• The National College in Choueifat gave its sixty-sixth celebration, at which diplomas were distributed to the graduating young men and women.
The speaker of the ceremony was His Excellency Mohammed Safi al-Din, who delivered a patriotic address of guidance; he was followed by the president of the College, Mr. Charles Saad, who addressed the graduates and urged them to ambition, to the pursuit of knowledge, and to the quest for higher specialization.
There was a pleasant surprise when His Excellency the Prime Minister, Sami Bey al-Solh, came forward and read the two government decrees conferring on Mrs. Nazik Sarkis and Mr. Nassim Nasr the Medal of Education, in appreciation of their distinguished services in the field of education and instruction. Mrs. Nazik Sarkis thanked His Excellency the head of the government and all who had worked for this decoration, and said:
"To this noble institute goes the credit for rooting the spirit of work in my soul, and for my devotion to performing the lofty mission of character-training to which I have given the greater part of my life as a soldier in its service."
Those present were astonished by the order of the ceremony and by the splendid patriotic anthems sung by the pupils under the direction of the Fleifel Brothers' troupe.
• ... And here is another annual celebration for the distribution of diplomas: that of the American Beirut College for Women, which took place in the College garden in a splendid fashion setting off the beauty of this lofty institution standing on the breast of that green hill in Ras Beirut.
The various diplomas were distributed to a hundred students, who paraded in the black gowns (Caps & Gowns) to the strains of light music.
The Arabic speaker of the ceremony was Miss Marie Sabri, professor at the institute, and among what she said:
"Has it occurred to us what an upheaval could come about here if every one of these hundred
• He went before us to the other world at dawn on Friday, June 27, while still full of health and vigor — mourned for his manhood and his generosity of spirit — at seventy-one years of age: Mr. Badr Dimashqiya.
• He left in his home a lifelong companion, frail of body, ardent of spirit and mind: the woman of letters Mrs. Julia Tu'mah Dimashqiyah.
• He left in the world two sons — Ihsan and Nadim — and three daughters — Bahira, Samia, and Salwa — and an army of faithful friends.
• The great departed devoted himself to the service of his homeland and his community, and he expended positive, constructive efforts in the service of the institutions over which he had presided for years, namely: 1 — the Friends of the Tree Association; 2 — the Association for the Promotion of Tourism and Summering; 3 — the League of Beiruti Families.
• In a modest corner of his home stands a large collection of the decorations of honor bestowed upon the deceased at various stages of his life, in appreciation of his efforts and in recognition of his services.
• The magazine "The Woman's Voice," which sees in the extinguishing of the lamp of Mr. Badr Dimashqiya a great loss to homeland and people, offers its final condolences to its friend, the great woman of letters, the wife of the deceased, Julia Tu'mah Dimashqiyah, and to his sons and daughters and all his honorable family, asking for his pure soul repose at the side of his Lord, and for his kin gracious consolation.
girls performed her mission to the fullest? Have we thought of the great cry — the cry of general reform — that could sweep over all the Arab lands together, if every one of these hundred were seated at the head of a reforming institution or a constructive organization?"
And she closed her speech saying:
"Learning never was, and never will be, an instrument of servitude, but a means to truth, goodness, and freedom... You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free... Dear graduates, each one of you now stands armed with light, freedom, and knowledge... Today you fill your country's eye; toward you all glances turn and on you the hopes hang — so what will you do?!"
the political culture of woman. She was followed by Mrs. Sumayya al-Khazen, who spoke of the beggars project which the Solidarity has adopted; and a committee was appointed, composed of the ladies Nakkash, Khazen, Matran, Nasr, and Nasrallah, to study the project and follow it up with the authorities.
Finally Mrs. Tabet spoke of the condition of the Armenians in the Quarantina, and asked that this subject be studied with the municipality.
• Last month saw the publication of the book "The Daughter of the East in the Civilization of the West" by the erudite scholar Mohammad Jamil Beyhum. It comprises studies of the development of Arab thought on the subject of woman during the twentieth century.
The author began these studies in 1919 and completed them this year, so that they form a history of modern intellectual development in the Arab and Islamic worlds, and a history of the women's revolution. In it the author has sought to uphold equality between the sexes.
The book is adorned with illustrations and with valuable fragments prepared especially for this book by the following ladies and gentlemen: May Ziadeh, Emile Zeidan (Egypt), Afifa Karam (the United States), Salwa Salama Atlas (Brazil), Emir Amin Majid Arslan (Argentina), Dr. Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar (Syria), and Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi (Iraq).
The book, as we see, gathers together all manner of opinions old and new, and what the Arab woman has attained in this age of ours; it is the first of its kind in the Arabic library.