The Newtown bee., 1903-11-27
Ten Pages.
LOCAL AFFAIRS.
A NOBLE CAREER ENDED.

EZRA D. BARKER PASSED AWAY AT HIS
 HOME IN BKOOKLYN.-A LIFE OF
 USEFULNESS, HONOR AND WORTH. In the death of Ezra D. Barker at
 his home in Brooklyn, N. Y., early on
 Sunday morning, November 15, there closes the cycle of career that has
 been distinguished for it's sterling
 worth of character and SteadfaStneSS to the finest instincts of exalted Christian manhood. The wine of a | rich life was drank to it's last drop;
 Uhe sun set while yet in it's glory, un-
 Jlnged by any black or obscuring line.
 The Story of the life is simply told.
 1t is that which has been repeated S" oft in this land of golden opportunity: success achieved from humble begin uIngS because success was deserved and d heritage of character left that Is better than gold. MT Barker was the youhgest in family of nine children and lived to be the last in his line, his brothers and sisters having all passed on before him., His stock was of the old Puritan type that feared God more than it courted the praise of men and loved nothing better than to do the right. When a mere lad of nine, MT barker's father was seized with the notion that even then captivated the tillers of the rough New England soil, and he moved his family from Chester. Middlesex county, iu this State, the old home, to Geuesee county in the Empire State, which then seemed, as 1t is to-day, very garden for fertility. The trip to New York was accomplish ed on a schooner, occupying two days; and steamer up the Hudson to AL bany and the canal the rest of the way took a week more, but minutes were not as precious as rubies in 1883. The old homestead into which the family then moved still stands, enlarged, beautitied, but still for several years of late as his summer home, as dear to MT Barker as in the days when, seated on the old settle, he looked up the cavernous chimney as boy. A room built few years ago across the entire width of the house and known as ''the camp" was the spot especially dear to the late owners heart. There was the clock his father used to wind every Sabbathlmorning, there was the shay ing cup his brother used when prinking up for church; and there were some old pieces of blue china, some of them saved from rubbish heaps, that were only brought out on state occasions in the early days. In this room MT Barker communed with the spirits of the past, in this room he cordially re- ceived his familiar friends, and here through the last summer he struggled with weariness and pain. Many dis trict schoolhouses where the young idea is yet taught to shoot in Genesee ne would point out in his riding, of which he was very fond, as the places where he first won his pedagogical spurs. His education was completed l at the Albany Normal school; and no ties were stronger through life than those which knit together the class mates of the Normal. After this, MT Blrker taught in Dryden, Kinderhook and Flushing, N. Y.; and it is an in- cident of a life worth noting in pass ing that 35 years after his incumbency in Flushing his son was filling the same position, and the principal, as sistant principal and teacher of music the scholastic harness. In 1846 MT Barker came to New York. For a short time he was principal of Public School No. 6 in Brooklyn; but he soon resigned this place to accept a position in the publishing business, which en- gagged his attention throughout his business career. It is note in his journal, which for many years he faithfully kept, that in the latter part of the 4O's, while in the employ of Mark H. Newman & Co.,, he spent night in Newtown when attempting to introduce his firms arithmetics into the Academy here. In busi- ness he was associated at one time with William M. Orton, who afterwards became president of the Western Union Telegraph Con- pany. Heinduced Henry Ward Beech CT to write his Star Papers," and counted as one of his choicest memen- tos handsome copy of the. book which the great abolitionist had in- scribed to him. At one time publish ing the "Pulpit and Rostrum,'' which contained the best efforts of platform and pulpit in that day, an elderly gen. tleman stepped into the office and said he would like to subscribe. "Your name, please," asked MT Barker. IS. B. F. Morse," was the modest reply. Horace Greeley was an intimate friend of MT Barker's, and perhaps the only occasion on which in Presidential contests he did not vote for the re- publican nominee was when he cast his ballot for the wearer of the white hat.