acrossasiaminoro00chiluoft

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REPUTATION OF THE ENGLISH 171
It has also been made by American missionaries.
The average native does not readily distinguish
between Enoflish and Americans ; both have the same
characteristics, and he regards Americans as some sort
of English, for are they not the only teachers of the
English language in the country ? These missionaries
have indeed spread the language, and so doing, and
by their own high reputation, have done much for the
British name. They are numerous and have been
working in Asia Minor for more than a century.
They have had more intimate and wider intercourse
with natives than have British officials, and though
remaining good Americans always, yet one must also
call them good English and gratefully acknowledge
their influence. To them it is due that wherever you
go in Asia Minor you find some one who can speak
your tongue.
So it came about in the guest-house at Kara Geul
that the schoolmaster held out his hand to me on
entering and said
"How are you, sir? You are welcome to our
village."
He had been educated in the American schools at
Sivas, and though he had not spoken English for
two years had not forgotten the language, for, as he
said, " I read in English books."
Outwardly the guest-house made no pretensions,
and was no better than any other, but its interior
features were unusual. In fact I have never seen a
guest-house of the same excellence. The flat earthen
roof was carried by massive wooden beams supported
from the floor by heavy circular wooden pillars, and
beams and pillars were of varnished or polished wood
like mahogany. Against each long wall extended a
low boarded divan, covered with mats ; the door was
at one end of the room, the fireplace faced it from
the other, and between the divans lay a breadth of
earthen floor about seven feet in width. One divan
was allotted to me and my bed and luggage, the
other accommodated the rest of the company. A fire