• At the end of last month the American writer Miss Dorothy Thompson, known for her friendship toward the Arabs, visited Lebanon, accompanied by Dr. Garland Evans Hopkins, deputy director of the Society of Friends of the Middle East.
On Tuesday evening the United States Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr. Harold Minor, gave a party in her honor, and the Women's Union also gave a sumptuous dinner banquet for her.
The great American journalist held a press conference at the offices of our colleague "Sawt al-Ahrar."
Among what she said: I have been greatly pleased by the reception I have met with here and everywhere in the Arab world. And I wish to say that, as a friend of the Near East from the United States, I have helped to make the refugee problem clear to public opinion more than any other person. Perhaps it is this that has deserved such honoring.
Miss Thompson was asked what the attitude of the American government was toward the society; she said that the American government is satisfied with its work.
She was asked what the attitude of the Arab governments and peoples was; she said that they have shown their support for us — indeed, in Libya and Egypt they proposed to us the founding of a similar society.
On April 15 last the Syrian colony in particular, and the rest of the Arab colonies in general, celebrated the presentation of the legation palace to His Excellency the Minister, Dr. Zaki al-Jabi. It was a historic night in which all the bodies of the Arab associations took part, together with throngs of Syrian families from the capital and from the interior of the country.
The legation palace, situated in the most beautiful quarter of Buenos Aires, was decked with Syrian and Argentine flags. Mr. Khairallah Abboud, president of the committee for the purchase of the legation palace, delivered a fine speech that was met
with approval and applause, and presented the golden key to His Excellency the Minister.
On the 17th of this month His Excellency celebrated Evacuation Day and received well-wishers at the legation palace, which was packed with delegations. At eleven o'clock he proceeded, with a delegation of the ladies and gentlemen of the colony, to the presidential palace to invest the wife of His Excellency the President, Mrs. Eva Perón, with the Order of the Umayyads — the first decoration granted by the Syrian government to a woman. She received them together with His Excellency the
President and several ministers and pillars of the government. His Excellency then stepped forward and delivered a speech in the Spanish language in which he set forth the reasons that had led his government to grant the decoration to Mrs. Perón; and when he finished his speech he pinned the decoration on her breast amid the applause of those present and their cheers for her and for His Excellency the President. Her Excellency replied with a splendid address in which she thanked the Syrian government that had singled her out for this mark of esteem, wishing it and the Syrian people success and good fortune.
The musician Mr. Wadih Sabra has answered the call of his Lord in Beirut — director of the National Conservatory, composer of the Lebanese national anthem and the Syrian national anthem, and holder of the Order of the Cedar, the Lebanese Order of Merit, the Légion d'honneur, and the Order of Public Instruction. The news of his death struck a note of deep sorrow, in view of the distinguished place the departed held in the most varied circles, thanks to his lofty character, his broad learning, and his unceasing struggle to raise the level of music, and of Arabic music in particular.
The life of the noble departed was filled with unceasing struggle. Besides the two famous national anthems, he composed several works, chief among them the opera Joseph and the opera The Two Kings.
"The Woman's Voice" offers to the widow of the dear departed and to all his kin its sincere condolences, asking for him abundant mercy and for them fair consolation.
• Women's circles were shaken by the death notice of one mourned for her virtue and her charity, the sister of Abish Kaddoura, wife of Dr. Adib Kaddoura, and mother of the women's leader Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura. Official and women's circles and hundreds of friends hastened to the home of the departed to share her esteemed family's grief and sorrow.
Her son Dr. Nader Kaddoura donated four hundred Lebanese lira to the Islamic Orphanage for his mother's soul, and a company of friends and kin followed his example.
An imposing funeral was held for the departed, and she was laid in the earth amid flowing tears.
"The Woman's Voice" raises its heartfelt condolences to the children of the dear departed, mentioning in particular Miss Ibtihaj Kaddoura, president of the General Arab Women's Union, and asks God to grant the departed rest in the spaciousness of Paradise, and to inspire her family with patience and consolation.