The Women's Union Party at the Home of Mrs. Rose Shahfa

A Lecture by Mrs. Evelyne Bustros on India

Mrs. Rose Shahfa, president of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation, gave an elegant party at her home, to which she invited a select company of the country's ladies and a number of its men. She delivered a speech in which she welcomed the women's delegation returned from India, along with the ladies and gentlemen present, and spoke of the Federation's work and of its call for an all-embracing human nationalism. She then gave the floor to Mrs. Evelyne Bustros, who delivered a delightful lecture on India, explaining at the outset the reason for the journey, namely to increase the closeness between us and all parts of the world. She then mentioned the encouragement given the delegation by His Excellency the President of the Republic and His Excellency the Prime Minister, and criticized the fact that the invitation had come by way of Egypt rather than to Lebanon directly. She then began to speak of India and its castes, and of the aims of the congress, which are world peace. She enumerated the congress's demands, saying that foremost among them were:

1) The independence of India, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.

2) The unity of India.

3) The prohibition of child marriage.

4) Woman's rights of inheritance.

5) The wife's share in her husband's salary if she is one of those devoted to the work of the home.

6) Amnesty for political prisoners.

7) Compulsory education.

8) An increase in nurses' salaries.

Nor did the congress forget the Palestine question.

She then related some very curious things about India, mentioning that the Indians hold life so sacred that they will not kill a louse! Some of them will even pay a man two liras, for example, to sleep in a bed full of bedbugs so that the bedbugs may feed... She then described the Indians' manner of eating, saying that they still set the table on the floor and eat with their hands. She mentioned the monuments as well, saying that the finest, in her view, were those of the kings of Islam. Then she spoke of the interior of the Red Fort and of the Taj Mahal, of the banquets given for the ladies in the palaces, and of the jewels beyond counting or number.

The audience listened to her with pleasure and interest, and when she had finished, Mrs. Rose Shahfa rose and spoke a few words, among them:

A small reproach the Federation wishes to address to the honorable men of the press, who reported only the barest little about the Federation's delegate, Mrs. Najla Saab, before the committee of inquiry, and her valuable defense of Arab Palestine.

Strengthen, O men, O leaders of peoples, the standing of the woman who stretches out her hand to clasp yours. To cooperation, not to standing apart. To the bearing of responsibility, not to flight from it.

And it pleases me to announce at this generous gathering what has reached us concerning the completion of the decree conferring upon Mrs. Saab the Order of the Cedar. We congratulate her on this recognition, which she has earned by merit and desert.

All were then invited to a generous and elegant buffet, and they departed, thanking the hostess for her graciousness, her generosity, and her sincere patriotism.