Society News

Mrs. Iqbal Izz al-Din Zouk, delegate of the Lebanese Red Cross in Tripoli, continues her efforts with the noble ladies of Tripoli to bring cheer to the soldiers fighting for the sake of Palestine. Last month a delegation from the Lebanese Red Cross society came down to Beirut, composed of Mesdames Iqbal Izz al-Din Zouk, Eva Fadoul, and Charlotte Michel George, and presented in the society's name to the Ministry of National Defense two hundred packages containing assorted kinds of chocolate, figs, cigarettes, soap, dibs, and the like, to bring cheer to the soldiers fighting for the cause of Palestine; the society in Tripoli likewise presented such necessities to their families.

This work met with general satisfaction in the highest circles, and the society received a letter of appreciation and thanks from the Ministry of Defense.

The kindergarten of the Children's Welfare Society in the city of Tripoli held its annual party at the kindergarten house. It was attended by a large gathering of Tripoli's noble ladies, and the audience admired the beautiful spirit that reigns among the children and the splendid tableaux they presented.

Miss Najwa Mustafa al-Sayyid delivered a gracious address of welcome to the honored company, then pointed to the necessity of caring for children in mind and body so that they may become men. Miss al-Sayyid then pointed to the efforts the ladies of Tripoli are making in this field, foremost among them Mrs. Aliyya Shawqi, who never ceases to think of ways to raise the cultural level; to her belongs the first credit for founding a kindergarten that is the first of its kind in Tripoli.

Miss al-Sayyid's address won the approval of those present, who went out praising this noble institution, which enriches the gifts of mind and spirit in Lebanese childhood.

Literary circles have given a warm welcome to the return of the great man of letters Sheikh Khalil Takieddine, Lebanon's Minister Plenipotentiary in Moscow.

The literary clubs of this country have longed for this voice, which diplomacy had silenced. We hope that the return of this great writer will be a return of good fortune and blessing for letters in this country.

A hearty welcome, then, to the writer-minister.

And from Mexico, Ustad Joseph Abou Khater, Lebanon's Minister Plenipotentiary there, has returned on leave. Minister Abou Khater returns to Lebanon to attend to the affairs of UNESCO; to him belongs the first credit for persuading the competent bodies that it ought to convene here. The country has given Minister Abou Khater a warm welcome.

Sheikh Khalil Alameddine and his gracious wife Adal Alameddine have returned from the United States. Sheikh Khalil made a tour of various hospitals in the United States, while Mrs. Alameddine became acquainted with many American societies and delivered a number of lectures in which she made known the true face of the Lebanese woman. She has brought back many proposals likely to help in raising the standing of the Lebanese woman.

Mrs. Alameddine carries home pleasant memories of the fine hospitality of our Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington, Dr. Charles Malik, and of his lady wife, and of the great services they render to lift Lebanon's name high.

The Woman's Voice will publish a talk with Mrs. Alameddine about this journey of hers.

There has appeared in Beirut the magazine "al-Mujtama," an illustrated weekly concerned before all else with studying the needs of Lebanese society and its deep-lying problems and with depicting its pains, leaving politics and its tangles aside.

We took up its first issue and found it filled with varied articles on all manner of subjects. We are pleased to note the gift that al-Mujtama enclosed with the issue: the portrait of His Majesty King Faisal which The Woman's Voice brought out on the front of its cover last year, on the occasion of His Hashemite Majesty's passage through Lebanon. We wish our dear colleague al-Mujtama the success that the efforts of those in charge of it deserve.

The accomplished woman of letters Mrs. Edvick Shayboub delivers her talks over Radio Beirut twice a month. On the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Fitr she gave a talk on "Faith" which had a far-reaching echo in Lebanon's literary circles; in it she expressed the human soul's need for that deep, divine feeling of faith, which begets goodness, truth, serenity, and strength in man...

Among the cultivated elements that have lately emigrated from Palestine to Lebanon is the literary Miss Suad Ladhiqani. She holds the diploma of the Government Women Teachers' Training College and took her part in the field of education in Palestine. Miss Ladhiqani was to have traveled to England to specialize at the expense of the Palestine government when the bloody events of Palestine broke out, and she was obliged to come to Lebanon. During her stay in Lebanon, Miss Ladhiqani has taken part in many literary and artistic undertakings, the latest of them a literary dramatic sketch which she presented on Radio Lebanon and which proved a success in every way.

The literary and artistic programs presented on Radio Lebanon by the literary Miss Marie Sabri and the students of the Junior College, together with Ustad Musa Sulayman, have met with great approval in all literary circles, which has led the station's management to record some of these scenes on a special tape, so that the public may hear them more than once.

Miss Sabri and her students have recorded two scenes composed by Ustad Sulayman — "Nights of Andalusia" and "Nights of the Greeks" — and some scenes from the play "al-Abbasa," which the College's students performed this year with great success.

The joy of Mrs. Marie and her husband Dr. Jabra Obeid was a double joy: the betrothal of their son Mr. Sami to Miss Rosette Zakharia, one of the beauties of Palestine, and of their daughter Miss Mona to Mr. Ibrahim Haddad, son of Dr. Sami Haddad. The four betrothed are all still at the dawn of their lives, which we wish for them to be lives full of goodness and happiness.

