With meek sad face and tresses bright, And yet for me there is only one
And that-I lost it yesternight.
Cincinnati, O., March, 1873.
Mrs. Radley has also given a more explicit description of the marriage than is contained in Miller's romanticised version, for it was indeed true that his version of anything, especially anything affecting himself, was likely to be romanticised:
Theresa Dyer (Minnie Myrtle) came to Oregon in 1859 with her family. Mother has told me that Joaquin Miller came down to their farm on Elk River in Curry County to see Theresa and that within a week after their first meeting they were married. She told what an exciting and thrilling time that was, when they were preparing for the wedding. We have no dates. They could be found in the records at Gold Beach. We were just little girls when Minnie Myrtle, Aunt Theresa we called her, came home with her children to live with her mother after she left Joaquin. She lived in our home for a while. There were three children, Maud, George B., and Hal. None of them are living.
We do not know Mr. Logan's first name. He and Mrs. Miller were married in Portland probably in the early 70's. They were attracted to each other through a mutual interest in perpetual motion. They had no children. They did not live together long but we do not know whether they were divorced or merely separated.
Long ago Mrs. Ella Higginson read a newspaper interview, in which another relative gave an additional reason why Minnie Myrtle liked her second husband:
"Mr. Logan was all fire and Mr. Miller all ice."
"I kept the clipping for years," says Mrs. Higginson, "and it has always puzzled me. Can you imagine Joaquin Miller being 'all ice'?"
