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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Story of Cooperstown
+
+Author: Ralph Birdsall
+
+Release Date: June 19, 2006 [EBook #18621]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF COOPERSTOWN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lisa Reigel, Curtis Weyant, Michael Zeug and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by Cornell University Digital
+Collections)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: The majority of the illustrations for this text are
+photographs. Where there is a name listed inside the [Illustration:]
+tag, that is the name of the photographer. Below that is the caption of
+the photograph.
+
+
+[Illustration: _Joseph B. Slote_
+
+COOPERSTOWN FROM THE NORTHWEST]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF COOPERSTOWN
+
+BY
+
+RALPH BIRDSALL
+
+Rector of Christ Church
+
+_With Sixty-eight Illustrations from Photographs_
+
+
+NEW YORK,
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
+1925
+
+
+Copyright, 1917, by
+RALPH BIRDSALL
+
+
+_First printing, July, 1917_
+_Second printing, December, 1917_
+_Third printing, August, 1920_
+_Fourth printing, August, 1925_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Printed in the United States of America_
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+The ensuing narrative is a faithful record of life in Cooperstown from
+the earliest times, except that the persons and events to be described
+have been selected for their story-interest, to the exclusion of much
+that a history is expected to contain. The dull thread of village
+history has been followed only in such directions as served for
+stringing upon it and holding to the light the more shining gems of
+incident and personality to which it led. Trivial happenings have been
+included for the sake of some quaint, picturesque, or romantic quality.
+Much of importance has been omitted that declined to yield to such
+treatment as the writer had in view. The effort has been made to exclude
+everything that seemed unlikely to be of interest to the general reader.
+Those who seek family records, or the mention of all names worthy to be
+recorded in the history of the village, will find the book wanting.
+
+The local history has been already three times recorded, first in 1838
+by Fenimore Cooper, whose work was brought down to date by S. T.
+Livermore in 1863, and by Samuel M. Shaw in 1886. While now out of print
+many copies of these books are still accessible.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                               PAGE
+
+I. THE INDIANS                                           1
+
+II. THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN                         26
+
+III. A BYPATH OF THE REVOLUTION                         51
+
+IV. THE BEGINNING OF THE SETTLEMENT                     74
+
+V. A VILLAGE IN THE MAKING                              89
+
+VI. OLD-TIME LOVE AND RELIGION                         109
+
+VII. HOMES AND GOSSIP OF OTHER DAYS                    130
+
+VIII. THE PIONEER COURT ROOM                           150
+
+IX. FATHER NASH                                        163
+
+X. THE IMMORTAL NATTY BUMPPO                           174
+
+XI. STRANGE TALES OF THE GALLOWS                       192
+
+XII. SOLID SURVIVALS                                   211
+
+XIII. THE BIRTHPLACE OF BASE BALL                      247
+
+XIV. FENIMORE COOPER IN THE VILLAGE                    258
+
+XV. MR. JUSTICE NELSON                                 299
+
+XVI. CHRIST CHURCHYARD                                 326
+
+XVII. FROM APPLE HILL TO FERNLEIGH                     339
+
+XVIII. THE LAKE OF ROMANCE AND FISHERMEN               364
+
+XIX. TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGINNINGS                      393
+
+VILLAGE MAP AND GUIDE                                  432
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+COOPERSTOWN, from the northwest    _Joseph B. Slote_      Frontispiece
+
+THE COOPER GROUNDS                _Arthur J. Telfer_                 2
+
+COUNCIL ROCK                      _Arthur J. Telfer_                 8
+
+THE OTSEGO IROQUOIS PIPE                                            13
+
+AT MILL ISLAND         _Charles Frederick Zabriskie_                21
+
+JOSEPH BRANT, from the Romney portrait                              52
+
+SITE OF CLINTON'S DAM                 _A. J. Telfer_                71
+
+OTSEGO LAKE, from Cooperstown         _A. J. Telfer_                78
+
+THE OLDEST HOUSE              _Charles A. Schneider_                86
+
+WILLIAM COOPER, from the Stuart portrait                            91
+
+AVERELL COTTAGE                    _C. A. Schneider_               104
+
+THE WORTHINGTON HOMESTEAD       _Forrest D. Coleman_               110
+
+CHRIST CHURCH                         _A. J. Telfer_               127
+
+THE HOUSE AT LAKELANDS, as originally built                        131
+
+MRS. WILSON                                                        133
+
+LAKELANDS                          _C. A. Schneider_               137
+
+POMEROY PLACE                            _J. Patzig_               141
+
+AMBROSE L. JORDAN                                                  151
+
+JORDAN'S HOME, AND HIS LAW OFFICE  _C. A. Schneider_               156
+
+THE HOME OF ROBERT CAMPBELL            _J. B. Slote_               158
+
+FATHER NASH                                                        171
+
+LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT              _A. J. Telfer_               185
+
+NATTY BUMPPO'S CAVE                _C. A. Schneider_               188
+
+RIVERBRINK                         _C. A. Schneider_               193
+
+EDGEWATER                             _A. J. Telfer_               212
+
+RESIDENCE OF W. H. AVERELL AND JUDGE
+  PRENTISS                         _C. A. Schneider_               221
+
+WOODSIDE HALL                   _Forrest D. Coleman_               226
+
+THE GATE-TOWER AT WOODSIDE        _Walter C. Stokes_               228
+
+SWANSWICK                             _A. J. Telfer_               230
+
+SHADOW BROOK                       _James W. Tucker_               233
+
+HYDE HALL                             _A. J. Telfer_               238
+
+HYDE CLARKE, from the Emmet portrait                               243
+
+A WEDDING DAY AT HYDE                 _A. J. Telfer_               246
+
+BASE BALL ON NATIVE SOIL              _A. J. Telfer_               249
+
+THE ORIGINAL HOUSE AT APPLE HILL (now Fernleigh)                   256
+
+FENIMORE                              _A. J. Telfer_               259
+
+OTSEGO HALL, from an old drawing                                   260
+
+JAMES FENIMORE COOPER                                              263
+
+THE CHALET                            _A. J. Telfer_               265
+
+THE NOVELIST'S LIBRARY, a drawing by G. Pomeroy Keese              267
+
+A PAGE OF COOPER'S MANUSCRIPT                                      269
+
+THE HOME OF NANCY WILLIAMS         _C. A. Schneider_               271
+
+THREE-MILE POINT                      _A. J. Telfer_               282
+
+THE CALL FOR THE INDIGNATION MEETING                               284
+
+THE COOPER SCREENS IN CHRIST CHURCH  _F. D. Coleman_               293
+
+AT FENIMORE COOPER'S GRAVE            _Alice Choate_               297
+
+SAMUEL NELSON, LL.D.                                               300
+
+THE HOME OF JUSTICE NELSON         _C. A. Schneider_               314
+
+NELSON AVENUE                         _A. J. Telfer_               320
+
+CHRIST CHURCHYARD, from the Rectory   _Alice Choate_               327
+
+THE COOPER PLOT, IN CHRIST
+  CHURCHYARD                          _A. J. Telfer_               334
+
+A FUNERAL IN CHRIST CHURCHYARD         _J. B. Slote_               337
+
+MAIN STREET, LOOKING WEST FROM FAIR STREET, 1861                   347
+
+FERNLEIGH                             _A. J. Telfer_               357
+
+KINGFISHER TOWER              _M. Antoinette Abrams_               359
+
+THE LAKE, FROM THE O-TE-SA-GA          _J. B. Slote_               365
+
+FISHERMEN'S SHANTIES ON THE FROZEN
+  LAKE                                _A. J. Telfer_               374
+
+HOP-PICKING                       _Elizabeth Hudson_               378
+
+MAP OF OTSEGO LAKE               _Henry L. Eckerson_               381
+
+THE SUSQUEHANNA, NEAR ITS SOURCE      _A. J. Telfer_               383
+
+LEATHERSTOCKING FALLS                 _A. J. Telfer_               387
+
+FIVE-MILE POINT                       _A. J. Telfer_               388
+
+MOHICAN CANYON                _M. Antoinette Abrams_               389
+
+GRAVELLY POINT                        _A. J. Telfer_               391
+
+BISHOP POTTER                        _A. F. Bradley_               395
+
+THE RECTORY                        _C. A. Schneider_               396
+
+THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND THE
+  BISHOP OF NEW YORK                  _A. J. Telfer_               405
+
+BYBERRY COTTAGE                    _C. A. Schneider_               407
+
+THE CLARK ESTATE OFFICE               _A. J. Telfer_               409
+
+THE LYRIC AT COOPER'S GRAVE            _J. B. Slote_               420
+
+COOPERSTOWN, FROM MOUNT VISION        _A. J. Telfer_               430
+
+MAP OF COOPERSTOWN                  _H. L. Eckerson_               432
+
+
+
+
+The Story of Cooperstown
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE INDIANS
+
+
+The main street of Cooperstown traverses the village in a direction
+generally east and west. While the street and its shops are far superior
+to those of most small towns, the business centre, from which the
+visitor gains his first impression, gives no hint of the quaint and
+rustic beauty that makes Cooperstown one of the most charming villages
+in America.
+
+Following the main street toward the east, one reaches the original part
+of the settlement, and the prospect is more gratefully reminiscent of an
+old-time village. In summer the gateway of the Cooper Grounds opens a
+pleasing vista of shaded greensward, while the cross street which runs
+down to the lake at this point attracts the eye to a half-concealed view
+of the Glimmerglass, with the Sleeping Lion in the distance at the
+north.
+
+The historical associations of the village, from the earliest times, are
+centered in the Cooper Grounds. Within this space, when the first white
+man came, were found apple trees, in full bearing, which Indians had
+planted, showing an occupation by red men in the late Iroquois period.
+On these grounds the first white settler, Col. George Croghan, built in
+1769 his hut of logs. During the Revolutionary War it was upon this spot
+that Clinton's troops were encamped for five weeks before their
+spectacular descent of the Susquehanna River. On this site William
+Cooper, the founder of the village, built his first residence, and
+afterward erected Otsego Hall, which later became the home of his son,
+James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist.
+
+[Illustration: THE COOPER GROUNDS]
+
+Beyond the Cooper Grounds, on the main street, the buildings seen on
+either hand belong to the earlier period of village history, except the
+Village Club and Library, which gracefully conforms to the older style.
+After passing the next cross-street, the main thoroughfare leads across
+the Susquehanna River, and, beyond the bridge, becomes identified with
+the old road to Cherry Valley. Keeping on up the incline, one finds
+Mount Vision rising before him, and begins to gain fascinating glimpses
+into the grounds of Woodside Hall, whose white pillars gleam amid the
+pines above the Egyptian gate-tower, and whose windows, commanding the
+whole length of the main street westward, reflect the fire of every
+sunset.
+
+Just before reaching Woodside, one observes a road which makes off from
+the highway at the right, and runs south. Opening from this road to
+Fernleigh-Over, and quite close to the corner, is a small iron gate that
+creaks between two posts of stone. The gate opens upon a path which
+leads, a few paces westward, to a large, terraced mound, well sodded,
+and topped by two maple trees.
+
+Sunk into the face of this mound is a slab of granite which bears this
+inscription:
+
+     WHITE MAN, GREETING!
+
+     WE, NEAR WHOSE BONES YOU STAND,
+     WERE IROQUOIS. THE WIDE LAND
+     WHICH NOW IS YOURS WAS OURS.
+     FRIENDLY HANDS HAVE GIVEN BACK
+     TO US ENOUGH FOR A TOMB.
+
+These lines offer a fitting introduction to the story of Cooperstown.
+There is enough of truth and poetry in them to touch the heart of the
+most indifferent passer-by. No sense of pride stirs the soul of any
+white man as he reads this pathetic memorial of an exiled race and its
+vanished empire. From this region and from many another hill and valley
+the Indians were driven by their white conquerors, banished from one
+reservation to another, compelled to exchange a vast empire of the
+forest for the blanket and tin cup of Uncle Sam's patronage.
+
+The mound in Fernleigh-Over is probably an Indian burial site of some
+antiquity. In 1874, when the place was being graded, a number of Indian
+skeletons were uncovered in various parts of the grounds. The owner of
+the property, Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, caused all the bones to be
+collected and buried at the foot of the mound. Some years afterward she
+marked the mound with the granite slab and its inscribed epitaph.
+
+The lines were composed by the Rev. William Wilberforce Lord, D.D., a
+former rector of Christ Church, in this village, once hailed by
+Wordsworth as the coming poet of America. He had written some noble
+verse, but wilted beneath the scathing criticism of Edgar Allan Poe,[1]
+and after becoming a clergyman published little poetry. This epitaph
+alone, however, fully justifies Dr. Lord's earlier ambition, for no poet
+of his time could have included more of beauty and truth and pathos
+within the compass of so brief an inscription.
+
+In a comment upon the placing of this tablet, Mrs. Clark afterward
+wrote: "The position of the stone is misleading, and gives one an idea
+that the mound contains the bones--whereas they are buried at the foot
+of the mound. I have sometimes wondered if this rather curiously shaped
+mound, with the two maple trees thereon, might not contain undisturbed
+skeletons; and I feel sure that throughout this strip of land, which the
+grading only superficially disturbed, there are many bones of the
+Iroquois, for in 1900, when we cut down some trees, a skull was found in
+the fork of a root."
+
+Mrs. Clark's record shows that the mound existed prior to 1874, and
+since this particular corner of ground was unoccupied before that date
+except, for a period, by the barns and stables of Lakelands across the
+way, it is reasonable to suppose that the mound was made by the Indians.
+While the mounds of New York State cannot be compared in size and extent
+with those of the West, writers on Indian antiquities, from
+Schoolcraft[2] onward, have identified as the work of red men many such
+formations within the Empire State. The mounds were commonly used by the
+Indians as places of burial, and sometimes as sites for houses, or as
+fortifications.[3] The mound in Fernleigh-Over may be reasonably
+regarded as a monument erected by the Indians to the memory of their
+dead.
+
+Two Indian skeletons were found in Fernleigh grounds in 1910, when a
+tennis court was being made, and the skeletons of Indians have been
+unearthed in some other parts of the village. A concealed sentry keeps
+vigil not far away from Fernleigh. The garden at the northwest corner of
+River and Church streets, nearly opposite to Fernleigh, has had for many
+years, on the River Street side, a retaining wall. When Fenimore Cooper
+owned the property this wall was his despair. For at a point above
+Greencrest, the wall, which then consisted of dry field stone, could
+never be kept plumb, but obstinately bulged toward the east; and as
+often as it was rebuilt, just so often it tottered to ruin. There was a
+tradition that this singular freak was caused by the spirit of an Indian
+chief whose grave lay in the garden, and whose resentment toward the
+village improvements of a paleface civilization found vigorous
+expression in kicking down the wall. It was at last decided to replace
+the retaining wall with one of heavier proportions and more solid
+masonry. On tearing down the wall the tradition of former years was
+recalled, for there sat the grim skeleton of an Indian, fully armed for
+war! The new wall included him as before, but to this day there is a
+point in the wall where stone and mortar cannot long contain the Indian
+spirit's wrath. This Indian sentinel was first discovered by William
+Cooper when River Street was graded, and four generations of tradition
+in the Cooper family testified to his tutelary character.
+
+The banks of the Susquehanna, near the village, and the shores of
+Otsego Lake, have yielded a plentiful harvest of Indian relics in
+arrow-heads and spearpoints, with an occasional bannerstone, pipe, or
+bit of pottery. Often as the region has been traversed in search of
+relics, there seems always to be something left for the careful gleaner;
+and the experienced eye, within a short walk along riverbank or
+lakeshore, is certain to light upon some memento of the vanished Indian,
+while every fresh turning of the soil reveals some record of savage
+life.
+
+Morgan describes an Indian trail as being from twelve to eighteen inches
+wide, and, where the soil was soft, often worn to a depth of twelve
+inches. Deeply as these trails were grooved in the earth by centuries of
+use, it is to be doubted if many traces of them now remain, although
+over the summit of Hannah's Hill, sheltered by thick pine woods, just
+west of the village, there runs toward the lake a trail, which, though
+long disused, is clearly marked, and is believed to have been worn by
+the feet of Indians. It is indeed possible that this is a remaining
+segment of the great trail from the north, which, as Morgan's map[4]
+shows, here touched Otsego Lake, and bent toward the southwest. For, in
+1911, a likely trace of it was found by Frank M. Turnbull while clearing
+the woods on the McNamee property west of the village. In line with the
+trail on Hannah's Hill, and southwest of it, were two huge hemlocks that
+bore upon their trunks the old wounds of blazes made as if by the axes
+of Indians. The blazes were vertical, deeply indented, and the thick
+bark had grown outward and around them, forming in each a pocket into
+which a man might sink his elbow and forearm. These patriarchal trees of
+the forest were about four feet in diameter at the base, and on being
+felled showed, by count of the rings, an age of nearly three hundred
+years.
+
+[Illustration: COUNCIL ROCK]
+
+When Fenimore Cooper, in _The Deerslayer_, describes Council Rock as a
+favorite meeting place of the Indians, where the tribes resorted "to
+make their treaties and bury their hatchets," he claims a picturesque
+bit of stage setting for his drama, but also records an early
+tradition. This rock, sometimes called Otsego Rock, standing forth from
+the water where the Susquehanna emerges from the lake, had been a
+favorite landmark for the rendezvous of Indians. As one views it now,
+from the foot of River Street, it lifts its rounded top not quite so
+high above the water as when Cooper described it in 1841. The damming of
+the Susquehanna to furnish power for the village water supply has raised
+the whole level of Otsego Lake, and gives an artificial fullness to the
+first reaches of the long river.
+
+Whether Cooperstown stands upon the site of an old Indian village is a
+debated question. Richard Smith's journal describes his visit at the
+foot of Otsego Lake in 1769, before the time of any considerable
+settlement by white men, and makes no mention of any Indian residents of
+the place. He saw many Indians here, but gives the impression that they
+were come from a distance to visit the Indian Agent whose headquarters
+lay at the foot of Otsego Lake. On the other hand, a stray hint comes
+from the papers of William Cooper, among which is a memorandum including
+various notes relating to population and other statistics, jotted down
+apparently in preparation for a speech or article on early conditions
+here, and containing the item, "Old Indian Village." A more significant
+record appears in the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_, published in 1838, in
+which Fenimore Cooper asserts that "arrow-heads, stone hatchets, and
+other memorials of Indian usages, were found in great abundance by the
+first settlers, in the vicinity of the village." In _The Pioneers_, his
+description of Cooperstown includes, in a location to be identified with
+the present Cooper Grounds, fruit trees which he says "had been left by
+the Indians, and began already to assume the moss and inclination of
+age," when the first settlers came.
+
+The fruit trees would indicate permanent though late occupation of this
+site by Indians; "stone hatchets in great abundance" would suggest that
+a prehistoric village was here. But it is difficult to understand how so
+little trace should now remain of the one-time "great abundance" of
+hatchets. Such is not the case at any other permanent prehistoric site
+in the general region, where pestles and hatchets continue to be found
+even in streets, as well as in yards, and well-tilled gardens.
+
+Every few years the inhabitants of ancient villages in the east were
+wont, for various reasons, to build new cabins on new ground, though not
+far removed from the old. Not all the sites of ancient Otesaga, if
+ancient Otesaga existed, can have been covered by Cooperstown. Some
+fields should still produce something out of "an abundance" of village
+debris. Yet only one hatchet has come, in many years, from all the foot
+of the lake.[5] Many points, spear and arrow, have been found on all
+shores of Otsego; for beyond doubt the lake, from very early time, was a
+resort for aboriginal hunters and fishermen. But points indicate only
+camp sites.
+
+On the whole, by reason of the notable absence at this time of stone
+relics indicating permanent residence, it seems possible that the
+statement concerning their original abundance was exaggerated, and there
+is no good reason for supposing, on the strength of this statement
+alone, that there was a prehistoric village on the site of Cooperstown.
+Perhaps in early times, during the contests with Southern Indians, the
+place lay too much in the way of war parties. But the apple trees,
+concerning which there is no doubt, would indicate rather conclusively
+an occupation by Indians within the historic period, which, as in the
+case of many another of the later villages, might have left small
+trace.[6]
+
+In 1895 two young men of Cooperstown who afterward adopted callings in
+other fields of science, Benjamin White, Ph.D., and Dr. James Ferguson,
+conducted amateur archeological expeditions which resulted in the
+discovery of a regular camp site formerly used by the Indians. This lies
+within the present village of Cooperstown, on a level stretch along the
+west bank of the Susquehanna, in what used to be called the Hinman lot,
+but now belongs to Fernleigh, a few rods south of Fernleigh House. It
+includes an even floor of low land not far above the level of the river,
+containing a spring on its margin, and forming a plot perhaps two
+hundred yards in length and half as much in breadth. The ground begins
+thence to rise rather steeply toward the north and west, sheltering from
+wind and storm the glen below, while affording points of observation,
+looking up and down the stream.
+
+The young explorers went carefully over the surface of this ground,
+digging to a considerable depth in some parts, and using an ash-sifter
+for a thorough examination of the debris. "We found spearheads, game and
+war points in large numbers," says Dr. White, "as well as drills,
+punches or awls, scrapers, knives, hammer-stones, and sinkers. Deer
+horn, bones, and thick strata of ashes were found, the latter in one
+place only. Whether or no this was the site of an Indian village, I
+cannot say. Altogether it must have yielded six or eight hundred
+implements of various sorts. Fernleigh-Over, Riverbrink, and Lakelands
+yielded arrow-heads and sinkers, but no other implements. The present
+site of the Country Club was a profitable field for arrow-heads."
+
+Dr. Ferguson, referring to the same spot, writes, "I have long had an
+idea that there had been a small Indian village located in what we knew
+as Hinman's lot. After the land was ploughed we found many arrow-heads,
+awls of bone and flint, and fragments of pottery. There were several
+areas where fires had been located, the soil being well baked, with
+mingled charcoal and burned bones. There were also about the fire sites
+fragments of deer horn, bears' teeth, and much broken pottery. Spear
+heads were rather few, sinkers and hammer-stones more numerous. I never
+found any perfect axes, but did find fragments."
+
+The great number of imperfect arrow-heads and flint chips found here, as
+well as on the flat northeast of Iroquois Farm house, and on the low
+land between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, shows the
+frequent occupation of these places as Indian camps.
+
+[Illustration: THE OTSEGO IROQUOIS PIPE
+
+(Seven-tenths actual size)]
+
+In 1916 David R. Dorn conducted a more intensive examination of the plot
+explored by Dr. White and Dr. Ferguson. His investigation revealed a
+site that showed two distinct layers of Indian relics, the lower and
+more ancient being of Algonquin type, while the signs of later occupancy
+were Iroquois. At about eighteen inches beneath the surface was found
+the complete skeleton of an Iroquois Indian. With the skeleton was
+unearthed a pipe, of Iroquois manufacture, which Arthur C. Parker, the
+State archeologist, declared to be one of the most perfect specimens
+known.
+
+Taking all the evidence together, it may be asserted that the present
+site of Cooperstown was from ancient times the resort of Indian hunters
+and fishermen, and at a later period, more than a generation before its
+settlement by white men, as indicated by the size of the apple trees
+which they found, included a settled Indian village.
+
+On Morgan's map of Iroquois territory as it existed in 1720, he shows a
+village at the foot of Otsego Lake to which he gives the Indian name
+Ote-sa-ga.[7] Our present form, Otsego, is a variant of the same
+original. Morgan wrote the word in three syllables, adding the letter
+"e" after the "t" merely to make sure that the "o" should be pronounced
+long. It seems certain that Morgan never pronounced the word as
+"O-te-sa-ga." This form of the name, however, when the third syllable
+carries the accent and a broad "a," is defensible on the ground of its
+majestic euphony, for it should be permitted to take some liberties with
+a name that has been spelled by high authorities in a dozen different
+ways.
+
+The explanation of Otsego, or Otesaga, as signifying "a place of
+meeting" has been generally abandoned by scholars, in spite of the vogue
+which Fenimore Cooper gave it along with the interpretation of
+Susquehanna as meaning "crooked river." But as to the latter the doctors
+disagree, some claiming that Susquehanna, which is not an Iroquois but
+an Algonquin word, means "muddy stream"; others, following Dr.
+Beauchamp, that it is a corruption of a word meaning "river with long
+reaches." It must be confessed that Cooper credited the Indian words
+with intelligible and appropriate meanings, so that, in the absence of
+agreement among the specialists, the interpretations which he made
+popular will continue to satisfy the ordinary thirst for this sort of
+knowledge.
+
+Assuming the existence of an Indian village on the present site of
+Cooperstown, before the coming of the white man, the question of the
+probable character of its inhabitants opens another field of study. Most
+of the relics found in this region belong to the Algonquin type. On the
+other hand Otsego is an Iroquois word, and it seems to be generally
+agreed that the Otsego region was included, in the historic period, in
+the possessions of the Iroquois, as the league of the Five Nations was
+called by the French. The league included the Mohawks, Oneidas,
+Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas; and took in also, in the eighteenth
+century, as the sixth nation, the Tuscaroras.[8] While the village at
+the foot of the lake would properly be called Mohawk, owing obedience to
+the council of the original Mohawk towns, it might well have been
+composed largely of Indians from other tribes. Fragments of shattered
+tribes found refuge with the Iroquois in the latter days. Some were
+adopted; some stayed on sufferance. The Minsis, a branch of the
+Delawares, as well as the Delawares proper, were allowed to occupy the
+southern part of the Iroquois territory. It will be recalled, in this
+connection, that Cooper's favorite Indian heroes, Chingachgook and
+Uncas, are of Delaware stock.
+
+It is quite possible that, near the beginning of the eighteenth
+century--basing the date, among other things, on the appearance of the
+apple trees when the first white man came--there was a cosmopolitan
+Indian community at the foot of Otsego Lake. Besides Mohawks, there
+would have been included Oneidas, their nearest neighbors on the west;
+and probably Delawares, or Mohicans. There might have been also some
+one-time prisoners, adopted by the Iroquois, but belonging originally to
+distant nations.[9]
+
+All writers on the history of the Eastern Indians agree in assigning the
+highest place to the Iroquois. Parkman asserts that they afford perhaps
+an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without emerging
+from the primitive condition of the hunter. Morgan declares that in the
+width of their sway they had reared the most powerful empire that ever
+existed in America north of the Aztec monarchy. The home country of the
+Iroquois included nearly the whole of the present State of New York, but
+at the era of their highest military supremacy, about 1660, they made
+their influence felt from New England to the Mississippi, and from the
+St. Lawrence to the Tennessee. Within this league, the tribal territory
+of the Mohawks extended to the Hudson River and Lake Champlain on the
+east, northward to the St. Lawrence, and westward to a boundary not
+easily determined, but which included Otsego Lake. In the great league
+of the Iroquois the name of the Mohawk nation always stood first, and of
+all the Iroquois nations they were the most renowned in war. Joseph
+Brant, whom John Fiske calls the most remarkable Indian known to
+history, was a Mohawk chief.
+
+Although the field of Iroquois influence was so wide, and their military
+fame so great, it is a mistake to imagine that the forests of their time
+were thickly peopled with red men, or that they were perpetually at war.
+The entire population of the Iroquois throughout what is now the State
+of New York probably never numbered more than 20,000 souls. Of these the
+whole Mohawk nation counted only about 3,000, grouped in small villages
+over their wide territory.[10] The avowed object of the Iroquois
+confederacy was peace. By means of a great political fraternity the
+purpose was to break up the spirit of perpetual warfare which had wasted
+the Indian race from age to age.[11] To a considerable degree this
+purpose was realized. After the power of the Iroquois had become
+consolidated, their villages were no longer stockaded, such defences
+having ceased to be necessary.
+
+Otsego has witnessed other aspects of Indian life than those of war and
+the chase. The Iroquois were agriculturists, and they, or rather their
+women, cultivated not only fruit trees, but corn, melons, squash,
+pumpkins, beans, and tobacco.[12] They had other human interests also,
+not unlike our own. As the young people grew up amid sylvan charms that
+are wont to stir romantic feelings in the heart of youth to-day, one is
+tempted to imagine the trysts in the wood, the flirtations, the
+courtships, among Indian braves and dusky maidens, that touched life
+with tender sentiment in the days of the red man's glory. During many
+summers before the white man came the breath of nature sighing through
+the pines of Otsego, the winding river murmuring lovelorn secrets to the
+flowers that nodded on its margin, the moon rising over Mount Vision and
+shedding its splendor upon the lake, were subtle influences in secret
+meetings between men and maidens, in whispered vows beneath the trees,
+in courtships on the border of the Glimmerglass, in lovemaking along the
+shores of the Susquehanna.
+
+The greater part of the Iroquois were allies of the British in the
+Revolutionary War, although some Mohawks remained neutral, and most of
+the Oneidas and Tuscaroras became engaged on the side of the Americans.
+It is not strange that, in a war whose causes they could not understand,
+the Iroquois should have been loyal to the King of England, with whom
+their alliances had been made for nearly two centuries. The Indians had
+nothing to gain in this war, and everything to lose. They lost
+everything, and after the war were thrown upon the mercies of the
+victorious Americans. The Iroquois confederacy came to an end, and few
+of the Mohawks ever returned to the scene of their council fires, or to
+the graves of their ancestors.[13]
+
+Many friendly relationships were established between the white men and
+the Indians, both before and after the Revolutionary War. In 1764 there
+was a missionary school of Mohawk Indian boys at the foot of Otsego Lake
+under the instruction of a young Mohawk named Moses, who had been
+educated at a missionary institution for Indians at Lebanon. A report of
+one of the missionaries, the Rev. J. C. Smith, written at this time,
+gives a glimpse of the Indians as they came under civilizing influence
+on the very spot where Cooperstown was afterward to flourish:
+
+"I am every day diverted and pleased with a view of Moses and his
+school, as I can sit in my study and see him and all his scholars at any
+time, the schoolhouse being nothing but an open barrack. And I am much
+pleased to see eight or ten and sometimes more scholars sitting under
+their bark table, some reading, some writing and others studying, and
+all engaged to appearances with as much seriousness and attention as you
+will see in almost any worshipping assembly and Moses at the head of
+them with the gravity of fifty or three score."[14]
+
+Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of the novelist, says that for some
+years after the village was commenced, Mill Island was a favorite resort
+of the Indians, who came frequently in parties to the new settlement,
+remaining here for months together. Mill Island lies in the Susquehanna
+a short distance below Fernleigh, near the dam, where the river reaches
+out two arms to enclose it, and with so little effort that it is
+difficult to distinguish the island from the mainland. In the early days
+of the village the island was covered with woods, and the Indians chose
+it for their camp, in preference to other situations. Miss Cooper thinks
+it may have been a place of resort to their fishing and hunting parties
+when the country was a wilderness. In _Rural Hours_, writing in 1851,
+she gives a curious description of a visit made at Otsego Hall by some
+Indians who had encamped at Mill Island. There were three of them,--a
+father, son, and grandson,--who made their appearance, claiming a
+hereditary acquaintance with the master of the house, Fenimore Cooper.
+
+[Illustration: _C. F. Zabriskie_
+
+AT MILL ISLAND]
+
+"The leader and patriarch of the party," says Miss Cooper, "was a
+Methodist minister--the Rev. Mr. Kunkerpott. He was notwithstanding a
+full-blooded Indian, with the regular copper-colored complexion, and
+high cheek bones; the outline of his face was decidedly Roman, and his
+long, gray hair had a wave which is rare among his people; his mouth,
+where the savage expression is usually most strongly marked, was small,
+with a kindly expression about it. Altogether he was a strange mixture
+of the Methodist preacher and the Indian patriarch. His son was much
+more savage than himself in appearance--a silent, cold-looking man; and
+the grandson, a boy of ten or twelve, was one of the most uncouth,
+impish-looking creatures we ever beheld. He wore a long-tailed coat
+twice too large for him, with boots of the same size. The child's face
+was very wild, and he was bareheaded, with an unusual quantity of long,
+black hair streaming about his head and shoulders. While the grandfather
+was conversing about old times, the boy diverted himself by twirling
+around on one leg, a feat which would have seemed almost impossible,
+booted as he was, but which he nevertheless accomplished with remarkable
+dexterity, spinning round and round, his arms extended, his large black
+eyes staring stupidly before him, his mouth open, and his long hair
+flying in every direction, as wild a looking creature as one could wish
+to see."
+
+After the period of which Miss Cooper writes, Indians were even more
+rarely seen in Cooperstown, and their visits soon ceased altogether. It
+is a far cry from the Chingachgook and Uncas whom Fenimore Cooper
+imagined to the Rev. Mr. Kunkerpott and other Indians whom his daughter
+saw and described. So much so that Cooper has been accused of creating,
+in his novels, a sort of Indians which never existed either here or
+elsewhere. There is no doubt, however, that he studied carefully such
+Indians as were in his day to be found, and had some basis of fact for
+the qualities which he imparted to the Indians of his imagination. Miss
+Cooper says that her father followed Indian delegations from town to
+town, observing them carefully, conversing with them freely, and was
+impressed "with the vein of poetry and of laconic eloquence marking
+their brief speeches."
+
+Brander Matthews says that if there is any lack of faithfulness in
+Cooper's presentation of the Indian character, it is due to the fact
+that he was a romancer, and therefore an optimist, bent on making the
+best of things. He told the truth as he saw it, and nothing but the
+truth; but he did not tell the whole truth. Here Cooper was akin to
+Scott, who chose to dwell only on the bright side of chivalry, and to
+picture the merry England of Richard Lionheart as a pleasanter period to
+live in than it could have been in reality. Cooper's red men are
+probably closer to the actual facts than Scott's black knights and white
+ladies.[15]
+
+Cooper himself comes to the defense of his Indians in the preface of the
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_. "It is the privilege of all writers of
+fiction," he declares, "more particularly when their works aspire to the
+elevation of romances, to present the _beau-ideal_ of their characters
+to the reader. This it is which constitutes poetry, and to suppose that
+the red man is to be represented only in the squalid misery or in the
+degraded moral state that certainly more or less belongs to his
+condition, is, we apprehend, taking a very narrow view of an author's
+privileges. Such criticism would have deprived the world of even Homer."
+
+Our early history has been less sympathetic toward the Indian. The story
+of the massacre which occurred at Cherry Valley, not many miles from
+Cooperstown, in 1778, although the Tories who took part in it were quite
+as savage as their Indian allies, has made memorable the darker side of
+Indian character. But although many innocent victims were exacted by his
+revenge both here and elsewhere, it was not without cause that the
+Indian resorted to bloody measures against the whites. Americans of
+to-day can well afford a generous appreciation of the once powerful race
+who were their predecessors in sovereignty on this continent. The league
+of the Iroquois is no more, but in the Empire State of the American
+Republic the scene of their ancient Indian empire remains. It is left
+for the white man to commemorate the Indian who made no effort to
+perpetuate memorials of himself, erected no boastful monuments, and
+carved no inscriptions to record his many conquests. Having gained great
+wealth by developing the resources of a land which the Indians used only
+as hunting grounds, the white man may none the less appreciate the lofty
+qualities of a race of men who, just because they felt no lust of
+riches, never emerged from the hunter state, but found the joy of life
+amid primeval forests.
+
+The League of the Iroquois has had a strange history, which is part of
+the history of America--a history which left no record, except by
+chance, of a government that had no archives, an empire that had no
+throne, a language that had no books, a citizenship without a city, a
+religion that had no temple except that which the Great Spirit created
+in the beginning.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: Poe. _Works_, "William W. Lord," Vol. vii, p. 217
+(Amontillado Ed). Edmund Clarence Stedman, in his _Poets of America_, p.
+41, 123, champions Lord.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Notes on the Iroquois_, Henry R. Schoolcraft, Chap. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Major J. W. Powell, _The Forum_, January, 1890.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Lewis H. Morgan's map, 1851, in the _League of the
+Iroquois_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: From Fernleigh garden, near the river, 1895.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These opinions are quoted from a communication kindly
+written by Willard E. Yager, of Oneonta.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Ote-sa-ga was probably derived, by transposition very
+common in like case, from the first map name of Ostega (Ostaga),
+1770-1775. Dr. Beauchamp sought to derive this from "otsta," a word for
+which Schoolcraft was his authority, and which was supposed to be Oneida
+for "rock," the Mohawk form "otsteara." But Schoolcraft, as Beauchamp
+himself elsewhere shows (Indian Names, p. 6), sometimes took liberties
+with original Indian forms of words. The Mohawk word for "rock" is
+"ostenra"; the Oneida would be "ostela." The first with the locative
+terminal "ga," gives "ostenraga"; the second, "ostelaga." Both are far
+removed from "Ostaga." Ostaga is more naturally derived from the Mohawk
+"otsata," or "osata," both which forms occur in Bruyas. Otsataga, by
+elision, readily becomes Otstaga, and again Ostaga. The change is even
+simpler with Osataga. The meaning of Ostaga, thus explained, would be
+"place of cloud," by extension "place of storm"--in contrast, perhaps,
+with the little lakes, which were _waiontha_, "calm." (Bruyas,
+64).--_Willard E. Yager._]
+
+[Footnote 8: _League of the Iroquois_, Lewis H. Morgan, Lloyd's Ed.,
+Vol. I, p. 93.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Yager.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Old New York Frontier_, Francis W. Halsey, 16.
+_League of the Iroquois_, II. 227.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _League of the Iroquois_, I. 87.]
+
+[Footnote 12: do., I. 249-251.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _The Old New York Frontier_, 150.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _The Old New York Frontier_, 75, 160.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Address at the Cooperstown Centennial._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN
+
+
+Within six years after Hendrik Hudson sailed up the river which bears
+his name, and some five years before the Pilgrim fathers landed at
+Plymouth, the first white men looked upon Otsego Lake, and saw the
+wooded shore upon which Cooperstown now stands. It was in 1614, or in
+the year following, that two Dutchmen set out from Fort Orange (Albany)
+to explore the fur country, and crossing from the Mohawk to Otsego Lake,
+proceeded down the Susquehanna.[16] From this time, first under the
+Dutch, then under English rule, traders came frequently to the foot of
+Otsego Lake. Soon after the traders, Christian missionaries ventured
+into the wilderness, ministering at first chiefly to the Indians. Later
+came the first settlers.
+
+That the influence of traders was not always helpful to Christian
+missionaries is illustrated by an incident in the missionary journey of
+the Rev. Gideon Hawley, a Presbyterian divine, who, with some zealous
+companions, came from New England to preach to the Indians of the
+Susquehanna in 1753. They reached the river at a point where was a
+small Indian settlement near the present village of Colliers, seventeen
+miles below Cooperstown. Here they were joined by a trader named George
+Winedecker, who had come down from Otsego Lake with a boat-load of
+goods, including rum, to supply the Indian villages down the river.
+During the night the red men, full of Winedecker's rum, became embroiled
+in a murderous orgy. The missionaries were awakened by the howling of
+the Indians over their dead, and in the morning saw Indian women
+skulking in the bushes, hiding guns and hatchets, for fear of the
+intoxicated Indians who were drinking deeper. "Here, in one party, were
+missionaries with the Bible and a trader with the rum--the two gifts of
+the white man to the Indian."[17]
+
+Susquehanna lands were first conveyed to white men by the Indians in
+1684 as a part of a treaty of alliance with the English, although the
+Indians retained the right to live and hunt on the river. The granting
+of land titles by the Provincial government began not long
+afterward.[18] The first recorded patent on Otsego Lake was obtained in
+1740 by John J. Petrie at the northern end. John Groesbeck, an officer
+of the court of chancery, acquired in 1741 a patent lying northeast of
+the lake, including what afterward became the Clarke property and the
+site of Hyde Hall. Nearly the whole east side of the lake, with the
+present Lakelands tract just east of the Susquehanna at its source, was
+covered by the patent which Godfrey Miller obtained in 1761, and upon
+which, according to the journal of Richard Smith, twelve persons were
+resident eight years later.[19]
+
+Early in the eighteenth century it is probable that traders were from
+time to time resident at the foot of Otsego, but the first attempt
+toward a permanent settlement on the present site of Cooperstown was
+made by John Christopher Hartwick in 1761. In that year Hartwick
+obtained from the Provincial government a patent to the lands which,
+southwest of Cooperstown, still perpetuate his name, and began a
+settlement at the foot of Otsego Lake under the misapprehension that the
+site was included in his patent. It was not long before Hartwick
+discovered his error, and withdrew to the proper limits of his tract,
+but this attempt to found a village upon the spot which William Cooper
+afterward selected connects with the history of Cooperstown a unique
+character and memorable name.
+
+Hartwick, who was born in Germany in 1714, came to America at about
+thirty years of age as a missionary preacher, and in his time was as
+famous for his eccentricities, as he afterward became for his pious
+benefactions. He held some settled charges, but, except for twelve years
+at Rhinebeck, he seems for the most part to have been a wandering
+preacher, and the records of his pastorates extend from Philadelphia to
+Boston, and from Virginia and Maryland to the distant coast of Maine.
+
+If Hartwick would not be long tied down to a settled pastorate, he was
+even more fearful of matrimonial bondage, and shunned women as a plague.
+It was not an uncommon thing for him, if he saw that he was about to
+meet a woman in the road, to cross over, or even to leap a fence, in
+order to avoid her. On one occasion when he was disturbed in preaching
+by the presence of a dog, he exclaimed with much earnestness that dogs
+and children had better be kept at home, and it would not be much
+matter, he added, if the women were kept there too![20] Seeking shelter
+one night at a log hut not far from the present Hartwick village, he was
+cheerfully received by the occupants, a man and his wife, who gave up to
+their guest the one bed in the only bedroom, and stretched themselves
+for the night upon the floor before the kitchen fire. The night grew
+bitter cold, and the wife, awaking, bethought her of the guest, whether
+he might not be too lightly covered. She went silently to his room, and
+spread upon his bed a part of her simple wardrobe. Hartwick promptly
+arose, dressed himself, made his way out of the house to the stable,
+saddled his horse, and rode away in the darkness.
+
+His contemporaries agree in representing Hartwick as slovenly in his
+habits, often preaching in his blanket coat, and not always with the
+cleanest linen; eccentric in his manners, curt, and at times irritable
+in his intercourse with others--an exceedingly undesirable addition to
+the social and domestic circle, so that his hosts were accustomed to
+tell him plainly, at the beginning of a visit, "You may stay here so
+many days, and then you must go."[21] In some quarters his visits were
+dreaded because of his excessively long prayers at family worship.[22]
+
+One may dwell without malice upon the eccentricities of this singular
+man, for they are qualities that set him forth from his more staid
+contemporaries, without detracting from the virtues which gave
+permanence to his work. Hartwick was a lover of God and men. Although
+rough and unpolished, he was a man of learning, being well versed in
+theology, and as familiar with the Latin language as with his own.
+
+The great purpose of Hartwick's career was the founding of a community
+for the promotion of religion and education, the building in the
+wilderness of a Christian city whose halls of learning should influence
+the coming ages. The roving life that brought Hartwick into contact with
+the Indians awakened his desire to Christianize and educate them, and
+the influence which he gained among them opened the way, through the
+acquirement of land, for the carrying out of his favorite project. The
+patent that he obtained from the Provincial government in 1761 covered a
+tract of land, substantially the present town of Hartwick, which he had
+purchased from the Indians for one hundred pounds in 1754. In settling
+the land Hartwick required each tenant to agree to a condition in the
+lease by which the tenant became Hartwick's parishioner, and
+acknowledged the authority of Hartwick, or his substitute, as "pastor,
+teacher, and spiritual counsellor." Owing to his desultory business
+methods and the weight of advancing years, Hartwick after a time found
+himself unequal to the management of this estate, and in 1791 William
+Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, became his agent, with authority to
+dispose of the property to tenants. By this arrangement Hartwick was cut
+off from his original design of being the spiritual director of his
+tenants, and came to the end of his life without building the city of
+which he dreamed.
+
+Hartwick's last will and testament, however, shows that he never
+abandoned his design, but determined that it should be carried out after
+his death. The will is one of the most curious documents ever penned, a
+mixture of autobiography, piety, and contempt of legal form. A lawyer to
+whom he submitted it pronounced it "legally defective in every page, and
+almost in every sentence." But Hartwick's only amendment of it was to
+add a perplexing codicil to seven other codicils which already had been
+appended.[23] The will provides for the laying out of a regular town,
+closely built, to be called the New Jerusalem, with buildings and hall
+for a seminary.
+
+Hartwick died in 1796, in his eighty-third year. The task of
+administering the estate according to the will was found to be almost
+hopeless. The executors, aided by a special act of legislature, set
+about to carry out its evident spirit. Preliminary to the establishment
+of a seminary, the executors sent the Rev. John Frederick Ernst, a
+Lutheran minister, to Hartwick patent, to preach to the inhabitants, and
+to assist in the education of their youth. In connection with this work
+Mr. Ernst came to Cooperstown in 1799, held religious services in the
+old Academy, on the present site of the Universalist church, and had
+some youngsters of the village under his instruction. His descendants
+lived in Cooperstown for more than a century after him.
+
+The main building of Hartwick Seminary was erected in 1812, at the
+present site, near the bank of the Susquehanna River, about five miles
+southward of Cooperstown, and some four miles eastward from Hartwick
+village. The school was opened in 1815, and received from the
+legislature a charter in 1816. It is the oldest theological school in
+the State of New York, and the oldest Lutheran theological seminary in
+America. In addition to being a theological school, Hartwick Seminary is
+now devoted to general education, and includes among its pupils not only
+boys, but, in spite of the prejudice of its founder, young women.
+
+Among the original trustees named in the charter of Hartwick Seminary
+was the Rev. Daniel Nash, the first rector of Christ Church,
+Cooperstown. Judge Samuel Nelson, and Col. John H. Prentiss, of
+Cooperstown, were afterward trustees for many years, and in their time
+there was among the people of this village a lively interest in Hartwick
+Seminary, the literary exercises at the end of each scholastic year
+being largely attended by visitors from Cooperstown. It is significant
+of the close relation which formerly existed between the two villages
+that the street which runs westward from the Presbyterian church in
+Cooperstown, now called Elm Street, was at one time known to the
+inhabitants as "the Hartwick Road."
+
+Local history has wronged[24] the memory of John Christopher Hartwick by
+the oft repeated statement that he committed suicide. It is true that a
+man named Christianus Hartwick took his own life in 1800, and that his
+grave lies in Hinman Hollow, only a few miles from Hartwick Seminary.
+But John Christopher Hartwick, after whom the town and seminary are
+named, died a natural death at Clermont, N. Y., four years before the
+suicide.
+
+A wanderer in life, Hartwick after his death was long in quest of a
+peaceful grave. His remains were first buried in the graveyard of the
+Lutheran church in East Camp. Two years later, in accordance with the
+wish expressed in Hartwick's will, the body was removed and entombed
+beneath the pulpit of Ebenezer church, at the corner of Pine and Lodge
+streets, in Albany, deposited in a stone coffin, secured by brickwork,
+and covered with an inscribed slab of marble. In 1869, when the church
+was rebuilt, the body was removed to the public cemetery in Albany. When
+this cemetery was converted into Washington Park, Hartwick's body was
+transferred to the lot of the First Lutheran church in the Albany Rural
+Cemetery on the Troy road, where his dust is now contained in an unknown
+and forgotten grave. The board of trustees of Hartwick Seminary
+afterward ordered that Hartwick's remains should be disinterred and
+brought for burial to the town to which he gave his name, but the
+remains could not be found.
+
+The marble slab that once covered the body of Hartwick in Ebenezer
+church lay for many years beneath the basement floor of the First
+Lutheran church, which succeeded the older building. In 1913 this relic
+of Hartwick's sepulchre was sent to the seminary which he founded, where
+it occupies once more a place of honor. Besides Hartwick's name, and the
+record of his birth and death, the marble bears, inscribed in German,
+this sentiment:
+
+     Man's life, in its appointed limit,
+         Is seventy, is eighty years;
+     But care and grief and anguish dim it,
+         However joyous it appears.
+     The winged moments swiftly flee,
+         And bear us to eternity.
+
+The village of Hartwick is distantly connected with another religious
+movement which the founder of Hartwick Seminary would have viewed with
+the utmost abhorrence. In 1820, and for several years thereafter, first
+in the house of John Davison, and afterward in Jerome Clark's attic, lay
+an old trunk containing the closely handwritten pages of a romance
+entitled _The Manuscript Found_, by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding. This was
+written in 1812, in Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, where the
+exploration of earth mounds containing skeletons and other relics fired
+Spaulding's imagination, and suggested the character of his tale. It was
+written in Biblical style, and for the purpose of the romance was
+presented as a translation from hieroglyphical writing upon metal plates
+exhumed from a mound, to which the author had been guided by a vision.
+It purported to be a history of the peopling of America by the lost
+tribes of Israel. Spaulding frequently read the manuscript to circles of
+admiring friends, and afterward carried it to Pittsburgh, leaving it, in
+the hope of having it published, in the care of a printer named
+Patterson. The manuscript was finally rejected. Spaulding died, and in
+1820 his widow married John Davison of Hartwick, to which place the old
+trunk containing her first husband's manuscript was sent.
+
+In 1823 Joseph Smith gave out that he had been directed in a vision to a
+hill near Palmyra, New York, where he discovered some gold plates
+curiously inscribed, and containing a new revelation. This supposed
+revelation he published in 1830 as the "Book of Mormon."
+
+Mormonism flourished and moved westward. In the course of time a Mormon
+meeting was held in Conneaut, Ohio, and out of curiosity was largely
+attended by the townspeople. Some readings were given from the Book of
+Mormon, and certain of the hearers were astonished at the similarity
+between Joseph Smith's book and _The Manuscript Found_, which Solomon
+Spaulding had read aloud to friends in the same town many years before.
+They recognized the same peculiar names, unheard of elsewhere, such as
+Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite, and Nephi. It was learned, it is said, that
+Smith had closely followed Spaulding's story, adding only his own
+peculiar tenets about marriage, and inventing the theory of the great
+spectacles by means of which he professed to have deciphered the
+mysterious characters.
+
+Spaulding's friends raised a question which has never been cleared up
+and was at last forgotten. It was pointed out that Sidney Rigdon, who
+figured as a preacher and as an adviser of Smith among the first of the
+"Latter Day Saints," happened to have been an employ� in Patterson's
+printing office in Pittsburgh during the very period when Spaulding's
+manuscript was there awaiting approval or rejection. But the matter was
+never brought to a definite issue, and nothing more came of it except a
+rather curious episode. Mrs. Davison removed from Hartwick about 1828,
+leaving the trunk in charge of Jerome Clark. In 1834 a man named
+Hurlburt sought Mrs. Davison, and said that he had been sent by a
+committee to procure _The Manuscript Found_, written by Solomon
+Spaulding, so as to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a
+letter from her brother, William H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley, upon
+whose farm Joseph Smith had been an employ�, requesting her to lend the
+manuscript to Hurlburt, in order "to uproot this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt
+represented that he himself had been a convert to Mormonism, but had
+given it up, and wished to expose its wickedness. On Hurlburt's repeated
+promise to return the work, Mrs. Davison gave him a note addressed to
+Jerome Clark of Hartwick, requesting him to open the old trunk and
+deliver the manuscript. This was done. Hurlburt took the manuscript, and
+not only did he never return it, but he never replied to any of the many
+letters requesting its return. The Spaulding manuscript has utterly
+disappeared.[25]
+
+The year 1768 brings another unique personage into the field of our
+local history. In that year the English met the Indians at Fort Stanwix
+(Rome, Oneida county) in a conference which resulted in establishing a
+formally acknowledged boundary between the territory of the red men and
+the land which the colonists had begun to make their own. The lands of
+the upper Susquehanna thus became, prior to the Revolution, the extreme
+western frontier of old New York, and Otsego Lake was included within
+English territory by a margin, at the west, of about twenty miles. Sir
+William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, conducted the
+negotiations, and the securing of the Fort Stanwix deed was one of the
+most astute accomplishments of his long career.
+
+An interested party to these proceedings was Sir William's deputy agent
+for Indian affairs, Colonel George Croghan, who had accompanied him to
+the conference. Nearly twenty years before, Croghan had obtained from
+the Indians a tract of land near Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), in
+Pennsylvania. During this Fort Stanwix conference which established the
+new frontier Croghan succeeded in getting confirmation of the former
+grant, with the privilege of making an exchange for a tract of equal
+extent in the region now ceded to the English. Under this agreement
+Croghan and certain associates afterward took up 100,000 acres of land
+in what are now Otsego, Burlington, and New Lisbon townships, Otsego
+county.[26] And so it came about that in the next year, 1769, Colonel
+George Croghan came to the foot of Otsego Lake, built him a hut, and was
+the first settler on the present site of Cooperstown.
+
+The story of the fortune and failure of Croghan, who was a remarkable
+and picturesque character, reads like a romance. He so far surpassed all
+men of his time in genius for commerce with the Indians, and in skillful
+marketing of Indian products, that Hanna calls him "The King of the
+Traders." Lavish in his expenditures, big in his ventures, he made and
+lost fortunes with equal facility. He alternated between the height of
+opulence and the verge of bankruptcy. Like Sir William Johnson, Croghan
+had a special aptitude for making friendships with the Indians, so that,
+according to his own statement, "he was in such favor and confidence
+with the councils of the Six Nations that he was, in the year 1746,
+admitted by them as a Councillor into the Onondaga Councill, which is
+the Supreme Councill of the Six Nations. He understands the Language of
+the Six Nations and of several other of the Indian nations."[27]
+
+Long before the sojourn in Otsego, Croghan had become, during his fits
+of prosperity, a power in the Pennsylvania region, and probably deserved
+the pungently qualified praise of Hassler, who, in his _Old
+Westmoreland_, declares that "the man of most influence in this
+community [Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh] was the fat old Trader and
+Indian-Agent, Colonel George Croghan, who lived on a pretentious
+plantation about four miles up the Allegheny River--an Irishman by birth
+and an Episcopalian by religion, when he permitted religion to trouble
+him."
+
+Two documents relating to Croghan illustrate his extremes of fortune;
+the one a petition to protect him against imprisonment for debt, the
+other a complaint against him as a monopolist of the fur trade. It seems
+that in 1755 Croghan had been compelled by impending bankruptcy and fear
+of the debtor's prison to remove from settled parts of Pennsylvania, and
+to take refuge in the Indian country. Here he was in great danger from
+the French and their Indians, but wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania
+that he was more afraid of imprisonment for debt than of losing his
+scalp. At a meeting of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November, 1755,
+fifteen creditors of Croghan presented a petition that Croghan and his
+partner, William Trent, be rendered free from debt for a space of ten
+years. The petition recited that there should be taken into
+consideration "the great knowledge of said George Croghan in Indian
+affairs, his extensive influence among them, and the service and public
+utility he may be of to this Province in these respects."[28] In
+accordance with this petition a bill was passed by which Croghan was
+freed from the danger of arrest for debt, and, although the act was
+vetoed by King George II three years later, Croghan evidently made
+profitable use of his liberty.
+
+On July 9, 1759, less than four years after Croghan so narrowly escaped
+the debtor's prison, a complaint from Philadelphia was addressed to the
+Governor of Pennsylvania protesting against Croghan's policy of crushing
+competitors in the trade with Indians by a control of prices in skins
+and peltry.[29] The complaint was signed by the eight Provincial
+Commissioners for the Indian Trade newly appointed by the Assembly,
+including Edward Pennington, the celebrated Quaker merchant of
+Philadelphia; Thomas Willing, afterward a member of the Continental
+Congress, and the first president of the Bank of North America, the
+earliest chartered in the country; and William Fisher, who was mayor of
+Philadelphia just before the Revolution. Such formidable opposition
+shows that Croghan, from being an object of pity to his creditors, had
+risen to affluence as the head of a "trust."
+
+Owing to his business methods, some of the Quakers were not well
+disposed toward Croghan. At a conference with the Delawares and Six
+Nations held at Easton, in 1758, one of the Quakers present wrote home
+an account of the proceedings in a tone not favorable to Croghan. "He
+treats them [the Indians] with liquor," wrote the Quaker, "and gives out
+that he himself is an Indian.... At the close of the conference one
+Nichos, a Mohawk, made a speech.... This Nichos is G. Croghan's
+father-in-law."
+
+If Croghan is to be believed, however, he was opposed to giving liquor
+to the Indians. While arranging for this very conference he had written
+to Secretary Richard Peters of Pennsylvania, "You'll excuse boath
+writing and peper, and guess at my maining, fer I have at this minnitt
+20 drunken Indians about me. I shall be ruined if ye taps are not
+stopt."
+
+Although Croghan had come to America in 1741, this letter, with its
+"guess at my maining," and another in which he has "lase" for "lease,"
+suggest that, if his pronunciation may be judged from his spelling, he
+retained a rich Irish brogue. Certainly his Irish wit and good nature
+served him well in his dealing with the Indians. He was frequently
+useful in outwitting the French Indian-agents, and in maintaining the
+friendship of the red men for the English as against the French. General
+Bouquet, who seems to have detested Croghan, wrote to General Gage, at a
+time when new powers had been conferred upon Indian-agents, "It is to be
+regretted that powers of such importance should be trusted to a man
+illiterate, impudent, and ill-bred." Nevertheless, within a few months,
+Bouquet wrote to Gage recommending Croghan as the person most competent
+to negotiate with the Western Indians for British control of the French
+posts in the Illinois country--a mission upon which Croghan was wounded,
+captured, and pillaged by the Indians. In 1768 the General Assembly in
+Philadelphia put upon record, in a message to the Governor, a high
+opinion of Croghan, referring to "the eminent services he has rendered
+to the Nation and its Colonies in conciliating the affections of the
+Indians to the British interest."
+
+At the end of a stormy voyage from America, being shipwrecked on the
+Norman coast, Croghan reached England in February, 1764, bearing an
+important letter on Indian affairs from Sir William Johnson to the Lords
+of Trade. One might expect to find Croghan gratified by the comforts of
+London life as compared with the rough hardships of America. A scout
+under Washington's command, a captain of Indians under Braddock, a
+border ranger upon the western frontier, a trader upon the banks of the
+Ohio, a pioneer in many a wilderness, Croghan had seen all kinds of
+hard service in the twenty-three years since he left Ireland. But in the
+midst of metropolitan splendors he grew homesick for the wild life of
+the New World. Writing in March, and again in April, to American
+friends, he expressed his disgust with the city's pride and pomp,
+declared that he was sick of London and its vanities, and set forth as
+his chief ambition a desire to live on a little farm in America. In the
+autumn of the same year Croghan shipped for the long journey across the
+Atlantic. It is five years later that he appears at the foot of Otsego
+Lake, apparently in fulfillment of his desire to make a home and to be
+the founder of a settlement.
