Entertainment... A Beautiful Art

The art of entertainment is counted among the beautiful arts widely spread in other languages: every week the foreign presses put out dozens of books and magazines that entertain readers and refresh their spirits with their tables of crossword words and numbers, their riddles, puzzles, and problems of every kind, in whose solving the reader spends a pleasant time, finds delight and enjoyment, and gains great benefit — for they strengthen the general faculties of perception and the two faculties of language and mathematics, and add to one's general information.

The mail has brought us the first attempt of this kind in our Arabic language: the first book of the series of entertainment books which "Dar al-Ilm lil-Malayin" has lately begun to distribute. We leafed through it and found it full of tables of crossword words and numbers, puzzles and riddles, and means of innocent amusement. It may be said that the compilers of these books have filled a great gap in the Arabic library, and have given the Arab girl in particular the opportunity to spend some time each day, alone or together with her friends, in solving the crossword tables that fill most of the book's pages.

We urge our readers to look into these books — they will find them an entertaining pastime, of great benefit and low price all at once — and we congratulate their publishers on their idea and on their encouragement of this beautiful art.

★ The well-known woman of letters, Mrs. Edvick Jureidini Shayboub, former editorial secretary of this magazine, has obtained the B.A. degree in Arabic literature from the American University of Beirut. Mrs. Shayboub is one of the few women in this part of the world whom the duties of marriage, family, and work have not turned aside from the pursuit of university study. By her perseverance in attending classes, and by taking her certificate with distinction, she has set a good example for our girls, which we hope they will follow — so that they do not turn their backs on learning and culture the moment they find a "match," or the moment they publish an article in a newspaper!

To Mrs. Shayboub our sincerest congratulations, and we are full of hope that she will remain a pillar of women's letters in this country.