On removing to Boston, in 1848, Mr. Miner found himself in the center of new calls upon his "many-sided" talents. He was seen to be financier, organizer, popular leader, platform orator. Thence "missions" multiplied and increased. The limits of this sketch permit but the baldest statement of his labors, all of which he has rendered with singular skill. Of course he was put upon the school board of the city. Then the state made demands, and he is now serving a second term of eight years on the state board of education. At a dinner given in his honor on occasion of his departure for a short period to California, the then Gov. Washburn bore testimony to the inventiveness and far-reaching wisdom with which he was aiding to advance the educational interests of the commonwealth. He has been six years chairman of the board of visitors of the state normal art school. He has served as one of the overseers of Harvard College. He is one of the "hundred orators," having delivered the Fourth of July oration in Boston in 1855. Add to such duties constant lecturing before lyceums, temperance meetings, and peace societies, his frequent addresses at academic commencements, and membership of various associations which we have not space to mention,--how so many offices can be discharged, and all with acknowledged fidelity, is a question that perplexes. In the way of duty he has made enemies. But neither friends nor foes ever accused him of seeking any of these high responsibilities. In every instance the position sought the man. His pre-eminent gift has seemed to the writer to consist in speaking to a point and with a view to a particular effect. When he appeared before the legislative committee to plead for a state grant to Tufts College, the committee unanimously reported in favor,--one of the members adding that the eloquence with which the claim had been urged had convinced the committee that it _was_ a claim. The late Samuel Burbank of Lowell gave the writer this incident: Dr. Miner had occasion to address a meeting of stockholders of an insurance company whose affairs had got into a bad way. When he was through, the late Samuel Lawrence, turning to Mr. Burbank, said: "That is the Universalist minister,--well, if he will abandon his pulpit he may have charge of any of our manufactories at any salary he may ask."