Mr. Miller

“ Harte is about the same age as Miller, lived among the camps at about the same time, but he was not, to use a rough expression, “one of the gang,” was not so pronouncedly “on the inside” as was his brother poet. He never dug in the mines, he was not a filibuster, nor an Indian Sachem. All these and more Miller was, and perhaps he is nearer the plumb line of truth in his delineations after all.
Mr. Miller’s home is on the bluffs overlooking the San Francisco Bay in sight of the Golden Gate. In July, 1897, he joined the gold seekers in the Klondike regions of Alaska. ”

“ Dear Sir, I received a line from you, dated March 1, and was glad to hear that Father Miller had concluded to visit West Troy on Saturday last. With much anxiety, all looked forward to that day, expecting the privilege of hearing something upon the subject of Christ’s Second Coming. But alas! we are disappointed. Dear Sir, I write these few lines, letting you know something of the state of feeling in this place upon the subject of Mr. Miller’s lectures. In the street, in the house, in short, wherever (almost) you meet an individual, the first thing is, Has Mr. Miller come yet? ”

“ I have never courted the smiles of the proud, nor quailed when the world frowned. I shall not now purchase their favor; nor shall I go beyond duty to tempt their hate. I shall never seek my life at their hands; nor shrink, I hope, from losing it, if God in his good providence so orders. I thank God for your steadfastness in the truth, and pray him that you may endure unto the end. I remain as ever looking for, and expecting the King in his glory soon.
Wm. Miller.’
Again Mr. Miller writes for the Herald, Dec. 3, 1844 ”

“ Miller was goin' to Springfield to see what he could do about gettin' to sell books or maps or atlases, and quit preachin' till a church turned up, or preach a little now and then, and marry folks when he could, and preach at funerals. I heard Mr. Miller say to my pa that he was worried about Mitch; that Mitch talked in his sleep and ground his teeth, and talked about engines and horses and findin' pistols and treasure, and ridin' on steamboats, and about Zueline and Tom Sawyer. And he said he'd tried to get him to go out to the farm with me and ride horses and get a change, but he wouldn't. ”

“ There was a knock at the door and Aunt Caroline went and opened it, and there stood my pa and Mr. Miller. "Well, you young pirates," said my pa, as he came in the room, "you're goin' down to see Tom Sawyer, are you, and run away from your home?"
"They got a job on the steamboat, Hard," said John. "You can't interfere with that, you know." And he laughed and swore.
"I'll get a switch to you, young man," my pa went on. "Mitchie, what makes you do this?" asked Mr. Miller. "It does beat the world. Your mother is worried almost to death."
Mitch looked down. ”

“ Mr. Bliss was for more than twenty years the local and able conductor of the Advent Herald, which sustained the leading doctrines promulgated by Mr. Miller, published at Boston, Mass. The publisher of this volume, Elder Joshua V. Himes, Mr. Miller’s intimate fellow-laborer and friend, in his preface says:—
“The name of William Miller, of Low Hampton, N. Y., is too well known to require an extended introduction; but while well known, few men have been more diversely regarded than he. ”

“ He has great firmness—is a modest man, open, frank, no hypocrite, good at figures, a man of great mental power, might make a noise in the world, has no personal enemies; if he has enemies, it is not because they know him, but on account of his opinions.’
“At the close of the examination his blindfold was removed, and he was introduced to Mr. Miller, to the no small amusement of the company.
“They arrived in New York on the evening of the 6th of February, 1844, and found a conference assembled in Franklin Hall. Mr. Miller gave two discourses there on the 7th ”

“ Mr. Miller says: "Oh, fiddlesticks! That's a blue racer, as harmless as the peck of a chicken." Then he took hold of Mitch and shook him and says: "Here, Mitch, this is all foolishness—you're just scart; that snake ain't pisen. He can't hurt you more than a chicken." So Mitch sat right up and looked at his hand which wasn't swelled. And he says: "I am pisened, I'm sick." "Oh, shucks," said Mr. Miller. "It's just imagination. Come into the drug store and get a soda."
Mitch climbed out of the wagon, kind of pale yet, but more sheepish and went in and drank his soda and began to laugh. ”

