In Society

* Last month Lebanon was visited by 25 members of the 'League of the Women of the Arabs and the East' for social services. The purpose of their visit was to become acquainted with the ancient sites and with women's circles, and to found a branch of their league in Lebanon.

At Aley, Dr. Zahia Kaddoura gave a grand reception in honor of the delegation, attended by a select company of the leaders of the women's movement in Lebanon. Around the sumptuous buffet, views were exchanged and bonds of friendship were formed between the Egyptian women's delegation and the Lebanese ladies, which made it easier for the delegation to accomplish the purpose for which it had come; and it is hoped that Dr. Zahia Kaddoura will herself undertake the founding of the Lebanon branch of the 'League of the Women of the Arabs and the East' for social services.

The wife of Mr. Ibrahim Hashem, president of the Jordanian Red Crescent Society, invited the society's administrative board, and two delegates from every women's organization in Amman, to her house on the morning of Saturday, July 26, 1952, to meet Lady Mountbatten during her short visit to Amman. After the president had spoken with her gracious guest about women's activity in Amman, the delegates of the various organizations were presented to her, and each spoke of the association she represented. The organizations represented were: the Armenian Society, Catholic Action, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), and the Princess Basma Charity.

After that, Miss Louli Hashem spoke about the society and its branches, and about the school for illiterate women and sewing which the Red Crescent Society runs with great success. She was followed by the wife of Thabet al-Khalidi, who spoke about the hospitals branch of the Red Crescent and its work; then the wife of Adib al-Sabbagh spoke about the juveniles branch and its activity in Jordan; and finally the wife of Mr. Suleiman al-Sukkar spoke about the new hospital which the Red Crescent Society is building. And when Lady Mountbatten expressed a wish to visit it, she went there with the administrative board and greatly admired what she saw, praised the efforts of the Jordanian woman and her blessed renaissance, and thanked the Red Crescent for the opportunity it had afforded her of seeing the extent of women's activity in Jordan.

* At the Grand Hotel of Sofar, in the coolness and freshness of the mountain, the 'Lebanese Red Cross Society' held its annual ball, and it was the party of the season without exception — this in view of the slackening of women's activity in the summer season, and in view of the great effort which the members of the Lebanese Red Cross put forth every year to make this party the success it is accustomed to be.

The party was under the patronage of the Prime Minister, Mr. Sami al-Solh. It was attended by a distinguished company of statesmen, members of the diplomatic corps, and the daughters of the noble Lebanese families. The evening lasted until daybreak, everyone in a glow of good company, music, and sweet banter, amid a flood of splendid melodies.

And one phenomenon caught every eye: the complete elegance displayed by the lady guests of all their various classes; and the predominance of black and white — the two sovereign colors of this summer's fashions — was remarked, which shows that the Lebanese woman, by her native instinct, keeps pace with the latest Parisian tendencies in taste and elegance.

In the early days of last month, the venerable Mrs. Mona Abu Daoud met the face of her Lord, at 93 years of age, spent in righteousness and piety. She vowed her tongue to speaking the truth, vowed her heart to pure thought, and spent her energy in doing good: to the orphan she was a mother, to the bereaved a sister, to the wretched a tender support.

'The Woman's Voice' offers its most sincere condolences to the family of the dear departed, singling out with special affection her daughter, Mrs. Heneni Tarcha, president of the Lebanese Women's League and Responsible Director of this magazine, and prays that this may be the last of their sorrows.

* Al-Huda Secondary School, whose principal is Miss Tawfiqa Eid, held its third annual celebration on the school playground, attended by the pupils' families and by certain personalities from the world of learning and letters.

The celebration began with the national anthem, then a dance by the little girls, and it closed with the distribution of the elementary certificates and a dance by the girls of the upper classes. The celebration was interspersed with poems and songs and some dialogues and short plays in the three languages. The subject of the English play was tolerance; of the French, the reward of diligence; and of the Arabic, the rights of woman. The first scene of the Arabic play showed a meeting of some young ladies trying to persuade the young men gathered with them that the time had come to give woman her plundered rights, citing what had been said by Dr. Abdullah al-Yafi, the former head of government, Mr. Abou Chahla, and Dr. Mahmasani at the meeting held at the Rexy Cinema last winter. And in the second scene, one of the ladies delivers a speech before a gathering of awakened ladies, after they have gained their political rights, appealing to them to elect only the man or the woman in whom are combined the qualities and qualifications needful and fitting for representing the people and defending its rights. And she also said in her speech: we must, before all else, do away with reaction, sectarianism, and feudalism, and work with man for the reform of the country in every field.