+
+In 1769 Richard Smith came to the Susquehanna region from Burlington,
+New Jersey. The immediate purpose of his tour was to make a survey of
+the Otsego patent in which he, as one of the proprietors, was
+interested. Smith traveled up the Hudson River to Albany, thence along
+the Mohawk to Canajoharie, from which point his carefully kept
+journal[30] abounds in interesting allusions to Otsego:
+
+     "13th. May. ... Pursuing a S. W. Course for Cherry Valley
+     [from Canajoharie]. We met, on their Return, Four Waggons,
+     which had carried some of Col. Croghan's Goods to his Seat at
+     the Foot of Lake Otsego.... Capt. Prevost ... is now improving
+     his Estate at the Head of the Lake; the Capt. married
+     Croghan's Daughter....
+
+     "14th. ... Distance from Cherry Valley to Capt. Prevost's is 9
+     miles.
+
+     "15th. ... We arrived at Capt. Prevost's in 4 Hours, the Road
+     not well cleared, but full of Stumps and rugged, thro' deep
+     blac Mould all the Way.... Mr. Prevost has built a Log House,
+     lined with rough Boards, of one story, on a Cove, which forms
+     the Head of Lake Otsego. He has cleared 16 or 18 acres round
+     his House and erected a Saw Mill. He began to settle only in
+     May last.... The Capt. treated us elegantly. He has several
+     Families seated near him....
+
+     "16th. We proceeded in Col. Croghan's Batteau, large and sharp
+     at each end, down the Lake,... The Water of greenish cast,
+     denoting probable Limestone bottom; the Lake is skirted on
+     either side with Hills covered by White Pines and the Spruce
+     called Hemloc chiefly. We saw a Number of Ducks, some Loons,
+     Sea-gulls, and Whitish coloured Swallows, the Water very clear
+     so that we descried the gravelly Bottom in one Part 10 or 12
+     Feet down. The rest of the Lake seemed to be very deep; very
+     little low Land is to be seen round the Lake. Mr. Croghan,
+     Deputy to Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent for Indian
+     Affairs, is now here, and has Carpenters and other Men at Work
+     preparing to build Two Dwelling Houses and 5 or 6 Out Houses.
+     His Situation [on the site of the Cooper Grounds, within the
+     present village of Cooperstown] commands a view of the whole
+     Lake, and is in that Respect superior to Prevost's. The site
+     is a gravelly, stiff clay, covered with towering white Pines,
+     just where the River Susquehannah, no more than 10 or 12 yards
+     broad, runs downward out of the Lake with a strong
+     Current.[31] Here we found a Body of Indians, mostly from
+     Ahquhaga,[32] come to pay their Devoirs to the Col.; some of
+     them speak a little English.... We lodged at Col. Croghan's.
+
+     "23rd. ... At Col. Croghan's ... being rainy, we staid here
+     all day.
+
+     "24th. It rained again. The Elevated Hills of this country
+     seem to intercept the flying vapors and draw down more
+     moisture than more humble places.... With 3 carpenters felled
+     a white Pine Tree and began a Canoe.... Some Trout were caught
+     this Morng. 22 Inches long; they are spotted like ours with
+     Yellow Bellies, yellow flesh when boiled & wide mouths. There
+     are Two species, the Common & the Salmon Trout. Some Chubs
+     were likewise taken, above a Foot in length. The other Fish
+     common in the Lake & other Waters, according to Information,
+     are Pickerel, large and shaped like a Pike, Red Perch, Catfish
+     reported to be upwards of Two feet long, Eels, Suckers, Pike,
+     a few shad and some other Sorts not as yet perfectly known.
+     The Bait now used is Pidgeon's Flesh or Guts, for Worms are
+     scarce. The Land Frogs or Toads are very large, spotted with
+     green and yellow, Bears and Deer are Common.... Muscetoes &
+     Gnats are now troublesome. We observed a natural Strawberry
+     Patch before Croghan's Door which is at present in bloom, we
+     found the Ground Squirrels and small red squirrels very
+     numerous and I approached near to one Rabbit whose Face
+     appeared of a blac Colour.
+
+     "25th. We finished and launched our Canoe into the Lake. She
+     is 32 feet 7 inches in Length and 2 Feet 4 inches broad....
+
+     "27th. ... We engaged Joseph Brant, the Mohawk, to go down
+     with us to Aquahga. Last night a drunken Indian came and
+     kissed Col. Croghan and me very joyously. Here are Natives of
+     different Nations almost continually. They visit the Deputy
+     Superintendent as Dogs to the Bone, for what they can get....
+
+     "We found many petrified Shells in these Parts, & sometimes on
+     the Tops of High Hills.... Col. Croghan showed us a piece of
+     Copper Ore, as supposed. The Indian who gave it to him said he
+     found it on our Tract.... Col. C says that some of his Cows
+     were out in the Woods all last Winter without Hay, and they
+     now look well....
+
+     "The Col. had a Cargo of Goods arrived to-day, such as Hogs,
+     Poultry, Crockery ware, and Glass. The settled Indian Wages
+     here are 4s a Day, York Currency, being Half a Dollar.
+
+     "28th. Sunday. I had an Opportunity of inspecting the Bark
+     Canoes often used by the Natives; these Boats are constructed
+     of a single sheet of Bark, stripped from the Elm, Hiccory, or
+     Chesnut, 12 or 14 Feet long, and 3 or 4 Feet broad, and sharp
+     at each End, and these sewed with thongs of the same Bark. In
+     Lieu of a Gunnel, they have a small Pole fastned with Thongs,
+     sticks across & Ribs of Bark, and they deposit Sheets of Bark
+     in her Bottom to prevent Breaches there. These vessels are
+     very light, each broken and often patched with Pieces of Bark
+     as well as corked with Oakum composed of pounded Bark.
+
+     "The Col. talks of building a Saw Mill and Grist Mill here on
+     the Susquehannah, near his House, and has had a Millwright to
+     view the Spot.
+
+     "29th. Myself, with Joseph Brant, his wife and Child, and
+     another Young Mohawk named James, went down in the new Canoe
+     to our upper Corner.... This River ... is full of Logs and
+     Trees, and short, crooked Turns, and the Navigation for Canoes
+     and Batteaux requires dexterity."
+
+The household which Smith visited at the foot of Otsego Lake was an
+interesting one, and had some remarkable connections. There was not only
+"the fat old trader, and Indian-agent, Colonel George Croghan," but
+also his Indian wife, daughter of the Mohawk chief Nichos, or Nickas, of
+Canajoharie. Catherine,[33] the Colonel's little daughter, then ten
+years old, helped her Indian mother with the household tasks, or danced
+in her play about the cabin door, little dreaming that she was afterward
+to become the third wife of Joseph Brant, the famous chieftain who had
+just guided Richard Smith down the Susquehanna.
+
+Croghan's elder daughter, Susannah, who had married Captain Augustine
+Prevost, was the child of Croghan's first wife, a white woman. Capt. and
+Mrs. Prevost lived at the head of Otsego Lake, in a house where
+Swanswick now stands. Before the coming of Prevost, a settlement had
+been made here as early as 1762,[34] the earliest permanent settlement
+on Otsego Lake. Captain Augustine Prevost, or Major Prevost, as he
+afterward became, was born at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1744, and died at
+the age of 77 years, at Greenville, N. Y., where the Prevost mansion
+still stands. He was twice married, and had twenty-two children. Prevost
+was beloved as a bosom friend and companion by Joseph Brant, and their
+intimacy was interrupted, much to the Mohawk's sorrow, only when Prevost
+was ordered to join his regiment in Jamaica in 1772. This friendship
+with Croghan's son-in-law seems to have brought the famous Mohawk
+chieftain as a frequent visitor to Otsego Lake, and may account for his
+attachment and subsequent marriage to Croghan's younger daughter. Thus
+is completed the circle of intimates that gathered at Croghan's hut, on
+the present site of Cooperstown, in 1769--the Irish trader; his Indian
+squaw; the British officer and his wife; the young half-Indian girl; and
+the Mohawk warrior whose name was to become a terror to settlers
+throughout the Susquehanna Valley--the same who afterward was received
+at court in London, who dined with Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, was
+lionized by Boswell, and had his portrait painted by Romney.[35]
+
+Croghan's attempted settlement was not a success. He began to show signs
+of failing health and waning fortune. On July 18, 1769, he wrote from
+Lake Otsego to Thomas Wharton of Philadelphia, "Eight days ago I was
+favored with yours. I should have answered it before now, but was then
+lying in a violent fit of the gout, for ye first time, wh. has confin'd
+me to bed for 18 days, & now am only able to sit up on ye bedside."
+During the next winter Croghan was in New York and Philadelphia, but in
+March and April, 1770, he was again at Otsego, whence he wrote to Sir
+William Johnson concerning financial difficulties. In May he wrote of a
+proposed journey southward for his health and business interests.
+
+But Croghan was never in business for his health. In October he was once
+more on his old plantation near Fort Pitt, where Washington, on an
+exploring expedition, visited him and dined with him. It seems that he
+was trying to persuade Washington to buy land of him in the West, and,
+according to Washington's surveyor, Captain William Crawford, was using
+Washington's prospective purchases as an inducement to others, at the
+same time not being very sure of his title, "selling any land that any
+person will buy of him, inside or outside of his line."
+
+Croghan never returned to Otsego. He mortgaged his tract of land to
+William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, and lost it under
+foreclosure in 1773. The title later passed to William Cooper and Andrew
+Craig, both of Burlington, New Jersey, which was also the home of
+Richard Smith, who had visited Croghan at Otsego.
+
+Appended to one of Croghan's deeds is a map purporting to show the
+improvements which he had made at the foot of the lake, but, says
+Fenimore Cooper, "it is supposed that this map was made for effect."
+When William Cooper first visited the spot, in 1785, the only building
+was one of hewn logs, about fifteen feet square, probably Croghan's hut,
+deserted and dismantled, standing in the space now included in the
+Cooper Grounds, near the site of the present Clark Estate office. Except
+for the visit of Clinton's troops in 1779, the place had been abandoned
+for fifteen years. The only signs of "improvements" were seen in a few
+places cleared of underbrush, with felled and girdled trees, and in the
+remains of some log fences already falling into ruin. Silence and
+desolation had fallen upon "the little farm in America" upon which
+Croghan had dreamed of passing his declining years.
+
+In an inventory of the estate of Alexander Ross of Pittsburgh, 1784,
+appears in the record of effects a promissory note made by George
+Croghan, with this appended remark: "Dead, and no Property."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 16: _The Old New York Frontier_, 32.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _The Old New York Frontier_, 61.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Four Great Rivers_, Halsey, lvii.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Four Great Rivers_, 35.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Henry M. Pohlman, D.D., _Hartwick Seminary Memorial
+Volume_, 1867, p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Pohlman, 23.]
+
+[Footnote 22: James Pitcher, D.D., _Centennial Address_, 1897, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Hartwick Sem. Mem._, 27.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _History of Cooperstown_, Livermore, 11.]
+
+[Footnote 25: "The Book of Mormon," _Scribner's Magazine_, August,
+1880.]
+
+[Footnote 26: _The Wilderness Trail_, Chas. A. Hanna, II, 59, 60.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _The Wilderness Trail_, II, 30.]
+
+[Footnote 28: _The Wilderness Trail_, II, 8.]
+
+[Footnote 29: do., II, 20.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Published in _Four Great Rivers_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: This current is now sluggish, owing to the dam of the
+water works lower down the river.]
+
+[Footnote 32: The largest Indian village in the Susquehanna Valley,
+about 50 miles in an air line from Otsego, twice as far by water,
+situated on the river at a point where the present village of Windsor
+stands, some 14 miles easterly from Binghamton.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _The Wilderness Trail_, II, 84.]
+
+[Footnote 34: _The Old New York Frontier_, 125.]
+
+[Footnote 35: _The Old New York Frontier_, 320.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A BYPATH OF THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+The settlers on the New York frontier were many of them Scotch-Irish,
+nursing an inherited hostility to England. The greater part of the
+Iroquois Indians, more particularly the Mohawks, had a sentimental
+regard for the covenant which, for a century, had made the red men loyal
+to the British king. Here was a native antagonism between settlers and
+Indians which during the Revolution partly contributed to the warfare of
+torch and scalping knife that raged in the Susquehanna region.
+
+Brant, the Mohawk chief, although himself a full-blooded Indian, known
+among his own people as Thayendanegea, had become, through long
+association with Sir William Johnson and his friends, a king's man and
+churchman. With the doctrines of the Church of England which he had
+embraced on becoming a communicant, he adopted also the contempt for
+dissenters which was so common among churchmen. Once, on tasting a
+crabapple, it is said, Brant puckered up his mouth, and exclaimed, "It
+is as bitter as a Presbyterian!" While in other parts of the country
+many churchmen espoused the cause of American independence, it happened
+that in the Susquehanna region the patriots were generally Calvinists.
+
+[Illustration: JOSEPH BRANT
+
+From the portrait by Romney]
+
+Another contributory cause of trouble between the Indians and
+frontiersmen had to do with the lands around the Mohawk villages,
+concerning which there had been frequent disputes since the Fort Stanwix
+treaty.[36]
+
+In May, 1777, Brant established himself with a band of Indian warriors
+and some Tories at Unadilla, driving out the settlers, and serving
+notice upon all that they must either leave the country or declare
+themselves for the English cause. At a conference held among officers of
+the American forces it was decided that General Nicholas Herkimer, the
+military chief of Tryon county, (which then included the region that
+later became Otsego county), should go to Unadilla to parley with the
+Indians. Herkimer, with 380 men, came down from Canajoharie through
+Cherry Valley to Otsego Lake, and thence along the Susquehanna River to
+Unadilla, which he reached late in June. Thus the Indian trail which
+passed near Council Rock was first used as the path of the paleface
+warriors.
+
+The conference at Unadilla found the Indians fully determined for the
+British cause, and came to an abrupt termination, beneath darkened
+skies, amid a hubbub of Mohawk war-whoops and the rattle of a sudden
+hailstorm that swooped down upon the assemblage. Herkimer marched his
+men back to Cherry Valley.[37]
+
+Six weeks later the battle of Oriskany was fought, a victory for the
+militia of Tryon County, but a costly victory, for it inflamed their
+hitherto lukewarm Indian enemies with the spirit of revenge, and set in
+motion the forces of border warfare which during the next five years
+desolated the frontier. The forays along the border had a direct
+relation to the central conflict of the Revolutionary War. With the
+Indians for allies it was the policy of the British to harry the
+settlers on the frontier, in order to draw away to their defense forces
+that were essential to the strength of the Americans in the Hudson
+Valley. Aside from motives of private vengeance among Indians and
+Tories, this was the military purpose which determined the burning of
+Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake, in June, 1778, and the massacre
+of Cherry Valley in November.[38]
+
+To protect the frontier against further raids, an expedition was
+planned, consisting of two divisions: one under General John Sullivan,
+which was to cross from Easton to the Susquehanna, and thence ascend the
+river to Tioga Point (Athens, Pa.); the other, under General James
+Clinton, was to proceed from Albany up the Mohawk to Canajoharie,
+crossing to Otsego Lake, and going thence down the Susquehanna to Tioga
+Point, where the two divisions were to unite in a combined attack upon
+the Indian settlements in Western New York.[39] This expedition involved
+one-third of Washington's whole army.
+
+General Clinton's force included about 1,800 men, bringing three months'
+provisions and 220 boats from Schenectady up the Mohawk to Canajoharie,
+where the brigade went into camp.
+
+The twenty miles overland to Otsego Lake was traversed during the
+latter part of June, 1779, the boats and stores being carried in wagons,
+several hundred horses having been made ready for this purpose at
+Canajoharie. Part of the brigade reached the lake by means of the
+Continental road, of which traces still remain, leading to the shore
+near the mouth of Shadow Brook in Hyde Bay.[40] Here they launched their
+fleet of bateaux and floated down the lake to their landing at the
+present site of Cooperstown. "This passage down the lake was made on a
+lovely summer's day, and the surrounding hills being covered with living
+green, every dash of the oar throwing up the clear, sparkling water, a
+thousand delighted warblers greeting them from the shores as the
+response of the martial music from the boats--the whole being so
+entirely novel--the effect must have been truly enchanting and
+picturesque."[41]
+
+Apparently not all the regiments took the same route. Lieut. Erkuries
+Beatty, of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, says in his journal[42]
+that "the regiment marched by Cherry Valley to the lower end of the
+lake," while the baggage of the detachment went to the Springfield
+landing, with a proper guard. From this point, himself being in the
+party, "we put the baggage on board boats," he says, "and proceeded to
+the lower end of the lake, and found the regiment there before us."
+
+During the first week in July the entire brigade had become encamped at
+the foot of the lake, to remain here, as it turned out, for a period of
+five weeks. The present Cooper Grounds, where the Indians, long before,
+had planted their apple trees, and where Colonel Croghan, in 1769, had
+built his hut, now became the scene of a military encampment. Lieut.
+Beatty's journal describes the location of the various regiments in Camp
+Lake Otsego, as it was called. Croghan's house, which stood near the
+site of the present Clark Estate office, was used as a magazine, and
+around it was encamped a company of artillery, under Capt. Thomas
+Machin. Here also the stores were gathered. On the right of the
+artillery, facing the lake, the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment was
+encamped, while on the left were the tents of Colonel Peter Gansevoort's
+Third New York Regiment. At the latter's rear, in the second line, was
+the Fifth New York, under command of Col. Lewis Dubois; behind the
+artillery camp lay Col. Alden's Sixth Massachusetts Regiment; and the
+Fourth New York, under Lieut.-Col. Weissenfels, occupied the space at
+the rear of the Fourth Pennsylvania. A few Oneida Indians came with Col.
+Alden's regiment and encamped on the banks of the lake, where "they all
+soon got drunk," says Beatty, "and made a terrible noise."
+
+On the Fourth of July, which fell upon Sunday, the third anniversary of
+the American Independence was celebrated at Camp Lake Otsego, General
+Clinton "being pleased to order that all troops under his command
+should draw a gill of rum per man, extraordinary, in memory of that
+happy event." The troops assembled at three o'clock in the afternoon and
+paraded on the bank at the south end of the lake. The brigade was drawn
+up in one line along the shore, with the two pieces of artillery on the
+right. The ceremony of the occasion is described by Lieut. van
+Hovenburgh as a "fudie joy."[43] A salute of thirteen guns was fired by
+the artillery, and three volleys from the muskets of the infantry, with
+three cheers from all the troops after each fire. The troops were then
+drawn up in a circle by columns on a little hill, and the Rev. John
+Gano, a Baptist minister, chaplain of the brigade, preached from Exodus
+xii, 14: "This day shall be unto you for a memorial ... throughout your
+generations." After the dismissal of the troops, Col. Rignier, the
+Adjutant General, gave an invitation to all the officers to come and
+drink grog with him in the evening. "Accordingly," says Lieut. Beatty,
+"a number of officers (almost all) assembled at a large Bowry which he
+had prepared on the bank of the lake. We sat on the ground in a large
+circle, and closed the day with a number of toasts suitable and a great
+deal of mirth for two or three hours, and then returned to our tents."
+
+The stay at Otsego Lake seems to have been for the most part a pleasant
+experience. There was plenty to eat. A drove of fat cattle was brought
+from the Mohawk valley for the use of the troops. The Sixth
+Massachusetts improved upon the culinary equipment of camp life by the
+construction of a huge oven. Lieut. McKendry writes enthusiastically of
+the delicious apples and cucumbers gathered near the camp.[44] Col.
+Rignier was a leader of fishing parties, and quantities of trout were
+taken from the lake to be served sizzling hot from the coals to hungry
+soldiers. There was much liquid refreshment, for the officers at least,
+which came not from lake or river. On June 28th there had been a
+luncheon of officers at Camp Liberty, Low's Mills (near Swanswick),
+greatly enlivened by the toasts that were drunk, for General Clinton had
+given to each officer a keg of rum containing two gallons. On July 7,
+Lieut. Beatty records that "all the officers of the line met this
+evening at the large Bower, and took a sociable drink of grog given by
+Col. Gansevoort's officers." This sociable drink seems to have created
+an appetite for more. Under date of July 8, the next day, this laconic
+entry appears in the journal of Lieut. McKendry: "The officers drew each
+one keg more of rum."
+
+Had the journals of the officers been more confiding in their records,
+an intimate view of the camp life might have been disclosed to
+posterity. For example, judging from McKendry's journal alone, Sunday,
+August 1, was decorously uneventful. He has this entry:
+
+"August 1, Sunday--Mr. Gano delivered a sermon."
+
+Lieut. Beatty also remembers the sermon, but frankly subordinates it to
+other incidents of the day to which Lieut. McKendry was indifferent, or
+thought best not to allude. Beatty has this comment:
+
+"August 1, Sunday--To-day at 11 o'clock the officers of the brigade met
+agreeable to general orders to learn the Salute with the Sword. The
+General's curiosity led him out to see how they saluted.
+
+"After they were dismissed the officers formed a circle round the
+General and requested of him to give them a keg of rum to drink. We
+little expected to have the favour granted us, but we happened to take
+the General in one of his generous thoughts, which he is but seldom
+possessed of, and instead of one he gave us six. We gratefully
+acknowledged the favour with thanks, and immediately repaired to the
+cool spring[45] where we drank two of our kegs with a great deal of
+mirth and harmony, toasting the General frequently--and then returned to
+our dinners. In the afternoon Parson Gano gave us a sermon."
+
+On the next morning at 11 o'clock the officers again assembled at the
+spring "to finish the remainder of our kegs," says Beatty, "which we did
+with the sociability we had done the day before," and, he might have
+added, with twice as much rum.
+
+To the troops in general rum was measured out with a more sparing hand.
+Their pleasures were of a simpler kind, and they seem to have contented
+themselves with fishing in the lake, hunting and roaming through the
+woods, inviting an occasional attack from stray Indians, which added the
+zest of adventure to the routine of camp life. One Sunday afternoon some
+soldiers found, concealed in a thicket of bushes and covered with bark,
+near one of the pickets, "a very fine chest of carpenter's tools, and
+some books, map, and number of papers. It is supposed," says Beatty,
+"that it was the property of Croghan who formerly lived here, but is now
+gone to the enemy. Therefore the chest is a lawful prize to the men that
+found it."
+
+The five weeks at the foot of Otsego Lake were not, however, passed in
+idleness. The troops were drilled every day. Target practice for the
+musketry is recorded by the journals of officers, and a brass
+cannon-ball marked "J. C.," found more than a century later in the Glen
+road, west of the village, suggests that the artillery was also engaged
+in the perfecting of its marksmanship, which must have awakened strange
+echoes amid the hills of Otsego.
+
+There were two incidents of camp life that were long remembered among
+Clinton's troops, the one a bit of comedy, the other a grim commonplace
+of martial law. The latter related to the discipline of deserters, to
+whom various degrees of punishment were meted out by court-martial. On
+July 20 two deserters were brought into camp, and on the next day three
+others. The more fortunate were sentenced to be whipped. Sergeant
+Spears, of the Sixth Massachusetts, was tied to a tree, and the woods
+resounded to the blows of the lash, until one hundred strokes had fallen
+upon his naked back. Another soldier received five hundred lashes. Three
+were sentenced to be shot--Jonathan Pierce, soldier in the Sixth
+Massachusetts Regiment; Frederick Snyder, of the Fourth Pennsylvania;
+Anthony Dunnavan, of the Third New York.
+
+On July 28, at nine o'clock in the morning, the whole brigade was
+ordered out on grand parade to witness the execution of the three men.
+The condemned deserters were required to stand, with their backs to the
+river, on the rise of land at the west side of the lake's outlet. The
+troops were drawn up facing them. A firing squad made ready.
+
+All stood motionless, expectant, silent. It was a day that blazed with
+sunshine, intensely hot.[46] The air was breathless. Shore and sky were
+reflected, as in a mirror, from the unruffled surface of the lake.
+
+Meantime information had come to General Clinton that Dunnavan had
+previously deserted from the British army to join the Americans, and
+afterward had persuaded the two younger men to desert with him from the
+American forces. Clinton, manifestly glad of an excuse for leniency,
+pardoned Pierce and Snyder on the spot. Concerning Dunnavan he was
+obdurate. "He is good for neither king nor country," exclaimed the
+General; "Let him be shot."
+
+A crash of musketry, with a puff of smoke, and Dunnavan dropped. The
+troops marched back to camp. The deserter's body was buried in an
+unmarked grave.[47]
+
+The other incident relates to some negro troops who were included in the
+brigade. That they might readily be distinguished the negroes wore wool
+hats with the brim and lower half of the crown colored black--the
+remainder being left drab, or the native color. A company or two of
+these black soldiers were included in a part of the brigade that was one
+day being drilled by Col. Rignier, the popular French officer, a large,
+well-made, jovial fellow, who was acting as Adjutant General. One of the
+negro soldiers, from inattention, failed to execute a command in proper
+time.
+
+"Halloo!" cried the colonel, "you black son of a--wid a wite face!--why
+you no mind you beezness?"
+
+This hasty exclamation in broken English so pleased the troops that a
+general burst of laughter followed. Seeing the men mirthful at his
+expense, the colonel good-humoredly gave the command to order arms.
+
+"Now," said he, "laugh your pelly full all!"
+
+The French colonel himself joined in the shout that followed, while
+hill and dale echoed the boisterous merriment.[48]
+
+Clinton's expedition is chiefly memorable in Cooperstown for the exploit
+by which the heavily laden bateaux, when the brigade departed for the
+south, were carried down the Susquehanna. The river was too shallow and
+narrow, in the first reaches of its course, to offer easy passage for
+the heavy boats, and for some distance the stream was clogged with
+flood-wood and fallen trees. This difficulty was overcome by building a
+dam at the outlet of Otsego Lake, raising its level to such a point
+that, when the water was released, the more than two hundred bateaux
+were readily guided down the swollen stream.
+
+The preparation for this feat preceded the encampment of the brigade on
+the shore of the lake. On June 21, before Clinton had left Canajoharie,
+Colonel William Butler, who had marched his Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment
+over from Cherry Valley to Springfield, "ordered a party of men to the
+foot of the Lake to dam the same,[49] that the water might be raised to
+carry the boats down the Susquehanna River; Captain Benjamin Warren, of
+the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded the party.... The water in
+the Lake was raised one foot." General Clinton says "at least two,"
+while another account claims that the surface of the lake was raised as
+much as three feet.
+
+Another reference to this exploit is found in the journal of Lieut.
+Beatty, who says, under date of June 22, "On the lower end of the lake
+we found two companies of Col. Alden's (Sixth Mass.) Reg't, who had made
+a dam across the neck that runs out of the lake, so as to raise the
+water to carry the boats down the creek."
+
+On Friday, August 6, the following conversation took place at a
+conference between General Clinton and Chaplain Gano:[50]
+
+"Chaplain," said the General, "you will have your last preaching service
+here day after to-morrow."
+
+"Ah indeed! Are we to march soon? Before another Sunday?"
+
+"Yes, but I do not want the men to know it."
+
+"Nor shall I tell them; but General, am I at liberty to preach from any
+text I choose?"
+
+"Certainly, Chaplain."
+
+"And you will not, in any event, tax me with violation of confidence?"
+
+"No! only stick to your Bible, and I'll give the official orders."
+
+On the following Sunday, beneath the arches of their forest cathedral,
+the brigade of nearly two thousand men was gathered for religious
+service. Chaplain Gano chose the text of the sermon from Acts xx. 7:
+"Ready to depart on the morrow."
+
+Immediately on the conclusion of the religious service, before the
+congregation had dispersed, "the general rose up," says the chaplain's
+record, "and ordered each captain to appoint a certain number of men out
+of his company to draw the boats from the lake and string them along the
+Susquehanna below the dam, and load them, that they might be ready to
+depart the next morning." At six o'clock in the evening the sluice-way
+was broken up, and the water filled the river, which was almost dry the
+day before.[51]
+
+On Monday morning the start was made. Each of the boats was manned by
+three men. The light infantry and rifle corps under Colonel Butler
+formed an advance guard. The soldiers marched on either side of the
+river. Another guard of infantry marched in the rear, and in the centre
+of the land lines the horses and cattle were driven. "The first day,"
+says McKendry, "the boats made thirty miles, and the troops marching
+each side of the river made sixteen."
+
+The freshet caused by the sudden release of the pent-up water swelled
+the stream for a distance of more than a hundred miles. Campbell says
+that as far south as Tioga the rise in the water was great enough to
+flow back into the western branch, causing the Chemung River to reverse
+its course. The _Gazetteer of New York_ said that the Indians upon the
+banks of the Susquehanna, witnessing the extraordinary rise of the river
+in midsummer, without any apparent cause, were struck with superstitious
+dread, and in the very outset were disheartened at the apparent
+interposition of the Great Spirit in favor of their foes. Stone observes
+that the sudden swelling of the river, bearing upon its surge a flotilla
+of more than two hundred vessels, through a region of primitive forests,
+was a spectacle which might well appall the untutored inhabitants of the
+region thus invaded.
+
+Clinton's brigade joined General Sullivan's division at Tioga Point on
+the 22nd of August. From this place the combined forces began a campaign
+of ruthless destruction against the Indians of the Genesee country.
+Stone says the Indians were hunted like wild beasts, their villages were
+burned, their corn was destroyed, their fruit trees were cut down; till
+neither house, nor field of corn, nor inhabitants remained in the whole
+country. The power of the Iroquois was gone. Homeless in their own land,
+the Indians marched to Niagara, where they passed the winter under the
+protection of the English.[52]
+
+The Sullivan expedition had accomplished its purpose, with the loss of
+only forty men.
+
+In 1788, in the digging of the cellar of William Cooper's first house,
+which stood on Main Street at the present entrance of the Cooper
+Grounds, a large iron cannon was discovered, said to have been buried by
+Clinton's troops. For ten or twelve years after the settlement of the
+place, this cannon, which came to be affectionately known as "the
+Cricket," was the only piece of artillery used for the purposes of
+salutes and merrymakings in the vicinity of Cooperstown. After about
+fifty years of this service it burst in the cause of rejoicing on a
+certain Fourth of July. At the time of its final disaster (for it had
+met with many vicissitudes), it is said that there was no perceptible
+difference in size between its touchhole and its muzzle.[53]
+
+In 1898, a building which stood in the Cooper Grounds next east of the
+Clark Estate office was removed, and in grading the land workmen found,
+just beneath the surface, the stump of a locust tree about two feet in
+diameter. This was about twenty-five feet east of the office building,
+and about the same distance from Main Street. The stump was pulled out
+by teams of horses, and beneath it, at a depth of about four feet from
+the surface, some charred material was found, and a mass of what proved
+to be, when cleansed of adhesions, American Army buttons of the
+Revolutionary period. The find was made by Charles J. Tuttle, a
+well-known mason and contractor of the village, and veteran of the Civil
+War. The buttons were of different sizes and shapes, some plated in
+silver, others in gold, while many were of brass. Within a short time
+the news of the find had spread through the village, and a troop of
+relic hunters gathered at the spot, but the hole had been filled up
+without further investigation. At the time of Clinton's encampment, in
+1779, there must have been a building whose cellar had been used as a
+storeroom for military supplies. The charred material suggests that the
+building was at some time burned. The locust stump tells of a tree that
+sprang up amid the ruins, flourished, and died, within a hundred and
+twenty years after the departure of Clinton's troops.
+
+Fenimore Cooper, writing in 1838, said that traces of Clinton's dam were
+still to be seen. The last of the logs that remained of the old dam were
+removed on October 26, 1825, in connection with a curious local
+celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal, which on that day was the
+occasion of general rejoicing throughout the State of New York. Cannon,
+placed a few miles apart, from Buffalo to Albany, and thence to Sandy
+Hook, were proclaiming that Governor DeWitt Clinton, whose influence had
+so large a share in this great enterprise, had entered the first canal
+boat at Buffalo, and was on his way to New York. Since Governor Clinton
+was the son of General James Clinton, under whose command the dam at the
+outlet of Otsego Lake had been built, it seemed appropriate to the
+inhabitants that Cooperstown should have a celebration of its own, and
+could thus most auspiciously begin a project which some bold spirits
+then had in mind, nothing less than the construction of a Susquehanna
+Canal, to connect Cooperstown with the Erie Canal at the north, and with
+the coal fields of Pennsylvania at the south.
+
+On this occasion the villagers gathered in Christ Church for a religious
+service and to hear an address delivered by Samuel Starkweather, after
+which they marched in procession to the Red Lion Inn. Here a public
+banquet was served, and "after the removal of the cloth," says the
+contemporary account, "toasts were drunk under the discharge of cannon,
+most of them being succeeded by hearty cheering and animated airs from
+the band." The hopes which gave importance to this celebration are
+expressed in two of the toasts proposed, one by Henry Phinney, "The
+contemplated Susquehanna River Canal"; the other by Elisha Foote, "A
+speedy union of the pure waters of Otsego Lake with the Erie Canal."
+
+When the company had left the table the whole village marched to the
+river, and assembled on the shore near the site of Clinton's dam. Boat
+horns, (sometimes called canal horns) about six feet long, typical of
+the "long ditch," were then common, and furnished blasts of martial
+music amid the crowd. The multitude was mustered somewhat after the
+order of a brigade. One company, consisting of over forty men with
+wheelbarrows and shovels, known as "sappers, miners and excavators,"
+commanded by Captain William Wilson, marched with their comrades boldly
+to the scene of action. Lawrence McNamee, president of the day,
+personating Governor Clinton, threw the first shovelful of dirt. When
+the last remaining log of the old dam had been removed the procession
+marched back to the village, while the air was "rent with the huzzas of
+those who witnessed the first practical essay toward rendering the
+waters of the Susquehanna navigable for the purposes of commerce," and
+a nine-pounder upon the top of Mount Vision, at regular intervals, told
+the hills and valleys around that Cooperstown was rejoicing.[54]
+
+It is almost needless to say that the development of railway
+transportation put an end to this project for a canal.
+
+On September 2, 1901, another generation of people assembled near the
+outlet of the lake to witness the unveiling of a marker placed by Otsego
+Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Isabella Scott
+Ernst, regent, to indicate the site and to commemorate the fame of
+Clinton's dam.[55] The crowd approached the bank of the Susquehanna by
+descending from River Street, where an arch of bunting had been erected.
+A large float anchored near the western bank was trimmed with flags,
+bunting, and vines. Directly across the river, on the eastern point of
+the outlet, the newly erected marker was concealed beneath the folds of
+an American flag. While a band played "The Stars and Stripes Forever,"
+the spectators who lined the shore saw approaching from beneath the
+green foliage down the river a canoe paddled by a young man who wore the
+gay dress and war-paint of a Mohawk brave. Seated with him in the canoe
+were two little girls, attired in patriotic colors. The three in the
+canoe were lineal descendants of Revolutionary stock. The young girls
+were Jennie Ordelia Mason and Fannie May Converse, both descendants of
+James Parshall, an orderly sergeant who was present at the building of
+the dam in 1779. The Indian was impersonated by F. Hamilton McGown, a
+descendant of John Parshall, private, a brother of James Parshall. The
+canoe was paddled close to the eastern shore, and the three occupants
+drew aside the flag which concealed the marker, amid the applause of the
+spectators assembled on the banks. The trio in the canoe then drifted
+back down the river, and were soon lost to view beyond the overhanging
+branches.
+
+[Illustration: SITE OF CLINTON'S DAM]
+
+The marker is a large boulder placed a few feet from the eastern bank of
+the river at the very outlet of the lake. Surmounting the rock is a
+ten-inch siege mortar thirty inches in length and weighing 1971 pounds,
+which did service at Fort Foote, Maryland, during the Civil War. On the
+western side of the boulder is a bronze tablet marked by the insignia of
+the Daughters of the American Revolution, and bearing this inscription:
+
+     HERE WAS BUILT A DAM THE SUMMER
+     OF 1779 BY THE SOLDIERS UNDER GEN.
+     CLINTON TO ENABLE THEM TO JOIN
+     THE FORCES OF GEN. SULLIVAN
+     AT TIOGA.
+
+Four years after Clinton's troops had made their famous journey down the
+Susquehanna, the site of Cooperstown was visited by the most
+distinguished citizen and soldier in America. For in 1783, at the
+conclusion of the war, George Washington, on an exploring expedition,
+passed a few hours at the foot of Otsego Lake. In a letter to the
+Marquis de Chastellux he says that he "traversed the country to the head
+of the eastern branch of the Susquehannah, and viewed the lake Otsego,
+and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie."
+In the same letter he says, "I am anxiously desirous to quit the walks
+of public life, and under my own vine and my own fig-tree to seek those
+enjoyments, and that relaxation, which a mind that has been continually
+on the stretch for more than eight years, stands so much need of."
+
+Weary of war, and longing for some tranquil retreat from the cares of
+his exalted station, as he looked upon the scene which has become
+familiar to all lovers of Cooperstown--the peaceful lake, with verdant
+hills surrounding, and the Sleeping Lion at the end of the vista--the
+calm beauty of this view, rather than the splendid images of martial
+triumph, was reflected in the soul of Washington.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 36: _The Old New York Frontier_, pp. 148, 161, 165.]
+
+[Footnote 37: _The Old New York Frontier_, Chapters III and IV.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _The Old New York Frontier_, p. 197.]
+
+[Footnote 39: do., p. 257.]
+
+[Footnote 40: _The Old New York Frontier_, p. 259.]
+
+[Footnote 41: _History of Schoharie County_, Jeptha R. Simms, 298.]
+
+[Footnote 42: _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, Frederick Cook, p. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Journal of Lieut. Rudolphus van Hovenburgh, 4th New York
+Reg't., _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, p. 276.]
+
+[Footnote 44: _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, p. 201.]
+
+[Footnote 45: There is a spring in the present grounds of Averell
+cottage; another in the grounds of the O-te-sa-ga, and a third at the
+foot of Nelson Avenue.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Lieut. Beatty's journal.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Lieut. McKendry's journal.]
+
+[Footnote 48: _History of Schoharie County_, 299.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Journal of Lieut. William McKendry, of the 6th Mass.
+Reg't, of which he was Quartermaster.]
+
+[Footnote 50: _Pathfinders of the Revolution_, William Elliott Griffis,
+p. 95. _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, p. 386.]
+
+[Footnote 51: McKendry's journal.]
+
+[Footnote 52: _The Old New York Frontier_, p. 283.]
+
+[Footnote 53: _Chronicles of Cooperstown._]
+
+[Footnote 54: _History of Cooperstown_, Livermore, p. 17. _The Freeman's
+Journal_, Oct. 31, 1825.]
+
+[Footnote 55: _Otsego Farmer_, Sept. 6, 1901.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE SETTLEMENT
+
+
+On an autumn day in the year 1785 a solitary horseman might have been
+seen emerging from the forest near Otsego Lake. The old-fashioned
+novelist who invented the "solitary horseman" as a means of introducing
+a romance could not have found a better use for his favorite phrase than
+to describe the approach of this visitor. For with his coming the
+history of Cooperstown began. Following the trail from Cherry Valley,
+the horseman came over the hill which rises toward the east from the
+foot of Otsego Lake. Before descending into the vale, he dismounted and
+climbed a sapling, in order to gain a glimpse beyond the dense screen of
+intervening trees. From this elevation he looked down upon an enchanting
+view of glimmering waters and wooded shores. While he gazed, a deer came
+forth from the woods near Otsego Rock and slaked its thirst in the
+liquid that flamed with the reflected red and gold of autumnal foliage.
+The beauty of this first view always lingered in the heart of William
+Cooper, and the hill from which he gained it he afterward called "the
+Vision," in memory of his first impression. To this day the hill is
+known as "Mount Vision."
+
+In a letter written some years afterwards, William Cooper thus describes
+his venture into this region:
+
+     In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego, where
+     there existed not an inhabitant, nor any trace of a road; I
+     was alone, three hundred miles from home, without bread, meat,
+     or food of any kind; fire and fishing tackle were my only
+     means of subsistence. I caught trout in the brook and roasted
+     them in the ashes. My horse fed on the grass that grew by the
+     edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch coat,
+     nothing but the melancholy Wilderness around me. In this way I
+     explored the country, formed my plans of future settlement,
+     and meditated upon the spot where a place of trade or a
+     village should afterward be established.[56]
+
+The Cooper family had settled in America in 1679, coming from
+Buckingham, in England, and for a century made their home in Bucks
+County, Pennsylvania. William Cooper was born in Byberry township,
+Pennsylvania, December 2, 1754. He afterward became a resident of
+Burlington, New Jersey, where he married Elizabeth Fenimore, daughter of
+Richard Fenimore, whose family came from Oxfordshire, in England.
+
+William Cooper was associated with Andrew Craig, also of Burlington, in
+acquiring the title of the Otsego tract of land which Croghan had
+mortgaged to William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, and had lost
+under foreclosures in 1773. In January, 1786, Cooper took possession of
+that portion of the Croghan tract which has since been known as
+Cooper's patent, under a deed given by the sheriff of Montgomery county,
+which had been set off from Tryon county, and included the later Otsego.
+The patent included 29,350 acres, and cost the new proprietors, to
+obtain it, about fifty cents an acre. Cooper bought out his partner's
+share in the tract, and soon became sole owner.
+
+It is characteristic of Cooper's energy that he began the settlement of
+his land in the midst of winter, and had many families resident upon it
+before the snow had melted, in the spring of 1786. Deeds were given to
+Israel Guild and several others, who, during the summer, established
+themselves on spots that are now within the limits of the village of
+Cooperstown. These places were originally intended as farms, the village
+having been planned to extend from the lake in a narrow strip southward,
+rather than across the valley, as its later growth actually determined.
+
+Besides the blockhouse built by Croghan on a site included in the
+present Cooper Grounds, a log house at this period stood near the corner
+of Main and River streets, and was occupied by a Mrs. Johnson, a widow,
+who, with her family, was among the first residents. Near her home she
+constructed a frame house, the first to be erected in the place. It was
+purchased by William Ellison, a surveyor, who, during the summer of
+1786, removed it to a position near the outlet of the lake, on what are
+now the grounds of Edgewater. The building was of good size, having two
+stories, and was used as a tavern until it was pulled down in 1810,
+when Edgewater was built. In June, 1786, John Miller came, and reaching
+the bank of the river near the outlet on the east side, felled a large
+pine across the stream to answer the purpose of a bridge. The stump of
+this tree was for many years a relic within the grounds of Lakelands.
+There was a small colony of settlers during this summer, and William
+Cooper himself came once or twice in the course of the season; but none
+passed the succeeding winter within the village plot except Israel
+Guild, who had taken possession of the blockhouse, William Ellison at
+his tavern, and Mrs. Johnson in her hut of logs.
+
+In the spring of 1787 Cooper arrived, accompanied by his wife, who came,
+however, only for a short visit. They reached the head of the lake in a
+chaise, and descended to the foot in a canoe. Mrs. Cooper felt so much
+alarm during this passage that she disliked returning in a boat, and the
+chaise was brought to the foot of the lake, astride two canoes, for her
+homeward journey. Mrs. Cooper's timidity occasioned the building of the
+first real bridge across the Susquehanna, an improvement which had
+already been contemplated as a public service. The road beyond the
+bridge was so rude, and difficult to pass, that when the chaise left the
+village men accompanied it with ropes, to prevent it from upsetting.
+
+During the spring and summer of 1787 many settlers arrived, a good part
+of them from Connecticut; and most of the land on the patent was taken
+up. Several small log tenements were constructed on the site of the
+village, and the permanent residents numbered about twenty souls.
+Meantime Cooper had been extending his holdings in adjacent patents,
+until he had the settlement of a large part of the present county more
+or less subject to his control. In other parts of the State also he came
+to own or control large areas of land, until, toward the end of his
+life, he had "settled more acres than any man in America."
+
+[Illustration: OTSEGO LAKE, FROM COOPERSTOWN]
+
+Early in 1788, Cooper erected a house for his own residence. Aside from
+the log huts it was the second dwelling erected in the place. It stood
+on Main Street at the present entrance of the Cooper Grounds, looking
+down Fair Street, and commanding a view of the full length of the lake.
+The building was of two stories, with two wings. It is represented on
+the original map of the village, where it is marked "Manor House." This
+house was removed a short distance down the street in 1799, on the
+completion of Otsego Hall, William Cooper's second residence in
+Cooperstown, and was destroyed by fire in 1812.
+
+In 1788 John Howard came, and established a tannery on the north side of
+Lake Street west of Pioneer Street, near the waters of Willow Brook,
+which there gurgles to the lake. Howard, who was distinguished as the
+father of the first child born in the settlement, afterward became
+captain of the local militia, and is commemorated as a hero in Christ
+churchyard, where his epitaph recites that he was drowned, July 13,
+1799:
+
+     "Striving another's life to save
+     He sunk beneath the swelling wave."
+
+It was in the summer of 1788 that William Cooper made a definite plan
+for the village. Three streets were laid out running south from the
+lake, and six streets that crossed them at right angles. The street
+along the margin of the lake was called Front Street (now Lake Street),
+and the others parallel to it were numbered from Second (the present
+Main Street) up to Sixth. Of the streets running south, that next to the
+river was called Water Street (now River Street), and that at the
+opposite side of the plot, West Street, which is the present Pioneer
+Street. The parallel street between these two was divided by the Cooper
+Grounds; the section near the lake was called Fair Street, while south
+of the Cooper Grounds it was known as Main Street. This last never
+gained the importance which its name seemed to demand, and is now known
+as part of Fair Street. The map showing the original plan of the village
+is dated September 26, 1788.
+
+Aside from the Foot of the Lake, as the settlement was sometimes called,
+it was known as Cooperton, and Cooperstown,[57] until 1791, when the
+latter name came into general use, on the designation of this village as
+the county seat of the newly created Otsego county.
+
+The settlers upon Cooper's tract were mostly poor people, and it
+happened that their first efforts were followed by a season of dearth.
+In the winter of 1788-9, grain rose in Albany to a price before unknown.
+The demand swept all the granaries of the Mohawk country, and a famine
+aggravated the privations of the Otsego settlers. In the month of April,
+Cooper arrived with several loads of provisions intended for his own use
+and that of the laborers he had brought with him; but in a few days all
+was gone, and there remained not one pound of salt meat, nor a single
+biscuit. Many were reduced to such distress as to live upon the root of
+wild leeks; some, more fortunate, lived upon milk, whilst others found
+nourishment in a syrup made of maple sugar and water. The quantity of
+leeks eaten by the people had such an effect upon their breath that they
+could be smelled at many paces distant, and when they came together
+there was an odor as from cattle that had been pastured in a field of
+garlic. "Judge of my feelings at this epoch," wrote Cooper, "with two
+hundred families about me, and not a morsel of bread."
+
+"A singular event seemed sent by a good Providence to our relief,"
+Cooper's letter continues; "it was reported to me that unusual shoals of
+fish were seen moving in the clear waters of the Susquehanna. I went,
+and was surprised to find that they were herrings. We made something
+like a small net, by the interweaving of twigs, and by this rude and
+simple contrivance we were able to take them in thousands. In less than
+ten days each family had an ample supply, with plenty of salt. I also
+obtained from the Legislature, then in session, seventeen hundred
+bushels of corn."
+
+Those who settled the first farms in the Otsego region had not the means
+of clearing more than a small spot in the midst of thick and lofty
+woods, so that their grain grew chiefly in the shade; their maize did
+not ripen; their wheat was blasted; and for the grinding of what little
+they gathered there was no mill within twenty miles, while few were
+owners of horses. Some walked to the mill at Canajoharie, twenty-five
+miles away, carrying their grist on their shoulders.
+
+William Cooper, after coming to live here, realized that the situation
+of the settlers was precarious. He brought a stock of goods to the new
+settlement, and established a general store under Richard R. Smith, son
+of the Richard Smith who had visited Croghan at Otsego Lake twenty years
+before. Cooper also erected a storehouse, and filled it with large
+quantities of grain purchased at distant places. He borrowed potash
+kettles, which he brought here, and established potash works among the
+inhabitants. He obtained on credit a large number of sugar kettles. By
+these means he was able to exchange provisions and tools for the labor
+of the settlers, giving them credit for their maple sugar and potash,
+until in the first year he had collected in one mass forty-three
+hogsheads of sugar, and three hundred barrels of pot and pearl ash,
+worth about nine thousand dollars. These industries held the colonists
+together.
+
+Cooper collected the people at convenient seasons, and under his
+leadership they constructed such roads and bridges as were then suited
+to their purposes. Perhaps it was at this time that Cooper devised the
+cunning method which he afterward confided to William Sampson: "A few
+quarts of liquor, cheerfully bestowed, will open a road, or build a
+bridge, which would cost, if done by contract, hundreds of dollars."
+
+In 1789 Cooper set up at his newly finished Manor House a frontier
+establishment that became famous for its hospitality. For a year before
+bringing his family from Burlington he kept bachelor's hall, and the
+festive joys of the place were long memorable among all lovers of good
+cheer. Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of the region, could at almost any
+time furnish the table with a saddle of venison; the lake abounded with
+the most delicious fish; while the cellar of the Manor House was stored
+with the imprisoned sunshine of distant lands.
+
+At Christmastide, in 1789, a house-party entertained by William Cooper
+celebrated the season with high revelry. Among the guests was Colonel
+Hendrik Frey, the boniface of Canajoharie, a famous fun-lover and
+merrymaker. A large lumber sleigh was fitted out, with four horses, and
+the whole party sallied forth for a morning drive upon the frozen lake.
+On the western bank of the lake resided, quite alone, a Frenchman known
+as Monsieur Ebbal, a former officer of the army of France, whose real
+title was said to be L'Abbe de Raffcourt.[58] Perceiving the sleigh and
+four nearing his house, this gentleman, with the courtesy of his nation,
+went forth upon the ice to greet the party in a manner befitting the
+pomp of its approach. Cooper cordially invited the Frenchman to join
+him, promising him plenty of game, with copious libations of Madeira, by
+way of inducement. Though a good table companion in general, no
+persuasion could prevail on M. Ebbal to accept this sudden invitation,
+until, provoked by his obstinacy, the party laid violent hands on him,
+and brought him to the village by force.
+
+The unwilling guest took his captivity in good part, and was soon as
+buoyant and gay as any of his companions. He habitually wore a
+long-skirted surtout, or overcoat, which at that time was almost the
+mark of a Frenchman, and this he pertinaciously refused to lay aside,
+even when he took his seat at table. On the contrary, he kept it
+buttoned to the very throat, as if in defiance of his captors. The
+Christmas joke, a plentiful board, and heavy potations, however, threw
+the guest off his guard. Warmed with wine and the blazing fire of logs,
+he incautiously unbuttoned; when his delighted companions discovered
+that the accidents of the frontier, the establishment of a bachelor who
+kept no servant, and certain irregularities in washing days, together
+with the sudden abduction of his person, had induced the gallant
+Frenchman to come abroad without his shirt. He was uncased on the spot,
+amid the shouts of the merrymakers, and incontinently put into linen.
+"Cooper was so polite," added the mirth-loving Hendrik Frey, as he used
+to tell the story for many years afterward, "that he supplied a shirt
+with ruffles at the wristbands, which made Ebbal very happy for the rest
+of the night. Mein Gott, how his hands did go, after he got the
+ruffles!"[59]
+
+In the summer of 1790 the house at the northwest corner of Main and
+River streets was erected by Benjamin Griffin. It now survives as the
+oldest house in the village. Not long after its erection the house
+became the residence of the Rev. John Frederick Ernst, the Lutheran
+minister who came here in connection with the work of the projected
+seminary at Hartwick; and for many years the old cottage was the
+homestead of the Ernst family.[60]
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+THE OLDEST HOUSE]
+
+In this year William Cooper decided to give up his residence in New
+Jersey, and to bring his family to Cooperstown for their permanent home.
+Accordingly he returned to Burlington, and early in the autumn completed
+arrangements for the transportation of his family and belongings to
+Otsego. Only in one quarter did he find any opposition to his project,
+but that opposition was serious. His wife positively refused to go.
+
+Three years before, Mrs. Cooper had had a brief experience of the new
+settlement. She remembered the tippy boat, the rough pioneers, and the
+carriage that had to be steadied with ropes as it careened through the
+woods. In Burlington there was a well-established society, congenial
+friends, an atmosphere of culture, and such comforts as civilization was
+then able to afford. Mrs. Cooper had no mind to exchange her residence
+in Burlington for the wild uncertainties of life in the wilderness; and
+so with the conveyance ready and waiting at the door, and with her
+husband pleading, she sat firmly in the chair at the desk in the library
+of her Burlington home, and positively refused to budge.
+
+Mrs. Cooper was a strong-minded woman, but William Cooper was a
+stronger-minded man. He seized the chair, with his wife seated in it,
+and putting her aboard the wagon, chair and all, began the long journey
+to Otsego. Thus William Cooper carried his point, while his wife also
+carried hers, for she travelled the whole distance in the chair from
+which she vowed she would not move. The chair itself, sacred to the
+memory of two strong minds, is still in use in the Cooper family.
+
+This journey had much to do with the shaping of another mind which was
+not at the time consulted or considered. For Mrs. Cooper brought with
+her the baby boy of the household, thirteen months old, whose whole
+life, because of this change of residence, was cast in a new mould. This
+child was called James, but in later years he adopted also his mother's
+family name, so that he honored both father and mother in the fame which
+he gave to the name of James Fenimore Cooper. All his first impressions,
+he said long afterward, were obtained in the Otsego region. It is to be
+doubted whether Fenimore Cooper would have gained such wide celebrity as
+a novelist if he had not discovered the unique field of romance which
+the lake and hills of Otsego began to open to his vision. Had Fenimore
+Cooper remained in Burlington he might have written good novels, but not
+_The Leather-Stocking Tales_, for which he is most renowned. So that
+when William Cooper took up his residence in Otsego, he not only became
+the founder of a town, but he brought to the town the founder of
+American romance.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 56: _A Guide in the Wilderness_, a series of letters to
+William Sampson, published in Dublin, 1810, reprinted by James Fenimore
+Cooper, grandson of the novelist, 1897.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The names "Cooper" and "Cooperstown" are pronounced by the
+Cooper family and by natives of the village with a short _oo_, as in the
+word _book_, not as in _moon_.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Ebbal is _L'Abbe_, spelled backward. His last years were
+spent near New Berlin, beside a lonely waterfall, where he had a flower
+garden, and kept bees. His grave was four miles south of New Berlin,
+until relatives came and removed his remains to France.]
+
+[Footnote 59: The account of this incident is quoted from Fenimore
+Cooper's _Chronicles of Cooperstown_.]
+
+[Footnote 60: In his _Chronicles of Cooperstown_, (1838), Fenimore
+Cooper says, "The house standing at the southeast corner of Second and
+Water streets, [now called Main and River street], and which for the
+last forty years has belonged to the Ernst family, was erected this
+summer [1790] by Mr. Benjamin Griffin. It is now the second oldest house
+in the village." Cooper had already referred to the house of Israel
+Guild, erected in 1788, as the oldest house standing in the village (in
+1838). Guild's house was burned in the fire of 1862, and therefore the
+house erected by Griffin has been, ever since that time, the oldest
+house. By some inadvertence, Cooper incorrectly designated the location
+of the Griffin house. He placed it at the southeast corner of Main and
+River streets, when he meant to say _northwest_. That Cooper writing of
+what was perfectly familiar to him, should have overlooked so palpable
+an error, seems most improbable; yet that he did so is now beyond doubt,
+although for many years his authority was cited to disprove the claims
+of the oldest house in Cooperstown. At the time of Cooper's writing, the
+house standing nearest to the southeast corner of Main and River
+streets, afterward torn down, had been built by Richard Cooper, and
+never had belonged to the Ernst family. Furthermore, in a letter dated
+May 23, 1805, Rev. John Frederick Ernst, in reply to an inquiry
+concerning the location of his property in Cooperstown, wrote to his
+son--"Here is a copy from the deed: 'The house-lot--being the northwest
+corner of Water Street and Second Street, is seventy-five feet front on
+the said streets, and seventy-five feet in rear on the west and north by
+[then] vacant lots, belonging [then both] to Wm. Cooper, Esq.'" It is
+clear that this is the same property which Fenimore Cooper, by some
+slip, described as being at the southeast corner. Some of the earlier
+charts of Cooperstown were drawn with the lake front at the bottom of
+the map, for convenience of reference, thus reversing the north and
+south of the usual cartography. It may plausibly be conjectured that
+Cooper had one of these maps before him as he wrote, and unthinkingly
+recorded, in this instance, its transposed points of the compass. This
+labored exposition of a small matter would be an inexcusable pedantry,
+except that the location of the oldest house in the village is of
+particular interest.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A VILLAGE IN THE MAKING
+
+
+The county of Otsego was formed February 16, 1791, being carved out of
+Montgomery county. Cooperstown was designated as the county seat, and
+William Cooper was appointed the first judge of the county court. A
+court-house and jail was built at the southeast corner of Main and
+Pioneer streets, the lower story, of logs, being used as a prison, and
+the upper story, of framed work, as court room. A tavern was erected on
+the same lot, and contained the jury rooms, conveniently near to the
+sources of refreshment.
+
+During the summer of this year the Red Lion Tavern[61] was erected at
+the southwest corner of Main and Pioneer streets, and was kept by Major
+Joseph Griffin. It projected more than half way across Main Street, and
+at that time marked the western limit of the village. For more than
+three score years and ten, even after the village grew westward beyond
+it, this projecting building gave a unique character to the main street,
+intercepted all thirsty wayfarers, and held an important place in the
+life of the community. Its first crude sign, representing a red lion
+rampant, was painted by Richard R. Smith,[62] the first storekeeper of
+the village, and first sheriff of the county.
+
+Judge Cooper was the lord of the manor, as it were, in the new
+community, yet maintained a relation of comradeship with the settlers.
+Enjoying the friendship of some of the most eminent men of his time,
+himself superior in intelligence and culture to most of his local
+contemporaries, Cooper had qualities that won the affection and loyalty
+of the sturdy pioneers. It is characteristic of him that he once offered
+a lot, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres of land, to any man on
+the patent who could throw him in a wrestling match. The wrestling took
+place in front of the Red Lion Inn. One contestant was finally
+successful, and the land was duly conveyed to the victor. It is possible
+that some of the lots owned by Judge Cooper were of no great value, for
+it is related that when his eldest son was showing the sights of New
+York to the youngster of the family he took him to a pasty shop, and
+after watching the boy eat pasty after pasty said, "Jim, eat all you
+want, but remember that each one costs the old man a lot."
