Fairuz the Mother
On New Year's Day, "Ziad Rahbani" dawned...
A bud of love, a nightingale still in its down.
Fairuz clasps him with the devoutness of the Virgin.
What glad tidings — as though made for Assi and for Fairuz!
Who has seen the greatest joy made complete?
Who has seen the smile of contentment shine upon Fairuz's lips,
as they assure her that his head is like his father's head!
Who has seen happiness suffuse her childlike face?!
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Fairuz inspired Assi with marvels of melody,
and sent them forth from the golden throat as the tenderest of song,
so that hearts are drunk with the magic of this voice,
and with the colored, dancing moments it bestows, which raise the soul to its feet and seat it down again,
...and lull it to sleep on pillows of silk... and roses!
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Tomorrow, with the truce to come, Fairuz will appear before us with something fresh and new,
and it is certain that Fairuz's motherhood will lend the soft ring of her voice
a savor from heaven — none more reverent, none more tender....
We are waiting for "Ziad's" song....
Births of the Month

• On the forenoon of the sixth of last January there rose from the hospital of Dr. Mustafa Khalidi a long ululation, followed, amid exultations of joy, by the crying of a newborn child.

"Ghassan" Tawfiq Assaf was

born at the hands of the skillful physician Dr. Saniyya Habboub, and the mother, our friend A'idah Sa'b, returned to her home, thronged with family and with cups of the traditional mughli.

The features of little "Ghassan" show that he is fair like his mother and strong-muscled like his father — so welcome to him; may he romp with his sister "Randa," and may the

two of them drink their fill of Pepsi-Cola!!

• It seems the newborns of last January were all boys! For on the forenoon of Friday the 20th, "Haytham," firstborn of our friend Nuha Erzurumli and Lieutenant Bandar Al al-Sahn of the Jordanian Military College, looked out upon the world with a piercing cry.

The birth took place at the hospital of Dr. Sami Baydoun, and the mother and her lively dark-complexioned baby enjoy perfect health. To the families of Al al-Sahn and Erzurumli, our congratulations and our sincerest good wishes.

A Story Symposium

The "Arab Youth Association" at the American University of Beirut issued invitations to a story symposium in which took part a group of those who have contributed by their production to the building of the modern Arabic story: Sheikh Said Takieddine, Miss Samira Azzam, and Mr. Farid Mudawwar. The symposium was chaired by Dr. Muhammad Yusuf Najm, who, after introducing the participants to the audience, put to them questions about the motives for story-writing within their souls, and then about their view of the principle of commitment in literature. The talk then passed to the theater and to the causes that have kept it from taking its part in the battle of progress in our country.

The symposium was successful and full of interest, thanks to the liveliness the participants lent it, which lifted it out of the frozen atmosphere that prevails over many a lecture.

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