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Memoirs of William Miller - Sylvester Bliss

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exercises was suspended, and the halls <strong>of</strong> learning<br />

were appropriated to the sick and dying <strong>of</strong>ficers <strong>of</strong><br />

the army. To enjoy such accommodations was<br />

esteemed a great favor. But these rooms were so<br />

much crowded, and such was the want <strong>of</strong> proper<br />

aid, that the air within every part <strong>of</strong> the building,<br />

occupied was like a pestilential solvent for<br />

everything that passed into it. In one <strong>of</strong> these<br />

rooms, Mr. <strong>Miller</strong> was confined for several days<br />

after he was taken sick. As soon, however, as the<br />

tidings <strong>of</strong> his sickness reached Poultney, his wife<br />

resolved to place herself at his bed-side with as<br />

little delay as possible. An anxious and hurried<br />

ride, in an open wagon, brought her to witness such<br />

a scene <strong>of</strong> suffering and death as she had not before<br />

known. She found her husband quite as<br />

comfortable as she expected; but on entering his<br />

apartment, she saw that the prospect <strong>of</strong> help for<br />

him, and <strong>of</strong> escape for herself, was about equally<br />

dark. But what could she do? He could not be taken<br />

home; she was among strangers, and all that the<br />

generosity <strong>of</strong> the inhabitants could furnish, which<br />

was nobly brought forward, was needed to meet the<br />

common demand. Most providentially, there was<br />

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