Social News

• The women's committee headed by Mrs. Roosevelt, on which Lebanon is represented by Miss Angela Jurdak, had decided to hold its world women's congress in Lebanon in the year 1949.
A delegation of honorable ladies and misses, made up of Mrs. Zureik, Mrs. Najjar, and Miss Zahia Dughan, called at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning this congress, and is examining the question of the participation of the Lebanese women's organizations in the congress.

• Last month there arose an altercation, the first of its kind in Lebanon, between the physicians' syndicate and the pharmacists' syndicate, following the lifting of the restrictions on imported medicines; and the pharmacists in Lebanon struck for four whole days.

• Mr. Fuad Badr, director of "Dar al-Kitab," has returned from the United States after spending about a year on business connected with the house — among it The Woman's Voice — and he brings with him the greetings of the Lebanese woman abroad to her sister dwelling in the hills of the homeland.
There also returned from the United States a friend of "The Woman's Voice," Mr. George Wakim; Mr. Wakim was secretary-general of the Yemeni delegation, which was headed by His Highness Emir Sayf al-Islam Abdullah.

• The blowing up of the Jewish Agency building in the city of Jerusalem last March had a powerful echo in the Arab world, for it came as clear proof of the Arabs' competence, their capacity, and their readiness to deal crushing blows to the very heart of treacherous Zionism...

• Last month, in Tripoli, the marriage of Mr. Naji Ibrahim Hadid to Miss Emily Abboud Sabka was concluded; the wedding ceremony was exceedingly splendid, and the wedding procession moved in a column of automobiles from al-Mina to the bridegroom's house in the town, where sumptuous tables were spread and a dancing party was held; and in the evening the bride and groom left Tripoli to spend their honeymoon. May God grant them happiness.

• Likewise, at Qalhat in the Koura, the wedding of Miss Mona Suleiman Khoury to Mr. Georges Nader was celebrated, in a ceremony presided over by His Grace Bishop Sergios Samneh with a company of the clergy of the Koura; and a choir of pupils of the seminary school at the Monastery of Balamand accompanied the crowning prayer with its melodies.
After the crowning the bride and groom traveled to spend the lovely wedding days in the nests of Chtaura.

• In the news from New York: the great poet Ilya Abu Madi, owner of the newspaper al-Samir, has received a threat from a member of the Stern Gang for his support of the Arabs' cause in Palestine.
Some days earlier the great poet Abu Madi had received a threat at his home, and it was his wife who received the threat. May God guard the Lebanese poet Abu Madi, and cut off the criminal hands of criminal Zionism.

• The people of Freike have sent us word of the death of the late Khalil Masraa, father of the well-known man of letters Mr. Georges Masraa. The funeral prayer for his soul was held in the Church of Saint Joseph in Freike. May he have mercy, and may his family have consolation.

• Reports of the World Health Organization state that the epidemic of infantile paralysis is today sweeping the entire world, and is at present spreading in Britain, having earlier come as a guest to Austria and Berlin.

• News from Aleppo states that at Ma'arrat al-Nu'man, the town of the great Syrian philosopher Abu al-'Ala', pottery vessels have been found dating from after the age of Alexander. These antiquities have been moved to the National Museum in Damascus.

• The "UNESCO" committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is busy preparing the invitation cards to be addressed to more than a thousand of the world's great writers and thinkers, to attend the international cultural congress that will be held in Beirut next autumn. Among these are André Gide, François Mauriac, and Gustave Hervé for France; Ilya Ehrenburg for Russia; Mark Twain for the United States; Bernard Shaw for Britain. They will stay as guests of the Lebanese government.

• "The Woman's Voice" apologizes for being unable to publish all the letters and articles that reach it. "The Woman's Voice" neglects nothing; on the contrary, it welcomes these kind effusions sent to it from here and there; it is only the narrowness of space that obliges it to postpone certain articles.
All the letters and articles will be published in our coming issues. May those who love us excuse us.

• We have received from Miss Marie Kardahi a note reproaching us for having neglected to publish her opinion of the magazine "The Woman's Voice," and repeating her request that this note be published. "The Woman's Voice" thanks Miss Kardahi warmly for her kind sentiment, and accepts her gentle rebuke... And if her opinion has not been published to this day, it is not neglect on our part, nor forgetfulness, nor lack of interest, but only our unwillingness to praise The Woman's Voice in the pages of The Woman's Voice itself...

• The poet Fouad Suleiman is preparing a book of literature, a new color in Arabic literature; those who have seen it say it is the strongest thing yet to appear in the world of artistic prose.
The title of the book is "Alwan"; the Arab Publishing House in Beirut is bringing it out this month.

