LA 
 
 
1 , 
 
^J L JUiJL^ , M* — 
 
 MEMO 
 
 MOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 MISS HENRIETTA B.MILLER 
 
 LATE TEACHER OF FAIRVIEW SCHOOL, 
 
 WHO DIED AT 
 
 WAYNESBORO, PENNA. 
 
 DECEMBER 23, 1874. 
 
 The Amiable Friend. The Advocate of Education. 
 The Model Teacher. The Real Christian. 
 
 WAYNESBORO, PA. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 1877. 
 
^ 
 
 To be had by addressing the 
 Rev. Henry Miller, Waynesboro, Pa. 
 
 I O °[? 
 
 FROM THE PRESS OF 
 
 THE INQUIRER F. & P. COMPANY, 
 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE 
 
 JfqanMin (ftotmtij tpeacheqs' Institute ; 
 
 AS A GRATEFUL 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE ENCOMIUM ON HER LIFE, 
 
 PASSED BY THE INSTITUTE 
 
 ONE YEAR AFTER HER DEATH. 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 To record the achievements of illustrious 
 statesmen or valiant heroes would be patri- 
 otic and win applause; but to record the 
 early culture of a bright-eyed little girl, and 
 show how she was nurtured in childhood, 
 and how her mind was gradually expanded 
 and matured, as well as the growth of the 
 body, until she became an object of admira- 
 tion and qualified for extensive usefulness, may 
 serve as examples to those who have the in- 
 struction of youth, and prove a greater bless- 
 ing to society than a recital of the heroic deeds 
 of warriors and statesmen. 
 
 The Bible says, " The righteous shall be 
 held in everlasting remembrance," and it is 
 incumbent to preserve the incidents of a use- 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 ful life and of a happy death, for the benefit 
 of those who may come after us. 
 
 Such considerations influenced the writer of 
 the following pages, which are dedicated to 
 the members of the Franklin County Teach- 
 ers' Institute, with whom the subject of the 
 memoirs associated several years with much 
 cordiality, and for whose interest she mani- 
 fested a special regard, and whose annual 
 meeting she attended within three weeks of 
 her death. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Parentage and place of Nativity — Early Life at 
 Troy — Death of Two Sisters — Removal to Tur- 
 butville... 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Early Fondness for Reading — Home Training — 
 Importance of Parental Instruction and Exam- 
 ple — A Mother's Influence 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Removal to Chulasky — Benevolent Enterprise of 
 Samuel R. Wood, etc 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Rapid Intellectual Development — Proficiency in 
 Music — Interest in Sabbath-school and Religious 
 Literature — Systematic Bible Reading 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Removal to Phoenixville — Joins German Reform- 
 ed Church — Enters Linden Cottage Seminary — 
 Removal to Adamstown — Becomes a Teacher — 
 Removal to Waynesboro, etc 56 
 
 (7) 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Failing Health — Christmas Festival — Last Illness 
 — Not Afraid to Die — Dying to Live Again — 
 Funeral Serv ices , , 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Tributes to Her Memory — Resolution of Teachers' 
 Institute — Letters of Condolence — Death of Two 
 of her Friends — Dying Words of Pious Women 
 — Love for the Dead — Early Intellectual De- 
 velopment the Result of Parental Care 81 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Training of Children — Study of Languages — Val- 
 ue of Elementary Instruction — Growth of the 
 Scholastic Profession — Rewards of the Faithful 
 Teacher 98 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ADDENDA. 
 Paternal Care — Studies Suitable for Young Ladies 
 — Works to be Read — Miss Miller's Favorite 
 
 Hymns and Poems Alice Cary's Dying 
 
 Hymn 109-169 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 MISS HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Parentage and Place of Nativity — Early life at Troy — 
 Death of Two Sisters — Removal to Turbutville. 
 
 MISS HENRIETTA BREWSTER MIL- 
 LER was the third daughter of the Rev. 
 Henry and Sarah T. Miller. The first two 
 daughters, Victoria and Vandalia, were born 
 at Tarlton, Pickaway county, Ohio ; the former 
 in 1838, the latter in 1841, while their father 
 was minister of the German Reformed Church 
 of that place. Owing to providential occur- 
 rences in the family, Mr. M. was induced to 
 relinquish his charge in 1841, and to return 
 to the place of the nativity of Mrs. M., at 
 2 (9) 
 
IO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Troy, Bradford county, Pa., that she might 
 have the care of two sisters whose health had 
 failed beyond the prospect of recovery ; and 
 where, in a pleasant rural abode, Mr. M. would 
 find a home congenial to literary pursuits ; 
 and especially favorable, on account of its 
 healthfulness and beautiful surroundings, 
 whereat to rear those first-born lovely little 
 girls — the joy of fond parents, the embodiment 
 of health, beauty and loveliness. 
 
 The long journey of five hundred miles was 
 performed in a one-horse carriage. The high 
 hills had not then been brought low, nor little 
 valleys exalted by the construction of railroads, 
 or cars conveyed by the iron-horse at rapid 
 speed, as now. Hence three weeks were con- 
 sumed by steady, patient toil over mountain, 
 hill and dale, which, by a propitious provi- 
 dence, was successfully accomplished, all in 
 good health, without any accident to mar the 
 enjoyment of the journey. Having thus re- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. II 
 
 turned to the home of Mrs. M. 's youth, to the 
 joy of her aged mother and her sisters, there 
 was much to flatter the anticipation of a pleas- 
 ant abode. As month glided after month, 
 enhancing attachment to the place, and bright- 
 ening prospects for the future, nothing added 
 to the delights of home so much as those 
 pledges of heaven — those two little cherubs, 
 that by their peculiar sprightliness attracted 
 the admiration of all who saw them. 
 
 But, alas, how uncertain are the events of 
 life! 
 
 How often the fond hopes of parents are cross'd ! 
 How oft the bud is nipt by the frost, 
 When those which are cherished, and dearly beloved, 
 Are transplanted to bloom in the garden above ! 
 
 The scarlet fever became epidemic. Each 
 of these little girls encountered a virulent at- 
 tack that baffled the skill of two eminent phy- 
 sicians, with the best of nursing. They both 
 fell victims; and on the day that completed 
 
12 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the year of starting on the journey from Tarl- 
 ton, Vandalia was borne to the silent grave ! 
 
 Victoria survived eleven days, when her 
 mortal remains were deposited there likewise, 
 on June 16, 1842. 
 
 They were strongly attached to each other 
 while living, and were not long separated by 
 death. 
 
 A marble tablet, with appropriate inscrip- 
 tion, marks the place of their repose in the 
 cemetery one mile east of Troy — 
 
 Yet, again we hope to meet them, 
 
 When the days of life are fled ; 
 There, in heaven, with joy to greet them, 
 
 Where no farewell tear is shed. 
 
 Thus, a house was left desolate, and other 
 bereavements, in quick succession, followed, 
 until, in the course of six years, Mrs. M.'s 
 mother, two sisters, a brother, and other rela- 
 tives, with intimate friends of the vicinity, 
 were called to their eternal home ! 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 3 
 
 But amidst these chequered scenes of joy 
 and grief, there was one more added to the 
 family. 
 
 Henrietta, the subject of this narrative, was 
 born January 25, 1847, an d became the object 
 of strong attachment and regard, and seemed 
 to be a pledge of happy days to come. 
 
 Perhaps there is no situation more unstable 
 than that of a minister of the gospel; being 
 frequently induced to change localities for 
 professional considerations, or subject to the 
 fluctuations of the times, impelled by prospects 
 of greater good. 
 
 Hence, while pursuing this narrative, we 
 will follow the family through several removals. 
 From Troy to Turbutville, in 1848 ; thence to 
 Chulasky, in 1850; back to Turbutville, in 
 1852; thence to Shirleysburg, in 1858; thence 
 to Phcenixville, in 1861; thence to Adams- 
 town, in 1867; and finally to Waynesboro, in 
 1872. Mr. M. was offered some property as 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 a residence in Turbutville, and induced to 
 move there with the view of establishing a 
 select school. The inducements were not 
 very flattering, but the wants were evident. 
 
 The village then consisted of twenty-nine 
 tenements, nearly all frame buildings, that 
 had been erected in the early part of the pre- 
 sent century; with an old log church that 
 would seat about 300 persons, owned con- 
 jointly by the German Reformed and Luther- 
 ans, and occupied by each on successive Sab- 
 baths with a German sermon ; each of which 
 had about 200 communicant members, kept 
 up according to the common custom of the 
 Germans, of catechising the youth annually, 
 and confirming as many of the catechumens 
 as were deemed worthy. 
 
 There was at the time no other house of 
 worship in all that township, though remarka- 
 bly wealthy; and a part of which not inappro- 
 priately called Paradise, -with Adam and Eve 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 15 
 
 living in it. A venerable pair, Adam Schuy- 
 ler and his wife Eve. It was rarely the case 
 that there was an English sermon preached 
 there, and no meetings at night. An attempt 
 had been made to have a singing school at 
 night ; but it was so much annoyed by the 
 rowdies that they were obliged to meet in the 
 office of the 'Squire of the town. 
 
 Where there was so little light of the gospel, 
 it would hardly be expected to find much lib- 
 erality in patronizing a select school; and yet 
 even there, there were individuals who ex- 
 pressed a special desire for such. Mr. M., 
 accordingly, fitted up a building adjoining his 
 residence for the purpose, and made the ex- 
 periment, which was well received and tolerably 
 well patronized. The place has much im- 
 proved since then, containing three times as 
 many inhabitants now, with four spacious 
 brick churches, and the preaching all in Eng- 
 lish — except, occasionally, in German. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Eat^y Fondness for Reading — Home Training — Im- 
 portance of Parental Instruction and Example — A 
 Mother's Influence. 
 
 HERE Henrietta became familiar with 
 the exercises of the school-room. Be- 
 ing adjacent to the dwelling, and under the 
 fostering care of parents who cherished so- 
 licitude for her welfare, she imbibed a fond- 
 ness for books that aided her in the acquisition 
 of knowledge. She learned to read when not 
 more than four years old, and at five years 
 she astonished superior judges by the accuracy 
 of her reading. 
 
 Some may startle at the thought of having a 
 child learn to read so young, and conjecture 
 that the discipline must have been rigid, or 
 that she must have been possessed of extraor- 
 dinary talents. With regard to the first, it is 
 ( 16 ) 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 7 
 
 asserted there was nothing rigid, and no harsh- 
 ness employed . The ways of wisdom are ways 
 of pleasantness, and all her paths are paths of 
 peace. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that harshness or 
 severity is necessary or admissible, either in 
 the nursery or in the school-room. Those 
 parents or teachers who practice either will 
 never thus make good scholars nor philanthro- 
 pists. On the other hand, impartial observa- 
 tion will show that it is gentleness and kind- 
 ness, with judicious system and uniformity, 
 that is needed in the cultivation and training 
 of the youthful mind. 
 
 It is not claimed that she was possessed of 
 any extraordinary talents — although her in- 
 tellectual faculties ranked very high. But it 
 was owing to the wise, seasonable and kind 
 parental attention that every parent might 
 practice with equal happy results, that devel- 
 oped her faculties, qualified her for usefulness, 
 
1 8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and secured for her so much honor and ad- 
 miration. It is said that Martin Luther's 
 mother taught him the ten commandments 
 and the Lord's prayer from the tiles on the 
 fire-place, and so did the mother of Dr. Dod- 
 ridge, while they were quite small; and yet 
 that early culture did not make dull boys or 
 them; but rather, by giving an early start to 
 the growth of their minds before their intel- 
 lects were stultified by indolence and gross 
 habits, the intellectual gained an ascendency 
 over the bodily faculties, and they became re- 
 nowned for the vigor of their minds and for 
 their superior intelligence and piety. 
 
 Experience and observation has shown that 
 it is easier to train up a child right, than to 
 train it up wrong; or, according to Solo- 
 mon's injunction, "Train up a child in the 
 way he should go and when he is old, he will 
 not depart from it." 
 
 Those who train up children according to 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 9 
 
 Christian culture and the improved methods 
 of modern plans of governing schools, receive 
 the divine assistance and the cordial sanction 
 of the pupils. The child will appreciate kind 
 instruction, and will become enraptured with 
 intellectual rather than with bodily exercises, 
 and thus make ample returns for all attention 
 given to it, and God will bless the effort. 
 
 Never was there a cross word or angry look 
 given to Henrietta. Hence as Paul said to 
 Timothy, ' ' From a child thou hast known the 
 Holy Scriptures ;" so, from the early instruc- 
 tion kindly communicated at the family altar, 
 she soon showed much of the character of the 
 real Christian, being amiable in deportment, 
 and upright and noble in all her aspirations. 
 Never, from childhood, was she averse to obey 
 her parents, but always manifested a cordial 
 compliance with their instruction. And thus 
 a mutual delight was experienced both by the 
 parent or teacher and the pupil. The teacher 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 delighted to teach the pupil, and that pupil 
 delighted to be taught. 
 
 As in the case of Milton, who said, "When 
 I was yet a child few childish plays to me 
 were pleasing ; but I ever was intent to learn 
 and know, and do some useful thing ;" so with 
 Henrietta, she was not so much fascinated 
 with levity as with rational conviviality or 
 with true rational cheerfulness; and accom- 
 plished more during her short life than others 
 have in many years. Turning from boister- 
 ous mirth, she gave a preference to the sedative 
 and intellectual, instead of the romp or 
 lounge. She passed her time in acquiring 
 knowledge, or industriously performing some 
 useful part, and seldom passed an hour that 
 was not usefully and honorably employed. 
 Hence she usually attracted the attention and 
 won the esteem of the better classes, especially 
 of those who were her seniors in years. 
 
 Here we pause in our narrative, to state 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 21 
 
 that the education of children depends mainly 
 on the mother. Hence the Rev. James Pat- 
 terson, Capt. John Newton, Henry Martin, 
 Col. Gardiner, and many other distinguished 
 men, acknowledged that they owed their con- 
 version and all their eminence to the early in- 
 struction of their mothers. If mothers were 
 judicious and faithful in their attentions to 
 their children, they might early give such 
 direction to their habits as greatly to alleviate 
 their anxieties, and find them a source of real 
 gladness from childhood, rather than worri- 
 ment, grief and shame through life. The 
 mother who neglects her child until it is im- 
 pelled by weariness and the suffering impulses 
 of nature, will thus make it fretful and turbu- 
 lent. It will become disobedient and resent- 
 ful, and thus occasion much discomfort during 
 its childhood, and shame and sorrow in its 
 mature years. If the proper moral and mental 
 culture of children is neglected by parents, 
 
2 2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the devil and wicked men will very likely ef- 
 fect their ruin. By the neglect of parents, 
 the dispositions of children become perverted 
 and the faculties of their minds greatly im- 
 paired. 
 
 Thus we learn the importance of mothers 
 especially giving kind maternal and cheerful at- 
 tention to their children from early childhood : 
 Professor Wickersham has said the best part of 
 education is given before the child is five years 
 old. By this we don't mean silly dalliance, or 
 stuffing them with sweetmeats. We think 
 children, as well as adults, should be treated 
 rationally, as rational beings; and to treat 
 them (as some do) in a silly, babyish manner, 
 will make simpletons, and not wise and good 
 persons of them. To feed them too much 
 confectionery, is like allowing men to use too 
 much whiskey, while experience has shown 
 that it is better to take none at all, except 
 as medicine, when really needed. But the 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 23 
 
 mother who anticipates the wants and reliefs of 
 her infant, who promptly approaches it with 
 cheerful looks and kind words, will soon find 
 how cordially it responds in like manner. It 
 will thus learn to wait patiently, and as reason 
 becomes developed, how cheerfully it will 
 obey through love ! 
 
 On the other hand, to worry a child by 
 long neglect, and then to terrify it with angry 
 looks, or threats, or blows, the intellect will 
 be stunted, and it will grow up to be a scourge 
 rather than a comfort to those who bore it. 
 
 Every mother should sing lullabys, with 
 hymns of devotion and familiar instruction, to 
 her children. "Music hath charms to soothe 
 the troubled breast;" and it is remarkable 
 how soon and how accurately children learn 
 to sing — and what a tranquilizing influence on 
 their lives ! 
 
 There should likewise be an organ, melo- 
 deon, or some other musical instrument, in 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 every house. As a general rule, a musical 
 family is a happy family. 
 
 No discord nor envy found 
 
 Where music sends its cheerful sound. 
 
