What we know
1848 - 1925
Born in New York, attended Columbia law school from 1869 - 1871. Married Abigail Miller while in law school. Friends with Clancy Gaylor in law school. Fresh from law school, went out West with Clancy to seek a cure for his chronic asthma. Settled in Marble Springs as a lawyer. Defended Clancy's wife, Edith, on charges of murdering her husband. Had one living daughter, Cassandra (Zandra1).
Great Things
Asa Miller had read all the classics; his Latin and Greek
declensions were impeccable. First in his class at everything.
He was destined for great things.
But what precisely constituted these great things, no one
had ever bothered to inform him. He consulted his
grandmother, the wisest woman he knew.
She sighed, pulled her long white hair out from its prim place
until it hung like a shimmering shroud down about her waist.
Plucked three hairs and wound them into an intricate lace
remembrance. Placed it into a gold locket from her
childhood. Asa sat with her in the silence of her weaving.
These hairs came out of my living, she finally said.
These are the great things, she said. These are what
matter, pressing the locket into his clasped hands.
So, too, will your great things be, she said.
He fingered the locket, seeking to understand.
He sought the answers running through Abigail’s
long chestnut waves, combing and combing them
after dark. In his little Zandra’s thick dark strands.
He counted Lottie Horner’s wild curled tendrils
from a distance as she walked with her hair flowing
as free as Crystal River’s fast currents.
Like the river, he thought.
This goes nowhere.
Connections
Portal
Sources
Portal caption and links
A victorian locket woven from hair.
Asa's thoughts dance with:
Edith Gaylor
Leah Cole
Zandra Miler