— And what kind of decoration did he bestow upon you?
— The Order of Merit. As for its moral worth, that comes of its being conferred by His Holiness the Pope himself!
— So much for Italy. And now, was there in your visit to Turkey any aspect that caught your attention in particular?
— In Turkey I felt the warmth of the people's feeling and their surpassing delight in us, until it almost seemed to me that all Turkey was streaming out to meet us. My heart was filled with joy by the sight of the workers and villagers in the outlying districts, gathered at a railway station or a crossroads to present us with bouquets of flowers and gifts made with their own hands in our name — carpets and cloths... And there were paper mills and printing houses that presented every member of the delegation with paper printed with his name. It is the kindest and noblest of feelings that awoke in the breasts of our Turkish brothers to affirm their love...
— And what are your impressions of the modern renaissance in Turkey, of which we hear so much?
— The signs of that mighty renaissance confront the visitor wherever he turns: cultural, industrial, scientific, and social. I ascribe it, I believe, to that positive, constructive solidarity between the people and the government: hardly does any constructive project begin before all efforts join together to
carry it out in the best manner. Here lies the secret of their success in the last quarter century... And this is exactly what we lack in Lebanon. With us the people look on the government as an opposing team, and delight, as far as they can, in spending their energy on baiting and criticizing it, without cooperating with it or praising it for any gesture it has made for the common good.
— And what did you admire most in the Turks as a people?
— What stirred my admiration most in the Turks is their obedience to order and their submission to the law out of conviction of its justice, and that in its application lie their welfare and their good, as they were taught by the builder of their glory, the late Kemal Atatürk. They are seeds all of goodness and blessing, those
that have sprouted in the sister neighbor and begun to yield the finest of fruit.
— Can you, finally, Madam, name the most delightful moment you spent in the whole of this journey?
— The most delightful moment, beyond doubt — after the splendid celebrations — was the two days of rest and freedom aboard the Turkish ship that brought us back to Lebanon. Nature, in her bright spring dress, was serene and bewitching in a beauty I cannot do justice to in description. It was sweet to me to meditate in silence and revive memories... and to know that early the next morning I should not be busied with strapping the suitcases...
And any one of us, believe me, after so crowded a journey, finds his heart clamoring with longing for his home and his homeland...
