◆ SpookStack

court -- at his own personal expense -- where all can play. The strictly diplomatic work of many of these posts is limited. Treaties are not concluded very often, and if anything at all is signed, it is likely to be an agreement to supply some tons of insecticides, an English teacher, a Peace Corps group, sone road-scrapers, or surplus food for a famine or flood area. We have one ambassador who likes to hike, Though advanced in years, he drove to the end of the road ia the mountains and walked 13 miles farther to visit the U.S. missionaries at their station. Women are making a major contribution in our diplomatic missions in Africa. Mary a diplomat's wife, beside her family and domestic duties, enlarged by all sorts of tropical problems, labors to arouse interest in the sorts of community activitics so comaon in the U.S, and so tragically lacking here, JI have a mental image of the precious wife of one of our ambassadors, hobbling about her garden with her foot in a cast, welcoming local women and children to a movie showing. In that predominantly Muslim country this may have been the only window open on the world for these womcn, though they were the vives of Ministers and other high officials, We have a wenan administrative officer at one of our posts, in charge of such fascinating itums as ensport, shipment of goods, leascs on staff houses, ete. Her chief said she was doing a fine job. be have a woman economics officer at another post. I met her first some years ago at an embassy in Eastern Europe, ere her eager interest in the economics and the art of that difficult area was outstanding. Now she is a volunteer in Africa, zest undiminished, interest keen. "Give me a developing area," she ssid; “for me the real hardship posts would be Paris, London, Geneva---." And every embas- sy has one or more secretaries from home: a lonesome life for many, and unsung, but without whom not much would get done. There is a lot happening in French Africa that should be of vital interest to Americans. Let's at least give it the benefit of the doubt, as we are already giving it generous technical and financicl aid, and, increasingly, human aid in the form of the Peace Corps. These countries are tackling some monwiental problens. B-959