Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-08-09
Of the Miller Manual Labor School.

VpCulu& VI tuc M11lCl mduuAl AhUOl IN
GOV. HOLIDAY, ATTORNEY GENERAL
FIELD. SECRETARY MCDONALD, j. RAN
DOLPH TUCKER, JNO T. HARRIS, REV.
JNO. e. MASSEY AND OTHERS PRESENT
GRAND CONCERT AND BALL-PICNIC,
&C., &C., &C.
(Reported for the Stanton V1NDIcAToR.)
MILLER SCHOOL, Albemarle,
August 18th.
Years ago there followed the. plow in
this county, at 124 cents a day, a boy
named Samuel Miller. He had come INTO
the world in poverty and, worse yet, in
disgrace. THIS plcwboy by day, at night,
by a pine light, made wooden combs for
sale. Saving all he made he had enough
in time to open a grocery in Lynchburg
with his brother. He reaped in this
world eighty years of life and two millions
of dollars. He had been good to the poor,
liberal to religion, and a friend of educa-
ton. The body that held this valuable
soul has been twice exhumed, and now it
is proposed to bring it here for monumen-
tai burial.
In dying he left a fortune to be spent III
erecting a school for educating the orphan
children Of Albemarle. 1t has been com
pleted, and was yesterday thrown open
the hant;somest building in the State. The
sum of sS7 900 was spent on the building,
$4,000 on the boilers, SIS. 900 on the wa
ter works and other Items. Tn house is
of brick, T shape, 22S feet long, 100 feet
high, and runs back 100 feet, contains "
rooms, is covered with u mansar.i roof,
through which peer so dormer windows. 1t
has hot and cold water, gas, electric bells,
bath rooms, speaking tubes, and in the
third floor is a chapel. The walls Of the
chapel are kalsomined in pearl color, pen
cilled in a darker shade, and the ceiling
Gothic. At the entrance of the building
is a covered way, like the Smithsonian In
stitute. There are 500 acres of land be-
longing to the school, and in front of the
buildings there are terraces, on which are
fountains. The architect was A. Lybrock,
of Richmond; supervising architect, w.
Spooner; contractor for the building, Thos.
Woodroffe; painter. James Graves, of
Richmond. The lumber is from North
Carolina, slate from Buckingham, granite
from Richmond, brick from Albemarle
and boilers, &C., from Baltimore. Prof
Vawter has been appointed President.
Only. 20 pupils will be received the first
%year-from s to IA years of age-until the
organization of the school is complete.
at II 80 A. M. the scene was a bright
one. The building was decorated with
flags; the fountains were playing; thou
sands of people streamed in and out the
doors; the plumes and glittering b%ayonets
of the military, all made it brilliant. At
noon a proce SsiOn WIS formed, headed by
Gov. Holiday, which marched to Il grove,
where there were at least scven thousand
people gathered. including the Monticello
Guard, of Charlottesville, who had been
encamped there two days waiting this
event. On the stand were the Governor,
Hon. John Randolph Tucker, Attorney
General Field, Secretary of State Nc
Donald, Hon. Jno. T. Harris, Senator G.
T. Smith, Rev. Jno. E. Massey, Superin-
tendent of Education Ruffner, Prof.
Chas. Vawte, Prof. Venable and Prof.
Smith, and Rev. Messrs. Hanckle, of
Charlottesville; Hawthorne, of Mobile;
Whitescarver. of Waynesboro, and Will
liams, of Baltimore, Judge J. L. Coch-
ran, of Charlottesville. and others. The
proceedings were opened with prayer by
Rey. DR.. Williams, of Baltimore.
Gov. Holiday, who was introduced by
Judge Cochran. then made a most feIici-
tous address. Prof. Venable next address,
ed the crowd, and he was followedby Hon.
Jno. Randolph Tucker. Mr.. Tucker
aroused great. enthusiasm by his remarks.
At 2 P. M. the company adjourned for
dinner and the dinner reminded US of the
good old times ''befo the wah," the old
family servants hauling out of the old
family carriages such baskets of old Vir-
ginia %provender us 1 seldom saw before.
Then the Monticello Guard had a fine drill
under Capt. Wertenbaker.
At 8 P. NJ. the chapel was densly crowd
ed to hear a concert given by members of
the "Mozart'' of Richmond and "Glee
Club of Charlottesville. The soprano
solo mon e yer" by Mrs. Reinhart, of
Richmond, and Octette "Early Morn" by
the club were splendid.
At night there was a ball at which there
were many ladies of Richmond and Char
lottesville. In n group ill the vestibule of
school l saw Gov. Holiday and Parson
Massey. 1t looked strange enough.
M. L. H.