. ,. By Ions MARION. ,
" New YORK. Saturday.
" name NOURIAN. who re-
sales shoes and aflixes’rub-
her heels to them in his little
Msement shop on ‘Second avenue, is
learning new songs to accompany
his labor. To-dny he waswhlstllng
‘Feather Your Nest,” and he flashed
I. row of brilliant white teeth with
his welcoming smile. When ‘I first
came to his shop last year he
bummed only odd, minor. monot-
onous Armenian songs. which are
the saddest songs in the world.
"So she is On her way at last?" I
said.
"Yes, she will come in tWo weeks.”
Nourian speaks perfect English.
'Nine‘years/since I have seen her,
and seven 'years when i did not
hear from her."
"Will you know her when you see
her?"
“You don't forget your mother that
quicki" he said. '
"Ydu will be renting a flat for a
home now, won’t you? She will
keep house for you ?" I asked.
Nourian grinned. "I am going to
get married. My mother is bringing
a wife for me, a girl of our village.
She was a child when I came to
America, but I remember her. They
call her Aghavni—that means ‘dove.’
She is like the name."
. From Land of Tragedy.
‘Arshag Nourian, of a race that
might be called Children of Tragedy,
has found America truly the lurid of
happy endings. Nine or ten years
ago he joined the steady stream of
emigration to America. His uncle
had come to this country earlier in
last. the massacre ycar.
“Beforethat time there were only
a few students and travelers of my
people here," Nourian tells me.
"Then. all in one year thousands of
us came over. It was the time. you
remember. when the Turks desired
to abolish Christianity throughout
their empire. They found the Ar-
menians obstinate. and so they
By ELIZABETH ANN ENGLAND
NEW YORK, Saturday.
EMPORAlilLY lodged in high
T brick loft buildings on the
. old Dowcry on their way to
a permanent home in the United
States are the strangest, the most.
brilliant and the most savage immi—
grants that have recently entered
the country; immigrants not affect-
ed by the 3 per cent. law. trnvt-lcrs
from all continu-nls that have come
here Captive in ('ugrsz for the nmnzc-
mom and nmusmnvnt of the nation.
At these \vly stations for wild nni-
nulls, exotic spots in that gray
stretch of dreary street between
Cooper Union and Chalhzlm Square,
all the zoos and all the circuscs buy
beasts. IIere film directors hunt for
animal actors. the organ grinder
finds a better ringtnil than he cver
owncd before, and the hawk {lured
fortune telling mnrkct woman buys
a o. sulphur crusted cocknton to pose
'2‘ ‘nll day in n cluttcrcd city street.
World's Greatest Animal Market.
licre hospitals and laboratories
send for monkeys by the hundred.
In the course of n ytnr more cunn-
rics are cleared hert- and sent on to
inland dealers than in any other
street on this side of the globe. No
lcss than a hundred thousand are
handled in a good season. Finches
from half the countries ofrthe world,
parrnkccts and Java. sparrows sing
and coo and twitter thcir first new
world notes in this smudged and
slandcrcd and down-nt-thc-hccl cor-
nf Manhattan before they pass
on to become pets in the private
aviarics of bird lovers. Of all the
strange trafflcs that once linked this
street with the ports of all conti-
nents only this one is left. It is
flourishing now as it never flour-
ished before. In the wild animal
trade New York'srmowery ranks as
the world‘s greatest wholesale mar-
ket center. ‘.
Bahia. on the coast of Brazil; Ben-
gal. in India; port towns of Ceylon
and Australia. inland camps on the
Mongolian plains. villages back in
the Hartz Mountains and trading
stations on the African vcldt are
everyday names down there, names
as familiar to the men who work in
the sunny whitewashed buildings
where the animals stay asthe-names
Harlem and Brooklyn are to the rest
‘ of New York. In clean cages. well
' " kept. are creatures that I“have per-
haps brought with them memories
of every sort of swamp and every
sort' of sunrise on the globe. ‘
'7 ”They are well quartered. Few
apartments are more scrupulously
renovated than are the upper floors
svhore' common young monkeys are
kept; eating and chattering and
having running and jumping matches
infill» face making contests when
they see strange visitors. Here they
“3 ’vvut while they learn their fate.
some of ,the common monkeys are
doomed to die. If fortune follow:
them they may escape. but very
many so to the hospitals, in the pub-
‘Ile health service. for use chiefly in
, experimental pork for the preven-
ncr
o
'9‘
,
t.
