One of the sheets, whose beauty the colors redouble

contact: the girls come to her house, and each receives the "piece" whose making she has mastered, together with instructions and the materials for the work; then she goes off, and does not return until the work is done... Aida affirms that this system saves both time and "muddle" — besides giving scope for making the girls bear responsibility for what they work on — and it has yielded the best of results...

What are the works that Aida concerns herself with?: I visited her at her house to look over some of the finished pieces, and a wave of deep delight swept over me which I could not put into words — I rejoiced for Aida, and she grew in my eyes all at once... With great admiration I stood reviewing the handmade masterpieces, refined in taste and perfect in workmanship... Among them the old, old work, from which waft the breezes of the grandmothers, setting hearts aflutter with longing... and among them the new, the "modern," no less splendid than what the newest workshops in the European countries produce.

What did I see? I saw a great deal: Sheets and covers for every occasion and of every kind, glowing with coquettish colors in perfect harmony; and I saw the lampshades, and the "Aubusson" work, and the regal robe de chambre, and evening bags, and covers for the telephone directory and the photograph album; and I saw the fine wall panels which the beholder can only take for paintings done in colors!

All of It for You...

And besides all this I saw the embroidered gaiters, and the collars, and the "fantaisie" sleeves, and many other things, each sweeter than the last, so that you wish you could gather them all up into your arms...

An exhibition of "Lodgia" works — Aida Labaki is at present devoting her whole effort to preparing the works she will exhibit soon — perhaps just before Christmas — in one of the halls of UNESCO. It has come to our ears that she attaches special importance to the wall panels of Lebanese character, representing village scenes old and new — and in producing this unique work she is assisted by some of the rising Lebanese artists. I saw two of them, "miniature," drawn by Jean Khalifé.

Editorial secretary of a magazine of education

Alongside her preparations for the exhibition, Aida works, under the supervision of Dr. Khalil al-Jurr and Georges Younes, as editorial secretary of the educational magazine

published by the Ministry of National Education — her principal task being the preparation of the artistic pages and attention to the artistic production. All this besides her household duties, and her undertaking of the printing, or reprinting, of the books of her husband Salah, whose publication and distribution the Rihani presses have taken in hand. Within a few months there have appeared "The Swing of the Moon" and "Strangers," and in a month's time there will appear "Longing," a diwan of love poetry...

•

I took my leave of Aida with a silent smile, radiating faith in woman's power to triumph in the battles of life... provided, that is, that she possesses at bottom a foundation of talents to serve as a starting point toward a life of dignity, founded on work and creation...

31