Various

“ This is not the first despairing cry that has come from the Sultan's dominions. Again and again have they rung through Europe in the last century.
The rule of the Ottoman Empire (or Turkey) is the most corrupt, cruel, and degrading in the world. We have seen that Spain is grasping, avaricious, and a hard mother to her distant Colonies, which she treats like slaves rather than children. But for all that Spain is brave and chivalric. She has a sense of honor and of justice, even if she violates it, and—she is Christian. ”

“ Nor is it strange if Greece also has been long hoping that when the Ottoman Empire did finally crumble—as it must—she might out of the wreck be able to bring together the long-separated fragments of her race.
God grant there may be no conflict between Greece and Europe. But if it does come—and if a general overturning follows, as it might—it is not impossible that Greece may come out of it a new and greater kingdom, by a reunion of the scattered Hellenic (or Greek) peoples. ”

“ Now, when Greece tries to free her Christian brothers from the grasp of the Turks, these same Powers train their guns on the Greeks, and lend the Turks their aid to force the Christians back under the control of the murdering Turks!
It is a monstrous situation, and one that makes every honest man hate the diplomacy and politics of nations that make such things possible and necessary. ”

“ So you can see that disturbing the Turk while he is butchering Christians might be dangerous business for these Great Powers.
England knows that Russia is watching her opportunity to slip in at the first opening, and may get to the prize first. And Russia, and Germany, and the rest all alike fear the same thing of each other. If any one of them alone should make a move against the Turk,—the rest, like a pack of wolves, would be at her throat in an hour.
So the Powers must all act together or in concert. And this is what is known as the "Concert of Europe." ”

“ They have long been conferring together to prevent any further misrule in Turkey, and to efface this monarchy, which is a disgrace to Europe, and they find that, by their too hasty interference, they have put themselves in the position of having to uphold the Turkish misrule against their own convictions.
The Turks are so convinced that Europe is going to stand by them, that large bodies of them are parading the streets of Canea, crying for the blood of the Christian "dogs," as they call them, and apparently expecting that the Powers are going to help them in a general massacre of the Greeks. ”

“ Thousands and thousands of Christians perish by the sword every year in the Ottoman Empire, and awful cruelties are committed every day upon the living.
Now you ask why the Christian nations of Europe permit these things to be; and you naturally suppose it goes on because they cannot help it. Not at all.
Any one of the great nations of Europe could sweep the decaying old Mohammedan Empire out of existence in one campaign; and the six combined Powers, England, Russia, Austria, Germany, France, and Italy, could do it in six hours! Then why do they not? ”

“ They said: "We are one with you in race and in religion. We speak your language; you are our natural rulers. Let us be a part of your Christian kingdom."
With splendid daring and enthusiasm Greece responded to the appeal.
King George sent men and arms and ships, and his brave young son Prince George as Admiral of the fleet, and declared his determination at all hazards to take the island under his protection. Not only would he fight the Turks in Crete or in Greece, but he would carry the war into the Ottoman Empire itself, if necessary.
The Powers were aghast. Fight the Turk! ”

“ No. 20 ABOUT GREECE AND CRETE.
Do you know, my dear young friends, that you and I ought to be very glad and grateful that we are Americans?
Does it ever occur to you that while millions of people in other lands are to-day suffering unspeakably from cruelty and oppression, it is your happy lot to live under a government which makes such wrongs impossible?
You have seen what Cuba is willing to suffer, if she can only get away from the oppression of Spain. ”

“ This town flourished amazingly, and soon far outstripped Pretoria in size and importance, just as the Uitlanders had outstripped the Boers in point of numbers and wealth.
The native population of the Transvaal is very scattered. They are a nation of farmers, and at the present time there are only about 15,000 Boer men in the whole territory, while of the English-speaking Uitlanders there are more than five times that number.
No sooner did Johannesburg grow to be a powerful city, than the Uitlanders, her citizens, demanded that they should have a voice in the government of the country. ”

