Nearly all forms of industry and business were suspended in winter, and the time was spent in trying to get joy from the cup. They said wine was love and good fellowship, which is a common notion in many nations of the earth to-day. When a man had a guest from a distance, he would invite forty or fifty neighbors to his home where the entire day would be spent in eating and drinking. Next day one of the neighbors would entertain the company, and so the feast would continue for a week or more. By the end of the debauch perhaps one or more of the number would have met death. Falling by the wayside at a late hour, or tumbling from a housetop as he was journeying homeward, he would die from cold or from the shock. In those degenerate days idleness, extravagance and drunkenness were praised in a man. When such a one died, an engraving on his tombstone would show that his table was always spread and provided with wine for his friends. Many a man was brought to poverty by these habits of extravagance and drunkenness. The women were required to let wine alone that they might cook much food for these degenerate Christians. On such occasions the master of the house demanded that the very best food be put before his guest.
The missionaries have completely broken up these customs. The evangelical church forbids its members to make or taste wine or to sit among drinkers. Any who disobey this rule are dismissed from membership. Rev. E. W. Pierce, one of the most beloved of all missionaries, spent one winter in preaching temperance. Many were converted to his views on the subject and brought their wines, many barrels, and poured it into the streets. They believed it would be a sin to even sell it. The old Assyrian church-members have given up their former ways and are now temperate. Formerly it was the glory of a man to be idle and drunken, but now public opinion has been entirely reversed. The drunkard is looked upon as an object of shame.
The Assyrians used to observe many saint's days. At times as many as four thousand men and women would gather in the yard of some building built in honor of an ancient saint and would there spend several days in eating, drinking and dancing. Sometimes quarreling, fighting and even murder would result from these gatherings. Moslems often mingled with the crowd and sometimes kidnaped some of their fairest daughters. Instead of places of worship these gatherings became places of sin. All of these vicious customs have now vanished before the influence the true gospel.
More than half the days of the year were days of fasting with the old Assyrians. On these days they ate no meat, milk, butter, cheese, eggs or fish; some very religious old people would eat nothing before noon. All has now been changed.
Members of the evangelical church do not fast and but few of the old Assyrians do. There is no longer faith in the virtue of fasting.
CONVERSION TO MOHAMMEDANISM.
Before the missionaries came many beautiful girls and ladies were converted by force to the faith of Moslems. Girls were often stolen when alone in the fields and vineyards. Mothers feared for their daughters, and advised them not to wash their faces, nor put on nice clothes lest a Mohammedan would be attracted by their beauty. When a Mohammedan saw a beautiful girl he would say, "God created her for us and not for these infidels." When girls were converted by force, it was not much use to complain to the government, as the government is Mohammedan and it is in the Mohammedan doctrine that when a man converts a Christian he has done a good thing and all his sins will be forgiven. The method of making the convert is not questioned. The conversions now as compared with the number when the missionaries came are very few. Kidnaping is not easy now as parents can telegraph to the king, or the prime minister, or even to Europe and cause much trouble.
A few years ago a prince had a beautiful Armenian stolen from her home, and tried to get her to consent to be a Mohammedan and become his wife. But the woman stood firm, and denounced him and his faith. Her friends, and the missionaries of all denominations, were making an angry search for the missing woman, and the prince ordered his servants to return her to her native village. When a girl has been stolen and complaint is made to the government, officers bring the girl into court, if she can be found, and ask her if she had been taken by force, or whether she was willing to become a Moslem. If she says she was taken by force, she is returned to her parents. There are a few cases where women willingly go to the Moslem but this is from their wickedness or their poverty.
MORALS ELEVATED.
Not many years ago a Moslem would enter the private homes of the Assyrians without an invitation. The husband and father did not want him there, but so long had his rights as a man been ignored that he did not have the manhood to drive him away. Then, too, he feared if he offended the Moslem, that the latter would secretly destroy some of his property. These uninvited visits gave the stranger an opportunity to become acquainted with the family, and perhaps an attempt to kidnap a daughter would follow. But this has changed. If a stranger enters an Assyrian home to-day he behaves like a gentleman or he is ordered to leave. The manhood and independence of the old Assyrian has been aroused.