 Every mother should teach each of her chil- 
 dren to read before it is five years old. It is 
 a shame to think how this is neglected. Some 
 say it is too much trouble; but they take 
 trouble to adorn their bodies by dressing them 
 handsomely, and is not the soul of more worth 
 than the body, and shall there be less attention 
 given to the immortal spirit than to the perish- 
 ing body? Some mothers say they have no 
 time to teach their children to read and sing, 
 or to teach them the catechism, and yet find 
 time to gossip and to lounge. To such we 
 would frankly say, if they neglect and suffer 
 their children to grow up in ignorance and 
 sin they may have to take time to mourn over 
 their vices before they grow old. 
 
 While we thus particularly set forth the duty 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 25 
 
 of the mother to give proper attention to her 
 children, we do not wish to be understood to 
 exempt the father from responsibility. We 
 know there are peculiar and special duties of 
 each, and mutual duties in which each should 
 participate. The father as well as the mother 
 is in duty bound to give much personal atten- 
 tion to the culture and training of their chil- 
 dren. He should co-operate with the mother 
 in giving instruction, and in practicing and 
 advancing them in what the mother has taught 
 them. And it is especially the duty of every 
 man who assumes to be the head of a family, 
 to procure a comfortable habitation for that 
 family. Some men think too lightly of this, 
 and by unfaithfulness and neglect attempt to 
 rear their families in small uncomfortable and 
 unwholesome abodes, where worriment for the 
 wife, and suffering for the children, continu- 
 ally abound. The limits of this volume pre- 
 vent dilating on this particular, but a word 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to the wise is sufficient. Where parents cor- 
 dially unite in training their children in com- 
 fortable homes, we expect children reared who 
 will prove a comfort and honor to their parents 
 and ornaments of society. But where these 
 prerequisites are not found, and children neg- 
 lected, and in the absence of enjoyment at 
 home left to roam the streets, imbibing vicious 
 principles and contracting evil habits, we ex- 
 pect as a natural consequence they will grow 
 up to be a pest to society and a scourge to 
 their parents. Hence blessed, thrice blessed, 
 are those parents who have trained up their 
 children aright. 
 
 We ask the indulgence of the reader for 
 this digression, given for the purpose of shows 
 ing the opposite effects of the faithful or 
 negligent parent on the subsequent life of the 
 children and on society. 
 
 We trace the excellence of the life of Mis- 
 Miller to the enjoyments ot her home under 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 
 
 27 
 
 the special attention of kind parents, who 
 have never regretted the time, expense and 
 care given to her early culture. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Removal to Chulasky — Benevolent Enterprise of Sam- 
 uel R. Wood — Every Child of seven years learns to 
 read in Six Months after opening the School — Re- 
 turn to Turbutville — Development of the Public 
 School System — Educational Association of North- 
 ern Pennsylvania. 
 
 WHEN she was about four years old, her 
 father engaged as teacher and minister 
 at Chulasky Furnace, within three miles of 
 Danville, Pa., established by Samuel R. Wood, 
 who had been included in a constellation of 
 eminent philanthropists of Philadelphia, among 
 whom was Roberts Vaux, Matthew Carey, Al- 
 exander Henry, Revs. Drs. Skinner, Brantly, 
 Ely, Abercrombie, the venerable Bishop 
 White, and others, who distinguished that city 
 by their eminent charitable and beneficent 
 enterprises. Mr. Wood erected a first-class 
 
 anthracite furnace near Danville, at which he 
 
 (28) 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 29 
 
 employed hands, numbering with their fami- 
 lies, one hundred and fifty souls. The object 
 of this enterprise was not merely to make 
 money and show skill in conducting a large 
 business ; but to rear the offspring of his work- 
 hands to virtue, usefulness and happiness; 
 lamenting the fact that the children at such 
 establishments had hitherto been neglected 
 and suffered to grow up in ignorance and vice. 
 Hence, he did not only have furnaces, shops, 
 ware rooms, store-houses and dwellings erected, 
 but likewise, as most important of all, a church 
 and school-house, supplied with a teacher 
 during the week and preaching on the Sab- 
 bath, without expense to the workmen, and 
 proving to be a strong inducement for virtuous 
 hands to seek employment there. The church 
 was open twice every Sabbath, and the school 
 open all the year, with the exception of two 
 short vacations. Likewise a Sabbath-school 
 with Library, for which Mr. Wood contributed 
 
3<D MEMOIRS OF 
 
 $50, and the workmen and friends a larger 
 amount. 
 
 This was a beneficent experiment, and such 
 an experiment as has seldom been made with 
 equal success; the liberal appropriation of 
 the proprietor furnishing and supporting the 
 school out of his own funds, save a meager 
 appropriation of the School Board. But this 
 was not considered the best part of the achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 Of the one hundred and fifty employees, 
 the majority were foreigners — Welsh, 
 French, Irish, English, Germans or Scotch- 
 men ; some of them infidels, some Roman 
 Catholics, a few Lutherans, and a few of them 
 German Reformed, but very few, if any of 
 them, practical Christians. 
 
 The moral and intellectual culture of their 
 children having been almost entirely neglected; 
 seldom has there ever been assembled a more 
 uncouth set of children than made their ap- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 31 
 
 pearance on the first day of that school. The 
 entire number of pupils amounted to about 
 eighty. Those who were not large enough to 
 drive carts, or perform some such work, had 
 been allowed to roam at will over hills and 
 hollows, or, like the wild ducks, to dabble in 
 the mud along the banks of the Susquehanna. 
 Thirty of them had never learned the alpha- 
 bet. The children of the bosses, managers 
 and clerks were well clad, and courteous in 
 manners; but the majority wore apparel that 
 corresponded with the crudeness of their be- 
 nighted minds. And yet beneath those tat- 
 tered garbs there were some bright intellects, 
 susceptible of as much culture and refinement 
 as those born in palaces and reared in the lap 
 of luxury. The spirits of such subject to con- 
 tinued neglect, would be doomed to penury 
 and woe ; but, if properly nurtured might be- 
 come honored, useful and happy; and, it was 
 for their special benefit that the school-house 
 
$2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and church had been erected, and a system 
 devised for their instruction. What a work of 
 philanthrophy was here to be accomplished ! 
 How was it to be commenced and how to be 
 pursued? The old fashioned school-masters 
 were accustomed to enter with stern looks, 
 bearing a rod, and to say, "Boys, you must 
 behave yourselves or F II thrash you." But 
 the teacher in charge by philanthropic experi- 
 ence had found a more excellent way. His 
 accustomed demeanor was gentleness and 
 kindness, which divested the children of terror 
 or dread, and secured the esteem of the un- 
 couth and hardened ; causing such to feel in- 
 ferior and yield homage to those of better 
 breeding. 
 
 The first lesson taught was cleanliness. The 
 children were reminded, that, as it was a new 
 house with nicely painted desks and seats, that 
 they should come with clean hands and feet, 
 and not soil the seats or desks or walls, and 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 33 
 
 let the teacher make the first scratch any- 
 where about the building. Thus, from the 
 beginning they were taught tidiness and purity 
 as the essential foundation of bodily comfort 
 and the best test of true religion. For the 
 Saviour said " Blessed are the pure in heart, 
 for they shall see God." 
 
 This was a new and a strange lesson for 
 furnacemen's children. We do not assert it 
 in reproach to all, some were genteelly clad ; 
 others, from their kind of work found it una- 
 voidable to soil their clothing. But we wished 
 to inculcate the idea of clean hands as indica- 
 tive of pure hearts, having no faith in the idea 
 of dirty or sluggish Christians; and it was 
 found to have a salutary influence on the 
 parents as well as on their children. There 
 was soon an improvement in their apparel and 
 in their houses, and all cordially assented to 
 the propriety of the same. 
 
 The next statute, or rule, was that each 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 scholar was to have a particular seat, not to be 
 changed except by the order or consent of the 
 teacher. 
 
 The third statute was, no scholar to speak 
 during school hours, except in recitation or 
 when addressing the teacher, or for a special 
 purpose, by permission of the teacher. 
 
 The fourth statute was, as order is heaven's 
 first law, therefore, there would be a time and 
 place for everything. A time to come to 
 school ; a time for recess ; a time to dismiss 
 school ; a time for each particular recitation 
 or exercise ; for each class, and for each 
 scholar. And these all to be denoted by the 
 teacher on the signal bell. 
 
 These few brief rules were easily understood, 
 and easily complied with, by every scholar, 
 and found to be all that was needed for the 
 proper regulation of the school. The teacher 
 arranged the classes and designated the time 
 or each exercise and recitation, so as to keep 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 35 
 
 the attention of all occupied, without detain- 
 ing them long enough to become weary. 
 
 Some may ask how could a school of eighty 
 scholars be conducted without any talking or 
 changing seats? The reply is, give them some- 
 thing to think about, keep them busy, and let 
 the teacher teach them, rather than say to the 
 scholars, " Go and learn" when they did not 
 understand the lesson. Thus let the difficult 
 branches be explained and interspersed by the 
 teacher with brief lectures on geography, his- 
 tory, ancient and modern ; natural history, 
 botany, etc. If the teacher understands those 
 topics, he will be able to illustrate them with 
 brief, pertinent anecdotes, that will prove in- 
 teresting and secure the attention and esteem 
 of his scholars. Then he will need no rod, 
 and seldom have occasion to reprove truants, 
 nor to call any to account for absence, or for 
 late attendance : and the pupils will feel much 
 better when school is dismissed than if they 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had passed the time without rule and order, 
 having all systematically arranged for one 
 recitation to succeed another without delay, 
 so as to keep all occupied ; one class prepar- 
 ing while another was reciting, some writing 
 on slates, while others were reading, and all 
 moving on methodically, so as to leave no 
 vacant time, except the regular recess for 
 mental relaxation and bodily exercise. 
 
 By this means those scholars became so 
 much delighted with the exercises of that 
 school that it was difficult for their mothers to 
 keep them at home to go errands. 
 
 The fame of the school spread far around, 
 and those of more opulent circumstances re- 
 sorted there to learn the rules and to adopt 
 the examples. 
 
 It was likewise noticed that, although their 
 mothers were taxed with more attention to 
 their clothing, yet they were amply repaid by 
 more care taken of that clothing, better de- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 37 
 
 portment, and, consequently, more domestic 
 happiness. 
 
 But most, and best of all, the scholars made 
 rapid progress in learning. Before the school 
 was in operation six months, every child within 
 reach of that school that was seven years of 
 age could read, including all of the thirty who 
 began in the alphabet. 
 
 The school was uniformly opened by read- 
 ing a chapter of the Bible, and closed by 
 singing an appropriate hymn or ode, observ- 
 ing always to enliven the spirits of the scholars 
 with music and some brief, pleasant address 
 before dismissing them. 
 
 The system of instruction having proved 
 successful, showing the practicability of inter- 
 esting children in the exercises of the school- 
 room, so as to excite a fondness rather than 
 dislike, and to have them become discreet and 
 manly in deportment, and to learn to read 
 correctly before they were seven years old, the 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 proprietor and his friends congratulated them- 
 selves that they had accomplished a good work. 
 
 As a specially gratifying result, about 
 twenty of these scholars early gave satisfactory 
 evidences of piety, and united, as well as some 
 of their parents, with different branches of the 
 Protestant churches, and one of them, the son 
 of a French Roman Catholic, who was an elo- 
 quent declaimer, entered the University at 
 Lewisburg as a candidate for the ministry. 
 
 However, an unfavorable change in the iron 
 business occurring, Mr. Wood found it incon- 
 venient to continue his patronage, and, turn- 
 ing the school over to the Public School 
 Board, Mr. M. returned to his previous resi- 
 dence, at Turbutville, in 1852. 
 
 While at Chulasky, Henrietta became noted 
 as a good reader, and she likewise became fond 
 of reading the publications of the A. S. S. U. 
 A. T. Society, and other books suitable to her 
 age, as found in the Sunday-school library, or 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 39 
 
 supplied by her parents or friends. She like- 
 wise manifested much interest in the exercises 
 of the Sabbath-school and of the church, and 
 showed a special interest in family worship. 
 
 Upon returning to Turbutville, she pursued 
 elementary studies under the direction of her 
 mother; and when she was about seven years 
 old, an aunt made her a present of an accor- 
 dion, and Mrs. Cox, an excellent lady, living 
 in the next house, taught her to play a few 
 tunes on that instrument. 
 
 Finding her capable of learning at that 
 early age, others were encouraged, and there 
 was a class of twelve little girls formed, whose 
 parents procured the accordions, and a juve- 
 nile band soon beautified their homes and en- 
 livened the village with their delightful music, 
 showing that children are capable of acquiring 
 a knowledge of vocal and instrumental music 
 at a very early age, and nothing more adapted 
 to make a home more happy than music. 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 There will be no jars, or strife, nor inert 
 minds where the melody of music is found. 
 A home thus supplied will afford the inmates 
 stronger attachments and purer charms than 
 revelry and giddy mirth. Hence, parents had 
 better incur the expense of musical instru- 
 ments, with competent instructors, than to 
 suffer their children to grow up without. 
 
 It may be proper, in this connection, to 
 give a sketch of the development of the public 
 school system of Pennsylvania, and show how 
 singularly the subject of these memoirs was 
 found at the time of acquiring her education to 
 have had her lot amongst those who were con- 
 spicuous actors in its development. 
 
 This school at Chulasky was a link in a 
 series of educational developments by which 
 the minds of philanthropists expanded into 
 vigorous activity throughout the State, matur- 
 ing a system of free common schools for the 
 benefit of all classes, for the poor as well as 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 41 
 
 for the rich, and thus bringing them into a 
 proximity they had not known before. 
 
 The population increasing rapidly, there 
 was obvious necessity of increasing the num- 
 ber of the schools and improving the arrange- 
 ments to properly conduct and support them. 
 Hence, in 1830, there was a bill reported in 
 the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to amplify 
 the means of educating the poor; which, 
 prior to that time, had been on a very limited 
 scale. 
 
 Simultaneous with this free-school move- 
 ment a cordial union of the leading Christian 
 denominations, to form humane and benevo- 
 lent institutions for the purpose of restraining 
 vice and of promoting the blessings of the 
 gospel, was awakened throughout the land. 
 Hence the American Sunday-school Union was 
 formed on the 1st of May, 1825, and that day 
 may with great propriety be esteemed a mem- 
 orable day, when good men of the leading de- 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 nominations united their wisdom and with 
 glowing eloquence urged the establishment of 
 this beneficent institution, that the children 
 might be taught to remember the Sabbath day 
 and keep it holy. In 1826, such men as the Rev. 
 Drs. Lyman Beecher and Edwards, of Boston, 
 with Beeman, of New York, and other kindred 
 spirits, deploring the torrent of- intemperance, 
 that was hurling multitudes to perdition, 
 raised the alarm that received favorable re- 
 sponse from many hearts, and temperance soci- 
 eties formed, and multitudes pledged to neither 
 touch, taste, nor handle intoxicating liquors. 
 Then, as better attractions and employment 
 for young men, Libraries, Lyceums and Read- 
 ing-rooms, with Young Men's Prayer-meetings 
 were established. And as an outgrowth of all 
 this, in 1827, the American Tract Society was 
 formed, with the view of furnishing evangelical 
 religious books in a cheap form, to be scat- 
 tered broadcast over the land. Thus the lead- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 43 
 
 ing doctrines of the Holy Scriptures were 
 published in small tracts, and distributed free 
 in the towns, from house to house, and col- 
 porteurs sent through the country, thus spread- 
 ing the light of divine truth amongst all classes 
 of society. 
 
 Another coincidence : As a natural result 
 there were about this period numerous revivals 
 of religion, more general and more especially 
 interesting than ever known in this or any 
 other land since the time of the Reformation. 
 Hence it is not surprising to find that amidst 
 the diffusion of so much unvarnished gospel 
 truth, there would be a simultaneous desire for 
 expanding the system of common school in- 
 struction. And it is worthy of remark, that 
 the men who were most zealous and useful 
 in forwarding temperance societies, Sabbath 
 schools, and evangelical piety, were those who 
 were the most active- in promoting the improve- 
 ment of our free schools. And those who op- 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 posed our free common school system were 
 those who derided revivals, opposed Sunday- 
 schools and tract societies, and were especially 
 hostile to temperance societies, although they 
 were the persons who, with their families, most 
 needed the benefit of them. 
 
 These multiplied means adopted, and en- 
 listing the energies of all classes, there was a 
 general desire to mature systems, and aim at 
 perfection in practicing them. Hence for the 
 better development, we find Teachers' Insti- 
 tutes and Normal Schools established. The 
 former, with the view of bringing teachers 
 frequently together in social harmony, to com- 
 pare their respective methods, that one might 
 derive benefit by comparison with the others ; 
 the latter (Normal Schools), where teachers 
 might teach teachers how to teach — and as a 
 sequel to these auxiliaries, the idea of County 
 Superintendency ; to have a person of suita- 
 able qualifications to examine the teachers, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 45 
 
 and to visit all the schools and see that they 
 were properly conducted. The credit of origi- 
 nating this office, we believe, is due to the 
 Hon. Thos. H. Burrowes, former Secretary 
 of the Commonwealth, who likewise started 
 the School Journal, which he ably conducted 
 until it became well established, and was taken 
 under the legislative patronage. 
 
