The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-12-12

'he uedln OF POLK Miller. The follow
Ing from The Richmond Times-Dis-
patch will be of interest in connection
Herewith:
POLK Miller has appeared in Green
wood once or twice and was always
cheerfully greeted.
Mr. Miller was always fond of
country life, and preserved his inter
est In hunting and in the free life of
the open air.
Some years ago he prepared for
The TimesDispatch the following
autobiograph sketch, in which he
called attention to some of the
changes which have occurred in
Richmond social life since he came
mere when boy to seek employment
In drug store.
came to Richmond as a country
poy Where all good boys come from)
on the 18th day Of February. 1860
That l remember the day so well is
que TO the fact that the 22d came
three days afterwards | had enter
q ca the services of Meade G. Baker on
the 2Oth. / had read about the 22d
vi r2Druary in my school histories.
DuC~I had never seen military ma
rade, nor had / ever heard a band of
music. When | saw the soldier bows
VINO belonged to the Howitzers. the
Grays, Company T., the Young Guard
and Captain Gays State Guard hur-
rying through the streets to their
armories, and was told that there
was going to be n great military pa
Taue, l was wild. Like the darkics
OF today, who will throw up Job to
m n
up mine. What n fool, thought I. to
start TO work on the eve of this great
pageant? l was not kept long in sus-
pense, for my employers could see
that l was crazy to be turned loose,
and told me to go. From the begin
ming to the end of the march. l was
up with the procession, by the side
or the band. / would rather have
been old Joe Hirschberg, a-beatin'
o that drum, than to have been the
governor OF Virginia. It had been
but little more than a year since
the military had been at Harper's
Ferry, when old Joe Brown was cap
tured, tried and hung, and o soldier
was every inch a hero in the eyes OF
the ladies. I returned to my duties
next day, and found It hard to settle
oown to business.
the store and cleaning the fly specs
of Of hundred square feet Of mir
rors which lined the back part of our
store was my daily task The aver
age drug clerk Of today would drop
dead ihtold that he had to do t. daily.
/ hadSPeen told when | left home to
do whatever Mr.. Meade or Mr..
Baker told me to do, and that no la
Dor should be considered menial if ii
was in the line Of duty and promo
ton, but never having done any work
before, but ordered a darkey to do
whatever l wanted done, 1t went hard
with me-
MET PROMINENT MEN.
When my father sent me here, he
told his friends i'm my presence that
he wanted to get the country rgecn
off me. BY the time | had cleaned up
the store in the morning, which in
cluded the washing of two big win
dows and the soda fountain, I
thought my father had put upon his
poor boy an amount Of work, and a
class Of work which was. to say the
least OF 1t, very humiliating But
that which encouraged me not to
grow weary OF we'll doing, was the
kindness and the attention / got at
the hands of men who stood at the
top of the ladder in various trades
and professions Of Richmond and
who made our store a sort OF head
quarters and a bureau of information.
Every sort OF question which affect
ed the religious, social, industrial and
political welfare OF Richmond, was
discussed there, and by men who
were capable.
All Of these gentlemen seemed to
take a fatherly interest in me. and IL
mattered not what | was doing, they
would stop and talk to me i'm a kind
ly way. | had natural, and country
fed way Of expressing myself. and
while ] was not at all pert or self
important in my bearing, the fact of
theiryFBcing men of distinction did not
cause me TO tremble in their presence
for the country boy doesn't think any
body else is any better than he is if
he behaves himself, and is not always
looking out either for sights or for
chance to pass somebody without
speaking to 'em I'm order to call at
tention to what he thinks OF himself.
COUNTRY BOYS MOST SUCCESS
Full.
The world will never again see
such men as William H. MacFarland,
James Lyons, Colonel Edmund Fon-
taine. Colonel Tom August. Marina
duke Johnson, old Judge Cox of Ches-
terfield, typical Southern gentlemen,
with hearty "Howdy do?" for every
man they woulG meet, and meant no
thing by II except to be polite and
gentlemanly. Men like these were
my friends, and that was "as green
as grass" In most things in which
the town boys thought themselves
smart was the very thing which made
them take to me as they did mean
no reflection upon the town boy who
is so very unfortunate as to be one
but IL Is a well-known fact that 90
per cent OF the men who are sue
cessful In business In the cities are
those whom the town bows saw "the