Judsonia weekly advance., 1915-03-17
How Daniel Noorian of Kurdistan Has Made Success in
 America.
LEARNED TRADE OF FAMILY
Position Of Interpreter Gave Him Chance to Come to New World Where He Benefits by Fad
 for Things Oriental.
By OSBORN MARSHALL.

Copyright Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.)
 In Kurdistan every boy learns his fathers trade. The cry for vocation part of the world If your father is farmer, so are you; if he earns his bread making shoes. you do the same; if he begs, you beg for a living; and no one would expect the son of thief in Kurdistan to live by honest labor
 The Noorians in the hill country of Kurdistan have always been jewell CTS. They adopted that profession nobody knows how many years ago and have handed down the traditions and methods of their trade from fa- ther to son ever since. Daniel Noorian was a youngster some forty years ago and he and his brothers were early given the opportunity to work in their fathers shop. As mere children they learned to distinguish the different precious stones and to know their value When their arms were strong enough they were taught to hammer and mold the precious metals and to cut and engrave the precious stones
 All the boys were sent to school, but Daniel felt thirst for greater learning. He wanted to learn the great languages of the world so that he could read the books that had not been translated into his native Arabic. So when he was scarcely more than a boy he journeyed westward from his home in the hills to Constantinople Here he was admitted to Roberts col lege. His first aim was to learn to speak English, his ultimate dream was to come to America-that far away land of progress, freedom and boundless wealth Tn that country, so he had heard, jewelry was made by skillful machinery-not by the pains taking, slow methods of his fathers. He would go to America and learn these new, quick ways of doing things and grow rich.
 On an Expedition to Bagdad.
 One day after Noorian had been in college only few months and could speak only little English one of his professors sent for him and said:
 "Noorian, how would you like to go to Bagdad?"
 Noorian gave start
 Why" he exclaimed, 'I have been dreaming so long of going to America, the land of achievement and independ- ence, and now you ask me to go East, the land of superstition and stagna- tion. What is there in the East to do or to seer"
 We'll exclaimed the professor, "I have friend who has come to Con- stantinople from America and is go- ing on to Bagdad From there he is going to go south in the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates, to the cities of Abraham and the prophets He wants an interpreter. It occurred to me that as you spoke Arabic and have a good share of common sense you would he just the one To be sure it will mean you must leave college, but these men who want to engage you are great scholars and you can learn as much from them as you could here. If you care to accept the proposition you will have to go at once. What do you think of it?"
 Noorian thought for moment.
 I will go," he said at last Since it is with Americans perhaps this trip to the East may be a means of going to the West eventually"
 So Daniel Noorian turned away from college and home to join the ex petition to Bagdad-a city almost as remote from his thoughts, although in actual miles not far from his native Kurdistan-as 1t is from ours. He had seen the rich rugs and carpets from Bagdad, but that was about all.
 The American who had sent ahead for the interpreter was William Hayes Ward, who was in charge of the Wolfe Babylonian expedition in 1884. He was minister and an oriGntalist, and his interest in the ancient ruins of Babylon was that of a profound scholar.
 To America and Back Again.
 Noorian's work as an interpreter was not easy at first, because he had but slight knowledge of English. The worst of it was that he could get no Arabic-English dictionary. He managed to get an English-Armenian dictionary. So at first in order to in- terpret the words of the Arabic na- tives of the plains of Babylon, unless he knew the English equivalent, he had to consult three dictionaries.
 It was as Noorian had hoped When in the spring of 1885 the Wolfe expe- dition terminated it's work in Babylon Noorian followed MT. Ward to the land of his dreams. A few years later, when the University of Pennsylvania sent out the expedition to excavate Nippur-the most promising city in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates --Noorian, as the most experienced interpreter to be had, was one of the party.
 During the expedition the plains of