 Along with other agencies to enlighten the 
 public mind and to establish the Public School 
 System, there was also organized, in 1853, 
 the Educational Association of Northern Penn- 
 sylvania, composed of teachers and other 
 friends of education, with the Rev. Howard 
 Malcomb, D. D., President, Rev. J. W. Bar- 
 ritt and Rev. H. Miller, Vice-Presidents, and 
 Wm. Burgess, Principal of Millville Boarding 
 School, Secretary. This Association met quar- 
 terly. Held a meeting at Williamsport, Jer- 
 sey Shore, Lewisburg and Danville. The object 
 was to mature our Common School System 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and to promote the cause of education, tem- 
 perance and true piety by every laudable 
 method. 
 
 Each meeting proved to be a real intellect- 
 ual feast that was much enjoyed by all the 
 members of the Association, and evidently 
 accomplished much good, by preparing the 
 public mind to adopt the county superintend- 
 ency and make ample legislative appropriations 
 to establish a matured system of Common 
 Schools on a permanent basis. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Rapid Intellectual Development — Proficiency in 
 Music — Interest in Sabbath-school and Religious 
 Literature — Systematic Bible Reading. 
 
 WE now return to the subject of these 
 memoirs. Being an only child, and 
 possessed of superior attractions, she received 
 all the kind attention that Christian parents 
 could bestow, and, in return, her amiability 
 and intelligence endeared her very strongly to 
 them. Of her own accord, she devoted a por- 
 tion of each day to books, and to the study 
 and practice of music. She likewise early be- 
 came delighted with various kinds of fancy 
 work, to which she devoted a portion of her 
 leisure hours, beginning with tatting and guard- 
 chains, knitting tidies of various beautiful pat- 
 terns, scarfs, nubias, shawls, and gloves; with 
 different kinds of paintings, including oil and 
 (47) 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 water colors; with wax work of fruit and flow- 
 ers, zephyr work, crotchet work, leather and 
 shell frames, needle work, with other choice 
 fancy work, until every room in her residence 
 was embellished with specimens of her lauda- 
 ble industry, exquisite taste and skill. 
 
 Thus, her intellectual faculties were devel- 
 oped, while her time was usefully and credit- 
 ably employed. 
 
 From the amount of knowledge thus ac- 
 quired, she was capable of interesting her 
 visitors by a recital of what she had read in 
 the excellent books provided for her, and in 
 displaying the numerous articles of her handi- 
 work, thus making her home especially plea- 
 sant at all times. 
 
 As she grew up, she took pleasure in out- 
 door exercises, and manifested a relish for the 
 delights that nature affords in a well-arranged 
 lawn and garden. Hence, her residence was 
 surrounded with flowers and shrubbery, with 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 
 
 49 
 
 fruit, and ornamental, and shade trees, until 
 upwards of fifty choice varieties were there 
 blooming of her judicious selection. 
 
 Thus, she was occupied either in intellec- 
 tual pursuits, or in some useful manual exer- 
 cises, with no disposition to loiter or squander 
 time in idleness, nor for gadding or gossip. 
 Nor had she any relish for fictions or novel 
 reading. She often said there is too much 
 useful knowledge to be acquired to waste pre- 
 cious time in reading romance or fiction. 
 
 She preferred associates who were intelli- 
 gent, of discreet behavior, and truly pious. 
 Being sedate, and not disposed to make a vain 
 show, much of her real merit was unknown to 
 those who were not intimately acquainted with 
 her. Being graceful in deportment, and cheer- 
 ful in disposition, she uniformly secured the 
 esteem of all who knew her. 
 
 At the advice of her father, she kept a 
 journal containing the names of the books she 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 had read, with a synopsis of their contents, 
 from which to review and refresh the memory ; 
 and thus she laid up a large stock of useful 
 knowledge. 
 
 Her first primer, and first spelling-book, 
 and first school readers used by her are all 
 preserved, — almost as sound and as free from 
 blemishes as when they were purchased. 
 
 When about seven years old, while living at 
 Turbutville, she became interested in reading 
 the Child's Paper, published by the American 
 Tract Society ; and taking a specimen copy of 
 it went through the village, procured a club 
 of subscribers for it, and thus introduced and 
 circulated that attractive and useful juvenile 
 publication, which practice she continued an- 
 nually during her residence at that place. 
 
 Her mind thus became imbued with excel- 
 lent sentiments, inculcated by the books she 
 read as well as by oral instruction. She 
 adopted principles and practices of the purest 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 5 1 
 
 and most elevated kind, and had very little 
 relish for the company of those children who, 
 having been neglected by their parents, passed 
 their time in idleness or in roaming the streets 
 or fields. 
 
 She was early enrolled as a member of the 
 Sabbath-school. She attended regularly from 
 year to year, and preferred being a scholar to 
 study and learn, even after she was considered 
 competent to be a teacher. Her attendance 
 was cheerful, and her lessons regularly studied 
 and well recited, even when a small child. 
 
 The instruction she there received proved 
 to be an important help in her religious edu- 
 cation. She was early convinced of the im- 
 portance of religion, and respect was thus 
 excited in her mind for the Bible as the Word 
 of God, and for the Sabbath as the Lord's 
 day, so that she did not trifle with the means 
 of grace as some children who have not had 
 the benefit of early instruction and restraint. 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Her behavior in time of religious worship, 
 even in childhood, was respectful, and in the 
 Sabbath-school her amiable and good conduct 
 always procured for her the love of the 
 teachers. 
 
 She esteemed her Sabbath-school teacher of 
 Turbutville very highly, who was an intelligent 
 and devoted pious widow lady, who had a 
 daughter of her own age, with whom she de- 
 lighted to associate and to remain with over 
 night to engage with them in their family wor- 
 ship. 
 
 She adopted of her own accord a systematic 
 plan of reading the Bible, and read it entirely 
 through in regular course from the first of 
 Genesis to the last of Revelation by the time 
 she was ten years old. Then repeating, dur- 
 ing her eleventh year, she read that precious 
 book entirely through the second time, and 
 instead of becoming tired of it, the more she 
 read the more interest she felt in it, and con- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 53 
 
 tinued the practice, so that it is not known 
 that she ever after passed a day without read- 
 ing more or less in the Bible, except when 
 traveling or when prostrated on a bed of sick- 
 ness. 
 
 Hence her ample knowledge and cheerful 
 hope from that source fully prepared her for a 
 remarkably happy close of life ; and let it en- 
 courage the female Christian that many have 
 preceded her who like Ruth, and Hannah, and 
 Mary, and Dorcas, and Priscilla, have been 
 accepted, have finished their work, received 
 their crown of glory, and are now with the 
 spirits of the just made perfect. 
 
 Her life from childhood shows the great 
 utility of making home pleasant for children, 
 and awakening a relish for intellectual culture 
 at an early age. Their tender minds and 
 hearts, and likewise their bodily health, will 
 be thus protected, and the Lord will add His 
 blessing on all faithful paternal culture. But 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 if this is neglected, the youthful mind becomes 
 stultified, the faculties blunted, tainted, and 
 depraved. If not developed by wise counsel, 
 and the good examples of pious parents, it 
 will be vitiated by the evil influences of those 
 who fear not God, nor regard their own souls. 
 In the month of March, 1858, Henrietta's 
 father became Principal of the Juniata Acad- 
 emy, in which was employed a teacher of 
 music, and she with other pupils received 
 regular instruction in this her favorite branch 
 of studies. By assiduity in study, with a com- 
 mendable desire to become proficient, she 
 made a gratifying progress, and acquired in 
 course of time the reputation of being a good 
 musician. There were few to be found who 
 were better versed in this science, and very 
 few who understood it so well. The publish- 
 ers often sent her specimen sheets of new 
 music, which after examination and a little 
 practice she would play with the greatest accu- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 55 
 
 racy. During a recess in the summer of i860, 
 it was thought that a change of scenery, with 
 a change of musical instructor, might be grati- 
 fying and beneficial to her. Hence she was 
 placed under the care of Mr. J. B. Meyers, of 
 Aaronsburg, Centre county, Pa., for several 
 months, who had the reputation of being a 
 superior musician. His residence, known as 
 "Rose Hill," was delightfully situated one 
 mile east of the town, with abundance of ripe 
 peaches and other delicious fruit and rich 
 cream. Mr. Meyers, likewise, had two daugh- 
 ters, who were near Henrietta's age. So that 
 with genial companions and luscious fare the 
 sojourn proved to be a real musical elysium. 
 During her two months' stay, in the height of 
 enjoyment, she made considerable progress in 
 the practice of music, and gained two inches 
 in height. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Removal to Phoenixville — Joins German Reformed 
 Church — Enters Linden Cottage Seminary — Re- 
 moval to Adamstown — Becomes a Teacher — Re- 
 moval to Waynesboro — Organist of Trinity Church 
 — Teacher of Fairview School — System of Teaching 
 — Teachers' Institutes. 
 
 THE war coming on in the spring of 1 86 1, 
 that, with various other occurrences, in- 
 duced a removal to Phcenixville, the place of 
 Mr. M.'s nativity. Here Henrietta joined the 
 German Reformed Church, under the pastoral 
 care of the Rev. A. B. Shenkle, and became 
 a teacher in both the Presbyterian and Ger- 
 man Reformed Sabbath-schools. The former 
 met in the forenoon, the latter in the after- 
 noon. She became teacher of a class in each, 
 and was punctual and faithful in attendance. 
 She had an especially interesting class of little 
 girls for her morning class, including two 
 (56) 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 57 
 
 daughters of the Rev. Mr. Porter, pastor of 
 the church, who usually likewise attended, and 
 instructed a Bible class. 
 
 In 1866 she entered Linden Cottage Semi- 
 nary for Young Ladies, in the city of Reading, 
 with an arrangement for a regular course of 
 studies, and to render certain specified services 
 as assistant teacher. Hence she escorted the 
 young ladies, pupils of the Seminary, in their 
 morning walks of half an hour through the 
 city every morning before breakfast, and twice 
 on the Sabbath to church ; either to Dr. Baus- 
 man's or to Dr. McCauley's, where seats were 
 reserved for them. She sat with them during 
 study hour, and was sometimes entrusted with 
 the charge of the Institution during the ab- 
 sence of the Principal from Friday till Mon- 
 day. By close application to study she made 
 rapid progress, and by exemplary deportment 
 gained much esteem while connected with this 
 Seminary. 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In 1867 the family moved to Adamstown, 
 where the school directors tendered Miss M. 
 a position in the borough schools, which she 
 filled with acceptance ; and taught a private 
 school in her own house during the intervals 
 of the terms of the public schools. She was 
 organist of the Sabbath-school, and her musi- 
 cal performances were much applauded. How 
 often did throngs gather and persons pause 
 while passing her residence to hear her play 
 on the organ, and sing "Sweet Hour of 
 Prayer," "In the Christian's Home in 
 Glory" " On the Other Side" with other 
 soul-stirring favorite hymns, that she rendered 
 with much effect to the gratification of those 
 who duly appreciated her real piety and musi- 
 cal talents. 
 
 Upon moving to Waynesboro, in the au- 
 tumn of 1872, she was elected organist of the 
 choir and of the Sabbath-school of Trinity 
 Reformed Church, which office she faithfully 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 59 
 
 filled, without recompense and without being 
 absent, except in case of sickness, until within 
 a few days of her death. 
 
 She was likewise elected by the school di- 
 rectors as the teacher of Fairview school, which 
 she accepted in preference to two others that 
 were offered with a larger salary. 
 
 Here was found an intelligent and liberal- 
 minded Board of Directors, with a modern 
 planned school-house, recently erected on an 
 eminence, appropriately styled Fairview, com- 
 manding an extensive prospect of the beautiful 
 Cumberland Valley, and of the distant moun- 
 tains on either side. It was a neat structure, 
 with improved patented seats and desks, with 
 black surface extending across the building for 
 writing exercises. The directors were liberal 
 in furnishing maps, charts, diagrams, cards, 
 and object-lessons. 
 
 Miss M. filled out the paraphernalia by pro- 
 curing a dozen appropriate mottoes, arranged 
 
60 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on the walls, with a choice variety of the por- 
 traits of distinguished persons, landscapes, 
 paintings, flowers in hanging baskets, fancy- 
 articles, puzzles, and other articles that were 
 instructive, ornamental, and highly entertain- 
 ing — the sight of which was exhilarating to 
 the scholars, and calculated to enlist their at- 
 tachment to the place. She was deeply inter- 
 ested in the general subject of education, 
 and gave much attention to the practice 
 of teaching, from her own experience and ob- 
 servation, by a personal acquaintance with 
 prominent educators, and attendance and par- 
 ticipation at several popular teachers' institutes 
 — one at Lancaster, where these institutes 
 originated, and were fostered by Professor 
 Wickersham, the Hon. Thomas H. Burrowes, 
 and their coadjutors ; one at Phoenixville, 
 conducted by Mr. Maris, county superintend- 
 ent, assisted by Bayard Taylor, the celebrated 
 traveler, George Francis Train, and others; 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 6 1 
 
 another at Reading, with six hundred and fifty- 
 teachers, conducted by Professor Bruner, as- 
 sisted by Mrs. Logee, Rev. Mr. Willitts, and 
 other popular lecturers ; and for several years 
 attended the annual meetings of the Franklin 
 County Teachers' Institute, and participated 
 in the exercises at Chambersburg. Thus, by 
 improving favorable opportunities, and cher- 
 ishing an unselfish desire to become proficient 
 in her profession, she matured plans of arrang- 
 ing her school, of governing and imparting 
 instruction, that proved highly successful. 
 
 She considered a favorable location and 
 proper arrangements of the building, with 
 suitable furniture, of great importance, so that 
 all should be attractive and nothing repulsive 
 to children about the school. She likewise 
 deemed it important that the school-room 
 should be kept clean ; hence it was swept daily 
 and scrubbed at least once a month. 
 
 Tidiness and cleanliness were considered 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 important for every school, and an essential 
 basis of probity in after life. 
 
 The following brief Code of Rules was sus- 
 pended for all to see — to wit : 
 
 RULES. 
 
 Scholars are expected to comply with the 
 following rules : 
 
 i st. That they appear in the school-room at 
 the appointed time for commencing, or bring 
 a reasonable excuse. 
 
 2d. That they do not, without permission, 
 speak to any one during the session, except 
 to the instructor. 
 
 3d. That they do not leave their seats 
 without permission. 
 
 Thus, having a house suitably located, and 
 properly furnished, the next in order was to 
 put in operation a judicious system of govern- 
 ment and instruction, which of course de- 
 volved on the teacher — not on the pupils, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 63 
 
 patrons, nor directors — and consisted in car- 
 rying out the idea of the teacher, teaching 
 what the pupils were expected to learn. The 
 former custom of many to give scholars books 
 and say to them, "You 77111st go and learn/ 1 
 "You must do this, 11 and "You must not do 
 that" was discarded. At the appointed time 
 the signal bell called the school to order ; each 
 one being seated, the teacher at her place read 
 a portion of the Bible. Her reading, like her 
 singing, was such that all would distinctly un- 
 derstand, and hence was listened to with close 
 attention. It was frequently remarked that 
 very few preachers produced more serious im- 
 pressions by their pulpit exercises than Miss 
 Miller did by reading the Scriptures. 
 
 The school being thus formally opened, the 
 next was to proceed with the routine of exer- 
 cises. This the teacher denoted by the signal 
 bell; the scholars all knew and understood 
 the significance of the ring, the tap, or the 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 rattle, and complied with the various evolutions 
 indicated thereby. The classes thus summoned 
 to the stand were briefly addressed, and each 
 exercise preceded by a few explanatory re- 
 marks. Some of the lessons for the primary 
 classes were versified and set to music, and 
 sung at intervals, by way of recreation, and 
 to impress the contents indelibly on the minds 
 of all. Thus the alphabet, the arithmetical 
 tables, the outlines of geography, of ancient 
 and modern history, and of astronomy, were 
 versified and sung, with occasional exercises 
 in calisthenics, in which all delighted, and 
 which proved to be a pleasing interlude to the 
 more monotonous and difficult studies. 
 
