Vicarage Cottage,
Hartlip.

My dear Friends,

What wonderful cherries we have have this year, and what a picture it has been to see them hanging in their clusters on the trees. It is the first year that I have lived amongst so much beautiful fruit, and because it is the first, perhaps that makes me feel, more than you, that we ought to be tremendously thankful to God for all these beautiful things. Yet how often we do not stop to think; few of you, perhaps, as you have been picking them in their hundreds, have thought how wonderful they looked hanging on the tree. They are so familiar that we do not notice their beauty, and that may be the reason why we do not stop to thank God for them. There are so many things in life which we see so frequently that we fail to notice any beauty in them to all, and consequently we fail to thank the Creator of these things.

I am afraid that we do not realise how fortunate we are. We have been at war nearly three years, and we still enjoy good food, and there is sufficient for all. When we think of what little others have in other wcountries, and how they are existing, we begin to realise that we hardly know that we are at war. Yet few in their hearts are very thankful to God for all these benefits, and some grumble and complain.

Why do we grumble? Why do we complain? Is it because we must have what we want, besides the things we need. Often it is no more than the fact that we are selfish and greedy, and we do not stop to think of the lives of the men which are at stake while they are bringing the from overseas. If we were more war conscious, we would give up and "make do" and sacrifice many more things than we do, and give them up willingly. I see very little sacrifice in the extent that it costs us something, yet we are at war. It means very much more to those who are in Russia or in the Desert, and some of us want to carry on just the same as we did before the war. Do we think of the lives that men are giving for us? Do we think of the pain of the wounded when we complain we haven't, for example, enough sugar. How futile our wants are when we think of the battle front. What are we doing to help them in that front line? What are we doing without, might be more to the point, in order to save shipping for something more vital. In my opinion, the sooner we get down to total war the sooner it will all be over, which is the desire of all of us.

We all depend upon each other in this war, all are in it, bit it would be true to say that some

are not playing their part. We are all bound together like one great family, so let us work together for the one great common cause - Peace. Can we ask ourselves if we are doing all that we might, both in a material and spiritual way. The peace which we bring about by force, cannot be held by force. Nothing less than the spirit of Christ in the hearts of men everywhere can hold the nations together in unity and love.

We have not yet been able to secure a Caretaker and Verger for Newington and Hartlip. I am most grateful to Mrs. Eley who is willing to continue with the schools at Hartlip, and I am sure that we all thank her most sincerely for all that she has done to beautify and clean our Church.

The Parochial Church Councils in both parishes are meeting very soon to discuss the above question, and other matters which need attention.

I feel that I must say something about the condition of the Churchyards. We have tried in vain to find someone to scythe them; we shall continue to look for someone who has the time to do it. Meanwhile we shall realise that they are in this condition only because we are at war, and labour is required in other places.

With all Good Wishes,

Your very sincerely,

J. W. NEILSON.

Vicarage Cottage,
Hartlip.

My dear children,

I have been very pleased to see some of you busy collecting salvage; this is at least one way that you can help and do your part in this war. I hope that many others will follow your good example, and collect as much salvage as is possible. It will anyhow remind us not to waste anything; there is hardly a thing that need be wasted to-day, and if it is of no use to us we can take it somewhere where others will transform it into something useful. Just because you have only a small number of tins or a small piece of rubber do not think that it is not worth taking them, for when all those small things are put together they make a very large number.

I sometimes wonder if we will remember all the lessons about "Waste" when the war is over or whether some of us will go back to our old bad