It has been said: man is a word. And I say today that the person who does not live a great part of his life with the word is no human being, but nearer to the animal, which knows nothing of life beyond the life of the body and its demands. The word is a piece of the spirit, a breath of the soul, and no creature possesses spirit and soul except man. By "spirit" here I do not mean what we understand from its common sense — that capacity for the continuation of life — but rather, beyond that, the power that dis-tinguishes man, raising him above this earth and bringing him nearer to the Almighty Creator through intellectual elevation and spiritual perfection, eternal and everlasting.

As for me — ladies and gentlemen — I am one of those who live three-quarters of their time with the letter, and I find no pleasure to equal the pleasure of reading and the rapture of thought. If I were asked to present the sum of what I have read in a month, no short while would suffice me to do so. Let us then sit down together by the hearth, if the weather is rainy, or else in the sun, if the day is bright, and pass briefly over some of the articles or books that concern woman and those interested in her affairs.

Here is the magazine "Ideal Household Management" (2), and here is an article of particular interest to mothers, or to anyone concerned with children. Its sub-ject: "Does this toy bring the child pleasure — or danger?" Its author, the assistant editor of the mag-azine, says that the magazine's specialized department carries out

numerous tests and a careful examination of every children's toy — those toys that so often fill their stockings on Christmas Eve, or crowd the shop windows and the rooms of homes.

The staff of this department examine the toys, especially those offered to small children, and take care that they should not be a cause of injury to them: they rule out, for example, sharp metal corners, or they see whether a toy is so small that a child could swallow it whole, or whether there are parts attached to it that could harm the child, such as eyes made of glass or of pins, or buttons he might pull off and swallow. Then they ask: would the child hurt himself if he fell because of this particular toy, or fell with it? (For example, a toy horse of flimsy construction, or an unsteady chair?) If all these answers are in the negative, the toy goes back to the engineering department for further analysis and for longer, more exacting study.

And since a child will try to suck or eat anything his hand falls upon, we must therefore take account of the paint with which toys are coated, treating it as food for the child, harmless if he should swallow it. Paints containing sub-stances such as lead, arsenic, or antimony are not accepted, espe-cially in concentrated quantities. After such careful examination, the magazine, on the recommen-dation of the said department, agrees to advertise a given toy or rejects it. Deserving products are granted a special seal testifying that children will come to no harm from using the toy that bears it;

the seal states that the toy may be returned and its price refunded if it is not as advertised, this being guaranteed by the magazine itself. Precautions of this kind are for every mother, and for everyone who endears himself to a child by giving him a toy — and it is a commendable step that this particular magazine has taken.

And here is the magazine "Science Digest" (3), and here is a study entitled "Do You Live in Silent Fear?" The author of this article says: perhaps you have heard of the man afflicted with melancholy, or melancholia, who one morning, on his way to work, ran up to a friend of his. "How are you?" the friend asked him. "Worried to death," he answered.

— "Why? What is it that troubles you now?" the friend asked.

— "That is just what wears me out," was the sick man's reply. "I have not felt in such good health for years as I do now."

We all know someone of this sort, who believes he suffers pain somewhere in his body: in the stomach or the eyes, in the joints or the nerves, in the liver or the head. Such a man goes hunt-ing for accommodating diseases and doctors.

As for the number of those who live in fear of one disease or another, it is unlimited. Such people rarely discuss these matters with their intimate friends, and if they do, it is only by way of jest-ing; yet they often tell a stranger what is on their minds. The author advises that when you come home with your strength worn out and your hopes sunk, unsure of the future, bed is the best paradise to take refuge in, rather than with-drawing into some solitary corner.

(1) Broadcast from the Near East Arab Broadcasting Station. (2) "Good Housekeeping", Dec. 1951 (3) "Sciene Digest" - Jan. 1952, "Do you Live in Silent Fear?" by Greer Williams

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