"During my first two weeks with them I had to study to take the teachers' examination at Colfax.  I heard that Bob Elder, who had graduated from Edinboro Normal School in Pennsylvania and taken the teachers' examination at Colfax and received only a third grade certificate.  I believed that I would be very lucky to pass the exams at all.  When I went to Colfax, I had to write for two days.  I was surprised to receive a second grade certificate.  A third grade rating would allow you to teach for one year, a second grade for two years.  I thought I was all set to teach for two years.

"But, I met Cling [Lafayette Clingman Miller, of Boone, NC] that winter and was married on August first that Summer, 1893.  Early in the morning of that day, Cling came in a spring wagon for me where I was staying with Gwinns.  He had a pair of roan horses, Pat and Mike, of which he was very proud.  We drove to Colfax and were married in the Methodist parsonage, then we drove on to the homestead, eight miles from Lacrosse, Washington.  We divided our time between the homestead and the Gwinn ranch at Garfield, where Cling was farming for Mr. Gwinn for a few years.

"At the homestead, we papered the walls with old copies of the Garfield Enterprise that we got from Charley Gwinn, the Editor.  One day, I noticed Cling reading the papers on the wall as he was using the towel after washing.  I threatened to put the papers on upside down, and he said, 'Do you want me to read standing on my head?'  He was always an avid reader and read all the printed matter available.

"Marshall, Olive and Harvey [Carrie's children] were born on the Gwinn ranch; Cyrus was born while were on the homestead; and Dean, Art, and Hazel were all born on the homestead which we called the "upper place."  My family reminded me of my mother's family, in that I had five boys and two girls, compared to Mother's family of six boys and two girls."