Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1918 — World’s Oldest Town. [ARTICLE]

World’s Oldest Town.

A few miles south of the snow ridge of the Caucasus, next door to Europe, but actually In Asia, there is a wretched little village whose fame should be world-wide. Beneath its terraced homes two rivers the clear, cold Aragwa, hastening from Its birthplace In the eternal snows of the Caucasus to, the hot depression of the Caspian, and the Kura, skilled and dirty, swinging In from the west to'' make Its way across the barren Transcaucasian steppe, between the mountains of Daghestan and the Armenian highlands. Mtzkhet Is the name of this peninsula town. Only a Russian, with ample whiskers, can readily pronounce the word, says Maynard Owen Williams in Christian Herald. There is really nothing in the peaceful and dirty little village to compare with the militant aggressiveness of Its name. Mtzkhet has claims to antiquity that make the oldest New England town appear as a mere baby; for its citizens assert that it was founded by one of Noah’s sons, who strolled over from Mount Ararat one day and chose this site because of Its excellent drainage. The town looks old, to say the le»«t. Damascus has a verdant freshness about it that is as deceptive as grease paint, but Mtzkhet stands out from green fields, and pastures new, like a weathered fishing smack In an emerald sea.