and we shall not retreat from it after having fought for it... Our second step, then, is to exercise this right...!"

"I believe as you do, Najla," added Laure Tabet. "That is why I have lately resolved to come forward in the coming elections and stand as a candidate in Beirut; for I am fully convinced that woman and man stand on an equal footing, and therefore woman is required to exercise her right and to do her utmost to perform her duty toward her nation and the homeland..."

Mrs. Laure Tabet's declaration was a happy surprise, received with admiration and acclamation, and each one set about congratulating her on this decision, which calls for much daring, sacrifice, and courage — especially as the opposition against her in Beirut will be strong.

After that, Mari Ata Allah resumed: "What I mean, precisely, is that when the women's organizations know the candidate's capability and her firm principles, they must elect her and mobilize all their forces to that end..."

"Our hope and our aim," Najla Saab answered her, "is that all the women of Lebanon should come to

the polling places and elect her... But so long as the women's organizations are not a political party with a definite electoral program, they cannot adopt any candidate; all they can do is support her out of conviction in her mission... And I personally prefer to support a man of competence rather than a woman merely because she is a woman."

That is so, agreed Habiba Yakan, "and I endorse what Mrs. Saab and Mrs. Tabet have put forward. But I propose that we have a program of our own and definite demands, and that we support the person who adopts them, whether woman or man... On the other hand, I endorse the nomination of woman to the Chamber; but I believe she lacks the experience sufficient to perform her duty toward her homeland..."

"And did the men have experience," Laure Tabet interrupted her, "when they entered the Chamber years ago!?"

"That is true," agreed Habiba Yakan, "but woman has less experience than man... There is in America an association called the 'Women Voters' association, whose aim is to educate woman in these

matters — that is, in the laws and principles of elections... But unfortunately..." — "That is just what we were driving at, and our very aim!" exclaimed Najla and Laure together.

"We shall not reach that aim," Habiba went on, "until we make every individual a watchman over himself, and that by means of political and civic education... which must spring from the women's organizations, the universities, and the other