its missing links; and how many those links are! He was vexed by the ambition among us that leans on others, by the foolish building and the destructive imitation... He wants us to build without demolishing and wrecking, and not to stand in the shadow of others... Time no longer allows us to persist in the heedless experiment — to let what stands by mere endurance go on standing, and to leave its fate to the judgment of time...

A special stamp clothes the Academy... It exists to further human art, to spread it and encourage it... It also bends tenderly over our country's culture and heritage, and cooperates with the other institutions in providing the courses those institutions have been unable to give — the School of Law being but one example, and perhaps the boldest and most adventurous of cultural ventures, for the French language had all but monopolized the science of law in Lebanon.

I forgot to ask Mr. Boutros about his journey to Europe, where he visited Prague and Germany on an official invitation; but I found in the newspapers a sufficient answer to my captive question! There he met the masters of art and music and received the esteem he deserves; and he stayed some while in Munich, where he visited the famous Goethe institute, and that visit of his left the deepest of impressions!

And I still remember his story with music here in Lebanon — it began with him applauding alone for the immortal melodies; but he knew how to spur thousands of hands to applaud them in admiration and love... Have we forgotten the musical concerts he brought to life, numbering more than a hundred?

Yes... in this age that whirls us round with its speed, it is a sin for us to consign the rewarding of men like Alexis Boutros to history!