The Province Of Kent.

The Province of Kent .

SPRING I The leaves are bursting into life , a tender green ; the fields are carpeted with a wealth of velvet blade of the same bright hue . Nature is awaking from its Winter slumber , and as the wind laughs gaily through the trees they bow and shake as if to welcome the coming warmth and beauty of the golden Summer .

IlltO . . 1 . S . KASTK . S , IIKP . PI . OV . ( iHAXl ) MASTER KIOXT . ( I'll ,. In _\[ , l „ ll . {• /' " . I-, l'ii ;; lililljl ) It is Kent , the garden of England , the happy home of

some of the sturdiest defenders of the land , where , on more than half its coast , the sea laps wearily against its chalky cliffs or beats remorselessly along its sandy beach . How welcome to the weary traveller seems that line of chalky wall which greets his willing eye as the steamer nears

the shore , and how sweet to the soul those rolling downs and richly wooded knolls as the train rushes onward to great London town . Teeming thousands will in a few short weeks be turning their faces away from the toil and turmoil of the great city and disporting themselves around its coasts to carry back with them a joyous memory of their pleasured sojourn . 'Tis

Kent in spring and nature is alive . In a country so rich in natural beauty and with a climate so soft and mellow we look to find the traces of man ' s handiwork expressed in all the beauty and poesy of the art of ages . No youthful county this , but one where for

centuries it has been the joy of her children to dot and grace her charming face with stately castles and with glorious churches . In this way the County of Kent has perhaps more than any oilier part of Great Britain a claim to distinction ; here the first Mason must have girded himself

up to work , and here must he have first " marked" his stone and placed it in position . Thus is it interesting to us , the toilers of to-day , to recognise the fact that though their names be lost in the dim distances of time , our ancient brethren worked and slaved for our benefit , and that we have with us

yet the regal palaces they erected either for the worship of the Great Architect , or for the habitation or defence of man . Masonic Kent has ever been fully alive to its duties to the Craft , and although from time to time there may have

been a slight falling off in the enthusiasm of the Province , yet the old ship has made up her lee-way and beating up against the wind , she has arrived in port all well on board . Since records have been kept with any attempt at correctness , or with any idea of handing down to posterity a true

history of the ways and doings of our brethren of the days gone by , 125 lodges have found place and life in this good old county of Kent . In looking through the long list of lodges , some of which have passed into the limbo of forgetfulness , and some of which have joined themselves to others ,

the fact which astonishes and sets one thinking , is the abnormal number of warrants which seem to have been issued to bodies of brethren of either a military or semi-military character and occupation . Judging from the dates attached to many of these old documents it would seem to point to the

fact that the large numbers of military stationed in Kent , during the time when Napoleon was threatening our national life , must have interested themselves largely in the mysteries of the Craft . Of the 125 lodges mentioned above at least twenty-six were more or less of a military character , and even

of these there are to-day existent at least seven , and perhaps more , which still retain this peculiar individuality . In process of time fifty lodges have surrendered their warrants from one cause or the other , probably in many cases owing to the withdrawal from particular districts of that backbone of their existence the military element , whilst seven ,

IIIIO . W . llirsSKI . ! ., PIIOV . ( lltAXI ) TIIKASl . mai KI . NT . ( l' / mln lliilri ; r . ;•„ . ¦ .., / ... ) too weak to stand alone , have sunk their separate life and joined hands with some more prosperous body of brethren . One lodge , and one only , was still-born , and although its warrant was granted , yet it still lies unclaimed in the archives of Grand Lodge .