On the occasion of the fourteenth anniversary of the death of Ameen Rihani, the village of Freike in the Metn witnessed, on Saturday, September 4, a great crowd of people who had come to celebrate the opening of the museum of Rihani, the philosopher and man of letters, and the unveiling of the memorial plaque made by his friend the Lebanese artist Mr. Youssef Howayek.

The ceremony was under the patronage of His

Excellency the President of the Republic, who was represented by His Excellency Mr. Nicolas Salem, Minister of National Education. He stepped forward and opened the museum, which holds Ameen's artistic relics, then unveiled the memorial plaque representing his head in bronze.

The master of ceremonies was Dr. Fouad Ghosn, who pre-sented in succession Mr. Nicolas Salem, Mr. Salah Labaki, Dr. Ishaq Musa al-Husayni, Mrs. Edvick Shayboub, and Mr. Jamil Jabr; and finally the Minister of Education announced that the government had awarded Mr. Youssef Rihani, Ameen's elder brother, the gilded Order of Merit, and Mr. Albert Rihani, the younger brother, rose to thank the government, the committee, the speakers, and those present.

Truth be told, God bless the

zeal Mr. Albert Rihani expends to keep alive the memory of his brother Ameen and to preserve his literary works — it deserves the fullest thanks and appreciation. And would that Gibran, and other men of letters, had devoted brothers like Mr. Albert!!

We recall, on this occasion, that the Syrian colony in Brazil has presented Syria and Lebanon with a statue of Ameen Rihani, and delegated Mr. Georges Elian to negotiate with the two governments on the occasion of the convening of the Arab Writers' Week in Beit Mery.

Mr. Elian has asked, in the name of the colony in Brazil, that the statue be placed on a hill overlooking the Syrian-Lebanese border.

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The following is the address delivered at the memorial ceremony by Mrs. Edvick Shayboub:

They Told Me of You

My eye never fell upon your eye, nor did your voice ever greet my ear, nor did any gathering ever bring me together with you; but they told me of you. They told me, and drew out the telling; and I listened, and drew out my listening; and the tales came one after another in the evenings of conversation, as if they

were breaths from the world of legend.

This Freike told me of you. She said you were her dutiful son; a roamer of horizons you were, yet in your heart there remained for her a special tenderness that no spot on earth could steal from her. What steadfast, deep affection bound you to Freike, that you spurned glory in the far places of the world to return here to a contented life, than which noth-ing was dearer to your nature, nothing more beautiful...

And your love and loyalty to the soil of your country over-flows and takes bodily shape — and behold, in our hands is "The Heart of Lebanon," the most precious of your literary works.

And what a tale your "Rihaniyyat" and "The Kings

of the Arabs" carried to me — a famed sword in the face of injustice and enslavement, a revolt against every political, social, or religious crookedness, and a resounding voice for the truth, that guides and guides well, that counsels and counsels truly... And at times your revolt turns into an innocent, childlike love, like a ribbon of silk: you tie it, in purity of heart, around a discordant assortment of creeds and temperaments, spreading among them understanding and trust — how sorely we need your sword,

and your voice, and your innocent love, today and every day.

A country like ours, where sects and passions clash in perpetual wranglings, will have the secret of its affliction uncovered, and its condition mended, by none but a dauntless, daring writer. And where is that writer after you, O Ameen???