Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/90

84 Eastern races in regard to their ability in commerce, trade, agriculture and letters. Their language, with its somewhat difficult pronunciation, excels all the dialects of the East, and in its syntax and word-making capacity equals Greek or Latin. Its adaptation to the Christian ideas is remarkable. It is a proverbial saying that "the Arabic is fit to swear, Kurdish to quarrel, Turkish to curse, while the Armenian is to pray." Soon after the conversion of the nation to Christianity, the Armenian young men flocked into the highest institutions at Athens, Constantinople, Edessa and other centers of education. While Mohamet was spending his solitary hours in shaping the immense mouths of the ugliest demons, or describing the devil-headed fruits of the infernal plantation, the Armenians were struggling for prosperity and development. Upon the fertile land and among the largest rivers they always clung to the plough, and led their flocks in the green pastures of Armenia. Grains and varieties of fruits were exchanged for the other necessities of life, and their commercial enterprises extended to the foreign countries. In spite of ceaseless persecutions and spoils, Armenia has always had her princes, wealthy and able merchants and very skillful traders. Each father regarded his essential duty to train his son in his own trade and perpetuate the source of wealth. Each mother taught her daughter economical housekeeping and industry. There has been no time in the history of Armenia when her children assaulted her neighbors, or gave themselves to luxury and idleness.