28 FIFTY YEARS A^IONG THE BEES 



"bees do not always winter in a cellar in the best possible 

 manner with their owner several hundred miles away — 

 and when I got home in May I found only three of the 

 nineteen left alive. 



THREE YEARS IN CHICAGO. 



Immediately upon the close of the Cincinnati Festi- 

 val I began work for the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co., 

 at their Chicago office, where I staid three years. My 

 wife and little boy staid on the farm at Marengo during 

 the summer, and spent the winters with me in Chicago. 

 Notwithstanding the fact that I could have only a few 

 days with the bees each summer, I still clung to them. 

 At least I could lie awake nights dreaming and plan- 

 ning as to what might be done with bees, and I could 

 do that just as well in Chicago as Marengo. 



One good thing that resulted from that three years' 

 sojourn in Chicago was an appreciation of country life 

 that I had never had before. The office, 80 & 82 Adams 

 street, was in the heart of the burnt district left bare 

 by the great fire of 1871, and to one with a love for every- 

 thing green that grows it was desolate indeed. A few 

 weeds that grew in a vacant lot hard by were a source 

 of pleasure to me ; but my chief delight was to stand 

 and admire a bunch of white clover that grew near Clark 

 street. I think all my years of country life since have 

 been the brighter for the dismal months spent in that 

 l)rrnt district of the great city. 



The three colonies that were left in the spring of 

 1873 were increased to eight in fair condition, and I 

 took perhaps 60 pounds of honey. These eight were put 

 into the cellar Nov. 10. and December 10 Mrs. Miller 

 gave the cellar a good airing by opening the inside cellar 

 door so as to communicate with the upstairs rooms, and 

 then she closed up the house to go into the city to spend 

 the winter with me. 



March 30, 1874, I went out and took them out of 

 winter quarters, and was delighted to find them in superb 



