New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-09-09
MR.. BARGER'S INSECTS.

MR.. BARGER'S INSECTS.
There is quaint hamlet a few miles
IN and from the Long Island sound
coast, known as Dumping Ponds,
which years ago afforded it's few in
I,abitants mysterious though per
fectly honest living. Mysterious be
cause no man who had not tried it
ever could understand how any one
In that place ever grubbed together
enough to keep soul within the body.
With such precarious means of food
getting Oscar Barger grew up to man
hood, but though hesclammed all his
early days heWas not Of the clammers,
and though he fshed he was not Of the
fishers.
When he was 21, though he had
never been to school in his life, Oscar
astonished the school committee at
Peck's Patent by walking in one day
when they had met to decide upon the
teacher for the winters school.
care yougoing to examine the teach
,ers?" he asked.
CHATS what brought us together. +"
And will the one that has passed
the examination get the placer"
eli he is a respectable character he
WILL said the minister.
f'Then am a candidate" said Os-
car, as he SHE'D his big felt. hat in the
corner
t'Where were you dedicated, Mr..
Barger?" was the first questionput to
him. 5.s;
wherever. had the luck to pet a.
spare half-hour and the fortune to get
a. book"
t.No, but what school have you been
to?"
"Aly own. I have been my I" own ,y1,
teacher and scholar. :" W. @
'Never been to SCHOOL,"
fsNever, except as l taught myself. :"
The school committee whispered
;amongthemselves for while, and then
the chairman, man of Importance
who had been three times to the deg
Iislater," said: 'sMr. Barger, it's the
custom to hire only dedicated teach
~ers. fyou want a job of work cal'-
late can give you one over. to nv
place.
aBut you don't know whether I am
educated or. not. You haven't tried
me. Examine me.
every well, since you insist upon il. !"
said the minister, opening book.
What is the square root Of 76 1892"
Quick as a flash Mr.. Barger gave the
correct answer. The committee was
astonished.
t.You haven't got this arithmetic
hidden close by you, have your" asked
the chairman.
Oscar stepped out in the middle of
the room, right in front of the com
mittee.
1If you think I'm cheating make up
asum yourselves and ask me to do it,
Then they took a turn at Geography,
and before many minutes the commit
tee found that Mr.. Barger was telling
them things they never knew
about the geography of their own
country, and presenting the picture of
the world beyond the confines of their
Gown town with such vividness as to
cause for the first time something like
"a concrete conception of the fact that
there did exist q land with millions of
acres without rock and hill, ofsthou-
sands of miles of mountain ranges s.
900 to Is, 900 feet high, Of rivers that
would bear bigger ships than ever came
up Mianus river 1000 miles inland.
Had Erasmus himself suddenly ap-
;peared among them with all his learn
lang the Peck's Landing school COM
snaattee could not have been more
Hazeta-
Mr. Barger taught the Peck's Land
ing school for three winters with great
success. At the end OF that time he
had $500, a fair supply of books, and
a wife. He had married one of his
scholars, a bright girl, who looked up-
on him as a prodigy of learning.
For some years Mr.. Barper s7lnnort-
ed his family BY teaching and by COM
pounding and vending medicinal pill
which his knowledge Of botany had
enabled him to make with such sue
tcess that it's virtues were known far
and near. He called it Gall of the
Ground. But it was only when his
rapidly growing family needed money
that Mr.. ,Barger turned his attention
to pall-making. He became an entom-
5 oiogist, and SO utterly absorbed was
he that he did not notice that his
Family were almost starving.
One day the oldest child, a girl,
whom unexpectedly loved, said to him:
Father, we are not old enough to
= earn anything yet, and mother works
50 hard that she is sick most of the 4
time, though she dosen't tell YOU.
Now, / think that "a man who knows
SO much as you do could make q lot
of money all at a time; then YOU
Wouidn' t be bothered about. taking
care OF us, and could have all your
time with your books, and money to