Hartlip Parish Magazine, April 1921.

Dear Friends,

The weather on the first day of Spring was simply perfect, which we trust might be a good omen for the Easter holidays. The first Resurrection Day, one always associated with brightness and sunshine, in every sense of the word. And so a sunny Easter morn seems the ideal.

You are all doubtless fully aware that on Saturday, April 2nd, at midnight, Summertime comes into force, when we are requested to put our clocks on one hour, thereby losing perchance an hour's rest that night.

As many of you know Miss H. M. Hollands of the Post Office, has undergone a serious operation in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Rochester. It is still early days to say much, but so far she has held her own and a steady recovery seems likely, and this will be the earnest wish of us all, for the Hartlip Sub-Postmistress.

The Annunciation of B.V.M. (25th March, Lady Day), which this year fell on Good Friday, is transferred to April 5th, on which day we will celebrate it and this you will see by reference to the Calendar below. We also wish to have, as in former years, a Service for the Members of the Mothers' Union in Church with an address.

I trust that every Member of the M.U. will make an effort to be present at this Service. Never was there a time when it became every Member of the M.U. to be staunch to their principles than at the present, when the. Marriage Bond is so lightly regarded, and attempts are being made in Parliament to make Divorce an easy and ordinary thing. Such proposals should rouse the wifehood and motherhood of the Nation, to defend and maintain the sacred character of Holy Matrimony and the consequent stability of home and family.

There is a Confirmation to be held in the neighbourhood in May, for which some Candidates are being prepared from our Parish. It is a very serious step in their life, one which they will probably increasingly realise, yet one which demands our sympathy, as we picture them going forward to seek the Blessing of the Laying on of Hands and the Strengthening Power of the Holy Ghost as given in that Sacred Rite. Therefore I ask your daily prayers on their behalf, that their minds may be open to receive the Message of God's Love and their hearts drawn to love and serve Him all the days of their life.

These days in which we now live, may be called "giving days." One or two of us know what it is to have appeals nearly every week of one sort or kind. You have had one or two just of late; well be thankful you have the power to give, which most

people possess at the present in some degree, ever remembering that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." You will be invited, one of these days to contribute what you can to the support of St Bartholomew's Hospital, Rochester, it is a very deserving Institution, where first class treatment is dealt out to every patient and its doors are open night and day to receive all in need of its healing powers. Therefore, I feel sure Hartlip Parish will respond to the urgent call of this noble Hospital which is the "friend-in-need" to all. After doing this, I would ask you to save up for Rogation Sunday, May 1st, when the Central Board of Finance of the Church of England asks us to realise our privilege and Duty of supporting the Central Work of the Church. This is but a distant note sounded in advance, as I hope to say more in the May Magazine.

It may not be out of place to mention that Tuesday, May 3rd, is the day for our Annual Open-Air Rogation Service.

One of our Weekly Papers states:- "Not for many years have the perplexities of Newspaper Proprietors and Magazine Editors been so great as they are at the present. During the past twelve months, several Journals have ceased publication and others amalgamated. Now comes the announcement that the N. of E. edition of the Daily News will cease after March 24th. This, the proprietors say, is owing to the increased cost of paper, wages and production." As regards this Deanery, there are several Parishes that have given up their Magazine owing to the above stated reasons. Therefore it is somewhat gratifying to think that in the midst of all such difficulties our Parish Magazine should have survived thus far notwithstanding that our Parish is small.

There is only space to say, we have just lost an old parishioner in Mrs. Hy. Hales ; and the tragic death of our Rural Dean occurred on March 22nd, at Newington.

Your faithful Friend and Pastor,

J. SMEDLEY McMILLAN.

Holy Baptism.
Mar.6.-Lorna May, daughter of Edmund Charles and Nellie Mary Harriss, Warlingham, Surrey.
Calendar.
April5.-Annunciation B.V.M. (transferred from March 25th), Holy Communion, l0 a.m
"25.-St. Mark, E.M. Holy Communion, 10 a.m.