Cairo, November 6, 1944
You are spring, Salma, You are the spring of our land — colored, singing, transparent, fertile; in these breezes there are winds that blow and rage. Yet spring overcomes them and grinds them as death grinds the wild beasts — the bells of the feast — every murmur, and rises above every sigh and every sigh You are spring. And in the sky of spring is a breeze whose wings motherhood sets free You are a good Lebanese mother on the horizon of a beautiful Lebanese spring I admire you and I love you
“To the virtuous friend Mrs. Salma Sayegh,
I have made mention of your book in Sarkis's Magazine, and shared with my readers the pleasure of reading the chapter on “Motherhood.” This letter of mine comes to thank you for the gift of a copy of it, which shall stand among the beauties of literature in my keeping. So I salute Salma, and take pride that I am among her friends.
And tell our friend Baz Effendi that he has done us the favor of bringing your book to light — a favor that can be repaid only by appreciating his kindness and his good taste.
Tell him that by serving our better half he has atoned for the negligence of men in general; indeed, he is now our deputy plenipotentiary in expressing esteem and respect for you women.
And do not believe what we sometimes say that pains you. We do not mean what we say. Baz Effendi grasped this truth, and was the boldest and most forward of us in proclaiming it.
And tell Miss Anbara Salam that the men of the East will not attain the station we wish for them, and which they wish for themselves, until they open the school to their daughters, and until they offer the homeland that light which God has bestowed upon them; then, no doubt, they will be the masters of that homeland.
And tell her that, by the experience of my old age, and with the warrant of my respect for her person and her family, I believe she is a flame of intelligence — and it is a sin to hide the little good intelligence we possess. She was created to be a mother one day; and if she opens the door of
reform among her people, her children will beatify her and boast of her.
The world advances with astonishing speed — with force and power, and with the despotism of the reasonable. Woe, then, to whoever stands in the way of our children. Tomorrow they will find themselves in a milieu of dazzling light, and they must not be among the blind. Give them the light and the sight that are their due.
In the near tomorrow, people will forget that there was ever any distinction between Ali and Anbara and Fatima, and Jirjis and Hanneh and Mary.”
By what right does she ride in the automobile now, seeking speed in accomplishing the purpose of her visit to you, and yet not help the rising generation to board the automobile of the league of humanity? Is it fitting to leave them going on foot in a milieu that demands a speed surpassing that of the airplane and the automobile?
And tell her also to struggle on. It is the sign of life, the sign of vitality, the sign of a true feeling of the need for purer air. Why should she not take example from the lungs, in their ceaseless struggle for renewal?
The admiring friend,