In Freike with Mrs. Loreen Rihani

Travel is a second school of life... and so it falls to twentieth-century man to be a Sindbad of sea and land and air — if only for a limited stretch of time — roaming God's wide world and coming to know the worlds of man, and how many they are...

As for the Lebanese, emigration has become one of the necessities of their life... Every year — indeed every month — they go, group upon group, to America, that wondrous continent, and rarely do they return... And every Lebanese house has a distant beloved, awaited by mother and grandmother and daughter with a waiting that wastes them away... gleaning news of him from here and there... though the truth of such news rests, of course, on the teller's word...

At the end of the summer, Mrs. Loreen Rihani returned, carrying to us a bag fat with refreshing news of our loved ones and our brothers in America... and "Freike," the village of the immortal Ameen, received her as returning pilgrims are received.

For is not America — is not "New York" — the second pilgrimage of the Lebanese? All the friends and neighbors and well-wishers hastened to visit the returning lady and to ask her about this one and that one... about Jiryis, the watchman's son, whose news had been cut off for thirty years; and about Helena, who last year married an elegant, Americanized young man... and about Julia, who had promised everyone an early visit to the village...

And Mrs. Loreen showered upon them, with the Arab generosity of a Hatim, the loveliest news and "tidings": she let them know that Helena had become just like the Americans in her speech and her way of living... that Shahina had exchanged her name for "Betty"; that Saliha was following the pattern of the Hollywood stars, keeping to a strict diet to improve her figure — though before, at a single sitting, she used to eat more than two loaves... As for "Naha," she had undergone a surgical operation on her swollen nose, which now rivals the nose of "Venus" in beauty and perfection... before it was broken, that is...

Everyone listened with delight to Mrs. Loreen's talk. She had brought them a gift more precious, in their eyes, than the nylons and dolls she brought to her mademoiselle May and her son Amin... News like this, however trifling, refreshes the souls of the family and wakens memories anew...

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Mrs. Loreen's journey lasted three months, in which she toured the length of the United States and visited most of its states; she also attended the rural improvement conference in Canada, accompanied by Mrs. Adelaide Rihani, the companion of her girlhood...

Mrs. Loreen told us of the American woman — whom she admires to a great degree — for she shares with man, and shares effectively, in all the fields of life, entering the field of work at his side with diligence, energy, and vitality; and she is distinguished above others by her sporting spirit and her love of order and obedience to the law, which accompany her at home and abroad.

And the American home, of whatever class, is comfortable, simple, and beautiful; every means of comfort is complete within it, which lightens the housewife's burden and shortens the time she must spend in the kitchen...

The strange thing about America is that everyone works with speed and order... The visitor rarely sees an American sauntering through the streets, glancing right and left... time does not allow it...

There is no doubt, says Mrs. Loreen, that the American is practical in his thinking to a far degree; but whoever supposes that materialism fills every corner of his life is mistaken... He loves open-handed, generous giving, and contributes to most charitable projects of public benefit, helping the weak and the helpless... And often we hear that one single individual has founded some mighty charitable undertaking.

Mrs. Loreen had occasion to visit some of these institutions... She told us, for instance, of a modern hospital she saw in a remote county of the United States, built by a bereaved mother to spare the people of that county the fatigue of traveling to the neighboring town where the doctor was to be found. As for the charitable societies, they are many, and the American woman contributes to them effectively, with a sporting spirit that softens somewhat the sharpness of the rivalry bound to arise among the members... they being women!!... These societies receive generous assistance from the public treasury and from the treasuries of town and state, which makes it easier for them to carry out their projects and achieve their aims...

The Lebanese emigrant holds a distinguished place in his adopted land, and he too contributes to the nourishment of those projects... Mrs. Loreen said that the Lebanese emigrant — praise God — does honor to us all...

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From talk of the American woman and her life — and woman's talk has many branches — Mrs. Rihani passed to a subject basic and important in her eyes: the American village and countryside. She is, as many know, president of the Village Revival Society in Lebanon — not the one at the American University, of course!... She works with diligence and energy to enlighten the peasants and to train them in certain practical scientific methods in their agricultural life, and she has founded several centers in various Lebanese villages — most of which, truth to tell, I had never heard named before... and the confession of ignorance is a virtue...

Mrs. Loreen attended the rural improvement conference in Canada, where she profited greatly and acquainted herself with the newest methods of preserving fruit, vegetables, and meat; of caring for animals and guarding them from deadly diseases... of preparing delicious jams, of cleaning the animals' quarters and ridding them of every harmful insect, and so forth...

Mrs. Loreen has promised us that she will carry all this basic and useful knowledge to our Lebanese peasant... and the promise of the free is a debt... She mentioned that she had brought with her numerous models of looms, for teaching the village women to weave cloth quickly and well...

Mrs. Rihani profited much from her journey, and she gave much too — for life is taking and giving... She delivered several lectures on Lebanon, of which the American knows very little — he may even imagine that it lies in the land of Waqwaq!! And she reviewed the Palestine question, describing to them the calamities and disasters that have befallen the Palestinians, whose details the Americans had never learned... their eyes blinded by lying Zionist propaganda...

Mrs. Rihani's talk was enjoyable and delightful. Between its lines we read that she loves travel and a change of air, but cannot bear to be far from her Freike... from her nest, where three nestlings awaited her with longing and eagerness, and a faithful partner, and a tender mother who performed all the duties of her daughter the mother throughout her absence. The first thing that mother said upon Mrs. Loreen's return was: "We thank God, Mama... my captivity is ended... so welcome home..." It was enough for her to have lived the life of motherhood once...