 But, essential as a well-furnished house with 
 a judicious arrangement of exercises may be, 
 it will be found that the qualifications and de- 
 portment of the teacher are of the greatest im- 
 portance, and it is these that give character 
 and success to a school. There are very few 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 65 
 
 men who are capable of controlling an army, 
 as Generals Washington, Jackson or Grant 
 did ; and it is the smallest number of those 
 who engage as teachers who are capable of 
 conducting a school, or who are successful in 
 their sphere. 
 
 Those who undertake to teach merely for 
 the sake of the salary, or because they could 
 get no other employment; who, without the 
 intellectual qualifications and without a ma- 
 tured system, would uncouthly enter a school- 
 room and attempt in an arbitrary manner to 
 enforce discipline by a dexterous use of the 
 rod, or by a coaxing and sycophantic dalliance 
 towards their pupils, will be more likely to 
 excite disgust than to secure respect, and much 
 more likely to make truants and knaves than 
 scholars. Miss Miller required no such sub- 
 terfuges, and she very seldom had any occa- 
 sion to enforce discipline. Her dignified de- 
 portment, mixed with social kindness, secured 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 profound respect, with a cordial compliance 
 with all her rules. There was a continual 
 mutual attachment between her and her pupils, 
 with rare exceptions (of such as had been 
 badly trained at home), and that attachment 
 seemed augmenting, while she was evidently 
 rising in the estimation of the community, 
 Avith the cheerful prospect of a career of honor 
 and usefulness before her. But, even with the 
 fairest prospects, how true that " the path of 
 glory leads but to the grave." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Failing Health — Christmas Festival — Last Illness — 
 Not Afraid to Die — Dying to Live Again — Funeral 
 Services. 
 
 OUR lives are as vapors that appear for a 
 little time, but soon vanish away. Dur- 
 ing the month of August preceding her death, 
 she was prostrated by bilious fever for several 
 weeks ; but regained her health so as to be 
 able to resume her school in October ; and 
 three weeks prior to -her death she attended 
 the annual meeting of the Franklin County 
 Teacher's Institute at Chambersburg, in which 
 she participated, and evidently enjoyed the 
 exercises very much : returning home appar- 
 ently with improved health and with cheerful 
 anticipations. At these Institutes she ex- 
 tended her acquaintance amongst teachers, 
 popular educators and lecturers; thus add- 
 (67) 
 
68 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ing to her stock of knowledge and maturing 
 plans to become proficient in her profession 
 and extensively useful as a teacher. 
 
 The cause of education and of piety lay 
 near her heart, and she seemed fervently de- 
 sirous to do all in her power to promote them. 
 The choir of which she was organist was pre- 
 paring for a Christmas Festival. They had 
 made selections ; and at a musical rehearsal of 
 some difficult pieces on the night of the 16th 
 of December, she played the organ about two 
 hours in an over-heated room; became 
 fatigued, and returning home through a pierc- 
 ing cold wind with the ground covered with 
 snow, she became chilled ; typhoid fever en- 
 sued, with which she suffered severely and died 
 in just one week ! 
 
 What a mystery in the events of Divine 
 Providence, that one in the prime life, so am- 
 ply qualified to be useful, so much needed and 
 so much esteemed ; with a willing heart to em- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 69 
 
 ploy her talents for the good of society, to be 
 thus taken away from a field of useful labor, 
 and with the most encouraging prospects be- 
 fore her. 
 
 But it was the Lord's doing, and we must 
 submit. 
 
 Happy spirit, thou art fled 
 
 Where no grief can entrance find ; 
 
 Lulled to rest the aching head, 
 Soothed the sorrows of the mind. 
 
 During her last illness she suffered severely, 
 and the disease baffled the best medical skill ; 
 but she was patient, and like a valiant hero 
 met the king of terrors without dismay. She 
 had such delightful views of the heavenly 
 world that she was thus divested of gloom or 
 dread. 
 
 About thirty-six hours before her departure, 
 while in full possession of her mental faculties, 
 perceiving symptoms of dissolution, she called 
 her parents to her bedside, and said to them 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that she had had a presentiment for some time 
 that she would not live to see another Christ- 
 mas, and from present impressions thought 
 she would die that night ■ and lest she would 
 lose her reason and not know them at the 
 time, she wished to tell them that she was not 
 afraid to die ! She had made her peace with 
 God. Had a hope that cast out fear. Death 
 had no terrors for her. She was going home 
 to Heaven, and would be there to welcome them 
 when they came. She said, Tell our Sabbath 
 school teachers and scholars that I want to 
 meet them all in heaven ; tell them for me, that 
 if any of them are not prepared, to prepare and 
 not put it off another day I Seeming solicitous, 
 she appealed to her father and asked him if 
 he would tell them ? and upon receiving his 
 promise that he would do so, she continued 
 saying, Tell the?n to remember me when they 
 sing those beautiful hymns that I used to play 
 for them on the organ, especially when they 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 7 1 
 
 sing the last verse of the last hymn we sung 
 the last time I was in the church* Tell my 
 Fairview scholars that I said, they should ah 
 be good boys and girls and prepare to meet me 
 in Heaven. Then added, / loved those schol- 
 ars, and was anxious to do them all the good I 
 possibly could. Continuing said, she had al- 
 ways been fond of music and was now going 
 to join the heavenly choir. We will have harps 
 of gold and superior music to that of earth. 
 There will be no discord there; but all will be 
 harmony and love. She continued speaking 
 thus for near an hour in a train of the most 
 elevated heavenly sentiments — interspersed by- 
 singing parts of several appropriate hymns — 
 O think of the home over there, 
 
 By the side of the river of light, 
 Where the saints all immortal and fair, 
 Are robed in their garments of white. 
 Over there — over there, 
 Oh think of the home over there. 
 
 * Found in the Appendix. The Good Old Way. 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 After some other remarks, she sang a part of 
 the hymn beginning with 
 
 In the Christian's home in glory there remains a rest 
 for me. 
 
 And again after other remarks she sang a part 
 of the hymn beginning 
 
 Shall we meet in heaven ? 
 
 But it would be impossible to convey a true 
 idea of the solemn manner of her utterance. 
 Pausing for a few moments, she then made a 
 verbal distribution of her property ; and par- 
 ticularly presented a Bible to her mother that 
 she had purchased in Chambersburg during 
 the meeting of the Teacher's Institute only 
 about two weeks before; and on doing so 
 with special emphasis said : Ma, read in 
 that Bible every day ! 
 
 Finally looking upward, she said, she saw 
 the pearly gates of Heaven standing open, and 
 a throng of Angels, robed in white, beckoning 
 her home. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 73 
 
 Continuing to gaze she said : They are 
 coming to meet me ! They are almost here ! 
 There is but a little cloud between us, and I 
 must go ! Then extending her hand first to 
 her father and then to her mother she said, 
 Good-bye Pa ! Good-bye Ma! (shaking 
 hands with each of them) and added : I am 
 going to die to live again ! and that will 
 be a death worth living for ! Having 
 thus spoken, she gradually relapsed into calm 
 repose, without speaking any more except in 
 brief responses, until her gentle spirit in the 
 most serene manner took its departure to the 
 glorified mansions of the blest. Seldom have 
 the sentiments of the following anthem, 
 known as the Dying Christian, been so liter- 
 ally exemplified as in the dying scenes of Miss 
 Miller. 
 
 Vital spark of heavenly flame, 
 Quit, oh quit, this mortal frame ; 
 Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying, 
 4 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Oh ! the pain the bliss of dying. 
 Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, 
 And let me languish into life : 
 Hark! They whisper; Angels say, 
 Sister spirit come away; 
 What is this absorbs me quite ? 
 Steals my senses, shuts my sight, 
 Drowns my spirits, draws my breath, 
 Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 
 The world recedes, it disappears, 
 Heaven opens on my eyes, my ears 
 With sounds seraphic ring; 
 Lend, lend your wings, I mount, I fly. 
 Oh grave ! where is thy victory, 
 Oh death ! where is thy sting ? 
 
 Her unexpected death produced a deep im- 
 pression on the entire community ; not merely 
 on her parents who were thus bereft of an 
 only child, who had been a solace to them in 
 old age ; and on account of her superior ex- 
 cellence had become much endeared to them. 
 But all appeared to feel her loss. Just one 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 75 
 
 week before her death she was in apparent 
 good health performing her part on the organ 
 with peculiar grace at a musical rehearsal; 
 leading those rich tones of delightful music 
 and awakening a rapturous anticipation of the 
 approaching Christmas festival. But now her 
 graceful form is missed and her voice no more 
 heard upon the earth. 
 
 She has ascended to the glorified mansions 
 and is now associated with an innumerable 
 multitude of saints and of the spirits of the 
 just made perfect .around the throne of God, 
 engaged in the exercises of the upper sanc- 
 tuary. 
 
 Her funeral was numerously attended by 
 those of the different denominations, by 
 teachers of the public schools, by Sabbath- 
 school teachers and teachers of music. The 
 Sabbath-school of Trinity Reformed church, 
 numbering about two hundred, in which she 
 was a teacher, attended in procession from 
 
76 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 her late residence. The casket containing 
 her remains was conveyed into the church and 
 placed before the altar. While entering the 
 church an appropriate solemn dirge was per- 
 formed that added to the solemnity of the 
 scene. The Rev. Mr. Hibshman, pastor of 
 the church, preached an impressive and ap- 
 propriate sermon, assisted in the service by 
 the Rev. Mr. Kesler, after which the inter- 
 ment was made, near on the right of the en- 
 trance to the church. 
 
 "OVER THERE." 
 
 [Sung by Miss Miller in her dying moments.] 
 
 1. Oh ! think of the home over there, 
 
 By the side of the river of light, 
 Where the saints all immortal and fair, 
 Are robed in the garments of white. 
 Refrain-—Q\vc there, over there, 
 
 Oh, think of the home over there. 
 
 2. Oh, think of the friends over there, 
 
 Who before us the journey have trod, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 77 
 
 Of the songs that they breathe on the air, 
 In their home in the palace of God. 
 Over there, over there, 
 Oh, think of the friends over there. 
 
 3. My Saviour is now over there, 
 
 There my kindred and friends are at rest ; 
 Then away from earth's sorrow and care, 
 
 Let me fly to the land of the blest. 
 Over there, over there, 
 My Saviour is now over there. 
 
 4. I'll soon be at home over there, 
 
 For the end of my journey I see; 
 Many dear to my heart over there, 
 
 Are watching and waiting forme. 
 Over there, over there, 
 I'll soon be at home over there. 
 
 I KNOW THOU HAST GONE. 
 
 [Written on the death of a dear friend.] 
 I know thou hast gone to the home of thy rest — 
 
 Then why should my soul be so sad ? 
 I know thou hast gone where the weary are blest, 
 
78 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 And the mourner looks up and is glad ! 
 Where love has put off, in the land of its birth, 
 
 The stains it had gather'd in this, 
 And Hope, the sweet singer that gladden'd the earth, 
 
 Lies asleep on the bosom of Bliss. 
 
 I know thou hast gone where thy forehead is starr'd 
 
 With the beauty that dwelt in thy soul ; 
 Where the light of thy loveliness cannot be marr'd 
 
 Nor thy heart be flung back from its goal ; 
 I know thou hast drunk of the Lethe, that flows 
 
 Through a land where they do not forget, 
 That sheds over memory only repose, 
 
 And takes from it only regret ! 
 
 In thy far away dwelling, wherever it be, 
 
 I believe thou hast visions of mine, 
 And the love that made all things a music to me, 
 
 I yet have not learnt to resign. 
 In the hush of the night, in the waste of the sea, 
 
 Or alone with the breeze on the hill, 
 I have ever a presence that whispers of thee, 
 
 And my spirit lies down and is still ! 
 
 Mine eye must be dark, that so long has been dimm'd, 
 Ere again it may gaze upon thine ; 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 79 
 
 But my heart has revealings of thee and thy home, 
 
 In many a token and sign ! 
 I never look up, with a vow, to the sky, 
 
 But a light like thy beauty is there, 
 And I hear a low murmur, like thine, in reply, 
 
 When I pour out my spirit in prayer. 
 
 And though like a mourner that sits by a tomb 
 
 I am wrapp'd in a mantle of care, 
 Yet the grief of my bosom — oh ! call it not gloom — 
 
 Is not the black grief of despair. 
 By sorrow reveal'd as the stars are by night, 
 
 Far off a bright vision appears : 
 And hope, like the rainbow, a creature of light, 
 
 Is born, like the rainbow, from tears. 
 
 THE GOOD OLD WAY. 
 This was the last piece practiced by the choir 
 at rehearsal, and the last time Miss Miller per- 
 formed her part as organist, just one week 
 before her death : 
 
 We are going forth with our staff in hand 
 Thro' a desert wild in a stranger land ; 
 
8o MEMOIRS OF 
 
 But our faith is bright and our hope is strong 
 And the good old way is our pilgrim song. 
 Chorus — 
 
 'Tis the Good Old Way that our fathers trod; 
 'Tis the way of life that leadeth unto God, 
 'Tis the only path to the realms of day 
 We are going home in the Good Old Way. 
 
 There are foes without, and foes within, 
 Who would turn us back to the ways of sin ; 
 But we'll stop our ears to the words they say, 
 While we onward press in the Good Old Way. 
 
 In the blissful hour of communion sweet 
 We will come with joy to the mercy seat ; 
 For we love to sing and we love to pray 
 And we bless the Lord for the Good Old Way. 
 
 On the brink of time when we stand at last, 
 When our sun has set and our work is past ; 
 When we bid farewell to our mortal clay, 
 We will praise the Lord for the Good Old Way. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Tributes to Her Memory— Resolution of Teachers' 
 Institute— Letters of Condolence— Death of Two of 
 Her Friends— Dying Words of Pious Women- 
 Love for the Dead— Early Intellectual Develop- 
 ment the Result of Parental Care. 
 
 HPHE next day after her death an affection- 
 -l ate memorial appeared in the columns of 
 the Village Record, published in the village. 
 The next issue contained tributes of respect 
 to her memory adopted in a series of resolu- 
 tions by the Sabbath-school Association to 
 which she had been organist and teacher ; and 
 similar resolutions by the School Board, by 
 whom she had been employed as a teacher of 
 Fairview school. 
 
 The Adamstown Press, in alluding to her 
 
 death, termed her an "estimable young 
 
 lady." The Lancaster Express represented 
 
 her as " an accomplished teacher;" the Indepen- 
 
 (81) 
 
82 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 dent Phoenix, of " superior rank;" the School 
 Journal and Christian World each published 
 eulogistic notices. But the most definite 
 expression of respect for her memory was 
 given by the Franklin County Teachers' In- 
 stitute, at their annual meeting held in Cham- 
 bersburg, one year after her death, which com- 
 menced December ist, and closed Friday, 
 December 5th, 1875, with 260 teachers in 
 attendance. Mr. W. A. Reed offered the fol- 
 lowing resolution, which was adopted unani- 
 mously : 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of Miss Henrietta E. 
 Miller, of Waynesboro, we have lost a faithful teacher, 
 one thoroughly imbued with the love of her profes- 
 sion; graceful in conduct, an exemplary Christian, 
 one beloved in her home and by her scholars, whose 
 memory will not soon be forgotten. 
 
 The following obituary article appeared in 
 the April number, 1875, °f tne Pennsylvania 
 School Journal, written by Mr. J. S. Smith, 
 County Superintendent of Franklin co., Pa.; 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 8$ 
 
 Henrietta B. Miller, daughter of the Rev. Henry 
 Miller, departed this life at the residence of her 
 father, in Waynesboro, Franklin county, December 
 23d. She had made' teaching a profession. She was 
 a devoted teacher, ever vigilant in the important work 
 of her profession. The steady progress of her school 
 from time to time, is the best evidence of the bless- 
 ings which crowned her labors. The Christian ex- 
 ample which she set before her pupils will, no doubt, 
 prove a blessing to many, leading them to Christ in 
 the morning of their lives. Although she is called 
 from her labors she has gone to enjoy a rich reward. 
 
 This mysterious visitation of Providence bears 
 heavily upon her aged parents, who in their sore af- 
 fliction have the sympathy of the entire community. 
 
 J. S. S. 
 
 The parents likewise received numerous let- 
 ters of condolence from personal friends; 
 from clergymen and from prominent friends 
 of education, all showing the high esteem in 
 which she was held, and lamenting the loss of 
 one who bid fair (had her life been spared) 
 for eminent usefulness. 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 But who would live alway — away from our God, 
 Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, 
 Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet, 
 Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet, 
 While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 
 And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul ! 
 