+
+[Illustration: WILLIAM COOPER
+
+From the portrait by Gilbert Stuart]
+
+Some idea of the position that the "old man" occupied in the village
+which he founded may be gained from the novel that the eater of the
+pasties afterward entitled _The Pioneers_. In this book, while
+historical accuracy is disclaimed, Judge Temple is easily identified as
+an idealized Judge Cooper, and a faithful picture of life in the early
+village may be recognized; for, as the author says in his introduction,
+while the incidents of the tale are purely fiction, "the literal facts
+are chiefly connected with the natural and artificial objects, and the
+customs of the inhabitants." The village of Templeton, in the novel, is
+the Cooperstown of reality in its early days. The spirit of the times,
+and the character of the men who lived here are thus distinctly
+reflected in the placid current of Fenimore Cooper's first
+Leather-Stocking tale. At the present day the personal appearance of
+Judge Cooper himself is vividly recalled from the past through the
+existence of three portraits, one by Gilbert Stuart, one by Copley, and
+a third by an unknown artist. From these likenesses one gains an
+impression of his kindly gray eye, firm countenance, and robust figure.
+His keen sense of humor relieved the strain of many a hardship in the
+life of the frontier, for he is remembered as "noble-looking,
+warm-hearted, and witty, with a deep laugh, sweet voice, and fine rich
+eye, as he used to lighten the way with his anecdotes and fun."
+
+During the twenty-five years that followed the close of the
+Revolutionary War, Judge Cooper was a speculator in lands on a large
+scale, and was steadily engaged in the settlement of the tracts which he
+owned and those in which he had a joint interest with others. His
+judgment concerning land values was keen and far-sighted. That he was
+not infallible is shown by his payment of ten dollars an acre for land
+in the North Woods which is hardly worth a quarter of that price to-day.
+On the other hand, in February, 1803, he bought the town of De Kalb, in
+St. Lawrence county, about 64,000 acres, for the sum of $62,720, and
+within three months had sold 56,886 acres for $112,226. It was for
+successful ventures of this sort that Judge Cooper became widely known,
+and was brought into correspondence with foreign investors, such as
+Necker and Madame de Sta�l, who appear to have become owners of lands,
+through Cooper, in the northern counties of New York.
+
+Much of Cooper's success in the settlement of new lands was owing to his
+system of selling to settlers on the installment plan, instead of
+binding tenants to the payment of perpetual rent, as some proprietors of
+great estates attempted to do, involving endless litigation and the
+"anti-rent war."
+
+Judge Cooper's friendly relation to the settlers extended, in many
+instances, to the relief of individual needs by loans of money, which
+was not always repaid. One of the French settlers, often a guest at
+Judge Cooper's house, borrowed of him fifty dollars. As time went on
+Judge Cooper noticed that his debtor's visits became less and less
+frequent, until finally they ceased. Meeting the man one day, he
+remonstrated with him, telling him that so small a matter should not
+cause him annoyance, and urging him not to allow it to interfere with
+his visits at the Cooper homestead. The Frenchman, however, felt that
+the fifty dollars weighed heavily on his honor, and that he could not
+partake of the Judge's hospitality until the debt was paid. Not long
+afterward Judge Cooper saw his debtor approaching him with every
+manifestation of joy, waving his hat, and shouting, "Judge Cooper! Judge
+Cooper! My mother is dead! My mother is dead! I pay you the fifty
+dollars."
+
+Before the close of his career Judge Cooper had amassed a large fortune.
+After having been engaged for twenty years in the improvement of lands
+he declared that the work which he had undertaken for the sole purpose
+of promoting his interest had become fastened upon him by habit, and
+remained as the principal source of his pleasure and recreation. Within
+this period the settlement which he began at Otsego Lake reached a high
+degree of prosperity. "This was the first settlement I made," writes
+Judge Cooper, "and the first attempted after the Revolution; it was, of
+course, attended with the greatest difficulties; nevertheless, to its
+success many others have owed their origin."
+
+Judge Cooper's political career reflects another aspect of pioneer life
+in the new settlements. Besides his election as first judge of the Court
+of Common Pleas of Otsego county, an office which he held from 1791 to
+1800, he was elected to Congress in 1795, and again in 1799. The _Otsego
+Herald_ of June 23, 1796, describes the reception given by the people of
+the village to Judge Cooper on his return from Congress. When it was
+known that his carriage was nearing the village, a mounted escort went
+forth to meet him on the road that skirted Mount Vision, and when the
+procession crossed the bridge and entered the main street it passed
+through "a double row of citizens" assembled to greet the congressman,
+while "sixteen cannon" roared a welcome.
+
+Judge Cooper was a prominent member of the Federalist party, and devoted
+much of his time to its cause. He was on intimate terms with its
+leaders, and in constant correspondence with many of them. Although the
+franchise, at this period, was restricted by a property qualification,
+and the voters were comparatively few, the interest in politics entered
+largely into the life of all the inhabitants, and the political
+enthusiasm was unlimited. The polls could be kept open five days, to
+accommodate all who desired to vote, and as there was no secret ballot
+the excitement during elections was constant and intense. Nearly every
+elector seems to have been a politician, and the letters of the time are
+full of politics and party animosity. The shout of battle still resounds
+in the title of a little book published by Elihu Phinney in 1796: "The
+Political Wars of Otsego: or, Downfall of Jacobinism and Despotism;
+Being a Collection of Pieces, lately published in the _Otsego Herald_.
+To which is added, an Address to the Citizens of the United States; and
+extracts from Jack Tar's Journals, kept on board the ship Liberty,
+containing a summary account of her Origin, Builders, Materials,
+Use--and her Dangerous Voyage from the lowlands of Cape Monarchy to the
+Port of Free Representative Government. By the author of the
+Plough-Jogger."[63]
+
+In the political correspondence of Judge Cooper and his contemporaries
+there are frequent complaints of fraud, and of the influence and
+prominence of foreigners, especially the Irish, with grave expressions
+of fear for the future of the country and the stability of property. The
+Federalists describe themselves as "friends of order," and refer to
+their opponents as "anti-Christians," and "enemies of the country." One
+of Judge Cooper's friends who had removed to Philadelphia writes: "We
+are busy about electing a senator in the state legislature. The contest
+is between B. R. M.----, a gentleman, and consequently a Federalist, and
+a dirty stinking anti-federal Jew tavern-keeper called I. I----. But,
+Judge, the friends to order here don't understand the business, they are
+uniformly beaten, we used to order these things better at Cooperstown."
+
+It is evident that Judge Cooper had gained some reputation for his skill
+in electioneering in Otsego county. Philip Schuyler, writing to Judge
+Cooper of the election of 1791, says: "I believe fasting and prayer to
+be good, but if you had only fasted and prayed I am sure we should not
+have had seven hundred votes from your country--report says that you was
+very civil to the young and handsome of the sex, that you flattered the
+old and ugly, and even embraced the toothless and decrepid, in order to
+obtain votes. When will you write a treatise on electioneering? Whenever
+you do, afford only a few copies to your friends."
+
+Judge Cooper's chief political opponent in the county was Jedediah Peck,
+who settled in Burlington, Otsego county, in 1790, a man of an entirely
+different type from Judge Cooper, yet equally famous in the political
+life of the times. Coarse and uneducated, Peck overcame all
+disadvantages by his shrewdness, intellectual power, and great natural
+ability. He gained much influence with the people of the county by his
+homely skill as a traveling preacher, going about distributing tracts,
+and preaching wherever he could gather an audience. He was an aggressive
+supporter of the political views and administrative policies of Thomas
+Jefferson, and violently antagonized the Federalists of the county, who
+were under the leadership of Judge Cooper. This opposition culminated
+during the administration of President Adams in 1798, when Peck was
+arrested under the Alien and Sedition Act for circulating petitions
+against that Act. He was indicted and taken to New York in irons, but
+was never brought to trial, and upon the repeal of the Act was
+discharged. Peck's arrest and imprisonment fastened attention upon him,
+and, together with his continued denunciation of the federal
+administration, made him the recognized leader of the Republican
+(Jeffersonian) party of Otsego county, so that he dictated its policy
+and nominations for many years thereafter. Indeed, the overthrow of the
+Federal party in this State, with the consequent success of Jefferson in
+the presidential canvass, is attributed to the excitement and
+indignation aroused by the spectacle of this little dried up man,
+one-eyed but kindly in expression and venerable, a veteran of the
+Revolutionary War, being transported through the State in the custody of
+federal officials, and manacled, the latter an unnecessary and
+outrageous indignity.
+
+Jedediah Peck was a member of Assembly from 1798 to 1804, and State
+Senator until 1808. Although looked up to by multitudes as the political
+leader of his time, Peck was noted at Albany for his shabbiness of
+dress. He wore coarse boots, which he never blackened. On one occasion,
+on the eve of an important debate, some wag at the tavern blackened one
+of Peck's boots. Peck, in dressing for the fray, did not recognize the
+shining boot, and having put on one began to search high and low for the
+other. At last, enlightened by the laughter of his comrades, he drew on
+the polished boot, and with his feet thus ill-matched strode into the
+Assembly chamber, where he delivered one of his most powerful speeches.
+
+For many years Jedediah Peck unsuccessfully urged a bill for the
+abolition of imprisonment for debt, which was later adopted. His most
+permanent and valuable contribution to the welfare of posterity was the
+scheme for the common school system of the State, which he had long
+advocated, and of which, as chairman of the five commissioners appointed
+by the Governor in 1811, he became the author.[64]
+
+Some of the asperities of political life in the early days of Otsego
+county may be inferred from certain affidavits, printed copies of which,
+such as were apparently used as campaign documents, were found among
+Judge Cooper's papers, endorsed in his handwriting, "Oath how I whipped
+Cochran." The Cochran referred to was a political opponent.
+
+     Jessie Hyde, of the town of Warren, being duly sworn, saith,
+     that on the sixteenth day of October in the year 1799, he this
+     deponent, did see James Cochran make an assault upon one
+     William Cooper in the public highway. That the said William
+     Cooper defended himself, and in the struggle Mr. Cochran, in a
+     submissive manner, requested of Judge Cooper to let him go.
+
+     _Jessie Hyde._
+
+
+     Sworn this sixteenth day of
+       October, 1799, before me
+         Richard Edwards, Master in Chancery
+       _Otsego County._ SS.
+
+     Personally appeared Stephen Ingalls, one of the constables of
+     the town of Otsego, and being duly sworn, deposeth and saith,
+     that he was present at the close of a bruising match between
+     James Cochran Esq., and William Cooper Esq., on or about the
+     sixteenth of October last, when the said James Cochran
+     confessed to the said William Cooper these words: "I
+     acknowledge you are too much of a buffer for me," at which
+     time it was understood, as this deponent conceives, that
+     Cochran was confessedly beaten.
+
+     _Stephen Ingalls._
+
+     Sworn before me this
+       sixth day of November, 1799,
+         Joshua Dewey, Justice of the Peace.
+
+
+
+The same incident, viewed from another angle, appears in a letter
+written by the Rev. John Frederick Ernst to his son in Albany, and dated
+at Cooperstown, October 20, 1799.
+
+     "There is nothing of any particular news here, except that a
+     Mr. Cochran, late member of Congress, in whose place I. Cooper
+     is now elected, came here last week, and on one of the
+     court-days, with a great deal of brass had the impertinence to
+     assault our honorable Wm. Cooper in the street, & to give him
+     a Cowskinning--because, as it is reported, he should have told
+     lies about Cochran. As both fell a clinging & beating one
+     another Mr. Mason stepped between and parted them."
+
+Still another account of the episode is given by Levi Beardsley. He says
+that the trouble arose over Cochran's use of his fiddle during a
+political campaign. Cochran stayed over night at Canandaigua, and when a
+dance was got up, he obliged and amused the company by fiddling for
+them. He beat Judge Cooper at the election for Congress, but whether
+from the influence of music and dancing it is now too late to inquire.
+However, it was alleged that Judge Cooper had either published or
+remarked that Cochran had been through the district with his violin, and
+had fiddled himself into office. This came to Cochran's ear and brought
+him from Montgomery county to Cooperstown. He came on horseback, and
+arrived while Judge Cooper was presiding as judge of the court of common
+pleas. As Cooper issued from the court house, Cochran met him, and after
+alluding to the election, informed the Judge that he had come from the
+Mohawk to chastise him for the insult. When Cooper remarked that Cochran
+could not be in earnest the latter replied by a cut with his cowskin.
+Cooper then closed with his adversary, but Cochran being a large, strong
+man they were pretty well matched for the scuffle. They were separated
+by friends, and Cochran was afterward fined a small amount for breach
+of the peace.[65]
+
+At the early organization of the county there was considerable strife
+between Cooperstown and Cherry Valley in regard to the location of
+public buildings. It is said that Judge Cooper playfully remarked that
+the court house should be placed in Cooperstown, the jail in Newtown
+Martin (Middlefield), and the gallows in Cherry Valley.[66]
+
+When Judge Cooper began holding court in Cooperstown in 1791 a number of
+lawyers were attracted to the county seat, the first to take up
+residence here being Abraham Ten Broeck of New Jersey, soon followed by
+Jacob G. Fonda of Schenectady. Ten Broeck was the original of Van der
+School, the parenthetical lawyer in _The Pioneers_, his compositions
+having been remarkable for parentheses. A year later two others of the
+legal profession were added to the village community, Joseph Strong, and
+Moss Kent, brother of the celebrated Chancellor Kent. Dr. Nathaniel Gott
+and Dr. Farnsworth coming at about the same time gave the villagers a
+choice among three physicians, Dr. Thomas Fuller being the senior in
+practice. The development of Cooperstown as a trading centre brought
+Peter Ten Broeck and several other merchants here in 1791, followed
+shortly afterward by Rensselaer Williams and Richard Williams of New
+Jersey, whose collateral descendants are still identified with the
+village.
+
+The early shopkeepers of Cooperstown included some who had been engaged
+in more distinguished callings. A merchant who excited the most lively
+curiosity among the settlers was a Frenchman known as Mr. Le Quoy who
+kept a small grocery store in the village, and seemed to be altogether
+superior to such an occupation. After much speculation concerning his
+past the village was set agog by an incident which accidentally brought
+to light the story of his career. Among the early settlers in Otsego
+county was a French gentleman named Louis de Villers, who, in 1793,
+happened to be in Cooperstown at a time when a fellow countryman named
+Renouard, who afterward settled in the county, had recently reached the
+place. Renouard, who was a seaman, and an incessant user of tobacco,
+found himself out of his favorite weed, and his first concern was to
+inquire of de Villers where tobacco might be purchased in the village.
+De Villers directed him to the shop kept by Le Quoy, saying that he
+would help a compatriot by making his purchase there. In a few minutes
+Renouard returned from the shop, pale and agitated.
+
+"What is it? Are you unwell?" inquired de Villers.
+
+"In the name of God," burst out Renouard, "who is the man that sold me
+this tobacco?"
+
+"Mr. Le Quoy, a countryman of ours."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Le Quoy de Mersereau."
+
+"I know nothing about the 'de Mersereau'; he calls himself Le Quoy. Do
+you know anything of him?"
+
+"When I went to Martinique to be port captain of St. Pierre," answered
+Renouard, "this man was the civil governor of the island, and refused to
+confirm my appointment."
+
+Subsequent inquiry confirmed this story, Le Quoy explaining that the
+influence of a lady stood in the way of Renouard's preferment. Le Quoy
+had been driven from Martinique by the French Revolution, and his choice
+of Cooperstown as a retreat came about through a friendly office which
+he had performed, while governor of the island, in liberating one of the
+ships of John Murray & Sons of New York. The act brought about an
+exchange of civilities between the head of this firm and Le Quoy, so
+that when the latter came to New York, desiring to invest in a country
+store until his fortunes should revive, Murray referred him to his
+friend Judge Cooper, under whose advice the Frenchman established
+himself in Cooperstown. He at length made his peace with the new French
+government, and, closing his grocery in Cooperstown, was ultimately
+restored to his office as civil governor of Martinique.[67] He appears
+as one of the characters in Fenimore Cooper's novel, _The Pioneers_.
+
+The house on Lake Street known as Averell Cottage was erected in 1793,
+the central part of it, with chimneys at each end, constituting the
+original structure. It has ever since been in possession of lineal
+descendants of the first owner, James Averell, Jr. James Averell settled
+on the patent in 1787, and in 1792 exchanged his farm for John Howard's
+tannery on Lake Street just west of Pioneer Street.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+AVERELL COTTAGE]
+
+In 1794 a state road was laid out between Albany and Cooperstown. This
+road came over Mount Vision and descended toward the village by a route
+that may still be traced down the hillside from Prospect Rock.
+Cooperstown was then first included in a post route, and a post office
+was opened in the village, with Joseph Griffin as postmaster. The mail
+arrived weekly for some years; it then came twice a week; then thrice.
+The daily mail was not established until 1821.
+
+The arrival of the mail was something of a ceremony in the early days of
+Cooperstown. Toward evening the sound of the postman's horn was faintly
+heard as he rounded the slopes of Mount Vision; the blasts grew louder
+as he descended the hill and approached the village; then the thunder of
+the four post-horses as they crossed the bridge was heard, and the
+postman drew up with a flourish at the post office, where the villagers
+had gathered to await the news of the outer world. _The Otsego Herald_
+publishes a letter from an indignant citizen, complaining that the mails
+were opened in a bar-room. Since the first postmaster was also a tavern
+keeper, the charge was probably true.
+
+Among the new houses built in 1796 was one that has survived to the
+present time, and stands on Main Street adjoining the Second National
+Bank on the east. This house, distinguished for the quaint beauty of its
+doorway, was first occupied by Rensselaer and Richard Williams. At about
+this time the Academy was erected on the hill at the corner of Pioneer
+and Church streets, where the Universalist church now stands. It was
+"65-1/2 feet long, 32 wide, and 25 feet posts," while the summit of its
+belfry was seventy feet high. It was erected by public subscription, at
+a cost of about $1,450. "It was one of those tasteless buildings that
+afflict all new countries," says Fenimore Cooper, "and contained two
+school rooms below, a passage and the stairs; while the upper story was
+in a single room."
+
+The first school in the village had been opened a year or two earlier by
+Joshua Dewey, a graduate of Yale, who taught Fenimore Cooper his A B
+C's. He was succeeded as village schoolmaster by Oliver Cory. The latter
+assumed charge of the new Academy. The school exhibitions of this
+institution in which Brutus and Cassius figured in hats of the cut of
+1776, blue coats faced with red, of no cut at all, and matross swords,
+were long afterward the subject of mirth in the village. Fenimore
+Cooper, at one time a pupil in the Academy, took part in a school
+exhibition, and at the age of eight years became the pride of Master
+Cory for his moving recitation of the "Beggar's Petition"--acting the
+part of an old man wrapped in a faded cloak and leaning on his staff.
+
+A reminiscence of old Academy days is connected with the first
+considerable musical instrument in the village. Judge Cooper had brought
+from Philadelphia a large mechanical organ of imposing appearance, which
+he placed in the hall of the Manor House. When the organ was first put
+up and adjusted a rehearsal of country dances, reels, and more serious
+music, was enjoyed not only by the family gathered to hear it, but the
+loud tones floated from the windows and into the school room of the
+Academy in the next street. As the strains of _Hail Columbia_ poured
+into the school room, Master Cory skillfully met a moment of open
+rebellion with these words: "Boys, that organ is a remarkable
+instrument. You never heard the like of it before. I give you half an
+hour's intermission. Go into the street and listen to the music."[68]
+
+The Academy, containing at that time the largest room in the village,
+was as much used for other purposes as for those of education. The
+court, on great occasions, was sometimes held here. It was used
+impartially for religious meetings and for balls. The Free Masons of the
+village, who had secured a charter for Otsego Lodge in 1795, held a
+religious service, followed by dinner, and a ball, in the Academy, on
+the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, 1796. Of this
+occasion Jacob Morris writes, "The brilliancy exhibited at Cooperstown
+last Tuesday--the Masonic festival--was the admiration and astonishment
+of all beholders. Upwards of eighty people sat down to one table--some
+very excellent toasts were drunk and the greatest decency and decorum
+was observed.... In the evening we had a splendid ball, sixty couple,
+thirty in a set, both sets on the floor at the same time, pleasant
+manners and good dancing."
+
+A centre of convivial resort at this period was the Blue Anchor tavern,
+which was established as a rival of the Red Lion inn, and diagonally
+across the way from it, at the northeast corner of Main and Pioneer
+streets. The Blue Anchor, according to Fenimore Cooper, was for many
+years in much request "among all the genteeler portion of the
+travelers." Its host was William Cook, from whom the character of Ben
+Pump, in _The Pioneers_, was drawn, a man of singular humors, great
+heartiness of character, and perfect integrity. He had been the steward
+of an English East-Indianman, and enjoyed an enviable reputation in the
+village for his skill in mixing punch and flip. On holidays, a stranger
+would have been apt to mistake him for one of the magnates of the land,
+as he invariably appeared in a drab coat of the style of 1776 with
+buttons as large as dollars, breeches, striped stockings, buckles that
+covered half his foot, and a cocked hat large enough to extinguish him.
+The landlord of the Blue Anchor was a general favorite; his laugh and
+his pious oaths became famous.
+
+In 1796 Judge Cooper commenced the construction of his new residence,
+Otsego Hall, which he completed and began to occupy, in June, 1799. The
+new house stood near the centre of what are now known as the Cooper
+Grounds, on the site marked by the statue of the Indian Hunter. Otsego
+Hall was for many years the largest private residence in the newer parts
+of the State, and remained as the finest building in the village until
+it was destroyed by fire in 1852. It is said to have been originally of
+the exact proportions of the van Rensselaer Manor House at Albany, where
+Judge Cooper was a frequent visitor.
+
+On one occasion, in early days, when Judge Cooper was away from home,
+fire broke out in the Hall, and an alarm given by the neighbors brought
+the volunteer fire department to the scene. Mrs. Cooper firmly took
+charge of the situation. Locking the doors of the house she called out
+to the servants, "You look out for the fire, and I'll attend to the fire
+department!" With this she poured hot water from a second-story window
+upon the firemen, and quickly drove them away.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 61: "The Bold Dragoon" of Fenimore Cooper's novel, _The
+Pioneers_.]
+
+[Footnote 62: The original of Richard Jones, in _The Pioneers_.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Plough-Jogger was the pseudonym of Jedediah Peck.]
+
+[Footnote 64: _Address at Cooperstown Centennial_, Walter H. Bunn.]
+
+[Footnote 65: _Reminiscences_, Levi Beardsley, p. 89.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Beardsley's _Reminiscences_.]
+
+[Footnote 67: _Chronicles of Cooperstown_.]
+
+[Footnote 68: _James Fenimore Cooper_, Mary E. Phillips, p. 26. The
+organ is now at Fynmere.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+OLD-TIME LOVE AND RELIGION
+
+
+Enough has been recorded to show the general character of Cooperstown as
+it existed at the close of the eighteenth century. A more intimate view
+of its life at this period is suggested by a package of faded letters,
+some of which are here printed, not as supplying historical data, for in
+this they are quite lacking, but because whoever reads them with
+imagination begins to breathe the atmosphere of the time of their
+writing, and in the charm of their feminine confidences discovers a side
+of frontier life that is not otherwise revealed.
+
+The letters were written to Chloe Fuller, who visited in Cooperstown for
+some years at the home of Dr. Thomas Fuller. The doctor's wife before
+her marriage, although not related to him, had the same family name, and
+Chloe Fuller was her younger sister. Chloe Fuller became celebrated as a
+village belle, and it was said that she had more beaus in constant
+attendance than any other girl in Otsego. Dr. Fuller was a favorite with
+two generations of young men in the village, for he had also two young
+daughters, who, a few years later, became noted for their qualities of
+mind and daintiness of apparel. Eliza and Emma Fuller were
+blue-stockings who knew the value of pretty bonnets and gowns. In the
+early days of the Presbyterian church, the sabbath splendor of their
+entrance at divine service, always a little late, and with the necessity
+of being ushered to the very front pew, divided the devotion of the
+worshippers. Eliza Fuller became the wife of Judge Morehouse, and
+established the traditional hospitality of Woodside Hall.
+
+[Illustration: _Forrest D. Coleman_
+
+THE WORTHINGTON HOMESTEAD]
+
+Chloe Fuller married Trumbull Dorrance, a descendant of Governor
+Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, and her daughter, becoming the wife
+of John R. Worthington, was long identified with Cooperstown as mistress
+of the White House, the Worthington homestead built in 1802 on Main
+street. The letters belong to the period of Chloe Fuller's girlhood:
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Albany, November 20th, 1798.
+
+     Believe me, my very dear Friend, that your letter by Mr.
+     Williams afforded me great pleasure in the perusal, and it
+     should most undoubtedly have been answered 'ere now had not I
+     been deprived of opportunities; and at all events I must write
+     by the _good Man_! I think the epithet you bestowed a very
+     judicious one--but I really believe, Chloe, you have made a
+     conquest there--when he delivered me your letter, 'It is from
+     Miss Chloe,' said he with a (methought) significant smile.
+
+     I have been well ever since my departure. Now and then the
+     involuntary sigh escapes when my imagination presents me
+     Cooperstown, and some of its dear inhabitants! I already long
+     to see you all. Oh! for an hour with your sister and you.
+
+     My dear Chloe, convince me that I am sometimes present to your
+     memory by writing long and frequent letters. Don't wait for
+     answers. Write whenever you find a conveyance; and I shall
+     with pleasure follow your example.
+
+     'Tis past one o'clock. Let my writing at this late, or rather,
+     early hour convince you that I wish to cultivate a
+     correspondence with you. I must quit. So Good night, my
+     friend. May Jove grant you pleasant dreams, and may Heavenly
+     blessings enliven your waking hours is the wish of your
+     sincerely affectionate Friend.
+
+     ELIZA.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Albany, Novbr. 28th. 1798
+
+     Just before we sat down to Tea, Mr. French called and brought
+     your letter. I immediately recognized the already well-known
+     hand of my fondly remembered Friend. I was all impatience to
+     open it, which out of politeness I dispensed with till his
+     departure.
+
+     I was highly gratified with the perusal! Happy, my Chloe,
+     should I esteem myself were it in my power to 'revive your
+     drooping spirits'. But why, my dear Friend, are they drooping?
+     What is the cause? Believe me, nothing but my friendship for
+     you induces me to interrogate you so; and let me beg you in
+     the name of friendship to answer me candidly. You may, my dear
+     Friend, unbosom yourself to me. I shall sympathize with you
+     and make your griefs mine. I wish you would write fully, and
+     long letters. This time I will excuse you, but let me beg of
+     you not to wait till an opportunity is going--but when you
+     retire to your chamber think of Eliza, and dedicate a few
+     moments to writing, since we can no longer chat together.
+
+     I am happy to hear you have found so agreeable an acquaintance
+     as Miss Cooper. I doubt not but that I should like her. So you
+     were a sleighing with the Doctor? Remember there are two
+     Doctors in Cooperstown, and you leave me to conjecture which!
+
+     You would make me believe Mr. K.---- sometimes talks of me. I
+     fear it is only when you remind him that there is such a
+     person in existence.
+
+     Mr. Ten Broeck spent the evening with us. He brought me a
+     letter from my Father. By his conversation I understand Mr.
+     K.---- will not be in Albany this year!
+
+     The clock has already struck one; my eyes feel quite heavy; my
+     writing will evince this. My best respects to the Miss
+     Williams. I hope you are intimate with them. They are fine
+     women! A close intimacy with them will convince you of this.
+     Tell Mrs. Morgan, Delia, and all those whom love will make me
+     remember, that I very frequently think of them. Good night!
+     Pleasant dreams to you! I will endeavor to dream of you and
+     some others in Cooperstown who are dear to the heart of
+
+     Your unfeigned Friend, ELIZA.
+
+     'Oh Night more pleasing than the fairest day:
+     'When Fancy gives, what Absence takes away!'
+
+     P. S. I have sent all over the City, but cannot procure any
+     ingrained silks of the color you intended to work your shawl.
+     Should you fancy any other, let me know, and I will with
+     pleasure send it. Accept of this ribbon for the sake of Eliza,
+     who wishes oft she was with you.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Friday night, December 28th, 1798.
+     My dear Chloe,
+
+     Mr. Williams delivered me your short yet pleasing letter.... I
+     hope you passed Christmas agreeably.... I can assure you I
+     did, being favored with the company of Mr. K. and his sister.
+     I regret that her stay in town is so short. Ever since her
+     arrival my time has been so occupied that my moments for
+     writing were few. Tis now late--they leave early in the
+     morning--so you must accept a few lines this time. I have sent
+     my little namesake a New Year's frock, which I beg your sister
+     will let her accept of. The ribbon I before mentioned
+     accompanies this. Good night--and Happy New Year to you all.
+
+     Write soon, and a long letter. Remember me to my friends, and
+     think of
+
+     Yours affectionately and in great haste, ELIZA.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Albany, February 10, 1799.
+
+     Why, my dear Chloe, do you preserve this long silence? To
+     forgetfulness of me, or want of affection I dare not impute
+     it, for even the most distant idea of this is too painful. No,
+     I will judge more favorably of my lovely Friend, and think
+     want of time has been hitherto the cause. Yet let me urge you
+     not to continue this painful silence, but think of, and write
+     to your absent friend. Cooperstown and its inhabitants will
+     ever afford a pleasing subject to Eliza. Tell me how you spend
+     your time, your most intimate companions, whether you often
+     see my father, and if any of my friends ever talk of me....
+     All our family is now in bed, yet cannot I let Mr. Strong go
+     without writing a few lines. I wish you felt as anxious to
+     write me.
+
+     Does your Hat please you? I am almost afraid it will not, tho'
+     I know I have used my utmost endeavors. If it does not, you
+     must take the _Will_ for the _Deed_.
+
+     My best love to your dear Sister. Kiss my little namesake for
+     me. Remember me to all enquiring friends, and think of me as
+     ever
+
+     Your truly affectionate
+     ELIZA.
+
+     Mr. Kent is still at Poughkeepsie; it I fear has more powerful
+     attractions than Albany.
+
+
+     HANNAH COOPER TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     My dear Chloe--Your sister informs me--she sets out to-morrow
+     upon her visit to you. I profit by her going to write a few
+     lines to you. I have nothing very material to
+     communicate--except that I often think of you--and continue to
+     love you--which I hope you did not doubt--before I mentioned
+     it.
+
+     We jog along much after the old way here--you know there are
+     but three articles of news worth
+     mentioning--Births--Deaths--and Marriages--for this last you
+     know we were never renowned--from the second, thank Heaven, we
+     are in a great measure exempted, and atone by the multitude of
+     our first--for the deficiency of both.
+
+     We have some hopes of seeing you this Winter--either with your
+     sister or by another mode--which I hope may be better--A
+     certain Person--who occasionally visited Coopers Town--has not
+     been here lately--it consoles me, though, that whilst his back
+     is turned upon us--he is looking the right way. Come then, my
+     child, and be induced by his looks, or smiles, or attentions,
+     to make us another visit--We will meet you with smiles and
+     pleasure--Mama desires to be remembered to your Mother. The
+     Boys send their love to Norvey--and I--my dear Chloe--beg to
+     be thought of--by you--with affection--and that you will
+     accept of much love from
+
+     HANNAH COOPER.
+     Coopers Town, January 5th, 1800.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Cooperstown, August 4th. 1801.
+     My beloved Chloe,
+
+     Again I date my letter from this place in which I formed for
+     you that friendship which neither revolving time, change of
+     place or circumstances has been able to alter. Would that I
+     had you as personally at my side as your dear image is
+     constantly present to my imagination. Perhaps now that I am on
+     the verge of departure it is happier for me that you are more
+     remote, as parting with you would prove an additional pang to
+     that which I now feel at the thought of leaving my respected
+     friend, your dear, dear Sister. I have been here three weeks
+     yesterday, and expect in a few minutes more to take my exit.
+     You will say, perhaps, my stay is short compared to my former
+     ones. It is so, but, Chloe, ah! how fast our friends decrease!
+     Our mutual friend, our pious pattern!--Miss Cooper--is here no
+     more! narrow is the cell in which her lovely form is laid! but
+     her mind, her soul, I trust is gone to a soil more kind, more
+     congenial, to a Friend in whom while here its best affections
+     and confidences appear'd to be placed! In every place in which
+     I used to meet with her--in her Father's Hall, which she
+     highly graced--the vacant chair, the trifling conversation, my
+     own absence of mind tell me, death has robbed me of a treasure
+     that empires cannot give! Reflection, however, and daily
+     experience, not only inspire me with resignation to the Wise
+     Ruler of all events, but fill me with gratitude that God in
+     compassion has removed her from a scene of afflictions, from
+     new trials, from growing evils, which a tender sensibility
+     like hers too keenly felt long to survive.
+
+     Richard, you may have heard, has married one of Col. Cary's
+     Daughters--Nancy--a young, giddy Girl. I fear she will never
+     supply the place of a Daughter to Mrs. Cooper! I have hardly a
+     fonder desire for you or for myself than that we might be and
+     live like her, whose memory, I trust, we shall ever
+     cherish....
+
+     But, Chloe, a word or two about yourself. Are not you almost
+     married? You are so far away there is no such thing as hearing
+     about it. Miss Betsy Williams is well & speaks of you with
+     affection. Nancy at present is in Trenton. Do let me hear from
+     you soon. I must go. Burn this scrawl. Kiss little Mary for
+     me. Adieu. May God bless you and your truly affectionate
+     friend
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD.
+
+Hannah Cooper was Judge Cooper's eldest daughter, of whom Fenimore
+Cooper afterward wrote that she "was perhaps as extensively and
+favorably known in the middle states as any female of her years." In
+1795, when she was seventeen years of age, Talleyrand was a guest at
+Otsego Hall, and the following acrostic on Hannah Cooper's name is
+attributed to the pen of the celebrated diplomat:
+
+     Aimable philosophe au printemps de son �ge,
+     Ni les temps, ni les lieus n'alt�rent son esprit;
+     Ne c�dent qu' � ses go�ts simples et sans �talage,
+     Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, �crit.
+
+     Cultivez, belle Anna, votre go�t pour l'�tude;
+     On ne saurait ici mieux employer son temps;
+     Otsego n'est pas gai--mais, tout est habitude;
+     Paris vous d�plairait fort au premier moment;
+     Et qui jouit de soi dans une solitude,
+     Rentrant au monde, est s�r d'en faire l'ornement.
+
+Hannah Cooper afterward attended school in New York City, and passed the
+winter of 1799 in Philadelphia while her father was a member of
+Congress. Also a member of that Congress was William Henry Harrison,
+later the hero of Tippecanoe, and afterward President of the United
+States. In this connection Fenimore Cooper, just before Harrison's
+inauguration as President, uncovered a long forgotten bit of romance
+which he related confidentially in a letter to his old mess-mate
+Commodore Shubrick as a "great political discovery." "Miss Anne Cooper
+was lately in Philadelphia,"--the letter is dated February 28,
+1841,--"where she met Mr. Thomas Biddle, who asked if our family were
+not Harrison men. The reason of so singular a question was asked, and
+Mr. Biddle answered that in 1799 Mr. Harrison was dying with love for
+Miss Cooper, that he (Mr. Biddle) was his confidant, and that he
+_thinks_ but does not _know_ that he was refused. If not refused it was
+because he was not encouraged to propose.... Don't let this go any
+further, however. I confess to think all the better of the General for
+this discovery, for it shows that he had forty years ago both taste and
+judgment in a matter in which men so often fail."[69]
+
+In the twenty-third year of her age, Hannah Cooper was killed by a fall
+from a horse, September 10, 1800. She and her brother, Richard Fenimore
+Cooper, had set out on horseback to pay a visit at the home of General
+Jacob Morris at Butternuts (now Morris), some twenty miles from
+Cooperstown, and having arrived within about a mile of their
+destination, the horse on which Miss Cooper rode took fright at a little
+dog, which rushed forth barking from a farm house, and Miss Cooper was
+thrown against the root of a tree, being almost instantly killed. Her
+brother rode back to Cooperstown with the sad news.
+
+A monument still stands near the public highway to mark the spot where
+Miss Cooper met her death. She had many admirers, but the inscription on
+this monument is said to have been written by her best beloved, Moss
+Kent, referred to in Eliza MacDonald's letters.
+
+Hannah Cooper's tomb in Christ churchyard, within the Cooper family
+plot, is inscribed with some plaintive verses that her father composed
+and caused to be carved upon the slab, with the singular omission of her
+name, which was not added until many years afterward.
+
+Miss Cooper was a perfect type of the kind of feminine piety most
+admired in her day. She shared largely in the benevolences of her
+father, and was often seen on horseback carrying provisions to the poor
+people of the settlement. "She visited the prisoners in the jail
+frequently, giving them books, and sometimes talked with them through
+the grates of their windows, endeavoring to impress upon their minds the
+truths of morality and religion. By her winning, tender and persuasive
+conversation, their hard hearts, at times, were deeply affected."
+
+This elder sister of the novelist was the first tutor of his childhood,
+and he held her memory in great reverence. In the preface of a reprint
+of _The Pioneers_ Cooper took occasion to deny a statement that in the
+character of the heroine of his romance he had delineated his sister, a
+suggestion in which he seemed to find a serious reflection upon his
+fineness of feeling. "Circumstances rendered this sister singularly dear
+to the author," he wrote. "After a lapse of half a century, he is
+writing this paragraph with a pain that would induce him to cancel it,
+were it not still more painful to have it believed that one whom he
+regarded with a reverence that surpassed the love of a brother, was
+converted by him into the heroine of a work of fiction."
+
+Although Hannah Cooper was thus excluded, by her brother's delicacy,
+from the place which rumor had assigned to her among the characters of
+his first Leather-Stocking tale, her name is commemorated in the actual
+scene of the story, for the pine-clad summit which overlooks the village
+of Cooperstown from the west is still called in her honor, "Hannah's
+Hill."
+
+The position of the grave that lies next south of Hannah Cooper's tomb
+in Christ churchyard is a tribute to the reverent affection which she
+inspired. It is the grave of Colonel Richard Cary, one of General
+Washington's aides, and his burial in a plot otherwise exclusively
+reserved for interments of the Cooper family is attributed by tradition
+to Colonel Cary's fervent admiration for the piety of Hannah Cooper.
+Colonel Cary at the close of the Revolutionary War settled in
+Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake. Often a visitor in Cooperstown
+he became acquainted with Miss Cooper, and was inspired by a devotion to
+her character entirely becoming in a man old enough to be her father,
+and already blessed with a family of his own. He is described as "an
+upright, well-bred and agreeable gentleman, possessed of wit and genius,
+and good humor." Six years after Hannah Cooper's death Colonel Cary
+suffered severe reverses of fortune, and was "put on the limits," as the
+penalty of unpaid debt was then described, being an exile from his home
+in Springfield, and required to remain within the village bounds of
+Cooperstown. As winter drew on Colonel Cary died. His dying request was
+that he might be buried near Miss Cooper's grave, "for," he said,
+"nobody can more surely get to Heaven than by clinging to the skirts of
+Hannah Cooper!"
+
+At Hannah Cooper's funeral a singularly noble and picturesque character
+was brought into the history of Cooperstown, for the officiating
+clergyman was Father Nash, who then for the first time held service in
+the village, and afterward became the first rector of Christ Church,
+being for forty years the most noted apostle of religion in Otsego
+county.
+
+During the first ten years of the existence of the village, the people
+depended on rare visits of missionaries for the little religious
+instruction they received. The settlers in the region were divided as to
+religious faith; the Presbyterians, though the most numerous, were the
+least able to offer financial support for any regular religious
+establishment. Missionaries occasionally penetrated to this spot, and
+now and then a travelling Baptist, or a Methodist, preached in a tavern,
+schoolhouse or barn. On August 28, 1795, a letter appeared in the
+_Otsego Herald_ deploring the general indifference to religion which
+prevailed in the settlement, and calling for a public meeting to
+organize a church congregation. The Rev. Elisha Mosely, a Presbyterian
+minister, was thereupon engaged for six months, and during that period
+held the first regular religious services in Cooperstown. He preached
+the first Thanksgiving sermon in the village, on November 26, 1795, in
+the Court House.
+
+Through the vigorous efforts of the Rev. Nathaniel Stacy, an itinerant
+preacher, the doctrine of Universalism gained a strong foothold in this
+region. Under his ministrations the society at Fly Creek was organized
+in 1805, said to be the first society of the Universalist denomination
+established in this State. Stacy was a man of small stature, a rapid
+speaker, full of Biblical quotations, apt in comparing the Old and New
+Testaments, and happy in the use of vivid illustrations. The vehemence
+and rapidity of his utterance sometimes sprinkled with saliva the
+hearers seated near him, which gave occasion for a famous taunt flung at
+Ambrose Clark, one of Stacy's converts and an early settler of
+Pierstown, when his brother Abel said that "Ambrose had rather be spit
+upon by Stacy than to hear the gospel preached."
+
+In 1797, the Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany,
+with the Patroon, both regents of the university of the State, visited
+the Cherry Valley academy, and then extended their journey to
+Cooperstown, where Dr. Ellison held service and preached in the Court
+House. This was the first time that the services of the Episcopal Church
+were held in the village. Dr. Ellison was an Englishman, a graduate of
+Oxford, a king's man, and a staunch defender of the Church against all
+dissent. He was a sporting parson, of convivial habits, and after his
+first visit to Cooperstown frequently enjoyed the hospitality of Judge
+Cooper, whom he joined in sundry adventures.
+
+The Presbyterians and Congregationalists in and about Cooperstown
+formed themselves into a legal society on December 29, 1798. This church
+was regularly organized with the Rev. Isaac Lewis, a Presbyterian
+minister, as pastor, on October 1, 1800, and the Presbyterian
+organization has ever since continuously existed in Cooperstown. The
+Presbyterian church building was erected in 1805, and has not been
+materially altered since 1835, when some changes in the structure were
+made. The carpenters who built the church were twin brothers, Cyrus and
+Cyrenus Clark. They were assisted by Edmund Pearsall, who was noted for
+his rapid work and skill, as well as for his daring exploits at
+"raisings." When the steeple of the church was raised Pearsall astounded
+the village by standing on his head on the top of one of the posts near
+the summit.
+
+The pastor of this church for more than twenty years during its early
+days was the Rev. John Smith, a tall, strongly-built man, who loomed
+large in the pulpit as a champion of old-fashioned orthodoxy. His manner
+of delivery was soporific, his voice thick and monotonous, but none
+could gainsay the learning and intellectual power of his discourses.
+
+Mony Groat was sexton of the church. He performed also the office of
+policeman in the gallery during the service, going about with a cane,
+and rapping the heads of disorderly boys. In winter his duties were
+multiplied. The church was heated by a stove placed above the middle
+alley, supported by a platform sustained upon four posts, and those
+having pews near the pulpit had to walk directly underneath. Several
+times during the service on cold days the sexton used to come up the
+aisle with his ladder and basket of fuel, place his ladder in position,
+mount the platform, replenish the fire, descend the ladder, and make his
+exit, ladder and all.
+
+Perhaps because it was the first church edifice in the village the
+Presbyterian church came into use sometimes for celebrations of a civic
+nature. The first Otsego County Fair, Tuesday, October 14, 1817, was
+held in this house of worship. The Otsego County Agricultural Society
+had been organized in January of that year, and the officers of the
+first fair were: president, Jacob Morris; recording secretary, John H.
+Prentiss; corresponding secretary, James Cooper, who had not yet begun
+his literary career.
+
+The exercises in the church followed an elaborate programme, including
+prayers, vocal and instrumental music, and the formal award of premiums.
+
+After the premiums had been awarded the corresponding secretary read a
+letter from Governor Dewitt Clinton which accompanied a bag of wheat
+that had been "raised by Gordon S. Mumford, Esq., on his farm on the
+island of New York." While this letter was being read by James Cooper
+the bag of wheat was brought to the pulpit of the church, and deposited
+at the foot of it.
+
+Within the Presbyterian burying ground, at the rear of the church, lie
+the remains of some of the best known of the early settlers. A strange
+perversity of fate, however, has singled out for the attention of the
+tourist a tombstone that has no other claim to distinction than a
+surprising feature of the epitaph. This tallish slab of marble stands
+not far from the northeast corner of the burying ground. It is decorated
+at the top with the conventionally chiseled outlines of urn and weeping
+willow, and bears an inscription in memory of "Mrs. Susannah, the wife
+of Mr. Peter Ensign, who died July 18, 1825, aged 54 years," and whose
+praises are sung in some verses that begin with this astonishing
+comment:
+
+     "Lord, she is thin!"
+
+It seems that the stonecutter omitted a final "e" in the last word, and
+tried in vain to squeeze it in above the line.
+
+The permanent legal establishment of Christ Church was made on January
+1, 1811, when a meeting was held "in the Brick church in Cooperstown,"
+and it was resolved "that this church be known hereafter by the name and
+title of Christ's Church."
+
+The erection of the brick church had been commenced in 1807, and it was
+consecrated in 1810. The present nave, exclusive of the transept and
+chancel, is of the original structure. In the sacristy of the church a
+wooden model may be seen, made by G. Pomeroy Keese, showing both
+exterior and interior of the church as it existed in 1810.
+
+The Methodists held occasional services in the village for many years,
+and erected their first church, not far from the site of their present
+building, in 1817.
+
+The Universalists were organized in Cooperstown on April 26, 1831, with
+the Rev. Job Potter as pastor. On the site of the old Academy, which had
+been destroyed by fire, their house of worship was erected in 1833, and
+stands practically unchanged at the present time. That there was a
+somewhat strong rivalry between the Universalists and the Presbyterians,
+whose places of worship stand so near to each other on the same street,
+is suggested by an incident which occurred during the Rev. Job Potter's
+pastorate. The Universalists had organized a Sunday School picnic, and
+the children had gathered at the church in goodly numbers. The sidewalk
+was thronged. A procession was formed, headed by the ice cream cans,
+together with sundry huge baskets, all appetizingly displayed. Just as
+the procession was about to move down the hill to embark for Three-Mile
+Point, a small-sized Universalist, stirred by generous impulse, hailed
+young Dick, a small-sized Presbyterian, who stood on the opposite side
+of the street gazing with assumed stoicism on the fascinating pageant.
+
+"Hello, Dick! Come up to our picnic. We're going to have ice cream and
+cake and pies, and lots of good things."
+
+To this cordial invitation Dick, thrusting his clenched fists deep into
+his pockets, responded at the top of his voice:
+
+"No, sir-ee! I believe in a hell!"[70]
+
+As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century the Baptists were
+accustomed to immerse their converts with appropriate services near
+Council Rock. They organized on January 21, 1834, with the Rev. Lewis
+Raymond as pastor. Their church building was erected during the next
+year.
+
+[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH]
+
+The Roman Catholic congregation was organized in September, 1847, with
+the Rev. Father Kilbride as pastor. Their first church was built in
+1851, at the corner of Elm and Susquehanna streets. The present St.
+Mary's Church, the "Church of Our Lady of the Lake," was built in 1867.
+
+Toward the middle of the century the three most conspicuous steeples in
+the village scene were those of Christ Church, the Presbyterian, and
+the Baptist. From the shape of their towers, which have since been
+modified, they were known as the "Casters," and distinguished as salt,
+pepper, and mustard respectively.[71]
+
+The land for the Presbyterian church as well as for Christ Church was
+given by Judge Cooper. Within Christ churchyard he reserved a space,
+including his daughter's grave, as a family burial plot, where he
+himself was buried in 1809, cut down in the full vigor of his fifty-five
+years. While leaving a political meeting in Albany, as he was descending
+the steps of the old state capitol, after a session abounding in stormy
+debate, Judge Cooper was struck on the head with a walking stick by a
+political opponent, and died as a result of the blow.
+
+Judge Cooper was originally a Quaker, but that he afterward found
+himself out of sympathy with the Society of Friends is shown in a formal
+document by which his relations to that denomination were severed. He
+was instrumental in the erection of Christ Church, for a letter written
+by him shows that he conducted the negotiations with the corporation of
+Trinity parish, New York, which, in 1806, gave $1,500 toward the
+construction of the edifice. An obituary notice published in the
+_Cooperstown Federalist_ at the time of his death says that Judge Cooper
+"was thoroughly persuaded of the truth of Revelation."
+
+The rood-screen in Christ Church commemorates Judge Cooper, and a
+dignified sarcophagus covers his grave in the churchyard. Recalling the
+story of his career, one is disposed to claim for his simple epitaph a
+share of the attention bestowed upon the tomb of his more illustrious
+son. For here lies the foremost pioneer of Cooperstown, notable among
+the frontiersmen of America.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 69: _James Fenimore Cooper_, by Mary E. Phillips, p. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 70: _Reminiscences_, Elihu Phinney, 1890.]
+
+[Footnote 71: _A few Omitted Leaves in the History of Cooperstown_, G.
+Pomeroy Keese, 1907.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+HOMES AND GOSSIP OF OTHER DAYS
+
+
+Early in the century activities were renewed, just across the river from
+Cooperstown, in the development of what was known as the Bowers Patent,
+originally owned by John R. Myer of New York, whose daughter became the
+wife of Henry Bowers. For some years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs.
+Bowers lived at Brighton, near Boston, in a residence that was one of
+the finest relics of Colonial days, commanding a fine view of Boston,
+Cambridge, Charleston, and the bay, with its numerous islands. They
+afterward removed to New York City, and Henry Bowers made journeys
+thence to the Otsego region, where a settlement had been commenced in
+Middlefield, then called Newtown Martin,[72] some years before the
+founding of Cooperstown.
+
+In 1791, Henry Bowers surveyed and laid out a proposed village of
+"Bowerstown," across the river from Cooperstown. It was to extend from
+the Susquehanna to the base of the hill on the east, and from the lake
+to a point about 1,000 feet south. The projected village never became a
+reality, although the name is perpetuated by the present hamlet of
+Bowerstown, which still flourishes about a mile to the south, on a site
+that was once included in the Bowers Patent, where a saw-mill was
+erected on Red Creek in 1791, the first in this part of the country. A
+modern saw-mill now occupies the same site.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOUSE AT LAKELANDS, as originally built]
+
+The residences across the river are all in the town of Middlefield, but
+the village of Cooperstown has extended its corporate limits to include
+some of them, and virtually claims them all.
+
+[Illustration: MRS. WILSON]
+
+After the death of Henry Bowers, his son, John Myer Bowers, married in
+1802 Margaretta Stewart Wilson. Young Bowers was said to be the
+handsomest and most fascinating man in New York, and had inherited a
+fortune which in that day was regarded as princely. Shortly after the
+marriage he decided to make his residence on the Bowers Patent in
+Otsego, and came hither with his bride in 1803, occupying a part of the
+Ernst house at the northwest corner of Main and River streets, while the
+present house at Lakelands was under construction. The building was
+erected during 1804, and Mr. and Mrs. Bowers took possession in 1805.
+Mrs. Bowers's mother, Mrs. Wilson, made her home with them, and lived at
+Lakelands for a half a century. These two ladies contributed much to the
+life of the community, and the younger generation was fascinated by
+their vivid memories of the leading spirits of the Revolutionary War.
+Mrs. Wilson occupies a niche of fame in _The Women of the American
+Revolution_, by Elizabeth F. Ellet, who said of her that "her
+reminiscences would form a most valuable contribution to the domestic
+history of the Revolution." She was in Philadelphia on the day of the
+Declaration of Independence, and made one of a party entertained at a
+brilliant f�te, given in honor of the event, on board the frigate
+Washington, at anchor in the Delaware, by Captain Reid, the commander.
+The magnificent brocade which she wore on this occasion, with its hooped
+petticoat, flowing train, laces, gimp, and flowers, remained in her
+wardrobe unaltered for many years. Mrs. Wilson was Martha Stewart,
+daughter of Col. Charles Stewart of New Jersey, who was a member of
+Washington's staff. At the age of seventeen she married Robert Wilson,
+also closely associated with Washington, and in the midst of the war she
+was left a widow. During the Revolution Mrs. Wilson was more favorably
+situated for observation and knowledge of significant movements and
+events than any other lady of her native state. Her father, at the head
+of an important department under the commander-in-chief, became
+familiarly acquainted with the principal officers of the army; and,
+headquarters being most of the time within twenty or thirty miles of
+her residence, she not only had constant communication in person and by
+letter with him, but frequently entertained at her house many of his
+military friends. General Washington himself, with whom she had been on
+terms of friendship since 1775, visited her at different times at her
+home in Hackettstown. Mrs. Washington also was several times the guest
+of Mrs. Wilson, both at her own house and at that of her father at
+Landsdown. Such was the liberality of Mrs. Wilson's patriotism that her
+gates on the public road bore in conspicuous characters the inscription,
+"Hospitality within to all American officers, and refreshment for their
+soldiers," an invitation which, on the regular route of communication
+between the northern and southern posts of the army, was often accepted.
+
+The hospitality which Mrs. Wilson had the privilege of extending to
+illustrious guests was returned by marked attentions to her daughter and
+only child, on her entrance into society in Philadelphia during the
+presidency of Washington. Mrs. Wilson was the object of much devotion on
+her own account at the capital, where her appearance was thus described
+by a lady of Philadelphia in a letter to a friend: "Mrs. Wilson looked
+charmingly this evening in a Brunswick robe of striped muslin, trimmed
+with spotted lawn; a beautiful handkerchief gracefully arranged at her
+neck; her hair becomingly craped and thrown into curls under a very
+elegant white bonnet, with green-leafed band, worn on one side." At the
+same time the debutante daughter, Margaretta Wilson, became a favorite
+with Mrs. Washington, who distinguished her with courtesies rarely shown
+to persons of her age. A contemporary letter describes her appearance at
+a drawing-room given by the President and Mrs. Washington: "Miss Wilson
+looked beautifully last night. She was in full dress, yet in elegant
+simplicity. She wore book muslin over white mantua, trimmed with broad
+lace round the neck; half sleeves of the same, also trimmed with lace;
+with white satin sash and slippers; her hair elegantly dressed in curls,
+without flowers, feathers or jewelry. Mrs. Moylan told me she was the
+handsomest person at the drawing room, and more admired than anyone
+there."[73]
+
+Such was the belle whom John Myer Bowers carried away as his bride to
+the wilds of Otsego, where, shortly afterward, at Lakelands, her mother
+also came to dwell. These two ladies, with their unusual experiences,
+added a new flavor to the life of Cooperstown.
+
+Eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers at Lakelands were girls. The
+father's hopeful anticipations were so well known in the community that
+when a son and heir, Henry J. Bowers, was born at last, in 1824, the
+event was signalized by the ringing of the village church bells in
+Cooperstown, the only birthday in the region that was ever honored by
+such a demonstration.
+
+John Myer Bowers, in his later years, was far from being the Beau
+Brummel of his youthful days in New York, and came to be known in the
+village as a distinct character, ruggedly determined not to yield to the
+infirmities of old age. When his physical strength began to fail he kept
+a horse constantly in harness and standing at the door of Lakelands that
+he might ride to and from the village. This horse, known as "Old Chap,"
+was a familiar figure on the road in those days, and faithful to his
+master to the advanced age of thirty-seven years.
+
+John M. Bowers died in the year 1846. His widow continued to occupy
+Lakelands until her death in 1872, and a daughter, Martha S. Bowers,
+continued the occupancy during her life. After the death of the latter
+Lakelands was sold in making division of the Bowers estate. Henry J.
+Bowers married in 1848 a daughter of William C. Crain, a prominent
+citizen of the adjoining county of Herkimer. She was a woman of large
+intellectual gifts and undaunted spirit, and personally undertook the
+education of their eldest son, John Myer Bowers, who sat on the floor
+before her, while the mother, book in hand, instilled into his mind the
+importance of the three R's, with much stress upon the principles of
+fidelity and loyalty as elements of success in business. At the age of
+sixteen years she sent him to New York to study law under one of the
+leading attorneys of that city. He became one of the foremost lawyers of
+the State, and a few years after its sale repurchased Lakelands, with
+its forty acres along lake and river, as his summer home. No native son
+of Cooperstown has had a more successful career than John M. Bowers. In
+1915 he won a verdict for Theodore Roosevelt in the celebrated trial at
+Syracuse in which suit for libel was brought against the former
+President of the United States by William Barnes, the proprietor of the
+_Albany Evening Journal_.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+LAKELANDS]
+
+A mansard roof was added to Lakelands at the period during which the
+property was out of the possession of the Bowers family, but the
+remainder of the house is of the original building, and the carved
+wooden doors and mantel-pieces within testify to the skill of old-time
+workmanship in Cooperstown. The wide stretches of lawn shaded by
+venerable trees, and the long sweep of lake shore commanded by Lakelands
+make it a charming country seat.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1801 George Pomeroy, a young man of twenty-two years, arrived from
+Albany, and set up in business as the first druggist in the village and
+county. His store stood on Main Street on the site of the present Clark
+Gymnasium. Some of the hardships of the early settlers to which history
+may only allude are suggested by a sign which hung in front of the drug
+store of Dr. Pomeroy, as he was called. This sign depicted a hand
+pointing to these words: "Itch cured for 2 cts. 4 cts. 6 cts. Unguentum.
+Walk in."
+
+Dr. Pomeroy had other talents beside his skill in chemistry, and soon
+became a popular citizen of the village, displaying one accomplishment
+that was perhaps not so rare then as now in being an expert in the
+exposition of the Bible. Dr. Pomeroy was not so absorbed in his Bible as
+to be indifferent to the heavenly qualities which radiated from the
+person of Ann Cooper, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the founder of
+the village, for it soon appeared that these two young people had formed
+a romantic attachment. In aspiring to the hand of the heiress Dr.
+Pomeroy could not promise to endow her with great riches, but he had a
+good name in being a grandson of General Seth Pomeroy who fought at
+Bunker Hill.
