The Village Welfare Society's Party

On the afternoon of Tuesday, April 23 last, a select company of the friends of the Village Welfare Society gathered at the house of the Conference of Civic Organizations in Beirut, to attend a "country-style" tea party and to listen to Miss Catherine Cleveland — the friend of the Arabs, and expert in rural affairs to the Italian government — speak of the good works she is now carrying out in the Italian countryside. It was a truly delightful and absorbing talk, in which that good-hearted woman ranged freely through examples and anecdotes of what is being accomplished, at her hands and the hands of her colleague Miss Smith, and of dozens of assistants, to raise the Italian countryside to a modern and advanced level.

Miss Cleveland did not forget to praise the mighty efforts put forth by the members of the Village Welfare Society, whose activity she had followed during her stay among us two years ago, as director of the education division of Point Four. She said that the constructive projects which in Europe rest upon the shoulders of the governments rest in Lebanon upon the shoulders of individuals — and with the same devotion, if not more!

The president of the society, Mrs. Anissa Najjar, had welcomed those present and introduced the presidents of the committees:

Mrs. Aliya al-Saidi, president for Maaraka
Mrs. Zalfa Rawda, president for Bishtfin
Mrs. Raafat Arab, president for Habboush
Mrs. Shamsa Frayha, president for Mounsef

The secretary gave a sketch of the society's history and of its activities in all their variety — fruit and vegetable canning, weaving, household management, and other such arts, all of which lead to raising the standard of life in the countryside and providing work for idle hands.

Before the party closed, all present expressed the wish that Lebanon might once again enjoy the services of the devoted and zealous Miss Cleveland.