[Illustration:  ARMENIAN MOTHER AND CHILDREN]

The American Presbyterian is the only mission in Tehran, and it carries on its work so smoothly and judiciously that the sensitive susceptibilities of the most fanatical Moullas are never roused nor ruffled.  They have succeeded well by never attempting too much.  They show their desire to benefit all classes and creeds, and during the severe cholera outbreak In 1892 the hospital they established in the city for the medical treatment of all comers up to the utmost extent of their accommodation and ability was a powerful and convincing proof of their good work and will.  The disease was of a very fatal type, and its deadly ravages called forth a display of devotion and self-sacrifice which deserved and obtained the highest commendation from all Persians and Europeans.

While on this subject, the splendid example set by the Governor of the town, the Vazir Isa Khan, should be noticed.  He was very wealthy, and did much to relieve the sufferings and wants of the poor who were attacked by the disease.  He remained in the city while the epidemic raged, and would not seek safety in flight to the adjoining mountains, as many had done.  But, sad to say, he fell a victim at the last, and his wife, who had remained with him throughout, died of the disease two days before him.

It will be remembered that in 1891 an agitation was raised regarding the reported abduction of an Armenian girl, named Katie Greenfield, by a Kurd in Persian Kurdistan.  An attempt which was made to take the girl back to her family caused the couple to cross the frontier into Turkish Kurdistan, and great excitement among the Kurds on both sides of the border was created.  The contention grew, and commissioners and consuls, with troops, Persian and Turkish, took part in it.  In the end it was made perfectly clear that the girl had gone off with Aziz, the Kurd, as the husband of her own choice, and had embraced the Mohammedan faith by her own wish.  The Kurds in Persian Kurdistan appear to live on friendly terms with their Armenian village neighbours, and on this occasion a runaway love-match became the cause of some popular excitement in England, and much trouble and tumult on the Perso-Turkish frontier.

The Armenian Archbishop in Persia, who resides at Isfahan, is always a Russian subject from the monastery of Etchmiadzin, near Erivan, the seat of the Catholicus, the primate of the orthodox Armenian Church, and this doubtless has its effect in suggesting protection and security.  France also for a longtime past has steadily asserted the right to protect the Catholic Armenian Church in Persia, and once a year the French Minister at Tehran, with the Legation secretaries, attends Divine service in the chapel there in full diplomatic dress and state, to show the fact and force of the support which the Church enjoys.  France similarly takes Catholic institutions in Turkey under her protection, and appears to be generally the Catholic champion in the East.