+
+It was as a wedding gift to his daughter, on her marriage to George
+Pomeroy in 1804, that Judge Cooper built the old stone house which
+stands at the corner of Main and River streets. It was the first stone
+house constructed in the village, and the peculiar herring-bone style in
+which the stone is laid lends to this old residence a quaint and unusual
+charm. Under the eastern gable of the house is wrought in stone a spread
+eagle, with the date of the building, and the initials of the young
+couple who began housekeeping there. The involved order of the
+initials--G. A. P. C.--the master-mason, Jamie Allen,[74] explained by
+saying that the lives, like the initials, of the bride and groom, should
+be so entwined as to make their union permanent. And so it proved, for
+they lived in peace and harmony to a great age. The house was for many
+years called "Deacon Place," Dr. Pomeroy being widely known as a deacon
+of the Presbyterian church, but in later times it was named "Pomeroy
+Place."
+
+Ten children were born to the first occupants of the old stone house,
+and it became one of the liveliest centres of hospitality to old and
+young in Cooperstown. Years afterward there were those whose mouths
+watered at the recollection of the dining-room in the southwest quarter
+of the house, where many a merry feast was held, with particularly fond
+memories of delicious light buckwheat cakes that came hot from the
+griddle through a sliding window connected with the kitchen.
+
+As years went on Mrs. Pomeroy became famous as a pattern of good works.
+In days when trained nurses were unknown, in almost every family when
+sickness came the first call was for "Aunt Pomeroy," who was by many
+considered wiser than the physicians. In the course of time the
+surviving children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy had homes and families
+of their own, and the old couple were left once more alone in the old
+stone house. Aunt Pomeroy's favorite place for receiving her friends was
+in the northeast corner room of the lower floor. There she was
+accustomed to sit in her rocking-chair, with her book, ordinarily a
+volume of sermons, or her knitting, usually a shawl to be sold for the
+benefit of missions to the heathen. She was fond of a game of whist, and
+her great-grandchildren once attempted to teach her to play euchre. She
+was getting on very well with the new game, until an opponent took her
+king in the trump suit with the right bower. She threw down her cards,
+exclaiming, "No more of a game where a jack takes a king!" She was
+always ready to receive visitors, of whom there were many, except at one
+hour of the day, which was sacred to an ancient pact between her husband
+and herself. Between the hours of five and six Aunt Pomeroy withdrew to
+her chamber, while Deacon Pomeroy, at his store, refused himself to
+customers, and retired to his private office, so that each devoted the
+same space of time to a secluded reading of the Bible.
+
+The old couple were not permitted to end their days in the house which
+had been made a kind of symbol of their married happiness, and which
+they had occupied for nearly half a century. Late in life, owing to
+financial losses, Mrs. Pomeroy was compelled to sell the property. The
+aged pair closed the wooden shutters at the windows, fastened the door
+behind them, and descended the steps of the old stone house, never to
+return.
+
+[Illustration: _J. Patzig_
+
+POMEROY PLACE]
+
+Mrs. Pomeroy passed her later years at Edgewater, the home of her
+grandson. Her death was typical of her life of piety. On a certain
+afternoon seventy-five women were assembled for Lenten sewing. After
+greeting them all in the drawing-room Aunt Pomeroy ascended the stairs
+to her room, stretched herself upon the bed, and quietly drew her last
+breath. In accordance with the old custom the clock in the death-chamber
+was stopped, and a sheet was drawn over the mirror. Down stairs the
+rector of the parish read a prayer, and the women filed out of the house
+in silence.
+
+Pomeroy Place was not permanently lost to the family for which it was
+originally built. When the centennial of the building was celebrated in
+1904, the house had already returned to its first estate, having been
+purchased by the granddaughter of the original owners, Mrs. George Stone
+Benedict, who with her daughter, Clare Benedict, came to occupy it as
+their American home between journeys abroad.
+
+Mrs. Benedict's sister, Constance Fenimore Woolson, who made many summer
+visits in Cooperstown, may be said to have drawn her original literary
+inspiration from this region, for Otsego appears in her first work, "The
+Haunted Lake," published in December, 1871, in _Harper's Magazine_,
+while Pomeroy Place itself is commemorated in one of her earliest
+productions, "The Old Stone House." From this period till her death in
+1893 the sketches, poems, and novels that came from Miss Woolson's pen
+reached such a level of literary art that Edmund Clarence Stedman called
+her one of the leading women in the American literature of the century.
+Miss Woolson spent the latter years of her life in Europe, changing her
+residence frequently. Gracefully impulsive and independent, she had a
+gypsy instinct for the roving life of liberty out-of-doors; yet in
+character and demeanor she was so serenely poised, so self-contained,
+with such inviolable reserve and dignity, that she was, as Stedman put
+it, "like old lace."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One of the most remarkable men of early times in Cooperstown was Elihu
+Phinney, publisher of the _Otsego Herald_, who had brought his presses
+and type here in the winter of 1795, breaking a track through the snow
+of the wilderness with six teams of horses. The first number of the
+_Otsego Herald, or Western Advertiser_, a weekly journal, appeared on
+the third day of April. This was the second newspaper published in the
+State, west of Albany, and its title shows that Cooperstown was then
+regarded as belonging to the far west of civilization. Like all
+newspapers of that period, the early files of the _Otsego Herald_ appear
+to the modern reader to be singularly lacking in local news, and only
+the rarest mention of what was going on in Cooperstown is to be found in
+its faded pages. There is much of the news of Europe, and the political
+news of America admits the printing in full of long speeches delivered
+in Congress, but the happenings in Cooperstown seem to have been left to
+the tongues of village gossips, and the advertising columns stand almost
+alone in reflecting the daily life of the place.
+
+Elihu Phinney was a great favorite in the village, being a man of
+delightful social qualities, and distinguished for his remarkable wit
+and satire. His bookstore in Cooperstown furnished a large section of
+the country with an elemental literature, and with many historical
+works. A year after his arrival he was made associate judge of the
+county. It was in the printing office of Judge Phinney that Fenimore
+Cooper, when a boy, was in the habit of setting type "for fun," which
+experience he afterward stated was very useful to him in the oversight
+of the typographical production of his writings. On the overthrow of
+John Adams's administration Judge Phinney changed the political policy
+of his newspaper, _The Otsego Herald_, and became a supporter of Thomas
+Jefferson, in opposition to the views of his patron, Judge Cooper, who
+remained a Federalist. It was this breach of political friendship which
+brought to Cooperstown Col. John H. Prentiss, who came from the office
+of the _New York Evening Post_, in 1808, to conduct a newspaper in
+opposition to _The Otsego Herald_. Thus came into being _The Impartial
+Observer_, which shortly changed its name to _The Cooperstown
+Federalist_, and in 1828 became _The Freeman's Journal_, under which
+name it is still published.
+
+Judge Phinney founded a bookselling and publishing business which,
+through his sons and grandsons, was carried on in Cooperstown for the
+better part of a century after its establishment. His place of business
+was on the east side of Pioneer Street, next south of the building that
+stands at the corner of Main Street, and the present building on the
+original site of their enterprise was erected by the Phinneys in 1849.
+
+The Phinney establishment became famous for original methods of
+conducting business. Large wagons were ingeniously constructed to serve
+as locomotive bookstores. They had movable tops and counters, and their
+shelves were stocked with hundreds of varieties of books. Traveling
+agents drove these wagons to many villages where books were scarcely
+attainable otherwise. The Erie Canal opened even more remote fields of
+enterprise. The Phinneys had a canal boat fitted up as a floating
+bookstore, which carried a variety beyond that found in the ordinary
+village, anchoring in winter at one of the largest towns on the Erie
+Canal. Up to the year 1849, when the publishing department was moved to
+Buffalo, and only a bookstore remained of the Phinney enterprise in
+Cooperstown, their efforts had built up in this village a large
+publishing business, while they stocked and maintained the largest
+bookstores in towns as far away as Utica, Buffalo, and Detroit. As early
+as 1820 their stereotype foundry in Cooperstown had cast a set of plates
+for a quarto family Bible, one of the first ever made in the United
+States, and of which some 200,000 copies were printed. Later they
+published Fenimore Cooper's _Naval History_, Col. Stone's _Life of
+Brant_, several volumes by Rev. Jacob and John S. C. Abbott which were
+household favorites for a generation afterward, not to mention many
+school text-books and histories.
+
+The occasion which caused the removal of this publishing business from
+the village arose out of the discontent of some workmen whose services
+were dispensed with when new power presses were substituted for
+hand-work in printing. The entire manufactory was burned at night by
+incendiaries in the spring of 1849.
+
+Elihu Phinney, the founder of the business, was the originator in 1796
+of _Phinney's Calendar, or Western Almanac_, which was known in every
+household of the region, for some three score years and ten. The weather
+predictions in this calendar were always gravely consulted. In one year
+it happened, through a typographical displacement, that snow was
+predicted for the fourth of July. When the glorious Fourth arrived the
+thermometer dropped below the freezing point, and snow actually fell, a
+circumstance which greatly increased the already reverent regard for
+Phinney's Almanac.
+
+A quaint character who established himself in the village before the
+coming of Elihu Phinney was Dr. Nathaniel Gott. He was a man of fiery
+spirit. When Dr. Gott's patients, on being restored to health, seemed
+inclined to forget their indebtedness to him, he threatened them with
+chastisement, and published the following rhymed notice in the _Otsego
+Herald_:
+
+     Says Dr. Gott,
+     I'll tell you what,
+     I'm called on hot,
+     All round the Ot-
+     -Segonian plot,
+     To pay my shot
+     For pill and pot.
+     If you don't trot
+     Up to the spot,
+     And ease my lot,
+     You'll smell it hot.
+
+     NATHANIEL GOTT.
+
+Dr. Gott was an eccentric. He wore short breeches, with long stockings,
+and always ate his meals from a wooden trencher. Among a company of
+village men enjoying a convivial evening at the tavern a contest of wit
+and satire arose between Dr. Gott and Elihu Phinney who had become warm
+friends. Finally it was proposed that each should compose an impromptu
+epitaph for the other. In the epitaph which he improvised for Judge
+Phinney Dr. Gott, adapting the conceit of the schoolmen, made out Judge
+Phinney's soul to be so small that thousands of such could dance on the
+point of a cambric needle. Judge Phinney retorted with the following:
+
+     Beneath this turf doth stink and rot
+       The body of old Dr. Gott;
+     Now earth is eased and hell is pleased,
+       Since Satan hath his carcass seized.
+
+Amid shouts of laughter from the onlookers, Dr. Gott, turning jest into
+earnest, strode from the tavern, and his friendship for Judge Phinney
+was ended.
+
+The town pump stood on the north side of Main Street a few rods east of
+Chestnut street. Its former position is now marked by a tablet set in
+the sidewalk. On the corner west of the pump Daniel Olendorf kept a
+tavern. He was a small man, and very lame from a stiff knee. The muscles
+of the leg were contracted, making it considerably shorter than the
+other. At one time he was leading a lame horse through the street, when
+a little dog came following on behind, holding up one leg and limping
+along on the other three. The sight caused no little merriment along the
+street when the lame man, the lame horse, and the lame dog were seen
+marching in procession. Olendorf, wondering at the cause of so much
+amusement, looked back and saw the uninvited follower. He picked up a
+stone, and flung it at the dog, exclaiming, "Get along home; there is
+limping enough here without you, you little lame cuss, coming limping
+after us!"
+
+Young James Cooper, afterward the novelist, had left the village when a
+young lad to be tutored by the rector of St. Peter's, Albany, and
+thereafter spent little of his boyhood in Cooperstown. After his
+uncompleted course at Yale, and a year's cruise at sea, he returned for
+a time, in 1807, to his village home, being then a youth of eighteen
+years. To this period belongs the incident of his participation in a
+foot-race among some of his former companions in the village. The
+racecourse agreed upon was around the central square, that is, beginning
+at the intersection of Main and Pioneer streets, at the Red Lion Inn,
+the runners were to go up Pioneer Street to Church Street, thence to
+River Street, down River Street to Main, and so back to the place of
+starting.
+
+James Cooper was mentioned as one of the competitors, and his antagonist
+was selected. The prize was a basket of fruit. Cooper accepted the
+challenge, but not on even terms. It was not enough for the young sailor
+to outrun the landsman; he would do more. Among many spectators Cooper
+caught sight of a little girl. He caught her up in his arms, exclaiming,
+"I'll carry her with me and beat you!" Thus the race began, the little
+black-eyed girl clutching Cooper's shoulders. As the contestants rushed
+up Pioneer Street, and turned the corner where the Universalist church
+now stands, the amused and excited villagers saw with surprise that the
+sailor with his burden was keeping pace with the other flying youth.
+Around the square the runners turned the next two corners almost
+abreast. After rounding the corner of the Old Stone House, as they came
+up the main street toward the goal Cooper, bearing the little girl
+aloft, gave a burst of speed, amid wild cheers, drew away from his
+opponent, and won the race. The basket of fruit was his, which he
+distributed among the spectators, and the little girl, afterward the
+wife of Capt. William Wilson, long lived in the village to tell the
+story of her ride upon James Cooper's shoulders.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 72: The _Otsego Herald_ of Jan. 14, 1796, contained a notice
+of warning issued by Henry Bowers against persons who had been cutting
+down trees "on my patent, in Newtown Martin."]
+
+[Footnote 73: _The Women of the Revolution_, Elizabeth F. Ellet,
+published in 1850, pp. 37-67.]
+
+[Footnote 74: A skillful builder and noted character, commemorated by
+Fenimore Cooper in _Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll_.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PIONEER COURT ROOM
+
+
+In the fore part of the nineteenth century, when public amusements were
+few, the people of Cooperstown found a pleasant relaxation from the hard
+tasks of pioneer life in attending the trial of suits at law in the
+court house. Here were large crowds of interested spectators, and the
+matters of litigation were widely discussed in the taverns and homes of
+the village. Cooperstown, as the county seat, was the chief battle
+ground of an endless warfare among the lawyers of the region, and the
+forensic struggles of the first twenty years of the century developed an
+array of legal talent in Otsego county which gained the reputation of
+being the ablest in the State west of the Hudson. In those days the best
+lawyers were orators, and some were actors who would have done credit to
+the dramatic profession. The public had its favorites among them, and
+their names were known in every household. The trial practice of that
+day was a keen encounter of wits between men of high native talent who
+perfectly understood each other's motives, and showed infinite
+dexterity in twisting facts and arguments to serve their purposes.[75]
+
+[Illustration: AMBROSE L. JORDAN]
+
+The ablest lawyer in the county from 1813 to 1820, when he removed to
+Hudson, was Ambrose L. Jordan, who began his career in Cooperstown in
+partnership with Col. Farrand Stranahan. Jordan was a commanding figure,
+six feet tall, slim and graceful in figure; blue eyes that were at once
+keen and kindly added lustre to the impression produced by the
+sensitive features of his countenance. He had a profusion of brown curls
+and a complexion as fine as a woman's. Dignified and courtly in manner,
+he was as brilliant in conversation as he was impressive and powerful as
+an orator. In natural eloquence Jordan was a man of the first rank.
+Added to this he was a close student, and prepared his cases with great
+care. He had great powers of endurance, and in long trials always
+appeared fresh and strong after other advocates were exhausted. In his
+pleadings before a jury he used every resource at his command, indulging
+in flights of oratory that kindled the imagination, dazzling his hearers
+with rhetorical tropes and figures, at times humorous and playful, with
+a tendency to personal allusion most uncomfortable for his opponent.
+Jordan was terrible in sarcasm. One Asbury Newman, a poor, worthless,
+drunken fellow, ever ready to testify on either side for a drink of
+whiskey, was brought upon the witness stand. Jordan knew his man. After
+exhibiting his character in its true light, ringing all the changes upon
+his worthlessness, and ridiculing his opponent for bringing him there,
+he closed by saying, "Gentlemen of the jury, I will convince you that
+this degenerate specimen of humanity is not the son of the saintly and
+exemplary Elder Asbury Newman, but that he is the legitimate son of
+Beelzebub the prince of devils. He is an eyesore to his father, a sore
+eye to his mother, a vagabond upon earth, and a most damnable liar!"
+Poor Asbury never appeared in court as a witness afterwards.[76]
+
+Jordan would never submit to being imposed upon by sharp practice. On
+one occasion, as he was returning homeward in the early evening from the
+trial of a case in a neighboring village, his wagon broke down. There
+was some snow on the ground, and a farmer in a lumber sleigh was gliding
+by, when Jordan requested his assistance to reach Cooperstown, some five
+miles away. The two put the broken wagon on the sleigh, and leading the
+disengaged horse, drove on to Jordan's home. No bargain had been made,
+and when, at the journey's end, Jordan inquired what he should pay, the
+sharp farmer named a most extortionate sum. Jordan then declared that
+the pay demanded was three times as much as the service was worth; yet
+rather than have any hard feeling about the matter he would pay double
+price: but more he would not pay. The offer was refused, and the farmer
+departed, breathing threats.
+
+Within a few days a summons was served on Jordan to appear before a
+justice who was a near neighbor and friend of the farmer. On the trial
+the justice gave judgment for the plaintiff for the full amount of the
+claim, and costs. As soon as the law would permit, execution was issued
+on this judgment, and placed in the hands of a deputy sheriff for
+collection.
+
+Jordan managed to have information of the coming of the officer to
+collect this judgment. His law partner, Col. Stranahan, was the owner of
+a handsome gold watch and chain, which for that occasion Jordan
+borrowed, and hung up conspicuously from a nail on the front of the desk
+at which he was writing, in the little office building which then stood
+on Main Street, near Jordan's home.
+
+When the officer entered, saying that he had an execution against him,
+Jordan asserted that he did not intend to pay it.
+
+"Then," said the officer, "my duty requires me to levy on your property,
+and I shall take this,"--at the same time taking the watch, and putting
+it into his pocket.
+
+"My friend," said Jordan, "I advise you to put back the watch. If you do
+not, you will get yourself into trouble."
+
+The deputy was obdurate, however, and left the office, taking with him
+the watch. With all possible expedition a writ and other papers in a
+replevin suit were prepared for an action of Stranahan against the
+deputy sheriff. The sheriff of the county was found, the replevin writ
+put into his hands, which he at once served on the deputy, took back the
+watch and delivered it to the owner. The deputy sheriff called on the
+farmer to indemnify him in the replevin suit, which he felt compelled to
+do. The result of the affair, which was soon arrived at, was this: the
+plaintiff succeeded in the replevin suit, the costs of which amounted to
+over one hundred dollars. The judgment obtained by the extortionate
+farmer was about twenty dollars, and he finally had to pay over to
+Jordan, as Stranahan's attorney, the difference between these sums.[77]
+
+When Ambrose Jordan began the practice of law in Cooperstown he planted
+an elm tree on Chestnut Street in front of his home, at the northwest
+corner of Main Street. This elm, grown to mighty proportions, celebrated
+its one hundredth birthday in 1913. Within a few paces of the corner,
+facing on Main Street, and in the rear of the dwelling which fronts
+Chestnut Street, stood the small building that Jordan occupied as an
+office. This is one of the few remaining examples of the detached law
+offices which were common in Cooperstown, as in other villages, in early
+days, and often stood in the dooryard of a lawyer's residence.[78]
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+JORDAN'S HOME, AND HIS LAW OFFICE]
+
+Jordan's partner, Col. Stranahan, was less conspicuous as a lawyer than
+as a soldier and politician. He was in command of a regiment throughout
+the War of 1812, and received official commendation for gallantry. On
+his record for military service and personal popularity he was elected
+senator, from what was then known as the Western District, in 1814, and
+again in 1823. During this period he became the recognized leader of the
+Otsego Democracy. Stranahan was a poor man, and his official service was
+rendered at the sacrifice of his law practice. When Cooperstown
+celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our national independence, Col.
+Stranahan, because of his debts, was a prisoner in the county jail. A
+multitude of people from every part of the county had gathered in
+Cooperstown, and among the guests of honor were two old friends of
+Stranahan, Alvan Stewart and Levi Beardsley of Cherry Valley, the former
+being the orator of the day. Stewart and Beardsley, greatly distressed
+that, on an occasion devoted to the celebration of liberty, Stranahan
+should be in jail, went to the sheriff and gave their word to indemnify
+him, if he would bring his prisoner to the celebration. Accordingly
+Stranahan came, closely attended by the sheriff, and, after the
+oration, dined with the celebrating party. After the drinking of many
+toasts, toward evening the sheriff wished to return with his prisoner to
+the jail. By this time the party was in a merry mood, and full of the
+spirit of independence. The sheriff had some difficulty in persuading
+the banqueters to permit him to withdraw Stranahan from the festivities.
+Finally it was decided that if Stranahan must return to jail it should
+be with an escort of honor, and a group under the leadership of Stewart,
+Beardsley, and Judge Morell agreed to perform this duty. On reaching the
+jail the members of the escort were seized by another freak of fancy,
+and insisted upon being locked up with Stranahan. The sheriff having
+complied with their wishes, the prisoners soon tired of their
+confinement without further refreshment, and sent for the plaintiff
+against Stranahan to come to the jail. This being done they affected a
+compromise with him, by which he agreed to cancel a part of the debt if
+Stranahan's friends would each pay him twenty dollars. Thus Stranahan
+was released in triumph, and the rest of the night was passed in
+celebrating the event.[79]
+
+Ambrose L. Jordan's chief rival among the lawyers of Otsego county was
+his neighbor Samuel Starkweather, a man of great physical and mental
+power. He was in many ways to be contrasted with Jordan, more strongly
+built, swarthy, having dark eyes and hair, with a massive head set upon
+broad shoulders, and every feature of his face indicative of strong will
+and energetic action. Somewhat less of an orator than Jordan,
+Starkweather equalled him in close logical reasoning.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+THE HOME OF ROBERT CAMPBELL]
+
+At the beginning of the century John Russell, Elijah H. Metcalf, and
+Robert Campbell were resident in Cooperstown. Russell was the second
+member of Congress to be elected from the place. Col. Metcalf served two
+years in the legislature of the State. Campbell, of the well-known
+Cherry Valley family, built for his residence in 1807 the house which
+still stands on Lake Street facing the length of Chestnut Street. He was
+a man of stout build, with a full face, slightly retiring forehead, a
+trifle bald, urbane and unassuming in deportment. As a pleader at the
+bar he was only moderately eloquent, but he was popularly designated far
+and near as "the honest lawyer," and his advice was not only much sought
+but implicitly relied upon. In a period not much devoted to the
+amenities of legal procedure one member of this group of lawyers, George
+Morell, made a reputation not so much as an advocate as for his
+faultless diction and polished manners.
+
+On the other hand, Alvan Stewart of Cherry Valley was the clown of the
+court room, and to such good purpose that the ablest lawyers of
+Cooperstown dreaded him as an opponent. He was a master of absurd wit
+and ridicule. In Proctor's _Bench and Bar_ he is referred to as "one of
+the most powerful adversaries that ever stood before a jury." He was not
+a profound lawyer, and seems never to have studied the arrangement of
+his cases, nor to have bestowed any care in preparation for their
+presentation, but his mind was richly furnished with thoughts upon every
+subject which came up for discussion in the progress of a trial, and his
+illustrations, although unusual and grotesque were strikingly
+appropriate. His greatest power lay in that he could be humorous or
+pathetic, acrimonious or conciliating, denouncing the theories,
+testimony and pleas of the opposition in lofty declamation, and almost
+in the same breath convulsing his audience, the court and jury included,
+by the most laughable exhibitions of ridicule and burlesque.[80]
+
+A case in which Alvan Stewart opposed Samuel Starkweather was long
+afterward famous in Cooperstown.[81] The case was an important one, and
+was brought to a climax when the logical and serious Starkweather began
+summing up for the defense. While he was speaking Stewart took a
+position so as to gaze continually into the face of his opponent,
+evidently with the intention of disconcerting him, and of distracting
+the attention of the jury. Starkweather was not a little irritated at
+Stewart's absurd look and attitude. In spite of this, however, he
+grappled with the strong points at issue, and elucidated them with
+telling logic in his own favor; he kept the closest attention of the
+jury, producing conviction in the justice of his position; and took his
+seat well satisfied that he would have a favorable verdict. In his
+closing words Starkweather made some allusion to Stewart's staring eyes,
+and cautioned the jury against being influenced by the well-known
+absurdities which he was wont to introduce.
+
+Stewart in the mean time sat with a pompously assumed calmness and
+dignity, like a turkey cock beside his brooding mate before awaking the
+dawn with his matin gobbling. After a time he began to gather himself
+up, and slowly lengthened out to his full height, about six feet four.
+His blue frock coat thrown back upon his shoulders sat loosely around
+him. His arms hanging down beside him like useless appendages to a
+statue; his white waistcoat all open except one or two buttons at the
+bottom; his white necktie wound carelessly about his neck; his shirt
+collar wide open; his face a kind of oblong quadrilateral containing
+features grotesquely drawn downward; his eyes, large and prominent, so
+turned as to show most of the sclerotic white of the eyeballs,--all were
+combined to present the buffoon in his utmost burlesque of himself.
+
+Alvan Stewart's first movement was to turn his head and roll his eyes so
+as to fix the attention of his audience, who were ever ready to laugh
+when his lips opened, whether wit or folly came from them. Then, with an
+awkward bow, he paid his respects to the court, and, turning to the
+jury, commenced:
+
+"It appears, gentlemen of the jury, from the remarks of the opposing
+counsel," here turning to Starkweather, "that my _eyes_ constitute the
+principal thing at issue"--pausing a moment, then turning again to the
+jury,--"in the cause pending before us. They are the same eyes that my
+Maker fashioned for me, and I have used them continually ever since I
+was a b-o-y,"--drawing the last word out with a deep guttural
+voice,--"and this is the first time that I have ever heard their
+legitimacy questioned." He then went on to compare his eyes to two full
+moons rising upon the scene, a phenomenon made necessary to dispel a
+little of the darkness that, under the pretence of light and justice,
+had been ingeniously thrown around the cause they were to decide. For a
+full half hour this rambling burlesque was continued, with a manner of
+delivery indescribably ludicrous, only now and then touching upon the
+cause on trial, and then only to fling ridicule upon some of the points
+previously argued for the defendant.
+
+During all this time the spectators were shaking with laughter, while
+the jury and even the judge had to press their lips to retain their
+gravity, and were not always successful. More than once Stewart was
+interrupted by Starkweather for bringing in matters not related to the
+subject under litigation, or for making statements not warranted by the
+facts. Stewart stood blinking at him until he had finished, then turned
+beseechingly to the judge; when the decision was against him he struck
+out into some other line of buffoonery equally grotesque. In conclusion
+he came down to argumentation, bringing his logic to bear upon the few
+points that he had not involved with absurdities, and sat down in
+triumph.
+
+When the verdict had been rendered in Stewart's favor, Starkweather
+strode forth from the court room in a rage, muttering fierce
+imprecations against a man who was capable of overmatching reason and
+justice by low buffoonery.
+
+But none could be long angry at Stewart. He had no personal enmities and
+no enemies. Later in life he became an anti-slavery agitator and
+temperance lecturer pledged to total abstinence, the latter a much
+needed measure of reform in the case of Alvan Stewart.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 75: _Noted Men of Otsego during the Early Years_, Walter H.
+Bunn, Address at the Cooperstown Centennial.]
+
+[Footnote 76: _Random Sketches of Fifty, Sixty and More Years Ago_,
+Richard Fry, in the _Freeman's Journal_, 1878.]
+
+[Footnote 77: _History of Otsego County_, 1878, p. 283.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Moved to the north of the residence, 1917.]
+
+[Footnote 79: _Reminiscences_, Levi Beardsley, 223.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Walter H. Bunn.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Richard Fry.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+FATHER NASH
+
+
+The saintly life and strange personal charm of the Rev. Daniel Nash, the
+first rector of Christ Church, made a deep impression upon the village
+of Cooperstown in its early days; and the wide range of his apostolic
+labors as a missionary gave him a singular fame, during half a century,
+throughout Otsego county, and far beyond its borders. The grave of
+Father Nash is in Christ churchyard, marked by the tallest of the
+monuments along the driveway, at a spot which he himself had chosen for
+his burial.
+
+Daniel Nash was born in Massachusetts at Great Barrington (then called
+Housatonic) May 28, 1763.[82] At the age of twenty-two years he was
+graduated at Yale in the same class with Noah Webster. He was originally
+Presbyterian in his doctrinal belief, and in polity was sympathetic with
+the Congregational denomination, of which he was a member. But within
+ten years after his graduation from college Daniel Nash became a
+communicant of the Episcopal Church and began to study for Holy Orders.
+It was one of the quaint sayings attributed to him in later years that
+"you may bray a Presbyterian as with a pestle in a mortar, and you
+cannot get all of his Presbyterianism out of him," and when asked how he
+accounted for his own experience, "I was caught young," he would reply.
+
+Through the influence of the Rev. Dr. Daniel Burhans, who had made
+several missionary tours through Otsego and adjoining counties, Nash
+became fired with zeal for missionary work in this romantic and
+adventurous field. In 1797, having taken deacon's orders, he was
+accompanied to Otsego by his bride of a little more than a year, who was
+Olive Lusk, described as "an amiable lady of benignant mind and placid
+manners," the daughter of an intimate friend of his father. They made
+their first home at Exeter, in Otsego, and the early ministerial acts of
+Daniel Nash were divided between Exeter and Morris, about eighteen miles
+distant.[83]
+
+The missionary zeal of Daniel Nash was so intense that he was unable to
+comprehend lukewarmness in such a cause. The first bishop of the diocese
+of New York, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, belonged to a type of
+ecclesiastical life that was characteristic of the century then closing.
+Orthodox, scholarly, not ungenuinely religious, a gentleman of lofty
+aims and distinguished manners, Bishop Provoost charmingly entertained
+at his New York residence the rugged missionary of Otsego who came to
+report to him, but he was quite unable to enter into a missionary
+enthusiasm that appeared to him fanatical, or to understand the
+character of an educated man who lived by choice among the people of
+rude settlements and untamed forests. Nash was so indignant at the
+attitude of his chief that he resolved not to receive from his hands the
+ordination to the priesthood, and it was not until the autumn of 1801,
+shortly after the consecration of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore as
+coadjutor bishop of New York, that he became a priest.
+
+As the result of tireless labor, of much travel through difficult
+regions, by the maintenance of divine services at many outposts, Father
+Nash was able little by little to establish self-supporting church
+organizations throughout Otsego and the neighboring region. In 1801 Zion
+Church was built at Morris. Eight years later Father Nash organized St.
+Matthew's parish at Unadilla, and in 1811 completed the formal
+organization of Christ Church parish in Cooperstown, where the church
+building had been erected in 1807-10, and where Father Nash now came to
+be in partial residence as rector during seven years.[84]
+
+Aside from these parishes which so soon became permanently established
+this extraordinary man was regularly or occasionally visiting and
+shepherding the people of many other settlements. In Otsego county,
+besides giving pastoral attention to Exeter, Morris, Unadilla, and
+Cooperstown, he held services and preached--to name them in the order
+of his first visits--in Richfield, Springfield, and Cherry Valley;
+Westford and Milford; Edmeston, Burlington, and Hartwick; Fly Creek and
+Burlington Flats; Laurens, LeRoy (now Schuyler's Lake), Hartwick Hill,
+and Worcester; New Lisbon and Richfield Springs. In Chenango county,
+after the establishment of the church in New Berlin, he officiated at
+Sherburne and Mount Upton. Beyond these points he extended his work to
+Windsor and Colesville in Broome county; to Franklin and Stamford in
+Delaware county; to Canajoharie and Warren in Montgomery county; to
+Lebanon in Madison county; to Paris, Verona, Oneida Castle, Oneida, and
+New Hartford, in Oneida county; to Cape Vincent on Lake Ontario in
+Jefferson county; and to Ogdensburg in St. Lawrence county, one hundred
+and fifty miles to the north of the missionary's Otsego home.[85] Such
+was the field of the priest who officially reported each year to the
+convention of the diocese of New York as "Rector of the churches in
+Otsego county."
+
+Here belongs the story of an unusual coincidence. From 1816 to 1831
+there lived, in the same general region of New York State, within one
+hundred miles of the apostle of Otsego, another well known Christian
+minister whose surname was Nash, whose only Christian name was
+Daniel--the Rev. Daniel Nash,--always known, by a title which popular
+affection had bestowed on him, as "Father" Nash. To the people of Otsego
+and Chenango counties the name of Father Nash was a household word,
+while to the residents of Lewis and Jefferson counties the same name
+signified quite a different person. It is curious that no chronicle of
+either region betrays any contemporary knowledge of the coincidence.
+Each prophet was honored in his own country, and unknown in the
+stronghold of the other. This is the more strange, since their paths
+almost crossed in the year 1817, when the two men of identical name,
+title, and profession were within forty-five miles of each other, one
+being resident as pastor of the Stow's Square church, three miles north
+of Lowville in Lewis county, while the Otsego missionary was holding
+services at Verona in Oneida county. At different times they traversed
+the same counties: it was in 1816 that the Otsego missionary made tours
+in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties; the other Father Nash is known
+to have visited these counties eight years later.[86]
+
+The series of coincidences is made more singular by the fact that each
+Father Nash had married a wife whose first name was Olive, so that not
+only were both men called Father Nash, but the wife, after the custom of
+that day, in each case was addressed as Mrs. Olive Nash.
+
+Aside from these remarkable identities the two men were quite
+dissimilar. Both were natives of Massachusetts, but the Otsego Nash came
+from the extreme west of that State, the other from the farthest east.
+Both originally belonged to the Congregational denomination, but the
+Otsego Nash had become a priest of the Episcopal Church, while the other
+was a Presbyterian minister. The Presbyterian Nash was a famous
+revivalist. The Otsego missionary detested revivals. He said that the
+converts "reminded him of little humble-bees, which are rather larger
+when hatched than they are sometimes afterwards."
+
+There is something almost mysterious in the figure of this second Father
+Nash rising from the mist of bygone years, and one is quite prepared to
+read of him[87] that he went forth to labor for souls with a double
+black veil before his face, like the minister in Hawthorne's weird tale
+whose congregation was terrified by the "double fold of crape, hanging
+down from his forehead to his mouth, and slightly stirring with his
+breath." Three miles north of Lowville in Lewis county, in Stow's Square
+churchyard, a marble shaft eight feet high, conspicuous from almost any
+point in the country which stretches away to the Adirondack wilderness,
+commemorates, in connection with the church that he erected there, the
+Father Nash who labored in Lewis and Jefferson counties, and in an
+obscure cemetery, not far distant, a modest headstone marks his grave.
+
+Returning to the story of Cooperstown's Father Nash, no estimate of his
+work can fail to take into account the character of the field in which
+he labored. When he came to this region the country, while partially
+settled, was mostly a wilderness. The difficulties of travel were great.
+The manner of life among pioneers was crude. Bishop Philander Chase
+visited Otsego county in 1799, and gives a vivid impression of the more
+than apostolic simplicity of Father Nash's surroundings.[88] The Bishop
+found the missionary living in a cabin of unhewn logs, into which he had
+recently moved, and from which he was about to remove to another,
+equally poor, inhabiting with his family a single room, which contained
+all his worldly goods, and driving nails into the walls to make his
+wardrobe. The bishop assisted the missionary in his moving, and
+describes how they walked the road together, carrying a basket of
+crockery between them, and "talked of the things pertaining to the
+Kingdom of God."
+
+In his missionary journeys Father Nash rode on horseback from place to
+place, often carrying one of his children, and Mrs. Nash with another in
+her arms behind him on the horse's back, for she was greatly useful in
+the music and responses of the services.
+
+Father Nash held services punctually according to previous appointment,
+but they were sometimes strangely interrupted. The terror of wolves had
+not been banished from Otsego, and on one occasion, at Richfield, the
+entire congregation disappeared in pursuit of a huge bear that had
+suddenly alarmed the neighborhood.[89] The bear was captured, and
+furnished a supper of which the congregation partook in the evening.
+While the bear hunt had spoiled his sermon, Father Nash cheerfully
+asserted that it was a Christian deed to destroy so dangerous a brute
+even on a Sunday, and a venial offense against the canons of the Church.
+It is further related that Father Nash ate so much bear steak, on this
+occasion, as to make him quite ill.
+
+Although Fenimore Cooper was usually loath to admit that any character
+in his novels was drawn from life, Father Nash was generally recognized
+as the original of the Rev. Mr. Grant in the novel descriptive of
+Cooperstown which appeared under the title of _The Pioneers_. If this
+identification be justified, it must be said that while the author of
+the _Leather-Stocking Tales_ has well represented the genuine piety of
+his model, he has disguised him as a rather anaemic and depressing
+person. Father Nash was a man of rugged health, six feet in height, full
+in figure, over two hundred pounds in weight, of fresh and fair
+complexion, wearing a wig of longish hair parted in the middle, and
+dressed always, as circumstances permitted, with a strict regard for
+neatness.
+
+[Illustration: FATHER NASH]
+
+The only original portrait of Father Nash now remaining, from which all
+the extant engravings were taken, hangs in the sacristy of Christ
+Church. This portrait was given to the church in 1910, when the parish
+centennial was celebrated, by Father Nash's granddaughter, Mrs. Anna
+Marie Holland, of Saginaw, Michigan, and his great grandson, Harry C.
+Nash, of Buffalo. Mrs. Holland related a quaint incident concerning the
+portrait as connected with her own childhood. As it hung in her father's
+house, she used to be both annoyed and terrified at the manner in which
+the eyes of the portrait followed her about the room with persistent
+and, as she thought, reproving gaze. Especially when she had been guilty
+of some childish prank, the silent reproach in her grandfather's eyes
+was intolerable. One day she climbed upon a chair before the portrait,
+and with a pin attempted to blind the eyes. The pin pricks are still
+visible upon the canvas.
+
+At three score years and ten Father Nash looked upon the bright side of
+everything, being full of anecdote and humor, and appeared to have more
+of the simplicity and vivacity of youth than men who were thirty years
+his junior. One who saw him at this period of life attributed the old
+missionary's health and vigor in part to his great cheerfulness.[90]
+
+The slightest sketch of Father Nash would be incomplete without some
+reference to the story of his answer to a farmer who asked him what he
+fed his lambs. "Catechism," replied Father Nash, "catechism!" And behind
+the smile that followed this homely sally the analyst of character would
+have seen the earnest purpose of his mission to the children of Otsego
+which was one of the sublime secrets of his ministry.
+
+In the history of Western New York Father Nash of Otsego deserves a
+place of honor among the foremost pioneers. Wherever the most
+adventurous men were found pushing westward the frontier of
+civilization, there was Father Nash, uplifting the standard of the
+Church. Not only had he courage and energy; he displayed remarkable
+foresight in his manner of laying foundations. Of the Episcopal churches
+in the Otsego region the greater number were established by him, and
+most of them flourish at the present time.
+
+"No Otsego pioneer deserves honor more," says Halsey, in _The Old New
+York Frontier_, "not the road builder or leveler of forests, not the men
+who fought against Brant and the Tories. To none of these, in so large a
+degree, can we apply with such full measure of truth the sayings that no
+man liveth himself, and that his works do follow him."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 82: _Lives of Phelps and Nash_, John N. Norton.]
+
+[Footnote 83: _History of Zion Church Parish, Morris_, by Katherine M.
+Sanderson, p. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 84: _Historic Records of Christ Church, Cooperstown_, G.
+Pomeroy Keese.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Reports of Rev. Daniel Nash to New York Convention,
+1803-1827.]
+
+[Footnote 86: For The Otsego Nash see Reports of Daniel Nash to New York
+Conventions. For the other see _Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney_, New
+York, A. S. Barnes and Co., 1876, pp. 52, 70, 117.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Finney, _Memoirs_, p. 70.]
+
+[Footnote 88: _Bishop Chase's Reminiscences_, Vol. I, p. 33.]
+
+[Footnote 89: _Reminiscences_, Levi Beardsley, p. 42.]
+
+[Footnote 90: _The Church Review_, New Haven, October, 1848, p. 398.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE IMMORTAL NATTY BUMPPO
+
+
+In the opinion of Sainte-Beuve, Fenimore Cooper possessed the "creative
+faculty which brings into the world new characters, and by virtue of
+which Rabelais produced Panurge, Le Sage Gil-Blas, and Richardson
+Pamela." Thackeray, praising the heroes of Scott's creation, expressed
+an equal liking for Cooper's, adding that "perhaps Leather-Stocking is
+better than any one in Scott's lot. La Longue Carabine is one of the
+great prize-men of fiction. He ranks with your Uncle Toby, Sir Roger de
+Coverley, Falstaff--heroic figures all, American or British; and the
+artist has deserved well of his country who devised him." Thackeray
+proved the sincerity of his admiration when he borrowed a hint from the
+noble death-scene of Leather-Stocking in _The Prairie_, and adapted it
+to describe the passing of Colonel Newcome.
+
+Cooper's wide audience of general readers is here in agreement with
+Sainte-Beuve the critic and Thackeray the novelist. Whatever else may be
+said of Cooper's works it is certain that in the man Natty Bumppo, known
+as "Leather-Stocking," "Pathfinder," "Deerslayer," and "La Longue
+Carabine," Cooper created an immortal being. Among heroes of fiction
+Leather-Stocking stands with the few that are as real to the imagination
+as the personages of veritable history. Readers of Cooper recall
+Leather-Stocking with genuine affection; others, without having read a
+line of the _Leather-Stocking Tales_ have somehow formed an idea of his
+person and character. Leather-Stocking is a rare hero in being noble
+without being offensive. "Perhaps there is no better proof of Cooper's
+genuine power," says Brander Matthews, "than that he can insist on
+Leather-Stocking's goodness,--a dangerous gift for a novelist to bestow
+on a man,--and that he can show us Leather-Stocking declining the
+advances of a handsome woman,--a dangerous position for a novelist to
+put a man in,--without any reader ever having felt inclined to think
+Leather-Stocking a prig."
+
+Leather-Stocking was first introduced to the public in _The Pioneers_,
+the novel descriptive of early days in Cooperstown which Cooper
+published in 1823. The character was not yet fully developed, but
+Nathaniel Bumppo in outward appearance stood at once complete. "He was
+tall, and so meagre as to make him seem above even the six feet that he
+actually stood in his stockings. On his head, which was thinly covered
+with lank, sandy hair, he wore a cap made of fox-skin. His face was
+skinny, and thin almost to emaciation; but yet it bore no signs of
+disease; on the contrary, it had every indication of the most robust and
+enduring health. The cold and the exposure had, together, given it a
+color of uniform red. His gray eyes were glancing under a pair of shaggy
+brows, that overhung them in long hairs of gray mingled with their
+natural hue; his scraggy neck was bare, and burnt to the same tint with
+his face. A kind of coat, made of dressed deerskin, with the hair on,
+was belted close to his lank body, by a girdle of colored worsted. On
+his feet were deerskin moccasins, ornamented with porcupines' quills,
+after the manner of the Indians, and his limbs were guarded with long
+leggings of the same material as the moccasins, which, gartering over
+the knees of his tarnished buckskin breeches, had obtained for him,
+among the settlers, the nick-name of Leather-Stocking."
+
+In this story the novelist had presented Leather-Stocking as a finished
+portrait, with his long rifle, dog Hector, and all. Cooper had described
+him as a man of seventy years, and intimated no purpose of carrying him
+over into another volume. Natty Bumppo proved to be so popular, however,
+that in 1826 Cooper made him an important figure in _The Last of the
+Mohicans_, representing him in young manhood, at the age of thirty
+years, and betrayed a more profound interest in the spirit of the
+character which he had discovered. The success of this venture
+encouraged the author, in the next year, to bring Leather-Stocking
+forward, for what he intended to be the last time, in _The Prairie_. The
+closing chapter of that story describes the death and burial of
+Leather-Stocking.
+
+But the public could not have enough of Natty Bumppo, and the result was
+that, after leaving him in his grave, Cooper resurrected
+Leather-Stocking as the hero of two more novels. In _The Pathfinder_,
+published in 1840, he described Natty Bumppo at the age of forty years;
+and _The Deerslayer_, the last published of the series, gave a youthful
+picture of Leather-Stocking at the age of twenty. When the
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_ were afterward published complete they of
+course followed the logical order in the presentation of the hero's
+life, without regard to the dates of original publication. The actual
+order in which they were written, however, suggests an interesting
+glimpse of Cooper's method of work in developing his most successful
+character.
+
+It is generally believed that an old hunter named Shipman, who lived in
+Cooperstown during Fenimore Cooper's boyhood, suggested to the novelist
+the picturesque character of Leather-Stocking. The persistence of this
+tradition requires some explanation, for it is not strikingly confirmed
+by what Cooper himself had to say of the matter. In the preface of the
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_, written after the series was complete, he
+said: "The author has often been asked if he had any original in his
+mind for the character of Leather-Stocking. In a physical sense,
+different individuals known to the writer in early life certainly
+presented themselves as models, through his recollection; but in a moral
+sense this man of the forest is purely a creation."
+
+In the face of this, the most that can be said for the current
+tradition is that Cooper's assertion does not exclude it from
+consideration. What he lays stress upon is that the inner spirit of
+Leather-Stocking was the novelist's creation. His statement is not
+inconsistent with the possibility that he had the hunter Shipman chiefly
+in mind as the prototype of Leather-Stocking, with some characteristics
+added from other hunters, of whom there were many in the early days of
+Cooperstown. The heat with which he denies having drawn upon the
+character of his own sister in portraying the heroine of _The Pioneers_
+seems to betray a feeling, which later writers have not often shared,
+that an author cannot transfer real persons to the pages of fiction
+without a violation of good taste. Here lies perhaps a partial
+explanation of the fact that Cooper never acknowledged a living model
+for any of his characters. Even Judge Temple in _The Pioneers_, who
+occupies exactly the position of Judge Cooper in reference to the
+village which he actually founded, Fenimore Cooper will not admit to be
+drawn in the likeness of his father. He disposes of this supposition in
+the introduction of _The Pioneers_ by observing that "the great
+proprietor resident on his lands, and giving his name to his estates, is
+common over the whole of New York." Yet in the same introduction he
+confesses that "in commencing to describe scenes, and perhaps he may add
+characters, that were so familiar to his own youth, there was a constant
+temptation to delineate that which he had known, rather than that which
+he might have imagined." How far he yielded to the temptation is a
+question which, in making as if to reply, he deftly leaves unanswered,
+and his unwillingness to satisfy curiosity on this point is the one
+thing that a careful reading of his words makes clear. He is free to
+admit in a general way that he drew upon life for material, but he will
+not be pinned down as to any particular character; yet only in the one
+instance--when his sister was named as the original of Elizabeth
+Temple--did he flatly deny the identification of a real original with a
+creature of his fiction. After all, even if Cooper had drawn many of his
+characters from real life, there would have been so much modification
+necessary to fit them into the action of a story as to warrant him in
+the assertion "that there was no intention to describe with particular
+accuracy any real character"; and if he did not wish to take the public
+into his confidence regarding these intimate details of his work, he had
+a perfect right to treat the matter as evasively as the truth would
+permit.
+
+One can see reasons for Cooper's unwillingness to inform the public that
+his old neighbors in Cooperstown were to be recognized in his books.
+There is the creative artist's reason, who does not wish to be regarded
+as a mere photographer; there is the gentleman's sensitiveness to
+certain rights of privacy not to be invaded by public print; there is
+the experience of a writer who was often dismayed at the facility of his
+pen in stirring neighborly animosities.
+
+As to Leather-Stocking, this is to be said: that in Cooper's boyhood
+there lived in Cooperstown a hunter named Shipman whom Cooper himself
+in the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_, published in 1838, described as "the
+Leather-Stocking of the region." Furthermore,--whether owing to any
+private information from Fenimore Cooper cannot now be ascertained,--the
+tradition from his time to the present day, in spite of the author's
+vague disclaimer, persistently clings to Shipman as the original of
+Leather-Stocking.
+
+Strangely enough, the matter in dispute has not been the identity of
+Shipman with Leather-Stocking, but the identity of Shipman himself. Who
+was Shipman? This is the question that has stirred controversy; and two
+ghosts have arisen from the past, each claiming to be the Shipman whom
+Cooper idealized, re-christened, and made immortal.
+
+Cooper gave to his hero the name of Nathaniel Bumppo. It has been
+claimed that Cooper borrowed not only the character but the Christian
+name of Nathaniel Shipman, a famous hunter and trapper, who came to
+Otsego Lake at the time of the Revolutionary War, and made his home in a
+cave on the border of the lake until about 1805.
+
+According to the discoverers of this original of Leather-Stocking,
+Nathaniel Shipman was a close friend of the Mohican Indians, and fought
+with them against the French and the Canadian Indians. In the years
+immediately preceding the American Revolution Shipman was a well known
+settler of Hoosick, northeast of Albany and near the border of Vermont,
+where he had built him a cabin on the banks of the Walloomsac. He was
+well disposed toward the English, and one of his closest friends was an
+officer in the British army. When the Revolutionary War began, while
+Shipman's heart was with the movement for independence, his friendship
+for the English was such that he determined to be strictly neutral,
+helping neither one side nor the other. There is nothing to show that he
+was not genuinely neutral. But his patriot neighbors were intolerant of
+such neutrality. Anyone who was not for them was against them. Shipman
+was put down as a Tory, and his neighbors treated him to a coat of tar
+and feathers.
+
+Soon after this event Nathaniel Shipman disappeared from Hoosick, and
+not even his own family knew whither he had gone.
+
+In process of time Shipman's daughter married a John Ryan of Hoosick.
+Ryan served in the Legislature from 1803 to 1806, and at that time
+became acquainted with Judge William Cooper, founder of Cooperstown, and
+father of the novelist. In the course of their frequent meetings Judge
+Cooper told Ryan of an interesting character whom he had seen in
+Cooperstown, and described the picturesque appearance and quaint sayings
+of the old hunter who lived on the border of Otsego Lake. At home Ryan
+told the story to his wife, who soon became convinced that the old white
+hunter whom Cooper had described was none other than her father, who had
+been missing for twenty-six years.
+
+Ryan went to Otsego Lake, and, having found the hunter, learned that he
+was indeed Nathaniel Shipman who had disappeared from Hoosick at the
+time of the Revolutionary War. Ryan persuaded the old man to return with
+him, and brought him back to live in the home which then stood some two
+miles east of Hoosick Falls. In spite of the devotion of his daughter,
+however, the aged hunter never felt quite at home beneath her roof, or
+among the former neighbors. His heart was in the wilds, and it is said
+that he made frequent visits to the place where he had passed so many
+years in unrestricted freedom, where there was none to question his
+sincerity or to doubt his loyalty.
+
+Nathaniel Shipman died at the Ryan home in 1809, and his grave is in the
+old burying ground on Main Street in Hoosick Falls.
+
+The local tradition in Cooperstown does not recognize Nathaniel Shipman
+of Hoosick Falls. When a movement was made in 1915 to erect at Hoosick
+Falls a monument to Nathaniel Shipman as the original of
+Leather-Stocking, the proposition was made the subject of scornful
+comment in Cooperstown, and Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick was referred to
+as "a spurious Natty Bumppo."
+
+Cooperstown agrees that the original of Leather-Stocking was named
+Shipman. But the name of the original hunter was not Nathaniel. He was
+David Shipman. His grave is not far from Cooperstown, in the Adams
+burying ground between the villages of Fly Creek and Toddsville, and at
+the beginning of the twentieth century was marked with a tombstone by
+Otsego chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. David
+Shipman's descendants live in Cooperstown at the present time. When the
+Hoosick Falls claim to Leather-Stocking was first published in 1915, it
+was accompanied with the statement that the facts were known to the
+people of Hoosick sixty years before. Notwithstanding this the claim was
+contradicted in Cooperstown by the positive statement that "for over a
+century David Shipman has held the undisputed honor of being the real
+Leather-Stocking of Cooper's tales."
+
+David Shipman served in the American army in the Revolutionary War, and
+was a member of the Fourteenth Regiment of Albany county militia under
+Col. John Knickerbocker and Lieut.-Col. John van Rensselaer. After the
+Revolution he lived just over the hills west of Cooperstown in a log
+cabin on the east bank of Oak's Creek, about equi-distant between
+Toddsville and Fly Creek village. In 1878 Aden Adams of Cooperstown,
+aged 81, stated that he well remembered David Shipman. As described by
+Adams, he was tall and slim, dressed in tanned deerskin, wore moccasins
+and long stockings of leather fastened at the knee, and carried a gun of
+great length. He was one of the most famous hunters of the whole
+country, and with his dogs roamed the forest in search of deer, bear,
+and foxes. He supplied the Cooper family at Otsego Hall with deer and
+bear meat, and also assisted Judge Cooper when he was surveying land
+about Cooperstown in the early days of the settlement. Colonel
+Cheney[91] says that after going west, David Shipman returned to his old
+home in the Fly Creek valley, and lived there for several years. His
+wife died, and was buried in the Adams cemetery. The ground was wet, and
+water partially filled the grave. Elder Bostwick, a Baptist minister
+from the town of Hartwick, officiated at the funeral, and upon remarking
+to Shipman that it was a poor place to bury the dead, the old hunter
+answered, "I know it, but if I live to die, I expect to be buried here
+myself."[92]
+
+Cooper's most famous hero, carved in marble, rifle in hand, and with the
+dog Hector at his feet, stands at the top of the Leatherstocking
+monument in Lakewood cemetery, on a rise of ground near the entrance,
+overlooking Otsego Lake from the east side, about fifteen minutes walk
+from the village of Cooperstown. That a monument commemorative of Cooper
+and Leather-Stocking should stand in the public cemetery, in which
+neither the author nor his supposed model is buried, is sometimes
+puzzling to visitors. It is said, however, that the site was chosen with
+reference to certain scenes in _The Pioneers_. The monument stands near
+the spot upon which the novelist, for the purpose of his romance, placed
+the hut of Natty Bumppo. It is not far below the road referred to in the
+opening scene of the tale, where the travelers gained their first
+glimpse of the village, and stands at the foot of the wooded slope upon
+which, in the same story, Leather-Stocking shot the panther that was
+about to spring upon Elizabeth Temple.
+
+[Illustration: LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT]
+
+The monument itself was the result of an unsuccessful effort which was
+made shortly after Fenimore Cooper's death in 1851 to erect in his
+memory a statue or monument in one of the public squares of New York
+City. To this end, ten days after his death, a public meeting of
+citizens of New York, at which Washington Irving presided, was held in
+the City Hall; two weeks later the Historical Society of New York held a
+meeting in commemoration of Cooper; and on February 24, 1852, there was
+a great demonstration at Metropolitan Hall, with speeches by Daniel
+Webster and George Bancroft, and a memorial discourse by William Cullen
+Bryant. The raising of funds for a memorial, which these meetings set as
+their object, was not commensurate with the expenditure of rhetoric. The
+sum of $678 was contributed, chiefly at the meeting in Metropolitan
+Hall, and the committee organized to solicit subscriptions did nothing
+further.
+
+Six years later Alfred Clarke and G. Pomeroy Keese of Cooperstown
+undertook to raise by subscription a sufficient sum to erect a monument
+in Cooper's memory in or near the village in which he lived, having in
+view the transfer of whatever sum might be on deposit in New York toward
+the proposed monument. They raised $2,500, to which Washington Irving,
+acting for the defunct committee in New York, added the $678 already
+contributed.
+
+The monument, of white Italian marble, with the statuette of
+Leather-Stocking at the top, was sculptured by Robert E. Launitz, and
+erected in the spring of 1860. The small bronze casts of this statuette,
+which one sees in some of the older homes in Cooperstown, belong to the
+same period.
+
+Another attempt to give artistic expression to pride in Natty Bumppo was
+wrought in less permanent material. Upon the drop-curtain on the stage
+of the Village Hall was painted the scene from _The Pioneers_ which
+represents Leather-Stocking, Judge Temple, and Edwards grouped about a
+deer that has been shot on the border of the lake. In producing this
+scene the artist enlarged an illustration drawn by F. O. C. Darley for
+an early edition of _The Pioneers_. The original scene described by
+Cooper, and as depicted by Darley, was a wintry one, showing the lake
+shore in a mantle of snow. This was thought to be a bit too chilly for a
+playhouse, so the view as transferred to the curtain was brightened up
+by the addition of green foliage; and deft touches of the scene
+painter's brush, without altering the pose of any of the figures,
+changed winter into glorious summer. Many a Cooperstown audience,
+waiting for the performance to begin, has studied the scene which this
+curtain displays, not without wonder that Leather-Stocking is in furs,
+and that Judge Temple, in so radiant a summertime, has taken the
+precaution to retain his earmuffs.
+
+Natty Bumppo's Cave, a not very remarkable freak of nature which
+Fenimore Cooper's pen has made one of the chief points of interest in
+the region of Cooperstown, is about a mile from the village, high up on
+the hill that rises from the eastern side of the lake. It offers a stiff
+climb to the inexperienced, but not to others. It is not much of a
+cave, being hardly more than a deep and curiously formed cleft between
+the rocks. From the platform of rock over the cave a magnificent view
+may be had of the lake and its more distant shores, with the hills
+beyond.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+NATTY BUMPPO'S CAVE]
+
+In _The Pioneers_ Cooper takes advantage of poetic license to enlarge
+the cave for the purpose of his story, but the description is exact
+enough to identify it with the present Natty Bumppo's cave. In the
+summer of 1909 was discovered lower down the hillside another and larger
+cave, the small entrance of which, in the woods beyond Kingfisher Tower,
+at Point Judith, had long remained unobserved. Here the name of Natty
+Bumppo came near being involved in another controversy, for some local
+archeologists maintained that the newly discovered cave was the one
+which Cooper meant to describe as Natty Bumppo's, being better adapted
+to the requirements of the narrative than the one that tradition had
+fixed upon.
+
+Cooper might have provided a better cave for Natty Bumppo, but he did
+not. On this point the testimony of his eldest daughter, Susan Fenimore
+Cooper, is decisive. She was in many ways her father's confidant, and in
+his later years closely associated with him in literary work. No other
+person has written so intimately of him. In _Pages and Pictures_, which
+Miss Cooper published in 1861, she gives a drawing of Natty Bumppo's
+cave, and it is the one that has been associated with the tradition and
+story of the village down to the present time. It is quite possible,
+however, that the cave near Point Judith is the one referred to in the
+tradition of Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick Falls.