• The Lebanese Girl's Awakening Society in Beirut held an evening party in the hall of the Normandy Hotel, under the patronage of Her Ladyship the First Lady of Lebanon; it was attended, on behalf of Her Ladyship, by His Excellency the Minister of Finance, Mr. Mahmoud al-Aboud, and his gracious lady wife. It was also attended by a very refined crowd, at whose head was the Honorable Sheikh Fayez Makarem, director of the bureau of the Publicity and Publications Service.

The party opened with the Lebanese anthem; then Miss Linda Nassar, president of the society, gave a kind speech in which she welcomed those present and touched on the founding of the Girl's Awakening Society, its projects, and its part in the field of social service. Then the party began, and the dancers, men and women, turned to the strains of the rumba, the waltz, the swing, and the tango, interspersed with folk singing from the songstress Kahraman. Meanwhile contests were held in the various kinds of dancing, and the following were the winners:

Miss Hakimian with Mr. Zulfo — in the rumba.
Miss Kseir with Mr. Kseir — in the waltz.
Miss Nassar and Mr. George Rabiz — in the swing.
Miss Kseir and Mr. Mallouk — in the tango.

The party had reached its height with the election of "Miss Beirut"; Miss Aida Nassar won, and His Excellency Minister al-Aboud crowned her amid a storm of applause.

Before ending our description of this splendid party we cannot but, first, take note of the wit of Mr. Kanaan al-Khatib, who announced the results of the contests; and second, offer a word of appreciation and praise to the president of the society and its gracious members for their laudable endeavors in the service of this country.

The prizes were distributed to the winners, women and men. Among them were two one-year subscriptions to The Woman's Voice magazine. The magazine asks those who won this prize to send us their names and addresses, so that we may send them the magazine.

♦ The following word has reached us from our correspondent in Tripoli.

In keeping with the plan the Women's Charitable Society has followed since its founding, it held a grand party on the twenty-fifth of January 1948 at the Emir Cinema, the proceeds of which go to meet the heavy expenses required by the Orphan Girls' Home. The party was opened by the president of the society, Mrs. Iqbal Izz al-Din Zok, with a speech in which she set forth the aims of the society and its purpose in holding this party. Then Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the Lebanese Women's Union, spoke, and excelled utterly in setting out the role woman plays in the various fields, which aroused the admiration of those present with the maturity of her thought and the sweetness of her speech.

She was followed by the great orator Dr. Raif Abi al-Lama', deputy for Beirut, who spoke of the orphan, of society's duties toward him, and of the great losses that result from neglecting the orphan's education. It was a stirring speech that kindled every kind of humane feeling in men's souls and burst open the springs of mercy and charity in their hearts. Then Miss Zakiyya Hamdan delighted the audience with stirring anthems and lofty pieces of verse, most of which the audience called for again — above all the anthem of Palestine by the poet Elias Zakhariya. Shortly before the party's end the deputy for the North, Mr. Michel Mufarrij, arrived and announced that he was donating a thousand Lebanese lira to the Orphan Girls' Home; and the charitable lady, the wife of Abdullah Ghandour, seconded him with five hundred lira, and Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura with fifty; and Mr. Nasri Nahhas donated a hundred and fifty lira a year for ten years. The party ended after its mistress of ceremonies, Mrs. Nazik Adib, thanked the people of Tripoli for backing the society in its works, mentioning in particular the donors, and Mr. Khair al-Din Awad, who provided the Emir hall without charge; and those present departed, thanking the society for its happy choice of speakers and for the refined level of the celebration.

♦ Last month the honorable emigrant Mr. Georges Maalouf left Lebanon for São Paulo, Brazil, with his family, after spending a period of time in the Lebanese hills, during which he was the object of the warm welcome of the national circles, popular and governmental alike. And Lebanon is ever proud of these honorable faces that carry it, in their long expatriation, goodness and blessing and good fortune.

And Lebanon, which yesterday bade farewell to this honorable emigrant, hopes that this expatriation will not be long, and that its sons, scattered to the east of the earth and its west, will return to the homeland.

♦ There has come from Acre to Lebanon the notable Mr. Elias Tubi, with his wife the great Palestinian woman of letters Mrs. Asma Tubi. They have chosen the tranquil town of Aley as their place of residence. Lebanon bids them the fairest of welcomes...

♦ The brilliant woman of letters Miss Falak Tarazi has returned from France, after spending a stretch of time in which she enjoyed the comfortable Parisian atmosphere. Miss Tarazi was kind enough to visit "The Woman's Voice" and speak to its family of the impressions that what she saw in Paris left upon her; and she promised to continue her series of articles in this magazine on this delightful subject.