Evening star., 1909-06-16

tions with the man who assumed their
| spiritual education.
astic instructor won the confidence of
| the boys. and eventually developed into
| the mems Bible class, of which all of
| the original five are still members. Gen.
Miller's greatest pride, perhaps. is in his
Sunday school and he is seldom absent
| from it Several times when he has been
some distance away from home he has
chartered a special train to get to Frank
lin in time to preside over it..
In 1890 he founded the Charles Miller
Night School, which is free to the young
| people Of Franklin and the surrounding
country, and has proved of great ad-
vantage to them. The need of such an
institution was impressed upon him by
the fact that many of the children in
that section are unable to attend school
during the day. 1t has a principal and
five teachers who give practical instruc-
tion in stenography.sb bookkeeping. banking
and mechanical drawing. in addition to
the ordinary school course. The classes
have large and well equipped rooms in
the Office building occupied by the COM
pany Of which Gen. Miller Is president.
and about 200 pupils are graduated every
year.
Native of Alsace.
Gen. Miller was born of Huguenot
stock. June Is. 1s43, in the quiet little
village Of Oberhoffen. in Alsace. In the
same neighborhood that produced Dore,
Bartholdi and the Rev. Charles Wagner.
Four years ago. on visit to his old
home, he had the church he attended as
| boy, and in which John Calvin once
preached, redecorated and refurnished
| throughout in memory of his mother.
| to this country with his father, who set
| tied on a farm near Boston, Erie county.
n. Y. His English education was OBJ
tanned by attending country school for
three winters. He worked as clerk in
| a crossroads store, and later in Buffalo.
| where he was paid IS week, the high
est salary he ever received. In 1851 he
| joined the 74th Regiment of the New
York National Guard. saw a great deal
of duty in New York and Buffalo, and.
on account of the objections of his father,
declined an appointment as first lieuten-
ant in the regular army. though he had
| a pronounced talent and taste for the
! military.
| He is intensely proud of his native land.
and has long regretted that little infor-
nation concerning 1t is to be found In
American literature. not even In the ref
erence libraries. Only recently. as a
means of partially filling this void. he
| had Charles E. r. Kaeppelins 'Compre-
/ hensive History of Alsace' translated by
Mary Louise Hendee. translator of The
| Simple Life" and published for private
| distribution.
| Gen Miller is an enthusiastic pro-
hibitionist The statesmen for the Galena
| Company meet at Franklin every year
to exchange experiences and thrash out
the problems which have confronted
| them In his annual address to them
Gen Miller particularly urges them to
be temperate and frank and honest in all
of their dealings. avoiding deception and
! trickery At their last meeting, in April
he said to them: IF I could get the oil
| contract for the greatest railroad system
in the world by buying one man one
| drink Of whisky I would refuse to do it.
| 10 ~ int
| table resort of any kind to secure such
| a contract nor do / want you to do it.
II we cannot get business without buy
ing liquor or spending money for i'm
proper purposes do not want It,"
Prominent in National Guard.
The French government has made him
a chevalier of the Legion OF Honor ''in
recognition of his eminent services to in
dustry and commerce" He has been
commander Of the G. A. r. of Pennsyl-
vania. twice mayor Of Franklin and for
six years a member of the state board OF
charities. Many other state and local
offices would have Deen his If he could
have spared the time to devote to them
He Joined the Pennsylvania National
Guard in 1886, as ordnance officer on
/ Gen. Beavers staff From 1900 TO 1906
in which year he went on the retired list