“The gratitude of these people is touching in the extreme. Would that I could send to each one who has given to this work the blessings and the prayers and the gratitude that are bestowed on them daily. And yet the cry goes up for more help. Winter cold and rains are upon us. Thousands have but the thinnest and most ragged clothing, no shoes or stockings, many no beds, and most no fuel or other winter provisions. Thousands never taste anything but coarse, dry bread for weeks and months at a time—and little enough of that—while, especially in the villages, hundreds have not even that, and are on the verge of starvation. I doubt not that many will have actually starved before these words are read in America.
“It is a national tragedy we are witnessing, and we know not what the end will be. It is also and especially an historical struggle between Islam and Christianity. Christianity is for the present sadly worsted, and it remains for Christian Europe, England and America to decide which shall ultimately be victorious. All that Armenian Christians can do is to die martyrs to the Faith, and that they have done, are doing, and will continue to do daily, until help come—help which reaches not merely Embassies and the Capital, but which penetrates to the remote villages and mountain fastnesses where the worshippers of the Cross are to-day at the pitiless mercy of the fanatical Kurd and Turk.
“In closing this incomplete report of our mutual work, let me again assure all our helpers and coöperators, of the deep appreciation of their aid and sympathy that is felt, not only by those who receive their gifts, but by the entire Armenian people. And let me also remind whomsoever may feel impelled to send us aid that he is not only aiding a starving people, but is also helping to maintain Christianity against its most virulent foes.”
Early in the following December, Dr. Kimball again wrote: “The bakery which we opened is taxed to its utmost capacity and beyond, so that we have been giving orders on another bakery as a temporary thing, and are having a new bakery fitted up, to be ready in two or three days. We are now feeding about one thousand five hundred people daily, and are distributing clothing to these people and hundreds of other villagers who are in greatest need. We have laid in one thousand five hundred bushels of wheat and a considerable amount of wood at very advantageous prices.
“Just here, the man in charge of the bakeries comes and reports that the Governor is giving out orders for bread to the villagers. This Governor is a good man, and we do not doubt his good intentions. But as the treasury is entirely empty, we do not anticipate any very material assistance from Turkish sources. However little it may be, it will doubtless be noised abroad, especially in English papers, as a proof of the tender feelings the Government entertains for its Christian subjects. The hand that smote will not long comfort. Please assure all contributors and helpers in this work of Armenian relief, of the deepest gratitude of the poor people, and of the hearty thanks of us who are witnesses of their misery. * * *”
A Prayer for Revenge.
The following is a summary of relief work at Van up to January 1st, 1895: Number of employees of Industrial Bureau nine hundred and eighty-one, representing over nine hundred and fifty families, or about four thousand seven hundred and fifty persons. Of these four are overseers, nine master-workmen, six hundred and fifty eight spinners of cotton and wool, one hundred and fifteen weavers of cotton, thirty-seven weavers of woolen goods, and the remainder, carpet weavers, carders, spindle-fillers, sizers, knitters and sewers of clothing. The manufactures are coarse cotton cloth, woolen goods, carpets; a kind of heavy jacket worn by the villagers; socks, ready-made clothing and bedding. The product from July to November was largely sold to the Sassoun Relief Commission, though small quantities were distributed here, chiefly among refugees. The supply is not nearly equal to the demand.
In the Baking Department free bread is given regularly to four hundred and fifteen families or about two thousand five hundred persons. About one thousand five hundred persons have received rations for from a week to a month, while waiting to return to their villages. The allowance per capita is one and a half pounds a day. Free bread is being given to the extent of three thousand pounds a day.
At this time, in Harpoot there was still much unrelieved suffering. In the city the missionaries were giving one thousand five hundred rations of bread daily. The ladies distributed one thousand two hundred shirts and drawers, sixty pairs of stockings, one hundred and forty six mattresses, and two hundred quilts. These garments were manufactured by the destitute women, with regular wages of three or four cents a day. At Aintab the missionaries with the relief moneys were feeding three thousand two hundred and twenty-six persons, at Erzeroum two thousand five hundred, at Erzingan one thousand, and also large numbers at Palu, Diarbekir, Oorfa, Arabkir, Malatia, Marash, Hadjin, Cæsarea, and Sivas.