Even the names in the despatches seem like a voice from antiquity; Macedonia, where the Turkish forces are gathering; and Larissa, where Prince Constantine is intrenched.  Larissa is a name older than Rome, older than the Olympic games, or even than Homer.  It is the Pelasgian name for a fortified city!

Now I hope you will remember that the sufferings of the Armenians and of the Cretans should deeply move us, not alone because they are Christians, but because they are Greeks.  The world owes a debt to Greece which nothing can ever repay.  She has given us our civilization.

Rome was barbarian until Greece civilized her.  What Greek slaves taught to their Roman masters was then transmitted by Rome to Europe.

Then when this borrowed light burned low after the ages of darkness, Constantinople relighted the world by sending abroad her stored treasures of Greek culture.  And we to-day are still living in that transcendent light, and drawing upon those inexhaustible riches.

You know that the college where a man has been educated is called his Alma Mater.  Never forget that Greece is the beloved Alma Mater of the civilized world.  And the sorrows of her oppressed children should move us in a way quite different from those of any other race.

MaryPlatt Parmele.

Copyright, 1897 by William Beverley Harison.

Transcriber’s note:  Extra “to” removed from “he went back to Persia?”