Sawt al-Mara — page 51

* On the 19th of the month Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the General Arab Women's Union, returned from Cairo, after taking part in Lebanon's representation at the Social Studies Seminar.

Miss Kaddoura succeeded in bringing the Seminar's steering committee to adopt her proposal concerning the refugees and the duty of concern for their fate. Her proposal ran in part as follows:

'... The Arab home stands in urgent need of guidance and organization. We have examined social conditions in the countryside, but we have neglected the gravest human problem, one that may not be passed over in silence and that we cannot ignore...

We have examined the problems of the rural population, while among us is a great number of country dwellers of whom no mention has been made. Among us are guests, dear and precious — yet they are neither honored nor cherished, nor do they enjoy freedom of livelihood and the rights of man. What share of our attention have we allotted them? What lines have we drawn for them in our studies? What voice have we raised on their behalf, while their own voices are stifled — and we meeting at the request of the United Nations, that power which was created only to protect man from man, and to spread justice, security, and peace?

In the name of the General Arab Women's Union, which embraces all the women's unions in the Arab lands, I appeal to you in the name of suffering humanity and homeless childhood to lend this call a hearing ear, and to devote your attention to a great social problem shared by the Arab states — the question of the Palestinian refugees; and to carry their wishes, together with your own, to the responsible authorities, in fulfillment of their hopes, in relief of their misery, and in rescue of innocent souls from certain destruction.'

* Recently returned from the lands of America, after a long journey that took months, is the great educator Miss Aminah Khoury Makdisi. She visited many different places in America, and our women readers will remember the delightful reportage on Hollywood which we published for her.

Our woman of letters Miss Makdisi has come back with a precious gift, which she has deposited in the home of her brother, the man of letters Mr. Anis al-Khoury al-Makdisi: the two sweet children, the daughter and the son of Mr. Nadim al-Makdisi, who have left their birthplace to visit the mother homeland and their two dear grandparents.

A Cultural Evening at the Girls' College

The two senior classes at Beirut College for Women held a cultural evening on Thursday, the seventh of last December, attended by the students of the two classes and a small number of invited guests. The speakers were introduced by Mr. Rushdi Ma'alouf, one of the College's teachers, who offered apologies for the absence from the program of certain cultural activities, such as painting and sculpture.

After the company had listened to musical pieces played on the piano by one of the pupils, and to two words of welcome from the deans of the two classes, there followed one another at the speakers' rostrum: Mr. Skayf, who spoke on "How to Appreciate Poetry"; then Mr. Said Akl, on modern poetry and his own connection with it; then Mr. Musa Sulayman, who read passages "from whispered literature"; then Mr. Ghassan Tueni, on "Political Journalism as an Art"; then Mr. Michel Trad, who read a number of his enchanting short poems; then Sheikh Nasib al-Makarem, on "Calligraphy as an Art."

As soon as the program ended the company fell upon a sumptuous buffet, and the students stormed Messrs. Akl, Trad, and Tueni, racing one another to be photographed at their side and to carry off an autograph (and sometimes