Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-07-17

We copy from the Nergennes FCTmOHtCr
the following sketch of the life of Il good
man. Mr.. Miles was constant reader
and friend of the FREE PRESS, and fire.
quent contributor to its columns, in form
err years. He was man of marked intel
ligence, of high principle, of strong indie
pendence combined with the geutleness
and courteousness of a Christian gentle
man. He will be held in honored memory
by all who knew him
Henry Miles. whose recent death oc-
Cured on the 9th inst, was one of the old
est residents of Monkton ;-one of the few
whose lives formed u link between the
past and the present. More than II passing
notice seems proper.
! Born in England in the year 1895, he was
consequently in the Goth year of his age.
He married Mary Hagan, u woman of 10
ordinary perseverance and firnness, in
| 1918. She still survives him at the adj
vanced age Of nearly 90, and retains her
faculties almost unimpaired. She was
ever a true and faithful counselor during
the siXty-seven years which they lived to-
gether.
Having experienced partial reverses of
fortune in England. and having it may
be, something of the spirit of adventure,
which has given SO many efficient pio-
neers to the infant colonies of our coun-
try, they determined in 1892. to seek u
home in some portion of the newly settled
region of Canada. 1t was no trifllng mat
ter to leave their friends and native land
with all the dear associations clustering
around It's very name, and, with family
OF seven children, cross the Atlantic to
| find II new an unsubdued country, where
those who were to he their associates
were all strangers as yet. 1t was years
before steam navigation, in crossing the
ocean, was known and they spent long
weeks exposed to the winds and waves,
incident to a stormy passage in II
sailing vessel, before they caught
the first glimpse of land. And even that
had little cheer for them. 1t was a north
ern latitude, and Dame Nature in one of
her freaks of blending the winter
and summer, had covered the land that
morning with a drapery of snow. 1t must
have seemed IA great contrast to the YER
dure, long since left behind, in Old Eng
land We wonder if there was not a long
ing in their hearts, just then, for the
scenes which could only be recalled III
| memory.
Montreal WAS the point of destination,
and when they arrived there the cholera
was making fearful ravages, as some will
recOlect 1t did i'll that year Surely 1t was
a time to try tie stoLtest heart. But He
who regards the sparrow, and numbers
the very hairs of our heads, preserved
them through all and they rested safely
under the shadows of the Divine promise,
There shall no evil betal thee, neither
shall any plague come nigh thy dwell
ling" Their stay i'll the city was cOmpar-
lively short, and for Il few years, lmmedl-
ately following, they encountered the
hardShips and privatiOnS known to many
of the residents of Canada fifty years ago
During this time their eighth child was
added to the family. In 1887, after they
had experienced many vlclssitudes, we
find them i'll Vermont, first at Burlington
=
at Monkton, where they found II place OF
rest for the more than forty years which
was still given them to pass togetl er in
the quiet enjoyment of domestic life sur
rounded by a portion of their children.
Few men have taken deeper interest in
the moral and religious advancement OF
the age i'll which he has lived. In advance
OF public sentiment, in regard to many
things, he failed to be appreciated
at the time as he deserved. A nrm anti
slavery man. when it required nerve to be
such strict temperance and prohibition
man long before it was Il popular
} thing an answering advocate OF peace
; when national arbitration was unknown
! and unthought OF he lived to see thest
} sentiments grow in popular favor ana VIC
! tory partially achieved. The slaves o
. America are free. We trust some living
y to-day may see the homes, enslaNed by the
= hHghtlng curse or llltemperanCe, also Tree
: and national issues settled 10y peaceablt
! means, until universal peace shall reign.
} Always deeply interested IN the welfar,
} of the young, he devised many ways Il
help, instruct and encourage them \
} constant student of the Bible, he had t
great interest in the recent revision of tn,
. same, and often expressed a desire to iiv,
to see its completion. Few lives have
been so extended so devoted to usetu
purposes so filled with trust in God, IA
this one, largely spent and PEACEFUL.
closed among us. w. l.. ID.