 The peculiar circumstances of her death 
 forcibly reminded her parents of similar un- 
 expected departures of two of her intimate 
 friends who were about the same age and 
 whose last illness was brought on by exposure 
 to night air. We need not hesitate to men- 
 tion the name of Sallie Jones, who united 
 with the church at the same time that Henri- 
 etta did. They cherished a mutual attach- 
 ment, attended the same Sabbath-school and 
 exchanged friendly calls. At the anniversary 
 of their Sabbath-school, held in the German 
 Reformed church of Phcenixville, on the 
 night of January ist, 1863, Sallie and Hen- 
 rietta stood side by side on the platform and 
 sung an appropriate anthem, enjoying the 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 85 
 
 occasion with genuine youthful ardor, and 
 received the plaudits of the audience. The 
 house was crowded and uncomfortably warm ; 
 but the weather was cold and the ground cov- 
 ered with snow, and Sallie having a mile to 
 go to her home, took a cold that resulted in 
 fever with which she suffered several weeks 
 and died. Henrietta repeatedly visited her 
 during her illness, and usually said on her re- 
 turn that "it is better to go to the house of 
 mourning than to the house of feasting." She 
 had ardent affection for her young friend, whom 
 she considered resigned to the will of her 
 blessed Saviour and fully prepared for the 
 heavenly world. She died very happy. The 
 whole community was much affected by her 
 departure. The funeral was numerously at- 
 tended ; for all seemed to realize that a saint 
 had gone to glory. 
 
 But how different the end of the third, who 
 had been allured by worldly pleasures from 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the house of God ; and attended what was 
 styled a moon-light hop ; where she danced 
 on a platform in the open air until fatigued, 
 and returning home, became the victim of dis- 
 ease that proved fatal. When neither the 
 blandishments of wealth nor the fascinations of 
 worldly pleasure, with all human aid, could 
 propitiate the king of terrors : How different 
 her dying scenes from those of her two for- 
 mer intimate friends ! When she found her 
 end was nigh, without a fitness for heaven; 
 what horror filled her heart ! In the bitterness 
 of grief she exclaimed "f am lost!" And 
 thus the gay and accomplished young lady 
 expired ! 
 
 As a generous tribute of parental affection, 
 an expensive monument was placed on her 
 grave ; which reminds us of her graceful form 
 and elegant attire, but likewise reminds us of 
 her remorse and agonizing death ! Millions 
 of money for an inch of time, was the doleful 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 87 
 
 exclamation of Queen Elizabeth in her dying 
 moments. Multitudes of costly dresses in her 
 wardrobe, a kingdom at her feet, yet willing 
 to give millions of money for an inch of time ! 
 
 Such is the sad uncertainty 
 
 Of sinners here below, 
 To-day they float in buoyancy, 
 
 To-morrow drowned in woe! 
 
 We here give as appropriate in this connec- 
 tion the 
 
 DYING WORDS OF PIOUS WOMEN. 
 
 Dying testimonies of rare beauty have fallen 
 from the lips of pious women, and if less fa- 
 miliar than those of eminent reformers and 
 divines, they are not less worthy as witnesses 
 of the power of religion to impart comfort and 
 triumph at the hour of dissolution. Pious 
 women as well as worthy men have, when 
 nearing the heavenly portal, been filled with 
 exultation and triumph — have seen transporting 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 prospects from the Delectable Mountains, and 
 have heard the music of celestial harps and the 
 ringing of celestial bells. They have walked 
 in Beulah, leaning on the arm of their beloved, 
 and their souls, amid the wrecks of mortality, 
 have been freshened and exhilarated by the 
 fragrance and glory of a heavenly atmosphere. 
 " Oh, those rays of glory !" said Mrs. Clark- 
 son, when dying, "My God, I come flying 
 to thee !" said Lady Alice Lucy. Lady Hast- 
 ings said : " Oh, the greatness of the glory 
 that is revealed to me !" 
 
 Beautiful the expression of the dying poet- 
 ess, Mrs. Hemans : "I feel as if I were sit- 
 ting with Mary at the feet of my Redeemer, 
 hearing the music of his voice, and learning of 
 him to be meek and lowly." No poetry, she 
 said, could express, nor imagination conceive, 
 the visions of blessedness that flitted across her 
 fancy, and made her waking hours more de- 
 lightful than those even that were given to 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 89 
 
 temporary repose. Similar was the experience 
 of Mrs. Rowe. She said, with tears of joy, 
 that she knew not she had ever felt such hap- 
 piness in all her life. Hannah More's last 
 words were, " Welcome Joy." 
 
 u Oh, sweet, sweet dying !" said Mrs. Tal- 
 bot, of Reading. "If this be dying," said 
 Lady Glenorchy, "it is the pleasantest thing 
 imaginable." "Victory, victory through the 
 blood of the Lamb !" said Grace Bennet, one 
 of the early Methodists. "I shall go to my 
 Father this night," said Lady Huntington. 
 The dying injunction of the mother of Wes- 
 ley was, " Children, when I am gone, sing a 
 song of praise to God !" 
 
 Looks as well as words often express dying 
 triumph. Says one, after quoting the last 
 prayer of the Countess of Seafield, "With 
 these words she closed her eyes, and seemed 
 to all present to be yielding up her last breath. 
 But in a little time she opened her eyes again, 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and with an air, as it seemed, of joy and won- 
 der, she continued looking upward with a 
 fixed gaze for nearly half an hour. By degrees 
 she let her eyes fall, shut them, and yielded 
 up her last breath. Those who were present 
 were not a little affected, both with her last 
 words and last looks." 
 
 Said Lady Margaret Stewart, forewarning 
 her speedy dissolution, "Sirs, I tell you that 
 this night, when your sun goes down, my sun 
 will arise, and never go down !" She testified, 
 "I have many times besought the Lord that 
 death might be no surprise to me ; neither is 
 it. And I have sought that I might not be 
 terrible to others in dying." The sun sank 
 low in the west, and its last rays lit up the hill- 
 tops ; she sank to rest amid holy ejaculations 
 and in great elevation of soul. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 9 I 
 
 LOVE FOR THE DEAD. 
 The love that survives, the tomb, says Ir- 
 ving, is the noblest attribute of the soul. 
 If it has woes, it has likewise its delights; 
 and when the overwhelming burst of 
 grief is lulled in the gentle tear of recol- 
 lection, then the sudden anguish and con- 
 vulsive agony over the present ruins of all 
 we most loved, are softened away into pensive 
 meditations of all that it was in the days of its 
 loveliness. Who would root such sorrow from 
 the heart ; though it may sometimes throw a 
 passing cloud over the bright eyes of gayety, or 
 spread a deeper sadness over the hours of 
 gloom, yet who would exchange it for the song 
 of pleasure or the burst of revelry ! No ! 
 There is a voice from the tomb sweeter than 
 song ; there is a remembrance of the dead, to 
 which we turn even from the charm of the 
 living. 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 — While reviewing the life of this estimable 
 young person, we find that she imbibed a 
 relish for intellectual culture when quite young, 
 and applied with assiduity to the study of every 
 branch prescribed by her instructors. She was 
 not satisfied with merely sketching ; but aimed 
 at proficiency in every department of study; 
 and hence became expert in solving difficult 
 questions in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, 
 astronomy, history and Latin, and did not 
 considered her studies finished when she left 
 the Seminary ; but continued literary and 
 scientific pursuits systematically along with the 
 study and practice of music ; and for relaxa- 
 tion gave some time to painting, in oil and 
 water colors; with a great variety of fancy 
 work. It may be said she never passed an idle 
 hour — when intellectual exercises were laid 
 aside she found delight in domestic employ- 
 ment, either in the house in the garden, lawn 
 or arbors. More than fifty varieties of fra- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 93 
 
 grant flowers with shade and ornamental trees 
 adorned the surroundings of her dwelling, with 
 various grapes, fruit and the choicest berries 
 of her own selection and culture. The per- 
 ception of the beauties of nature elevate the 
 affections by inspiring noble reflections that 
 exhilarate the mind and are beneficial to bodily 
 health ; while a . home thus decorated and 
 beautified will have much stronger attachments 
 on that account. 
 
 She thus early laid the foundation of a liberal 
 education and of an honorable and useful life. 
 The biographers of the celebrated Dr. Dod- 
 dridge and of the Rev. J. Y. McGennis, state 
 that they both learned to read when only four 
 years old ; and it is a remarkable concidence 
 that Miss Miller likewise commenced reading 
 at the same early period, and when only five 
 years astonished the most competent judges 
 including the Rev. Dr. Yeomans, Prof. Robi- 
 son and Samuel R. Wood, of Danville, by the 
 accuracy of her reading. 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The citation of these several instances shows 
 that hers was not a solitary case, not a prodigy, 
 but a common result of early faithful parental 
 attention. "Just as the twig is bent the 
 tree inclines." If the tender mind and body 
 of a child is properly nourished, both will 
 thrive ; if neglected, will famish, or become 
 dwarfed and effete. 
 
 The Hon. J. P. Wickersham, State Super- 
 intendent of the common schools of Penn- 
 sylvania is credited for stating that the most 
 important part of education is imparted to 
 children before they are five years old. 
 
 At a Christmas festival of the Sabbath- 
 school of Trinity Reformed church, Miss M. 
 prepared a class of three boys and three girls to 
 sing " Your Mission" which was applauded 
 as a superior performance. On a similar oc- 
 casion she prepared two young ladies to sing 
 with appropriate gestures " The Christmas 
 Tree." Having a tree in front of the pulpit, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 95 
 
 and the building otherwise decorated, with 
 a crowded audience. The peculiar rendering 
 was very impressive. And on another festival 
 occasion, Miss Vanleer, one of her pupils, sung 
 the solo, "Beyond the Dark Sea" which in- 
 terested the audience very much. Some said 
 " What a smart child." Others remarked, 
 " The young lady must have had a competent 
 teacher, to have taught her to perform with so 
 much excellence." 
 
 We give a few extracts from her pen as 
 specimens of her style, and indicating a vig- 
 orous intellect, amply stored with useful knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 The first was an impromptu sentence given 
 at a teachers' examination held in Washing- 
 ton township. Being asked by the County 
 Superintendent for a specimen of her penman- 
 ship, she picked up a pen, and wrote, May 
 this township, by the intelligence and patriot- 
 ism of its inhabitants, ever prove worthy of the 
 name it bears. H. B. M. 
 
g6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 The specimen secured her an award of the 
 highest number, with a plaudit for the senti- 
 ment. 
 
 While a pupil of Linden Cottage Seminary, 
 she closed a composition with the following 
 noble Christian sentiment: 
 
 Sooner cut off a right hand, or pluck out a 
 right eye, than tamely crouch to meanness or 
 vice for the pitiful reward of pleasing those 
 with whom you live, or with whom you are 
 associated, at the expense of making shipwreck 
 of faith and of a good conscience. 
 
 In another similar original essay while a 
 pupil of that seminary, she gave an interesting 
 description of the Sacred Mountains referred 
 to in the Bible, with practical remarks, and 
 closed with the following declaration : 
 
 The situation and description of each of 
 the Sacred Mountains should be known and 
 remembered by every one who has had the 
 opportunity of learning to read ; to be igno- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 
 
 97 
 
 rant of such matters is not allowable in these 
 times. 
 
 We have before given a description of her 
 school-room, and sketched her method of con- 
 ducting her school. It may be stated that 
 her motto was Nil sine labore, or nothing 
 accomplished without labor. But frequently, 
 when she found a scholar baffled by a hard 
 sum or difficult question, she would with a 
 cheerful air say, We need no such word as 
 fail, and give a few suggestions of the rule 
 by way of a start, and then add, " Now try, 
 try and try again." The countenance of the 
 scholar would brighten up, and pursuing her 
 suggestions, soon with an air of triumph he 
 would exclaim, "I have it." Her manner was 
 so affable that she seldom failed to secure the 
 esteem of her pupils. Some of them con- 
 tinue to speak of her in terms of great respect, 
 and often shed tears of affection at the men- 
 tion of her name. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Training of Children — Study of Languages — Value 
 of Elementary Instruction — Growth of the Scholas- 
 tic Profession — Rewards of the Faithful Teacher. 
 
 T F properly cultivated, children will become 
 -*- wise and virtuous ; if left shrouded in ignor- 
 ance, under pernicious influences, the child 
 may become a ninny and a nuisance, a grief 
 to its parents and a burden to society. Having 
 become a good reader and fond of reading, 
 Miss M. likewise became fond of committing to 
 memory favorite hymns, poetry, and portions 
 of Scripture, which gave her a facility in 
 making quotations, as well as training and 
 strengthening the mind. 
 
 The plea in our colleges for the study of the 
 dead languages is not so much for the sake of 
 the knowledge thus acquired as for the disci- 
 pline of the mind. And while it must be con- 
 ceded that the object would be equally attain- 
 (93) 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 99 
 
 able by studying our own vernacular tongue, 
 the sentiments of Milton, Cowper, Watts, and 
 other of our English poets, are decidedly pre- 
 ferable to those of Virgil, Ovid, Homer, or 
 Dryden. 
 
 To read well is a most useful and agreeable 
 qualification. Yet, important as it is, very few 
 attain that degree of proficiency in it that is 
 attainable; partly owing to injudicious tuition 
 in early life, but chiefly from negligence in 
 mature years. 
 
 To read is simply to speak or to repeat the 
 words of another ; therefore it is necessary to 
 understand what is read, in order to read it 
 well. First imbibe the sentiment, and then in 
 the most natural manner tell it plainly. 
 
 The ample qualifications of Miss M. gave 
 her a controlling influence in the school-room, 
 hall, or social circle. But her generosity ex- 
 ceeded her physical capacity. The combined 
 duties of her school during the week, the choirs 
 
IOO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of the church and Sabbath-school three times 
 on the Sabbath, with her literary labors, show 
 how her time was incessantly occupied, and 
 thus she fell a victim to her own beneficence. 
 
 These incidents of her life are published in 
 hopes that by the divine blessing others who 
 read may be encouraged, and profit by her 
 worthy example. 
 
 In proportion, then, to the immensity of 
 the power with which we are entrusted, as 
 guardians of the young, should be the energy 
 of our exertions to secure them their rich 
 inheritance — an inheritance of which our own 
 negligence only can deprive them. By the 
 power which we may wield through elementary 
 schools — a power silent, and almost imper- 
 ceptible in its operations, but sure in its results 
 — the rising members of our country may be 
 rendered intelligent, useful, and happy. How 
 important, then, that the whole energy of this 
 power be directed to the benefit of the young, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. IOI 
 
 that their expanding intellects receive the per- 
 fect aid of early and generous protection and 
 culture. 
 
 As exerting this happy and this powerful 
 influence upon the interests of society, we 
 regard all attempts in elementary instruction 
 as worthy of a hallowed and sublime sympathy. 
 Their moral power and moral grandeur elevate 
 our conceptions, and we return to the realities 
 around us, but to be told how much, very 
 much, is to be done before the young of our 
 beloved country can universally enjoy the 
 rich blessings to which they are entitled. We 
 regard those who in this department of instruc- 
 tion are successful as the most efficient bene- 
 factors of mankind. This is indeed a noble 
 sphere for moralizing the world ; in the grada- 
 tions of human influence such individuals are 
 eminently favored. Commencing education 
 with the very dawn of infant existence, they 
 may entertain the pleasing hope of accom- 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 panying their charge in their juvenile progress, 
 and conducting them to places of honor and 
 usefulness. 
 
 With sentiments like these, we are pleased 
 to find instructors commencing their labors in 
 the important department of instruction. We 
 rejoice to see this hitherto much neglected 
 sphere of good — this springtime of life, claim- 
 ing a degree of attention in some measure pro- 
 portionate to its immense importance ; and we 
 hope the public attention may become still 
 more generally awake to its claims. 
 
 The period of childhood and youth is one of 
 beauty, interest and significance ; and the 
 subject pertaining to the intellectual and moral 
 culture of children and youth is of primal im- 
 portance to the State and the Church, as well 
 as to the well-being and eternal destiny of 
 souls. 
 
 There are over ten millions of boys and 
 girls in our country between the ages of six 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 03 
 
 and sixteen. Not much over one-half of this 
 number attend school. Of the four or five 
 millions of the colored population, only about 
 180,500 attend school. Five and a half mil- 
 lions of our people cannot read and write, and 
 four and a half millions cannot read ! 
 
 Twenty-five years hence these ten or eleven 
 millions of boys and girls will be the fathers 
 and mothers of our country, and some of them 
 the rulers of the land. Then, in order to 
 train them for the duties and responsibilities 
 of life, and to secure them on the side of truth 
 and righteousness, we must begin now. And 
 how much of this work shall devolve on us ? 
 This is an important and practical question, 
 and one that demands earnest consideration. 
 
