This is the title of the lecture delivered by the Consul of Lebanon in Argentina, Mr. Habib Saleh, before the Lebanese-Syrian community in the province of Tucumán.
Mr. Saleh delivered it in Spanish, passing briefly over the historical stages through which the country has passed, from the invention of the first letter of the alphabet down to independence.
He then paid tribute to the role played by the Syrian-Lebanese woman, and to the national and social services she has rendered her country, saying:
"The Lebanese and Syrian woman is a dutiful wife, a tender mother, and an excellent housewife; she speaks several foreign languages and provides a tranquil life for her husband."
And he gave a brief glimpse of the Lebanese Women's League, in which Mrs. Alice Nahhas, wife of the Honorable Lebanese Minister, works as an active member, pointing to the two cultural works which the League carries out: the kindergarten and the magazine The Woman's Voice.
The nineteenth of October was the eighth anniversary of the death of the great woman of letters, Mayy Ziadeh.
The literary world observed this anniversary with a silent observance — as though Mayy had not been the very apple of literature's eye, as though she had been a phantom that passed.
The editorial board of "The Woman's Voice" has decided to bring out the special issue it has announced in the coming month of November.
Men and women of letters from Lebanon and the other Arab countries will take part in writing this issue.
It will contain articles, stories, and drawings "by Mayy," and recollections of the departed writer from the different periods of her life.
The great historian Issa Iskandar Maalouf is at work on translating the book The Fall of the Roman Empire into Arabic, by the English historian Gibbon. He said in the introduction to this book, which runs to seven vol
umes in English and contains absorbing studies: The Roman state fell, in its last days, for fifteen reasons, namely: (1) they were much inclined to amusement; (2) they spent their money without knowing where it was spent, nor how it was spent, nor why it was spent; (3) parties multiplied among them and they failed to check them, so the body of the realm came apart and fell behind; (4) they did not look far, but only before them or behind them; (5) they never settled upon one state, but wavered like a feather fallen in the path of the wind. And so on with the rest of these reasons. The book contains delightful studies of the civilization of the lands they possessed and ruled for a long time, and of the monuments they left behind, which remain clear testaments to this day; but its last days turned bad, as is the nature of states.
• Mr. Fuad Badr, director of Dar al-Kitab, made a journey to Egypt, accompanied by his esteemed wife, Mrs. Wadad. In Egypt Mr. Badr visited the great cultural institutions.
An ambulance has arrived at the Red Cross center in Beirut, shipped from Argentina as a gift from the Ladies' Committee of the Lebanese colony, which is headed by Mrs. Alice Nahas, wife of the Honorable Adib Nahas, Lebanon's Minister Plenipotentiary there.
In mentioning this kindly gesture, we cannot but place this deed on record, for Mrs. Nahas and for all the Lebanese ladies, together with the presentation of our thanks and our admiration for the noble idea.
• The editorial secretary of this magazine, Mrs. Edvick Jureidini Shayboub, has enrolled at the American University of Beirut to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Arabic literature. She is still working at The Woman's Voice magazine with all vigor and energy. To the new student go the hopes of The Woman's Voice and its young women.
• The gracious Mrs. Isabelle, wife of Georges Bey Maalouf, has arrived in Lebanon and is staying with her daughter, the wife of His Excellency Philippe Takla, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Mrs. Takla is expecting a happy event.
• Among Lebanon's distinguished guests was His Excellency the Deputy Lamine Guèye, the foremost leader in French Africa. Alongside the great positions he holds in his government, he is known for his championship of woman and his defense of her; he demanded her political rights and achieved what he sought, for the African woman now exercises her political rights in full.
In Lebanon, Mr. Lamine Guèye stayed as a guest of the
government; sumptuous banquets were given in his honor, and the Lebanese government conferred on him the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Cedar in appreciation of his services to our compatriots in his country.
• The estimable Mrs. Afifi Majdalani, a member of the administrative committee of the Lebanese Women's League, has left us for Egypt, accompanied by her sister Violette and her daughter. Mrs. Majdalani will remain there for a time, after which she will return to her great activity in the field of social and charitable work. We wish our friend and her sister a pleasant journey and a welcome return to the homeland.
• We have received from Miss Hamida Abd al-Hamid Ibrahim a note asking for the opening of a page devoted to treating questions of household arrangement and handiwork. We thank the young lady for her sound suggestion.