“ And each of these great nations is in mortal fear that some of the others will get possession of it.
I have already told you about the immense importance of these "strategic points" in the great game of European politics or diplomacy, and how eagerly the nations are all the time watching for opportunities to secure them.
If you will look at your map, you will see that Turkey lies at the gateway which separates the Eastern world from the Western. The vast and beautiful region ruled by the Sultan, and known as the "Ottoman Empire," lies partly in Asia, partly in Europe, and partly in Africa. ”

“ They did not want autonomy at all. What they desired was union with Greece; and Greece declared her unaltered and unalterable determination to stand by the island at any cost, and to protect her from being coerced into a political condition she did not desire.
One small, feeble nation dared to stand up and defy the combined power of Europe! ”

“ Greece says she is ready to fight the whole of Europe rather than leave her brothers in Crete in the power of the Turks.
The Powers, having threatened to make her obey if she refused to comply with their wishes, are now aghast at the prospect of having to fight with the heathen Turks against the Christian Greeks, or else steam back to their respective countries, snubbed and ridiculous. ”

“ We all knew perfectly well that there never had been such a cat as Juno. Not that she was so fine-looking, or so expensive. She would never have taken a prize at a cat show, unless it might have been the booby prize. She was the very plainest kind of a brindled cat, and she wandered into our house from the street during her early kittenhood and calmly established herself in mother's work-basket.
From that time on Juno had been the friend and playmate of the younger generation. She never seemed like an animal to any of us. ”

“ The present idea is that England is the guilty party. This last report may not have any more truth in it than that about Russia, but it is now, said that England is bent upon conquering the Transvaal, and securing South Africa for herself, and that she has stirred up all this Cretan mischief, so that Germany and the other European Powers may be too busy at home to look after her abroad.
Whoever is to blame, the Greeks are going steadily ahead. Fighting continues, the Greek arms being mainly successful.
Turkey has tried to send fresh troops to Crete, but has been prevented by the Powers. ”

“ In addition to this, another storm cloud seems to be forming over the Ottoman Empire itself. There are indications of a general uprising where Greek Christians abound.
If the clouds over Turkey and those over Europe should unite—what then? The Powers could fight battalions; but could they stand before a whirlwind of popular sentiment?
Macedonia has no doubt long cherished the hope of a reunion with Greece; and the other Græco-Turkish provinces too. Perhaps they think the hour is at hand for realizing that hope! ”

“ In England, France, and Italy, public opinion has to be listened to, if their Governments would stand! When the Ambassadors and the Ministers of these three countries read the papers and the telegrams, they began to go very slowly and cautiously. But Germany and Russia, although bound, as I have already told you, by close family relationships to the King of Greece, were in hot indignation that he should have audaciously raised such a storm. He must be stopped at once in a course which might embroil Europe in a war with Turkey ”

“ He solemnly pledges protection to the Christians, and punishment to their persecutors, without the slightest intention of carrying out the promised reforms. Indeed, he knows that he could not do it even if he wanted to. And the Powers know it too, just as well as they know they would not carry out their threat to destroy his rickety throne.
But all this talk gives time, and two or three more years are thus gained for the Sultan and for the Powers, too; and in the mean time the people are pacified, because they think something is being done toward wiping out the great iniquity in the East. ”

“ It is said that King George has declared himself quite ready for a war with Turkey, and that he does not intend to allow the Powers to tell him what he is to do.
Greece is making preparations for war, has called out her army reserves, and is massing her troops all along the Turkish frontier, expecting that the war will be on the mainland, and not on the island of Crete. Greece expects that should war be declared Turkey will at once try to cross her borders and conquer her. ”

“ Whether Russia, or England, or Germany would be richer after an upset in Turkey, no one can tell. But it is pretty certain that new maps would have to take the place of your old ones, with the familiar outlines of some of the European States much altered.
So the Christian Powers have been for a century trying not to hear the cries of anguish and terror coming from the Ottoman Empire, because European diplomacy has decided that the only safe course is to let the "unspeakable Turk" stay where he is ”

