Antonio Sandoval’s Web Page

 

 

              Fred Noble Pray, my grandfather on my mother’s side used the name Yarp N. Derf in the publication of this book.  I knew him as a short man; his wife was 6 inches taller than he.  They had only one child, Estelle Pray Estes; who married Robert Francisco Estes. When he visited, he would regale us with stories like the ones in the book and he and my father would play cribbage.  Every night he would have his “toddy,” rum and honey, and play cribbage and tell stories. He was a master machinist at the Kittery Naval Yard during World War II and worked on submarines. They liked him there because he was so small he could crawl inside the torpedo tubes and check for leaks during trial runs. He would crawl into the tubes carrying a sledge hammer to use if he found a leak. Fred was a master target shooter and had his .22 rifle stock cut off so it would fit him.  This type of shooting was for long distance before the time of rifle scopes.  He carried a small box with different types of front sight inserts so he could change them as needed.  I was the lucky one that ended up with his .22 rifle and his contest medals. Grandpa Pray loved the outdoors and he helped my dad build a wilderness cabin on Pierce Pond, near Rangely, Maine.  There they would work all day and play cribbage all night, after fishing of course.  He fished and hunted this area for as long as his health allowed. The Kittery Kid is the fascinating story of a boy growing up in late 1890's and early 1900's Maine. The reader is caught up in the adventure of a boy who, trapped, sailed and fished on the ocean, assembled and shot a rifle, all before the age of ten. The language of the time and the descriptions of his adventures, draw the reader into the story and visualize what he saw and what he accomplished.

 

          The Kittery Kid is available at amazon.com in paperback and kindle e books.

 

           The book was first published in 1959 by Fred N. Pray.