The treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon
History
The treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents presented to Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Armenian question; Armenians; World War, 1914-1918 -- Atrocities; World War, 1914-1918 -- Refugees
Last October David and I went down to Urmia and stayed with dear Mr.
Nisan. His house seemed to me quite desolate with no Beatrice or her
mother, but he was the same, cheering and helping others. His
daughter-in-law Nanajan is very nice, and, with her little dear boy,
she will be a comfort for his old age. Samuel is still in America;
it is rather hard for the young wife. I have twice written to Mr.
Nisan to send service books, which he kindly sent. We often wonder
what our church would have done if it were not for English printing
presses? Nearly all our church books are gone. Mar Shimun has
consecrated little tablets, and nearly every priest in Diliman has
one to celebrate on for the people; it is the same in Urmia and
Khoi.
You will like to hear that David, Zaya, Paul and Ishaya fought most
bravely in Dizan. Twice the Kurds were driven away with twelve
killed, and the third time Paul and Zaya alone with four servants
fought against the foe and saved the little ammunition they had. I
intend to write a report of all that happened (what I saw and heard)
in the mountains. But really I can’t, as long as I am with ten
children playing in the small yard and making as much noise as a
herd of the Kurds, poor little kids. I don’t think you know that
David is father of two boys and four girls, and Romi is mother of
three girls and two boys. Are not they old? The children are as
happy as children ought to be, only they are disappointed at not
having as many new clothes as they used to have at home, and
especially the boys, for they are not going to have any new clothes
for Easter as they had theirs at Christmas, and now it is the girls’
turn for Easter. The market is another difficulty for them—seeing
new toys and sweets (they were free from that in Quodshanis) and
with no money to buy them. However, they get used to it, poor dears.
I teach the four boys for two hours a day; they are promising pupils
if properly taught. The little girls read their alphabet, too.
Romi and Esther have suffered very much under the circumstances. It
was too much for them, although they have gone through it quite
bravely, especially Esther, who was with child all this time, and
during the last days of flight was expecting the child every hour.
However, God was merciful, and the baby girl was born nearly a
fortnight after we arrived in Diliman. She is baptised Helena. I am
rather uneasy about Esther. She is very weak, and after Easter she
will go to Urmia, both to visit her father’s house (the Mutran’s
brother) and see the doctor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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