d through illness
to desist from teaching. Fortunately, I had gone down several times at
his request, and relieved him in hearing his classes in Greek and
Latin. This little kindness, added to the fact I was one of the School
Commissioners of the county, naturally directed attention to me, as the
person to open a select school in the village. I embraced the
opportunity. The Trustees kindly consented to the use of the Church for
the purpose. As the seats were only temporary, they were easily adjusted
to the new order of things, and a school of sixty students was soon
organized. This new demand upon me greatly abridged the pastoral work,
but there seemed to be no other way to live. Before I could realize
anything, however, from the school, we found ourselves in very
considerable embarrassment. In this emergency, my wife opened her doors
for a few boarders, which met the immediate demands of the table.

But at this juncture of our affairs, an incident occurred that afforded
relief in another direction. My coat had become, through long wear and
exposure, not a little seedy. On entering the pulpit one Sabbath morning
I found a note lying on the Bible. I opened it and read as follows:
"Will Mr. Miller have the goodness to preach this morning from the Text,
'I have put off my coat, and how shall I put it on?'" The note was
written in a delicate hand and gave evidence of no ordinary cultivation.
At the conclusion of the reading, I gave a searching glance over the
congregation, but could make no face present plead guilty to the
accusation of impertinence.

The opening exercises of the service were not concluded before my course
of action was decided upon. I read the note to the congregation, and
stated that I had just found it on the desk. I further stated that I was
at a loss to determine whether it was intended as a sneer at my old
coat, or whether the writer really desired an exposition of the text
named. But, believing that no one could so far forget a due sense of
propriety as to deride honest poverty, or scoff at so faithful a servant
as my old coat had been, even though it now began to show signs of age,
I chose to take the latter view of the case. With this conviction, I
should proceed to make the text the subject of the discourse. After
giving the connection and context, I proceeded to define the subject of
coats, arrange them into classes and set forth their uses. The spiritual
application was not difficult, but it ne