 Before closing these memoirs, we wish to 
 add something for the encouragement of 
 teachers. Hitherto the inducements have 
 been comparatively inferior for persons of 
 either sex to relinquish other avocations and 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 devote their time and talents to this particular 
 calling. But prospects are brightening. The 
 theory of Teaching has been reduced to a 
 science, as well as that of Law, Medicine and 
 Theology. The scholastic profession now 
 ranks with the most honored and eligible avo- 
 cations of life. By the accumulation of funds, 
 we have liberal Legislative appropriations. We 
 have in Pennsylvania ten State Normal Schools 
 in which to teach teachers how to teach. With 
 Teachers Institutes in almost every county ; 
 with twenty thousand teachers in our com- 
 mon schools, the system has been matured, and 
 the cause of education has been rising so that, 
 according to an opinion recently expressed by 
 Gen. Grant, if there should another national 
 contest arise, we may not expect Mason and 
 Dixon's to be the division line — but ignor- 
 ance and. vice to be on one side, and virtue 
 and intelligence on the other. Good teach- 
 ers can now get good situations without dim- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 105 
 
 culty. By reference to the annual report of our 
 State Superintendent for 1875, tner e were one 
 hundred and twenty-eight teachers employed in 
 the city of Reading; five male and one hundred 
 and twenty-three female, showing that female 
 teachers are generally preferred. The case of 
 Mr. John Beck, late principal of the Litiz 
 Boarding School, shows how that a person of 
 suitable qualifications, with a mind and heart 
 for the work, may be successful, honored and 
 useful. He was a mechanic, became a favorite 
 of. the youth of the place, who expressed a 
 wish for him to become their teacher and 
 prevailed upon him to teach a few months ; 
 but when he intimated an intention to resume 
 his former vocation, he was beset by a peti- 
 tion signed by every man and woman of the 
 town to continue. This was irresistible. He 
 gave himself entirely to the work, and hence, 
 the popular Boarding School of Litiz, of 
 which he was Principal for half a century, 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 during which time he had under his in- 
 struction 1896 scholars. These were nearly 
 all from a distance, without advertising 
 or personal effort; and at the time of his 
 death, of the seventy students in attendance, 
 all had come through the influence of former 
 students. Thus did he, and, so may others, 
 pass a happy life in usefulness; and generations 
 yet unborn may enjoy and bless the result of 
 their labors, while at the close of life it will 
 be looked back upon with satisfaction, and the 
 profession of the true teacher esteemed as one 
 of the most creditable among mankind. 
 
 Along with Mr. Beck's, we might mention 
 the names of Wm. Rogers, Benjamin Moore, 
 Joshua Hoopes, Edward Foulke, John Comly 
 and Solomon Gause, who were pioneer and pa- 
 triarchal teachers in the eastern counties of 
 Pennsylvania for many years, who shone as 
 lights in their day, and whose names have 
 been handed down to their posterity with v.n- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 107 
 
 * e ration, on account of the hallowed impres- 
 sion they left on society as faithful instructors 
 of the youth. 
 
 We may especially refer with peculiar inter- 
 est to an assemblage of about one hundred 
 and fifty of the former pupils of Solomon 
 Gause who returned to do him homage when 
 his head was silvered o'er with age, on the 
 seventieth anniversary of his birthday. When 
 time had scattered his scholars far and wide in 
 all directions, most of whom were established 
 in various business pursuits for which they had 
 been qualified by the education received in 
 his school, the hallowed recollection of their 
 faithful teacher (their good old friend) in- 
 duced them to return once more with friendly 
 greetings, bearing testimony of the benefits 
 they had derived from his faithful literary, sci- 
 entific and moral instruction. They came from 
 the surrounding vicinage, from the adjoining 
 counties, and from distant states — including 
 
Io8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 those of different ranks, from the humble cob- " 
 bier to the persevering farmer, the energetic 
 mechanic, the opulent merchant, the elo- 
 quent statesman, all having derived profit from 
 his instruction, and now bringing back tokens 
 of gratitude for his fidelity as the teacher and 
 guide of their youth. 
 
 Such reward awaits the faithful teacher. 
 The vocation has its perplexities and its toils. 
 The waywardness of youth and the ingrati- 
 tude of parents is disheartening, but instruc- 
 tion given "is like bread cast upon the waters 
 that is seen after many days." And who 
 knows but that instruction given to the hum- 
 blest orphan may rear a patriot, a philanthro- 
 pist or a herald of the cross, whose fervid 
 eloquence may resound over the whole earth, 
 and prove a benefactor to unborn millions 
 when our bodies are mouldering in the dust. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 109 
 
 WE make the following extracts as ap- 
 propriate advice to those to whom 
 this volume has been dedicated. 
 
 PATERNAL CARE. 
 It is, of course, the first care of religious 
 parents to prepare their children for their 
 eternal state; but it is by fitting them to 
 fill their relations here, that they will best 
 educate them for immortality. Besides the 
 mere communication of religious truth, of 
 what importance is it to regulate the temper, 
 and to direct the mind ! How many pious 
 persons have cause to regret their own incon- 
 sistencies j the consequence, perhaps, of 
 irritability contracted in childhood, which in 
 maturer years it is very difficult to correct ! 
 How often have they to lament their own in- 
 ertness, the natural effect of early indulgence, 
 which wastes and deadens the intellectual 
 
IIO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 faculties, and disqualifies them for future 
 effort ! And though they may struggle against 
 such evils, and by Divine Grace may be able 
 to overcome them, they always find that bad 
 habits are their worst enemies, and that it is 
 much more easy to discern than to correct 
 them. 
 
 Amiability, intelligence, and an absence of 
 affectation, are the most delightful features in 
 female character; and those which next to 
 religious principle, it is the business of educa- 
 tion to impart. And if we would wish our 
 children to be loved as well as admired, and 
 esteemed as well as loved ; if we would render 
 them happy here, fortify them against the 
 changes of life, and fit them for its close, we 
 must endeavor to engraft these qualities upon 
 the solid basis of Christian truth. Religious 
 parents will, of course, always look to a higher 
 influence, and will feel the inadequacy of all 
 human effort ; but they will nevertheless dili- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. Ill 
 
 gently sow the seed, in humble hope ; or 
 rather, in full assurance that it will be watered 
 from above. 
 
 ON THE STUDIES SUITABLE FOR YOUNG 
 LADIES. 
 
 Every woman should consider herself as 
 sustaining the general character of a rational 
 being, as well as the more confined one be- 
 longing to the female sex ; and therefore the 
 motives for acquiring general knowledge and 
 cultivating the taste are nearly the same to 
 both sexes. The line of separation between 
 the studies of a young man and a young 
 woman appears to me to be chiefly fixed by 
 this, — that a woman is excused from all pro- 
 fessional knowledge. Professional knowledge 
 means all that is necessary to fit a man for a 
 peculiar profession or business. Thus men 
 study in order to qualify themselves for the 
 law, for physic, for various departments in 
 political life, for instructing others from the 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 pulpit or the professor's chair. These all require 
 a great deal of severe study and technical 
 knowledge; much of which is nowise valuable 
 in itself, but as a means to that particular 
 profession. Now as a woman can never be 
 called to any of these professions, it is evident 
 she has nothing to do with such studies. A 
 woman is not expected to understand the 
 mysteries of politics, because she is not called 
 to govern ; she is not required to know anato- 
 my, because she is not to perform surgical 
 operations; she need not embarrass herself 
 with theological disputes, because she will 
 neither be called upon to make nor to explain 
 creeds. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 History is among the most agreeable and 
 
 instructive exercises to which young ladies 
 
 can apply in order to perfect themselves in 
 
 the use of languages. It at once gives them 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. II3 
 
 an acquaintance with characters and events, 
 and a familiarity with words. It not only 
 gratifies that love of the heroic and the grand, 
 which is inherent in our nature, but also, by 
 setting before us what has happened in the 
 world, prepares us to comprehend and bear 
 whatever may happen to ourselves. 
 
 The school discipline of young ladies pre- 
 cludes them from the boisterous exercises 
 which form the principal amusement of youth 
 of the other sex ; and the very different and 
 more sedentary mode in which they are 
 trained to fulfill their future station and duties 
 in society, begets in them a greater love of 
 reading than is common to young gentlemen. 
 
 There cannot, consequently, be a more im- 
 portant branch of female education, than that 
 which forms their judgment as to the sort of 
 reading upon which their hours of relaxation 
 may be occupied. 
 
 It too often happens that the desire, whether 
 
I I 4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 natural or acquired, which most young ladies 
 have for reading, is so far from being con- 
 verted into the extremely beneficial instru- 
 ment of good, which it might be, that in fact 
 it becomes a cloak for vacuity of mind, and a 
 source of insignificance and ignorance, which, 
 once rooted, nothing can uproot. His- 
 tory, abounding with stupendous achieve- 
 ments and astonishing vicissitudes, and every 
 way calculated to divert as well as instruct 
 youth, is too frequently read only as a forced 
 and therefore unpleasant task ; and the leisure 
 hours, which History ought delightfully as well 
 as profitably to occupy, are worse than wasted, 
 upon the frivolous or baneful rubbish of the 
 circulating library. We do not assert that all 
 the contents of a circulating library are either 
 useless or mischievous: the labors of Scott, 
 Croly, and Horace Smith, are full of instruc- 
 tion as well as of amusement. But no works 
 of fiction can be at all comparable to authen- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 115 
 
 tic history ; and the generality of those which 
 fill the shelves of the circulating library are 
 calculated, by their unnatural incidents and 
 characters, and their wild and utterly impos- 
 sible events, to fill the minds of their readers 
 with ridiculous notions, to disgust them with 
 real life, and to pave the way to innumerable 
 and terrible errors. 
 
 Our young friends may safely rely upon our 
 correctness in assuring them, that, if they will 
 read history as an amusement, and not as an 
 irksome and imposed task, they will, in trac- 
 ing the events which it details, the causes and 
 results of those events and the characters con- 
 nected with them, not merely stock their 
 minds with the most valuable species of 
 human knowledge, but derive from the pe- 
 rusal of every volume of history more exqui- 
 site pleasure, than from reading a cart-load of 
 ill-told and ridiculous fictions. 
 
Il6 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 THE USES OF HISTORY. 
 
 Much has been said of the uses of history. 
 They are no doubt many, yet do not apply 
 equally to all : but it is quite sufficient to 
 make it a study worth our pains and time, 
 that it satisfies the desire which naturally 
 arises in every intelligent mind to know the 
 transactions of the country, of the globe in 
 which he lives. Facts, as facts, interest our 
 curiosity, and engage our attention. 
 
 Suppose a person placed in a part of the 
 country where he was a total stranger; he 
 would naturally ask, who are the chief people 
 of the place, what family they are of, whether 
 any of their ancestors have been famous, and 
 for what. If he see a ruined abbey, he will 
 inquire what the building was used for ; and 
 if he be told it is a place where people got up 
 at midnight to sing psalms, and scourged 
 themselves in the day, — he will ask how there 
 came to be such people, or why there are 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 17 
 
 none now. If he observes a dilapidated 
 castle which appears to have been battered by- 
 violence, he will ask in what quarrel it suf- 
 fered, and why they built formerly structures 
 so different from any we see now. If any 
 part of the inhabitants should speak a differ- 
 ent language from the rest, or have some sin- 
 gular customs among them, he would suppose 
 they came originally from some remote part 
 of the country, and would inform himself, if 
 he eould, of the cause of their peculiarities. 
 
 If he were of a curious temper, he would 
 not rest till he had informed himself whom 
 every estate in the parish belonged to ; what 
 hands they had gone through ; how one man 
 got this field by marrying an heiress, and the 
 other lost that meadow by a ruinous law-suit. 
 As a man of spirit he would feel delighted on 
 hearing the relation of the opposition made 
 by an honest yeoman to an overbearing rich 
 man on the subject of an accustomed path- 
 
Il8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 way or right of common. If he should find 
 the town or village divided into parties, he 
 would take some pains to trace the original 
 cause of their dissension, and to find out, if 
 possible, who had the right on his side. Cir- 
 cumstances would often occur to excite his 
 attention. If he saw a bridge, he would ask 
 when and by whom it was built. If in dig- 
 ging in his garden he should find utensils of a 
 singular form and construction, or a pot of 
 money with a stamp and legend quite differ- 
 ent from the common coin, he would be led 
 to inquire when they were in use, and to whom 
 they had belonged. His curiosity would ex- 
 tend itself by degrees. If a brook ran 
 through the meadows, he would be pleased to 
 trace it swelled into a river, and the river till 
 it lest istelf in the sea. He would be asking 
 whose seat he saw upon the edge of a distant 
 forest, and what sort of country lay behind 
 the range of hills that bounded his utmost 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. II9 
 
 view. If any strangers came to visit or reside 
 in the place where he lived, he would be ques- 
 tioning them about the country they came 
 from, their connections and alliances, and the 
 remarkable transactions that had taken place 
 within their memory or that of their parents. 
 The answers to these questions would insensi- 
 bly grow up into History, which, as you see, 
 does not originate in abstruse speculations, 
 but grows naturally out of our situation and 
 relative connections It gratifies a curiosity 
 which all feel in some degree, but which 
 spreads and enlarges itself with the cultivation 
 of our powers, till at length it embraces the 
 whole globe which we inhabit. To know is 
 as natural to the mind as to see is to the eye, 
 and knowledge is itself an ultimate end. But 
 though this may be esteemed an ultimate and 
 sufficient end, the study of history is import- 
 ant to various purposes. Few pursuits tend 
 more to enlarge the mind. It gives us, and it 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 only can give us, an extended knowledge of 
 human nature ; — not human nature as it exists 
 in one age or climate or particular spot of 
 earth, but human nature under all the various 
 circumstances by which it can be affected. 
 It shows us what is radical and what is adven- 
 titious ; it shows us that man is still man in 
 Turkey and in Lapland, as a vassal in Russia, 
 or a member of a wandering tribe in India, 
 in ancient Athens or modern Rome ; yet that 
 his character is susceptible of violent changes, 
 and becomes moulded into-infinite diversities 
 by the influence of government, climate, 
 civilization, wealth, and poverty. By show- 
 ing us how man has acted, it shows us to a 
 certain degree how he will ever act in given 
 circumstances ; and general rules and maxims 
 are drawn from it for the service of the law- 
 giver and the statesman. 
 
 It is another advantage of history, that it 
 stores the mind with facts that apply to most 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. I2i 
 
 subjects which occur in conversation among 
 enlightened people. Whether morals, com- 
 merce, languages, or polite literature be the 
 object of discussion, it is history that must 
 supply her large storehouse of proofs and il- 
 lustrations. . A man or a woman may decline 
 without blame many subjects of literature, but 
 to be ignorant of history is not permitted to 
 any of a cultivated mind. It may be reck- 
 oned among its advantages, that this study 
 naturally increases the love of every man to 
 his country. We can only love what we 
 know ; it is by becoming acquainted with the 
 long line of patriots, heroes, and distinguished 
 men, that we learn to love the country which 
 has produced them. 
 
 But if an acquaintance with history thus in- 
 creases a rational love of our country, it also 
 tends to check those low, illiberal, vulgar prej- 
 udices which adhere to the uninformed of 
 every nation. Traveling will also cure them; 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 but to travel is not within the power of every- 
 one. There is no use, but a great deal of 
 harm, in fostering a contempt for other nations; 
 in an arrogant assumption of superiority, and 
 the clownish sneer of ignorance at everything 
 in laws, government, or manners, which is not 
 fashioned after our partial ideas and familiar 
 usages. A well-informed person will not be apt 
 to exclaim at every event out of the common 
 way that nothing like it has ever happened since 
 the creation of the world, that such atrocities 
 are totally unheard of in any age or nation — 
 sentiments we have all of us so often heard of 
 late on the subject of the French revolution ; 
 when, in fact, we can scarcely open a page of 
 their history without being struck with similar 
 and equal enormities. Indeed, party spirit is 
 very much cooled and checked by an acquaint- 
 ance with the events of past times. 
 
 When we see the mixed and imperfect virtue 
 of the most distinguished characters; the vari- 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 23 
 
 ety of motives, some pure and some impure, 
 which influence political conduct ; the partial 
 success of the wisest schemes, and the frequent 
 failure of the fairest hopes — we shall find it 
 more difficult to choose a side and to keep up 
 an interest towards it in our minds, than to re- 
 strain our feelings and language within the 
 bounds of good sense and moderation. This, 
 by the way, makes it particularly proper that 
 ladies who interest themselves in the events of 
 public life should have their minds cultivated 
 by an acquaintance with history, without 
 which they are apt to let the whole warmth of 
 their natures flow out upon party matters, in 
 an ardor more honest than wise, more zealous 
 than candid. 
 
