Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/227

Rh butchered like a sheep. The Turkish neighbors tried to persuade him to accept Islam and be saved. "You are a harmless, meek man; we will take you from the mob if you will only say that you accept Islam, and afterwards you can pursue your Christian life." He asked two minutes to think. It was granted as an exceptional favor. He at once knelt down upon the cold stone to use these two last minutes in communion with his beloved Savior, and then put his head under the bloody axe, saying: "I cannot deny my beloved Jesus." While he was struggling in his blood his wife was killed at home, and four little children were left orphans. The only son of a widow was killed and the headless body was brought home after three days by a few neighboring friends; and, when the mother learned that her son was slain because he would not deny his Lord, she knelt beside him and kissed his blood-stained hand, and said, with flowing tears: "Rather so, my beloved son, than to see you deny our blessed Jesus!" "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

Following is the English translation of an Armenian mother's letter to her son in the United States:

"My Dear Son: Our silence could not be prevented. We live and die clinging to the cross. Thank God for your safety. Read Psalm seventy-nine and know of us. Pray for us."