The address of Her Ladyship the wife of His Excellency the President of the Republic on Child Day

I am happy to seize this opportunity to salute the Lebanese Child-Welfare Society, which gathers together the finest of Lebanon's ladies in character, learning, and work; and I am happy to send greetings through it to every boy and girl among the sons and daughters of Lebanon—nay, its fragrant sweet herbs, its bright and smiling hope.

The Lebanese Child-Welfare Society was founded to bring comfort to the poor, deprived child and to prepare him for a good and honorable life, so that his childhood is not tormented by the diseases caused by insufficient feeding, by lack of cleanliness, and by the other afflictions of a weak childhood in need of protection and care; and so that he does not miss, either, a sound upbringing and useful learning, that he may grow into a good citizen who does good for himself, his kin, his country, and all humanity. And nothing better attests the value of the works this generous society has accomplished up to now in this field than the statistics and statements contained in the report it has published to the public this year.

And Lebanon, from the time it became a homeland of beauty, has been a homeland of childhood, the emblem of that beauty—childhood overflowing with health and vigor because it lives beneath Lebanon's sky. If today we devote ourselves to the care of deprived childhood, and call for people to come forward on its Day with that generosity of spirit for which Lebanon is known, we are performing a sacred national duty and working for a humane idea whose torch Lebanon has carried from the beginning of time.

I salute the Lebanese nation in its child, and I salute Lebanon in this beloved child, and I ask God Almighty to crown the efforts of the Lebanese Child-Welfare Society with lasting success, and to watch with His care over the children of Lebanon—our very hearts walking upon the earth.

Long live Lebanon