Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-08-19

Desmond went to Duncombe today
for a brief. visit.
Mrs. Otto Narum has moved
back to this city from Fort Dodge
and is rooming at the A. S. Hellar
home on Water street. Mr.. Narum
is travelling salesman and will
make his headquarters here
Miss Jennie :Breitenkamp, who
is taking a vacation from the Shell
don grocery. left Saturday night for
a two weeks outing trip to Clear
Lake and Mason City.
WIN. Gerber left this morning,
for Des Moines on short business
trip. .sF .
Louis Soderholm spent Sunday
in Fort Dodge.
Miss Nellie Barry and Mrs.
Barry of Belmond, sister and sister
in-law Of Father Barry Of thfs. city,
were over Sunday visitors at his
home leaving this morning for Col
fax accompanied by Miss Callahan.
Simon Sogard.
Ellsworth News: "A great. many
News readers are personally ac-
quainted with Simon Sogard. Prac-
tically all of them have heard OF
him and all would know him the
second time they saw him.
Simon was born on hot after
noon in August. 1851 Bergen,
Norway So ,sa Al
Het did. not take to Norwegian Gus
toms: and when he was nine years Of
age had his. parents move to Ra-
cine, Wis, and ever since that time
Wisconsin has been famous.
When Simon was Kid and romp-
ed in. rornpers and sometimes with
iout-he took a notion that he want
ed to be school teacher and having
q stand-in with the county super
intendent of Winnebago county,
where he. later moved, he passed the
examination and become full fedg-
ed. pedagogue. ~ ti7Es
He would teach school during the
day and steal watermelons at night,
and kept this UP for several years
until he finally coaxed Miss Annie
Larson to become his wife.
His habits, however, were good
and the writer knows Of but one
bad habit he has formed since com
ing from the old country. He chews
tobacco, smokes, uses high toned adj
jectives and talks the groceryman in
to standing OF his accounts until he
gets q job shocking oats, but he will
not drink whiskey.
When the State Bank OF Els
worth was organized. Simon accept
ed the job as laundryman in that
institution and counted cash, kept
books, cleaned cuspidores and made
himself solid until what little health
he had, began to fail and he. moved
down on the farm.
His infatuation for fair faces soon
got him in bad again and a few
years later he began caressing the
picture on the silver dollars in the
First National Bank at Webster
City, where he was assistant carrier
of the key to the time lock Of that
institution. Later he accepted po-
sition with Uncle Sam as rural mail
carrier, but as he and the good
uncle could not agree on the salary,
the number Of hours that constitut-
ed day or the sort of weather that
would be called decent to haul mail,
Simon told Uncle Sam to hire some
one that was less particular and
handed in his resignation.
Simon is absent minded on some
points yet his family does not re-
member OF single instance when
he forgot meal time.
Since moving to Ellsworth some
ten or twelve years ago s1mon's
hours have been very regular. He
gets up in the morning, takes chew
OF tobacco. eats breakfast gets the
mail, talks politics and general con-
dition of the times until noon, eats
dinner goes down to the club room,
skins q few of the boys at niger
billiards or whist, eats supper and
goes to bed with the chickens. He
doesn't exactly go to bed with the
chickens, but about that time.
But the writer has skipped"
some of the very interesting periods
of his early life. When he was about
forty years younger than he is now.
he herded cattle on the prairies of
Winnebago county and he OCCASION
ally springs some interesting bits of
his early career. He was never bit
ten by rattlesnake, but he can
show Won Snnoo nf hse rn H.