The Red Rugs of Tarsus: A Woman's Record of the Armenian Massacre of 1909Gibbons, Helen Davenport
History
The Red Rugs of Tarsus: A Woman's Record of the Armenian Massacre of 1909
Gibbons, Helen Davenport
Adana (Turkey) -- History; Armenian massacres, 1909 -- Turkey -- Adana
The arrival of the British battleship _Swiftsure_ has saved Mersina.
Yesterday the commander went to Adana by special train. On his return he
stopped at Tarsus and invited Dr. Christie and Herbert to accompany him
to Mersina. They accepted with alacrity. Early this morning Herbert
boarded the _Swiftsure_ and had a chat with the captain. As a result,
the captain allowed six officers to come to Tarsus with Herbert by
special train to-day. We had them for lunch and took them all over the
city, showing them the work of the mob. When the refugee children saw
these officers arrive, the poor kiddies were terrified. Many ran and
hid, and the wee ones found their mothers as quickly as possible. The
officers' uniforms were the cause, according to the kiddies' own words.
How is that for proof that Turkish soldiery helped in the massacring!
We believe that one hundred were killed in Tarsus and four hundred in
villages nearby. Adana's murders are in the thousands. The killing of
Miner brings the tragedy right into our mission family. Mary is
supernaturally calm and brave. Not only does she do everything for her
baby, but she is in the midst of all the relief work.
While Herbert was in Mersina, Mrs. Dodds of the Covenanter Mission urged
him to take me there so as to get me away from the danger of contracting
some disease. She also urged that the discomfort of our now crowded
quarters at Tarsus was not good for me. We have nearly five thousand
refugees on the college grounds. If railroad communication is
reestablished before my baby comes, we are going to accept the
invitation of Mrs. Dodds. I do not know from day to day and cannot plan.
Mother, if I am not ready for the skeptics, and for those who smile and
jeer, yes, jeer is the word, at missionaries! The stick-in-the-muds who
thought we came all this long way because we wanted adventure must be
wagging their narrow little heads and wagering that we are getting more
than we bargained for. I am a great believer in letting every one have
his point of view. But generally one finds that the people who boast
that they are liberal and broad-minded are the most bigoted people on
earth. They assert their point of view, but are unwilling to admit
another's right to his. One does not have to believe in missions or want
to be a missionary. But one does not have to ridicule missionary effort
and missionaries, either. Among the missionaries here, women as well as
men, not a single one has shown the white feather. Quite the contrary, I
doubt if any other score of Americans in the United States would have
upheld better the glorious traditions of our race for coolness,
resourcefulness, and ability to grapple suddenly with a crisis. The
American women here are made of the same stuff as my several times
great-grandmother in Lebanon Valley, who carried the gun around the
room together with the broom as she did her sweeping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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