Letters and News

◆ The Lebanese Women's League held a general meeting at the Ahliah National College at four o'clock in the afternoon of November 28, 1947. The meeting was honored by Their Ladyships: the wife of His Excellency the President of the Republic and the wife of His Excellency the Prime Minister Riad Bey al-Solh.

The session was opened with the playing of the Lebanese anthem on the piano. Then Mrs. Salwa Mahmasani Moumina, deputizing for the president of the League, delivered the word of welcome. She thanked the two gracious visitors for their kindness toward the association's projects, and in her address she pointed to the effect of true democracy upon peoples and individuals and upon general renaissances. She also spoke of woman's responsibility in directing forces toward the highest ideals of patriotism and reform.

Then Mrs. Janet Tadros read a report on the association's finances. Mrs. Afifi Majdalani read a report on the magazine The Woman's Voice. And Miss Zahiyah Dughan gave a report on the kindergarten.

The lecturer at that great literary session was Mrs. Salma Sayegh, who spoke in her lecture of the Arab renaissance since its birth, and painted a splendid picture of the women's renaissance in Lebanon, in which the ladies present beheld the noble personalities who worked to awaken woman and to kindle the spirit of patriotism in souls.

◆ From the honorable Mrs. Muneera Shehadeh, president of Al-Nahda An-Nisaiyah of Zahle, we have received the following word, which we publish, joining Mrs. Muneera in her thanks and her feeling toward a generous lady whose bounty to charitable projects is far-reaching:

In the name of the kindergarten in Zahle which is run by Al-Nahda An-Nisaiyah of Zahle, I offer my sincerest thanks, with a feeling of admiration and esteem, to the honorable lady Latifah, Madame Karam al-Rami, for her donation of the sum of five hundred Lebanese liras to this association. A delegation from the association, composed of the two honorable ladies, the wife of Qaysar Bey Maalouf and the wife of Dr. Ibrahim Shehadeh, called upon this honorable lady to thank her for this gift and to bid her farewell before her return, with her worthy husband and her cultivated daughters, to São Paulo, the seat of their home and their business. It wished them a happy journey, success and prosperity, and a return to Lebanon at every opportunity, for there they have family, friends, and loving hearts. May God multiply the likes of this lofty Lebanese example.

The association is also proud to enroll among its members the honorable Mrs. Najla, wife of the generous notable Mr. Salim Saab, who has presented the association with the sum of 50 Lebanese liras as an earnest of her joining us in the work within the bounds of Zahle.

◆ The Arab world has been bereaved by the death of the leader of the women's renaissance, the late lamented Mrs. Huda Shaarawi. The news of her passing sent a tremor of grief and sorrow through all circles. "The Woman's Voice," which was bound to the departed by a bond of deep friendship and affection, contents itself for now with this much in announcing the loss to its readers in all parts of the world, promising to render her some of her due in the coming issue.

◆ The honorable lady Mrs. Almas, wife of the Honorable Fouad Bey Hamza, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Saudi Kingdom in London, has graciously donated to the Lebanese Women's League the sum of one hundred Lebanese liras. The League extends to her its most abundant thanks.

◆ God has blessed the honorable lady, sister of the wife of the notable Mr. Abd al-Rahim Diab, with a baby boy. May God make him one of the children of well-being in the shade of his two dear parents.

◆ The Lebanese government has conferred upon Professor Anis al-Khoury al-Maqdisi the gilded Order of Merit, in appreciation of him and in recognition of the precious services he has rendered in the cause of learning and culture. The Woman's Voice congratulates the professor on this appreciation and this recognition, both of which he deserves.

Likewise the government of the sister Kingdom of Iraq has conferred upon the great man of letters Mr. Michel Abu Shahla the Order of the Rafidain. This honor has met, in literary and press circles, with an echo of far-reaching approval, such is the admiration and esteem which Mr. Abu Shahla enjoys. To him our sincerest congratulations.

◆ With this issue "The Woman's Voice" begins its fourth year, and, as the reader sees, it climbs ever upward thanks to his support and his favor. On this occasion we note that the management has two sets of "The Woman's Voice," elegantly bound: one of them begins with June 1946 and runs to December 1946, and the second begins with January 1947 and runs to December 1947. The price of the first set is 15 Lebanese liras or a pound and a half, and the price of the second set is 25 Lebanese liras or two pounds and a half. Whoever wishes to keep them, or one of them, should apply to the management, enclosing with his order the price by postal money order or bank check.

◆ Professor "Crew" of the University of Edinburgh says that science may be able to determine whether your child will be a boy or a girl. He believes also that it is to the father, not the mother, that the sex of the newborn is scientifically due, and that science may be able to control sex.