Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-11-29

OF fne-looking, hearty. middle-aged
gentleman.
Often the question is asked: where
does he gethis money!" Jack Horner
seems to have plenty OF leisure and
enough money tc get along aicely on,
but how he makes it or whore no gets
it has been one OF the mysteries OF the
town. To a reporter Mr.. Prendegast
Explained: I'm not ashamed of my
profession. / am comparative eugi-
neer. ="
"A compar tive enginesr?"
That's what l said. You have
heard OF locomotive engin eers, SAM
tary engineers, and civil engineers.
Well, am an engineer OF COMPARE
son, but don't l beg of You, tell any
body"
But after Mr.. Prendegast had enjoy
ed his fun he agreed to explain what
constituted a comparative engineer.
II am, / guess about the only man
in the business. l am a monopolist in
a small way and am not afraid of OPP
position l will just tell you OF the
events of r.y lie that started me in
this business and that will give you an
insight into it better than any deiini-
ton. In the first place, my beng so
much smaller than other men handi-
capped me in the race of life moro
than can tell you. | could have gone
into a dime museum or crcus-l
have had n number Of pretty good Of
fers of that sort-but | could not bring
myself to be 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 me way TO make a
good living without humiliating my
self. / was on train that stopped at
little station up in the Sierra
Nevadas and on the station platform
was p man with a camera under
one arm and the carcass OF a little
black bear cub under the other. His
hands were blistered and his Winehes-
ter rife was broken. 1t seems that he
had climbed tree to avoid the bear,
and after shooting all his cartridges
into the little beast he dropped his rife.
AT last he discovered thai some OF his
shots had killed his boar 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
on him. just then an idea struck me
and | called the hunter one side. As
! talked his face frightened up and we
went to his hotel together. got me
| hunting-coat wide hat and "a pair OF
fringed buckskin trousers, and we car
ried the bear cub back to the woods.
! Under a small tree we kipdled fire
Cor background. put some blankets
ed over the bear with knife as about
to skin it. Then he took a photograph
OF the whole business. You'd ought to
have seen the picture. That baby bear
!
mouth could have taken in my whole
arm. The animal showed up as If it
had weighed 400 pounds instead OF
} only forty. The comparison with the
only man in the picture gave it the
enormous proportions. He labeled the
photograph 'Buckslxin Pete SHINING
My First Bear and sent copies to his
friends with the explanation that the
forwarding any meat He gave me $50
for my trouble, he was so delighted
with that picture.
"He made me stay with him several
days, and soon he had photographs OF
q man holding up string oftrout, the
smallest OF which was as long as his leg.
He did the decent thing for me, aud
made contract with me 10 accompany
him every year on his hunting and
fishing excursions. That suggested
the idea to me, and became, as / said,
a comparative engineer. My size Is
my fortune. and my proportions
are all right. A photograph
doesn't show that l am dwarf unless
there is something else in the picture
that would give 1t away, and l look
out for that. have to keep changing
the cut OF my clothes and the shape of
my whiskers in order to appear differ
emily In the photographs that my var
ious customers take, for l have plenty
OF customers now. / won't tell you
the names OF the gentlemen whose
regulations as hunters and fishermen /
have made, but don't let any OF the
doctors or lawyers fool you with photo
graphs. They don't count.
''Bnt the sportsmen don't by any
means take up my time, though their
trade pays me better than any other.
The farming boom helped me along
considerably. Within the last month |
have stood beside score OF squashes
in the field that came up to my shout