The Forrest City times., 1889-11-16

Iisherman and Yaznsr ars His Dsst Pa-
 trona
 A familiar fgure on the streets oi San Francisco is that of John F. Prom degast
 Jack is a man of the world. says the Examiner, even if hc is only 8 feet II 1 inches high. Ho knows every body that is worth knowing. and they are all glad to meet him. Unlike most men who fall % far below the average height there Is no lack of proportion between his head and limbs and dimin- u,ive body. He is simply . miniature of fine-looking, hearty. middle-aged gentleman.
 Often the question Is asked: "Where does he get his moneyp" Jack Horner seems to have plenty of leisure and enough money to get along nicely on. but how he makes 1t or where he gets 1t has been one of the mysteries of the town. To reporter Mir. Prendegast explained: lin not ashamed of my profession. l am comparative engi- neer."
 "A compar tive cngineer?"
 That's what said. You havo heard of locomotive engineers, sani- tary engineers. and civil engineers. We'll, am an engineer of compari- son. but don't l beg of you. tell any body"
 But after Mr. Prcndcgast had enjoy- cd his fun he agreed to explain what constituted q comparative engineer.
 "I am, guess, about the only man in the business. am monopolist in n small way and am not afraid of op- position. will just tell yon of the events Of my life that started me in this business and that will give you an insight into it better than any dofint- tion. In tho first place. my being 30 much smaller than other men handi- capped mo in the race of life moro than l can tell you. l could have gone into . dime museum or n circus s-I have had number of pretty good of fers of that sort but could not bring myself to Dc freak. The idea is re- pulsive to me. and think I'd saw wood before I'd do that. had few hundred dollars left me ten years ago. and that gave me chance to look around. Good luck befell me. and an accident showed mo way to make Il good living without humilia,ing my self. l was oa train that stopped at little station up in the Sierra Ncvadas and on the station platform was man with camera under 1 one arm and the carcass of little black boar cub under the other. His hands were blistered and his Winches- ter rife was broken. It seems tha, he had climbed tree to avoid the bear. and after shooting all his cartridges into the little beast he dropped his rifle. At last he discovered that some of his shots had killed his bear and he came down. He was greatly disturbed by the comments of the crowd on tho size of his game and the marks of his struggle 1 on him. Jus; then m idea struck me and l called the hunter one side. As l talked his face frightened up and we went to his hotel together. got mo a hunting-coat n wide hat and \ pair of fringed bnckskin trousers, and we car ried the bear cub back to the woods Under small treo wc kindlcd fire for Il background. put some blankets and camp utensils around. and sloop- ed over the bear with knife us abou, to skin it Then hc took photograph Si the whole business. You'd ought to have seen the picture. That baby bear was larger than 1 was and his open mouth could have taken in my whole arm. The animal showed up as If 1t had weighed zoo pounds iustead oi ,nly forty. Tho comparison with the only man In the picture gave 1t tho enormous proportions He labeled tho photograph .Buckskiu Pete Skinning My First Bear. and sent copies to his friends with the explanation that the WCakbCt WNS wv INV t0 0aNitt OA ut1 forwarding any meat He gave mo $50 for my trouble. hc vas so delighted with that picture.
 ''He made mo stay with him several days. and soon he had photographs of ssa mau holding up n string oftrout. the smallest ofwhich was as long as his leg. He did the decent thing for mo, and made contract with mo to accompany him every year on his hunting and fishing excursions. That suggested the idea to mo, and became, as I said comparative engineer. My size is my fortune. and my proportions arc all right A photograph doesn't show that am dwarf unless there Is something clse in tho picture that would give 1t away. and look out for that have to keep changing tho cut of my clothes and tho shape of my whiskers in order to appear difler- ently Tn tho photographs that my var ious customers take. for have plcu ty of customers now. won't tell you the names of tho gentlemen whose reputations as hunters and fishermen have made. but don't let any of tho doctors or lawyers fool you with photo graphs. They don't count
 ''Blt the sportsmen don't by any means take up my time, though their trade pays me better than any other The farming boom helped mo along considerably. Within tho last month [ have stood beside scorc of squashcs in tho field that came up to my shou- hnrs 1 hnxa had fn rdunaAo tha