My father followed, during most of his life, the precarious occupation of a country school teacher.

In this sentence Newcomb emphasizes the economic insecurity and low social standing often attached to rural teaching in the nineteenth century. By calling it a “precarious occupation,” he frames his family background as one marked by instability and modest means—an implicit contrast to his later prominence as a mathematician and astronomer. The remark also signals respect for his father’s persistence: teaching is presented not as a genteel calling but as work vulnerable to irregular pay, seasonal demand, and local politics. In autobiographical writing, such a detail typically functions to explain formative constraints and to underscore the improbability—or hard-won nature—of the author’s subsequent achievements.