of our life and our favored half. If the village woman today performs, in her

house and her field, labors that wear out the body, wither youth, and hasten the end, it is because she has received in her life no learning that would allow her to exchange these labors for other, easier ones, and because, by force of the harsh circumstances of her society, she has not yet passed from the bondage of ignorance to the freedom of knowledge.

When we think seriously of reforming our beautiful country-side, it must not slip from our minds that the improvement of woman's condition and her educa-tion is a vital foundation of that reform, and that man, however lofty his culture and however varied his knowledge, lacks many things if circumstances allot him an ignorant wife who is a burden upon him instead of a help. The field of rural work lies wide open before the educated working woman, for in it she will find many labors suited to her situation, in which she will succeed as no man can rival her. But bringing woman to this degree of learning demands a great and sustained effort within a wide-ranging, many-branched project embracing daughter, mother, and grandmother, to be carried out by way of the permanent school in the village, by way of continuous guidance through resident and traveling instructresses, and by way of lectures, meetings, and varied practical demonstrations. And who is worthier to attend to these matters than the many women's institutions in Lebanon gathered under the banner of the League of Lebanese Women's Organizations, which must go forth from its narrow, theoretical civic struggle into a wide field of practical struggle — the fertile Lebanese

countryside? In this countryside the educated, aware woman can join hands with the intellectually and practically advanced man to furnish the ignorant woman with some of the basic knowledge necessary for carrying out many productive agricultural projects that accord with woman's bodily and mental capacity. And here I shall mention below some of these practical projects which the rural woman can undertake.

First — Modern beekeeping

This pleasant project is of recent date in our country despite its many benefits. It was taken up at first by a handful of amateurs, then developed into serious work by which some Lebanese families now make their living; but it remains on a narrow, unnatural scale, for the country needs a large quantity of honey, and the extension of beekeeping will secure this need for us; and because bees pollinate the blos-soms of our trees and contribute to increasing our harvests of fruit. This beekeeping, though it requires but modest capital to undertake, so that any citizen could practice it, is in my view a woman's occupation in the first degree: for woman, by virtue of her calm and the gentleness of her nature, can understand the instinctive traits of the bees and accommodate their ways — within what the modern art of beekeeping prescribes — in a manner gentler and more fitting than what the bees know of man's ways, and she can thereby take an abundant harvest of honey. And it should be noted that work of this kind does not continuously take up the time of the one who per-forms it, for it is done at intervals and on scattered occasions that do not consume all of a woman's time — which allows her to undertake it alongside her other household and agricultural work.

Second — Raising chickens.

This too is a pleasant work that calls for woman's quiet effort — and who is worthier of it than our educated women, especially since these gentle birds, which see the light and are reared according to the logic of modern science, apart from their mother, need tender-ness from her in whose hand lies the wellspring of tenderness, love, and affection; thus these precious animals will be raised in a model, economical way that brings benefit to her family.

Third — Combating insects and plant diseases:

Combating agricultural pests has become an important part of the peasant's work in his field. This combat has very precise scientific principles and methods, requiring alertness, quickness of thought, and constant watchfulness — and who is more capable than the woman versed in these methods of carrying out this vital work with complete precision?

Fourth — Agricultural industries:

And what could be easier for the woman in the village than carrying out this important project? Its raw materials are already at hand; what she lacks is knowledge and machinery. With simple guidance we can secure the knowledge for her, and she herself, at trifling cost, can buy the machine.

Fifth — Caring for livestock.

Sixth — Undertaking vari-ous handicrafts,

and other labors besides, in which the rural woman plays her great role, raising her standing by them and becoming, thanks to them, a great material and social force, joining with the force of the woman in the city to obtain woman's full rights.

In the solution of the problem of woman in the countryside lies the secret of woman's success in all her other endeavors.