When you were a very little boy did you have a “Noah’s Ark” for a
plaything? And do you remember the story of “Noah and his Ark?”
This story tells, you remember, about a severe storm, when it rained
forty days and forty nights and all the land was flooded.
But Noah had built an ark and invited two animals of every kind, and a
few persons, to live in his ark during the flood.
When the storms were over, the ark rested on a mountain, and this was
Mount Ararat.
Mount Ararat is in the country of Armenia, and in this country lives a
very interesting people.
Armenia is a mountainous country and Mount Ararat is the highest of all
the mountains. It is so high that it has a snow cap all the year round,
even during the hottest part of the summer.
The Armenian children are often very pretty, with black hair, black
eyes, and round, red cheeks. They are bright and anxious to learn, and
they often ride a long way on donkey-back to get to the church schools.
[Illustration]
The schools are not free like the school you go to, and often the
parents have to pay the school with grain and cheese because they have
no money.
There is a free school near every church, and the priest is the
teacher. Here the little boys and girls learn the Armenian alphabet,
and also study reading, writing, geography, and grammar.
The mirigs (mothers) of the little Armenians have to wake them very
early, for they have to go to school at seven.
They sit cross-legged on the floor, and study their lessons aloud. All
the children carry a lunch from home, and they eat together in another
little room, still sitting on the floor.
Boys and girls go to the same school until they are ten or twelve
years old; then the girls go to a different school. Here they learn
dressmaking and embroidery. The materials are supplied by the school,
and at the end of the year the articles are sold and the money goes to
the school.
The boys do not earn money for the school, but they have to sing in the
church on Sunday.
When school closes at night the children form in line, with their hands
folded, and march to their homes. The line stops at each house where a
child lives, while the little one bids his friends good-night.
In winter there are deep snows, and then Hagop (Jacob) and Garabet
(George) and the other boys build snowmen and have snowball battles.
But in summer they work more than they play, for they have to go up to
the mountains with herds of goats. A few women go to cook for them, and
they all live in huts built of boughs.
The girls have rag dolls, with painted eyes, nose and mouth, and very
red cheeks. These dolls are dressed just like the little girls, with
gaily colored dresses of red, green, purple, or yellow. Their hair is
braided in long braids, and strung with beads and coins.
* * * * *
Where is Mount Ararat?
Tell the story of Noah and his Ark.
What is the highest mountain in Armenia?
What covers the top of this mountain?
What is the Armenian word for “mamma?”
What do the children learn in the church schools?
How do the children go home from school?
What do the boys do in winter? In summer?