March, l'J16. 



American l^ee Journal 



Dr. C. C. Miller's Personal Recollections 



Life Story of America's Best Known Beekeeper 



[Continued from February! 



ABOUT that time there was started 

 The Marengo Collegiate Institute, 

 and I became one of its teachers. 

 A large building was erected, expences 

 were beyond income, and in a year it 

 was a financial lailure. To me had 

 been assigned the collection of tuition 

 and the paying of teachers' salaries. 

 When the books were closed I had $50 

 cash and a small pile of old boards as 

 payment for my year's work. 



I was in charge of the Marengo pub- 

 lic school at $600 a year for one year. 

 After an interval I was hired again at 

 $900, and years later spent another 

 year at it at $1200. For a time I ran a 

 small select school. In the meantime I 

 gave piano lessons and taught singing- 

 school evenings, and at one time had 

 enough of this to do to make a good 

 living, and for perhaps two or three 

 years devoted my whole time to it. 



August 12, 1857, 1 married Mrs. Helen 

 Maria White, a widow with one child, 

 Nellie, a sweet child 8 years old, who 

 died July 8, 1860. A daughter, Katie, 

 was born April 12, 1859, and died Dec. 

 8, 1859. A son, Charles Clinton Miller, 

 was born Aug. 28, 1868. I expected 

 him to be a beekeeper, but he was of a 

 different mind. He enlisted in the reg- 

 ular army, then secured a clerkship in 

 the United States War Department, be- 

 came a soldier again at the outbreak of 

 the Spanish-Cuban war, and at its close 

 became a clerk again in the War De- 

 partment, where he has ever since held 

 a responsible position. 



My wife died March 18, 1880. No- 

 vember 15, 1881, I married Miss Sidney 

 Jane Wilson. A year later her sister, 

 Miss Margaret Emma Wilson, stopped 

 school teaching for a year, to live with 

 us and help at beekeeping. Her tem- 

 porary stay became permanent, and 

 she has been a very important member 

 of the family ever since. Without her 

 intense energy and efficiency I never 

 should have accomplished what I have 

 in beekeeping. 



In 1899 my wife's mother, Mrs. Mar- 



Dr Miller as He Looks Today 



garet Wilson, took up her abode with 

 us, remaining until Jan. 24, 191.3, when 

 she took her departure to her heavenly 

 home, nearly 94 years of age. Her 

 presence in our home was a constant 

 benediction. 



My father came of a musical family, 

 and I inherited something from him in 

 that lineal. At family worship a hymn 

 was always sung, and I recall that 

 whichever of the family happened to 

 be the baby, at the time, always added 

 its quota to the noise, if not to the 

 music. So I suppose that is where I 

 began my musical career. I have de- 



DR. MILLR'S APIARY IN SPRING 



lightful memories of the hour spent 

 every Sunday afternoon at home sing- 

 ing hymns. When I was '■> years old I 

 took an active part as singer at politi- 

 cal meetings, whooping up the elder 

 Harrison for president, on at least one 

 occasion being taken to help in a 

 neighboring town. I served time as a 

 fifer in the Pennsylvania militia. When 

 a lad I led the singing in prayer-meet- 

 ing, and have been chorister in church 

 or Sunday-school about ever since, 

 part of the time being organist as well. 



When a boy I got somehow enough 

 money to buy a violin, and walked 8 

 miles to Youngstown to buy it. But I 

 never became a distinguished violinist. 

 I also got a flute which I learned to 

 play. I was anxious to learn to play 

 the piano, but pianos were scarce, and 

 the opportunity did not come till I was 

 22. Then, to add to the chance I had 

 for practice. I drew on paper a repre- 

 sentation of the keys of a piano, and 

 practiced on that. At Marengo there 

 was a time when I made a good living 

 by giving piano lessons and teaching 

 old-fashioned singing-schools. Some- 

 thing like two years I spent traveling 

 for Root & Cady, introducing their 

 Graded Songs at Teachers' conven- 

 tions and institutes. When Moody and 

 Sankey went to Europe, I became a 

 chorister for about two years in the 

 Moody church and Sunday-school. 

 Several of my musical productions 

 were published, one of them, "The 

 Singin-Skewl," having quite a sale. I 

 wrote both words and music of that, 

 the words coming as one of a series of 

 contributions made to The Song Mes- 

 senger, a musical monthly published 

 by Root & Cady. Some of these were 

 afterward published in a booklet. All 

 were written under the nom de plume 

 of "P. Benson Sr., whitch the Sr.it 

 stands for singger." I wrote the music 

 for most of the bee-songs written by 

 Hon. Eugene Secor. At 84 I sing in 

 the church choir and am chorister in 

 Sunday-school. 



When I was a child it was the cus- 

 tom to take all babies to church and 

 Sunday-school, and so I suppose I be- 

 gan such attendance before three 

 months old. I've kept it up ever since. 

 When something over 40 years old I 

 was for several years secretary, and 

 subsequently several years president, 

 of the McHenry County Sunday-School 

 Association, and then for a number of 

 years president of the 2d District (cotn- 

 prising six counties) of the Illinois 

 State Sunday-School Association. This 

 is interdenominational work, which I 

 felt obliged to give up when perhaps 

 75. Denominational (Presbyterian) 

 work has had much of my attention. I 

 have been a ruling elder in the 

 Marengo Presbyterian church most of 

 the time since 1857, and as such had 

 the highest honor that can be put upon 

 a Presbyterian layman : I was sent as 

 a commissioner to the General Assem- 

 bly by the Presbytery. While a mem- 

 ber of the Moody church I was assis- 



