XLIII. 



H Corner of Kent. 



STROLLING from Herne Bay towards Reculvers the 

 other day, I found myself on a coast which is geologi- 

 cally classic as regards the action of the sea on the 

 land. There are few coasts which can tell a more 

 typical story of sea-invasion than this east-coast nook 

 of Kent. Doubtless the sea which encompasses us 

 acts perpetually on all our coasts, but Peterhead granite 

 will withstand the buffeting of the waves for ages, 

 while chalk and marls will go the way of their kind, 

 when attacked by the sea, with amazing rapidity. I 

 often think that a holiday, either by the sea or inland, 

 might be made, for the vast majority of us, infinitely 

 interesting, were the local history of the places we 

 visit made an object of even superficial study. 



How many of the hundreds of persons, for example, 

 who visit Reculvers each summer know aught of its 

 history, or realise how, as the old church stands, ruined 

 and desolate, it testifies to the power of the sea on our 

 coasts, and to the great geological lesson of waste of 

 the land ? a lesson as old as Job, who speaks of the 

 waters wearing the stones. The reason why we yawn 

 and grow wearied over holidays is, that we have not 

 learned to invest our leisure time with any meed of 

 interest at all. But with a little geology in one's head, 



