In summer, dancing parties for grown-ups or for the little ones multiply in the mountain hotels... and usually the first outweigh the second; for in this country, and in the Eastern countries generally, we have not yet grown used to giving childhood its due share of attention, unlike the European and American countries...

Some hotels depart from this rule — among them the Hotel "al-Bahhar" in Aley, whose management has long made a practice of holding a weekly party set apart for the little ones, which has drawn hundreds of summer visitors to it... And on August 16 last, about a hundred children and boys, ranging in age from two and a half to twelve years, gathered in its spacious hall — and the amusing thing is that they were all masked... for the dancing party this time was a masked one. The noise rose, the excitement mounted, and gaiety filled every heart... Nor was the task of the judging committee an easy one, especially as every child was hoping for a prize...

The Young Women's Christian Association keeps up its summer camps, among the pines on the heights of Dhour el-Choueir, every summer for two months; the tents are occupied in turn by various groups — quilt-makers, women employees, and others — all under an excellent direction, that of the Association's president, Miss Edma Bayoud, and her energetic

companions... Last month the First Lady of Lebanon was so kind as to visit "Friendship Camp" and inspect the various works and activities the girls are carrying on... The visit made the happiest impression on Mrs. Chamoun, who appreciates the Association's efforts and the extent of the services it renders to the rising generation of our girls...

A view of Friendship Camp, showing the girls as they prepare to receive the First Lady

The First Lady listens to Miss Edma Bayoud's explanation of the camp and the Association's aims; around her are Mrs. Eva Malik and a group of the Association's active members