“ I wanted to be close to him; he was a man; he was strong, and I was lonesome and grievin', and at night always dreamin' of Mitch. And after a while Mr. Miller came in, and Mrs. Miller too. They looked terrible sad and pale. Here was Mr. Miller out of a church and not makin' much, and here they had lost their only boy.
So pa went over to his safe and got the $1000; he had it in two envelopes, one marked with my name and one with Mitch's; and he came back, holdin' 'em in his hand and he said: "You know that these boys found that money that belonged to old Nancy Allen. ”

“ Miller did, with great unanimity, heartily and honestly believe that on a given day they should behold the coming of the King of glory.
“The world cannot understand how that could be; and many who professed the name of Christ, have spoken contemptuously of such an expectation. But those who in sincerity love the Saviour, can never feel the least emotion of contempt for such a hope. The effect on those entertaining this belief is thus described by Mr. Miller, in a letter dated October 11, 1844:—
“‘I think I have never seen among our brethren such faith as is manifested in the seventh month. ”

“ But other great men have made as grave mistakes relative to the event to occur at the close of the great periods of Daniel as Mr. Miller. These, however, are soon forgotten, while that of Mr. Miller is ever fresh in the public mind. The learned late Geo. Bush, Prof. of Hebrew and Oriental Literature in the New York City University, in a letter addressed to Mr. Miller, and published in the Advent Herald for March, 1844, made some very important admissions relative to his calculations of the prophetic times. ”

“ Along with this I send you copies of two letters, which I received from Thomas S. Miller of New York, just after my removal from that city to Cincinnati. The letters tell their own story. After an intimate acquaintance of more than seven years with Mr. Miller, I can say that I never knew a man more scrupulously honest, conscientious and truthful than he. I never heard but one individual question his truthfulness in the slightest degree, and that could easily be accounted for, without impugning Mr. Miller’s veracity—a personal difficulty having existed between them. ”

“ At the same time we have overcome our prejudice against him by attending his lectures, and learning more of the excellent character of the man, and of the [125] great good he has done and is doing. Mr. Miller is a plain farmer, and pretends to nothing except that he has made the Scripture prophecies an intense study for many years, understands some of them differently from most other people, and wishes, for the good of others, to spread his views before the public. ”

“ Miller, and have denied, or, at least, hold very lightly their past second-advent experience, and have left the field to Seventh-day Adventists, who stand upon the “original advent faith.” And while occupying the position we do relative to the past movement, the public have reason to expect that, while we hold that Mr. Miller moved in the providence of God in his work, we should publish the facts as they existed in his life, views, and labors, in explanation and defense, so far as such facts constitute a defense, of our position. ”

“ Miller, is it possible that you can doubt it?"
The elder man pointed with contemptuous significance to the sunshade before him.
"I find upon your table, young man, the evidences of the recent presence of some wretched woman in your rooms, and your confusion of manner shows me too plainly that you are not the kind of husband to which a man may safely entrust his daughter's happiness."
"Mr. Miller, I assure you you are mistaken; it is not so."
"Every man in this country has a right to justify himself when he is accused. ”

“ The gates were wide open as though we were expected and no obstacles were to delay us. The husband, Henry Miller, was waiting for us at the stile block. His face was drawn and white and great tears were rolling down his weather-beaten cheeks.
"She's awful bad off, Doctor. I'm afraid she's gonter die," he whispered huskily.
"Oh no, my son! I have no idea of such a thing. Maybe you had better unhitch my horse. He is not much on the stand. Page, you help him, please."
Now Father knew perfectly well that I could look after the colt by myself, but he simply wanted to occupy Mr. Miller. ”

“ Amazement fills the universe with awe! He comes!—he comes! Behold, the Saviour comes! Lift up your heads, ye saints,—he comes!—he comes!—he comes!
“‘Wm. Miller.’
“A letter written about the same time with the above, to a sister of Mr. Miller’s whose husband was a Universalist, is particularly severe on those sentiments. Beginning with subjects of mere family interest, he proceeds to those of a religious; and, in speaking of the nearness of the advent, he says:—
“‘I now tell you that I am more and more convinced of its truth. ”