7‘ hrs no better on the'
Will-5‘0 the birds. In the
. man the bird floors hun-
M C norm and macaws and
'm pm themselves while
they stand In brmhnt rows, spread-
i
started to abolish the. Armenians.
All who could get out of the coun-
try tied to America. Why America?
Because missionaries had come to
us with schools and hospitals and
stories or a. wonderful country where
there was no oppression.
"My father's brother was among
these first Armenian immigrants."
_ In twenty years, from 1895 to 1915.
more than 70.000 Armenians flocked
to the United States. Nine-tenths of
them were men. mostly young men.
eager to make good. anxious to save
enough money to send for their rein-
lives. They came to America to stay.
Less than 15 per cent. returned to
their native land.
Armenia of the City.
Rather a small proportion settled
in New York. It is estimated that at
this time there are between 10,000
and 12.000 Armenians resident in the
city. Most of them live on the East
Side between Seventeenth and
Thirty-fifth streets. ‘
To continue with Nourian’s story.
He considered what line of business
to enter. The field of common labor
was open. of course, but offered llt— ‘
tie reward for personal initiative.
He looked with envy on.- the stores
that dealt in Oriental rugs. He had
a natural eye for color, common
among Armenians, and he loved the
gorgeous blue and rose and ivory of
the beautiful rugs from the East.
Nourian had no capital to embark
upon anything so ambitious as mer-
chandizing. Tailoring and cobbllng
were popular occupations among his
countrymen. His uncle decided the
question for him. 'Hc had a. little
shoe repair establishment. and ho
took his young kinsman in with him.
Nourian worked early and late.
The diligence of these recruits to our
citizenship is a. reproach to Ameri-
cans who have abandoned the stren-
uous program. Theirs is no eight
hour day. “’ith a. definite purpose in
View, they have no regard for the
clock. but coin their hours into cash
to the limit of their ability. Nourian
had almost achieved his first goal.
the passage. money for his parents.
when the war broke out.
' 1
Snakes live here too and some may
be found all the year round in deep
cages covered with close heavy wire
netting. No poisonous snakes are
hundlt‘d by any New York dealer as
part of his regular stock. Venomous
not common counter
snakes are
go ids. But the crushcrs are, and
”icy are far fer harmless. To one
GC’lll‘l‘ alone some thirty big pythons
have come in the last month, most
of them over twenty feet long. And
a twenty font python is not a gentle
thin: nor a pot especially c y to
handle if he is unwlilling tol cas-
urcd on the row 0'! blnck marks that'
runs through the center of the floor
between the cages. A«curatc meas—
urement is necessary. since pythbns
and boas hrc sold by length.
Smallest Indian Elephant.
Big snakes are the largest animals
that are kept in stock—on the shelf.
so to speak—in town. No great. num-
her are kept. Hardly any more
snakes will arrive in a season than
large wild animals, which are sent
for,rosliipment to an animal farm
outside of town. No lions have been
brought into the Ifnitcd States this
year, but with this OXCODUOH the
present summer has broken every
record of the last half dozen years.
No fewer than thirty elephants are
due to arrive. the first to come since
the war. Many of them are already
here, among them the smallest ele-
phant that has ever been brought
from India. He was only- forty-two
inches high and so tame that he
followed the keeper who brought
him like a funny animated toy. even
into the kitchen of the farmhouse
on the place where he was kept
overnight.
Eleven kangaroos have also come,
tw-miy tigers, fifteen leopards and
close to a thousand monkeys, with
two thousand parrots. three thou-
sand parrnkccts, four thousand Java.
sparrows and many other birds.
This list is a. partial one. It does not
include some special shipments, nor
does it note animals sent to other
ports than New York and Boston.