 We have considered the uses of history ; I 
 would now direct your attention to those col- 
 lateral branches of science which are neces- 
 sary for the profitable understanding of it. It 
 is impossible to understand one thing well 
 
T24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 without understanding to a certain degree 
 many other things ; there is a mutual depend- 
 ence between all parts of knowledge. This is 
 the reason that a child never fully compre- 
 hends what he is taught ; he receives an idea, 
 but not the full idea, perhaps not the princi- 
 ple of what you want to teach him. But as 
 his mind opens, this idea enlarges and receives 
 accessory ideas, till slowly and by degrees he is 
 master of the whole. This is particularly the 
 case in regard to the perusal of history. You 
 may recollect probably that the mere adven- 
 ture was all you entered into, in those por- 
 tions of it which were presented to you at a 
 very early age. You could understand noth- 
 ing of the springs of action, nothing of the 
 connection of events with the intrigues of cab- 
 inets, with religion, with commerce ; nothing 
 of the state of the world at different periods 
 of society and improvement ; and as little 
 could you grasp the measured distances of time 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 25 
 
 and space which are set between them. This 
 you could not do, not because the history was 
 not related with clearness, but because you 
 were destitute of other knowledge. 
 
 The first studies which present themselves 
 as accessories in this light are Geography and 
 Chronology, which have been called the two 
 eyes of history. When was it done ? where 
 was it done ? are the two first questions you 
 would ask concerning any fact that was related 
 to you. Without these two particulars there 
 can be no precision or clearness. 
 
 Geography is best learned along with his- 
 tory; for if the first explains history, the 
 latter gives interest to geography, which with- 
 out it is but a dry list of names. For this 
 reason, if a young person begin with ancient 
 history, I should think it advisable, after a 
 slight general acquaintance with the globe, 
 to confine his geography to the period and 
 country of which he is reading ; and it would 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 be a desirable thing to have maps adapted to 
 each remarkable period in the great empires 
 of the world. These should not contain any 
 towns, or be divided into any provinces, which 
 were not known at that period. A map of 
 Egypt, for instance, calculated for its ancient 
 monarchy, should have Memphis marked in it, 
 but not Alexandria, because the two capitals 
 did not exist together. A map of Judea for 
 the time of Solomon, or any period of its 
 monarchy, should not exhibit the name of 
 Samaria, nor the villages of Bethany and 
 Nazareth : but each country should have the 
 towns and divisons, as far as they are known, 
 calculated for the period the map was meant 
 to illustrate. Thus geography, civil geogra- 
 phy, would be seen to grow out of history ; 
 and the mere view of the map would suggest 
 the political state of the world at any period. 
 The young student should make it an in- 
 variable rule never to read history without a 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. I27 
 
 map before him ; to which should be added 
 plans of towns, harbors, &c. These should 
 be conveniently placed under the eye, sepa- 
 rate if possible from the book he is reading, 
 that by frequent glancing upon them the im- 
 age of the country may be indelibly impressed 
 on his imagination. 
 
 Besides the necessity of maps for under- 
 standing history, the memory is wonderfully 
 assisted by the local association which they 
 supply. The battles of Issus and the Granicus 
 will not be confounded by those who have 
 taken the pains to trace the rivers on whose 
 banks they were fought : the exploits of Han- 
 nibal are connected with a view of the Alps, 
 and the idea of Leonidas is inseparable from 
 the straits of Thermopylae. The greater ac- 
 curacy of maps, and still more the facility, 
 from the arts of printing and engraving, of 
 procuring them, is an advantage the moderns 
 have over the ancients. 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Although I recommend to you a constant 
 attention to chronology, I do not think it 
 desirable to load your memory with a great 
 number of specific dates, both because it 
 would be too great a burden on the retentive 
 powers, and because it is, after all, not the 
 best way of attaining clear ideas on the sub- 
 jects of history. In order to do this, it is 
 necessary to have in your mind the relative 
 situation of other countries at the time of any 
 event recorded in one of them. For instance, 
 if you have got by heart the dates of the ac- 
 cession of the kings of Europe, and want to 
 know whether John lived at the time of the 
 crusades, and in what state the Greek empire 
 was, you cannot tell without an arithmetical 
 process, which perhaps you may not be quick 
 enough to make. You cannot tell whether 
 Constantinople had been taken by the Turks 
 when the Sicilian Vespers happened ; for each 
 fact is insulated in your mind, and indeed 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 29 
 
 your dates give you only the dry catalogue of 
 accessions. Nay you may read separate his- 
 tories, and yet not bring them together, if the 
 countries be remote. Each exists in your 
 mind separately, and you have at no time the 
 state of the world. But you ought to have 
 an idea at once of the whole world, as far as 
 history will give it. You do not see truly 
 what the Greeks were, except you know that 
 the British Isles were then barbarous. 
 
 A few dates, therefore, perfectly learned, 
 may suffice, and may serve as landmarks to 
 prevent your going far astray in the rest : but 
 it will be highly useful to connect the histories 
 you read in such a manner in your own mind, 
 that you may be able to refer from one to the 
 other, and to form them all into a whole. 
 For this purpose, it is very desirable to ob- 
 serve and retain in your memory certain coin- 
 cidences, which may link, as it were, two 
 nations together. Thus you may remember 
 
I30 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 that Haroun al Raschid sent to Charlemagne 
 the first clock that was seen in Europe. If 
 you are reading the history of Greece when it 
 flourished most, and want to know what the 
 Romans were doing at the same time, you 
 may recollect that they sent to Greece for in- 
 struction when they wanted to draw up the 
 laws of the Twelve Tables. Solon and Crcesus 
 connected the history of Lesser Asia with 
 that of Greece. Egbert was brought up in 
 the court of Charlemagne ; Philip Augustus 
 of France and Richard I. of England fought 
 in the same crusade against Saladin. Queen 
 Elizabeth received the French ambassador in 
 deep mourning after the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew. 
 
 It may be desirable to keep one kingdom as 
 a metre for the rest. Take for this purpose 
 first the Jews, then the Greeks, the Romans, 
 and, because it is so, our own country; then 
 harmonize and connect all the other dates 
 with these. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. I3I 
 
 That the literary history of a nation may 
 be connected with the political, study also 
 biography, and endeavor to link men of 
 science and literature and artists with political 
 characters. Thus Hippocrates was sent for to 
 the plague of Athens; Leonardo da Vinci 
 died in the arms of Francis I. Often an an- 
 ecdote, a smart saying, will indissolubly fix a 
 date. 
 
 Sometimes you may take a long reign, as 
 that of Elizabeth or Louis XIV., and making 
 that the centre, mark all the contemporary 
 sovereigns, and also the men of letters. An- 
 other way is, to make a line of life, composed of 
 distinguished characters who touch each other. 
 It will be of great service to you in this view 
 to study Dr. Priestley's biographical chart ; 
 and of still greater, to make one for yourself, 
 and fill it by degrees as your acquaintance 
 with history extends. Marriages connect the 
 history of different kingdoms: as those of 
 
I32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots and Francis II. ; 
 Philip II. and Mary of England. 
 
 These are the kind of dates which make 
 every thing lie in the mind in its proper order ; 
 they also take fast hold of it. If you forget 
 the exact date by years, you have nothing 
 left ; but of circumstances you never lose all 
 idea. As we come nearer to our own times, 
 dates must be more exact j a few years more 
 or less signify little in the destruction of Troy, 
 if we knew it exactly j but the conclusion of 
 the American war should be accurately known, 
 or it will throw other events near it into con- 
 fusion. 
 
 In so extensive a study no auxiliary is to be 
 neglected ; poetry impresses both geography 
 and history in a most agreeable manner upon 
 those who are fond of it. Thus, 
 
 fair Austria spreads her mournful charms, 
 
 The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 33 
 
 A short, lively character in verse is never for- 
 gotten : 
 
 From Macedonia's madman to the Swede. 
 
 Painting is a good auxiliary ; and though in 
 this country history is generally read before 
 we see pictures, they mutually illustrate one 
 another ; painting also shows the costume. 
 In France, where pictures are more accessible, 
 there is more knowledge generally diffused of 
 common history. Many have learned Scrip- 
 ture history from the rude figures on Dutch 
 tiles. 
 
 I will conclude with the remark, that 
 though the beginner in history may and ought 
 to study dates and epochs for his guidance, 
 chronology can never be fully possessed till 
 after history has been long studied and care- 
 fully digested, 
 
134 MEMOIRS OK 
 
 THE YOUNG LADY'S LIBRARY. 
 
 There is no subject on which a word of 
 good advice is more valuabl e to a young lady 
 than on the choice of books for her library. 
 The abundance of useless and pernicious 
 books, and the scarcity of those which may 
 be recommended without hesitation, render it 
 a dangerous thing for a young lady to read 
 whatever may fall in her way. There are 
 many works whose tendency is to undermine 
 the principles and corrupt the heart; and 
 there are others which captivate the fancy 
 while they mislead the judgment, and present 
 fascinating, but utterly false views of life, its 
 purposes, pursuits, and enjoyments. 
 
 The influence exerted by such works is not 
 the less real, because it is often imperceptible. 
 
 There are other compositions whose un- 
 doubted tendency is to delight and profit at 
 the same time ; to correct the taste, form the 
 predilection for all that is excellent and 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 35 
 
 praiseworthy, and enrich the mind with the 
 materials of conversation and reflection, and 
 the incitements to honorable exertion. 
 
 In those works which belong properly to 
 the department of polite literature, the influ- 
 ence, whether for good or evil, is most sensi- 
 bly felt, and here it is most necessary to place 
 the young and unexperienced upon their 
 guard. 
 
 The danger is that, in such cases, we do not 
 discriminate the distinct action of associated 
 causes. Even in what is presented to the 
 senses, we are aware of the power of habitual 
 combination. An object naturally disagree- 
 able becomes beautiful, because we have often 
 seen the sun shine or the dew sparkle upon it, 
 or it has been grouped in a scene of peculiar 
 interest. Thus the powers of fancy and of 
 taste blend associations in the mind which dis- 
 guise the original nature of moral qualities. 
 A liberal generosity, a disinterested self-devo- 
 
I36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tion, a powerful energy or deep sensibility of 
 soul, a contempt of danger and death, are 
 often so connected in story with the most prof- 
 ligate principles and manners, that the latter 
 are excused and even sanctified by the former. 
 Although I have illustrated the moral influ- 
 ence of literature principally from its mischiefs, 
 yet it is obvious, if what I have said be just, it 
 may be rendered no less powerful as a means 
 of good. Is it not true that within the last 
 century a decided and important improve- 
 ment in the moral character of our liter- 
 ature has taken place ? and had Pope and 
 Smollett written at the present day, would the 
 former have published the imitations of Chau- 
 cer, and the latter the adventures of Pickle 
 and Random ? Genius cannot now sanctify 
 impurity or want of principle ; and our critics 
 and reviewers are exercising jurisdiction not 
 only upon the literature, but moral blemishes 
 of the authors that come before them. We 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. I37 
 
 notice with peculiar pleasure the sentence of 
 just indignation which the Edinburgh tribunal 
 has pronounced upon Moore, Swift, Goethe, 
 and in general the German sentimentalists. 
 
 Indeed, the fountains of literature, into 
 which an enemy has sometimes infused poison, 
 naturally flow with refreshment and health. 
 Cowper and Campbell have led the muses to 
 repose in the bowers of religion and virtue ; 
 and Miss Edge worth has so cautiously com- 
 bined the features of her characters, that the 
 predominant expression is ever what it should 
 be ; she has shown us, not vices ennobled by 
 virtues, but virtues degraded and perverted by 
 their union with vices. The success of this 
 lady has been great, but had she availed her- 
 self more of the motives and sentiments of re- 
 ligion, we think it would have been greater. 
 She has stretched forth a powerful hand to the 
 impotent in virtue ; and had she added with 
 the apostle, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 6 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 we should almost have expected miracles from 
 its touch. 
 
 When the above remarks of Professor Fris- 
 bie were written, Mrs. Hemans was unknown 
 to the American public. Had he lived to pe~ 
 ruse her poetry, we think his testimony to its 
 admirable moral tendency would not have been 
 withheld. It would be no easy matter to find 
 another votary of the muses who has done so 
 much as this lady to elevate and ennoble the 
 character of her own sex. Her works, with 
 those of Mrs. Barbauld, Miss Taylor, Miss 
 Moore, Mrs. Opie, and Miss H. Adams, may 
 be cordially commended for their moral ten- 
 dency, as well as for their literary excellence. 
 
 We mention these first, because they are fe- 
 male writers. In proceeding to enumerate 
 some of the works which a careful perusal en- 
 ables us to recommend without any reserve, 
 we would by no means be understood to at- 
 tempt a complete catalogue of books suitable 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 39 
 
 for a young lady's reading. A small and se- 
 lect library is what we propose, and we shall 
 deem ourselves fortunate if we shall succed in 
 directing our young friends to the fountains 
 of truly healthful literature. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. 
 
 Bertha's Visit to her Sister in England. 
 
 Evenings at Home. Unrivaled among 
 works intended for young ladies. 
 
 The Lady of the Manor. By Mrs. Sher- 
 wood. 
 
 The Son of a Genius. By Mrs. Hofland. 
 
 The Library of Entertaining Knowledge. 
 
 Rasselas. 
 
 Exiles of Siberia. By Madame Cottin. 
 
 My Early Days. 
 
 Contributions of Q. Q. By Jane Taylor. 
 
 Evenings in Boston. 
 
 Oriental Anecdotes. 
 
 Anecdotes of Animals. 
 
 The Sketch Book. By Washington Irving. 
 
 HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Robertson's History of America. 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Robertson's History of Scotland. 
 
 Robertson's History of Charles V. 
 
 Frost's History of Ancient and Modern 
 Greece. 
 
 Botta's American Revolution. 
 
 Marshall's Life of Washington. 
 
 Goldsmith's History of England. [The 
 complete work.] 
 
 Rollin's Ancient History. 
 
 Scott's History of Scotland. 
 
 Scott's Tales of a Grandfather. 
 
 Plutarch's Lives. 
 
 Trving's Conquest of Grenada. 
 
 Irving's Life of Columbus. 
 
 Life of John Ledyard. 
 
 Life of Patrick Henry. 
 
 Redwood. By Miss Sedgwick. 
 
 Alison on Taste. 
 
 The Spectator. 
 
 The Rambler. 
 
 Paul and Virginia. 
 
 Our Village. By Miss Mitford. 
 
 Wirt's British Spy. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 41 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS WORKS. 
 
 Chalmers's Works. 
 
 Extracts from Fenelon's Works. 
 
 Massillon's Sermons. 
 
 Bourdaloue's Sermons. 
 
 Harbaugh's Works. 
 
 Taylor's Holy Living. 
 
 Taylor's Holy Dying. 
 
 Taylor's Life of Christ. 
 
 Baxter's Call. 
 
 Law's Serious Call. 
 
 William Penn's Works. 
 
 Paley's Works. 
 
 Dick's Christian Philosopher. 
 
 Dick's Philosophy of a Future State. 
 
 Dick's Philosophy of Religion. 
 
 Alexander, Watson, Jenyns, Leslie, and 
 Paley's Evidences of Christianity : in one 
 pocket volume. 
 
 These writers are of various Christian de- 
 nominations, but they all agree in eloquently 
 urging upon us the great duties of religion 
 and morality. 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 Milton's Poems. 
 Cowper's Poems. 
 Walter Scott's Poems. 
 Campbell's Poems. 
 Dana's Poems. 
 Bryant's Poems. 
 Wilson's Poems. 
 Southey's Poems. 
 Wordsworth's Poems. 
 Bowles's Poems. 
 Coleridge's Poems. 
 Kirke White's Poems. 
 Barnard Barton's Poems. 
 Milman's Poems. 
 
 Hillhouse's Poems, viz. Hadad and Percy's 
 Masque. 
 
 TRAVELS. 
 
 Irving' s Voyages and Discoveries of the 
 Companions of Columbus. 
 
 The Modern Traveler. 
 
 Heber's Travels in India. 
 
 A Year in Spain. By a Young American. 
 A most delightful book. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 43 
 
 Adventures and Discoveries in Africa. 
 
 Voyages and Discoveries in Polar Regions. 
 
 The last two volumes form a part of Har - 
 per's Family Library. 
 
 Many publications of light reading intended 
 merely to amuse, not instruct, are worthless 
 and pernicious. 
 
