at Bab Idriss, in that crush, cut-ting off the way of the passers-by, hindering them from walking and deafening their ears with their loud voices.

And if your feet lead you to a humble, out-of-the-way street, and you suppose you are far from these vexing pictures, that supposition is spoiled for you by the sight of certain houses jutting out into the street, as if to say to you: "I depart from the customary and defy the law!"

And on Burj Square, the general center of movement — if you have an errand there, you must be one of the wrestlers to reach your errand's end, for the masses of people are heaped up throng upon throng in the middle of the road... in talk or in argument, their voices reaching the sky..

Turn your gaze a little and con-template the flocks of humanity in silence. See how the café owners have made that side pavement an extension of their café, lining it with tables and chairs around them, while the customers set out their water pipes freely on the edge of the road, among the feet of the passers-by, as if they were in public gardens!

And if you wish to move to another quarter, and there is nothing for it but to climb aboard the tram, then all that offended your eyes before comes to seem light and easy, and you become certain that there is no way to preserve your dignity except to hire a car to carry you home; otherwise the crush will choke the breath out of you, and the embarrassing situations to which you are exposed will wound your dignity.

And when you reach your house and fling yourself into your chair, worn out in strength and shattered in nerves, many questions race through your head, and you are at a loss to answer them:

Why do people throw cigarette packs and banana peels and pista-chio shells onto the roadway, and will not take upon themselves the small trouble that would prevent such things — things which, small as they are in themselves, point to a far-reaching meaning?

How many people, addicted to

smoking and afflicted with cough-ing, I wonder, receive the spittle in their own handkerchief instead of scattering it in the street in people's faces? How many times a day are such scenes repeated before our eyes, so that our souls are revolted by them and our bodies shudder, and we know not where to turn our eyes to be spared the sight of them in this manner that the soul spits out and refuses — and we find no way.

And here you lie back and close your eyes in deep reflection.

What prevents Beirut from remaining truly beautiful? What prevents one building in this

country from rising in the face of another no longer? What pre-vents a final look into the cases of the maimed and the vagrant?

•

Only yesterday Beirut witnessed the UNESCO conference, and the responsible authorities took the utmost care to preserve the cap-ital's cleanliness, and they suc-ceeded to a great extent, so that Beirut appeared as they wished, beautiful and clean. What pre-vents the authorities now from keeping up that same care, so that Beirut may stay beautiful and clean, as it was in my imagination when I was a child?

SHEAFFER'S

The pen...

...with which the Pact of the Arab League was signed helps write a new page in modern Arab history

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General agents for Syria and Lebanon: Sarafian Bros. — Bab Idriss, telephone 66-86