+
+Natty Bumppo will live forever as a symbolic figure, representative of
+certain indigenous qualities in American life. Lowell found in
+Leather-Stocking "the protagonist of our New World epic, a figure as
+poetic as that of Achilles, as ideally representative as that of Don
+Quixote, as romantic in his relation to our homespun and plebeian myths
+as Arthur in his to his mailed and plumed cycle of chivalry." Americans
+themselves do not realize how widely, in other countries,
+Leather-Stocking is still regarded as typical of certain qualities in
+the American character. Among Americans who had half-forgotten their
+Cooper, there was no little surprise at the exclamation of Gabriel
+Hanotaux, member of the French Academy, distinguished author and
+statesman of France, when, in the spring of 1917, on the entrance of the
+United States into the war against Germany, he expressed his joy in a
+message that was cabled round the world, "Old Leather-Stocking still
+slumbers in the depth of the American soul!"
+
+There is a point on Otsego Lake, opposite to Natty Bumppo's cave, from
+which passing boatmen awaken the famous Echo of the Glimmerglass. For
+more than half of the nineteenth century there lived in the village a
+negro whose lungs were renowned for their power to call forth the
+fullness of this strange echo. "Joe Tom," as he was named, was always
+called upon, as the guide of lake excursions, to perform this peculiar
+duty. Stationing his scow at the focal point, the negro would shout
+across the water, "Natty Bumppo! Natty Bumppo!--Who's there?" And after
+a moment the cry would be flung back, as by the spirit of
+Leather-Stocking, from the heights of the steep woods and rocky faces of
+the hill. On a still summer evening Joe Tom was sometimes able, by a
+single shout, to call forth three distinct echoes, which were heard in
+regular succession,--the first from the region of the cave, the second
+from Mount Vision, and the third from Hannah's Hill on the opposite side
+of the lake, until the margin of the Glimmerglass seemed to resound
+with cries of "Natty Bumppo!--Natty Bumppo!" uttered by eerie voices.
+
+The years pass, and no other name retains such magic power to wake the
+sleeping echo of the Glimmerglass.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 91: _History of Otsego County_, 1878, p. 249.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Calvin Graves, who came to Cooperstown in 1794, and lived
+in the place for 84 years, is quoted as saying that he well knew
+Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of Cooper's novels, and that Shipman was
+never married. Graves said that he had often visited the old hunter's
+cave in company with him. This testimony seems to point to the Hoosick
+Shipman, who having deserted his family for twenty-six years, might
+easily pass for a bachelor in Otsego, and who is said to have lived in a
+cave, concerning which nothing is mentioned in the traditions of David
+Shipman.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+STRANGE TALES OF THE GALLOWS
+
+
+At the eastern end of the main street of the village the bridge across
+the Susquehanna River commands a view for a short distance up and down
+the stream, far enough toward the north to glimpse its source in Otsego
+Lake, while to the south Fernleigh House appears, high amid the trees on
+the western bank, and the drifting current below is lost in foliage.
+Nearer at hand, as seen from the south side of the bridge, Riverbrink
+claims the eastern shore. Here stands a solemn-visaged house that looks
+down upon the scene of one of the most extraordinary dramas ever enacted
+beneath the gallows-tree.
+
+[Illustration: RIVERBRINK]
+
+In the summer of 1805, on the flat a little below the place where the
+house now stands, the gibbet was erected for a public execution. The
+condemned man was Stephen Arnold, whose crime was committed in
+Burlington, in this county, during the previous winter. Arnold was a
+school teacher, and having no children of his own, had taken into his
+home Betsey Van Amburgh, a child six years of age. An ungovernable
+temper added a kind of ferocious zeal to the duty of educating this
+child, for it was her inability to pronounce the word "gig" according
+to his directions that brought the teacher to the gallows. Betsey
+insisted on pronouncing the word as "jig," and declared that she could
+not do otherwise. Whereupon Arnold took her out of the house into the
+severely cold evening air, and there whipped her naked body until he
+himself became cold. He then took her indoors to make her pronounce the
+word correctly, which she failed to do; and again she was taken out and
+whipped in the same manner. This act of brutality he repeated seven
+times, declaring that he "had as lieve whip her to death as not." The
+poor child languished four days, and expired.
+
+Arnold's trial was held in June, in Cooperstown. He was speedily
+convicted of murder, and sentenced to die.
+
+The date fixed for the execution, Friday, July 19, 1805, was a gala day
+in Cooperstown. The infamy of Arnold's crime had stirred public
+indignation throughout this section of the State, and the prospect of
+witnessing his execution had been eagerly anticipated, through motives
+ranging from morbid curiosity to a stern sense of duty, in the most
+distant hamlets of the region. By seven o'clock in the morning on the
+day fixed for the hanging the main street of Cooperstown was filled with
+people who had travelled from so great a distance that not one in twenty
+was known to any of the villagers. The concourse increased until shortly
+after noon, when, in the village which normally contained about five
+hundred people, the crowd included about eight thousand.
+
+The first centre of interest was the county courthouse and jail which
+stood at the then western limits of the village, on the southeast corner
+of Main and Pioneer streets. The door of the jail was on the Pioneer
+street side of the building, and across the way were the stocks and
+whipping-post. These rude symbols of justice might well be a terror to
+evil doers. A sample of the punishment meted out to petty offenders is
+found in the record that in 1791 a local physician was put in the stocks
+for having mixed an emetic with the beverage drunk at a ball given at
+the Red Lion Inn; and four years later a man was flogged at the
+whipping-post, for stealing some pieces of ribbon. Both culprits were
+also banished from the village, apropos of which form of punishment
+Fenimore Cooper at a later day was moved to remark, "It is to be
+regretted that it has fallen into disuse."
+
+The crowds that gathered to witness the hanging of Stephen Arnold filled
+the street in the neighborhood of the jail until the prisoner was
+brought forth at noon, when some remained to watch the parade, while
+others hurried on to the place of execution to secure good points of
+view for the spectacle. A procession was formed in front of the court
+house under the direction of the sheriff. The ministers of religion and
+other gentlemen, preceded by the sheriff on horseback, moved with
+funeral music after the prisoner, who was carried on a wagon and guarded
+by a battalion of light infantry and a company of artillery. In this
+array the procession moved solemnly down the main street and across the
+bridge to the place of execution on the east bank of the river. There
+stood the gallows; at its foot was a coffin.
+
+The condemned man was assisted to a seat upon his coffin. About him
+gathered the parsons, the representatives of the law, and the soldiery.
+There was no house on the bank of the river at that time, and the
+thousands of spectators were massed in the natural amphitheatre which
+rises, and then rose uninterrupted, toward the east, from the shore of
+the Susquehanna.
+
+An interested observer who looked down upon the assemblage from the high
+western bank of the river has recorded a vivid impression of the beauty
+of the scene and the picturesque and emotional qualities of the
+occasion.[93] Looking back toward the village, and then sweeping with a
+glance the north and east, his eye caught the roofs of buildings covered
+with spectators, windows crowded with faces, every surrounding point of
+view occupied. The natural amphitheatre across the river was "filled
+with all classes and gradations of citizens, from the opulent landlord
+to the humble laborer. Blooming nymphs were there and jolly swains,
+delicate ladies and spruce gentlemen, fond mothers and affectionate
+sisters, prattling children and hoary sages, servile slaves and
+imperious masters." In the elevated background of the landscape
+carriages appeared filled with people. It was a warm July day, brilliant
+with sunshine, and splendid in the greenery of summer foliage. The
+throngs of spectators, tier upon tier, as it were, presented a
+kaleidoscopic effect of movement and color, in the undulating appearance
+of silks and muslins of different hues, as the eye traversed the
+multitude; in the swaying and bobbing of hundreds of umbrellas and
+parasols of various colors; in the vibration of thousands of fans in
+playful mediation, while the death-struggle of a man upon the gallows
+was eagerly awaited. In the foreground, on the bank of the Susquehanna,
+the gibbet, with the solemn group about it, relieved only by flashes of
+color in the military uniforms, and by the gleam of swords and bayonets,
+fascinated every eye.
+
+A great silence fell upon the multitude when the preliminaries to the
+execution began with a prayer offered by the Rev. Mr. Williams of
+Worcester. The Rev. Isaac Lewis, pastor of the Presbyterian church in
+Cooperstown, then stood forth to deliver the sermon. Few preachers, even
+in the largest centres of life, have occasion to address congregations
+numbered by thousands. What an opportunity was here given to an obscure
+country parson, when he faced an audience of some eight thousand people!
+Mr. Lewis preached upon the subject of the Penitent Thief, taking as his
+text the forty-second and forty-third verses of the twenty-third chapter
+of St. Luke: "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
+into Thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today
+shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Nothing is recorded of the sermon
+beyond that it was "a pathetic, concise, and excellently adapted
+discourse." Elder Vining closed the religious exercises by a solemn
+appeal to the throne of grace for mercy and forgiveness, as well for the
+vast auditory as for the prisoner.
+
+The condemned man seemed deeply affected, and perfectly resigned to the
+justice of his fate. His penitence was manifest, and drew forth tears of
+sympathy from the spectators. After the exercises the prisoner seated
+himself on the coffin for a short space, when he was informed that if
+he wished to say anything to the people he might now have opportunity.
+He arose and addressed a few words to the surrounding multitude,
+earnestly urging them to be warned by his fatal example to place a
+strict guard upon their passions, the fatal indulgence of which had
+brought him to the shameful condition in which they beheld him,
+notwithstanding he never intended to commit murder. He concluded his
+address with these words: "It appears to me that if you will not take
+warning at this affecting scene, you would not be warned though one
+should arise from the dead."
+
+At the conclusion of this speech the sheriff stepped forward and made
+ready for the hanging, finally adjusting the fatal cord, except for
+fastening it to the beam of the gallows.
+
+Near by was a palsied crone, so eager to witness the hanging that she
+had been carried to the scene in her rocking-chair, which was placed
+upon an improvised platform. Here she had rocked to and fro in her chair
+during the whole proceeding, until, when the hangman made ready his
+noose, the old hag rocked with such nervous violence that she toppled
+over backward, chair and all, her neck being broken by the fall.
+
+The prisoner remained apparently absorbed in meditation which was
+entirely abstracted from terrestrial objects. The thousands of
+spectators waited in silent and gloomy suspense for the final
+catastrophe. The sheriff stood forth and addressed to the condemned man
+a few remarks pertinent to the occasion.
+
+Having carried the proceedings to this crucial point, the sheriff,
+Solomon Martin, then changed his role, and produced from his pocket a
+letter from his excellency Morgan Lewis, Governor of the State of New
+York, containing directions for a respite of the execution until further
+orders, and announcing that a reprieve, in due form, would soon be
+forwarded.
+
+It was now long after noon, and the sheriff, having received this letter
+at nine o'clock in the morning, had kept it in his pocket during the
+entire proceedings, "conceiving it improper to divulge the respite until
+the crisis." The sheriff had acted with the advice of a few others who
+were let into the secret. Even the attending ministers of religion were
+uninformed of the respite until it was dramatically produced upon the
+stage. The thing, in fact, outdid all stagecraft, for while it is quite
+consistent with the traditions of theatrical art that an execution
+should be stayed at the critical moment by the appearance of a furiously
+galloping horseman waving a reprieve above his head, probably never
+elsewhere in the history of the drama or in the annals of the law has
+the official document been produced at the gallows, after the adjustment
+of the fatal noose, from the pocket of the hangman!
+
+In the judgment of the sheriff it appeared that since the order for a
+respite had arrived too late to forestall the gathering of great
+multitudes to witness the hanging, it was equally clear that it had come
+too early to be made public at once without causing unnecessary
+disappointment to thousands who were still enjoying the ecstasies of
+anticipation. So he carried out the original programme to the letter,
+going through with all the preliminaries and forms of the execution,
+stopping short only of the actual hanging.
+
+When the sheriff made his amazing announcement from the scaffold, the
+prisoner swooned, and the whole scene was changed. The prisoner was
+reconducted to the jail with the same pomp and bravery of troops and
+music that had brought him to the scaffold. The spectators slowly
+dispersed, and before sunset the village assumed its accustomed
+tranquility.
+
+The next issue of _The Otsego Herald_ asserted that "the proceedings of
+the day were opened, progressed, and closed in a manner which reflected
+honor on the judiciary, the executive, the clergy, the military, and the
+citizens of the county."
+
+Arnold was never hanged. The State legislature commuted his sentence to
+imprisonment for life.
+
+Another story of the gallows belongs to a later period. On Friday,
+August 24, 1827, the hanging of a man named Strang was witnessed in
+Albany by about thirty thousand spectators. Judging from contemporary
+accounts, the circumstances of the execution were not edifying. "We are
+more than ever convinced," said the _Albany Gazette_, "of the bad effect
+of public executions. Scenes of the most disgraceful drunkenness,
+gambling, profanity, and almost all kinds of debauchery, were exhibited
+in the vicinity of the gallows, and even at the time the culprit was
+suffering. We do most sincerely hope that some law may be enacted
+requiring that executions shall be performed in private." The _Albany
+Argus_ was more hopeful of some moral benefit from the execution.
+"Whilst we may question the utility," it said, "of such spectacles,
+tending as they do in general, to gratify a morbid curiosity, and to
+excite a sympathy for the criminal rather than an abhorrence, and
+consequently a prevention of crime; we trust none who were witnesses of
+the scene, will forget that this ignominious death was the consequence
+of an indulgence of vicious courses and criminal passions."
+
+Preliminary to the hanging there was the usual speech from the gallows.
+Addressing the multitude the condemned murderer said he hoped his
+execution would lead them to reflect upon the effects of sin and lust,
+and induce them to avoid those acts for which he was about to suffer a
+painful and ignominious death.
+
+Among the spectators at this hanging was Levi Kelley of Cooperstown,
+who, in order to witness the spectacle, had covered a distance of 75
+miles, drawn by his favorite team of black horses, a noble span, of
+which he was very proud. Kelley was much depressed in spirit by the
+dreadful scene at the gallows, and to a friend who accompanied him on
+the homeward journey remarked that no one who had ever witnessed such a
+melancholy spectacle could ever be guilty of the crime of murder.
+
+In Christ churchyard in Cooperstown, near the southern border of the
+burial ground, and about twenty paces from River Street, stands a
+tombstone which commemorates a former resident of the village, and is
+unusual for the precision of terms in which it records the date of his
+decease; for there is inscribed not merely the day, but the very hour,
+of death. The inscription reads:
+
+         IN MEMORY OF
+       ABRAHAM SPAFARD
+           WHO DIED
+       AT 8 O'CLOCK P. M.
+         3D. SEPT. 1827
+       IN THE 49TH YEAR OF
+            HIS AGE.
+       THE TRUMP SHALL SOUND
+     AND THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED.
+
+The passer-by who suspects a concealed significance in this desire to
+emphasize the exact hour of Abraham Spafard's death is not mistaken.
+Abraham Spafard was murdered, shot to the heart by Levi Kelley, and died
+almost instantly, at 8 o'clock in the evening, September 3, 1827, just
+ten days after Kelley had witnessed the hanging in Albany.
+
+The murderer is buried in the same churchyard with his victim. For
+Kelley, on the maternal side, was a connection of the Cooper family.
+During his imprisonment before and after the trial he was frequently
+visited at the jail by Mrs. George Pomeroy, daughter of William Cooper,
+a lady noted for her many works of Christian charity, and after Kelley
+had paid the penalty of his crime, she brought it about that his body
+was interred in the Cooper plot in Christ churchyard, although no stone
+was ever raised to mark the place of his burial, and the exact spot is
+now unknown.
+
+The murder occurred in the house of Levi Kelley, in which Abraham
+Spafard lived as tenant in Pierstown, about three miles north of
+Cooperstown. Kelley was noted for his furious outbursts of temper, while
+Spafard was of an amiable and peaceable disposition. Kelley violently
+attacked a lame boy who was employed about the place, and when Spafard
+interposed, Kelley's anger turned against Spafard, so that a struggle
+ensued. The evidence at the trial showed that Spafard struck no blow and
+committed no violence, using no more force than was necessary for his
+defence. He besought Kelley to desist, and at last, unclenching Kelley's
+hands from his throat, Spafard retired quietly into the house. Kelley
+then ran for his gun, and following Spafard into his room, shot him to
+the heart. Kelley's own wife, as well as the members of Spafard's
+family, were the terrified witnesses of the murder.
+
+Kelley's trial, which was held in Cooperstown, began on the twenty-first
+of November, and was concluded on the next day. The judge in the case
+was the Hon. Samuel Nelson, afterward associate justice of the Supreme
+Court of the United States. In passing sentence Judge Nelson addressed
+to the prisoner a homily which created a deep impression upon the
+crowded court room.
+
+The execution of Levi Kelley was attended by an immense concourse of
+people. The hanging of a murderer was still regarded by many, in that
+day, not only as fit method of punishment, but as offering a spectacle
+of great moral and educational value. It was at once a deterrent from
+crime and a vindication of the majesty of the law. When the day set for
+the execution of Kelley was come, there was many a home in which the
+father of the family announced at breakfast that the children must be
+duly washed and dressed in Sabbath array, to accompany him, as in duty
+bound, to the solemn spectacle. Nor were all attracted to the dreadful
+scene by a sense of duty only, perhaps, at a period when public shows
+were few.
+
+The gibbet was erected, amid the December snow, at a point about four
+hundred feet south of the site occupied by the present High School, very
+near, if not in the midst of, what is now Chestnut Street. Christmas Day
+was followed by a thaw, and on Friday, the day set for the execution, a
+torrent of rain fell during the morning hours. Yet before noon the
+village was thronged with a multitude of men, women and children, keenly
+anticipating the gruesome tragedy, until more than four thousand people
+were gathered about the gallows.
+
+The court-house and jail stood then not far from their present site. The
+procession from the jail to the place of execution was conducted with
+much military pomp. Two marshals, each mounted on a prancing steed, led
+a troop of cavalry, a corps of artillery, and four companies of
+infantry. This formidable array of forces, drawn up in a hollow square
+at the jail, having enclosed within its ranks the condemned man and the
+attending ministers of the Gospel, moved solemnly to the place of
+execution. The prisoner, apparently in a feeble state of health, lay
+upon a bed in a sleigh drawn by his favorite black horses, the same that
+he had driven to Albany to witness the execution of Strang. The
+ministers of religion, the Rev. Mr. Potter and the Rev. John Smith,
+pastor of the Presbyterian church, rode in state in the two sleighs that
+followed.
+
+Near the gallows there had been erected for the accommodation of
+spectators a staging one hundred feet in length and twelve feet in
+depth, the front being elevated six feet and the rear eight feet from
+the ground. From this structure about six hundred people commanded an
+excellent view of the gibbet, while some three thousand others, lacking
+this advantage, jostled each other, craning their necks, and standing on
+tiptoe, to see what was going forward.
+
+The procession from the jail had arrived upon the grounds, and the
+solemnities were about to commence, when the staging suddenly gave way
+and fell with a tremendous crash. The spectators upon it were plunged
+into a confused heap, struggling for freedom amid the broken timbers.
+The shrieks and groans that arose from the scrimmage terrified the
+assemblage, and the wild rush of anxious friends and relatives toward
+the scene of accident resulted almost in a riot. When order had been in
+some measure restored the work of rescue began. Between twenty and
+thirty persons were drawn forth from the wreckage severely injured.
+Elisha C. Tracy, an engraver, was found to be dead, the upper part of
+his face being crushed inward to the depth of more than an inch. Daniel
+Williams, an elderly man resident at Richfield, had a leg and arm
+broken, and died a few hours later. The dead and wounded were carried
+from the field, and some of the spectators, having had enough of
+tragedy, withdrew.
+
+The ceremonies of the execution then proceeded, although amid an
+atmosphere of intense nervous excitement. The condemned man was taken
+from his sleigh, and, because of his illness, required assistance in
+ascending the gallows. As he stood there, the centre of all eyes, he
+seemed a different man from the passionate murderer of Abraham Spafard.
+Weak and sick, he looked down upon the multitude assembled to see him
+die. His look was one of regretful sympathy because of the unexpected
+accident rather than of fear of his own impending fate. "Who are killed;
+and how many are injured?" he inquired.
+
+The rope was noosed about Kelley's neck. The Presbyterian minister
+stepped forward, and commended the convict's soul to the mercy of God in
+a prayer in which Kelley, with bowed head, seemed to participate. Then
+the drop fell. After a few twitchings of the limbs, the body quivered,
+and hung still. The show was over. The crowd dispersed.
+
+The effect of this exhibition was to give voice to a growing sentiment
+against public hangings. The next issue of the _Freeman's Journal_
+protested against such spectacles as demoralizing, and suggested a
+movement in the State legislature to amend the law. Kelley's was in
+fact the last public hanging in Cooperstown.
+
+The execution of Levi Kelley, with its unexpected accompanying
+catastrophe, was long the talk of the neighborhood. It was commemorated
+by Isaac Squire, an Otsego rhymester, in some verses that are of curious
+interest as a survival of the old ballad form in which events were wont
+to be celebrated. Many years afterward there were those who recalled
+that the doleful lines were committed to memory by some of the village
+children, and sung to a droning tune:
+
+     LINES ON THE EXECUTION OF LEVI KELLEY.
+
+
+     Part First
+
+     In eighteen hundred twenty seven
+     Poor Kelley broke the law of Heaven;
+     He murdered his poor tenant there,
+     Who took his place to work on share.
+
+     'Twas early on a Monday night
+     This horrid scene was brought to light;
+     He seized his loaded gun in hand,
+     And with malicious fury ran,
+
+     And when about four feet apart,
+     Alas! he shot him to the heart.
+     The expiring words, we understand,
+     Were, "O Lord, I'm a dying man!"
+
+     They quickly ran him to relieve,
+     But death could grant him no reprieve;
+     He expired almost instantly,
+     In his affrighted family.
+
+     Kelley's indicted for the crime;
+     Confined in prison for a time;
+     A murderer here can take no rest,
+     While guilt lies heavy on his breast.
+
+     November on the twenty-first,
+     For murder of a fellow dust,
+     He was arraigned before the bar,
+     And tried by his country there.
+
+     Full testimony did appear
+     That when the Jury came to hear
+     In verdict they were soon agreed
+     That he was guilty of this deed.
+
+     And in their verdict they did bring
+     That cause of death was found in him;
+     The Judge his sentence did declare,
+     And thus declared him guilty there:
+
+     "Your time is set, O do remember,
+     The twenty-eighth of December,
+     Between the hours of twelve and three,
+     Be launched into eternity.
+
+     "Your time is short on earth to stay;
+     Prepare for death without delay;
+     Though you no pity showed at all,
+     May God have mercy on your soul."
+
+
+     Part Second.
+
+     December on the twenty-eighth
+     Did Levi Kelley meet his fate;
+     This awful scene I now relate
+     Caused thousands there to fear and quake.
+
+     Though wet and rainy was the day,
+     The people thronged from every way;
+     With anxious thought each came to see
+     The unhappy fate of poor Kelley.
+
+     The day was come, the time drew near,
+     When the poor prisoner must appear;
+     The officers they did prepare,
+     And round him formed a hollow square,
+
+     That they with safety might convey
+     Him to the place of destiny;
+     The music made a solemn sound
+     While they marched slowly to the ground.
+
+     A scaffold was erected there,
+     And hundreds on it did repair,
+     That all thereon might plainly see
+     The unhappy fate of poor Kelley.
+
+     Before they bid this scene adieu,
+     An awful sight appeared in view.
+     See, hundreds with the scaffold fall!
+     And some to rise no more at all
+
+     Till the great day when all shall rise,
+     To their great joy or sad surprise,
+     And hear their sentence "Doomed to Hell,"
+     Or, "With the saints in glory dwell."
+
+     The wounded here in numbers lie,
+     And loud for help now some do cry
+     While others are too faint to speak,
+     And some in death's cold arms asleep.
+
+     The cry was heard once and again
+     That "Hundreds now we fear are slain!"
+     But God in this distressing hour
+     Revives again each withering flower.
+
+     Poor Kelley, in this trying time,
+     Was executed for his crime.
+     He hung an awful sight to see;
+     May this a solemn warning be.
+
+     A word to such, before we close,
+     That love the way poor Kelley chose;
+     Their vicious ways if you attend
+     Will bring you to some awful end.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 93: _Otsego Herald_, July 19, 1805.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SOLID SURVIVALS
+
+
+The property which now includes Edgewater was inherited by Isaac Cooper,
+the second son of Judge Cooper, on the death of his father in 1809. In
+the following year he began the erection of the house, which took nearly
+four years in building. Aside from its now venerable aspect, this solid
+residence, constructed of old-fashioned brick, preserves much of its
+original appearance as one of the largest dwellings in the village. It
+was modeled after a colonial residence in Philadelphia well known to the
+Cooper family. The style of the entrance hall, with the balanced
+symmetry of semicircular stairways that ascend to the upper floor, is
+singularly effective, while the carved wood of the interior, as seen in
+the doorcaps and mouldings, displays skillful workmanship. No house in
+Cooperstown commands so fine a general view of Otsego Lake as that which
+is to be seen from the porch of Edgewater. The surrounding ground
+includes over two acres, and extends to the waters of the lake, although
+now traversed by Lake Street, which made its way, by long usage, across
+the original property. The house is approached through the paths of an
+old time garden, thickly grown with shrubs, and shaded by a variety of
+trees.
+
+[Illustration: EDGEWATER]
+
+Isaac Cooper had married Mary Ann, daughter of General Jacob Morris, of
+Morris, Otsego county, and took possession of Edgewater as his residence
+on December 4, 1813. It is not difficult to understand the feeling of
+satisfaction, on being established in this beautiful home, which
+prompted Isaac Cooper, at the age of thirty-two years, to record the
+event in his diary thus:
+
+     Moved--where I hope to end my Days--and I pray Heaven to allow
+     this House and this Lot--whereon I this day brought my Family,
+     to descend to my children and to my children's children, and
+     may they increase in virtue and respectability, and become
+     worthy of the blessings of Heaven.
+
+This diary is hardly more than a record of weather, with a single line
+of "general observations," under which head, from day to day, he makes
+brief mention of his doings, social engagements; births, marriages, and
+deaths among his friends; his own frequent illnesses: occasionally he
+moralizes, or indulges in a bit of self-criticism. A few entries
+selected from Isaac Cooper's diary will show its general character. It
+will be noticed that he refers to himself in the third person as "Mr.
+C." or "Mr. Cooper."
+
+     August 20, 1814--New waggon paraded, to the admiration of the
+     villagers.
+
+     August 30--Quilting party at Mrs. Pomeroy's--very pleasant.
+
+     January 4, 1815--Cate, Mr. Prentiss married.
+
+     February 7--Time passes heavily! Good reason why!
+
+     August 8--Laid corner brick of Morrell's & Prentiss' House.
+
+     July 30, 1816--Tea Party at Mrs. Poms. Also a party on the
+     Lake. Major Prevost fell overboard.
+
+     October 5--Done quilting, thank fortune.
+
+     October 25--Mr. C. set out plum trees in back yard.
+
+     October 28--Mr. C. fell down stairs last night. Don't feel so
+     well for it.
+
+     November 13--Took in some pork.
+
+     November 16--Mr. Phinney played backgammon with Mrs. Cooper
+     this evening.
+
+     November 27--A Milliner arrived with an assortment of elegant
+     cheap hats. (Sold a twelve dollar one! I wonder who to?)
+
+     November 28--A mystery dissolved. Mrs. Starkweather was the
+     purchaser of the hat.
+
+     December 4--Mrs. Cooper's neck washed--good!
+
+     December 5--A dinner party at Mr. J. Cooper's.
+
+     December 13--Dipped 700 candles.
+
+     December 16--Wine and Brandy tap't. Head combed.
+
+     February 7, 1817--Tea Party--30 besides us, viz; Mr. and Mrs.
+     Campbell, the Miss Starrs, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Pomeroys, Mr. and
+     Mrs. George Pomeroy, Mr. and Mrs. E. Phinney, Miss Tiffany,
+     Miss Talmage, Miss Shankland, the Misses Fuller, H. Phinney,
+     Mr. Aitchison, Mr. Lyman, Mr. Crafts, Mr. Stewart, Mr. and
+     Mrs. Morrell, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Miss Edmonds, Miss Webb, Mrs.
+     Prentiss, Mrs. Dr. Webb, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Williams.
+
+     February 17--72 loads of wood last week, making my supply for
+     1817, say 200 loads, exclusive of office.
+
+     February 22--Dr. Pomeroy, Mr. George Pomeroy, and Col. Seth
+     Pomeroy spent the eve. here.
+
+     April 1--A barrel of Pork, this day opened. Robins killed
+     yesterday by A. L. J., a _sin_.
+
+     May 9--Mr. Cooper feels for all mankind.
+
+     September 12--The Old Lady very ill.
+
+     September 13--Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper departed this life.
+
+     October 18--Mr. Gratz breakfasted here.
+
+Concerning some settlements in the region, much has been written of the
+spirit of democracy in which they were established, and it has been
+pointed out that all social distinctions were levelled in the common
+tasks of frontier life. It does not appear that this was the case in
+Cooperstown. From the time of the first settlement, apparently, an
+aristocratic group was formed in the orbit of the Cooper nucleus, and
+social climbing began before the wolves and bears had been quite driven
+from the forests of Otsego. The tea party of February 7, 1817, mentioned
+in the diary, probably names most of those who were at that time
+admitted to the inner circle of the socially elect; another entry, dated
+December 31, 1816, relates to a different social sphere, and
+unconsciously reveals the great gulf which had already been fixed
+between the one and the other, together with the aristocrat's
+supercilious astonishment that "that class of society" is in some
+respects quite as desirable as his own:
+
+     This New Year's eve there was a ball at the Hotel (Col.
+     Henry's), a very decently conducted and a very respectable
+     assemblage of the worthy mechanics and that class of society.
+     I was present, and would not wish to see better conduct,
+     better dress, and better looking Ladies!!! There was perfect
+     neatness of dress, without as much Indian finery as I have
+     seen where they suppose they know better.
+
+Another glimpse into the depth of the social gulf is obtained in the
+back pages of Isaac Cooper's diary, where he records his accounts for
+wages with the household servants. There is this entry, signed by the
+humble cross-mark of Betsey Wallby, who "came to work on March 20, 1815,
+at one dollar a week":
+
+     March 20, 1816--By one year's services, faithfully and orderly
+     performed--free from Yankee dignity, and ideas of
+     Liberty--which is insolence only. $52.00.
+
+On New Year's day, 1818, death came to Isaac Cooper at Edgewater, and he
+was laid at rest in Christ churchyard with the humblest pioneers of the
+hamlet. Only for a little more than four years had he enjoyed the home
+which he established at Edgewater.
+
+In Isaac Cooper's diary, by another hand, these words were added:
+
+     September, 1823--Sold our house. Necessity compelled us.
+
+Shortly before the house was vacated by the family of Isaac Cooper, the
+garden of Edgewater was the scene of a pretty romance. Isaac Cooper's
+second daughter, Elizabeth Fenimore, was a child of rare beauty, and as
+she began to grow toward womanhood became renowned for wit and
+loveliness. Strictly guarded by the conventional proprieties, Elizabeth
+made glorious excursions into the realm of fancy, where errant knights
+are ever in search of fair ladies to deliver them from castle dungeons.
+Edgewater, with the freedom of its garden, was a pleasant sort of
+prison, but Elizabeth was not less gratified when the knight of her
+dreams actually appeared in the person of a young college student who
+was spending his summer vacation in Cooperstown--Samuel Wootton Beall, a
+native of Maryland. Summer evenings in Edgewater garden passed quickly
+away, and there came a night of farewell, for on the next day young
+Beall must return to his college, and to long months of Greek, Latin,
+and mathematics. On that night the young man brought a Methodist
+minister into the garden with him. There was a mysterious signal.
+Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper glided out of the house, and joined the two in
+darkness. They stood beneath the locust tree which rose just east of the
+front steps, while in low voices the young lovers took their vows, and
+the parson pronounced them man and wife. The bride immediately crept
+back into the house, thrilling with her secret, while the bridegroom
+went his way, and on the next day was gone.
+
+Nothing was said of the wedding until Samuel Beall was graduated from
+college, and returned to Cooperstown to claim his wife. Beyond the
+extreme youth of the couple, there was really no objection to the match.
+Mrs. Cooper was astonished at the announcement, but gave her blessing to
+the union. Only one condition she exacted. Shocked at the informality of
+their wedding, she required them to be remarried with the full rites of
+the Church.
+
+Young Beall and his wife went West, where he prospered, and, returning
+to Cooperstown in 1836, purchased Woodside as their residence. After a
+few years at Woodside, they settled once more in the West.
+
+In Edgewater garden the locust that sheltered the secret marriage was
+long known as the Bridal Tree, and grew to lofty size. In the winter of
+1908 the first fall of snow came upon the wings of a great wind. During
+the night the big locust fell crashing to the ground, and in the morning
+was found covered with a mantle of virgin snow, gleaming white like a
+bridal veil.
+
+In 1828, Edgewater having passed into the hands of a company which had
+organized to establish a seminary for girls, the house was rearranged
+for such occupancy. The numerals which then marked the rooms of the
+students are still to be seen on the doorways of the top floor. The
+school was a financial failure, and in 1834 the trustees sold Edgewater
+as a summer residence to Theodore Keese of New York, who, eight years
+previously, had married the eldest daughter of George Pomeroy and Ann
+Cooper, sister of Isaac Cooper. Thus the property came back into the
+family of the original owner.
+
+In 1836 Mr. and Mrs. Keese came to Cooperstown to live, and their
+eight-year-old son, George Pomeroy Keese, then began a residence at
+Edgewater that continued for seventy-four years. In 1849, at the age of
+twenty-one years, he brought to Edgewater his bride, Caroline Adriance
+Foote, a daughter of Surgeon Lyman Foote, of the United States Army. In
+this house their eight children were born, and all of these, with the
+exception of one who died in infancy, lived to celebrate the sixtieth
+wedding anniversary which their parents commemorated with a notable
+gathering of friends at Edgewater in the autumn of 1909. Living to old
+age in perfect health of body and mind Mr. and Mrs. Keese made Edgewater
+a famous centre of hospitality.
+
+During this long residence in Cooperstown Pomeroy Keese stood in the
+forefront of its affairs, and came to occupy a unique position in the
+life of the village. In boyhood, as the grand-nephew of Fenimore Cooper,
+he was brought into close contact with the novelist, and at the
+beginning of the twentieth century was one of the few residents of the
+village who distinctly recalled the famous writer's personality. He was
+best known to the business world as president for nearly forty years of
+the Second National Bank of Cooperstown, but the qualities that made him
+so interesting a figure lay rather in the many avocations of his life.
+He was senior warden of Christ Church at the time of his death, and had
+been a member of its vestry for more than half a century. Of thirteen
+successive rectors of Christ Church he had known all but Father Nash,
+the first. For the old village church, surrounded with its quaint tombs
+and overshadowing pines, he had a love that seemed about to call forth
+the response of personality from things inanimate.
+
+On the streets of Cooperstown, in his later years, G. Pomeroy Keese was
+a picturesque and characteristic figure. His face seemed weather-beaten
+rather than old; his eye was like that of a sailor, with a focus for
+distant horizons; the style of thin side-whisker affected by a former
+generation gave full play to every expression of his countenance. It was
+a common sight, of a winter's day, to glimpse his slight and dapper
+form with quick step ambling to the post-office, while, quite innocent
+of overcoat, he compromised with the frosty air by clasping his hands,
+one over the other, across his chest, as a means of keeping warm!
+
+Pomeroy Keese was somewhat contemptuous toward mufflers, arctics, and
+other toggery which Otsego winters imposed upon his neighbors. He seemed
+immune against the assault of climatic rigors. His attitude toward the
+weather was confidential, for he was the most weatherwise of men. He
+kept a daily record of the weather, with accurate meteorological data,
+for more than half a century, and for many years furnished the local
+official figures for the United States weather bureau. From his
+experience he originated the theory that, while seasons from year to
+year appear to differ widely in their character, the temperature and
+precipitation within the compass of each year actually reach the same
+general average. It seemed to cause him real annoyance when a period of
+weather departed too widely from the usual average, yet if a cold snap
+or hot spell was generous enough to break all previous records his
+enthusiasm was boundless.
+
+An equally substantial though smaller house that antedated Edgewater by
+a few years was erected in the summer of 1802 by John Miller as a farm
+house. It was built of bricks, and was the second building in the place
+that was not constructed of wood. It stands at the southwest corner of
+Pine Street and Lake Street, facing the latter, and the dense evergreen
+hedge which surrounds the house seems to hold it aloof from the later
+growth of the village. It is said that the house is haunted, for not
+long after it was built a tenant of the place murdered his wife by
+smothering her with a pillow in her bedroom, and for many years it was
+rumored that occupants of the house occasionally were terrified by
+muffled sounds of moaning as of one in mortal agony.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM H. AVERELL AND JUDGE PRENTISS]
+
+The building referred to in Isaac Cooper's diary as "Morrell's and
+Prentiss' house" includes the two brick houses on Main Street which
+stand conjoined just east of the Village Club and Library. Judge
+Morrell went West, and his house, the more westerly of the two, became
+better known as the property of its later owner, William Holt Averell,
+whose descendants continued to occupy it a century after him. The
+adjoining house, built by Col. Prentiss, remained after his death in
+possession of his family, and his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Prentiss
+Browning, lived to celebrate its centennial.
+
+Col. John H. Prentiss, for more than half a century a resident, and for
+forty years editor of the _Freeman's Journal_, was a notable figure in
+Cooperstown. Under his editorial management the _Freeman's Journal_
+became a strong political organ, and exercised an influence that made
+Otsego one of the stanchest Democratic counties in the State of New
+York. Col. Prentiss represented his district in Congress during the four
+years of Van Buren's administration, having been reelected at the
+expiration of his first term. It was at this time that his next door
+neighbor, William Holt Averell, was a candidate for Congress on the Whig
+ticket. The first returns indicated that Averell had been elected, and
+there was a noisy demonstration by Averell's supporters in front of his
+residence, bringing him forth for a speech which was received with great
+enthusiasm. The returns came in slowly in those days, and a day or two
+had passed before it was learned that Prentiss had been elected, and his
+doorstep became the scene of another jubilation. According to the
+recollections of some this seesawing of returns occurred more than once,
+and the two neighbors, whose friendship was not interrupted by their
+political antagonisms, each joined in the demonstration in honor of the
+other.
+
+A large part of the work of publishing his newspaper was done by Judge
+Prentiss himself. Besides being sole editor, he attended to the
+financial department, and for forty years, except while in Congress, he
+gave his personal attention in the printing office to the mechanical
+department. A later writer recalls often seeing Col. Prentiss in the
+press-room, with coat off, sleeves rolled up, either inking the type
+with two large soft balls, or pulling at the lever of the old Ramage
+press. He describes him as "an industrious, energetic man, a little
+inclined to aristocratic bearing, but open, frank and cordial with his
+friends."
+
+The last appearance of Col. Prentiss in public life, from which he had
+previously kept aloof for several years, was as a delegate to the
+Democratic State convention which was held in Albany on February 1,
+1861. In that body of distinguished and able men, of which he was one of
+the vice-presidents, he attracted much attention, and the question was
+frequently asked by those in attendance, referring to Col. Prentiss,
+"Who is that large, fine-looking old gentleman, with white, flowing
+hair?"[94]
+
+Colonel Prentiss's next door neighbor, William Holt Averell, son of
+James Averell, Jr., was for more than half a century one of the most
+prominent citizens of the village, who did more perhaps than any other
+for its financial development. He was one of the first directors and for
+many years president of the Otsego County Bank, the original of the
+present First National Bank, and for which the building across the way
+from his house, now used as the Clark Estate office, was erected in
+1831. As he issued every day from the doorway of this building with its
+portico of fluted columns, his figure was exactly such as the
+imagination might now devise as most in harmony with the surroundings;
+for in his youth Averell was extremely punctilious in his dress, being a
+very handsome man, and for many years it was his custom to wear a white
+beaver hat, and ruffled shirt, with ruffles at the cuffs that set off to
+good advantage his small and delicate hands. He did all his reading and
+work at night. Those who passed his windows at a late hour were sure to
+glimpse him bending over his desk, and nobody else in Cooperstown went
+to bed late enough to see his lamp extinguished, for the servants often
+found him still at work when they came to summon him to breakfast in the
+morning. He lived long enough to be regarded as a gentleman of the old
+school, positive and dogmatic in his opinions, which were usually those
+of a minority, but which he defended with the resourcefulness of a
+brilliant and well-trained mind.
+
+In 1813 Henry Phinney, one of the two sons of Elihu Phinney, began the
+construction of the large brick house on Chestnut street now known as
+"Willowbrook," and completed it three years later. In Cooper's
+_Chronicles of Cooperstown_ several houses "of respectable dimensions
+and of genteel finish" are mentioned as having been erected between the
+years of 1820 and 1835. Among these is the house of Elihu Phinney, the
+younger son of the pioneer, which still stands on Pioneer Street
+opposite to the Universalist church. It is of brick, partly surrounded
+by a veranda, and exquisite in many details of construction, much of the
+interior woodwork being notable in excellence of chaste design.
+
+During this same general period several houses of stone were erected
+that still remain among the most solid and attractive in Cooperstown.
+William Nichols built Greystone, the fine old residence that stands at
+the southwest corner of Fair and Lake streets; Ellory Cory erected the
+house on the west side of Pioneer Street near Lake Street; John Hannay
+set a new standard for the western part of the village when he put up on
+the north side of Main Street, not far from Chestnut Street, the
+dignified residence now occupied by the Mohican Club. In 1827 the low
+structures of stone which stand on the east side of Pioneer Street,
+between Main and Church street, were erected; and in 1828 the
+three-story stone building on the north side of Main Street, midway
+between Pioneer and Chestnut streets, was an important addition to the
+business section of the village.
+
+[Illustration: _Forrest D. Coleman_
+
+WOODSIDE HALL]
+
+A country-house of classic poise and symmetry was designed in 1829, when
+Eben B. Morehouse purchased a few acres from the Bowers estate, on the
+side of Mount Vision, at the point where the old state road made its
+first turn to ascend the mountain, and there erected the dwelling
+called Woodside Hall. For many years an Indian wigwam stood on the site
+now occupied by Woodside. This old stone house, set on the hillside
+against a background of dense pine forest, has an air of singular
+dignity and repose. Standing at the head of the ascending road which
+continues the main street of the village, Woodside, with its row of
+columns gleaming white amid the living green of the forest, may be seen
+from almost any point along the main thoroughfare of Cooperstown. It is
+approached from the highway by a rise of ground, where the Egyptian
+gate-tower adds a fanciful interest to the entrance, with glimpses of
+the terraced lawn and garden that climb toward the house. In summer, on
+gaining the porch, one looks back upon a mass of foliage beneath which
+Cooperstown lies concealed, except for a vista that traverses the length
+of the village and rises to the pines that crown the hills beyond; while
+a glance toward the north sweeps across the surface of the lake to its
+western shore. The woods that come down almost to the house are composed
+of pines and hemlocks of splendid proportions and great antiquity,
+lending a shadowy atmosphere of mystery to the environs of Woodside
+Hall.
+
+The charm and grace of this residence seem to reflect certain qualities
+in the character of Judge Eben B. Morehouse, who designed it as his
+home. For he is described as a man of rare personality and unusual
+culture, whose intellectual ability gave him exceptional rank in his
+profession. He was district attorney in 1829, member of Assembly in
+1831, and became a justice of the Supreme Court of the State in 1847.
+Mrs. Morehouse, a daughter of Dr. Fuller, one of the pioneer physicians
+of Cooperstown, was a woman of many social gifts, and established
+traditions of hospitality and festivity at Woodside.
+
+In 1836 Judge Morehouse suffered reverses of fortune, and when he had
+sold Woodside to Samuel W. Beall, took up his residence in a modest
+cottage in the village. It was said of Judge Morehouse that, during this
+period, in walking about the village streets, he was careful never to
+raise his eyes toward Woodside, and, if occasion brought him in the
+vicinity of his old home, he passed it with averted face. After a few
+years he was able, to his great joy, to buy Woodside back again, and he
+continued residence there until his death in 1849.
+
+[Illustration: _Walter C. Stokes_
+
+THE GATE-TOWER AT WOODSIDE]
+
+A President of the United States was once lost in the grounds of
+Woodside. It was in 1839, when Judge Morehouse gave a large evening
+reception for President Martin Van Buren. After the reception, when the
+guests were departed, Mr. Van Buren and a friend who accompanied him
+became separated from their companions, and lost their way in attempting
+to find the gate-tower. For a long time they wandered and groped about
+in the darkness of the grounds, finally returning to the house for a
+guide and a lantern, just as the family were going to bed.
+
+In 1856 Mrs. Morehouse sold Woodside to the Hon. Joseph L. White, whose
+family entertained generously and delightfully. White was a
+distinguished lawyer of New York, and one of the most famous stump
+orators of his time. He became identified with the early days of the
+Nicaragua Canal project. While at work on the isthmus he was killed by
+the bullet of an assassin.
+
+After the death of White, the place was bought by John F. Scott, whose
+family were among the earliest settlers in Springfield at the head of
+the lake.
+
+In 1895 Woodside was purchased by Walter C. Stokes of New York. Mr. and
+Mrs. Stokes, occupying Woodside as a summer home, gave it new
+embellishment, and revived the traditions of its hospitality.
+
+[Illustration: SWANSWICK]
+
+At the extreme northwest margin of the lake there is a little cove, with
+a landing, near which one ascends from the shore by means of a swaying
+board walk over swampy ground, where flags and forget-me-nots bloom
+luxuriantly during summer days, and fireflies hold carnival at night. At
+the top of the slope stands "Swanswick," a cottage-like and rambling
+house whose rear windows look down the lake, while the low veranda in
+front opens upon a lawn and quiet lily-padded pond, a mill-pond
+originally, for near at hand are the falls that operated Low's mills, in
+the days of the pioneers. Swanswick stands upon the site of a house
+erected in 1762, the first ever inhabited by a white man on the shore of
+Otsego Lake. The present house was built after the Revolution by Colonel
+Richard Cary, one of Washington's aides, and the place was called Rose
+Lawn. General Washington was a guest here when he made his visit in
+Otsego in 1783, and a ball was given in his honor. The daughter of the
+house was Anne Low Cary who married Richard Cooper, and after his death
+became the wife of George Hyde Clarke, who built Hyde Hall. She
+inherited Rose Lawn from her mother, and gave it to her son, Alfred
+Cooper Clarke. The latter was childless, and left the place to his
+nephew, Leslie Pell, who belonged to the well known Pell family of New
+York and Newport, and who assumed legally the name of Clarke.
+
+Leslie Pell-Clarke married the charming Henrietta Temple, a cousin of
+Henry James the novelist, and of William James, the psychologist. He
+changed the name of the place to Swanswick, and lived there from the
+early 'seventies until his death in 1904. The Pell-Clarkes made
+Swanswick known as a haven of good cheer for miles around. The old
+house, simple in its lines and modest in proportions, had an air of
+singular distinction. The library in the west wing, with its curious
+skylight, and bookcases well stocked with the classic favorites of an
+English country gentleman, was a revelation to the connoisseur of old
+volumes; and the whole house was full of quaintly delightful surprises.
+It was the master of the house himself who gave to the place its
+atmosphere. He was ideally the centre of things, especially when he sat
+in the library reading aloud from some favorite author, which he did
+always with perfect justice of expression, and in a voice of unrivalled
+melody. He was a lover of outdoor life, and laid out on his own property
+at the head of the lake the golf grounds now managed by the Otsego Golf
+Club, the oldest links of any in America that have been maintained on
+their original course. Mr. and Mrs. Pell-Clarke were reckoned and
+beloved as partly belonging to Cooperstown, for they drove down from the
+head of the lake almost daily, drawn by the whitish speckled horses,
+Pepper and Salt, that everybody came to know. Pell-Clarke had the frame
+and bearing of an athlete. Tall, with clean-cut features, he was one of
+the handsomest men of his time, a noble and brilliant soul, an exuberant
+and fascinating personality.
+
+A country-seat that may be described as unique in all America, Hyde
+Hall, lies nestled in the haunches of the Sleeping Lion, toward the head
+of Otsego Lake. "The Sleeping Lion" is Cooperstown's nickname for Mount
+Wellington, the wooded hill that stretches along the northern margin of
+the Glimmerglass. The formal name was given to Mount Wellington by the
+builder of Hyde Hall, in honor of his famous classmate at Eton, in
+England. When this mountain is viewed from Cooperstown the aptness of
+the more familiar, descriptive term--the Sleeping Lion--becomes evident.
+In spite of its distance from the village, Hyde Hall has its place not
+only in the view but in the story of Cooperstown, for its proprietors
+have been closely associated with the life at the southern end of the
+lake.
+
+[Illustration: _J. W. Tucker_
+
+SHADOW BROOK]
+
+The grounds of Hyde Hall lie toward the head of Otsego, on the eastern
+side, where Hyde Bay increases the width of the lake by a generous sweep
+of rounded shore. Into this bay from the east flows Shadow Brook, the
+most picturesque stream of water in the region, whose pellucid current
+reflects clear images of foliage and sky, and offers a favorite resort,
+in shaded nooks, to the drifting canoes of lovers. In a clearing of the
+woods farther northward along the shore, and at a good elevation, stands
+Hyde Hall, facing the southeast across the bay. It is massively
+constructed of large blocks of stone, and seems designed for a race of
+giants. The main part of the house, completed in 1815, is two stories
+high, in the colonial style, and over two hundred feet in length. In
+1832 the facade was added, in the Empire style, with two splendid rooms
+on either side of a large entrance hall. The doorways and windows, as
+well as the chambers into which they open, are planned on a big scale.
+Solidity of construction appears throughout the building, where even the
+partition walls are of brick or stone. The masons, carpenters, and
+mechanics who built Hyde Hall lived on the premises while the house was
+under construction. They quarried and cut the stone from adjacent beds
+of local limestone; they burnt the brick from clay found at the foot of
+the hill; they cut the timber in the neighboring forest, and
+manufactured all the windows, doors, and panel-work.
+
+The house commands a superb view of the lake, and is surrounded by
+beautiful old trees and forest land. Upwards of three thousand acres
+belonging to Hyde Hall enclose it on all sides, and the residence is
+approached by three private roads averaging over a mile in length.
+
+Within the house, as one tries to visualize its spirit, from Trumbull's
+portrait of the Duke of Wellington, which stands above the fireplace in
+the great drawing-room, through rambling passages with glimpses of a
+courtyard and alcoves and wings; up curved stairways to landings that
+present unexpected steps down and steps up; along halls that beckon amid
+dim lights to unrevealed recesses of space; down through kitchens where
+huge pots and cauldrons reflect the glow of living coals, while shadowy
+outlines of spits and cranes are lifted amid a smoke of savory odors;
+deeper down into the spacious wine-cellars darkly festooned with
+cobwebs, and chill as the family burying-vault where vines and snakes
+squirm through the bars of its iron gates beneath the hill,--out of
+these fleeting impressions rises the atmosphere of an old-world
+tradition strangely created amid the original wilds of Otsego at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century. It is a house that should be
+ashamed not to harbor romance, and mystery, and ghosts.
+
+Hyde Hall has the air of an English country-seat, with squire and
+tenantry, transplanted to the soil of an alien democracy. To comprehend
+its place in the life of Cooperstown it must be regarded as the symbol
+of certain ancestral traditions toward which good Americans are expected
+to be indifferent. George Clarke, who was colonial governor of New York
+from 1737 to 1744, came to America shortly after being graduated at
+Oxford, having received an appointment to colonial office from Walpole,
+then prime minister of England. He came from Swanswick, near Bath. After
+a few years' residence in New York he met and married Anne Hyde, the
+daughter of Edward Hyde, royal governor of North Carolina. She
+subsequently became the heiress of Hyde, in England, in her own right,
+and by the old English law of coverture, George Clarke became the owner
+of the estate. The lady died during his term of office as governor of
+the colony, and was buried, with a public funeral, in the vault of Lord
+Cornburg in Trinity church, New York.
+
+George Clarke, the builder of Hyde Hall on Otsego Lake, was a
+great-grandson of the colonial governor, a part of whose large estate of
+lands in America he inherited. He came to America in 1791, to comply
+with the statute requiring all English born subjects who were minors
+during the War for Independence, and who owned lands in this State
+subject to confiscation, to become American citizens. After several
+trips across the water George Clarke decided, in 1809, to make his abode
+in the New World, and leaving his home, Hyde Hall, at Hyde, in Cheshire,
+he came to America, married as his second wife Anne Cary, the widow of
+Richard Cooper, brother of James Fenimore Cooper, and in 1813 began the
+building of his new Hyde Hall.
+
+The property originally controlled from Hyde Hall was of vast extent. At
+an early day George Clarke encountered much opposition from his
+tenantry. The tenure by which they held their lands was not in
+accordance with the views of American settlers. The estates were leased
+out, some as durable leases, at a small rent, and others for three
+lives, or twenty-one years. The settlers disliked the relation of
+landlord and tenant, and Clarke was frequently annoyed by demands which
+his high English notions of strict right would not allow him to concede.
+His prejudices were strong, and if he believed anyone intended to wrong
+him, he was stubborn in resisting any invasion of his rights. Hence
+there were many collisions between landlord and tenant in the early days
+of Hyde Hall. The warm aspect of his nature, which disarmed the enmities
+of tenants, appeared in his social qualities. He was companionable, gave
+good dinners, conversed well, told a good story, delighted in a good
+one from others, and when in a gay mood would sing an excellent song,
+generally one that he had brought with him from Merrie England.
+
+In his habits and sentiments Clarke was thoroughly English. He delighted
+to have his dinner got up in old English style, with the best of roast
+beef and mutton, garnished with such delicacies as the lake and country
+afforded, and just such as his countrymen, who knew how to appreciate
+good things, would order, were they the caterers; and in these
+particulars he hardly ever failed to excel. Not only were his household
+arrangements in this style, but he was English in his religious views;
+unless those matters were held in conformity to the Anglican Church they
+were not acceptable.
+
+When Clarke's son George, who afterward succeeded to the estate, was
+baptized, in 1824, Father Nash officiated, and several other clergymen
+of the Episcopal Church were in attendance, besides some guests from
+Utica, and many from Cooperstown and the surrounding country who had
+come to Hyde Hall for the occasion. The christening was performed with
+suitable gravity, and in due time the dinner was announced, which was in
+the substantial excellent style that Clarke knew well how to order for
+such a festivity. The host was talkative and charming; as the dinner
+proceeded the guests became increasingly good-humored, exceedingly well
+satisfied with him and with themselves. "In due time the ladies and
+clergy retired," says Levi Beardsley,[95] who was present at the feast,
+"and then the guests were effectually plied with creature comforts."
+
+[Illustration: HYDE HALL]
+
+Nothing seemed more delightful to the first proprietor of Hyde Hall than
+thus to sit in company with congenial men at the flowing bowl; to begin
+in the enjoyment of rational conversation; to discuss literature and art
+and statecraft; to warm up to the telling of rare stories and the
+singing of good songs; and, in the end, to get his guests, or a portion
+of them, "under the table." On this occasion, after partaking of the
+viands and good cheer, the guests left the table in the early part of
+the evening, and repaired to the plateau in front of the house, where
+some of them ran foot-races in the dark, with no great credit to
+themselves as pedestrians. As they were going back into the house, one
+of the guests stumbled and fell into the hall, where he lay for some
+time, obstructing the closing of the outer door. One of the servants
+came to Clarke, who had retired for the night, and asked what he should
+do with the large gentleman who had fallen in the doorway, and was
+unable to rise. "Drag him in, and put him under the table" was the order
+which was immediately complied with, and under the table the fallen
+guest remained until morning.
+
+The builder of Hyde Hall died in 1835, and his only American born son,
+George Clarke, succeeded him in his American estate, thus becoming at
+the age of twenty-one years the largest landed proprietor in the State
+of New York. The patents which he held included 1,000 acres in Fulton
+county, 6,000 acres in Dutchess county, 7,000 acres in Oneida, 12,000 in
+Montgomery, besides 16,000 acres in Otsego county, and a valuable tract
+in Greene county including one-half of the village of Catskill. George
+Clarke married Anna Maria Gregory, daughter of Dudley S. Gregory, the
+wealthiest man in Jersey City, and their married life was begun in great
+prosperity, with a town house on Fifth Avenue in New York, in addition
+to the country-seat on Otsego Lake.
+
+Clarke had three span of fast horses, and was a familiar figure in
+Cooperstown when he drove to service at Christ Church every Sunday, and
+frequently came to the village for the transaction of business, or to
+meet his friends, making nothing of the seven mile drive from his home.
+
+In his younger days Clarke was quite celebrated as a beau and dandy, and
+at one time was said to be the best dressed man in New York; but in his
+later years he became notorious for his carelessness of attire, and few
+of his tenants wore a cheaper costume. In this matter he was indifferent
+to public opinion, and went about looking like an old-fashioned farmer.
+In winter he covered himself with a buffalo coat that had areas of bare
+hide worn through the fur; in summer his favorite habiliment was a linen
+duster. For Fifth Avenue in New York he dressed in the same clothes that
+served him in Cooperstown. When his friends ventured to remonstrate, he
+put them off by saying that dress was a matter of indifference alike in
+city or country. "In Cooperstown," said he, "everybody knows me; in New
+York nobody knows me." When he had become accustomed to a suit of
+clothes, he was as loath to change them as to alter his friendships or
+politics. As he was plain in dress, so he was simple and abstemious in
+habits of life. His bare living probably cost as little as that of any
+working-man in the country.
+
+George Clarke had an insatiable land-hunger. In looking after his wide
+estates he allowed the Hyde Hall Property to become dilapidated, and
+mortgaged the land that he owned to buy more. His land gave him great
+yields of hops at the height of that industry in Otsego, but he was
+always inclined to buy more hops rather than to sell. Little by little,
+mortgages were foreclosed; Hyde Hall fell into decay; and in 1889 George
+Clarke died insolvent.
+
+Mrs. Clarke, in her youth, was said to be one of the most beautiful
+women of her day. Those who knew her in later years can testify to an
+abiding charm of personality which time could never efface. Hyde Hall in
+summer she loved, but always the most perfect place in the world to her
+was Monte Carlo, and there for many years she passed the winter,
+becoming at last the oldest member of the American colony, having
+crossed the ocean thirty times from America to Southern France. An old
+lady tireless of life and all its activities, sprightly in manner,
+brilliant in conversation, graceful in gesture, gay in dress, decked in
+jewelry that scintillated with her quick motions, shod in tiny,
+high-heeled slippers that clicked the measure of an alert step, and
+sometimes permitted a flash of bright silk stockings; a lover of life
+and gaiety and beauty to whom Monte Carlo seemed the most homelike spot
+on earth--her reign as mistress in her younger days gave a color of its
+own to the story of Hyde Hall.