Canaries are the most numerous of
all the bird immigrants to the
United States. A single dealer has
imported as many as 60,000 in a
season, but no canaries arrive in the
summertime. The weather is too
warm for them to travel. and if they
did make the trip the moulting sea.-
son would \make them unfit for im-
mediate sale. so they are left until
fall, most of themfiYn Hartz Moun-
tain villages, where the finest of‘
them are now going to singing
school. The large dealers have ca-
nary houses as large as our average
school’building. and the bird music
students must practice four or five
hours a day. The school is strictly
kept and they have a regular in-
structor who teaches them to sing
in imitation of the notes he plays
on the bird organ, sometimes using
bells and whistling. Some birds
learn so well that they are kept as
music teachers. In proportion to e -
entire number of canal-lea only a
few are so carefully traine‘d—per.
haps one in a thousand. None of
these college trained canal-lee Is on
the Bowery new.
Summertime, however. is the height
of the season for all the biz flailing
in animals. Jungle minds and
Jungle birds cannot be ntoly brought
in at any other time. They need .
couple of months of heat while get.-
flns accustomed to the climate. Host ‘
otthemwmefrommmCeybn.
which is the most tenable source at
‘ .
through, then abruptly all‘ corre-
spondence ceased; . 1915 and 1916
were troubled year-sitar many peo-
ples, but probably for no one. so
muchastheArmenian race‘When
you consider the disasters of the war,
think of a race, not simply decimated
’ Armenian-s; (if ‘
At first a. semi letters trickled é‘mes in Armenia.» Practically every’
5%
0119 had parents. ibrothers and sisters
‘tn the home country. ,
Nourian’s savings continued to ac-
' cumulate with the war boom in
Pricea. and his, native thrift which
saved him from war extravagances.
0f Armenian girls there were prac-
ticaily none of marriageable age. .If
he had not lost trace of his parents,
he would have written to themr to
‘ select a bride for him.
Letters written in the Turkish
language, subjected to strict censor- ,
but there was only irony in the good ship. ‘78" 330W?“ “5 pa” "he"
He looked with envy on the stores that dealt in Oriental rugs.
but cut down 25 per cent. One-I
quarter of the total population killed,
hundreds of thousands deported,
shifted about and lost. Scarcely an
Armenian in America but has been
involved in some way in this ter—
rible confusion. 0f the married emi-
grants who came here prior to the
war. half had left wives and fam-
The
supply for large quantities, though
Africa. sends some, and a considera-
ble number come up from South
America.
\Vhen elephants. tigers or pythons
arrive at the port of New York al-
most invariably the biils of lading
will show them as having come from
a port in Europe-a German port as
a. rule. The reason for this is not
generally known. and those who ex-
/’I'~f‘ \
"IN .
l ”’5‘?" \
'1’
plalnitusuallyeaythattheysre
bought from German dealers. This
is not ordinarily true. Our largest
New York dealers do a. worldwide
buslneee and send their own blue"
to every-port. town in the world that
lies in a Jungle country. They buy
directly from 7 natives. Sometime.
sale. are made by the men who have
{one hunting tor thoiwlld stock. but
more commonlyonhgivo trader-col-
lects m‘m val-lone catchers
fortune that came too late. He
served twoyears in the American
army. and returned to his small'shop
in 1919 with an honorable record. a
little donghboy French and a’ cita-
tion for valor.
The business was now all his own.
for his uncle had died. He wanted .
to settle down in a. home of his own.
peace was restored. Nourian wrote
to his home village, and received
word that his father eras dead. his
mother gone. no one knew where.
The Near East Relief offered its re-
sources. and to this organization
Nourian turned for help in locating
his mother. Two more years passed
and there seemed little hope.
Jungle Market ‘.
trades with them and reselling to the
American and English and German
buyers.
Journey From Jungle Broken.
From India to New York is too
long a. trip for wild animals to make
if it can possibly be avoided. It can
be done. but it is not good for them.
For some reason the climate of
Europe is not so hard on them at
first. and the most careful dealers.
the men who do the very largest busi-
ness in the world. maintain rest
- houses and conditioning farms in
Europe. To these places the Jungle
stock from 'm
first.
°t “19 We” to tbebrickm
. m m .l . .. 1..»v
_ upper end og-ugz m1.
#7:!» rm, «use:
‘m.
and ma is sent. ,
. . . ' , . flan. a bird section Mommy.
mm:- mm
America. The largest 200 and circus
animal industry of the Americas is
in Brazil and rare birds and monkeys
are brought down the Amazon in
small boats by natives who make a
regular business of going into the in-
terior after wild live stock. Circling
at! the port towns are many dealers
’ who have animal farms. to which the
catchers bring their stock if they
find no'direct buyer. Hundreds 'of
natives have no more certain way of
getting ready money than going on a
wild animal hunt.
