Charles Chapin Tracy, missionary, philanthropist, educator, first ...

CHARLES CHAPIN TRACY 37
merged into that of the College and the Girls'
School.
ARMENIAN RECUPERATION AND
TURKISH REFORM
The loss of life is always hard, but within ten years
from 1895 the Armenians, as a whole, had recovered
more than they had lost in numbers, wealth, human
worth, capacity for progress and progressive attain-
ment. They enjoyed the opportunity of life, if they
had not much of liberty or happiness. The Marseil-
laise could never be played or sung though every one
knew it, because it was a hymn of freedom. No one
could travel from one town to the next without a
special permit, the issue of which depended upon the
humor of officials. Texts of sermons could not be
taken from the book of Exodus because that deals
with deliverance from bondage and might by implica-
tion be treated as rebellious by the officers. All mail
and telegraph communication was under a heavy censor-
ship. In 1902 several students were imprisoned in
Amasia. The charge was sedition, sustained only by the
possession or use of a national or patriotic hymn or two
which could be considered as having a revolutionary
intent. These young men were imprisoned over a year
before their trial was completed and then some were
cleared while the others were adjudged guilty and
sentenced to one year's imprisonment each. But they
all had been imprisoned more than a year, so they were
all released together. That is, to be proved by the
court to be an innocent citizen and to be found so
seriously guilty as to deserve a year's imprisonment,