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SEED IN FRUITFUL SOIL

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civilization of the remoter West, the effort to form true, unselfish Christian characters, has not been in vain. The results are not conspicuously on the surface of the present movements. Leaven is not found on the surface of the meal. We believe, at least we hope, that the coming years will show, in social, in educational,

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in business, in political movements and events in this country, that those men and women who have, at the call of God, as they believed, consecrated their lives to Christian service in behalf of these ancient races have scattered seed in fruitful soil, the 'fruit whereof shall shake like Lebanon,' and that they have helped to usher in a day not as much of material as of moral and spiritual progress for all races.

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"Have the Young Turks a goal in prospect, or are they simply drifting?"

This is a question frequently asked by visitors to the Turkish Empire. In reply to such an inquiry an American resident said with emphasis:

"They certainly have a goal, but like other people with new and pressing problems thrust suddenly upon them, it will not be surprising if for a time they seem to wander. You must remember, however, that many of those now in power have been exiles in Europe, some of them in Paris, and that they are accustomed to the best forms of government in Europe; they are by no means novices in government. Naturally they make mistakes, but in the opinion of many a similar charge could be brought against the governing bodies of other nations, America always excepted. Taken as a whole, the outlook for the city, for the nation, and for Christianity is most encouraging."

"When a man can leave home in the morning with the probability that he will return at night,” said an American official, not now living in Turkey, “long strides have been taken toward better conditions in the empire. Under the former régime it was impossible for one to know that he would ever return. There was a constant dread of impending danger that stifled hope and prevented men from doing their best for their families or their Government.”

The New Constitution; the deposition of the old Sultan; the opening of Parliament, in which Moslems, Jews and Christians fraternize-all of this and more taking place in Constantinople means much to every

LIBERTY FOR MAN AND BEAST 99

part of the empire, much more, in fact, than the people of some of the remote sections realize. Many of the Turks outside of the capital have exhibited a frame of mind concerning the newly given liberty indicated by the actions of a donkey boy in Beirut. His animal

stood across the narrow sidewalk as a lady and gentleman approached. The street being muddy the gentleman said:

"Will you lead your donkey into the street so that the lady can pass?''

"Let the lady walk in the street. erty as well as the lady; stand on the sidewalk."

street the lady went.

Donkey has lib

donkey has a right now to And out into the mud in the

"Pay the toll?" said a woman crossing a bridge. "Why should I pay the toll if we have liberty now?"

"Is this what you call liberty?" said an Albanian when the Young Turks condemned him to death for killing a Christian.

A small boy threw a stone at a foreigner driving a The foreigner rebuked him and received

motor car.

this reply:

"It is liberty now."

The foreigner gave him a box on the ear.

"All right," said the impartial youngster; "you also have liberty."

A Bible colporter in the interior was asked by an official if he had a permit to sell Bibles in that province. Formerly such an inquiry would have caused

great consternation, and if it could not be answered satisfactorily it would have meant the imprisonment and punishment of the colporter. Not so now. colporter smiled and said pleasantly:

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The

Apparently you have not heard of the New Constitution." This ended the inquiry and no arrest followed.

Many stories are told, now that there is no danger of the prison awaiting those who tell them, that surprise the travelers in Turkey. It is difficult to realize that in the twentieth century fundamental principles of truth and justice were utterly lacking. Dr. Henry O. Dwight, now in the office of the American Bible Society in New York, was for many years in the Bible House in Constantinople. In his timely and interesting volume, "Constantinople and Its Problems," Dr. Dwight gives many illustrations from his experiences which are better understood in Constantinople than they would be in America. One must suffice:

"Ahmed Bey was a handsome young Mohammedan from a city in Bulgaria, and an officer in the Turkish Navy. He came to me in great distress. A certain Turkish Admiral, of some importance as far as influence goes, had a daughter of comparative youth only, and afflicted like Leah with some trouble of the eyes which made her helpless much of the time, with injury to her prospects of matrimony. The Admiral had unhappily seen the young officer and wished to marry him to his daughter. When the officer declined the offer

THE OLD SULTAN

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with thanks, the Admiral, Laban-like, said that marry her he must; otherwise he would order the young man to the naval station at Bussora, on the Persian

Gulf, for three years. To be sent to Bussora is like being sent to Cuba in yellow-fever time.

"The young man came to me asking, ‘Must I marry this sore-eyed girl?' I could not help him. The order for his exile to Bussora was actually issued, and only overruled by the appeal at my suggestion of the weeping mother of my friend to a Pasha of high rank who was a native of the same city in Bulgaria as Ahmed Bey, and who had access to the ear of the Sultan."

It is not to be expected that the habits of a generation will be changed at once. The Sultan yielded to the demand of the Young Turks for a Constitution, and to their great surprise gave it without a word of argument; they were dealing with a man who had granted similar favors, with a smile, even as he did this one; in this case expressing pleasure that the request had come from his people through Galib Pasha, master of ceremonies. In 1877 he had granted a Constitution, but it was short-lived. Doubtless the Sultan expected that the one given in 1908 would also prove a toy which would soon be cast aside, or a weapon which would injure those who were unaccustomed to handle it. Alas for the Sultan, he was dealing this time with men who had learned in Europe and America, and not a few of them in the college on the banks above the

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