Lebanon Awards Mrs. Najla Saab Its Cedar Medal — A Delightful Party at the Normandy, Held by the Women's Union

A description of the party:

The Lebanese Arab Women's Federation issued invitations to a party which it held at the Normandy on the evening of Monday, April 8, on the occasion of the government's conferral of the Lebanese Cedar Medal upon Mrs. Najla Saab. The hotel was thronged with gracious ladies, headed by the First Lady of Lebanon, and with some men — in a very small proportion — foremost among them His Excellency the Prime Minister, His Excellency the Minister of Health, and the honorable president of the Press Syndicate, along with other notables and dignitaries.

Mrs. Rose Shahfa, president of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation, opened the party with an address that made a fine impression. Then His Excellency the Prime Minister spoke, acknowledging woman's merit in our renaissance and praising the efforts of the honoree; then he pinned the medal upon her breast amid a storm of applause. The word then passed to Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, who delivered a profound and measured address which those present interrupted again and again with applause. Then Mrs. Saab delivered an address of thanks and patriotism, with her well-known modesty and graciousness. After that, those present were invited to an elegant buffet containing the best of good things to eat, and the company gathered in circle after circle, eating and conversing; then all departed, speaking of the order and generosity displayed at that party, and of the graciousness of the ladies who gave it.

And "The Woman's Voice" addresses to Mrs. Najla Saab — one of the excellent ladies who have contributed, and still contribute, to bringing it to life — its sincerest sentiments of congratulation and esteem.

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The reader will find below some of the addresses delivered at that party:

The address delivered by His Excellency the Prime Minister, Sami Bey al-Solh, at the party for Mrs. Saab:

My gracious ladies, members of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation; gentlemen:

It pleases me on this occasion to call attention to the great role that woman plays in the life of the homeland, though this role is as plain as the sun at high noon and needs no telling.

As for our lady honored today, the former president, her endeavor in the field of national life is known to all. This excellent, patriotic lady presided over the movement of the women's renaissance during a period in which the country passed through obstacles that demanded resolve, courage, and service from all Lebanese men and women; in the face of the obstacles confronting the country she performed the national duty in the best of fashions, sharing in it with the gracious Lebanese ladies, all of whom raised the homeland's cause high and served it with cooperation and integrity.

Among the things it pleases me to mention is that our honored lady recently gave, before the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on the Palestine question, eloquent testimony in defense of the sacred right of the Arabs; and her testimony found the finest and most far-reaching echo.

So when the government, ladies and gentlemen, invests Mrs. Najla Saab with the national Cedar Medal, it is rewarding one of the devoted workers in the field of national life, and affirming at the same time its esteem for the great role that the rising women of Lebanon have played and continue to play.

The address of Mrs. Rose Shahfa

Your Excellency; gentlemen:

It is a joy for the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation, and a pride for woman, to honor a sister of ours whose merit men have appreciated, even if only after a time, so that those responsible in the government issued a decree adorning that breast — a decree which does not make it any broader, but makes it more ardent, more zealous, more eager toward the highest ideals and loftiest aims.

The Federation is pleased to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic and His Excellency the Prime Minister, those two gracious men, for their lofty kindness and for conferring the Cedar Medal, deservedly and on merit, upon the gracious sister Mrs. Najla Saab — who never gave a thought to this reward, to whose mind the medal never once occurred — when she walked in the vanguard of the sisters, driven by her free feeling and her sincere patriotism, to defend the existence of Lebanon and its government, its flag and its dignity, in the year '43 — that ill-omened year, or blessed year, as the well-known saying has it: "Perhaps you hate a thing though it is good for you" — for that initiative, and that crucible through which the patriots passed, brought them out of the melting pot of enslavement to become, after a while, masters in their own Lebanon; and that smiling hope of rising from the lower to the higher, which possessed them for so long, gave birth to that revolution to which the law of free life summoned them — the life by which one moves toward glory and dignity. Can the worth of that initiative be measured, and of that development so longed for? May God take them by the hand and enable them, one and all, to serve this homeland; and may the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation continue striving in the service of the country, flourishing and favored with success.

...our souls and the souls of our fathers and forefathers, that we may turn it to the good of the Lebanon we love and hold sacred. And will those of us who bear responsibility, holding in their hands these arches of victory, guide it toward a virtuous, fruitful, wise life, setting it in the rank of the free nations that move forward in their processions from one link to the next, smashing everything that stands in the way of their progress, their cooperation, the renewal of their being, and the revival of their hopes?

This is a soft note that I whisper into the ears of the devoted, on the margin of this address, which comes from a devoted heart hoping to enter wise hearts of real consequence, so that they make their first aim the hearing of voices raised from the platform of the press in sincere criticism, to correct the errors that hold back our national edifice, our dignity, and our development toward the better.

Ah, my sister — let me congratulate the medal on you, as it mounts a generous, resolute breast and a free, active heart whose stands have revealed zeal and will. You won it by your intelligence and your diligence; it is the Cedar Medal, emblem of our beloved flag, which impels you to carry out your mission in its most perfect form.

And let me congratulate the man who has begun to awake, to see the merit of his second half, so that he strengthens her and confirms the standing that woman possesses by her place at his side in calamities, the generous hand she has in the building up of the country, and the longing and ardor in her soul to share in paving the road for precious Lebanon, for whose reform the hopes and programs have been so many and so various.

And the need is for the two partners who know its points of weakness, and who work hand in hand to repair them and to uproot what is harmful in them — and peace.