We pointed in a past issue of The Woman's Voice to the efforts Radio Lebanon is making to raise the scholarly and literary level in Lebanon, and to the great contribution being made by a fine elite of our literary ladies and young women.

The Woman's Voice was invited to take part in the broadcasting, and it presented a varied program whose production and presentation were supervised by the two gracious young ladies Salwa al-Qasri and Ihsan Quraytim. Likewise the charming dialogue "A Session Around the Radio Between a Lawyer and a Lady Lawyer," prepared by Miss In'am al-Saghir, attorney, together with the attorney Ustad Rashid Fakhoury, met with great approval from the listeners.

God has blessed the attorney Ustad Abdullah Qubrusi and his wife with a beautiful baby girl, to whom they have given the name "Hanan." May God guard Hanan and her brothers in the shade of her noble parents...

The Lebanese government has decided to commission Mrs. Aurora Waghorlian to prepare a book on Lebanon on the occasion of the convening of the UNESCO conference.

Ustad Albert Rihani is reprinting the works of his great brother Ameen Rihani. It is a noble labor, which Ustad Albert pursues with diligence and energy; very soon there will appear the book "al-Nakabat" — the book in which Rihani launched a campaign against weakness and spiritual defeatism among the nations of the Arab world...

The appearance of this book under these well-known circumstances will have a far-reaching echo in political circles.

Ustad Rihani is at present occupied with preparing the letters Ameen wrote to various individuals and bodies and to the kings of the Arabs, and the letters Ameen received...

These letters — the editorial staff of this magazine has seen a large part of them — will clearly reveal Rihani's personality, unique of its kind, and will carry to the Arab world one of the great faces of Rihani...

His letters to the kings of the Arabs, and the letters of the kings of the Arabs to him, will cause a stir in Arab political circles, for through his closeness to the Arab kings Rihani came to know of internal matters that no one before him, and no one after him, has known... as though he were the kings' greatest counselor...

The Lebanese Press Syndicate held a delightful party at the offices of the newspaper "L'Orient" on the occasion of its silver jubilee; at this party the first of the modern Arabic-French presses which the paper has brought into Lebanon was inaugurated...

The readers of "The Woman's Voice" know Miss Maguy Achkar from the articles on music which she publishes in this magazine.

These articles have had an excellent echo in artistic circles, and Miss Achkar is continuing her musical studies at the Academy until she obtains the diploma in piano performance.

She devotes most of her time to these artistic studies, and is occupied with the printing of a book entitled "The Language of Melodies," in which she treats of Western music, with commentary on its geniuses...

Miss Achkar obtained the certificate in philosophy this year from the Lebanese Academy, and "The Woman's Voice" is pleased to present this cultivated young lady to its readers in each of its issues.

"Hind" is the beautiful name which the gifted poet Ustad Rushdi Ma'alouf has chosen for his first baby girl.

The poet and his wife celebrated little Hind's first birthday in an atmosphere of love, tenderness, and poetry, at his beautiful summer resort at "al-Mashra'."

May God guard the child Hind in the care of her poet father and of her gracious mother, that she may grow up in the shade of the gentleness, goodness, and beauty in which her parents dwell.

After an absence of several months, Mrs. Laure El-Khouri, wife of His Excellency the President Sheikh Beshara El-Khouri, has returned to Lebanon, accompanied by her son Sheikh Michel. A grand reception was held for her at the harbor, in the presence of the pillars of the state and the leading Lebanese personalities.

The First Lady of Lebanon has settled at her summer resort in Aley, where she receives the delegations of well-wishers congratulating her on her safe return.

"The Woman's Voice" welcomes the great Lebanese lady and wishes her health and well-being, that she may return to carry out her great mission to the full at the side of His Excellency the President.

It was a very bold venture, the venture undertaken by Ustad Said Freiha, owner of al-Sayyad, in bringing out his weekly magazine at the Hilal presses in Cairo; and the venture has proved a blessed one, both in its production and in the number of copies, which leaped to twenty thousand as a first printing. We wish al-Sayyad lasting success.

The Lebanese Red Cross pursues its humanitarian work with an energy that knows no weariness. Last month it held a ceremony in the presence of the central president, Madame de Freige, and the vice-president, the wife of His Excellency the Prime Minister al-Solh. The president handed over to the army command 500 assorted bundles, to be distributed among the men of the Lebanese army and the Rescue Army on the occasion of the present situation.

These bundles contain underclothes, socks, tobacco, shaving kits, soap, handkerchiefs, etc...

This humanitarian institution has also organized communication between the refugees and their kin in Palestine, by way of the Red Cross, every Tuesday and Thursday from half past eight to half past five. The institution attends to the refugees' health and other affairs, providing them with medicines; it has also provided for them the Damour dispensary. Nor have these additional labors kept the Red Cross from extending its assistance to the poor of Lebanon.

May God uphold this blessed band of our devoted, self-sacrificing ladies!

In mid-August Lebanon lost one of its devoted men, Sheikh Farid al-Khazen, deputy for Mount Lebanon.

Lebanon, government and people, walked in the funeral of Sheikh al-Khazen, escorting to his rest a man who had accompanied Lebanon through all its stages, a man of noble character and a lofty soul. May God have mercy on Sheikh Farid al-Khazen, and pour consolation into the hearts of his mother, his widow, and his daughter.