Memoirs of William Miller - Sylvester Bliss

life, and the mention of an incident or two of some
interest, must close this chapter. Everybody is
familiar with the fact, that the army is a bad school
of morality. Intemperance, licentiousness,
gambling, fighting, stealing, profanity, and
Sabbath-breaking, are the common vices of army
life. It was the constant practice of these vices by
those around him, which sickened Mr. Miller of
their society. And that he should escape entirely
from the contamination, would be too much to
expect. However, it is both a matter of surprise,
and highly creditable to him, that his moral
integrity and habits were not affected to a hopeless
extent. There were, however, some redeeming
traits to the too generally dark moral picture of
army life. There were a few men in the 30th
regiment of infantry who were known as men of
prayer, and undoubted piety. And an incident in
their history, which Mr. Miller has often spoken of
with great interest, should be mentioned. One of
these praying men, if memory has not failed in the
case, was Sergeant Willey. His tent was
occasionally used for the purpose of holding a
prayermeeting. On one of these occasions, when
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