+
+When George Clarke died in 1889, his son, George Hyde Clarke, having
+been graduated at the Columbia Law School, had for several years made
+his home at Hyde Hall, and had restored the place to something like its
+original condition. He married Mary Gale Carter, granddaughter of
+William Holt Averell of Cooperstown, and it was through her inheritance
+that the old home was saved to the family.
+
+Hyde Clarke inherited some of the English traditions of his grandfather.
+He was sent to England at the age of fourteen years, and educated at the
+famous Harrow school. In spite of his later devotion to legal studies,
+and his admission to the bar of the State of New York, his real tastes
+inclined to agriculture. Having been trained as a scholar, he added
+farming to his accomplishments, and when he settled down at Hyde Hall it
+was as a son of the soil. For the rest of his life, being at once a
+gentleman and a farmer, he was the better in both characters for being
+so much in each. The combination of birth and practical aptitude gave
+him a position quite unique in Cooperstown and the surrounding country.
+He was a man of wide reading and culture, an exceedingly good talker,
+and a delightful social companion. He was at the same time respected as
+a farmer among farmers, who knew him well, and called him by his
+Christian name. It is related that shortly after her marriage to Hyde
+Clarke, the stately and distinguished Mrs. Clarke was complaining to her
+butcher in Cooperstown that he had sent her poor meat. "Very sorry, Mrs.
+Clarke," replied the butcher "but 'twas one of Hyde's own critters!"
+
+[Illustration: HYDE CLARKE
+
+From the portrait by Ellen G. Emmet]
+
+Hyde Clarke had certain mannerisms that added interest to his
+personality. He would sometimes sit silent in company, without the
+slightest effort to contribute to the conversation; but when he chose to
+talk, he talked well and informingly, and it was a delight to hear him.
+In a voice well-modulated and even, he selected his words with care,
+sometimes pausing for the precise expression, which he brought out with
+a quiet emphasis that made its exactness impressive. Repeatedly in
+conversation he seemed about to smile, or there was a movement behind
+the drooping moustache and in the eyes that suggested merriment, which
+quickly disappeared when one began to smile in return, leaving one with
+a foolish sense of having smiled at nothing. His deliberation of speech
+was significant of his carefulness of thought and judgment, and he was
+always leisurely in action. If he invited a guest to dine with him at
+seven o'clock, he was quite likely himself not to reach home until
+seven-thirty. A tall, calm man, he had the "British stare" to
+perfection, which in him was not an affectation, but arose from an
+entire lack of self-consciousness, and from moments of
+absent-mindedness. He could stare one out of countenance without
+intending rudeness; he could ignore the social amenities when he chose,
+without giving offense; while he was the only man in Otsego who could
+enter a lady's drawing-room in farming togs and with a hat on, without
+seeming less than well-bred.
+
+His arrival at the services of Christ Church on the Sunday mornings of
+winter became characteristic. Always late for the service, and often
+coming in after the sermon had begun, he walked deliberately forward up
+the main alley, clad in the great fur coat which had served him for the
+cold drive from Hyde Hall. Arrived at his pew, the front one at the
+left, he would stand there while he slowly removed his coat, meantime
+gazing curiously at the preacher, as if wondering what the text might
+have been. Still standing, his hand described circles over his head
+while he unreeled the long muffler wrapped about his throat. Then,
+turning about, he would give a wide stare at the congregation, produce
+his handkerchief, and with a trumpet-blast sit down to compose himself
+for the rest of the sermon.
+
+Hyde Clarke was exactly the man to have lived in what Levi Beardsley
+called the "Baronial establishment" of Hyde Hall, amid broad acres of
+wooded hill, and farm, and pasture. Besides being a practical farmer and
+hop-grower, he was a leader among politicians of the better sort in the
+Democratic party of the county and State. Through many avenues of
+interest he reached all sides of life, and gained experiences that saved
+his culture from dilettanteism, and made him a man among men, a true
+democrat. In his judgments of men, he was big enough to overlook the
+little imperfections that often conceal a fundamental soundness of
+character; he saw the good in all, and spoke evil of none. He had
+friendships among people of all sorts and conditions. Nor did he limit
+his friendship to the human race; he knew horses and cows and dogs. He
+loved all moods of nature, and faced all kinds of weather.
+
+Hyde Hall, in the first century of its existence, measured the lives of
+three men, passing from father to son, and leaving its traditions to the
+great-grandson of the builder, another George Hyde Clarke, who, in 1915,
+married Emily Borie Ryerson, a daughter of Arthur Ryerson of Chicago, a
+gentleman affectionately remembered as the host of "Ringwood" at the
+head of the lake, and mourned for his untimely death at sea, in the loss
+of the _Titanic_.
+
+[Illustration: A WEDDING-DAY AT HYDE]
+
+Hyde Hall is at its best as the centre of a function, crowded with
+guests, buzzing with conversation, while the company overflows from the
+house to the lawn, presenting a kaleidoscope of color in the shifting
+throng that moves to and fro in the spacious foreground of the venerable
+mansion. There are those to whom one scene stands out as typical of Hyde
+Hall in its glory: a brilliant autumn afternoon in 1907, the wedding day
+of the daughter of the house; a picturesque concourse of wedding guests
+upon the lawn before the doorway; a sudden lifting of all eyes to the
+balcony above the portico, where the bride appears, clad in her wedding
+gown, stands radiant, with her bridal bouquet poised aloft, and flings
+it to the bridesmaids grouped below.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 94: _History of Otsego County_, 1877, p. 285.]
+
+[Footnote 95: _Reminiscences_, from which the description of Clarke is
+taken.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE BIRTHPLACE OF BASE BALL
+
+
+The game of Base Ball was invented and first played in Cooperstown in
+1839. Few statements of historical fact can be supported by the decision
+of a commission of experts especially appointed to examine the evidence
+and render a verdict, but in fixing the origin of Base Ball it is
+exactly this solemn form of procedure that has placed the matter beyond
+doubt.
+
+In 1905 a friendly controversy arose, as to the origin of Base Ball,
+between A. G. Spalding, for many years famous as a patron of the sport,
+and Henry Chadwick, fondly known as the "Father of Base Ball." Chadwick
+had long contended that the game of Base Ball derived its origin from
+the old English pastime called "Rounders." Spalding took issue with him,
+asserting that Base Ball is distinctively American, not only in
+development, but in origin, and has no connection with "Rounders," nor
+any other imported game. Each view enlisted its champions, and, when no
+agreement could be reached, the contending forces decided to refer the
+whole matter to a special Base Ball commission for full consideration
+and final judgment.
+
+The members of the commission were well known in the Base Ball world,
+and some of them were men of national reputation in more serious fields
+of achievement. They were A. G. Mills of New York, an enthusiastic ball
+player before and during the Civil War; the Hon. Arthur P. Gorman,
+former United States Senator from Maryland; the Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley,
+United States Senator from Connecticut, and formerly Governor of that
+State; N. E. Young of Washington, D. C., a veteran ball player, and the
+first secretary of the National Base Ball League; Alfred J. Reach of
+Philadelphia, and George Wright of Boston, both well known business men,
+and, in their day, famous ball players; James E. Sullivan of New York,
+president of the Amateur Athletic Union. The last named acted as
+secretary of the commission, and during three years conducted an
+extensive correspondence in collecting data, as well as following up
+various clues that might prove useful in the determination of the
+question at issue. When all available evidence had been gathered the
+whole matter was compiled and laid before the special commission, which
+spent several months in going over the mass of data and argument.
+
+Briefs were addressed to the commission, by Chadwick in support of his
+contention that Base Ball was developed from the English game of
+"Rounders," and by his opponents, who claimed a purely American origin
+for the national game.
+
+The similarity of the two games, Chadwick contended, was shown in the
+fact that "Rounders" was played by two opposing sides of contestants,
+on a special field of play, in which a ball was pitched or tossed to an
+opposing batsman, who endeavored to strike the ball out into the field,
+far enough to admit of his safely running the round of the bases before
+the ball could be returned, so as to enable him to score a run, the side
+scoring the most runs winning the game. This basic principle of
+"Rounders," Chadwick contended, is identical with the fundamental
+principle of Base Ball.
+
+[Illustration: BASE BALL ON NATIVE SOIL]
+
+Those who maintained the strictly American origin of Base Ball were
+unwilling to admit a connection with any game of any other country,
+except in so far as all games of ball have a certain similarity and
+family relationship. It was pointed out that if the mere tossing or
+handling of a ball, or striking it with some kind of stick, could be
+accepted as the origin of our game, it would carry it far back of
+Anglo-Saxon civilization--beyond Rome, beyond Greece, at least to the
+palmy days of the Chaldean Empire. It was urged that in the early
+'forties of the nineteenth century, when anti-British feeling still ran
+high, it is most unlikely that a sport of British origin would have been
+adopted in America. It was recalled that Col. James Lee, who was one of
+the moving spirits in the original effort to popularize Base Ball in New
+York City, and an organizer of the Knickerbocker Ball Club in 1845, had
+asserted that the game of Base Ball was chosen instead of and in
+opposition to Cricket on the very ground that the former was a purely
+American game, and because of the then existing prejudice against
+adopting any game of foreign invention. The champions of this theory of
+American origin further contended that those who would derive Base Ball
+from "Rounders" had totally ignored the earlier history of both games,
+and had been misled by certain modern developments of "Rounders," as
+more recently played in England, after many of the features of Base Ball
+had been appropriated by the English game.
+
+The American source of Base Ball is traced to the game of "One Old Cat,"
+which was a favorite among the boys in old colonial times. This was
+played by three boys--a thrower, a catcher, and a batsman. If the
+batsman after striking the ball could run to a goal about thirty feet
+distant, and return before the ball could be fielded, he counted one
+tally. This game was developed to include more players. "Two Old Cat"
+was played by four boys--two batsmen and two throwers--each alternating
+as catchers, and a "tally" was made by the batsman hitting the ball and
+exchanging places with the batsman at the opposite goal. In the same
+manner "Three Old Cat" was played by six, and "Four Old Cat" by eight
+boys. "Four Old Cat," with four batsmen and four throwers, each
+alternating as catchers, was played on a square-shaped field, each side
+of which was about forty feet long. All the batsmen were forced to run
+to the next corner, or "goal," of this square whenever any one of the
+batsmen struck the ball, but if the ball was caught on the fly or first
+bound, or any one of the four batsmen was hit by a thrown ball between
+goals, the runner was out, and his place was taken by the fielding
+player who put him out.
+
+From this game was developed "Town Ball," so called because it came to
+be the popular game at all town meetings. This game accommodated a
+greater number of players than "Four Old Cat," and resolved the
+individual players into two competing sides. It placed one thrower in
+the centre of the "Four Old Cat" square field, and had but one catcher.
+The corners of the field were called first, second, third, and fourth
+goals. The batsman's position was half way between first and fourth
+goals. The number of players on a side was at first unlimited, but
+"three out, all out," had already become the rule, allowing the fielding
+side to take their innings at bat.
+
+This method of alternating sides at bat was retained in the fully
+developed game of Base Ball, and marks the most radical difference in
+the ancestry of Base Ball and the English "Rounders." For the great
+feature of "Rounders," from which it derives its name, is the "rounder"
+itself, meaning that whenever one of the "in" side makes a complete
+continuous circuit of the bases, or, as it would be called in Base Ball,
+a "home run," he thereby reinstates the entire side; it then becomes
+necessary to begin over again to retire each one of the side at bat,
+until all of them have been put out. If Base Ball had been derived from
+Rounders, it would be likely to show in its history some trace of this
+distinctive feature of the English game. But no such feature has ever
+appeared in Base Ball or its antecedents.[96]
+
+All these considerations, with much else, entered into the discussions
+of the special Base Ball commission. The final decision of the
+commission was unanimous, and was published early in 1908.[97] The
+decision covered two points, the first rejecting the alleged connection
+with Rounders, the second fixing the time and place of the origin of
+Base Ball in America. Under the first head the commission decided "that
+Base Ball is of American origin, and has no traceable connection
+whatever with 'Rounders,' or any other foreign game."
+
+It was the second point in the decision, however, that added historic
+lustre to a village already famous in romance. The commission decided
+"that the first scheme for playing Base Ball, according to the best
+evidence obtainable to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday at
+Cooperstown, N. Y., in 1839."
+
+Up to the time of this investigation it had been supposed that the
+modern game of Base Ball originated in New York City, where the game was
+played in a desultory sort of way by the young business men as early as
+1842, although the first rules were not promulgated until the
+organization of the old Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1845. But Abner
+Graves, a mining engineer of Denver, convinced the commission that the
+real origin of the game must be sought elsewhere.
+
+Graves was a boy playfellow of Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown in 1839.
+He was present when Doubleday outlined with a stick in the dirt the
+present diamond-shaped Base Ball field, indicating the location of the
+players in the field; and afterward saw him make a diagram of the field
+on paper, with a crude pencil memorandum of the rules for his new game,
+which he named "Base Ball." Although sixty-eight years had passed since
+that time Graves distinctly remembered the incident, and recalled
+playing the game, with other boys, under Abner Doubleday's direction.
+
+Doubleday's game seems to have been an orderly and systematic
+development of "Town Ball," in which confusion and collision among
+players in attempting to catch the batted ball were frequent, and injury
+due to this cause, or to the practice of putting out the runner by
+hitting him with the ball, often occurred. Although Doubleday provided
+for eleven men on a side, instead of nine, using four outfielders
+instead of three, and stationing an extra shortstop between first and
+second bases, he had nevertheless invented fundamental principles that
+became characteristic of Base Ball. He had definitely limited the number
+of contestants on each side, and had fixed the position of players in
+the field, allotting certain territory to each, besides adding something
+like the present method of putting out the baserunner to the old one of
+"plugging" him with the ball. Under Doubleday's rules a runner not on
+base might be put out by being touched with the ball in the hand of an
+opposing player. From this was an easy step to the practice of throwing
+the ball to a baseman to anticipate the runner. The new importance thus
+given to the bases, in their relation to both fielders and batters,
+justified for the game the name of "Base Ball."
+
+"Abner Doubleday," writes Graves, "was several years older than I. In
+1838 and 1839 I was attending the 'Frog Hollow' school south of the
+Presbyterian church, while he was at school somewhere on the hill. I do
+not know, neither is it possible for anyone to know, on what spot the
+first game of Base Ball was played according to Doubleday's plan. He
+went diligently among the boys in the town, and in several schools,
+explaining the plan, and inducing them to play Base Ball in lieu of the
+other games. Doubleday's game was played in a good many places around
+town: sometimes in the old militia muster lot, or training ground, a
+couple of hundred yards southeasterly from the Court House,[98] where
+County Fairs were occasionally held; sometimes in Mr. Bennett's field
+south of Otsego Academy;[99] at other times over in the Miller's Bay
+neighborhood,[100] and up the lake.
+
+"I remember one dandy, fine, rollicking game where men and big boys from
+the Academy and other schools played up on Mr. Phinney's farm, a mile or
+two up the west side of the lake,[101] when Abner Doubleday and Prof.
+Green chose sides, and Doubleday's side beat Green's side badly.
+Doubleday was captain and catcher for his side, and I think John Graves
+and Elihu Phinney were the pitchers for the two sides. I wasn't in the
+game, but stood close by Doubleday, and wanted Prof. Green to win. In
+his first time at bat Prof. Green missed three consecutive balls. Abner
+caught all three, then pounded Mr. Green on the back with the ball,
+while they and all others were roaring with laughter, and yelling 'Prof.
+is out!'"
+
+It is of interest to recall that Abner Doubleday, the inventor of Base
+Ball went from his school in Cooperstown to West Point, where he was
+graduated in 1842, and served with distinction in the Civil War,
+attaining to the rank of Major General. Base Ball, indeed, owes much of
+its vogue to the United States Army, for it was played as a camp
+diversion by the soldiers of the Civil War, who, during the years of
+peace that followed, spread the fever of this pastime throughout the
+length and breadth of the United States, and thus gave to the game its
+national character.
+
+[Illustration: THE ORIGINAL HOUSE AT APPLE HILL]
+
+In 1908, at the time of the Base Ball Commission's decision that the
+game originated at Cooperstown in 1839, there were several old residents
+of the village whose recollections included that early period. On the
+strength of their statements rests a probability that the Cooperstown
+Classical and Military Academy, which was flourishing in 1839 under
+Major William H. Duff, was the school attended by Doubleday. This would
+be in accord with the recollection of Abner Graves that, in 1839,
+Doubleday was "at school somewhere on the hill." This school was at
+"Apple Hill," as it was called, in the grounds of the present
+"Fernleigh," where the Clark residence was built and now stands. Owing
+to the number of trees and the abrupt slope to the river, it is not
+likely that a full-sized Base Ball game was ever played within these
+grounds. But it is pleasant to fancy young Doubleday standing here,
+surrounded by an eager crowd of boys, amid the golden sunlight and
+greenery of long ago, as he traces on the earth with a stick his famous
+diamond, and from these shades goes forth with his companions to begin
+the national game of America.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 96: Opinion of John M. Ward, a famous player, afterward a
+lawyer in New York City.]
+
+[Footnote 97: _Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide_, 1908, p. 48.]
+
+[Footnote 98: The Watkins place on Chestnut Street, opposite the Village
+Hall, occupies this training ground, which extended east and south to
+the rear of the buildings on Main Street, and included part of the
+Phinney lot.]
+
+[Footnote 99: The clergy house of St. Mary's Church occupies the site of
+the Otsego Academy.]
+
+[Footnote 100: The Country Club grounds.]
+
+[Footnote 101: The present "Brookwood."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+FENIMORE COOPER IN THE VILLAGE
+
+
+The childhood memories of James Fenimore Cooper were associated with the
+village which his father had settled at the foot of Otsego Lake, for
+hither he was brought a babe in arms, and remained until, at the age of
+nine years, he was sent to Albany to be tutored by the rector of St.
+Peter's Church. After his career at Yale and in the Navy, he was married
+in 1811 to Susan de Lancey, and brought his bride to Cooperstown on
+their honeymoon. Three years later they came back to take up their
+residence at "Fenimore" just out of the village, on Otsego Lake, but,
+after three seasons of farming, circumstances once more drew Fenimore
+Cooper away from Cooperstown.
+
+It was in 1834, when he had become a novelist of international fame, and
+had lived for seven years in Europe, that Cooper, at the age of
+forty-five years, took steps to make a permanent home in the village of
+his childhood. Otsego Hall, which his father had built upon the site now
+marked by the statue of the Indian Hunter, in the Cooper Grounds, was
+repaired and partly remodeled, and here Fenimore Cooper dwelt until his
+death in 1851.
+
+[Illustration: FENIMORE]
+
+Two names of later renown are connected with Fenimore Cooper's
+reconstruction of Otsego Hall. Among the artisans employed was a lad of
+seventeen years apprenticed as a joiner, Erastus D. Palmer, who already
+had begun to attract attention as a wood-carver, and afterward became
+famous as a sculptor. While the alterations were in progress Cooper had
+as his guest in Cooperstown Samuel F. B. Morse, who assisted him in
+carrying out his ideas for the reconstruction of the Hall, and drew the
+designs which gave it more the style of an English country house.[102]
+The local gossips said that Morse aspired to the hand of his friend's
+eldest daughter, Susan Augusta Fenimore, then twenty-one years of age,
+but that Cooper had no mind to yield so fair a prize to an impecunious
+painter, a widower, and already forty-three years old. Morse was at this
+time experimenting with the telegraph instrument which was afterward to
+bring him wealth and such fame as an inventor as to overshadow his
+reputation as an artist.
+
+[Illustration: OTSEGO HALL]
+
+The Cooper Grounds, now kept as a public park by the Clark Estate,
+include the property that belonged to Fenimore Cooper. Otsego Hall,
+which was destroyed by fire in 1852, after the novelist's death, must
+be imagined at the centre of the grounds, where its outward appearance,
+as well as the arrangement of its interior, may be reconstructed by the
+fancy from the wooden model made from a design by G. Pomeroy Keese, and
+now to be seen in the village museum. Cooper's favorite garden-seat
+exists in facsimile in its original situation at the southeast corner of
+the grounds.
+
+When in 1834 the old mansion of the founder of Cooperstown began once
+more to be occupied it was a matter of great interest to the people of
+the village. Many of them well remembered Fenimore Cooper and his bride
+when, twenty years before, they had lived at Fenimore. They recalled the
+former resident as James Cooper, for it was not until 1826 that he
+adopted the middle name, in compliance with a request which his mother
+had made that he should use her family name.[103] Twenty years had made
+many changes in Cooperstown, and there was a large proportion of
+residents who knew Fenimore Cooper only from his writings and by
+reputation. Therefore when he came back to dwell in the home of his
+youth he was regarded by many almost as a newcomer in the neighborhood,
+and to his family as well as to himself a rather cautious welcome was
+given. It had to be admitted at the outset that the changes which
+Fenimore Cooper made in Otsego Hall were disapproved by some of the
+villagers. They did not like the foreign air which the old house now
+began to give itself with its battlements and gothic elaborations. Here
+was the first muttering of the storm that clouded the later years of
+Fenimore Cooper.
+
+[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER]
+
+Cooper's personal appearance was in accord with the strong individuality
+of his character. He was of massive, compact form, six feet in height,
+over two hundred pounds in weight and rather portly in later years, of
+firm and aristocratic bearing, a commanding figure: "a very castle of a
+man" was the phrase which Washington Irving applied to him. The
+bust[104] made by David d'Angers in Paris in 1828 gives to Cooper a
+classic splendor of head and countenance which is in agreement with the
+impression produced upon those who well remembered him. He had a full,
+expansive forehead, strong features, florid complexion, a mouth firm
+without harshness, and clear gray eyes. His head, which was set firmly
+and proudly upon giant shoulders, had a peculiar and incessant
+oscillating motion. His expressive eyes also were singularly volatile in
+their movement--seldom at perfect rest. He was always clean shaven, so
+that nothing was lost of the changes of expression which animated his
+mobile face in conversation. He had a hearty way of meeting men, a
+little bustling, and an emphatic frankness of manner which Bryant says
+startled him at first, but which he came at last to like and to admire.
+Cooper was a great talker. His voice was agreeably sonorous. He talked
+well, and with infinite resource. He could dash into animated
+conversation on almost any subject, and was not slow to express decided
+opinions, in which at times he almost demanded acquiescence. His
+earnestness was often mistaken for brusqueness and violence; "for," says
+Lounsbury,[105] "he was, in some measure, of that class of men who
+appear to be excited when they are only interested." He created a strong
+impression of vigor, intelligence, impulsiveness, vivacity, and
+manliness.
+
+When walking Cooper usually carried a stick, but never for support. In
+his last years he carried a small, slender walking stick of polished
+wood, having a curved handle, and too short for any purpose but to
+flourish in the hands. As he walked briskly along the village street,
+erect, and with expanded chest, this slender stick was often held
+horizontally across his back with his arms skewered behind it, while at
+his heels a pet dog trotted, a little black mongrel called "Frisk." In
+returning from the walk which proved to be his last he stopped at
+Edgewater, then the home of his niece, and, on leaving, forgot to take
+his stick. There it has remained, through the years that have passed
+since his death, just as he left it, hanging by its curved handle from a
+shelf of one of the bookcases in the library.
+
+During this residence in Cooperstown Fenimore Cooper wrote some twenty
+of his novels, his _Naval History_, the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_,
+besides many sketches of travel and articles contributed to magazines.
+This prodigious amount of writing, together with many other activities,
+made his life a full one. He rose early, and a considerable portion of
+his writing was accomplished before breakfast. In summer hardly a day
+passed without a visit to the Chalet farm, on the east side of the lake,
+where he sought relaxation from his mental labors. Accordingly, at
+about eleven o'clock he might be seen issuing from the gate of his
+residence in a wagon, driving a tall sorrel horse named Pumpkin. This
+animal was ill suited to the dignity of his driver. He had a singularity
+of gait which consisted in occasionally going on three legs, and at
+times elevating both hind legs in a manner rather amusing than alarming;
+often he persisted in backing when urged to go forward, and always his
+emotions were expressed by the switching of his very light wisp of a
+tail. Mrs. Cooper was most frequently Mr. Cooper's companion on these
+daily excursions, although often the eldest daughter took the place in
+the vehicle by her father's side.
+
+[Illustration: THE CHALET]
+
+In the late afternoon Cooper usually devoted some time to the
+composition of his novels, without touching pen to paper. It was his
+custom to work out the scenes of his stories while promenading the large
+hall of his home. Here he paced to and fro in the twilight of the
+afternoon, his hands crossed behind his back, his brow carrying the
+impression of deep thought. He nodded vigorously from time to time, and
+muttered to himself, inventing and carrying on the conversation of his
+various imaginary characters. After the evening meal he put work aside,
+and passed the time with the family, sometimes reading, often in a game
+of chess with Mrs. Cooper, whom, ever since their wedding day, when they
+played chess between the ceremony and supper, he had fondly called his
+"check-mate." He never smoked, and seldom drank beyond a glass of wine
+which he took with his dinner.
+
+[Illustration: THE NOVELIST'S LIBRARY
+
+From a drawing by G. Pomeroy Keese]
+
+In the early morning, when Cooper shut himself in the library, he set
+down on paper in its final form the portion of narrative that he had
+worked out while pacing the hall the previous afternoon. The library
+opened from the main hall, and occupied the southwestern corner of the
+house. It was lighted by tall, deeply-recessed windows, against which
+the branches of the evergreens outside flung their waving shadows. The
+wainscoting was of dark oak, and the sombre bookcases that lined the
+walls were of the same material. A large fireplace occupied the space
+between the two western windows. Across the room stood a folding
+screen[106] upon which had been pasted a collection of engravings
+representing scenes known to the family during their tour and residence
+in Europe, together with a number of notes and autographs from persons
+of distinction. Attached to the top of one of the bookcases was a huge
+pair of antlers[107] holding in their embrace a calabash from the
+southern seas.
+
+The table at which the novelist sat once belonged to his maternal
+grandfather, Richard Fenimore, and had been brought by Judge Cooper from
+Burlington at the settlement of Cooperstown. It was a plain one of
+English walnut, and the chair in which he sat was of the same material.
+Cooper wrote rapidly, in a fine, small, clear hand, upon large sheets of
+foolscap, and seldom made an erasure. No company was permitted in the
+room while he was writing except an Angora cat who was allowed to bound
+upon the desk without rebuke, or even to perch upon the author's
+shoulders. Here the cat settled down contentedly, and with half-shut
+eyes watched the steady driving of the quill across the paper.
+
+[Illustration: A PAGE OF COOPER'S MANUSCRIPT
+
+(Two-fifths of actual size)]
+
+Among the many books written in this library _The Deerslayer_ brought
+the greatest fame to Cooperstown, for it peopled the shores of Otsego
+Lake with the creatures of Cooper's fancy, and added to the natural
+beauty of its scenery the glamour of romance. The idea of writing this
+story came to Fenimore Cooper on a summer afternoon as he drove from the
+Chalet homeward in his farm wagon, with his favorite daughter by his
+side, along the shaded road on the east shore of the lake. He was
+singing cheerily, for, although no musician, often he sang snatches of
+familiar songs that had struck his fancy, and above the rumbling of the
+wagon his booming voice frequently was heard along the road in a sudden
+burst of "Scots, wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled!" or Moore's "Love's Young
+Dream"--always especial favorites with him. On this occasion, however,
+it was a political song that he was singing, a ditty then popular during
+the campaign of 1840 in the party opposed to his own. Suddenly he
+paused, as an opening in the woods revealed a charming view of the lake.
+His spirited gray eye rested a moment on the water, with an expression
+of abstracted poetical thought, familiar to those who lived with him;
+then, turning to the companion at his side, he exclaimed: "I must write
+one more book, dearie, about our little lake!" Again his eye rested on
+the water and wooded shores with the far-seeing look of one who already
+had a vision of living figures and dusky forms moving amid the quiet
+scene. A moment of silence followed. Then Fenimore Cooper cracked his
+whip, resumed his song, with some careless chat on incidents of the day,
+and drove homeward. Not long afterward he shut himself in his library,
+and the first pages of _The Deerslayer_ were written.[108]
+
+There were perhaps many in the village who felt honored in being
+neighbor to a novelist of international fame. But the general sentiment
+toward Fenimore Cooper in his home town was not altogether created by
+his success as a writer. It may be that the aged Miss Nancy Williams,
+who lived in the house which still stands on Main Street next east of
+the Second National Bank, was not alone in her estimate of this kind of
+success. Her favorite seat was at a front window where she was daily
+occupied in knitting, and watching all passers-by. Whenever Fenimore
+Cooper passed, whom she had known as a boy, Miss Williams called out to
+him: "James, why don't you stop wasting your time writing those silly
+novels, and try to make something of yourself!"
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+THE HOME OF NANCY WILLIAMS]
+
+Whatever may have been the village estimate of his fame as a novelist,
+there were certain personal traits in Cooper that went farther than
+anything he ever wrote to fix the esteem of his fellow citizens. Among
+acquaintances whom he admitted as his social equals he was universally
+beloved; to these he showed all the charm and fascination of a gracious
+personality and brilliant mind. The more intimately Cooper was
+approached the more unreservedly he was admired, and within his own
+family he was almost adored. In the humbler walks of life those who
+habitually recognized Cooper as a superior had nothing to complain of.
+But there were many in Cooperstown who had no warmth of feeling toward
+Fenimore Cooper. They were quick to detect in him an attitude of
+contemptuous superiority toward the villagers. Some of the neighbors
+felt that he willingly remained a stranger to them. When he passed along
+the street without seeing people who expected a greeting from him, his
+friends averred that it was because his mind, abstracted from present
+scenes and passers-by, was engaged in the dramatic development of some
+tale of sea or forest. But those who felt snubbed by his indifference
+were less charitable in their interpretation of his bearing toward them.
+Cooper had been for seven years a lion in Europe, splendidly entertained
+by the Princess Galitzin in Paris, where he was overwhelmed with
+invitations from counts and countesses; dining at Holland House in
+London with Lord and Lady Holland; a guest of honor at a ball given by a
+prince in Rome; presented at the brilliant Tuscan court at Florence, for
+which occasion he was decked in lace frills and ruff, with dress hat and
+sword;--such incidents of his foreign life began to be mentioned to
+account for Cooper's disinclination to encourage familiar acquaintance
+with the villagers of Cooperstown.
+
+Cooper himself was entirely unconscious of any arrogance in his
+attitude, and when, in connection with the later controversies, it came
+to his knowledge that some villagers accused him of posing as an
+aristocrat in Cooperstown, he resented the imputation with some
+bitterness. "In this part of the world," he said, "it is thought
+aristocratic not to frequent taverns, and lounge at corners, squirting
+tobacco juice."[109] Cooper was strongly democratic in his convictions,
+and was so far from having been a toady during his residence in Europe
+that he had made enemies in aristocratic circles abroad by his fearless
+championship of republican institutions. At the same time he was
+fastidiously undemocratic in many of his tastes. It is a keen
+observation of Lounsbury's that Cooper "was an aristocrat in feeling,
+and a democrat by conviction." His recognition of the worth of true
+manhood, entirely apart from rank and social refinement, is shown in the
+noble character of Leather-Stocking. Yet the manners and customs of
+uncultivated people in real life were most offensive to his squeamish
+taste, and much of his concern for the welfare of his countrymen had to
+do with their neglect of the decencies and amenities of social
+behaviour.
+
+More than half a century after his death there were some living in
+Cooperstown who frequently related their childhood memories of Fenimore
+Cooper. His tendency to lecture the neighbors on their manners was
+burned into the memory of a child who, as she sat on her doorstep, was
+engaged with the novelist in pleasant conversation, until he spied a
+ring that she was wearing upon the third finger of her left hand. This
+he made the text of a solemn declaration upon the impropriety of wearing
+falsely the symbol of a sacred relationship. The lesson intended was
+probably sensible and wholesome, but the effect produced upon the child
+was a terror of Fenimore Cooper which lasted as long as life. On the
+other hand, one who was a slip of a girl at the time used afterward to
+boast that Fenimore Cooper had opened a gate for her when she was riding
+horseback, and stood hat in hand while she passed through.
+
+Allowance must be made for a somewhat distorted perspective in the
+impression produced by Cooper upon the memories of not a few children,
+for, judging from their reminiscences, the Garden of Eden was not more
+inviting than his, nor its fruits more to be desired, nor was the angel
+with the flaming sword more terribly vigilant than Fenimore Cooper in
+guarding the trees from unholy hands. The glimpses of the novelist most
+vividly remembered by these youngsters relate to attempted invasions of
+the orchard near his house, and their furious repulse by the irascible
+owner, who charged upon the trespassers with loud objurgations and a
+flourishing stick. One who picked a rose without permission long
+remembered the "awful lecture" that Cooper gave her, and how he said,
+"It is just as bad to take my flowers as to steal my money."[110]
+
+Among the children of his own friends there was quite a different
+opinion of Cooper. Elihu Phinney, who was a playmate of the novelist's
+son Paul, and a frequent guest at Otsego Hall, had an intense admiration
+for the author of the _Leather-Stocking Tales_, although he long
+remembered a lesson in table manners, by which, on one of these visits,
+his host had startled him. At dinner young Elihu passed his plate with
+knife and fork upon it for a second supply, when from the head of the
+table came this reprimand: "My boy, never leave your implements on the
+plate. You might drop knife or fork in a lady's lap. Take them both
+firmly in your left hand, and hold them until your plate is returned."
+Half a century afterward Elihu Phinney declared that whatever the ruling
+of etiquette might be in this matter, he had never since failed to heed
+this bit of advice from Fenimore Cooper. Mrs. Stephen H. Synnott, wife
+of a one-time rector of Christ Church in Cooperstown, remembered Cooper
+as a genuine lover of children. She was Alice Trumbull Worthington, and
+during the novelist's latter years she lived as a child in the White
+House on Main Street, nearest neighbor to Otsego Hall. "To meet Fenimore
+Cooper on the street in the village was always a pleasure," says Mrs.
+Synnott. "His eye twinkled, his face beamed, and his cane pointed at
+you with a smile and a greeting of some forthcoming humor. When I
+happened to be passing the gates of the old Hall, and he and Mrs. Cooper
+were driving home from his farm, I often ran to open the gate for him,
+which trifling act he acknowledged with old-time courtesy. His fine
+garden joined my father's, and once, being in the vicinity of the fence,
+he tossed me several muskmelons to catch, which at that time were quite
+rare in the village gardens."
+
+To this same little girl, when she had sent him an appreciation of one
+of his novels, Fenimore Cooper wrote a letter that certainly shows a
+benignant attitude toward children. "I am so much accustomed to
+newspapers," he wrote, "that their censure and their praise pass but for
+little, but the attentions of a young lady of your tender years to an
+old man who is old enough to be her grandfather are not so easily
+overlooked.... I hope that you and I and John will have an opportunity
+of visiting the blackberry bushes, next summer, in company. I now invite
+you to select your party, to be composed of as many little girls, and
+little boys, too, if you can find those you like, to go to my farm next
+summer, and spend an hour or two in finding berries. It shall be your
+party, and the invitations must go out in your name, and you must speak
+to me about it, in order that I may not forget it, and you can have your
+school if you like or any one else. I shall ask only one guest myself,
+and that will be John,[111] who knows the road, having been there once
+already."
+
+Another child who found Fenimore Cooper a most genial friend was
+Caroline A. Foote, who afterward became Mrs. G. Pomeroy Keese. She was a
+frequent visitor at Otsego Hall, where the novelist made much of her,
+and when she was thirteen years old he wrote some original verses in her
+autograph album, at her request, concluding with these lines:
+
+     In after life, when thou shalt grow
+       To womanhood, and learn to feel
+     The tenderness the aged know
+       To guide their children's weal,
+     Then wilt thou bless with bended knee
+     Some smiling child as I bless thee.
+
+Encouraged by this success, Caroline Foote afterward asked Cooper to
+write some verses for her schoolmate, Julia Bryant, daughter of William
+Cullen Bryant, who was a warm friend of the novelist. With his young
+petitioner by his side Cooper sat at the old desk in the library of
+Otsego Hall and laughingly dashed off these lines:
+
+     Charming young lady, Miss Julia by name,
+       Your friend, little Cally, your wishes proclaim;
+     Read this, and you'll soon learn to know it,
+       I'm not your papa the great lyric poet.
+
+In order to understand the local controversy which divided village
+sentiment concerning Fenimore Cooper, and gave rise to the long series
+of libel suits, it is necessary to consider certain influences of more
+remote origin.
+
+In 1826, when Cooper began his seven years' residence in Europe, before
+making his home in Cooperstown, he had become the most widely read of
+American authors. No other American writer, in fact, during the
+nineteenth century, enjoyed so wide a contemporary popularity. His works
+appeared simultaneously in America, England, and France. They were
+speedily translated into German and Italian, and in most instances soon
+found their way into the other cultivated tongues of Europe.[112]
+Cooper's friend Morse said that his novels were published, as soon as he
+produced them, in thirty-four different places in Europe, and that they
+had been seen by American travelers in the languages of Turkey and
+Persia, in Constantinople, in Egypt, at Jerusalem, at Ispahan. At a
+dinner given in New York in Cooper's honor, just before his departure
+for Europe, Chancellor Kent, who presided, voiced the general feeling by
+toasting him as the "genius which has rendered our native soil classic
+ground, and given to our early history the enchantment of fiction."
+
+Patriotism in Cooper was almost a passion, and it burned in him with new
+ardor because of the misunderstanding and disparagement of America which
+he encountered almost everywhere in Europe. The praise which came to him
+from Europeans irritated him with its air of surprise that anything good
+could be expected from America or an American. Nor did he much
+ingratiate himself in British society, where, when the conversation
+turned upon matters discreditable to the United States, it became his
+custom to bring up other matters discreditable to Great Britain. On the
+Continent he pursued much the same course, and published his first
+"novels with a purpose," _The Bravo_, _The Heidenmauer_, and _The
+Headsman_, the object of which was to demonstrate the superiority of
+democratic institutions over the medieval inheritances of Europe. In his
+introduction to _The Heidenmauer_ he wrote a sentence that stirred the
+wrath of the newspaper press of his own country: "Each hour, as life
+advances," he asserted, "am I made to see how capricious and vulgar is
+the immortality conferred by a newspaper." This provoked at home the
+retort "The press has built him up; the press shall pull him down!" He
+began to be bitterly attacked in some American newspapers, which accused
+him of "flouting his Americanism throughout Europe."
+
+When Cooper returned to America in 1833 it was with a sore heart. He had
+tried to set Europe right about America, and the result had been only to
+arouse resentment abroad and antagonism at home. It is not surprising
+that he found America much changed in seven years, and not for the
+better. It had been a period of rapid growth. New men were beginning to
+push the "old families" to the wall, and social rank was beginning to
+wait on wealth, in utter indifference to the classifications of the
+elder aristocracy. To Cooper it seemed that while America had grown in
+his absence there had been a vast expansion of mediocrity. Manners were
+dying out; architecture had become debased; towns were larger but more
+tawdry. In these observations, although they were furiously resented at
+the time, Cooper was probably correct. There was a period of about fifty
+years in the nineteenth century, when, in the development of material
+resources, there was a large indifference to manners in America, and a
+decline in the love for beautiful things and in the power to create
+them. This period of neglect toward the refinements of life set in at
+just about the time of Cooper's residence abroad.
+
+But America, in this awkward age of its youthful growth, was in no mood
+either to profit by criticisms or to be indifferent to them. Cooper
+began to regard the attitude of Americans as pusillanimous. They toadied
+to foreign opinion, and dared not stand up for America abroad; while at
+home nothing American was ever to be criticised. When he expressed the
+opinion that the bay of Naples was more beautiful than the bay of New
+York, or complained that the streets of New York were ill-paved and
+poorly lighted as compared with those of foreign cities, he was informed
+by the hushed voices of friends that it would never do. His criticisms
+of America were received with deeper umbrage, as coming from an
+American, than the sarcasms of Dickens which, ten years later, aroused a
+tempest of indignation.
+
+It was in these circumstances that he returned to the village of his
+youth, and took up his residence at Otsego Hall, in Cooperstown. Here he
+wrote the _Letter to His Countrymen_ in which he set out to answer
+certain criticisms of his writings that had appeared in New York
+newspapers, and, in apparent disgust, publicly announced that he had
+made up his mind to abandon authorship. Into this letter he imported
+some remarks upon a political controversy which was then agitating the
+nation, and touched the political situation in such a way, at a time
+when feeling ran high, that he succeeded in enraging the adherents of
+both political parties.
+
+A storm of newspaper abuse then fell upon Cooper. He was not the man to
+realize that, in controversy, silence is sometimes the most effective
+weapon. He replied to every attack. Nor did he remain on the defensive.
+He began new hostilities. He abandoned his resolution to abandon
+authorship. _The Monikins_, a satirical novel in which men are
+burlesqued by monkeys, was published in 1835. In the ten volumes of
+travel published from 1836 to 1838 he dealt out occasional criticisms of
+both England and America with so impartial a hand that he drew down upon
+himself the savage vituperation of the press on both sides of the
+Atlantic. Then came the period during which, from being the most popular
+American author, he became the most unpopular man of letters to whom the
+nation has ever given birth. "For years," says Lounsbury, "a storm of
+abuse fell upon him, which for violence, for virulence, and even for
+malignity, surpassed anything in the history of American literature, if
+not in the history of literature itself."
+
+[Illustration: THREE-MILE POINT]
+
+On the western shore of Otsego Lake there is a low, wooded tongue of
+land which projects for a short distance into the water, and is called,
+in reference to its distance from Cooperstown, Three-Mile Point. This
+has been a favorite resort for picnics and other outings of villagers
+since 1822. When Fenimore Cooper took up his residence in the village in
+1834, after his return from Europe, he found that the free use of
+Three-Mile Point by the public had given rise to the notion that it was
+owned by the community. This impression he took pains to correct, saying
+that while he had no desire to prevent the public from resorting to the
+Point, he wished it clearly understood that it was owned by the
+descendants of Judge William Cooper, of whose will he was executor. A
+defiant attitude toward his claim, and the destruction of a tree at
+Three-Mile Point afterward led Cooper to publish in the _Freeman's
+Journal_ the following warning:
+
+     The public is warned against trespassing on the Three-Mile
+     Point, it being the intention of the subscriber rigidly to
+     enforce the title of the estate, of which he is the
+     representative, to the same. The public has not, nor has it
+     ever had any right to the same beyond what has been conceded
+     by the liberality of the owners. J. FENIMORE COOPER.
+
+Immediately upon the publication of this notice, a handbill was put into
+circulation, which, in sarcastic terms, called for a public meeting of
+protest. "The citizens of the Village of Cooperstown," it ran, "are
+requested to meet at the Inn of Isaac Lewis, in said Village, this
+evening, at 7 o'clock, to take means to meet, and defend against the
+arrogant pretensions of one James Fenimore Cooper, claiming title to the
+'Three-Mile Point,' and denying to the citizens the right of using the
+same, as they have been accustomed to from time immemorial, without
+being indebted to the LIBERALITY of any one man, whether native
+or foreigner."
+
+[Illustration: THE CALL FOR THE INDIGNATION MEETING
+
+From original printer's proof: one-half actual size.]
+
+The meeting was held, and stirring speeches were made. A series of
+resolutions was passed, following a preamble setting forth the facts as
+understood by the meeting of citizens:
+
+     Resolved, By the aforesaid citizens that we will wholly
+     disregard the notice given by James F. Cooper, forbidding the
+     public to frequent the Three-Mile Point.
+
+     Resolved, That inasmuch as it is well known that the late
+     William Cooper intended the use of the Point in question for
+     the citizens of this village and its vicinity, we deem it no
+     more than a proper respect for the memory and intentions of
+     the father, that the son should recognize the claim of the
+     citizens to the use of the premises, even had he the power to
+     deny it.
+
+     Resolved, That we will hold his threat to enforce title to the
+     premises, as we do his whole conduct in relation to the
+     matter, in perfect contempt.
+
+     Resolved, That the language and conduct of Cooper, in his
+     attempts to procure acknowledgments of "liberality," and his
+     attempt to force the citizens into asking his permission to
+     use the premises, has been such as to render himself odious to
+     a greater portion of the citizens of this community.
+
+     Resolved, That we do recommend and request the trustees of the
+     Franklin Library, in this village, to remove all books, of
+     which Cooper is the author, from said library.
+
+     Resolved also, That we will and do denounce any man as
+     sycophant, who has, or shall, ask permission of James F.
+     Cooper to visit the Point in question.
+
+It was said that the meeting resolved to take Cooper's books from the
+Library and burn them at a public bonfire, but if so, this proposal did
+not appear in the resolutions as finally drafted.
+
+The actual point at issue in this controversy was soon settled. In a
+letter to the _Freeman's Journal_ Cooper showed that his father's will,
+drawn up in 1808, made a particular devise of Three-Mile Point. The
+words of the document were explicit: "I give and bequeath my place,
+called Myrtle Grove [Three-Mile Point], on the west side of the Lake
+Otsego, to all my descendants in common until the year 1850; then to be
+inherited by the youngest thereof bearing my name."
+
+But the results of the controversy were far-reaching. The quarrel gave
+rise to Cooper's unfortunate book _Home as Found_, to new controversies,
+and to the long series of libel suits.
+
+_Home as Found_ was intended to set forth in the course of a story the
+principles involved in the dispute about Three-Mile Point. It gave the
+author an opportunity also to enlarge upon his criticisms of America,
+and particularly of New York City. For this purpose the story brought
+upon the scene an American family long resident in Europe whom the
+writer called the Effinghams. Against the vulgar background of American
+life the members of this family were intended to personify all the
+accomplishments of culture and social refinement.
+
+Cooper's own attitude was astonishing in his failure to realize that in
+the Effinghams he would be supposed to be representing himself and his
+own family. The intimation was sufficiently obvious. The family returned
+from residence abroad; the removal to the village of "Templeton," with
+direct reference to _The Pioneers_; the story of the Three-Mile Point
+controversy--the inference seemed to follow from the parallel that the
+Effinghams were the Coopers. But Cooper's general unwillingness to
+acknowledge that any of his characters were drawn from life was here
+carried to the last extreme. It was evident that he was honestly
+unconscious of any such inference; his purpose was to deal with
+principles, not persons. When the name of Effingham was derisively
+applied to him, he resented the imputation.
+
+The controversy between Cooper and his critics had now reached a degree
+of violence that was grotesque. To stand alone, as Cooper stood, against
+furious assaults that represented the sentiments of nearly the whole
+public was not conducive to playful moods of the spirit; yet the
+controversy had its humorous side, and if the novelist had had a keen
+sense of humor he would have been spared much trouble. Certain aspects
+of the ludicrous appealed to Cooper, and there was a range of absurdity
+within which his merriment was easily excited, as when he laughed until
+the tears ran down his cheeks because his man-of-all-work thought that
+boiled oil should be called "biled ile"; but his attempts to create and
+sustain humorous characters, such as the singing-master in _The Last of
+the Mohicans_, justify Balzac's comments on Cooper's "profound and
+radical impotence for the comic." Nothing could be more comic than his
+r�le of lecturer to the American people upon refinements of social usage
+and manners. The many who were guilty of the vulgarities which he wished
+to correct were precisely those who could not be made to see the
+impropriety of them, and most fiercely resented any attempt to improve
+their deportment. If Cooper had possessed an acute sense of humor he
+would never have written _Home as Found_, nor would he have dignified
+with a reply the attack of every scribbler who assailed him. But he took
+all criticisms seriously, and felt it a solemn duty, in justice to
+himself and to the principles for which he stood, to defend himself
+against all and sundry. There is no doubt that in standing alone against
+the whole world he believed himself to be performing a public service,
+and displayed a degree of courage which is too rare not to command
+extraordinary admiration. At the same time those of his friends who
+described him as borne down by the weight of his sorrow at the
+misunderstanding and ingratitude which he encountered had not taken the
+full measure of his character. So splendid a fighter as Fenimore Cooper
+usually finds some pleasure in fighting, especially if, as in his case,
+he is habitually victorious. He leaped into the fray of each controversy
+with such alacrity that it is difficult to avoid the belief that Cooper
+was animated not only by a sense of justice, but by a joy of battle.
+
+The occasion of the libel suits was the publication in August, 1837, in
+the _Otsego Republican_, a Cooperstown newspaper, of an article copied
+from the _Norwich Telegraph_, in which Cooper was roundly abused in
+reference to the Three-Mile Point controversy, and to which the
+_Republican_ added comments of its own, repeating the disproved
+statement that the father of the novelist had reserved the Point for the
+use of the inhabitants of the village. Cooper promptly notified the
+editor of the _Republican_, Andrew M. Barber, that unless the statements
+were retracted he would enter suit for libel. Barber refused to retract;
+the suit was begun; and in May, 1839, at the final trial, the jury
+returned a verdict of four hundred dollars for the plaintiff. The
+editor sought to avoid the payment of the whole award, and a great
+outcry was raised against Cooper because the sheriff levied upon some
+money which Barber had laid away and locked up in a trunk. Cooper sued
+also the _Norwich Telegraph_, and when other newspapers took the side of
+their associates he entered suit promptly against any that published
+libelous statements. In this way one suit led to another, until Cooper
+was bringing action against the _Oneida Whig_, published at Utica; the
+_Courier and Enquirer_ of New York, edited by James Watson Webb; the
+_Evening Signal_ of New York, edited by Park Benjamin; the _Commercial
+Advertiser_ of New York, edited by Col. William L. Stone; the _Tribune_,
+edited by Horace Greeley; and the _Albany Evening Journal_, edited by
+Thurlow Weed. This list includes the leading Whig journals of the time
+in the State of New York, which were among the most influential in the
+whole country. Col. Stone, Thurlow Weed, and Watson Webb were former
+residents of Cooperstown, the two first named having each served an
+apprenticeship as printer in the office of the _Freeman's Journal_. Weed
+was recognized as the leader of the Whig party in the nation, and his
+newspaper was correspondingly important. He was Cooper's most persistent
+opponent, and in 1841 the novelist had commenced five suits against him
+for various articles published in the _Evening Journal_. It is a curious
+fact that Weed was noted as a bigoted admirer of his adversary's novels.
+Weed himself afterward related that when about to leave Albany by
+stage-coach to attend one of these trials, and inquiring at the
+booksellers for some late publication to read on the journey, he was
+informed that the only new book was _The Two Admirals_, which had just
+been issued. "I took the book," said Weed, "and soon became so absorbed
+that I had hardly any time or thought for the trial, through which the
+author who charmed me was trying to push me to the wall."
+
+The libel suits extended over the period from 1838 to 1844. Cooper acted
+almost wholly as his own lawyer, and argued his own cases in court. He
+was pitted against leaders of the bar in the greatest State in the
+Union. He had become personally unpopular, and was engaged in an
+unpopular cause. He won his verdicts from reluctant juries, but, in
+nearly every case, he won. The libel law of the State of New York was
+made, to a great extent, by the Fenimore Cooper cases.
+
+To complete the story, the final disposition of Three-Mile Point, the
+innocuous cause of all this controversy, must here be anticipated. In
+1899 Simon Uhlman, a wealthy hop merchant, purchased a summer home on
+the lakeside nearest to Three-Mile Point, and, desiring to acquire this
+tongue of land for his own use, made inquiries of Samuel M. Shaw, the
+veteran editor of the _Freeman's Journal_, to ascertain from whom the
+purchase might be made. Shaw learned from G. Pomeroy Keese that under
+the terms of Judge Cooper's will, the Point was then owned by William
+Cooper of Baltimore, and hastily arranged for the purchase at a
+moderate price, not for Uhlman, but for the village of Cooperstown. Thus
+Uhlman lost a desirable water front, and William Cooper a big price for
+his land, but the citizens of Cooperstown gained a playground, the
+denial of which to their forebears had nearly caused a riot. Uhlman
+afterward sold his place, Uncas Lodge, to Adolphus Busch of St. Louis.
+
+Cooper's reputation as an author suffered from his success as a litigant
+in an unpopular cause, and his prosecution of the libel suits injured
+the sale of his books, not only then, but for some years after his
+death. In 1844, just after Cooper had reduced the newspapers of the
+State to silence, Edward Everett Hale visited Cooperstown, and says that
+when he tried to buy a copy of _The Pioneers_ at a local bookseller's
+the dealer coolly declared that he had never heard of the book.[113]
+
+While public attention was engaged by the libel suits, Cooper was
+occupied with much else. It was during this period that he published his
+important _Naval History_, besides ten of his novels. Nor was there any
+loss of interest in his various avocations, among which, in 1840, he
+found time to plan and supervise extensive alterations in Christ Church,
+of which he had become a vestryman in 1835. With his mind full of the
+Gothic splendor of churches that he had seen in England, he set out to
+beautify the village church at home. The broad windows with rounded tops
+he caused to be somewhat narrowed, and pointed, in the fashion usually
+described as Gothic. Traces of this change still appear in the exterior
+brickwork of the church, for the outline of the original windows has
+never been obliterated. To this alteration Cooper added the buttresses
+all about the church, not for structural necessity, but as an
+architectural embellishment. The interior he caused to be entirely
+remodeled, and finished in native oak. Cooper especially prided himself
+upon an oaken screen which, as his gift to the church, he erected behind
+the altar. The alterations in the church are referred to in a letter
+dated "Hall, Cooperstown, April 22nd, 1840" and addressed to Harmanus
+Bleecker of Albany:
+
+     "I have just been revolutionizing Christ Church, Cooperstown,
+     not turning out a vestry, but converting its pine interior
+     into oak--_bona fide_ oak, and erecting a screen that I trust,
+     though it may have no influence on my soul, will carry my name
+     down to posterity. It is really a pretty thing--pure Gothic,
+     and is the wonder of the country round."
+
+This screen remained in the church, with some alteration, until 1891,
+when, at the time the chancel was built, it was unfortunately thrown out
+and not replaced. In 1910 the remnants of the old screen were
+reconstructed to fit the two archways that open into the church on
+either side of the chancel, and the panels of the original work were cut
+out, allowing a vista through the tracery. The screen that stands at the
+left hand as one faces the chancel is almost entirely of the original
+design and material.
+
+[Illustration: THE COOPER SCREENS IN CHRIST CHURCH]
+
+Amid his manifold interests, Fenimore Cooper at one time amused himself
+in the study of the so-called occult sciences. Having advocated with
+apparent enthusiasm a belief in animal magnetism and clairvoyance, he
+caused public meetings to be held in the old Court House in Cooperstown,
+where, evening after evening, the mysteries of hypnotism were discussed.
+On one of these occasions a negro, who had proved at several meetings to
+be an excellent subject, was hypnotized in the presence of the audience,
+and pronounced to be both clairvoyant and insensible to pain. While
+Cooper was descanting eloquently upon this strange phenomenon, the
+darkey, suddenly rolling up his eyeballs, and displaying all his ivory,
+sprung spasmodically into the air, and then tumbled back in his seat.
+This startling interruption of the lecture remained unexplained for many
+years, until Elihu Phinney, the young friend and neighbor of Fenimore
+Cooper, confessed to being responsible for it. It seems that, during the
+course of the lectures, Phinney had had an argument with Harvey Perkins
+concerning the possibility of a truly hypnotic state, which Perkins
+affirmed and Phinney denied. Perkins finally said:
+
+"So, you won't admit that the negro is rendered insensible to pain?"
+
+"Never, no, not for a moment," was the reply.
+
+"Well," said Perkins, "here is a darning needle four inches long. Take
+this with you to the lecture to-night, and at the first opportunity
+thrust it slyly for a full inch into his thigh. If he flinches, I will
+give up; if not, you will believe."
+
+"Most assuredly," said Phinney, and it was this test which caused the
+interruption of Fenimore Cooper's lecture on hypnotism.[114]
+
+In the summer of 1843, at about eleven o'clock every morning, Fenimore
+Cooper was seen coming forth from the gates of Otsego Hall escorting a
+strange-looking companion. The figures of the two men offered a singular
+contrast. Cooper, tall and portly, with the ruddy glow of health upon
+his countenance, was swinging a light whip of a cane more ornamental
+than useful, and stepped forward with a firm and elastic tread. The man
+by his side was a shriveled and weather-beaten hulk, hobbling, and with
+halting step pressing heavily upon a crooked stick that served for his
+support. Sometimes they walked the village streets together. At other
+times they came down upon the border of the lake for a sail upon its
+waters in a skiff which Cooper had rigged with a lug-sail in
+recollection of early Mediterranean days. Here the stranger was more at
+home, for the man was Ned Myers, an old sailor who had been Cooper's
+messmate on board the _Sterling_ nearly forty years before. The old
+salt, who had passed a lifetime on many seas, developed a great respect
+for Otsego Lake, which he found to be "a slippery place to navigate." "I
+thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw the Otsego," he
+afterward declared, "but on this lake it sometimes blew two or three
+different ways at the same time."
+
+It was a strange chance which renewed the acquaintance between Fenimore
+Cooper and Ned Myers. Their ways were long separated. Myers had
+continued to follow the sea, and became at last a derelict at the
+"Sailor's Snug Harbor" at the port of New York. Here it was that having
+read some of Cooper's sea tales it occurred to the old sailor that the
+author might be the young James Cooper whom he had known aboard the
+_Sterling_. Accordingly he wrote to the novelist at Cooperstown, seeking
+the desired information, and received in reply a cordial letter
+beginning with the words, "I am your old shipmate, Ned."
+
+On his next visit in New York, Cooper got into touch with Myers, and
+invited the old tar to spend several weeks of the summer as his guest at
+Otsego Hall in Cooperstown. The novelist had much in common with Ned
+Myers, for his own experience at sea was sufficient to qualify him as a
+sailor. "I have been myself," said Cooper, "one of eleven hands,
+officers included, to navigate a ship of three hundred tons across the
+Atlantic Ocean; and, what is more, we often reefed topsails with the
+watch." While in Cooperstown as the guest of the novelist the old sailor
+who had shipped on seventy-two different craft, and had passed a quarter
+of a century out of sight of land, spun the yarn of his experience which
+Cooper wove into the story of _Ned Myers_.
