Society News

The president of the Lebanese Women's League, Mrs. Heneni Tarcha, was taken with an indisposition, on account of which she had to enter Dr. Haddad's hospital, where she underwent an operation for appendicitis. Mrs. Tarcha kept to the hospital for some time, and the venerable president left Dr. Haddad's hospital after regaining her full health. The family of The Woman's Voice congratulates Mrs. Tarcha on her precious recovery, and wishes this blessed, humane personality long life in the service of the Lebanese woman and of Lebanese society.

• There returned from Moscow last May the respected Mrs. Salma Takieddine, wife of our Minister Plenipotentiary in Moscow, the Honorable Sheikh Khalil Takieddine. The Woman's Voice extends the warmest of welcomes to the gracious lady and to her family.

• Upon the flood of refugees after the famous events of Haifa and Jaffa, the Lebanese Women's League called a meeting, held at the Officers' Club, to consider how to aid the unclothed refugees. The meeting was presided over by Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the Lebanese Arab Union. The ladies of Lebanon, together with the Lebanese Red Cross, performed works that truly call for esteem and admiration.

And so it was that the ladies of Lebanon were able to collect large quantities of clothing, which were distributed to the needy after being cleansed.

• Mr. Muhammad al-Naqqash, the well-known Lebanese man of letters, wrote in the esteemed newspaper Beirut al-Masa a piece entitled 'This Is Not the Voice of the Lebanese Woman,' in which he attacked the magazine The Woman's Voice because it published on its cover a picture of a bouquet of roses for the month of May, and because it published nothing about Palestine — his argument being that May is the month of Palestine and not the month of roses...

Nor did his piece confine itself to The Woman's Voice; it went beyond it to the Lebanese Women's League itself...

It gives The Woman's Voice great pleasure to point to the satisfaction of Palestinian women's circles with The Woman's Voice, shown in the letter it received from the secretary of the Women's Social Solidarity Association in Haifa, Miss Mufida al-Dabbagh. It would also ask the man of letters al-Naqqash to look back over its issues from the day the situation in Palestine grew critical: he will see that The Woman's Voice is the only magazine in the whole Arab world, women's and otherwise, that has devoted its finest pages and its strongest pens to the Palestine question...

And if the painful events that occurred in Palestine all took place after The Woman's Voice had been printed in full, the fault does not lie with The Woman's Voice...

Mr. Fouad Suleiman, editor-in-chief of Dar al-Kitab, replied to Mr. al-Naqqash in the same newspaper, Beirut al-Masa...

To the honorable and worthy editor-in-chief of the magazine The Woman's Voice, kind greetings:

It is cause for satisfaction, and inspires gladness, that your flourishing magazine has taken an interest in publishing pieces and news about struggling Palestine — beloved Palestine, in whose lands the battle of life or death is now being waged: either victory forever, or defeat for generations. But no, we shall not be defeated, now that every one of us has become a fighter, working hand in hand with his brother to save Palestine from loathsome Zionism. The women's organizations in Palestine have risen to labor strenuously at every kind of assistance within their power — first aid, sewing, and cooking food for the fighters — even the battles we have entered; and nothing shall turn us from our resolve until the enemies are crushed.

Please accept our highest respect.
Mufida al-Dabbagh, secretary of the Association

• There arrived in Lebanon at the end of last May the refined Miss Hawa Idris, who came as the guest of the president of the Lebanese Arab Women's Federation, Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura. Miss Idris is a goodly shoot from the planting of that blessed hand — the hand of the venerable lady, the late Huda Hanem Shaarawi. Miss Idris was the right hand of the leader of the women's renaissance in Egypt.

The Woman's Voice welcomes the dear sister and wishes her a pleasant stay in Lebanon.

• The death of the great educator, Mr. Boulos al-Khouli, was a calamity for the high morals and noble humanity which that good and noble man embodied. Lebanon walked grieving and silent at the passing of this great humanitarian, who gave his whole life to learning and virtue.

The family of The Woman's Voice bows in reverence before the memory of the late Mr. Boulos al-Khouli, who embodied in himself every meaning of loftiness and nobility, and shares the affliction of his bereaved sons and his widow.

● A new branch of the Lebanese Red Cross has been founded in Halba, Akkar. The branch was inaugurated by the noble Lady Faiza, wife of His Excellency the Prime Minister Riad Bey al-Solh, for whom a splendid reception was held.

● Among the society news of the month of May: the marriage of the literary young man Atef Bey Khodr to the refined woman of letters Jabinah, daughter of the zealous patriot Dr. Tawfiq Bey Hamadeh. The marriage ceremony took place at the home of Dr. Hamadeh among the friends of the two families, Khodr and Hamadeh, and the party was the very ornament of rejoicing. May God grant the bridal pair success and sustain them with a spirit from Him. Among the charming things offered at that party were verses by Dr. Habib Shehadeh, which pictured the couple's wedding most truthfully.

● Mrs. Louise Wegmann, head of the French Evangelical College for Girls — and the Count de Chayla pins upon her the decoration of the Legion of Honor in the rank of Chevalier, the most important decoration in France, in appreciation of her twenty years of service in the direction of this institute.

● The Women's Cooperation Club in Beirut is carrying out great works and services that help to lighten society's many woes; among these works is the service of the rising generation. A special committee has been formed to work in the schools, its task being to establish an association called 'the Helpers' Association,' whose aim is to help the young to attain full growth in mind, body, and spirit, and to study the girl's problems and her needs; and to fulfill the association's aim, lessons, studies, and lectures are being organized. The latest subject on which Miss Nahla Marwa spoke to the Helpers concerned prisons. After studying with them a good deal about the history of prisons and about crime and punishment, she decided to pay a visit to the Raml Prison, to observe at close hand the condition of the prisoners and to verify whether the prison in our country performs what is expected of it as a corrective and reformatory institution. The reader will find her article in this issue.

● Some letters have arrived from various quarters, asking us to publish what we know of the question concerning 'masculinity and femininity' — some for scientific benefit and some for practical benefit. Since The Woman's Voice is a link between Mrs. 'Jabinah' and the readers, we have written to Mrs. 'Jabinah,' and as soon as her answer reaches us we shall be able to satisfy the request of those who ask, men and women alike.