producing men of letters. For the true man of letters

is he who can give himself over entirely to his literature or his art, practicing no other work and turning aside to no other art; without this devotion he cannot soar, nor reach the summits. Whereas we see the men of letters of Lebanon are employees or merchants, running after their livelihood, given no chance to go deep into culture — and depth is the foundation of creation — nor to live for their art and for their art alone, which is the condition of artistic creation and the production of genius.

Lebanon has so far been unable to produce the likes of Taha Hussein and Tawfiq al-Hakim, both of whom were given the chance for depth and for total devotion to literature. By this alone — not by Egypt's leadership — were they able to impose Egypt's literature upon all the Arab lands.

What has Lebanon to boast of? Its scholars? We find no trace of them. Or its magazines and newspapers, which struggle to stay alive, and among which not one scientific journal is to be found that specializes in the science of education, or psychology, or medicine, or sociology, or any other of the modern sciences that open our eyes to new horizons, teach us scientific thinking, and straighten the crookedness of our souls, afflicted as they are with literary chatter?

Lebanon has had two eras of which it had the right to boast in times past. The first was when there dawned in it, at the hands of the missions, the first signs of a linguistic and literary renaissance in the age of al-Yaziji and al-Bustani and the others who roused Arabic from its slumber and laid the foundations of renewal in language and composition. The second was when the Lebanese men of letters of the Mahjar carried the torch of linguistic, literary, and spiritual liberation and spread through the world of the Arabs the lights of a liberating mission which, alas, did not last long, for it died down with the remains of Gibran and the withdrawal of Naimy.

As for today, what remains? Hollow words. Words repeated by the advocates of Lebanonism and the advocates of Arabism and nationalism and the other tendencies and parties. If they prove anything, it is our submission to emotion and our being duped by talk; and if they bear any fruit, they bear confusion, division, and quarrel.

A blessed women's movement, born this year, aiming to raise the standard of the Muslim young woman and to solve her particular problems — and the steady progress of this association has been truly remarkable, its membership having reached seven hundred.

The honorary president of this association is Dr. Saniyya Habboub, on whom the Lebanese govern-ment bestowed the Gilded Medal in appreciation of her great silent services, for the beneficent hands Dr. Habboub has shown in the field of humanity and patriotism.

The actual president of the Young Muslim Women's Association is Mrs. Habiba Shaaban Yakan, that devoted, energetic personality who works with boundless activity, together with a large group of the finest of our cultured ladies, in the founding stage of this association with its many branches.

Among the most important projects the Young Muslim Women's Association has realized so far are these:

1 - The project to combat illiteracy; forty girls attend this branch.

2 - The workshop, which is concerned with cutting, sewing, and embroidery by the latest methods, under the supervision of skilled seamstresses; its girls number 57.

3 - Painting from nature, under the supervision of Messrs. Farroukh and Wahbi.

4 - Music, chiefly playing the piano under the training of a Turkish woman musician, and playing the violin under the training of Mr. Khalil Mukniyya; attention is also given to playing other musical instruments, such as the harp and the oud.

5 - Home economics: great efforts are being expended to perfect this branch, because of its importance in the lives of our girls and their future; it has 20 girls.

6 - Regular classes have been opened at the club to teach the three languages: English, French, and Arabic.

7 - The association's administration organizes cul-tural lectures for select audiences and for the general public, delivered every 15 days, with regard paid in them to the intellectual level of the women listeners.