"I should think that it would be sufficient," I remarked.
"Shall I send and have him released?" said the Caimacan.
"Yes, if you think that he has sufficiently atoned for the way in which he insulted you; but make him come here and apologize for his conduct."
My Armenian host now came to me.
"Do not ask for that," he remarked. "All the fanatics amongst the Turks would be furious with me if they heard that the schoolmaster had been forcibly brought to my house to apologize to you, a giaour. The fellow has had a good lesson," he continued, "and will be more particular the next time he sees a European."
"Are there many fanatics in this neighbourhood?" I inquired.
"Not more so than in other parts of Turkey; it is everywhere very much the same. What ought to be done," continued the speaker, "would be to establish large schools, and insist upon the parents sending their children to be taught. If Mohammedan and Christian boys and girls were to meet in the same schoolroom, and learn their lessons together, they would be more likely to mutually respect each other in after-life. To carry this idea into execution, it would first be necessary to procure a staff of efficient schoolmasters. There ought to be a college for Hodjas in Constantinople, where Mohammedan and Christian young men could be educated, and pass an examination as to their efficiency. We should then have qualified men as teachers, instead of the ignorant fanatics who now usurp the office. There is another reform which we require," continued my host, "and this is that the Mudirs, Caimacans and Pachas in the different provinces should not be exclusively Turks. The various posts ought to be open to every sect. We are all, Christians as well as Mohammedans, the Sultan's subjects; then why make a difference? If the Turkish lower orders saw that Armenians were sometimes selected to be Pachas and Caimacans, they would be more likely to respect the Christian community."
"Do the Turks often insult your religion?" I inquired.
"No, not often, but they call us giaours (infidels)."
"Yes," said another Armenian, a professor at the Armenian school, and who could speak a little French; "in Malattia there are twelve thousand inhabitants, made up of three thousand Christians and nine thousand Turks. Only three months ago some Mohammedans in that town made a cross and tied it to the tail of a dog. The hound ran through the streets of the town; the little boys threw stones at him, and the holy symbol was dragged in the mud."