 But suitable and important as these and 
 many other books are for the perusal of any 
 person, there is one that is superior to them 
 all ; a book that has been preferred above all 
 others by the wisest and best persons of either 
 sex — by ministers and all worthy members of 
 all evangelical denominations, by the most 
 erudite scholars of all nations, by men of the 
 most gigantic intellects, such as Isaac Newton 
 and Sir William Jones, and was preferred 
 above all other books by Miss Miller — and 
 that book is the Bible, which we advise all 
 persons to read thoroughly, systematically and 
 devoutly. It contains the most valuable in- 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 struction on the most important subject. It 
 
 has been given to us as a lamp to our feet and 
 
 a light to our path 
 
 " While marching through Immanuel's land 
 To fairer worlds on high." 
 
 The celebrated bard of Avon has left us the 
 following lofty poetic thoughts on death: 
 
 To die — to sleep — 
 No more : and by a sleep to say we end 
 The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks 
 That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation 
 Devoutly to be wish'd : — to die — to sleep — 
 To sleep ! perchance to dream, aye, there's the rub. 
 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
 Must give us pause. There's the respect 
 That makes calamity of so long life : 
 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
 The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
 The insolence of officers, and the spurns 
 That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
 But that the dread of something after death 
 (That undiscovered country from whose bourne 
 No traveler returns) puzzles the will 
 And makes us rather bear the ills we have 
 Than fly to others that we know not of. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 45 
 
 We now close by the addition of the fol- 
 lowing sentiment : Mental culture should 
 always be made conducive to moral advance- 
 ment ; the best emotions of the heart should 
 be cherished at all times ; as there is nothing 
 so well adapted to the welfare of all classes of 
 any age as true Christianity. 
 
 Having given a brief narrative of the lead- 
 ing incidents and noble examples of one 
 whose peculiar merits attracted attention, and 
 secured esteem during her life-time, and di- 
 gested them as a manual for those who may 
 appreciate them, it remains for us to take 
 leave of our readers, with the fervent hope 
 that a perusal of this small volume may be 
 accompanied by the divine blessing, and thus 
 contribute to the cause of education and pure 
 piety. 
 
 Everything external is hastening to change 
 and dissolution. You yourselves are gliding 
 insensibly down the current of time. Can 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 you bear the thought of resigning your pas- 
 sage to eternity to the blind impulse of chance, 
 caprice and ignorance ? Or can you, like 
 illiterate and incurious mariners, sailing by 
 some beautiful coast, be satisfied to hurry 
 along, without attending to the various pros- 
 pects and numerous objects, which nature 
 and art have spread out before you ; or with- 
 out taking advantage of the best assistance you 
 can find on your voyage, to improve whatever 
 is instructive, or ornamental and praiseworthy ? 
 Have you forgotten, that when landed on the 
 blissful shore your felicity will bear no incon- 
 siderable proportion to your present attain- 
 ments in knowledge ; that the most enlarged 
 understandings, where the dispositions have 
 been of a piece, will be rewarded by the no- 
 blest discoveries; in short, that they who 
 shine now in the fairest lights of wisdom, 
 shall, like the more distinguishing stars of 
 heaven, be crowned hereafter with superior 
 splendor ! 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 47 
 
 The scenes of nature contribute powerfully 
 to inspire that serenity which heightens their 
 beauties, and is necessary to our full enjoy- 
 ment of them. By a secret sympathy, the 
 soul catches the harmony which it contem- 
 plates, and the frame within assimilates itself 
 to that without. In this state of sweet com- 
 posure we become susceptible of virtuous im- 
 pressions from almost every surrounding 
 object. 
 
 But the taste for natural beauty is sub- 
 servient to higher purposes than those which 
 have been enumerated. The cultivation of it 
 not only refines and humanizes, but dignifies 
 and exalts the affections. It elevates them to 
 the admiration and love of that Being, who 
 is the Author of all that is fair, sublime and 
 good in the creation. Skepticism and irreli- 
 gion are hardly compatible with the sensibility 
 of heart which arises from a just and lively 
 relish of the wisdom, harmony and order sub- 
 
148 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sisting in the world around us. Emotions of 
 piety must spring up spontaneously in the 
 bosom that is in unison with all animated na- 
 ture. Actuated by this beneficial and divine 
 inspiration, man finds a fane in every grove ; 
 and, glowing with dev out fervor, he joins his 
 song to the universal chorus, or muses the praise 
 of the Almighty in more expressive silence. 
 
 No character commands more respect than 
 that of the religious and cultivated woman ; 
 and it is to the credit of the sex that letters 
 and religion have usually been associated. 
 We dwell with pleasure on the piety of Lady 
 Jane Grey, if that of Elizabeth be questionable. 
 And we may surely hope that she, who, when 
 copies of the Scriptures were still scarce, pre- 
 sented the Hebrew Pentateuch to a scholar 
 too poor to buy one, could herself appreciate 
 the sacred gift. Neither can we forget more 
 recent examples. The names of Russell, and 
 of Hutchinson, of Rowe, Chapone and Smith, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 49 
 
 of the amiable authoress of Father Clement, 
 and of the revered Hannah More, are together 
 treasured in our minds. 
 
 HYMN. 
 
 FOR THE CLOSE OF A SABBATH-SCHOOL. 
 
 When shall we thus meet again ? 
 When shall we thus meet again ? 
 When the dreary winter's past, 
 When is hushed the northern blast, 
 When new verdure clothes the plain, 
 Then may we here meet again. 
 
 But what changes first may come ! 
 Of our happy number, some, 
 Round a much-loved parent's bier, 
 May let fall the parting tear ; 
 And in orphan grief complain, 
 Ere we thus shall meet again. 
 
 Of our little blooming band, 
 Some may feel death's icy hand ; 
 From the friends on earth we love, 
 Early make our long remove ; 
 And among this favored train, 
 Never, never meet again ! 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Or, perhaps the fatal dart 
 May some faithful teacher's heart 
 Pierce, with death's dissolving throes ; 
 And those lips in silence close, 
 Which have made our duty plain, 
 Ere we thus shall meet again. 
 
 Let us then with care improve 
 Lessons taught in Christian love ; 
 Let each truth their lips impart 
 Dwell in every grateful heart ; 
 That — their labors not in vain — 
 We at last may meet again. 
 
 When our summers all have fled — 
 When the task of life is said — 
 When our wasting years shall be 
 Lost in vast eternity — 
 Where the " saints immortal reign" — 
 Then may we all meet again ! 
 
 SEMINARY HYMN. 
 
 BY S. L. C. 
 
 Brothers, hark ! the Lord is calling, 
 He has work for us to do ; 
 
 Long our comrades have been toiling, 
 Shall we prove to them untrue ? 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 151 
 
 See ! the distant light is breaking, 
 
 Let us put our armor on ; 
 When the Master calls for waking, 
 
 Should we tarry for the morn ? 
 
 'Tis no time for us to slumber, 
 
 For the precious moments fly ; 
 Hear those voices without number, 
 
 Crying, " Save us ere we die !" 
 We can lead them to the fountain, 
 
 Where the healing waters flow ; 
 We can point them to the mountain, 
 
 Where a refuge they may know. 
 
 Shall we shrink from toil or danger, 
 
 Fearing that we'll faint or die ? 
 It is God who gives our armor, 
 
 Then there's naught can terrify. 
 God our life !• and God our leader ! 
 
 Need we lay our banners down ? 
 Surely He will strengthen ever, 
 
 And at last will give a crown. 
 
 Holy Father, be thou near us, 
 
 Here we pledge to Thee our all ; 
 Take us, use us, blessed Jesus, 
 
 We will follow at Thy call. 
 May the presence of the Spirit, 
 
 With all grace our bosoms fill ; 
 Thine the glory, Thine the merit, 
 
 Ours the love to do Thy will. 
 
152 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I CAME TO THE PLACE WHERE MY CHILD- 
 HOOD HAD DWELT. 
 
 BY REV. JAMES GILBOURNE LYONS, LL. D. 
 I came to the place where my childhood had dwelt, 
 To the hearth where in early devotion I knelt ; — 
 The fern and the bramble grew wild in the hall, 
 And the long grass of summer wav'd green on the 
 
 wall : 
 The roof-tree was fallen, the household had fled, 
 The garden was ruin'd, the roses were dead, 
 The wild bird flew scar'd from her desolate stone, 
 And I breath'd in the home of my boyhood — alone. 
 
 That moment is past, but it left on my heart 
 
 A remembrance of sadness which will not depart ; — 
 
 I have wander'd afar since that wonderful day, 
 
 I have wept with the mournful, and laugh' d with the 
 
 gay; 
 
 I have lived with the stranger, and drunk of the rills 
 Which have warbled their music on loftier hills ; 
 But I never forgot, in rejoicing or care, 
 That mouldering hearth, and those hills of Lazare. 
 
 Yet droop not, my spirit, nor hopelessly mourn 
 Over ills which the best and the wisest have borne ; — 
 Though the greetings of love, and the voices of mirth, 
 May for ever be hush'd in the homesteads of earth ; 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 
 
 53 
 
 Though the dreams and the dwellings of childhood 
 
 decay, 
 And the friends whom we cherish go hasting away, 
 No young hopes e'er are scatter' d, no heart-strings 
 
 are riven, 
 No partings are known in the households of Heaven. 
 
 While very young Henrietta learned some 
 favorite hymns that she soon sang with de- 
 lightful effect. Instances : 
 
 " Oh the hope, the joyful hope, 
 The hope that Jesus gives ; 
 The hope when days and years are passed, 
 We all shall meet in Heaven at last, 
 Where sorrow shall be o'er." 
 
 "Work for the Night is Coming," " Your 
 Mission," "Sweet Hour of Prayer," "Cali- 
 fornia Brothers," solo — "I am Weary," "A 
 beautiful land of rest I see, a land of rest 
 from sorrow free." 
 
 As an evidence of her surprising aptness in 
 committing to memory, her Pa presented her 
 with a book containing Pope's Universal 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Prayer, when she was between six and seven 
 years old, with the promise of another book 
 when she would learn that prayer by heart, 
 supposing it would require a week or longer, 
 as it contains fifty-two lines. But being 
 pleased with the offer, and accustomed to a 
 cordial compliance with the wishes of her 
 parents, she commenced the task, and on the 
 third day was able to repeat it all without 
 mistake. The same is here inserted to encour- 
 age other youths to do so likewise. 
 
 THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER. 
 Father of all, in every age, 
 
 In every clime adored ; 
 By saint, by savage and by sage, 
 
 Jehovah, Jove or Lord. 
 Thou great first cause, least understood ; 
 
 To all my sense confined, 
 To know but this, that thou art good, 
 
 And that myself am blind. 
 Vet gave me in this dark estate, 
 
 To see the good from ill ; 
 And binding nature fast in fate, 
 
 Left free the human will. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 55 
 
 What conscience dictates to be done, 
 
 Or warns me not to do, 
 This teach me more than Hell to shun, 
 
 That more than Heaven pursue ; 
 What blessings thy free bounty gives, 
 
 Let me not cast away ; 
 For God is paid when man receives, 
 
 To enjoy is to obey ; 
 Yet not to earth's contracted span, 
 
 Thy goodness let me bound, 
 Or think thee Lord alone of man 
 
 When thousand worlds are round. 
 Let not this weak unknowing hand, 
 
 Presume thy bolts to throw ; 
 Nor deal damnation round the land, 
 
 On each I judge thy foe, 
 If I am right thy grace impart 
 
 Still in the right to stay ; 
 If I am wrong, oh teach my heart, 
 
 To find the better way. 
 Save me alike from foolish pride, 
 
 Or impious discontent ; 
 At aught thy Wisdom had denied, 
 
 Or aught thy goodness lent. 
 Teach me to feel another's woe, 
 
 To hide the faults I see, 
 The mercy I to others show, 
 
 That mercv show to me. 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Mean — though I am not wholly so, 
 
 Since quickened by thy grace, 
 O lead me wheresoe'er I go, 
 
 Through this day's life or death. 
 This day be bread and peace my lot, 
 
 All else beneath the sun, 
 Thou knowest if best bestowed or not, 
 
 And let thy will be done. 
 To thee whose Temple is all space, 
 
 Whose Altar — earth, sea, skies, 
 One chorus let all beings raise, 
 
 All nature's incense rise. 
 
 SOLO: 
 
 [Stittg by Miss Vanleer, a pupil of Miss Miller's, at a S. S. 
 concert, May, 1874.] 
 
 1. I'm weary, I'm fainting, my day's work is done, 
 I'm watching and waiting for life's setting sun ; 
 The shadows are stretching afar o'er the lea ; 
 Then oh ! let me anchor beyond the dark sea. 
 
 2. The cold surging billows that break at my feet, 
 Have lost all their terror, their music is sweet ; 
 My Saviour is stilling the tempest for me ; 
 Then oh! let me anchor beyond the dark sea. 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 157 
 
 3. Come, loving Redeemer, and take to thy breast, 
 The heart that is panting and sighing for rest ; 
 
 My Saviour, I'm waiting, I'm waiting for thee ; 
 Then oh ! let me anchor beyond the dark sea. 
 
 4. I'll lay my life's burden, O Lord, at thy feet, 
 For loved ones are watching my spirit to greet. 
 The portals of glory are open for me 
 
 Then oh ! let me anchor beyond the dark sea. 
 
 One of the hymns that Henrietta learned 
 by heart when she was about seven years old, 
 and became fond of singing was 
 
 1. Hail ! sweetest, dearest tie that binds 
 Our glowing hearts in one ! 
 Hail ! sacred hope that tunes our minds, 
 To harmony divine ! 
 
 Chorus — 
 
 It is the hope, the blissful hope, 
 
 Which Jesus' grace has given, 
 The hope when days and years are past, 
 
 We all shall meet in heaven. 
 We all shall meet in heaven at last — 
 
 We all shall meet in heaven : 
 The hope when days and years are past, 
 
 We all shall meet in heaven. 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 2. What though the northern wintry blast 
 
 Shall howl around thy cot; 
 What though beneath an eastern sun, 
 Be cast our distant lot ; 
 
 Yet still we share the blissful hope, etc. 
 
 3. From Burmah's shores from Afric's strand, 
 
 From India's burning plain, 
 From Europe, from Columbia's land 
 We hope to meet again. 
 
 It is the hope, the blissful hope, etc. 
 
 4. No lingering look, no parting sigh, 
 
 Our future meeting knows; 
 There friendship beams from every eye, 
 And hope immortal grows. 
 
 O sacred hope ! O blissful hope ! 
 Which Jesus' grace has given, etc. 
 
 The following Hymn was a favorite of Miss 
 Miller's, that she often sung accompanied on 
 the melodeon with much effect : 
 
 " THE HOUR OF PRAYER." 
 
 I. Sweet hour of prayer ! sweet hour of prayer ! 
 That calls me from a world of care, 
 And bids me at my Father's throne 
 Make all my wants and wishes known ; 
 In seasons of distress and grief, 
 
HENRIETTA B. MILLER. 1 59 
 
 My soul has often found relief; 
 And oft escaped the tempter's snare 
 By thy return, sweet hour of prayer, 
 And oft escaped the tempter's snare 
 By thy return, sweet hour of prayer. 
 
 2. Sweet hour of prayer ! sweet hour of prayer ! 
 Thy wings shall my petition bear, 
 To Him whose truth and faithfulness, 
 Engage the waiting soul to bless ; 
 And since He bids me seek His face, 
 Believe His word and trust His grace, 
 I'll cast on Him my every care, 
 And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer. 
 
 3. Sweet hour of prayer ! sweet hour of prayer ! 
 May I thy consolation share ; 
 Till, from Mount Pisgah's lofty height, 
 I view my home and take my flight ; 
 This robe of flesh I'll drop, and rise 
 To seize the everlasting prize, 
 And shout, while passing through the air, 
 Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. 
 
 This hymn Henrietta learned by heart and 
 often sung early in the morning while she was 
 a little girl. 
 
l6o MEMOIRS. 
 
 ALICE CARY'S DYING HYMN. 
 
 Earth, with its dark and dreadful ills, 
 
 Recedes and fades away ; 
 Lift up your heads, ye heavenly hills, 
 
 Ye gates of death give way ! 
 My soul is full of whispering song; 
 
 My blindness is my sight. 
 The shadows that I feel so long 
 
 Are still alive with light. 
 That while my pulses faintly beat, 
 
 My faith does so abound, 
 I feel grow firm beneath my feet 
 
 The green, immortal ground. 
 
 That faith to me a courage gives, 
 
 Low as the grave to go ; 
 I know that my Redeemer lives — 
 
 That I shall live I know. 
 
 The palace walls I almost see 
 
 Where dwells my Lord and King. 
 
 O grave ! where is thy victory ? 
 O death ! where is thy sting ? 
 
 Who would not brave the swelling tide, 
 
 Of earthly toil and care, 
 
 To wake on high when life is past, 
 
 Over the stream at home at last, 
 
 With all the blest ones there, 
 
 With all the blest ones there.