The address of Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura

It was the will of the excellent sisters, members of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation, that I should stand in their stead on this occasion to perform the duty toward the gracious friend honored today — not that they might hear from me anything new, nor become acquainted with some side of her character and her struggle that is strange or obscure to them. Rather, perhaps their choice of me rested on two grounds: the first, my name, which is no doubt a true expression of the gladness and joy in their souls on this happy occasion; and the second, their claim that I am a page from the register of the women's renaissance, preserving for the generation and immortalizing the memory of what is great and noble, so that I might recite to your ears a young history filled with great deeds. I could wish the occasion had been given to each one of them to stand where I stand, to do better than I, and to extol the friend's merit more than I can — unconcerned by her reproaches once this party is over; for I, truth be told, reckon with her a thousand reckonings. So forgive me now, my friend; let me free myself from the courtesy of friendship, if only for a while, and discharge the trust committed to me; and do you shield me from the companions' blame for falling short.

Honored assembly: what can I say in a few minutes, in which to review a gracious personality who performed great deeds with the courage of faith and the firmness of conviction — faith in self and in the right, and the conviction of performing the duty laid upon the human being if he is to live a life of dignity, freedom, and independence; a courage that sprang from high culture and sound thinking. She saw the right and followed it; she came to know the struggle in all its kinds and embraced it; and out of all this she formed a sincere patriotism which made the homeland's claim binding upon men and women alike.

Yes, my friend: you have performed, and will perform, the sacred duty; you have cherished, and will cherish, a principle in which you believed and for which you strove. By this work of yours you have proved that woman can be, at one and the same time, the virtuous and wise wife, the tender mother, and the dutiful daughter of a dear homeland and a noble people. You have demonstrated that woman has a national consciousness and a real share in building the homeland's glory. Sacrifice is your watchword, patriotism your banner, independence your goal; and behold, Lebanon records a virtue to your credit; behold, the master of Lebanon confers on you the medal of its immortal Cedar, in esteem for your struggle and in acknowledgment of your merit; and behold, the Lebanese Women's Federation raises to the government of Lebanon expressions of thanks and gratitude for its repeated acknowledgment, time and again, of women's efforts, its kindness toward their projects, and its answering of their demands. It is said: to every age its state and its men. But our esteemed government, by this act of hers, seems to wish to say: to every age its state, its men — and its women.

My friend: in sacrifice there is delight, gladness, and contentment; in patriotism, glory, greatness, and pride; and in the reward, a performance of duty, an appreciation of merit, and an acknowledgment of favor. Sacrifice and reward are two equal honors — nay, two equivalent virtues. You performed the first and were granted the second; so take your pleasure in both together, and accept the congratulations of your sisters, who admire your character and are proud of your deeds. Forward, through all the days!

The address of the honoree, Mrs. Najla Saab

Your Excellency the Prime Minister,
Madam President of the Federation,
Ladies and gentlemen:

Allow me to offer the sincerest sentiments of thanks and gratitude to His Excellency the President and to our government, who were pleased, out of their kindness toward me, to grant me the honor of this medal, and to bestow upon me a reward for a joint effort in which I was only one soldier among others, together with my fellow members of the Women's Federation and all the women of Lebanon.

And as I accept it, I feel proud of it — because it is not mine, but belongs to woman in Lebanon; because it is an appreciation of her sharing in the nation's hopes, of her contribution to the effort of liberation, and of her readiness to perform in the future what is incumbent upon her in building up this homeland and consolidating its pillars; and because this medal is presented by an independent Lebanese government.

And how great is my fortune today, to stand before the head of our government among the members of the Federation — this body to which I am proud to belong — receiving from its president, from its members, and from Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura those generous sentiments which I try to answer in kind with thanks, but fall short.

This good country in which we live stands in the vanguard of the Arab nation in progress and in intellectual advancement, and we have every hope that it will stand at its forefront in Arab spirit, in a liberating tendency, in organized constructive work, and in a constant looking toward the realization of its national hopes.

Thank God, we have taken a sure step on our road: we have realized the existence of a government of us and for us; we have placed our affairs in our own hands; and we have become a nation that sees in independence a glory, in sacrifice for its sake a blessing, in public work a satisfaction, and in union a strength.

It is run by five educated young men of Dedde, whose task is teaching, free of charge, those young men and women whom their circumstances deprived of the blessing of learning at the school desks by day... And the five young volunteers in the fight against illiteracy talk with you, and you come to admire their project, which has no like in Lebanon — not at the American University, which America supports, nor in the Maqasid Society, which the Muslim community of Beirut champions...

This is a night school for boys, ready and active in carrying out its mission... and tomorrow the educated girls of the village will take over the running of a similar school for girls, now in preparation!...

And in Dedde, besides these two, there are two private schools for boys and a government school for girls... I recall that the number of all the people of Dedde is some one thousand two hundred, and I marvel at the leap of the Lebanese toward learning!

You stroll through the quarters and corners of the village, listening to your companions complain of the government's neglect of the works of construction and health in their town: no road is paved, no electric or telephone wire is strung — not even a water pipe to spare them swallowing germs with the murky water of the wells!... And on your way you see a church and a mosque, and your companions tell you: this one is for the Christians and that one for the Muslims!...

And you turn back, to accompany Emir Hussein on his rounds among the orchards and vineyards, and to hear him speak of planting and tree-setting, of sowing and harvest, of the kinds of insects and the diseases of plants, with an expertness and an art beside which the expertness and art of the agricultural engineer fall short!... And you let your gaze wander over those regions and those wide horizons, saying to yourself:

Blessed are you, O Lebanon — how many treasures beneath your soil, and how many treasures upon your back!... But they are hidden treasures!...