Sawt al-Mara — page 12

in Brummana there is an elite of the people of learning and letters — an elite whose work and bent oblige it to live an aristocratic, half-secluded life.

Of that elite I came to know Dr. Constantine Zurayk, vice-president of the American University of Beirut. The most delightful thing about him is that he comes up specially from Beirut every day at noon to eat the rich, delicious food prepared for him by his daughter Ilham. And the cherished cook is not yet past her thirteenth year. Do you see how times have turned and changed, so that children now feed their fathers?

As for Dr. Jibrail Jabbour, head

of the Arabic department at the University, he knows neither boredom nor weariness in his work, for he is writing a book on the life of the Bedouin in the desert of Syria — not in the forests of Brummana, of course.. And don't ask about his colleague Dr. Anis Frayha, of whom we hear much and whom we rarely see. This time he is busy with something other than writing — wonder of wonders — for he is supervising the building of his house, or rather his edifice, on a lovely spot in Brummana. Who says literature builds no houses?!

As for Dr. Kamal al-Yaziji, he is one of those who suit the word to the occasion and dress every situation in its proper garb. He appears to live that life which vacation imposes on every man, whereby what was his work in winter becomes a hobby and a pastime, not a duty and an unavoidable routine. Thus in those few months he has ample scope for savoring the beauty of living nature!

Among Brummana's constant summer residents is the educator Mrs. Wadad Cortas — but the summer of the likes of Mrs. Cortas is as their winter... work and

constant work, whether at home or in society..

I searched for woman in Brummana and found her a poor, industrious mother, toiling and laboring to earn her bread. Then I found her a tender nun, sheltering orphans, educating the village children, and giving to the needy with her right hand without her left hand knowing it — a nun living with her companions in the convent of Mar Mansour, which was formerly a splendid palace of Emir Mansour al-Lamai, one of the rulers of the Metn. And I found her, too, a gracious, hospitable, cultivated lady of the salon. Thus I made the acquaintance of Mrs. Salma Rizk, manager of the "Park Hotel," the oldest and most beautiful of the hotels of Lebanon. All the people of Brummana remember the admiration of the former King of Greece for that lady's personality, her intelligence, and her fine management, when he visited Brummana and stayed as a guest of the Rizk family at the "Park Hotel." Today she is president of an organized charitable

association which will hold, in