Farewell-to-Summer Parties

• Summer is about to take its leave... and before its departure the parties multiply, of every kind, held in hotels and pleasure-grounds. This summer they have exceeded their usual average, on the occasion of the Tourism Year and the emigrants' summer, so that get-acquainted parties and parties of tribute have spread through every region. And certain groups among the emigrants — poets, men of letters, industrialists, or merchants — have received more of this honoring than the rest; and these parties have had their own light, delightful character...

An example of this was the evening party given by the Child Nursery Society in Zahle on the evening of the fourth of September at the Kadri Hotel, under the patronage of Mr. Sami al-Solh, the Prime Minister.

The party was interspersed with surprises of art and song, supplied by Nour al-Huda, Nadia Chamoun, Nuzha Younes, and Hiyam Younes.

The president of the society, Mrs. Emily Nasrallah, welcomed the guests, and with her fellow members of the society made the rounds among those present, creating an atmosphere of good company and good cheer. The proceeds of the party were set aside for the "Child Nursery" school, which shelters more than a hundred orphans and needy children and assures them of bread, clothing, and tenderness... God bless the breath of humanity in the hearts of our ladies.

• We can say with certainty that of our distinguished visitors this summer, those around whom the greatest stir was raised, and who were invited to the most private parties, were the poet Chafic Maalouf and his wife; literary and social circles were unanimous in their esteem and affection for them. So the get-acquainted parties held in various parts of the Mountain to honor the guests and provide an occasion for meeting them multiplied... as did the poetry evenings in Beirut and in Zahle — where the halls were packed with listeners who had long wished to hear the poet of "Abqar" warbling the anthems of his inspired heart...

And how we wished that this poetic family, so near to every heart, might remain among us; but important business called Mr. Chafic Maalouf and his family back to Brazil. Shortly before their departure they gave a cocktail party at the Grand Sofar Hotel, to which they invited their friends and acquaintances from the worlds of politics, letters, poetry, and society; and the circles went on chatting and exchanging witticisms around the sumptuous buffet even after the appointed hour of the party's end.

To Mr. Maalouf, his wife, and his charming daughter, our wishes for a happy voyage — on condition that we see them among us next summer.