Some of them will only go along
on a hunt organized by another na-
tive. and take no trouble after the
beasts and birds are caught. The
most ambitious have regular wild
animal farms. Prosperous ones live
in pretty cottages with a front yard
full of brilliant wild flowers. The
back yard is full of equally brilliant
wild birds and animals. with small
jaguars and leopards tethered like
dogs and serving as playmates for
the children. The whole family
helps take care of the creatures in
the animal, burn. There are three
sections tn it use.
lis°ltm§lis Manhattan Isle! ,
‘rhencameme veil whichset
Nourianltorwhlsmag gayrAma-lcan
and women folks. His mether had
been found at last among the poly-
glot refugees in Constantinople.
where the lost; strayed and stolen of
Russia and the Balkans'rand‘ali the
Turkish Empire gather. ,
He wrote to-vsmnge for her pas-
sage and sent money for. her im-
mediate i mess. He intimated also
that if she should know of some at-
tractive young lady she might fancy
‘as a daughter-in—iaw he would be
glad to forwanl passagemoney for
two.. The, reply to ‘that was the
promise of Aspavni. . , _
By the time Aghavni andmother
arrive Nourian will have his home
ready for them; It ‘wiii be on the top
floor somewhere in the neighborhood
of his shop. It is an interesting fact
that Armenians always live on the
fifth floor of the tenement houses
high up where there is sunshine and
air and access to the roof. That is a
relic of their outdoor life in their
‘ own country. .
He is already planning for his
wedding. It must be a very grand
affair. for he feels like celebrating
now, after all these years of loneli-
' ness. It will be held in the Armenian
Church of St. Gregory the Illumina-
tor, and all the elaborate Armenian
ceremony will be performed.
Friends Serve as Mentors. .
Most young married couples con-
sider outside advice quite} dispensa-
ble, but at Armenian weddings two
married friends of the bride and
groom stand up with them through
the ceremony and have a. right to
offer arbitration and advice to them
‘ever after. There is no wedding cake.
but the lack is not felt. There is
plenty to compensate. Even‘ at the
humblest weddings there is always
provided a. huge dish of candy, Jor-
dan almonds, colored rock sugar and
little hard candies of all sorts.
Nourlan intends ,to have a very fine
feast as well, with all kinds of Ar-
menian dishes.
Cooking is a. fine art among the
monkey. which also comes from the
upper Amazon. ,
Monkey- on Hon-hold Pets.
The Brazilian natives pierce the
ears of this tiny marmoset and give
it brilliant earrings to wear; they
put a necklace to match ’round its
neck. and it becomes almost as well
loved in the household as one of the
children. Buyers who know the
Brazilian back country very well re-
port uniformly tllat the native ani—
mal men are very kind to their live
stock. not only because it pays but
because they really like animals
and understand their ways.
In some respects the woolly mon-
key is as interesting as the wee
marmoset. Covered with thick. soft
hair that is heavy like plush. it has
a. wizened. black. old man sort of
face and likes to be quiet. It is a.
silent. shy monkey, and calm and
gentle if given good treatment.
For every one of these unusual
animals a dealer will have hundreds
of parrots and. as a rule, plenty of
little boa constrictors. Boas are the
only snakes that are imported regu«
larly from the Amazon. Now ahd
then odd mammals will be on hand.
creatures like the ant bear. with his
twelve inch tongue. which he uses
or" “ '
'gequauyyvellasaaant catchersnda
fruit Juice extractor. ' '
‘animals that come up from South
Am" erlca are Jaguars and leopards. .
"wildcatssndpumas. .
'_Qn' occasion. animals. snakes and
birds are broughtJn to the market
It! not: townnndsetuongtbo
su'eetrorulemesomeny chickens
orbuncbes‘of’benanas. Ittheport
:ma’rksrts are 2:111:01 was umtock
autumnal-diam back country.