+
+It is remarkable that one whose writings evince so strong an orthodoxy
+of Christian faith, with a championship of churchly doctrines too rigid
+for many of his readers, did not himself become a communicant of the
+Church until the last year of his life. On Sunday, July 27, 1851, Bishop
+de Lancey visited Christ Church, Cooperstown, and among those to whom he
+administered the sacrament of Confirmation, in the presence of a large
+congregation, was his brother-in-law, James Fenimore Cooper. The
+novelist's family pew was one which stood sidelong at the right of the
+chancel. He had by this time become quite infirm, and the bishop, after
+receiving the other candidates at the sanctuary rail, left the chancel,
+and administered Confirmation to Fenimore Cooper kneeling in his own
+pew.
+
+[Illustration: _Alice Choate_
+
+AT FENIMORE COOPER'S GRAVE]
+
+Fenimore Cooper died less than two months later, on Sunday, September
+14, 1851, aged sixty-two years lacking one day. The body lay in state at
+Otsego Hall, and on Wednesday the funeral services were held in Christ
+Church, the interment being made in the Cooper plot in Christ
+churchyard. This grave, covered by the prostrate slab of marble marked
+by a cross, and bearing an inscription that sets forth nothing beyond
+the novelist's name, with dates of birth and death, has become a shrine
+of literary pilgrimage. The hurried tourist is disappointed in not being
+greeted by some conspicuous monument to beckon him at once to the famous
+tomb; but a more genuine tribute to the novelist's memory appears when
+the visitor's eye lights upon the path leading from the gate of the
+enclosure, and deeply worn in the sod by the feet of wayfarers in many a
+long journey, through the years, to Cooper's grave.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 102: _James Fenimore Cooper_, by Mary E. Phillips, p. 262.]
+
+[Footnote 103: In 1826 he applied to the legislature to change his name
+to James Cooper Fenimore, since there were no men of his mother's family
+to continue the name. The request was not granted, but the change was
+made to James Fenimore-Cooper. He soon dropped the hyphen.]
+
+[Footnote 104: Now in the hall at Fynmere, the home built in Cooperstown
+by the novelist's grandson, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany.]
+
+[Footnote 105: _James Fenimore Cooper_, by Thomas R. Lounsbury, American
+Men of Letters series, p. 80.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Now at Fynmere.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Now at Edgewater.]
+
+[Footnote 108: _Pages and Pictures_, Susan Fenimore Cooper, p. 322.]
+
+[Footnote 109: _James Fenimore Cooper_, W. B. Shubrick Clymer, p. 90.]
+
+[Footnote 110: Livermore, p. 204.]
+
+[Footnote 111: John Worthington, afterward United States Consul in
+Malta.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Lounsbury.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Cooperstown Centennial Book, p. 133.]
+
+[Footnote 114: _Reminiscences_, Elihu Phinney, 1890.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+MR. JUSTICE NELSON
+
+
+Samuel Nelson, LL.D., who became a resident of Cooperstown in 1824, made
+this village his home for nearly fifty years. At the time of his death
+in 1873, he had long been recognized not only as the first citizen of
+Cooperstown, but as a man of national reputation.
+
+Before taking up his residence in Cooperstown, Nelson had become judge
+of the Sixth circuit, which included Otsego county; in 1831 he was
+promoted to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, of which, six
+years later, he became chief justice. In 1845 he went upon the bench of
+the Supreme Court of the United States, and served with distinction
+until his voluntary retirement in 1872, which brought to a close the
+longest judicial career in history, covering a period of half a century.
+In 1871 Judge Nelson was one of five members representing the United
+States in the Joint High Commission appointed to devise means to settle
+differences between the American and British governments, and
+contributed not a little to bringing about the agreement which resulted
+in the Treaty of Washington.
+
+During this long public career, Judge Nelson retained his home in
+Cooperstown, where he was in residence much of the time. In that day the
+drift of successful men to the cities had not yet become a law of
+growth, and many a big man dwelt by choice in a small community. So it
+was with Judge Nelson, who, on retiring from the highest tribunal of the
+nation, could imagine nothing more grateful than to spend all his time
+in the village from which the pressure of judicial duty had kept him too
+much away.
+
+[Illustration: SAMUEL NELSON, LL.D.]
+
+Judge Nelson first became widely known in 1837, when he was appointed
+chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The court
+was then composed of three judges, whose principal duty it was to hear
+and decide questions of law. It was a judicial body of great dignity and
+learning, with a fame so illustrious that its decisions had long been
+cited as authority in Westminster Hall, and in all the States of the
+Union where the common law prevailed.
+
+In the Supreme Court of the United States, when he was promoted to that
+tribunal, and in the United States Circuit Courts, Judge Nelson was
+called upon to administer branches of law with which he was not in
+practice familiar, and some fears were expressed that these untried
+duties might cause him embarrassment. It was suggested that his long and
+severely critical administration of the common law, through its
+pleadings and practice, might have so educated him that he would fail in
+appreciating the more liberal and expansive systems of Equity, Maritime,
+Admiralty, and international jurisprudence administered in the national
+courts; and it was also thought improbable that a judge who had been
+early in professional life elevated to the bench of a common law court,
+would be able to explore and understand the complicated mechanical,
+chemical, and other scientific questions, which in Patent causes were
+constantly arising for exclusive adjudication in the federal courts.
+
+But these apprehensions were all disappointed. Judge Nelson had no
+sooner taken his seat on the bench of the Circuit Court in New York
+City,[115] than he perceived that the cases on the calendar, though few
+in number, were so complicated, and embraced so many intricate
+questions, that they must be mastered according to a method that his
+former experience did not furnish. He investigated every new question as
+it arose. He listened earnestly to the arguments of counsel, and ever
+seemed resolved, before they concluded, to understand the points on
+which the case must finally turn. Often he descended from the bench when
+complicated machinery, or specimens illustrative of science, or models
+of vessels intended to develop the relations of colliding ships, were
+before him, and by their close and repeated study strove to understand
+the real points in controversy.
+
+Thus Judge Nelson built up a sound knowledge of the principles and
+practice of every branch of law which he was called upon to administer.
+An appeal or writ of error from his decisions was seldom taken. So
+familiar did he become with the jurisprudence involved in the
+administration of the Patent laws of this country, so thoroughly did he
+investigate questions of science and mechanics, and so sound a judgment
+was he known to form on these subjects, that his opinions concerning
+them were by courts and counsel accepted as of greater authority than
+those of any other judge. For many years before the close of his labors
+at the Circuit, patentees felt that when he had judicially passed upon
+their rights they were substantially settled, and hence there came
+before him repeatedly from distant points cases involving the validity
+of the most valuable patents in the country, and to his decision the
+parties generally submitted without appeal. On questions of admiralty
+and maritime law also he came to be considered a great authority. In his
+later years he was so adept in reaching the essential points of
+complicated cases that he was generally credited with a marvellous
+faculty of intuition. He was not guided by any intuition, however, but
+by the results of his careful study and legal experience.
+
+In 1857 the Supreme Court of the United States rendered the famous Dred
+Scott decision, which became one of the contributory causes of the Civil
+War. Only two members of the court dissented. Justice Nelson concurred
+in the conclusion of Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the decision,
+dissenting on one point only, and adding that, in his opinion, the power
+of Congress could not be one-sided; if it existed to destroy slavery, it
+could also establish slavery.
+
+Judge Nelson had gained some acquaintance with slavery in his own home
+town, for, when first he took up his residence in Cooperstown, in 1824,
+there were a number of slaves in the village. Some of the earliest
+settlers had negroes in bondage. Among these was James Averell, Jr., who
+worked his tannery by slave labor. One of his slaves, known as Tom
+Bronk, was for many years well known in Cooperstown as the servant of
+the former owner's son, William Holt Averell, and lived to a great age.
+The clumsily written bill of sale by which Tom Bronk became the property
+of James Averell, Jr., is still in existence:
+
+     Know all men by these Presents, that I, George Henry
+     Livingston, of the town of Sharon, County of Schoharie and
+     State of New York, for and in Consideration of the Sum of
+     three hundred Dollars Lawful money of the State of New York to
+     me in hand paid by James Averill Jr of the town and County of
+     Otsego and State Aforesaid At or before the Sealing and
+     delivery of these Presents, the Receipt whereof, I the said
+     George Henry Livingston do hereby acknowledge, have granted,
+     bargained and sold, and by these presents, do grant, bargain
+     and sell, unto the said James Averill Jr, his Executors,
+     Administrators, and assigns, one negro man About thirty Six
+     years of age and known by the name of Tom to have and to hold
+     the said negro man Tom to the said James Averill Jr. his
+     Executors, Administrators, and assigns forever; and I the said
+     George Henry Livingston for myself, my heirs Executors, and
+     Administrators the Said negro man unto the said James Averill
+     Jr. his Executors, administrators, and assigns, against me the
+     said George Henry Livingston, my Executors, and
+     Administrators, and against all and every other person or
+     persons Whomsoever Shall and will warrent. And forever Defend
+     by these presents. And also warrent the said negro man to be
+     Sound and in health. According to the best of my knowledge in
+     witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the
+     Second Day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand
+     Eight hundred Fifteen.
+
+     Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
+       In Presence of
+     ZACHARIAH HUGER
+     KOERL VAN SCHAYCK
+     GEORGE X HENRY LIVINGSTON.
+         his mark
+
+A group of settlers who came from the Barbadoes brought with them
+slaves, who were afterward freed, and the tombstone of Joseph Stewart,
+in the Cooper family plot in Christ churchyard, emphasizes, in capital
+letters, the fact that, although born a slave, he was for twenty years a
+_free_ servant of Judge Cooper. These instances, and an advertisement in
+the _Otsego Herald_ in 1799, show that slavery was not uncommon here in
+the early days:
+
+     A YOUNG WENCH--_For Sale_--She is a good cook, and
+     ready at all kinds of housework. None can exceed her if she is
+     kept from liquor. She is 24 years of age--no husband nor
+     children. Price $200; inquire of the printer.
+
+The act which entirely abolished slavery in the State of New York did
+not take effect until July 4th, 1827, on which occasion about sixty
+Cooperstown negroes marched with a flying banner and martial music to
+the Presbyterian church, where Hayden Waters, a village darkey,
+delivered an address that was heard not only by his colored brethren,
+but by a large assemblage of white citizens.
+
+Justice Nelson's concurrence in the Dred Scott decision did not
+necessarily register his approval of slavery, but only his
+interpretation of the law as it then existed. He never owned any slaves,
+and was regarded by the negroes in Cooperstown as a powerful friend of
+their race. A favorite servant of his household for some years was a
+free negro named Jenny York, who had been a slave in her youth. She was
+a unique character, famous as a cook, having an unusually keen
+appreciation of a cook's perquisites. Choice provisions and delicacies
+disappeared through systematic dole at Judge Nelson's kitchen door, or
+sometimes being reserved against a holiday, reappeared to furnish a
+banquet in the servants' hall, to which Jenny's many dusky friends were
+bidden. The current story is that, when Jenny died, the negroes of the
+village chose for her grave an epitaph which, at their request, Judge
+Nelson caused to be inscribed upon her tomb exactly as they had worded
+it. This inscription may still be seen upon a tombstone that faces the
+street at the eastern end of Christ churchyard, in the part which was
+reserved for the burial of negroes. Jenny was sincerely mourned at the
+time of her death, but with the passing of the years no tears are shed
+at her grave but those of sympathetic laughter. A just appreciation of
+the delicate balance of mercy and justice in her unusual epitaph
+requires some definite knowledge of both the virtues and weaknesses of
+Jenny York. The enigmatical eulogy reads as follows:
+
+         JENNY YORK
+      DIED FEB. 22, 1837.
+        AET. 50 YEA.
+
+      *       *       *
+
+      SHE HAD HER FAULTS
+             BUT
+     WAS KIND TO THE POOR.
+
+When Nelson went upon the bench of the national Supreme Court he became
+acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas, who was then springing into
+prominence in Congress; and it was said that the "little giant" got much
+of the legal ammunition for his speeches from the new associate justice.
+More than once Justice Nelson was suggested as the Democratic candidate
+for President of the United States, and at the Democratic national
+convention held in Chicago during the Civil War Governor Horatio Seymour
+of New York attempted to carry his nomination. It was known, however,
+that Judge Nelson had declined to allow the use of his name, and had
+expressed the opinion that a justice of the federal supreme court never
+should be regarded as a possible candidate for political office. Nelson
+at this time was in many ways the strongest man on the bench of the
+Supreme Court, and Salmon P. Chase, who was appointed chief justice in
+1864, placed great reliance upon his advice and judgment. On one
+occasion at the table of John V. L. Pruyn in Albany, when his host
+addressed Chase as "Mr. Chief Justice," the latter pleasantly
+interrupted him--"Your friend Nelson is Chief Justice," he said.
+
+During the Civil War, although a member of the Democratic party, Justice
+Nelson won and retained the confidence of the party in power, and his
+loyalty was never questioned. He disapproved of what he held to be
+invasions of the rights of citizens which were made under military
+authority, but never by word or act obstructed the maintenance of the
+federal government. President Lincoln and Secretary Seward reposed
+great faith in Judge Nelson's wisdom, and in critical emergencies
+consulted him upon delicate questions of international law which arose
+during the progress of the war.
+
+An episode of the Civil War period in Cooperstown, although the truth of
+the matter was a state secret at the time, had a relation to Justice
+Nelson that is of interest in this connection. In a visit of the
+diplomatic corps from Washington the village enjoyed such memorable
+emotions of civic pride that the date of the event, the twenty-first of
+August, 1863, was long afterward referred to, by the oldest inhabitants,
+as "Cooperstown's great day."
+
+It was said that the entertainment of the legations at Cooperstown was
+included as part of an excursion through New York State which Secretary
+Seward had planned to impress upon foreign governments the strength and
+resources of the North.
+
+The party arrived from Sharon Springs, and had luncheon at the Inn at
+Five-Mile Point, on Otsego Lake. Secretary Seward's guests included Lord
+Lyons, of England; Baron Gerolt, of Prussia; M. Mercier, of France;
+Baron Stroeckel, of Russia; M. Tassara, of Spain; M. Molina, of
+Nicaragua; together with the representatives of Italy, Sweden, and
+Chili; and several secretaries and attach�s of various legations. A few
+citizens of Cooperstown, including Judge Nelson, were invited to take
+luncheon with the visitors. The master of ceremonies was the Hon. Levi
+C. Turner of Cooperstown, who was at that time Judge advocate in the
+War Department, and had accompanied the party from Washington.
+
+The luncheon passed without incident, except that a weighty citizen of
+the village undertook to demonstrate, for the benefit of the foreigners,
+the American method of eating corn on the cob, to the great disgust of a
+dapper attach� of the British legation, who was horrified by the
+performance. When the guests had left the table, which had been set
+beneath the trees, and were lounging about in peaceful enjoyment of the
+forest shade and lakeland view, there appeared upon the scene a person
+who impressed the foreigners as being a veritable pioneer. He was a
+tall, loose-jointed creature, bearded and long-haired; he wore a slouch
+hat and a hickory shirt, while one suspender supported blue jean
+overalls, which disappeared in a pair of cowhide boots of huge
+proportions. This uninvited guest calmly inspected the assembled
+company, drew near to the deserted tables, helped himself to a tumbler
+and a bottle of brandy, from which he poured out four fingers of the
+fiery liquid, and drank it raw. He seemed thoughtful for a moment; then
+repeated the dose. Thus agreeably stimulated the stranger made himself
+at home in the company, and became talkative.
+
+"I say," he said, bustling alongside the French minister, "you're goin'
+to stand right by us in this muss, ain't you?"
+
+The polite diplomat hastened to assure him that the French government
+desired nothing but the most friendly relations. The man drew nearer
+than was necessary for diplomatic intercourse:
+
+"Honor bright, now, and no foolin'?"
+
+The ambassador repeated his assurance of friendship, and edged away from
+the pioneer, whose gesticulations became alarming as he shouted,
+
+"You've got to, don't you see--"
+
+What he wanted the Frenchman to see was the power of the Union
+Government, and, as words failed him to describe it, the uninvited guest
+attempted to make visible, in his own person, the frightfulness of the
+god of War. He leaped into the air, flung his hat on the ground, struck
+a pugilistic attitude, and began to dance around the ambassador,
+squaring off with his fists, as though preparing a knockout blow for the
+French Republic. The two were quickly surrounded by a ring of diplomats
+and citizens of Cooperstown, the foreigners being doubtful whether the
+matter should be taken in jest or earnest, while the villagers were
+hesitating between enjoyment of the comedy and a sense of duty toward
+their guests. As for M. Mercier, he was aghast at the rudeness of the
+challenge. He folded his arms, drew himself up, shrugged his shoulders,
+puffed out his cheeks, and stared at the adversary with eyes aflame.
+
+Before the pugilistic stranger could execute his threats Judge Hezekiah
+Sturges of Cooperstown interposed his burly form; at a nod from him two
+muscular citizens of the village seized the invader by the back of the
+neck and the seat of his overalls, made him "walk Spanish" quickly to
+the shore, and heaved him into the lake.
+
+In the late afternoon the party of diplomats were conveyed by carriages
+to Cooperstown, where they became severally the guests of various
+citizens. The distinguished visitors were greeted by a salute of guns;
+while fireworks and bonfires were the order of the evening. The Fly
+Creek Band, accompanied by a large crowd of villagers, under the
+leadership of James I. Hendryx, serenaded the foreign ministers at their
+various places of sojourn, and speeches were called for, which were
+loudly applauded. Judge Turner's house, the old Campbell homestead,
+which stands on Lake Street, facing Chestnut Street, was first visited,
+for there William H. Seward, Secretary of State, was the guest of honor.
+The band played a waltz, and the crowd cheered. Judge Turner soon
+appeared, and introduced the Secretary of State, who made a brief
+speech. He said that the weather in Washington had become exasperatingly
+hot; matters of complex nature and of international importance had to be
+discussed; there was danger that he and the foreign minsters might
+become fretful and peevish; and so he had asked the entire diplomatic
+corps to take a vacation, and meanwhile affairs of State might go hang.
+
+The speech pleased the crowd. The band played another waltz, to the tune
+of which the procession marched through the main street and across the
+river to Woodside, where Lord Lyons, the British minister, was the guest
+of John F. Scott. Here the band played a third waltz, while hundreds of
+cheering men clambered up the terraced slope of the garden. Some one
+called for Lord Lyons, and the whole crowd took up the cry, "Lord Lyons!
+Lord Lyons!" This soon became "Lyons! Lyons!" although one enthusiastic
+Irishman of great vocal power kept crying, "Misther Lynes! Misther
+Lynes!"
+
+At this point the leader of the band was instructed to play "God Save
+the Queen," as a compliment to the guest of Woodside.
+
+"My heaven!" he whined, "we can't play nothing but three waltzes!"
+
+One of the waltzes was then repeated, and the host of Woodside appeared.
+He explained that Lord Lyons had been paying a visit across the river,
+but was expected to return at any moment. Just then Lord Lyons himself
+came hopping up the steps of the terrace, short, fat, lively, a man of
+talent, who soon recovered his breath, and made a speech that elicited
+hearty cheers.
+
+The Russian ambassador was the guest of Edward Clark at Apple Hill,
+where Fernleigh now stands. The diplomat had retired when the crowd of
+serenaders arrived, and was awakened by the blare of the band and loud
+demands for "a speech from the great Roosian bear!" The guest was
+assisted by his host to crawl through the window over the porch, in
+scanty raiment, to speak to the assembled citizens. At the residence of
+Jedediah P. Sill, which stands on Chestnut Street next to the Methodist
+parsonage, the Italian ambassador received the crowd with bows and
+smiles.
+
+Similar visits were paid at the places of sojourn of the other
+representatives of foreign powers; but the most uproarious assembly was
+that which gathered before the home of George L. Bowne, where the
+Spanish ambassador was being entertained. This house stands on the west
+side of Chestnut Street, next south of Willow Brook, which here ducks
+beneath a culvert to cross the highway.
+
+The representative of the Queen of Spain had only a limited knowledge of
+the English language, but what he lacked in vocabulary he made up in
+gestures, shrugging his shoulders up to his ears.
+
+"Gentlemen," he began, "you will excuse me from a speech. In my country,
+we, the nobility, do not make speeches to the common people."--(Vigorous
+cheers greeted this statement, and Judge Turner, who stood near the
+speaker, remarked, "True, every word.") "I the English language not well
+do speak,"--("Go on, go on; you're a daisy, that's what you are," cried
+voices from the crowd, while Judge Turner kept saying with judicial
+gravity, "Every word true.") At this point the Spaniard became
+incoherent, but, although nobody could understand a word, wild cheers
+greeted him at every pause in his discourse. He let loose a flood of
+eloquence, which being consistently endorsed by Judge Turner, was
+applauded until the speaker stopped from sheer exhaustion.[116]
+
+It was long after midnight when the last speech had been made and the
+crowds dispersed.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOME OF JUSTICE NELSON]
+
+A pair of small boys, who had made the occasion an excuse for staying
+out a good part of the warm summer night, passed Justice Nelson's
+residence on Main Street, as they strolled homeward, and noticed that
+here a light was still burning. The deserted street was feebly lit by a
+few gas lamps, but the other houses in the neighborhood were dark, and
+the boys were attracted as moths to a flame by the glimmering through
+the blinds of Judge Nelson's windows. The lighted room was the one on
+the ground floor at the right of the doorway. Because of the warmth of
+the night, the window-sashes had been raised, and the curtains drawn
+back, so that the interior of the room was screened from passers-by only
+by the closed slats of the blinds. These were temptingly near to the
+sidewalk, and the young imps, standing on tiptoe, did not hesitate, when
+they had discovered a chink between the slats, to peek into the
+apartment.
+
+They saw a room lined with rows of books bound in law-calf, for it was
+Judge Nelson's library. In the midst a student's lamp shed a mellow
+light upon the usual paraphernalia of a lawyer's desk, and dimly
+illuminated the features of two men who sat facing each other across the
+table. The large form, massive head, and long gray hair of Judge Nelson,
+who sat with his back to the fireplace, were instantly recognized by the
+peering eyes at the window. The man who faced him was of a different
+type, a rather small figure, with nothing commanding in his appearance;
+he had a shock of sandy hair, blue eyes, and a smoothly shaven mouth and
+chin somewhat receding from a finely chiseled nose. He was speaking
+earnestly, and in a tone of conviction. His voice was harsh, but his
+manner was suave, agreeable, and persuasive.
+
+"Who's he?" whispered one of the boys.
+
+"That's Mr. Seward from Washington," replied the other, "I heard him
+make a speech in front of Judge Turner's house."
+
+The eavesdroppers continued to listen, but the conversation between
+Judge Nelson and Mr. Seward was carried on in such low tones that they
+could make little of it. Now and again they caught a phrase--"more
+troops"--"President Lincoln"--"save the Union,"--but the purport of the
+matter was beyond them.
+
+The spying youngsters crept into their beds that night laden with a
+sense of mystery in this weird consultation, of which they had been
+witnesses, between the senior justice of the Supreme Court of the United
+States and the Secretary of State of the United States. Next day they
+boasted among their comrades of having discovered some secret affair of
+state.
+
+Years afterward, through Justice Nelson's son, Judge R. R. Nelson of St.
+Paul, Minnesota, it came out that these young spies had rightly divined
+the truth. The conference which the Secretary of State held with Justice
+Nelson during the small hours of the morning of August 22nd, 1863, was
+had at the instance of President Lincoln, and was importantly related to
+the conduct of the Civil War. The conference itself, in fact, was the
+secret motive of the diplomatic excursion, which had been designed
+especially to divert attention from it.
+
+It seems that the administration at Washington had become greatly
+worried over a situation that had developed concerning the drafting of
+troops. A heavy draft had been ordered,--Otsego county had been called
+upon to furnish nearly a thousand men,--and there was great excitement
+throughout the northern states. At this critical juncture one of
+Justice Nelson's associates on the bench, who was sitting in the United
+States Circuit in Pennsylvania, had granted a writ of _habeas corpus_
+directing a certain drafted man to be brought before him, and the
+position taken by counsel was that the draft was unconstitutional and
+illegal. This justice, like Nelson, belonged to the Democratic party,
+and was therefore in many ways opposed to the Lincoln administration. He
+was known to entertain opinions which might lead him to decide that the
+draft was unconstitutional.
+
+President Lincoln became apprehensive, and sent for Secretary Seward.
+
+"We must have more troops," said the President, "and we can get them in
+only one way. Now if this draft should be declared unconstitutional, it
+would create a most serious state of affairs at the North, and would
+greatly encourage the South; it might even defeat our efforts to save
+the Union. In some way, if possible, this situation of affairs must be
+prevented."
+
+"I know of but one man who can prevent it," replied Seward. "He is a
+strong personal friend of the Pennsylvania justice, and of the same
+political party, though more loyal to the Union. I think he can
+influence him. I refer to Justice Nelson of the Supreme Court, who is
+now at his home in Cooperstown."
+
+When the President urged the Secretary to confer with Judge Nelson
+without delay, Seward was somewhat taken aback. To summon Nelson to
+Washington in order to ask of him so delicate a favor was not to be
+thought of. On the other hand for the Secretary of State to go to
+Cooperstown to confer with the Democratic justice would be certain to
+provoke political gossip and newspaper speculation, at the risk of
+defeating the object desired.
+
+But President Lincoln was determined.
+
+"In some way it must be done," he said. "You must see Justice Nelson."
+
+The upshot of the matter was that the fertile brain of the Secretary
+evolved and carried out the plan that brought the diplomatic corps from
+Washington to Cooperstown on an excursion, under color of which he had
+his interview with Justice Nelson.
+
+The result was all that the Secretary of State had hoped for. Judge
+Nelson held that the draft was not unconstitutional, and promptly so
+informed his friend in Pennsylvania, whose opinion was soon given in
+accordance with the views of his learned associate.
+
+Thus "Cooperstown's great day" turned out to be of wider import than the
+cheering crowds of villagers imagined.
+
+Justice Nelson's appointment by President Grant in 1871 as one of the
+five American members of the Joint High Commission to negotiate a treaty
+with Great Britain was a just tribute to his personal character as well
+as to his knowledge of international law. The matters in dispute
+concerned British possessions in North America, as well as the so-called
+Alabama claims arising out of the Civil War. Justice Nelson was already
+known by reputation to the British members of the commission, and they
+accorded him the fullest respect and confidence. In this controversy,
+which rankled in the hearts and affected the judgment of millions of
+people, Judge Nelson brought to the solution such wisdom and acuteness,
+accompanied by persuasive manners, frankness, conscientiousness, and
+learning, that all accorded to him the highest consideration and regard.
+His brilliant and successful service in the Joint High Commission during
+the seventy days of its sessions was regarded as a fitting culmination
+of half a century of public office. For his signature of the Treaty of
+Washington turned out to be his last official act. During the final
+hours of the session the chill of the rooms in which the commissioners
+sat was the cause of an illness from which Justice Nelson never fully
+recovered, and which occasioned his resignation from the bench of the
+Supreme Court in 1872. In commenting upon his resignation, the _New York
+Tribune_ said, "It would be difficult to exaggerate the respect and
+regard which will follow this able and incorruptible jurist from the
+post he has so long filled with honor to himself and profit to the
+commonwealth, when he retires to the well-earned repose which his gifts
+of mind and heart will enable him so perfectly to enjoy."
+
+In the village of Cooperstown the street called Nelson Avenue is named
+in honor of the distinguished jurist, and three different places of
+residence are associated with his memory. When in 1825 he married, as
+his second wife, Catharine A. Russell, daughter of Judge John Russell
+of Cooperstown, they began housekeeping at Apple Hill, on the site now
+occupied by Fernleigh. In 1829 they removed to Fenimore, which still
+stands just outside of the village, near the western shore of the lake,
+and lived there until 1838, when they took up their residence at Mrs.
+Nelson's homestead, the large brick house on the north side of Main
+Street near the corner of Pioneer Street, and made it their home for the
+rest of their lives.
+
+[Illustration: NELSON AVENUE]
+
+Although Judge Nelson survived Fenimore Cooper by more than twenty
+years, he was only three years his junior, and the two men became
+intimate personal friends in Cooperstown. They were often seen together
+on the street, and in fine personal presence and noble bearing they
+bore some resemblance to each other. In the old stone Cory building on
+Main Street, when the lower part was conducted as a hardware store,
+Judge Nelson and Fenimore Cooper used often to spend an evening, sitting
+about the stove in a circle of admiring auditors gathered to hear the
+great men talk. It was shortly after Fenimore Cooper's return to
+Cooperstown to live at Otsego Hall that Judge Nelson was appointed Chief
+Justice of the State, and Cooper ever thereafter spoke of his friend as
+"the Chief." The novelist had a good deal of the lawyer in his
+composition, and he often discussed legal matters with Judge Nelson, as
+well as political affairs of state. Both were fond of farming and rural
+pursuits, and as their farms lay on opposite sides of the lake, Judge
+Nelson's at Fenimore, and Cooper's at the Chalet, they were able
+frequently to compare notes of their success as agriculturists, perhaps
+with the more interest because Cooper himself had formerly owned the
+farm at Fenimore.
+
+Judge Nelson was not seldom seen on horseback in Cooperstown, and
+continued this form of exercise long after he had passed the limit of
+three score years and ten. In his later years he was described as a
+broad-shouldered and magnificent figure, with a massive head crowned
+with a wealth of gray hair. He was simple and unaffected in his manners,
+and never assumed any magniloquence because of his exalted position. On
+returning from Washington to Cooperstown for the summer, he seemed to
+delight in holding a kind of indiscriminate levee in the main street of
+the village, greeting old neighbors, shopkeepers, and farmers alike,
+and remembering most of them by their Christian names. In those days the
+merchants were accustomed to leave their empty packing-boxes on the
+sidewalk in front of their shops, and it was no uncommon sight to see
+this Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States seated carelessly
+on a dry-goods box, while he chatted with a group of admiring villagers.
+His conversation was always entertaining, not only because of his wealth
+of mind, but on account of his prodigious memory of men and events. His
+gift of memory was undoubtedly of great use to him on the bench, for he
+could restate complicated facts in cases so long since heard by him that
+the issues had been forgotten by the counsel concerned in them.
+
+Judge Nelson was for many years a vestryman, and later a warden, of
+Christ Church in Cooperstown. In his day there was no thoroughfare
+through the Cooper Grounds, and he walked to church by way of River
+Street. Above the stone wall on the west side of River Street was an
+abundant growth of tansy. It was Judge Nelson's invariable habit to pick
+a sprig of tansy on his way to Sunday morning service, and he entered
+the church absently holding the pungent herb to his nostrils, as he made
+his way to the pew now marked by a tablet in the north transept.
+
+On February 13, 1873, the honors paid to Judge Nelson on his retirement
+from the bench of the United States Supreme Court were of a character
+never before known in America, and not in England since Lord Mansfield
+was the recipient of similar honors at the hands of Erskine and the
+other lights of the British bar. A committee which included several of
+the foremost lawyers in New York City, and officially representing the
+Bar of the Third District, came in a special car from New York to
+Cooperstown to present to Judge Nelson an address expressive of
+appreciation of his long service on the bench, and of regret at his
+retirement, in sympathy with similar resolutions adopted in Albany and
+Washington.
+
+It was a gala day in Cooperstown when its most distinguished citizen was
+so honored. The streets, glistening with snow, were filled with people
+careering about in sleighs. The American flag flapped in the breeze from
+the tall liberty-pole which then stood at the midst of the cross-roads
+where Main and Pioneer streets intersect. A horse-race upon the frozen
+lake had been arranged for the entertainment of the visitors, and some
+of the young people had bob-sleds ready, prepared to give the
+distinguished metropolitan lawyers a thrilling ride down the slope of
+Mt. Vision when the ceremonies should be over.
+
+In the early afternoon the legal and judicial delegation walked quietly
+two by two to the residence of Judge Nelson, which, although now invaded
+by the business requirements of the village, still holds its place on
+Main Street. In the procession were three federal judges, and a dozen
+chosen members of the bar of New York. The door of the old house, at
+which nobody stops to knock any more, was thrown open to receive the
+distinguished delegation. The villagers had gathered in the
+drawing-room, at the left of the entrance, to take part in the
+ceremonies. Among many ladies who graced the scene the three daughters
+of Fenimore Cooper were particularly noted by the visitors. The retired
+judge sat in his armchair, arrayed in black, wearing a high choker
+necktie, while Mrs. Nelson, a lovely old lady with a face as fresh at
+seventy as a summer rain, supported herself on the arm of the chair. The
+judicial delegation came into the parlor led by Judge Woodruff, E. W.
+Stoughton, Judge Benedict, and Judge Blatchford, while Clarence A.
+Seward, Sidney Webster and others followed. Judge Nelson retained his
+seat, and the most impressive silence prevailed. Then Stoughton,
+chairman of the committee, after some introductory remarks, read the
+address which had been prepared by the Bar of New York.
+
+At the conclusion of this address Judge Nelson drew out his spectacles
+and read his reply, in a voice that trembled with emotion. Then he rose
+slowly and received the personal congratulations of the delegation and
+of the village friends assembled.
+
+When, a few months later, Samuel Nelson was dead, and the press of the
+nation was printing lengthy eulogies of his career as a jurist, a few
+lines in the little weekly newspaper of his own home town gave the
+highest estimate of his life that can be accorded to any man:
+
+"In his home Judge Nelson was a great man. The almost extreme modesty
+which characterized his public life had its counterpart in thoroughly
+developed domestic virtues, which not only made him beloved to devotion
+by all the members of his family, but endeared him to all with whom he
+was brought into contact. There was in his disposition a placidness of
+temper which made him always easy of approach, and rendered intercourse
+with him a permanent spring of pure enjoyment."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 115: From the beginning justices of the Supreme Court of the
+United States sat, from time to time, as circuit judges. (Stuart v.
+Laird, 1 Cranch, p. 308.) Justice Nelson was assigned to the Second
+Circuit, which includes New York.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Perry P. Rogers.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+CHRIST CHURCHYARD
+
+
+When in 1856 Frederick A. Lee and Dorr Russell formed the Lakewood
+Cemetery Association, and purchased the beautiful tract that lies along
+the hill on the east side of the lake, a half-mile from the village, the
+older burying-grounds within the town began gradually to be disused.
+Christ churchyard, which contains the oldest graves of the original
+settlement, has long since ceased to be used for burials, beyond those
+occasionally permitted, for special reasons, by act of the Vestry of the
+parish. This disuse has secured to the churchyard the right to grow old
+gracefully, without the too frequent intrusion of recent death, and to
+acquire the picturesque charm of antiquity which in cemeteries seems to
+dispel all the terrors of mortality.
+
+The love of old burial-grounds belongs to a distinct type of mind and
+temperament. To some minds all cemeteries are equally devoid of
+interest. Among visitors in Christ churchyard, of whom there are
+thousands during every summer, the classification of sightseers is
+automatic. Some glance at Cooper's grave, peep into the church to
+glimpse the memorials of the novelist, and hurry away with an air of
+duty done. The lovers of churchyards linger, and stroll thoughtfully
+among the tombs. They find a charm in the most obscure memorials of the
+dead. They read aloud to each other the quaint inscriptions. Now and
+again they pause, note-book in hand, to copy some chiseled epitaph that
+strikes the fancy. They kneel or lie prone upon the turf before a
+crumbling tomb to decipher its doleful couplets, thrusting aside the
+concealing grasses, lest a word be missed. They wander here and there
+beneath the shadow of the venerable elms and pines, and, before
+departing, enter the old church, to rest and pray within the stillness
+of its fane.
+
+[Illustration: _Alice Choate_
+
+A GLIMPSE FROM THE RECTORY]
+
+Aside from the part of the churchyard reserved for the burials of the
+Cooper family, the only enclosed plot is the small one just south of it,
+squared in by a low fence of rusty iron. This belonged to the family of
+the Rev. Frederick T. Tiffany, who succeeded Father Nash as rector of
+Christ Church, and afterward became a chaplain in Congress.
+
+The oldest tomb in the churchyard holds an inconspicuous place two tiers
+east of the Tiffany enclosure. It is the grave of Samuel Griffin, the
+inn-keeper's child, who died at the Red Lion Tavern. The gravestone is
+dated 1792, which is ancient for this part of the country.
+
+In the first burials within these grounds, it was the intention to
+regard the old Christian tradition in accord with which the dead are
+buried with the feet toward the east. Yet, since the graves naturally
+follow the parallel of the enclosure, which is not exactly east and
+west, but conforms to the general bent of the village, they fall short,
+by a few points of the compass, of facing due east.
+
+Among the early settlers of Cooperstown there was one family not to be
+put off with any vagueness of orientation. It was that of Joshua Starr,
+a potter, whom Fenimore Cooper describes as "a respectable inhabitant of
+the village." To the mind of Joshua Starr, who survived the other
+members of his family, it was plain that if a proper grave should face
+east, it should face the east, and not east by south. Accordingly, the
+graves of the Starr family, a few steps northward from Samuel Griffin's,
+are notable among the tombs of Christ churchyard in being set with the
+foot due east, as by a mariner's compass. The wide headstones split the
+plane of the meridian; their edges cleave the noonday sun and the polar
+star. To the casual observer these three tombstones, as compared with
+all others in the churchyard, seem quite awry. In reality they alone are
+meticulously correct, a standing tribute to the exact eye of Joshua
+Starr, the potter.
+
+Southward from Samuel Griffin's grave, in the next tier to the east, a
+curious use of verse appears upon two stones, whereby Capt. Joseph Jones
+and his wife Keziah, both dying in 1799, seem to converse in responsive
+couplets. Mrs. Jones avers, majestically,
+
+     Within this Silent grave I ly.
+
+To which the hero of the Revolution quite meekly replies,
+
+     This space is all I occupy.
+
+The crudeness of some epitaphs gives them a grotesque touch of realism.
+Here is one just south of the squared-in Tiffany plot:
+
+     Mourn not since freed from
+        human ills,
+     My dearest friends & two
+        Infants still,
+     My consumptive pains God
+        semed well,
+     My soul to prepair with
+        him to dwell.
+
+Northward of this tomb is a sarcophagus that shows a well laid plan in a
+state of perpetual incompletion. Besides serving as a monument of the
+dead, the tomb was intended to be a kind of family record. The names of
+children and grandchildren were inscribed, and as they departed this
+life their names were marked with a chiseled asterisk referring to a
+foot-note which pronounced them "dead." Four deaths were so recorded;
+then the sculptured enrollment was discontinued. Written still among the
+living there remain four names, of those who have been long dead, while
+the name of one born after the monument was erected, and survivor of all
+the others, was never included in the memorial.
+
+Near the orientated tombs of the Starrs the grave of an infant who died
+in 1794 bears this epitaph:
+
+     Sleep on sweet babe; injoy thy rest:
+     God call'd the soon, he saw it best.
+
+A more severe view of the Deity appears upon a gravestone six rows east
+of this, commemorating James and Tamson Eaton, who died in 1846. Tamson
+was fifteen years old, and, as the verse reveals, was a girl:
+
+     This youth cut down in all her bloom,
+     Sent by her God to an early doom
+
+Tamson's brother James was killed by lightning a few months later, and
+the event is thus versified:
+
+     What voice is that? 'Tis God,
+     He speaketh from the clouds;
+     In thunder is concealed the rod
+     That smites him to the ground.
+
+Near the driveway and toward the church is the tombstone of Mary
+Olendorf, which bears these feeling lines:
+
+     Tread softly o'er this sacred mound
+     For Mary lies beneath this ground
+     May garlands deck and myrtles rise
+     To guard the Tomb where Mary lies.
+
+A short distance eastward from the centre of the churchyard, and nearly
+abreast of the obelisk commemorating Father Nash, stands somewhat apart
+the rugged tombstone of Scipio, an old slave. Aside from the graves of
+Fenimore Cooper and his father, the founder of the village, not
+forgetting the grave of Jenny York,[117] which is the joy of the
+churchyard, no tomb in the enclosure receives more attention from
+strangers than that of Scipio, with its quaint verses descriptive of the
+aged slave.
+
+North of this stone, after passing three intervening tombs, one comes
+upon an odd inscription that marks the grave of a fourteen-year-old
+boy, who was drowned December 3, 1810:
+
+     Thus were Parents bereavd
+     of a dutiful son and community
+     of a promising youth, while
+     pursuing with assiduity the
+     act of industry.
+
+What this act of industry was that cost the life of young Garrett
+Bissell is not related.
+
+A number of those buried in Christ churchyard died violent deaths; one
+was murdered, and another was hanged, but that story has been already
+told.
+
+"Joe Tom," a negro whose tomb fronts the east end of the churchyard,
+where the members of his race were buried apart from the whites, was for
+more than a score of years sexton of Christ Church, and when he died, in
+1881, had been for a half a century a unique figure in the life of the
+village. "Joe Tom" was always the general factotum at public
+entertainments, and had won a title as "the politest negro in the
+world." Music of a lively sort he scraped from the fiddle or beat upon
+the triangle. He was head usher at meetings, chief cook at picnics, a
+stentorian prompter at dances, and chief oar at lake excursions.
+
+On one occasion there was to be a burial in the churchyard in the
+afternoon, for which Joe had made no preparation before escorting a
+picnic party to Three-Mile Point in the morning. Suddenly he remembered
+the funeral. Seizing a boat he rowed hastily back to the village,
+commenced digging the grave, tolled the bell, and, while the funeral
+service was being held in the church, completed his task, standing ready
+with solemn visage to perform the final duty of casting the earth upon
+the coffin. He then went back to the Point, and finished the day by
+escorting his party home. Not infrequently his day's work was protracted
+far into the night. If there was a midnight country dance the tinkle of
+his triangle could be heard until near sunrise, and often he was seen
+returning by daylight from some nocturnal festivity, fast asleep in a
+farmer's wagon.[118]
+
+If his versatile life rendered him somewhat uncertain at times in the
+discharge of his duties as sexton of Christ Church, he never failed to
+disarm criticism by his plausible and polite excuses. In his day the
+bell rope was operated from the vestibule of the church, and Joe Tom,
+arrayed in Sunday finery, was a familiar figure to church-goers, as he
+stood in the church porch tolling the bell with measured stroke, and
+inclining his woolly head with each motion to the entrance of every
+worshipper.
+
+Joe was born in slavery in the island of Barbadoes, and was brought,
+when quite young, to Cooperstown, by Joseph D. Husbands. Few persons in
+his day were better known than Joe Tom, yet, in his latter years, ill
+health withdrew him from public notice, and at his funeral he was laid
+away in the churchyard, unsung, if not unwept. A contemporary expressed
+a hope that the dead can have no knowledge of their own obsequies, for
+"poor Joe, who was the very soul of music, would hardly have been
+satisfied with a service in which not a key was struck, or note raised
+for one who had so often tuned his harp for others."
+
+[Illustration: THE COOPER PLOT, CHRIST CHURCHYARD]
+
+Within the Cooper enclosure in Christ churchyard, the grave of Susan
+Fenimore Cooper attracts the attention of all who are familiar with
+local history. A daughter of the novelist, Miss Cooper's memory is
+revered in Cooperstown for qualities all her own. After her father's
+death her home was at Byberry Cottage. She gained more than local fame,
+in her time, as a graceful writer, and was distinguished for her
+knowledge of the birds and flowers of Otsego hills. But her life-work
+was given to the Orphan House of the Holy Saviour, which she established
+in 1870, where homeless and destitute children were cared for and
+educated, and where now, on the broader basis of the Susan Fenimore
+Cooper Foundation, unusual opportunities for vocational training are
+extended to boys and girls. Nor shall it be forgotten that, while others
+gave more largely of funds, the Thanksgiving Hospital, founded in
+gratitude for the close of the Civil War, originated in Miss Cooper's
+heart and mind.
+
+A memorial window in Christ Church idealizes in form and color the
+spirit of this noble woman, without attempting portraiture. A real
+likeness of Miss Cooper, as she appeared in her ripest years, would
+recall a sweet face framed in dangling curls, a manner somewhat prim,
+but always gentle and placid, a figure slight and spare, with a bonnet
+and Paisley shawl that are all but essential to the resemblance. She
+would best be represented in the midst of orphan children whom she
+catechises for the benefit of some visiting dignitary, while the little
+rascals, taking advantage of her growing deafness, titter forth the most
+palpable absurdities in reply, sure of her benignant smile and
+commendatory "Very good; very good indeed!"
+
+One of Miss Cooper's most devoted helpers in the early days of the
+Orphan House was Dr. Wilson T. Bassett, who for many years gave his
+professional services without charge, and greatly interested himself in
+the welfare of the children. Dr. Bassett was for a long time the most
+widely known physician and surgeon of the region, while his wife, who
+followed the same profession, was the pioneer woman physician of Otsego
+county, and did much to allay the popular prejudice against women in the
+field of medicine. Dr. Wilson Bassett became noted as an expert witness
+in medical cases that were carried to court, and in murder trials when
+insanity had been set up as a defence. The resourcefulness which he
+displayed on such occasions led to his being described as "the most
+accomplished witness that has ever been placed upon the stand in Otsego
+county." Dr. Bassett's personal appearance marked him as belonging to
+the old school. He was the last man in Cooperstown to wear a black stock
+about his collar. His face suggested both firmness and a sense of humor.
+The quality of decision appeared in the mouth which the smooth-shaven
+upper lip displayed above the white chin-whisker, while the tousled
+shock of white hair and twinkling blue eyes were indicative of the
+whimsical turn of mind that manifested itself in witty and sententious
+sayings. His long experience in the court-room made him alive to the
+vast expense which the trial and punishment of criminals imposes upon
+the State, and led to his belief that criminality is usually to be
+attributed to lack of proper training in youth. His favorite plea for
+the support of the children in Miss Cooper's orphanage was "It's cheaper
+to educate 'em than to hang 'em!" The daughter of the two physicians,
+Dr. Mary Imogene Bassett, inherited the talent of both parents, and
+later enjoyed the singular distinction, while still in active practice,
+of having a monument erected to commemorate her professional career,
+when, in 1917, Edward Severin Clark began to build the Mary Imogene
+Bassett Hospital and Pathological Laboratory, merging with it the
+traditions of the older Thanksgiving Hospital.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+A FUNERAL IN CHRIST CHURCHYARD]
+
+Christ churchyard has been the scene of many impressive funerals, when,
+as in olden times, the unity of design in the order for Burial has been
+carried out, so that the outdoor function appears as a natural sequence
+to the service of the sanctuary, and is connected with it by an orderly
+processional from the church to the churchyard. Here, in the glory of
+summer foliage, is a superb setting for such a service; and the rare
+occasions of interments within this quaint God's acre are long
+remembered by those who witness them. After the service in the church
+the procession of choir and clergy, headed by the crucifer, issues from
+the doorway, followed by stalwart men carrying the bier upon their
+shoulders. The mourners and congregation come reverently after, and with
+the thrilling chorus of some hymn of triumph over death the procession
+moves slowly to the grave. The sunshine sifts through the foliage of the
+over-arching trees, glitters upon the processional cross, gleams upon
+the white robes of the choristers, and transforms into a mantle of glory
+the pall that drapes the body of the dead. A solemn hush falls upon the
+company as the priest steps forward for the formal act of burial. The
+dust flashes in the sunbeams as it falls from his hand into the open
+grave, while the rhythmic phrases of the committal float once again over
+the consecrated ground. No words in the English tongue have vibrated
+more deeply in human hearts than the majestic and exultant avowal of
+faith with which the Church consigns to the grave the bodies of her
+dead.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 117: See p. 306.]
+
+[Footnote 118: _A Few Omitted Leaves_, G. P. Keese.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+FROM APPLE HILL TO FERNLEIGH
+
+
+Cooperstown had its representation in the Civil War, for, aside from the
+soldiers who enlisted from the village, it was a former schoolboy of
+Apple Hill, Captain Abner Doubleday, in command of the batteries at Fort
+Sumter, who aimed the first big gun fired in defence of the Union.
+Another officer from Cooperstown, Lieut. Marmaduke Cooper, died at
+Fortress Monroe; a third, Lieut. Morris Foote, was taken prisoner, and
+escaped, with thrilling experiences, from a detention camp in South
+Carolina; while his brother, Lieut. Frank Foote, lost a leg in the
+battle of the Wilderness, for three months was mourned as dead by his
+family, and had the pleasure, on his return to Cooperstown, of reading
+his own obituary.
+
+Among the citizens who stayed at home during the war were some who did
+much to stir up Union sentiment in Cooperstown, where the political
+opinions of not a few had taken the form of opposition to the Northern
+cause. Among these enthusiasts was John Worthington, who was cashier in
+the bank established by his father, John R. Worthington, in a building
+which stood on the north side of Main Street not far west of Fair
+Street. There were then two divisions of the Democratic party, known as
+"War Democrats" and "Peace Democrats." The motto of the latter, as
+applied to the Southern States, was "Erring sisters, go in peace." This
+was too much for Worthington, who caused a large banner to be stretched
+across the entire front of the Worthington Bank, surmounted by the Stars
+and Stripes, and the words, "Victory will bring Peace."
+
+Worthington had a strong spirit of adventure in his composition, and,
+just before the war, had astonished the village by one of his
+characteristic exploits. In July a traveling aeronaut had appeared on
+the Fair Grounds, which were then in the region of the village south of
+Christ Church, proposing to make a series of flights for the
+entertainment of the public. He had an enormous balloon which was
+floated by being filled with heated air and smoke. The first ascension
+was a great success, and the aeronaut landed safely beyond the top of
+Mount Vision. When the next flight was to be made, just as the inflation
+was completed, John Worthington stepped out of the crowd, and asked to
+take the place of the aeronaut, who readily consented. There was a
+southerly breeze, and the balloon, as it sailed over the village, barely
+escaped the top of Christ Church spire. It then rose straight upward
+and, as the air within it cooled, began rapidly to descend. By a strange
+coincidence the balloon dropped in the main street, within a short
+distance of the Worthington Bank, at the very moment when its
+proprietor was descending the steps. The street was agog at the sudden
+appearance of the balloon, but none was more amazed than the elder
+Worthington when he saw his own son extricating himself from the folds
+of smoking cloth.
+
+"John," he called out in astonishment, "Did you go up in that balloon?"
+
+"I came down in it," said John, and would admit no more.
+
+John Worthington was many years afterward included as a belated member
+of the Shakespeare Reading Club, an organization which began in 1877,
+and held regular meetings, with reading of the plays and of original
+papers by the members, during a period of thirty years. This
+organization, with the Cooperstown Literary Association, kept up the
+intellectual traditions of the village during the latter part of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+The Shakespeare Club included the choice minds of the town, and the
+study of the master poet was undertaken with becoming reverence. While
+Worthington's sisters were already members of the club, and Worthington
+himself was second to none in the village in keenness of literary
+appreciation, he was notorious for eccentricities of whimsical wit and
+humor, and it was only after long deliberation that it was finally
+decided to elect him to membership. His first appearance at a meeting of
+the club gave rise to an unforeseen situation, for the order in which
+the members sat about the table had become fixed by traditions of
+precedence, and the attempt to place another chair caused a flutter of
+debate in politely subdued voices. Worthington was kept standing while
+this discussion was going on, and suddenly astounded the company by
+gravely seating himself upon the floor.
+
+John Worthington was appointed United States consul in Malta under
+President Arthur, and continued in office under Cleveland's first
+administration. This was the heyday of his life. In Malta he made
+friends in the army and navy and diplomatic service of many nations. His
+conversational gifts and capricious drollery gave him great social
+popularity in the brilliant shifting throng that passed through the
+gates of the Mediterranean, and his wife, who was Cora Lull, of New
+Berlin, was charmingly adapted by nature and acquirements to the graces
+of diplomatic life. During his term of service at Malta in 1883
+Worthington was instrumental in removing the body of John Howard Payne,
+author of "Home, Sweet Home," from the cemetery in Carthage, Tunis, to
+the United States. He made a stubborn effort to procure a band to play
+Payne's song as the remains left Tunis aboard the ship homeward bound,
+but not anyone could play "Home, Sweet Home," although Worthington had
+brought the notes with him. However, after the disinterment, of which
+Worthington was a witness, the body was placed in the chapel of the
+little English church, and a few Americans and English reverently
+gathered there, while Mrs. Worthington, who was known as "Cooperstown's
+sweetest singer," sang touchingly the famous song of home, written by
+the man who had no home during the last forty years of his life, and
+whose body, thirty years after his death, was going home at last to be
+interred in its native soil.
+
+While traveling in Egypt, Worthington had an audience with the Khedive,
+Tewfik Pasha Mohammed, in his palace on the Nile. The conversation was
+formal and perfunctory, until, in reply to an amiable inquiry,
+Worthington stated that his home was in a village, in New York State,
+named Cooperstown. At the mention of this name the Khedive exhibited
+genuine interest.
+
+"Cooperstown," he repeated, "Is not Cooperstown the home of Fenimore
+Cooper, the great author?"
+
+It was now Worthington's turn to exhibit interest, for in boyhood he had
+been next door neighbor to Cooper; and he asked if his Highness was
+acquainted with the writings of the novelist. The Khedive had read all
+of Cooper's books. Some of them he cared little for, but those he did
+care for he loved. _The Leather-Stocking Tales_ had opened a new world
+to him, and he was charmed. _The Deerslayer_ he "adored." The sublime
+and shadowy forests, the silent lakes high up in evergreen hills, the
+cool rivers--how they captivated his imagination! how they invited his
+soul! He would, he exclaimed, give a year of his life if he might view
+the Glimmerglass, if he might tread a forest trail. In his library the
+Khedive showed to his visitor, with evident satisfaction, his three
+magnificent sets of Cooper's works, in French, in German, and in
+English.
+
+John Worthington's later days were passed in Cooperstown, where he lived
+to be the village man of letters, delighting his contemporaries with
+contributions of picturesque prose and graceful verse that would have
+given him a wider renown had he written otherwise than, as it seemed,
+for the mere pleasure of writing for the entertainment of his friends.
+His twelve years of service at Malta, with many excursions in the
+ancient world, developed in him an oriental color of mind, and gave even
+to the Otsego of his childhood, when he returned hither to live, the
+dreamy glamour of the mystic East. At home he lived altogether among
+books, and in the companionship of poetic imagination passed the years
+of almost exile from Malta, his fondest retrospect. A winning soul was
+John Worthington, widely beloved for what he was, and mourned for all
+that he might have been.
+
+During the Civil War a girl of extraordinary beauty and vivacity,
+skilled as a musician, drew many suitors to her home, the house which
+still stands at the southwest corner of Pioneer and Elm streets. Her
+name was Elizabeth Davis, and her happy disposition made her a universal
+favorite in the community. Toward the close of the war she suffered a
+disappointment in love, the exact nature of which was not made known,
+but so seriously affecting her attitude toward life that she registered
+a solemn vow never again to be seen in public. From this time forth she
+kept to the house, although it was said that she sometimes walked about
+at night. Years passed. Father, mother, brother, and sister, followed
+one another to the grave, until Elizabeth Davis became the only
+inhabitant of the old house. Nobody ever saw her except a negro who
+brought her supplies. In the village there grew up a new generation to
+which she was a stranger. The windows of the house showed an abundance
+of the choicest plants, always carefully tended. Passers-by often
+arrested their steps to listen to the sound of a piano splendidly played
+within. But nobody ever caught a glimpse of a face or form. The most
+that the nearest neighbors saw was a hand and arm that were stretched
+forth from the windows every evening to close the blinds. Thus Elizabeth
+Davis lived for more than thirty years after the close of the war, and
+carried her secret to the grave.
+
+In the time of the Civil War the favorite reading matter of the soldiers
+in camp and hospital throughout the northern armies was supplied by the
+enterprise of Erastus F. Beadle, who had learned the publishing business
+in the employment of the Phinneys in Cooperstown, himself being a native
+of Pierstown, just over the hill. He became known throughout the United
+States as the publisher of "Beadle's Dime Novels," and on his retirement
+from business in 1889 purchased "Glimmerview," the residence which
+overlooks the lake next east of the O-te-sa-ga. Here he died in 1894.
+This inventor of the "dime novel" made an amazing success of publishing
+paper-covered books adapted to the popular taste on a scale of cheapness
+and in quantities which had never before been dreamed of. After leaving
+Cooperstown, he began business for himself in Buffalo, publishing
+magazines, and on his removal to New York, in 1858, discovered, in the
+publication of "The Dime Song Book," the field which he afterward made
+so profitable. To the song books were added, in rapid succession, the
+"Household Manual," the "Letter Writer," and the "Book of Etiquette." In
+the summer of 1860 the Dime Novels were started. These little
+salmon-covered books became immediately popular all over the country,
+and the business grew to vast proportions, until Beadle had about
+twenty-five writers employed in the composition of stories for his
+imprint. The business was afterward expanded to include the publication
+of popular "Libraries,"--the Dime Library, the Boy's Library, the Pocket
+Library, and the Half-Dime Library. After his retirement from business,
+as a resident of Cooperstown, Beadle did much for the development of the
+village.
+
+[Illustration: MAIN STREET
+
+Looking west from Fair Street, 1861. The Clark Gymnasium displaces the
+two buildings at the left.]
+
+The village had troubles of its own during the progress of the war. In
+the spring of 1862, a disastrous fire, the largest conflagration in the
+history of Cooperstown, destroyed at least a third of the business
+district. The fire started near the Cory stone building, which alone
+survived of the stores and shops in the path of the flames that spread
+on the north side of Main Street, and extended from the building next to
+the present Mohican Club as far east as Pioneer Street. The fire then
+crossed to the south side of Main Street, destroying the old Eagle
+Tavern, originally the Red Lion, and burning westward as far as the
+present Carr's Hotel. Up Pioneer Street, on the west side the flames ate
+their way as far south as the Phinney residence. The buildings at the
+eastern corners of Main and Pioneer streets were several times on fire,
+and were saved only by supreme efforts of the village firemen. The
+survival of the Cory building was due in part to its solid stone
+construction, but chiefly to the efforts of two plucky men, David P.
+House and George Newell, who stationed themselves on the roof, and while
+the fire worked its way around the rear of the building, succeeded in
+defending their position, although so terribly scorched that for weeks
+afterward they went about swathed in bandages.
+
+A few nights later the Otsego Hotel and adjacent buildings, which stood
+on the site of the present Village Library, were also destroyed by fire.
+At this conflagration, which seemed about to complete the destruction of
+Main Street, a woman appeared, who equalled the courage of the firemen
+in her defiance of the flames. She was Susan Hewes, a maiden lady who
+kept a milliner's shop in the little one-story building that stands on
+the north side of the Main Street, a short distance west of the corner
+of Fair Street. Emulating the example of the men who saved the Cory
+building, she appeared on the roof of her little shop, and presented a
+dramatic spectacle as she stood forth in the glare of the flames, crying
+out that she would save her property at the cost of her life.
