Page:Armenian poems, rendered into English verse (IA armenianpoemsren00blaciala).pdf/20

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xii
INTRODUCTION.

bulk of the Armenians are primitive and hard-working agriculturists, living in the interior, and what Lord Byron said of them years ago holds good to-day: 'It would perhaps be difficult to find in the annals of a nation less crime than in those of this people, whose virtues are those of peace, and whose vices are the result of the oppression it has undergone.'"

When the recent terrible events began, the Armenians who could fled over the frontier. Refugees by hundreds of thousands are crowded together in Russia, in Egypt, in Greece, destitute of everything, and perishing like flies. The need is desperate, and on a colossal scale. Contributions for the relief fund should be sent to Charles R. Crane, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City.