast much and they have strange forms of worship. One class, known as the whirling dervishes, may be seen in Constantinople any Friday going through their devotions. They dress in long white robes fastened at the waists with black belts, and wear high sugar-loaf hats. They sing the Koran as they whirl about in the mosques. As they go on the chief priest makes prayers and they whirl faster and faster, until at last their long skirts stand out like those of a ballet dancer. Their faces become crimson, and some finally fall to the ground in fits.