.Haflvelwfllseldomtakethe trouble
tunesand/laying plans for a home ,
C
Arrhenius, and can
' exercise, not merely a.
of their preparation. “nigh!
favorite meal. almost “d ’i in
Lamb and "egeh'lbleg “In.
gether and flavored with k“ is-
right dash of spices and lint ‘
pearwith infinite “analog?!“ ‘lk
tie Armenian restaurants .. Inm-
lngton avenue you may IQ:
kefab. which is lamb my?!“ .Mill:
on a skewer. or pilafr, “fl: . “3
tered rice with pignola a “ b“:-
lnar bassdl. artichokm an...“
chopped meat, or path“. q '33
nut pastry. or lokma, a m 615*“
served with lemon flavomqhm"
matzoon. which is Simply .0 "
The Armenian church is if
national church in the w
adopted as the State 1‘21ng '3'
Tiridates in the year 301 A
long before that time it high”: >
many followers in the one
was introduced by the 59.33,. '
dens three years after Chi—15:. $2:
In New York there are he ‘1
menian apostolic Churchu' “Bk.
East Twenty-seventh stream! a:
on East Seventeenth. m ”5
Christian liturgy is “HOME
every Sunday in the Amen!“ "
guage. On Christmas “damm-
churches are thronged, The the
of imawry in the service is
equaled in any other. The mugs”:
pitched in a .mlnor key, on“, .8
almost lnarticuiatc wailing, but it:
vestments are full of “Viacom
Although Armenian mile:
‘estlmable numbers 4131:?!“ E
, twenty-eight years, them mil:
menians here earlier than that. 9‘
one of them, a student and a
Dr. Seropian, every American 3 ll
debted for the formula for them
ink which makes our greeamhw
ficult to counterfeit So :3,- “92'-
records reveal, the first Wind
citizen on American soil “31:14:.
menlan. In the history 02mm
town colony, founded in 1613,23,,»
down that “Martin, ye .4, _
became a naturalized Brimmm
while he was in rcsidencchl‘rm
--
ing on the little jer'rrwater mm
carries an assortment of mane-es ‘
and freight live stock, but: lung“:
and domestic. 1'
These animal buyers are a grasp
of professionals. about whom the
public knows very little. No ma:
who has no: had six or eighty-1's
of train' . ‘ ‘3 branches of the
sexiness is scales:
The bushes is
quite on y czher buying in the
world . n Latin America will
las: t‘ he or longer and one,
to the . homily mmm‘
-:- first thing a. buyer
he can ship them out.
They in: 1: ’1»: in market, they may
not. Other 1’21:ch may have FIE-Y
ceded him. For mehm and
birds he ma}. be hiding must
European buyers. To be sure. he
goes out with orders for outstand-
msls, but is expected to use his infig-
mcnt in buying enough others to
make up a shipment. If satisfactory.
animafs are not in market he must‘
get them brought in. even if he has
to have a new hunt organized 21
some native dealer. i
This happens not infrequently 13
the Brazilian buying. If the princi-
pal demand that has Blades trip nec«
essary is for snakes the first stop is
at Bahia. Bahia is the b‘lggestsnaks
port in Latin America. But even
here there may be no sntishctory
snakes ofi'ercd in the town market.
So he notifies every one who hasten-
tact with catchers and dealers in all
kinds of stock and they send out
word as to just what he might buy.
Then he rents his shack. sets 3 cy-
pcnter to making cages for shipment
and goes up country.
It may take a long time to get L's
stuff together, many visits to varies
traders. Some traders will lead I
party of catchers into the in
others are only salesmen. But in
one way and another the order !s
filled and regular stock, like men-
keys and parrots, added. It is the
pride of every buyer to bring i=3 1‘
rare specimen—some animal that H
seldom caught alive—on each 211?.
Natives know this and know “’17
well how to bargain for the best 13$“
sible‘price for an unusual tind—
4
F ceding Animals Es Rout:
When the collection is male“
and the cages are made t3. _
cooking kitchenette the! all We
carry is unpacked. Alum!!!“ 9"?
and pans, galvanised F” 3.1
graniteware mixing M” ”a
needed, Space and a cousin: rd"
liege must be arranged for in “‘9
cook's galley. Then the 8399M are
bought. To feed a. typical collect“
from South America at the W to
New York, a collocaon not hm!“lies
of sweet condensed milk. 3 Wm!
of fax-ins, a. box of CM ”an
cabbagesandotherw
threebunchesofmnl‘a”
Norwalk Chronicler