A Letter from Dakar on the Harms of Smoking

◆ And from the far Maghreb, a letter from Mr. Aziz al-Din Salih, resident of Dakar — a charming letter in which he comments on an article that The Woman's Voice published, by Dr. Jack Makari, on the harms of smoking. Mr. Salih asks whether the nargileh (the arghileh) causes harm as the cigarette does, and Mr. Salih awaits an answer from Dr. Makari..

And this is some of what his letter said:

To the director of The Woman's Voice, the respected Mrs. Heneni Tarcha.

To you the greetings of a countryman to his brother. To proceed: I have received the April issue of your illustrious magazine, and since I am one of its supporters beyond the seas and one of its admirers — especially for what it publishes in its pages of guidance and opinions from the ladies and young ladies, and certain articles by our honored women of letters — I say, I took up the said issue and leafed through it with all care, as is my habit, for such a fraternal call delights us — this beloved women's voice that reaches us from time to time from our rising Arab sisters, crossing the seas to us. And it truly delights us emigrants to see you today, O daughters of the homeland, calling, summoning, in revolt against those obsolete customs, guiding fathers and mothers toward the making of the youth of tomorrow and toward what the homeland requires of them. To you, then, virtuous ladies, our highest feelings of esteem and admiration. Forward!

Dakar, 10 May 1948