“ This was a small, erect old lady, with eyes as bright as her diamonds in their old-fashioned settings, and a smile as fine as her long old hands.
“Ah, Hewer,” she said with a brisk nod, “still here, are you? Do crowds like this always collect for the Torbys' parties?”
Hewer, standing on the lower step, seemed just twice as tall as the old lady as he answered: “Crowds, madam!” And then as she waved her hand toward the front door, he understood and added: “Oh, yes, madam, quite often a crowd collects. And how is Mr. Richard?” ”

“ In turn a miner, lawyer, express rider, editor, poet and newspaper man, Mr. Miller has amassed a fund of experiences such as rarely falls to the lot of the ordinary individual. That his literary gifts enable him to reproduce in vivid fashion many of these same happenings is a matter for self-congratulation on the part of the reading public. What is yet more fortunate is that he preserves in his poems the breath of the prairie, the air of the mountains and the “tang” of that west that is rapidly passing into nothingness. The poet was born in the Wabash district of Indiana, November 10, 1841. ”

“ One of them remarked that it was impossible for things to progress for thirty years to come in the same ratio as they had [91] done; ‘for,’ said he, ‘man will attain to something more than human.’ Mr. Miller replied to him that it reminded him of Dan. 12:4, ‘Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ A pause ensuing, Mr. M. continued, and observed that the improvements of the present day were just what we should expect at this time in the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. ”

“ Suppose you had the good fortune not to be “turned down” at once as a mere “smartie,” Mr. Miller would take trouble with you. He would frankly admit that he and his fellows had only themselves to thank for the disrepute into which their craft had fallen; and bold would have been the advertising freebooter or mere space-broker who had held up his head before Mr. Miller’s righteous anger.
“We’ve overdone it,” he would sorrowfully admit. “We want noo blood—noo blood, noo idees, and belief in the reel dignity of our work. If you’ve got them, sit right down and let’s have a look at them ”

“ And Mitch began to cry. I didn't know what to say or to do. It was all true. There wasn't any Tom Sawyer; and this town—why we couldn't find a thing like it was in the book.
Pretty soon our pas came back and Mitch says, "When you goin' to leave?" "This afternoon," says my pa. Then Mitch says: "Let's go. I don't feel well. I want to go home."
Then Mr. Miller tried to comfort Mitch and tell him that life was full of disappointments; that everything that happens when you're a boy, happens over when you're a man, just like it, but hurts worse. ”

“ For, boys, you can put it down that a country ain't good that is run on the principle of countin' noses, and lettin' everybody have a say just because he walks on two legs and can talk instead of barkin' or waggin' his tail." And so Mr. Miller went on.
Then Mr. Miller said damn, or that something could be "damned." And Mitch says, "Pa, did you know you swore?" And Mr. Miller says: "I shouldn't have, and don't you follow my example. But sometimes I get so mad about the country." ”

“ From the 2d to the 10th of November, he lectured in Haverhill, Mass., where he made the acquaintance of Elder Henry Plummer, pastor of the Christian church, who embraced his views, and was a steadfast friend till Mr. Miller’s decease.
“On the 11th of November, Mr. Miller commenced a course of lectures in Exeter, N. H., which continued till the 19th. On the 12th, a Conference of the Christian connection was in session there, and they called on Mr. Miller in a body. He was a stranger to nearly all of them; and few of them regarded his views with anything more than mere curiosity. ”

“ Hugh Miller holds a lofty place, not merely from the discovery of new and undescribed organisms in the Old Red Sandstone, but from the accuracy and beauty of his descriptions, the purity and elegance of his composition, and the high tone of philosophy and religion which distinguishes all his writings. Mr. Miller is one of the few individuals in the history of Scottish science who have raised themselves above the labors of an humble profession, by the force of their genius and the excellence of their character, to a comparatively [xv] high place in the social scale. ”