“ The ports of Crete are closely blockaded, and the island is running short of food.
There is a story that when the Greek fleet was ordered to leave Cretan waters by the Powers, its commander, Commodore Reinecke, replied that he would only obey the orders of his own government, and that, though the Powers sank his ship, he would not move until he had his country's orders to do so.
Good has come out of evil.
The cruel death of the unfortunate Dr. Ruiz in Cuba has aroused and alarmed the government into looking more closely after our citizens there. ”

“ For some unknown reason, Spain does not want to disgrace Weyler, in spite of his failures, so they have allowed him to use the release of Sanguily as a pretext for disagreeing with the government, and resigning his position in Cuba. The Spaniards seem to be most careful of their friends' feelings, and most polite in all their dealings with one another. It is a pity that this very delicate code of honor does not prevent them from murdering helpless prisoners, and insulting defenceless women. ”

“ He has pictured the woes of the Uitlanders because they are not allowed to govern, and because their children are not taught English in the schools, and moreover, because they are made to pay heavy taxes for the gold they mine and carry away. They have still another grievance. Any favor that the Boers show at all is shown to Germans, and not to Englishmen. The Boers will not allow any of the products of Cape Colony within their borders, but prefer to do their trading with Germany. A dreadful offence truly, that they choose their own markets! ”

“ He is perhaps the most important man in all South Africa. It is his desire to bring the whole of this territory under English rule, and it is thought that this ambition was at the root of the Jameson Raid, and that Cecil Rhodes is really the person who is responsible for it.
It is also whispered that the English Government looks favorably upon his plans, and that the Raid was only a part of a deep-laid scheme to overthrow the Boer Government, and seize the Transvaal for England. ”

“ England, as you will see by your map, owns vast tracts of land in South Africa, and according to her regular practice she is trying to enlarge her possessions still further. Wherever England establishes a colony, she reaches out on either side of her, and takes, if possible, a little piece of land here, and another little scrap there, until by and by she has laid hold of the greater part of the land around her. ”

“ However, while they are in the Transvaal, digging their gold out of its soil, they want to be able to govern the country in their own way, and are loud in their outcries against the Boers for preventing them from doing so.
Under the laws of the Transvaal it is very easy to become a citizen.
A man has only to live there two years before he can become a citizen, and have all the share in the government that he is entitled to.
But this the Uitlanders are not willing to do. They want everything for nothing. ”

“ But Turkey—Mohammedan Turkey, has not one of these qualities. She has no conscience, no shame, no remorse for terrible deeds done; indeed, the murder of Christians is the surest and swiftest passport to her heaven! ”

“ I have been fast friends with every one, and have watched them with such loving interest that I knew all their ways and could almost read their thoughts. I send them on to other lovers of dumb animals, hoping that the stories of these friends of mine will carry pleasure to young and old. ”

“ As time passed the adopted child became independent and needed no further guardianship, yet the friendliest relations existed between the two. Even after the chicken was grown and had chickens of her own they seldom met in their promenades about the place that Juno did not pause to rub her head affectionately against the neck of the orphan that she had brought up.
Juno was about a year older, I think, when there was a death in her family. The one little kitten that she loved with all her mother heart died and left her desolate. ”

“ They would demand that the Sultan should give up Crete, which should have its own government, or autonomy, as it is called, with a ruler whom they, the Powers, should select. Greece must go home with her troops and her ships, and have nothing hereafter to do with the fate of the island. ”

“ Jameson from the leading Uitlanders in Johannesburg that the Boers were up in arms, and that the people of Johannesburg were in danger of their lives.
They begged Dr. Jameson to come to their aid, in the name of humanity.
Dr. Jameson did not send this appeal on to his superiors, and wait for orders, as he should have done, but thinking that he was doing a glorious deed, he gathered a little force of eight hundred men together, and cutting down the telegraph wires behind him, so that no orders could reach him and stop him, he dashed into the Transvaal to the relief of Johannesburg. ”