+Fortunately the flames were checked without any such sacrifice, and
+Susan Hewes lived to become, more than half a century afterward, the
+oldest native inhabitant of the village, famous for the old-fashioned
+tangled garden on Pine Street, where she dwelt so long among her
+favorite flowers. During the Civil War period she was a marked figure in
+the village, for her outspoken independence in expressing sympathy for
+the Southern cause led to a visit of remonstrance with which a committee
+of leading citizens honored her in her little milliner's shop; while her
+refusal to submit to the dictates of fashion when the huge hoop-skirts
+came into vogue caused her to be gazed upon as a marvel of
+incompleteness in dress.
+
+For a time Cooperstown was much depressed by the ruin which fire had
+wrought in the village, but, before long, a new business section began
+slowly to rise from the ashes of the old. West of Pioneer Street, where
+the Eagle Tavern had narrowed the width of the main thoroughfare to the
+dimensions of a mere lane, the street was now made of uniform width, and
+new business blocks were erected. By the close of the Civil War all
+signs of destruction had disappeared, and the Main street of
+Cooperstown, if far less picturesque than before, had assumed the
+appearance of brand new prosperity.
+
+This period, in fact, marks the beginning of a gradual change in the
+character of Cooperstown, by which an elderly village, typical in its
+inherited traditions, has taken on the airs of a summer resort, and has
+become the residence, for a part of each year, of wealthy families whose
+chief interests lie elsewhere, and to whom Otsego is a playground. While
+much of the older character of the village remains, the contact with the
+outer world has had a far-reaching effect upon its inhabitants.
+
+Some of the old-fashioned merchants were at first inclined to resent the
+demands made by city folk in excess of the time-honored customs of trade
+in Cooperstown. Seth Doubleday kept a store at the northwest corner of
+Main and Pioneer streets. One day a lady from the city came in airily,
+ordered a mackerel delivered at her summer home in the village, and was
+out again before Doubleday could recover his breath. At that period all
+villagers went to market with a basket, and carried their own goods
+home. Nobody thought of having purchases delivered by the merchant.
+Doubleday was enraged at what seemed to him an insolent demand, and the
+longer he reflected on the matter the more furious did he become. At
+last, leaving his shop unattended, he went in person to the customer's
+house to deliver the mackerel. The lady herself opened the door.
+Doubleday took the fish by the tail, and slapped it down vigorously upon
+the doorstep, exclaiming, "There, madam, is your damned three-cent
+mackerel, and _delivered_!"
+
+The new phase of village life may perhaps be dated from the purchase of
+the Apple Hill property by Edward Clark of New York, who, in 1856, made
+his summer home here, and after the close of the Civil War erected his
+mansion. The establishment of this country-seat was but the beginning of
+the extension of Edward Clark's estate in this region, and created a
+relationship to the village which his descendants have ever since
+continued.
+
+"Apple Hill," as the place was called before Edward Clark's purchase, or
+"Fernleigh," as he renamed it, is thus a connecting link between the old
+and the new in Cooperstown. It has a story that brings the elder
+traditions of the village into touch with the newer spirit of modern
+enterprise.
+
+Apple Hill was originally the property of Richard Fenimore Cooper,
+eldest son of the founder of the village. In the summer of 1800 he built
+the house which stood until displaced by Fernleigh House in 1869.
+Fenimore Cooper described the site as "much the best within the limits
+of the village," no doubt with reference to the superb view of the
+Susquehanna which the veranda at the rear of the house commands. Richard
+Cooper planted the black walnut and locust trees, some of which are yet
+standing in front of the house at Fernleigh. To the home at Apple Hill
+he brought from the head of the lake as a bride, Anne Cary, who after
+his death became the wife of George Clarke of Hyde Hall.
+
+From 1825 to 1828 Apple Hill was the residence of the afterward
+distinguished Judge Samuel Nelson, and during the next five years was
+owned and occupied by General John A. Dix, who had resigned from the
+army, and settled down in Cooperstown to practise law. His first cases
+were prepared in a little office that stood near the gate of the Apple
+Hill property. At that time it is said that he made a poor impression as
+a public speaker, and gave small promise of his later fame. In 1833 he
+became secretary of state of New York, and afterward was United States
+Senator. During the Civil War he raised seventeen regiments, and as
+Secretary of the Treasury at the outbreak of the war issued the famous
+order which first convinced the country that the executive government at
+Washington was really determined to meet force with force: "If anyone
+attempts to pull down the American flag, shoot him on the spot!" After
+the war General Dix was minister to France, and in 1872 was elected
+Governor of the State of New York. Among the children of General Dix
+who played hide-and-seek amid the trees of Apple Hill was Morgan Dix,
+afterward the distinguished rector of Trinity parish, New York, who in
+later years passed many summers in Cooperstown. It was remembered of Dr.
+Dix's childhood that when his mother sent him away from Cooperstown to
+school, being apprehensive of his safe conduct on the journey, she put
+him into the stage-coach completely enveloped in a green baize bag that
+she had made for the purpose, with nothing but the boy's head emerging
+from the opening which was snugly tied around his neck. Dr. Dix's last
+visit to Cooperstown was in 1891 when he was a guest at the Cooper
+House, and was driven forth, with two hundred and fifty other guests, by
+the fire which burned it to the ground in the early dawn of the eighth
+of August. This summer hotel stood within the grounds occupied by the
+Present High School. Its burning was a calamity to Cooperstown, for
+under the management of Simeon E. Crittenden it had become widely
+famous, and drew guests from every part of the country.
+
+From 1833 to 1839 Apple Hill was the home of Levi C. Turner, who married
+the daughter of Robert Campbell, and afterward was for some years county
+judge. During the Civil War Turner was Judge Advocate in the War
+Department under President Lincoln, concerning whom he had many intimate
+reminiscences.
+
+In early days, before the common school system was developed, there were
+many attempts to establish private schools in Cooperstown, with more or
+less success. John Burroughs, the famous naturalist, received the last
+of his schooling in the spring and summer of 1856 at the Cooperstown
+Seminary, afterward converted into the summer hotel known as the Cooper
+House.
+
+But of all the private schools in the village the most noted was
+established at Apple Hill in 1839 by William H. Duff, a former officer
+of the British Army, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Duff had
+a romantic history, involved in a good deal of mystery. He had emigrated
+from England to Canada, bringing with him a beautiful young wife,--an
+elopement, it was said. Mrs. Duff was evidently of gentle birth, while
+her husband was of commanding presence, military bearing, and
+captivating manners. Whether he was entitled to the rank of Major, which
+he assumed, was always doubted.
+
+Duff was well informed in all branches of army tactics, and the school
+that he established was well known as a military academy. The
+institution became popular, and the boys in their uniforms gave a new
+and welcome touch of color to the life of the village. The afternoon
+drills were witnessed by many spectators, and when the school increased
+until a mounted field-piece, drawn by four horses, was added to the
+equipment, the exhibit became quite sensational. Few pupils of that day
+could ever forget the winter drills on the frozen lake, with the
+thermometer near zero, as requiring an endurance worthy of hardier
+veterans.
+
+One incident connected with the school made a sensation at the time.
+During the winter of 1840 a strong party of Indians found their way to
+the village, and remained for several days. One of them got into a
+drunken bout, and died quite suddenly. Shortly after the departure of
+the band the rumor was circulated among the loungers in the streets that
+the friends of the dead Indian suspected foul play, and were coming from
+their encampment on the following night to wreak vengeance upon the
+village. These flying rumors came to the ears of some of the pupils of
+Duff's Academy, who hastened to communicate the alarming intelligence to
+their principal. Whether Duff really accepted the truth of the reports,
+or wished to test the military efficiency and courage of his pupils, he
+promptly called his troops together, delivered an impressive harangue on
+the danger of the situation and the glory to be won by rallying to the
+defence of the village against a savage foe. Plans were soon made to
+repel the attack. Muskets were made ready for service. Some boys were
+sent into the village for powder, others for lead from which they were
+soon actively engaged in moulding bullets. A detachment was sent to
+remove to the house all effects from the schoolroom which stood near the
+gate, and the doors and windows of the house were strongly barricaded.
+Preparations were made to patrol the village at night, and the school
+was detailed into squads, who were to protect the principal streets.
+Sentries paced from the house to the gate, and from Christ churchyard
+to the corner of Main Street, while outposts were stationed across the
+river who were to give warning of the enemy's approach by the discharge
+of a musket. The younger boys were left at home on guard at the doors
+and windows of the house. As the midnight hour approached Major Duff
+sallied forth and inspected the disposal of his forces. During the long
+winter darkness of that night the boys marched up and down the village
+streets, with imaginations so fearfully wrought up as to deny the need
+of sleep which lay heavy upon them. If any of the inhabitants of the
+village sympathized in this watchfulness in their behalf, or kept awake
+to see what was going on, there was no evidence of it. The boys were
+left to their vigil. They passed the night in anxious watching. No
+Indians appeared, and all danger was dispelled by the rays of the rising
+sun.
+
+Too much prosperity was the ruin of Duff's school. It became so
+successful that the principal neglected duty for pleasure, leaving the
+school in charge of subordinates. Then, in less than five years from its
+beginning, it failed. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, Duff obtained
+a captain's commission in the United States Army, and when last seen by
+his old friends he presented an imposing appearance as he rode down
+Broadway in New York at the head of his company, with martial music and
+flying colors, to embark for Vera Cruz.[119]
+
+George A. Starkweather purchased Apple Hill in 1847, and lived there
+until he sold it in 1856 to Edward Clark. The latter had been attracted
+to Cooperstown as at one time the home of his distinguished
+father-in-law, and law-partner, Ambrose L. Jordan. Mrs. Clark, who was
+Jordan's eldest child, was born while the Jordans were resident in
+Cooperstown in the house which still stands at the northwest corner of
+Main and Chestnut streets, and after they removed to Hudson the daughter
+was sent back to Cooperstown to attend the boarding school which was
+conducted for a time in Isaac Cooper's old house at Edgewater. It was
+through these associations that Edward Clark and his bride, after their
+marriage in 1836, began to be frequent visitors in Cooperstown.
+
+In the year 1848 Isaac M. Singer had become a client of Jordan & Clark
+in New York City. He was an erratic genius, and had taken up various
+occupations without much success, besides having invented valuable
+mechanical devices which had brought him no profit. The form of
+sewing-machine that he invented, and which has ever since been
+associated with his name, was not profitable at first, and under
+Singer's management the title to the invention became involved, and was
+likely to be lost. In this emergency the inventor applied to his legal
+adviser, Clark, to advance the means to redeem an interest of one-third
+in the sewing-machine invention and business, and to hold that share as
+security for money advanced. Afterward was formed the co-partnership of
+I. M. Singer & Co., in which Clark was the legal adviser and half
+owner. The business was carried on by this firm with great success from
+1851 to 1863, during which period Edward Clark established his residence
+in Cooperstown. After Singer's death Clark became president of the
+Singer Manufacturing Company.
+
+[Illustration: FERNLEIGH]
+
+Edward Clark spent many winters in Europe, residing at different times
+in Paris and in Rome, but his summers were usually devoted to
+Cooperstown, and the present stone house at Fernleigh was his summer
+home for twenty-three years. When this house was erected it was regarded
+as a wonder. It took four years in building, and was indeed of
+remarkable workmanship, with substantial masonry and the most exquisite
+elaborations of woodwork. But it had the misfortune to be built in the
+"black walnut period," when taste in domestic architecture was at a low
+ebb, so that much of the interior, and some of the exterior, has since
+been altered. The stone building southwest of the house was built as a
+Turkish bath.
+
+In 1873, Edward Clark purchased Fernleigh-Over from the Bowers estate,
+and from time to time added to his property in Cooperstown, notably in
+the purchase of farms on either side of the lake. He became much
+identified with the interests of the village, and built the Hotel
+Fenimore.
+
+Edward Clark was entranced by Otsego Lake, upon which he spent much time
+in sailing. His _Nina_ and _Elise_ were beautiful sailing yachts, and
+would have been an ornament to any waters. Clark was described by
+village contemporaries as a man of somewhat peculiar temperament. He was
+naturally reticent, and seemed to be most highly appreciated by his
+intimates. In educational matters he was greatly interested, having
+given largely to Williams College, of which he was a graduate and Doctor
+of Laws. He contributed generously to the welfare of the schools of
+Cooperstown, in which he established the Clark Punctuality prizes. In
+Cooperstown, and elsewhere, he did much charitable work in a quiet way.
+
+In 1876 Kingfisher Tower was completed, which Edward Clark had caused
+to be erected at Point Judith, about two miles from Cooperstown, on the
+eastern shore of Otsego Lake. It was said that Clark's motive in
+building the tower was to furnish work for many in the community who
+were out of employment. Scoffers referred to the building derisively as
+"Clark's folly." At the request of a village newspaper, Clark himself
+wrote an account of it which was published anonymously.
+
+[Illustration: _M. Antoinette Abrams_
+
+KINGFISHER TOWER]
+
+"Kingfisher Tower," he wrote, "consists of a miniature castle, after
+the style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, standing upon the
+extremity of the Point and rising out of the water to a height of nearly
+sixty feet. It forms an objective point in the scene presented by the
+lake and surrounding hills; it adds solemnity to the landscape, seeming
+to stand guard over the vicinity, while it gives a character of
+antiquity to the lake, a charm by which we cannot help being impressed
+in such scenes. The effect of the structure is that of a picture from
+medieval times, and its value to the lake is very great. Mr. Clark has
+been led to erect it simply by a desire to beautify the lake and add an
+attraction which must be seen by all who traverse the lake or drive
+along its shores. They whose minds can rise above simple notions of
+utility to an appreciation of art joined to nature, will thank him for
+it."
+
+When Edward Clark died, in 1882, his youngest and only surviving son,
+Alfred Corning Clark, much of whose life had been spent abroad,
+inherited the greater part of his father's property, and became
+proprietor of Fernleigh.
+
+Alfred Corning Clark possessed in a magnified degree certain qualities
+which had distinguished his father. He was more retiring, more reticent,
+more inclined to find the full joy of life only among intimates. He
+became a patron of art and music, and himself an amateur in singing. He
+built Mendelssohn Hall, in New York, for the use of a musical
+organization to which he belonged. Of books he was not only a lover, but
+a student, devoted to the classics, and well versed in modern
+languages. In the village of Cooperstown he was known as a bookworm. He
+enjoyed walking about his own grounds, but hardly ever went into the
+village, and there were many residents of Cooperstown who had never seen
+his face. The proprietor of the corner book store in his day remarked
+that he had never but once seen Alfred Corning Clark in the village
+street, and this was when he had an errand at the book store to make an
+inquiry concerning a newly published volume.
+
+In the use of his great fortune Clark was extremely liberal in charities
+and toward such other objects as commended themselves to his judgment;
+while he was correspondingly powerful in opposition to whatever involved
+a principle with which he disagreed.
+
+Mrs. Clark, who was Elizabeth Scriven, was a woman of exceptional gifts
+of mind and benignance of character, well qualified to assume the
+responsibilities which fell upon her when Alfred Corning Clark died, at
+the age of fifty-three years, in 1896. With cultivated tastes, she had
+also a practical talent for business, and, although well served by
+agents in the management of her large interests, was always thoroughly
+informed and full of initiative. In New York, among men of affairs, she
+was regarded as one of the most far-seeing judges of real estate values
+in the city. In the management of her domestic and other concerns she
+had an extraordinary faculty for administration, which failed of
+attaining genius only through the effort which she put forth to give
+personal attention to details. This amiable weakness nevertheless added
+the interest of her personality to undertakings that might have failed
+for the lack of such a spirit as hers; and in her many charities the
+personal touch which she took the trouble to give added infinitely to
+the happiness and self-respect of those to whom her kindness, as in
+neighborly thoughtfulness, was extended.
+
+In Cooperstown Mrs. Clark became an arbiter of the social and moral
+virtues, and the things that she frowned upon were usually not done. She
+had a wholesome influence in resisting certain excesses which not seldom
+appear in communities partly given over to the pursuit of pleasure. In
+some innovations against which she protested, Mrs. Clark at last
+gracefully yielded to the inevitable. This was the case with
+automobiles, which, when they first appeared upon the country roads, she
+regarded with the alarm and disgust of one devoted to a carriage and
+horses, and would have banished them from Otsego if she had had the
+power. In that period of transition few country roads were adapted to
+the use of motors, and to meet one of the new machines while driving in
+a carriage along the lake shore was to suffer the apprehension of
+imminent death from the fury of plunging horses, and to be nearly choked
+in a cloud of dust.
+
+Mrs. Clark was fond of walking, and she was a familiar figure in the
+residence streets of the village in summer, usually dressed in white,
+without a bonnet, and carrying a white parasol above her head, as she
+moved with quick step upon some errand.
+
+The homestead at Fernleigh represents much that has contributed to the
+development of Cooperstown. The greater part of the industry controlled
+by the Clark estates is managed from the offices of the Singer Building
+in New York, which when it was erected in 1909 was the tallest office
+building in the world. But a large part of the interests of the estates
+is centered in the picturesque old building, originally built for a
+bank, which stands near the entrance of the Cooper Grounds in
+Cooperstown. The Cooper Grounds themselves were rescued from a condition
+of desolation in which they had lain for many years after the death of
+Fenimore Cooper, and are maintained by the Clark estates for the benefit
+of the public. The Village Club and Library across the way is a creation
+of the Clark estates. On the hills east and west of the village, and
+along the eastern shore of the lake for a stretch of nearly six miles,
+the same ownership has preserved for all lovers of nature the noble
+forests that lend a charm of wildness to the region.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 119: _A Few Omitted Leaves_, Keese, p. 12; _History of
+Cooperstown_, Livermore, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LAKE OF ROMANCE AND FISHERMEN
+
+
+The period from 1870 to 1880 was one of rapid growth and development in
+Cooperstown. The permanent population increased to over two thousand
+souls, and a number of fine summer residences were erected. Almost all
+of its natural advantages Cooperstown owes to Otsego Lake. These had
+been long appreciated by residents of the village, and now began to be
+generally sought by visitors from afar. In summer, the shores of the
+lake come to be dotted with the camp-houses and tents of those who
+sought relief from the swelter of cities in the cool forests of Otsego,
+and found delight in the sailing and fishing for which the Glimmerglass
+is famous.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+THE LAKE FROM THE O-TE-SA-GA]
+
+In the summer of 1870 Capt. Daniel B. Boden began regular steam
+navigation of Otsego Lake by means of a small steamboat which he had
+brought to Cooperstown by railroad, and which had been used as a gunboat
+in Southern waters during the Civil War. The boat was renamed the _Mary
+Boden_. In the following summer a rival steamboat was launched, much
+larger than the former, called the _Natty Bumppo_, and owned principally
+by A. H. Watkins and Elihu Phinney. At the beginning of the next season
+the conservative folk of the village were scandalized by the _Mary
+Boden_, which then commenced to make lake trips on Sunday, a breach of
+ancient custom in which the owners of the _Natty Bumppo_ indignantly
+declined to compete. On a night early in July there was an alarm of
+fire, a great blaze at the lake front, and villagers running to the
+scene found that one of the steamboats was in flames and beyond hope of
+salvage. A small child at a front window of Edgewater, watching the
+fire, clapped her hands, and cried out, "It's the wicker [wicked] boat!
+It's the wicker boat!" But it was not the wicked boat that was ablaze.
+It was the _Natty Bumppo_, which burned to the water's edge a total
+loss, the boat that had never left its dock on Sunday. The event was
+long recalled by some in the village as an instance of grave error in
+the usually correct dispensations of Providence. The _Natty Bumppo_ was
+replaced, in the next season, by a new steamboat bearing the same name.
+The new _Natty Bumppo_ and the old _Mary Boden_ were the famous boats of
+the lake until they were succeeded by the _Pioneer_ and the _Cyclone_,
+and later by the _Deerslayer_, the _Pathfinder_, and the _Mohican_.
+
+Aside from the use of canoes, the first general navigation of the lake
+was undertaken in 1794 by a man known as Admiral Hassy, who in his day
+was the most celebrated fisherman of Otsego. He had a large flat boat
+which he called the ship _Jay_, and upon which he used boards for sails.
+This craft was safe, but not speedy.
+
+Some thirty years later a group of enterprising individuals built a
+horse-boat as a means of transporting lake parties. The boat had at each
+end a high cabin topped by a platform. These excrescences caught
+whatever breeze was blowing, and made the craft unmanageable. The
+struggles of the two poor horses who were expected to propel the boat
+were not equal to a gale of Pierstown trade-winds. More than once a lake
+party starting for Three-Mile Point, aboard this vessel, found itself
+stranded on the opposite shore.
+
+During the first half of the century a "general lake party" in the
+summer corresponded to the "select ball" of each winter as constituting
+one of the two great social events of the year in Cooperstown. It ought
+to be said that the term "lake party" had a distinct social
+significance, and the word "picnic," which came later to be used to
+describe the same thing, meant to the elder inhabitants an affair that
+had quite lost the flavor of the older custom, and the use of the word
+was regarded as one of the signs of social decadence.
+
+The means of navigation most often used by the lake parties was a huge
+scow propelled by long oars. A typical lake party was given in July of
+1840, when Governor Seward visited Cooperstown. On the way home upon the
+lake the old scow, according to custom, was stopped opposite to the
+Echo, and several persons tried their voices to show off the wonderfully
+clear reverberations that would be flung back from the eastern hillside.
+But the master of this art was "Joe Tom," the negro who had been chief
+cook of the lake party, and was now at one of the long oars of the scow.
+On being asked to awaken the famous echo, Joe Tom shouted, "Hurrah for
+Governor Steward!" and when the echo came back, "You've got it to a 't,'
+Joe!" exclaimed Governor Seward.
+
+At this period the authority in aquatic affairs, and the most renowned
+fisherman of the lake, was Commodore Boden. Miss Cooper says of her
+father's novel _Home as Found_ that the one character in it "avowedly
+and minutely drawn from life" was that of the Commodore, "a figure long
+familiar to those living on the lake shores--a venerable figure, tall
+and upright, to be seen for some three score years moving to and fro
+over the water, trolling for pickerel or angling for perch, almost any
+day in the year, excepting when the waters were icebound in
+winter."[120] The commodore was of quite imposing appearance, handsome
+alike in form and figure, straight as an arrow, and lithe as an Indian,
+with silvery locks that hung gracefully down upon his shoulders. His
+method of fishing was fascinating to watch. Standing erect in his boat,
+the commodore would paddle from the outlet of the lake to some inviting
+patch of weeds, and there, in quite shallow water, noiselessly drop his
+anchor. Then, wielding a rod nearly twenty feet in length, he would
+"skip" his tempting bait--generally the side of a small perch--with
+amazing vigor and marvellous dexterity, oftentimes taking fifteen or
+twenty pickerel in less than an hour. To see him strike, manipulate and
+land a fish weighing three or four pounds, his pliant rod bending nearly
+to a semicircle, was a spectacle not to be forgotten.[121]
+
+In 1850 Peter P. Cooper brought from the Lake Ontario a little schooner,
+and became so famous as a boatman and fisherman that he was regarded as
+the successor of Admiral Hassy and Commodore Boden. Capt. Cooper
+established a boat livery which included five sailboats and twenty
+rowboats. He developed the fisheries of Otsego Lake on a big scale,
+having introduced the gill net as a means of catching bass. In the
+spring of 1851 there were taken from the lake 25,000 bass. The gill net
+which Capt. Cooper introduced is made of the best kind of linen thread,
+with meshes from two to two and a half inches square. The net is about
+three feet wide, having leads attached to one edge, and corks fastened
+to the other. The leaded edge is carried to the bottom of the lake,
+while the other is buoyed up by the corks, making a complete fence
+across the lake at its bottom, even where it is very deep. The fish swim
+against the fence, which at once yields to their force, but as it
+yields, forms a sack whose meshes gather about their fins and tail,
+making it impossible to back out or otherwise escape. Their efforts
+serve only to entangle the fish more deeply in the net. Elihu Phinney,
+the most expert amateur fisherman of the period, denounced Capt.
+Cooper's gill net as the "most deadly and abominable of all devices."
+
+The Otsego bass never exceed about six pounds in weight, the average
+being much smaller. Occasionally a lake trout of larger size is caught.
+With hook and line trout of great size are not often taken. On Friday,
+August 21, 1908, Alexander S. Phinney caught with hook and line, near
+Kingfisher Tower, a trout thirty-six inches long and weighing twenty
+pounds. He tussled with this trout for an hour, with six hundred feet of
+line, before he succeeded in landing him in the boat. In the next season
+the same fisherman caught a trout weighing eighteen pounds. So far as
+authentic records go, these two trout are the largest fish ever caught
+in the lake with hook and line.
+
+The conditions in Otsego Lake are favorable for the artificial
+propagation of fish, and many plantings have been made, at first by
+private enterprise, and afterward by the State. The lake extends in a
+direction from N. N. East to S. S. West about nine miles, varying in
+width from about three quarters of a mile to a mile and a half. The
+surface of the lake is 1,194 feet above tide-water. The average depth is
+about fifty feet, although about two miles north of the village
+soundings have been taken to a depth of one hundred and fifty feet,
+while toward the midst of the lake the depths are greater. In many
+places the water deepens gradually from the shore, but along the eastern
+bank there are points at which, Fenimore Cooper declared, "a large ship
+might float with her yards in the forest." The lake is chiefly supplied
+from cold bottom springs. Its only constant tributaries are two small
+streams, whose entire volume is not half that of its outlet, the
+Susquehanna River, which here begins its long journey to Chesapeake Bay.
+The upper and lower portions of the lake, being shallow and weedy,
+afford ample pickerel grounds, while the middle portion and whole
+eastern shore are admirably adapted, by deep water and soft marl bottom,
+to the coregoni and salmon trout, and nearer shore, by rocky bottom and
+sharp ledges, to the rock bass, black bass, and yellow perch. Large fish
+find an abundant food supply in the "lake shiner," an exquisitely
+beautiful creature and dainty morsel, about four inches long.
+
+The fish for which the lake has become famous among epicures is the
+"Otsego bass." In _The Pioneers_, published in 1823, Fenimore Cooper
+expressed the general opinion when he put into the mouth of one of his
+characters this eulogy of the Otsego bass: "These fish are of a quality
+and flavor that in other countries would make them esteemed a luxury on
+the tables of princes. The world has no better fish than the bass of
+Otsego; it unites the richness of the shad to the firmness of the
+salmon." More than sixty years later much the same opinion prevailed,
+when Elihu Phinney described Otsego bass as "beyond all peradventure the
+very finest fresh water fish that swims."
+
+There has long been a difference of opinion as to whether the so-called
+Otsego bass is to be regarded as a distinct species. Louis Agassiz, the
+highest authority of his time, after careful analysis pronounced the
+Otsego bass to be "in its organic structure a distinct fish, not found
+in any other waters of the world." In 1915 Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the New
+York State fish culturist, declared that the so-called Otsego bass "is
+merely the common Labrador whitefish which has become dwarfed in size by
+some peculiarities of its habitat." De Witt Clinton, a former governor
+of New York, wrote the first scientific description, accompanied by a
+drawing, of this fish, which he called "the Salmo Otsego, or the Otsego
+Basse."[122] At the time when Clinton wrote, the whitefishes were
+placed in the genus Salmo. In 1911, in the bulletin of the United States
+bureau of fisheries,[123] Dr. Evermann asserted concerning Clinton's
+drawing of Otsego bass, which he had examined, that "the cut, although
+crude, plainly shows _Coregonus clupeaformis_. The form is elliptical,
+and the back shows the dark streaks along the rows of scales usually
+characteristic of that species." The same author, in collaboration with
+Dr. Jordan,[124] says concerning the common whitefish: "This species,
+like others of wide distribution, is subject to considerable variations,
+dependent upon food, waters, etc. One of these is the so-called Otsego
+bass, var Otsego (Clinton), a form landlocked in Otsego Lake at the head
+of the Susquehanna River."
+
+There are Otsego fishermen who are not impressed by this array of
+learning, and still insist that the Otsego bass is quite different from
+any other fish in the world. The _Otsego Farmer_ in 1915 summed up the
+matter thus: "Otsego bass is not what is ordinarily termed whitefish,
+but is probably a species of the same family. As a matter of fact,
+Otsego Lake has been stocked with whitefish fry from the Great Lakes,
+and now the nets of fishermen are always filled with a mixture of
+whitefish and Otsego bass. Whatever Dr. Bean may think about it, any
+Otsego Lake fisherman can tell the difference, and any epicure having
+once tasted Otsego bass is never again deceived by whitefish."
+
+A view which seems to reconcile these diverse opinions is that of
+Alexander S. Phinney, the most famous amateur fisherman of Otsego at the
+beginning of the twentieth century. He holds that Otsego bass is quite
+distinct from whitefish, but believes that the true Otsego bass has
+disappeared, giving place to a hybrid fish, now called Otsego bass, but
+really a cross between that variety and the whitefish with which Otsego
+has been stocked from the Great Lakes.
+
+As many as five thousand Otsego bass have been taken with one draught of
+the seine, but in view of the great difficulty of catching any with hook
+and line, the following suggestion from an old authority, Seth Green, is
+still of interest: "The Otsego bass can be taken with small minnows or
+red angle worms. I think if your tackle is very fine, and you do not
+twitch when they bite, they will swallow the bait. Put five or ten hooks
+(O'Shaunessy 8's, forged) on a fine snell, and loop them five feet
+apart; with a small sinker at the end. Bait some with small minnows (an
+inch or so in length) and some with worms. Cast out as far as you can
+from the boat, and let it lie half or three quarters of an hour on the
+bottom, feeling now and then to see if you have one on. The best way is
+to let them hook themselves. The angle worms, if used for bait, should
+be strung on to the hook with both ends left dangling. A light stroke
+must be made and the fish handled very carefully."
+
+[Illustration: FISHERMEN'S SHANTIES ON THE FROZEN LAKE]
+
+Many fishermen are successful in taking Otsego bass with hook and line
+in winter, by fishing through the ice. No sooner has the lake become
+frozen from shore to shore, usually after Christmas, than the whole
+surface becomes dotted with the shanties of fishermen, which remain
+until the ice begins to weaken in the spring. The typical fisherman's
+shanty on the ice-bound lake is about five by six feet in floor space,
+and six feet high. It has a window, and the floor is so arranged that it
+can be raised to keep the fisherman above the water that sometimes
+floods the surface of the ice. Holes are cut through the floor, and
+through the ice beneath, for the admission of the fishing lines. The
+shanty is warmed by a small stove, with its stove-pipe sticking out
+through the roof. A chair and a coal box complete the furniture.
+
+Two methods of fishing through the ice for Otsego bass are used by the
+occupants of the shanties. According to one method the hook is dropped
+to the bottom of the lake, and the fish are attracted to its vicinity by
+bait strewn on the bottom. The other method is used nearer shore, where
+the baited hook is let down part way toward the bottom, to tempt the
+fish that move amid the grass and weeds.
+
+There are others besides fishermen to whom the frozen surface of Otsego
+Lake offers the means of pleasure and occupation. In some seasons the
+freezing of the lake occurs within a few hours, after a great and sudden
+fall in temperature, during a night of calm and intense cold. At such
+times, before snow has fallen upon the surface, the lake presents a
+scene of splendor. The ice is quite transparent, and has the effect of a
+great sheet of glass spread out amid the hills. This offers a perfect
+surface for skating, and attracts not only the boys and girls of the
+village, but a large number of their elders. The lake grows lively with
+the gracefully gliding promenade of skaters, with here and there a group
+playing at hockey, while others disport themselves at "crack the whip."
+The friction of so many gliding feet imparts to the frozen surface a low
+and weirdly humming sound, and the droning note is echoed by the hills,
+until the valley resounds with monotonous music. There are times when
+the lake is so well frozen that skaters traverse the entire length. In
+some seasons ice-boats have been used, slanting from end to end of the
+lake with prodigious speed. As the winter advances and the ice grows
+stronger, driving upon the lake becomes common, and horse-races upon the
+ice have sometimes been included among the winter sports.
+
+At about five miles above the foot of the lake, and extending across it
+from shore to shore, a large fissure in the ice usually appears during
+the winter. This fissure is sometimes so wide that a team cannot cross
+it, and many years ago a span of horses was accidentally driven into it.
+The crevice in the ice has caused much speculation. The lake is narrow
+at the place where the crack appears, and the fissure is supposed to be
+created by expansion from the north and from the south, causing the ice
+to rise several feet in gable-like form until the ridge cracks, for
+fragments of ice are found on each side of the crevice.[125]
+
+The tremendous forces exerted by the expansion of the freezing lake cry
+aloud on still winter nights, whenever, after a period of thawing
+weather, the mercury suddenly drops to a point far below zero. On such
+nights, while the trees of the surrounding forest here and there begin
+to be so penetrated with the fierce cold that they crack like
+rifle-shots, the ice-bound lake sets up an unearthly groaning, and the
+cavernous sound of its bellowing echoes dismally over the sleeping
+village, like the trumpetings of some huge leviathan in agony.
+
+Cooperstown has a winter harvest-time, in January or February, when ice
+is cut from the lake for the summer supply. This industry occupies a
+large force of men, with plows, saws, hooks, crowbars, horses and
+bob-sleds, for several weeks. The ice taken from Otsego Lake, from ten
+to twenty inches thick, according to the severity of the winter, is
+always pure as mountain dew, and clear as crystal.
+
+The midsummer view of Otsego Lake at one time included, in the clearings
+along the western shore and hillsides, a great luxuriance of hop-vines.
+The golden wreaths of hops, as they hang ripening in the August
+sunshine, sweeping in graceful clusters from the tall poles, or swinging
+in the breeze in umbrella-like canopies, add a more picturesque feature
+to the landscape than any other growing crop.
+
+Hops have a part in the story of Cooperstown, which was at one time the
+centre of the most important hop-growing industry in America. Hop
+culture was introduced into Otsego county about the year 1830. In 1845
+only 168,605 pounds were produced. In 1885, within a radial distance of
+forty miles from Cooperstown was included more than half of the
+hop-producing region of the United States.
+
+[Illustration: _Elizabeth Hudson_
+
+HOP PICKING]
+
+The hop-picking season, during the latter part of August, has given a
+picturesque character of its own to the life of the village and
+environs. In the primitive days of the industry, when the harvesting of
+the crop did not require any additional help from outside of the
+immediate region, the task of hop-picking was lightened by the enjoyment
+of social pleasures and romantic excitements that came to be associated
+with it by the young people of Otsego. At the beginning of the picking
+season, in those days, anyone passing through the country would meet
+wagon after wagon, of the style known as a "democrat," loaded down with
+gay and lively maidens, with one or two young men to each load. On
+reaching the hop-yard to which they were assigned, these frolicsome
+parties exchanged their holiday attire for broad-rimmed hats and
+working dresses. Boxes were placed about the hop-yard, four pickers to
+each, the boxes being divided into four sections holding ten bushels
+apiece, and into these were dropped the clusters picked from the vines
+by nimble fingers. Experienced hands can fill two or more boxes in a
+day, for which as much as fifty cents a box used to be paid.
+
+The midday lunch was taken beneath the shade of the nearest tree, or, in
+case the pickers were boarded by the grower, all adjourned to the
+largest room in an out-building, where a rural feast was spread with no
+niggard hand. Hop-pickers expect to live on the fat of the farmer's
+land, and as a rule they are not disappointed. Whole sheep and beeves
+vanish like manna before the Israelites in the short three weeks of the
+picking season, while gallons of coffee, firkins of butter, barrels of
+flour, and sugar by the hundred weight are swallowed up in the capacious
+maw of the small army. The nightly hop-dance used to be an indispensable
+adjunct of the picking season, much counted upon by the gay throng, but
+rather frowned upon, as an occasion of scandal, by staid and proper
+seniors.
+
+With the great increase in hop-production during the early 'eighties,
+the romance of hop-picking, on many farms, gave place to a picturesque
+but undesirable invasion of vagabondage from the large cities. Some
+farmers continued to choose their pickers from among the better sort of
+young men and maidens of the neighborhood, but many large growers,
+requiring a great number of hands for a short season, resorted to the
+unemployed of neighboring cities, and the result was an annual
+immigration from Albany, Troy, Binghamton, and other cities farther
+north, which taxed the capacity of the railways. Among these workers
+many were honest and capable, but a large part of them were attracted by
+the prospect of three weeks of board and lodging, with an amount of pay
+which, if small, was sufficient for a glorious spree. It became the
+custom in Cooperstown to augment the village police force during the
+hop-picking season, for city thugs were likely to be abroad, and when
+the pickers were paid off their revels were apt to become both obnoxious
+and dangerous.
+
+Hops will be seen growing in the summer along the shores and hillsides
+of Otsego Lake, so long as beer is made; for, aside from the very
+limited amount required to leaven bread, and the comparatively small
+amount used in druggists' preparations, there is no use for hops except
+in the making of beer. But never again will there be in Otsego such
+luxuriance of hop-culture as that which developed in the 'eighties
+before the Pacific coast learned to compete successfully with the
+hop-growers of New York State.
+
+Hop-culture is a gamble which in Otsego county has made fortunes for
+some farmers and brought ruin to others. The growth of the product is
+singularly at the mercy of freaks of weather, and its preparation for
+the market is beset by many possibilities of failure. It is a crop of
+which it is most difficult to count the final cost, or to predict the
+market price. It has varied in price more than any other product of the
+soil. In 1878 the entire crop was marketed at from five to twelve cents
+a pound. But for many years every farmer in Otsego remembered the season
+of 1882-83, when the average cost of producing a pound of hops was ten
+cents, and hops were selling at a dollar a pound, so that, as was said
+at the time, "five pounds of hops could be exchanged for a barrel of
+flour."[126] Many farmers made money at this time, but some held their
+hops for an even higher price, and lost. One farmer held thousands of
+pounds of hops in his great barn, and kept buying in the crops of other
+farmers, awaiting a price of $1.20, at which he had resolved to sell.
+Two years later the hops were still in the barn, and nine-tenths of
+their value was lost. There were other tragedies of this sort, yet for
+years afterward, while some continued to grow hops at a fair profit,
+many a farmer in the vicinity of Cooperstown, lured by the hope of a
+dollar-a-pound season, was kept on the verge of poverty by his faith in
+the golden vine.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF OTSEGO LAKE]
+
+Otsego Lake is chiefly famous as the scene of events in two of Cooper's
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_. There are glimpses of it in _The Pioneers_,
+while in _The Deerslayer_ the whole action revolves about this lake,
+which throughout the story is called the "Glimmerglass." The scenes of
+incidents in these two tales are still pointed out on Otsego Lake, and
+have become as much a part of its history as of its romance.
+
+[Illustration: THE SUSQUEHANNA, near its source]
+
+To begin with points described in _The Deerslayer_, the beehive-shaped
+rock where the youthful Leather-Stocking had his rendezvous with
+Chingachgook is that now known as Council Rock, and still juts above the
+water at the outlet of the lake, near the western shore of the
+Susquehanna's source. Here it was that exactly at sunset, to keep his
+appointment with Leather-Stocking, the tall, handsome, and athletic
+young Delaware Indian suddenly appeared in full war-paint, standing upon
+the rock, having escaped his lurking foes. Not far from this point, at a
+short distance down the river, Deerslayer got his first glimpse of the
+beautiful Judith Hutter, as she peered from the window of the "ark,"
+which had been moored beneath the screening foliage of overhanging
+trees. It was through these waters, and through the outlet, soon
+afterward, that Floating Tom Hutter and Hurry Harry, aided by
+Deerslayer, drew the ark back into the lake in the nick of time to
+escape a band of hostile Iroquois.
+
+On the western side of the lake, just beyond the O-te-sa-ga as one
+travels northward, the first little bay that indents the shore, now
+called Blackbird Bay, and somewhat changed in shape and aspect by
+fillings of soil and other improvements at the Country Club, is the
+"Rat's Cove," where Floating Tom Hutter was fond of keeping his ark
+anchored behind the trees that covered the narrow strip of jutting land.
+Here it was, at the beginning of the story, that Deerslayer and Hurry
+Harry sought Tom in vain, and on this margin of the lake the buck
+appeared at which Hurry took the shot that awakened the echoes of the
+Glimmerglass. Adjacent to this bay, in the midst of the stretch of land
+between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, was the Huron camp in
+which Hutter and Hurry were captured by the redskins; and the quantities
+of arrowheads found here in later times suggest that it actually was a
+favorite place of Indian encampment.
+
+North of Blackbird Bay and the Country Club, and beyond Fenimore Farm,
+are Glimmerglen Cove and Brookwood Point, where charming residences that
+overlook the lake add their own attractions to the names of
+"Glimmerglen" and "Brookwood," by which they are known. The stream that
+gushes into the lake from Brookwood is the one in which Hetty Hutter
+made her ablutions, and from which she drank, while on her lonely way
+southward to the Huron camp, in her simple-minded scheme for the rescue
+of her father and Hurry Harry.
+
+A short distance north of Brookwood there empties into the lake a stream
+which is worth tracing toward its source as far as the hillside beyond
+the road that skirts the lake, for here the water comes tumbling down
+from the height in the beautiful Leatherstocking Falls. A shady glen is
+here, a favorite resort of small picnic parties, and while nothing of
+Cooper's romance has been added to the scene except the name, some
+interest may be found in the traces of an old mill which once got its
+power from Leatherstocking Falls.
+
+[Illustration: _Arthur J. Telfer_
+
+LEATHERSTOCKING FALLS]
+
+Some tense situations in the story of the _Deerslayer_ are associated
+with Three-Mile Point, the present picnic resort of Cooperstown; and a
+full understanding of the events described as having taken place on this
+spot almost depends upon some reference to the actual conformation of
+the land. It was on the northern side of the projecting point that Hetty
+had landed on the errand just referred to, setting her canoe adrift.
+Wah-ta-wah promised to meet her Delaware lover, Chingachgook, at the
+same landing-place, on the next night, at the moment when the planet
+Jupiter should top the pines of the eastern shore. Here came
+Chingachgook and Deerslayer in their canoe, at the appointed time, to
+steal the maiden from the Hurons, but found that she could not keep the
+tryst. Around this point Deerslayer gently propelled his canoe southward
+until he gained a view of the fire-lit camp, which the Hurons had moved
+from the region of Blackbird Bay to the southern slope of Three-Mile
+Point. Back again to its northern side he paddled softly, and having
+joined Chingachgook, they left the canoe on the beach near the point,
+and made their stealthy detour, approaching the camp from the west, in
+the shadow of the trees, informing Wah-ta-wah of their presence by
+Chingachgook's squirrel-signal. The spring that still bubbles for the
+refreshment of picnickers on the northern shore of the Point was the one
+which Wah-ta-wah made a pretext to draw away from the camp the old squaw
+who guarded her, and here Deerslayer throttled the vigilant hag, while
+Chingachgook and his Indian sweetheart raced for the canoe. Here, when
+Deerslayer released his grip to follow them, the squaw alarmed the camp.
+Along the stretch of beach he ran eastward to the place where the lovers
+were already in the canoe awaiting him, and from this point Deerslayer
+pushed their canoe to safety, yielding himself to capture.
+
+It was at Five-Mile Point that the Hurons were afterward encamped when
+Deerslayer, whom they had released on parole, returned at the appointed
+hour to redeem his plighted word. Back of Five-Mile Point is a
+picturesque rocky gorge called Mohican Canyon, through which a brook
+ripples, with clumps of fern and rose peeping from the crevices of its
+rugged walls. Having fulfilled his pledge, Deerslayer soon ventured the
+dash for liberty that so nearly succeeded; and, after making a circuit
+of the slope, it was along the ridge of Mohican Canyon that he ran at
+top speed to try a plunge for the lake, with the whole band of Indians
+in pursuit.
+
+[Illustration: FIVE-MILE POINT]
+
+In the open area of Five-Mile Point, after his recapture, Deerslayer was
+bound to a tree, and became a target for the hairbreadth marksmanship of
+Huron tomahawks, preliminary to being put to torture.
+
+North of this spot, and along the shore, Hutter's Point is of interest
+to the reader of the _Leather-Stocking Tales_, for here is the path by
+which Deerslayer reached the lake at the beginning of his romantic
+history, and gained his first view of the Glimmerglass. In the second
+chapter of the _Deerslayer_, Cooper's famous description of the lake as
+it was when the first white man came, based upon his own recollection of
+it when nine-tenths of its shores were in virgin forest, was conceived
+from the angle of Hutter's Point.
+
+[Illustration: _M. Antoinette Abrams_
+
+MOHICAN CANYON]
+
+Not far from the northern end of the lake a faint discoloration of the
+water, with a few reeds projecting above the surface, reveals the
+location of the so-called "sunken island," where the waters of the lake
+shoal from a great depth, and offer the site upon which, at the southern
+end of the shoal, Cooper's imagination built the "Muskrat Castle" of Tom
+Hutter, at which the terrific struggle with the Indians occurred when
+Hutter was killed. At the northern end of the sunken island was the
+watery grave in which the mother of Judith and Hetty lay, and which
+afterward became the grave of Hutter, and finally of Hetty herself.[127]
+
+Across the lake, on its eastern shore, south of Hyde Bay, is Gravelly
+Point, to which Hutter's lost canoe drifted, and where Deerslayer killed
+his first Indian. Farther south is Point Judith, now marked by
+Kingfisher Tower, where Deerslayer, returning to the Glimmerglass
+fifteen years after the events described in the story, found the
+stranded wreck of the ark, and saw fluttering from a log a ribbon that
+had been worn by the lovely Judith Hutter. Here "he tore away the ribbon
+and knotted it to the stock of Killdeer, which had been the gift of the
+girl herself."
+
+Toward the foot of the lake the eastern hills and shore belong to scenes
+of Leather-Stocking's elder days, as described in _The Pioneers_. North
+of Lakewood Cemetery a climb up the precipitous mountainside leads to
+Natty Bumppo's Cave, which, with some poetic license in his treatment
+of its dimensions, the novelist employs as a setting for the final
+climax of his story. To the platform of rock over the cave, as a refuge
+from the forest fire, Leather-Stocking guided Elizabeth Temple and
+Edwards, and carried the dying Chingachgook. On this spot, with his
+glazing eyes fixed upon the western hills, the last of the Mohicans
+yielded up his spirit. Here was the scene of Captain Hollister's charge
+at the head of the Templeton Light Infantry, so swiftly followed by the
+revelation of the mystery which the cave concealed.
+
+[Illustration: GRAVELLY POINT]
+
+Not far from the spot upon which the Leather-Stocking monument now
+stands, near the main entrance of Lakewood cemetery, the log hut of
+Leather-Stocking stood, and afterward, according to the story,
+Chingachgook was buried there. Farther southward, the road that branches
+off to ascend Mount Vision is the one by which Judge Temple and his
+daughter approached the village in the opening scene of the story, and
+it was during their descent from the upper level of this road that the
+buck was shot by Edwards and Leather-Stocking, when Judge Temple's
+marksmanship had failed. Near the branching of this road a stairway
+climbs the mountain, and reaches the pathway of Prospect Rock, where
+Elizabeth found the old Mohican, and was trapped by the forest fire.
+Upon this natural terrace a rustic observatory now stands, which offers
+a superb view of the lake and village.
+
+It was on the summit of Mount Vision, overlooking the village, that
+Elizabeth Temple was faced by a panther crouching to spring upon her,
+and had resigned herself to a cruel death, when she heard the quiet
+voice of old Leather-Stocking, followed by the crack of the rifle that
+saved her life, as he said:
+
+"Hist! hist! Stoop lower, gal; your bonnet hides the creatur's head!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 120: _Pages and Pictures_, 301.]
+
+[Footnote 121: Elihu Phinney in Shaw's _History of Cooperstown_.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Letter to John W. Francis, 1822.]
+
+[Footnote 123: Vol xxix, p. 35.]
+
+[Footnote 124: U.S. National Museum, Bulletin 47, p. 465.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Livermore, _History of Cooperstown_, p. 133.]
+
+[Footnote 126: G. P. Keese, _Harper's Magazine_, October, 1885.]
+
+[Footnote 127: For the purpose of the story, as he explains in the
+preface of _The Deerslayer_, Cooper places the "sunken island" farther
+south, nearly opposite to Hutter's Point, and at a greater distance from
+the shore than its real situation.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGINNINGS
+
+
+A man of national reputation made Cooperstown his summer home in 1903,
+when the Rt. Rev. Dr. Henry C. Potter, seventh Bishop of New York, who
+had married Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, took up his residence at
+Fernleigh. In his administration of the most populous diocese in
+America, Bishop Potter had gained wide renown as an ecclesiastic; added
+to which his prominence in civic affairs, and in matters of national
+importance, together with a public championship of workingmen's rights
+at which many wealthy churchpeople stood aghast, made him one of the
+most notable figures in American life. He passed his summers in
+Cooperstown until his death at Fernleigh in July, 1908, and the near
+view of his big personality caused him to be as greatly beloved in the
+village as he was honored in the city. He entered with zest into the
+interests of the village, gave a new impetus to many of its activities,
+and made friends in all walks of life.
+
+When Bishop Potter came to dwell in Cooperstown, the village had already
+made up its mind that he was a rather austere and distant man, an
+official person, the quintessence of ecclesiastical
+statesmanship,--urbane, but unyielding. He looked the part. Tall, erect,
+and of splendid figure, his countenance had the aristocratic beauty of a
+family noted for its handsome men. The noble head and the poutingly
+compressed lips of a wide mouth gave an impression of power, while a
+slight droop of the left eyelid, and a thin rim of white around the iris
+of the eyes, imparted a veiled and filmy coldness to his glance. The
+personal dignity of the Bishop, his commanding presence, a certain
+picturesque magnificence, the rich and well-modulated voice, the
+incisiveness of his manner of speech, with the clear-cut value given to
+every word and syllable, were characteristics that marked him as a
+leader of men.
+
+[Illustration: _A. F. Bradley_
+
+BISHOP POTTER]
+
+But Cooperstown soon came to realize the lovable traits and real
+simplicity of its most distinguished resident. He placed many villagers
+in his debt by personal acts of kindness, and charmed all by his genial
+friendliness. In any company he was the chief source of entertainment.
+Although he applied himself intensely to official work during certain
+hours of every day in the summer, when the hour of relaxation came he
+laid aside his task. With all his cares, he was never the grim man
+forcing himself to be gay. His contribution to the pleasure of a company
+was spontaneous and contagious. Not the least highly developed of his
+qualities was the Bishop's sense of humor. He was an incomparable
+raconteur, and many an incident of village life gave him material for a
+story which, with certain poetic license of embellishment that he
+sometimes allowed himself, set his hearers in a roar. He was as ready
+to hear a good story as to tell one, and his ringing laugh was a
+delight. The Bishop talked much and well. His use of the pause in
+speaking, with a momentary compression of the lips now and then between
+clauses, heightened the effect of crispness in his felicitously chosen
+phrases. He was a good listener if one had anything to say, but he was
+not averse to presiding in monologue over a number of people, and often
+did so, for his fund of talk was so rich that others, in his presence,
+were sometimes slow to offer any contribution of their own. He was most
+adroit at this sort of entertainment, and had a way of apparently
+bringing others of the company into the conversation--usually those who
+seemed rather shy and overawed,--without requiring them to utter so much
+as a word. In the midst of his talk the Bishop would interject such a
+remark as, "You will understand me, Mr. So-and-So, when I say"., or
+"Mrs. Blank, you will be particularly interested to know"., turning
+earnestly toward the person addressed. Of course Mr. So-and-So and Mrs.
+Blank brightened up at being singled out by the great man, and beamed
+with pleasure at having thus contributed to the conversation.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+THE RECTORY]
+
+In the morning of every week-day, just as the village clock struck nine,
+the Bishop could be seen issuing from Fernleigh, whence, after passing
+the Rectory, he pursued a slow and stately course down the curved path
+of the Cooper Grounds to the Clark Estate building, where he had an
+office on the upper floor at the southwest corner. On warm summer days,
+he discarded broadcloth, and was dressed in flannels of spotless white.
+He walked with a stick, and there was a slight limp of the left leg, due
+to an injury received in riding. So strong and erect was his bearing,
+however, in spite of his more than three score years and ten, that the
+slow gait seemed to be caused rather by preference than necessity, and
+the limp really appeared to add to the majesty of his measured pace.
+Anyone who joined him was obliged to walk as slowly as the Bishop, who
+never hastened his steps, but conversed affably; now and then, as some
+thought struck him forcibly, he paused abruptly in his walk, and stood
+still to utter what was in his mind, moving forward again, by way of
+emphasis, at the end of a sentence. In these walks through the Cooper
+Grounds, and about the village, the Bishop assumed acquaintance with
+everyone, and frequently stopped to enter into conversation with a
+neighbor, a passing tourist, or some workman toiling in a ditch. It was
+because of his genuine interest in everyone that the village came to
+regard Bishop Potter no longer as a distinguished metropolitan, but as a
+genial neighbor. A stable-boy who at this period drove the village
+rector to a country funeral expressed the sentiment of many when he
+said: "I used to think the Bishop was stuck up; but he is really just as
+common as me or you!"
+
+Bishop Potter took great delight in amusing occurrences in which he
+shared as he went about the village. In fact he seemed deliberately to
+invite them, and afterward described the incidents with contagious
+merriment. One day as he was about to enter a car of the trolley road on
+Main Street, an enormously fat countrywoman was standing on the
+platform, bidding farewell to her her friends. She had much to say, and
+completely blocked the entrance to the car. After waiting patiently for
+some moments the Bishop addressed the woman in his most gracious manner.
+"Madam," said he, "I don't wish to interfere with your conversation, but
+if you will kindly move either one way or the other, so that I may enter
+the car, I shall be greatly obliged." The woman glared at him. "Are you
+the conductor of this car?" she snapped, "Because if you be, you're the
+sassiest conductor that ever _I_ see!"
+
+In the late summer of 1904, "Doc" Brady, a lovable old Irish heart, who
+used to peddle portraits of the Pope, corn salve, and various trifles,
+encountered Bishop Potter in front of the Village Library, and invited a
+purchase of his wares, which at this time included campaign buttons of
+Col. Roosevelt and Judge Parker, attached to packages of chewing-gum.
+"Here ye are, Bishop," he cried; "Get a button for your favorite
+candidate!" The Bishop impartially selected a button of each kind, and
+pushed the chewing-gum aside. "Take your goom, Bishop, take your goom,"
+urged Brady, as the Bishop moved away. "No, certainly not," was the firm
+reply. But Doc Brady was insistent, and hurrying after the Bishop forced
+the gum upon him. "There," said he, "if you don't chew it yourself, take
+it home to Mrs. Potter!" The Bishop's laugh rang aloud through the
+Cooper Grounds as he slowly ascended the path, taking home the
+chewing-gum to Fernleigh.
+
+The Bishop usually left his office in the Clark Estate building toward
+one o'clock, and Mrs. Potter often walked down to join him on the way
+home. Sometimes, as she passed the office, she hailed the Bishop, and
+conversed with him as he stood at the open window above. On one
+occasion, when Mrs. Potter had several ladies as guests, they all
+chatted with the Bishop through the window on their way to Fernleigh. A
+moment later, recalling something that he had neglected to mention, he
+summoned a gardener who was at work close at hand, and asked him to
+request the ladies kindly to step back to the window, as the Bishop had
+something to say to them. Shortly afterward, in response to the
+gardener's summons, there was lined up beneath the window a happy group
+of female excursionists carrying lunch-baskets, entire strangers to the
+Bishop, and in a quite a flutter of anticipation of what the
+distinguished prelate might have to communicate. The Bishop was equal to
+the situation. He gave them some information concerning points of
+interest in and about Cooperstown, with a brief summary of the history
+of the Cooper Grounds in which they then stood, and sent them away
+rejoicing in knowledge that added greatly to the pleasure of their
+visit.
+
+A frequent guest at Fernleigh at this time was the Rev. Dr. W. W. Lord,
+formerly rector of Christ Church, and for many years one of the most
+beloved friends of the Clark family. This aged clergyman and poet was a
+scholar of the old-fashioned type, well-versed in the elder
+philosophies, and fond of quoting Greek, Latin, and Hebrew authors in
+the original tongues. Dr. Lord admired Bishop Potter, but the two men
+were of different schools, and the old priest was inclined to stir up
+good-humored controversies in which he pitted his scholasticism against
+the Bishop's more facile and modern if less profound learning. The New
+York prelate entered with great zest into the contest of wits, and let
+slip no opportunity to score a point on Dr. Lord.
+
+Although usually numbered among the evangelicals, Bishop Potter in his
+latter years was sympathetic with certain aspects of Catholic
+ceremonial. He believed in the enrichment of the services of the Church
+by light, color, and symbolism, so far as might be consistent with the
+law of the Anglican communion in America. Dr. Lord belonged to the
+school of churchmanship which abhorred anything beyond the most severe
+simplicity in the services of the Church, and had a large contempt for
+the badges and symbols of ritualism.
+
+On the festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1903, Bishop Potter and Dr.
+Lord were the chief figures at a service held in Christ Church to which
+the Masonic lodges of Cooperstown and vicinity were invited. Both the
+Bishop and Dr. Lord were thirty-third degree Masons. Dr. Lord, because
+of the infirmities of age, at that period seldom officiated in church,
+but for this occasion was to have a place of honor in the chancel, and
+to pronounce the benediction. Bishop Potter was to deliver the sermon.
+
+Dr. Lord came early to the sacristy of the church, and, having vested in
+his long flowing surplice and black stole, seated himself to await
+service time. In conversation with the rector, Dr. Lord recalled the
+days when more of the clergy were simple in their apparel, and he
+deplored the tendency to adopt brilliant vestments, colored stoles, and
+academic hoods. A hood, said Dr. Lord, echoing the sentiments of a witty
+English prelate, was often a falsehood. Any man could wear a red bag
+dangling down his back, but nothing except sound scholarship could
+really make a Doctor of Divinity. For his part, said Dr. Lord, he was
+content to be a Doctor of Divinity, by virtue of scholastic learning,
+without wearing a hood to proclaim it.
+
+At this moment the Bishop appeared, having walked from Fernleigh to the
+church fully arrayed in his vestments. He was a resplendent figure. In
+addition to the episcopal robes of his office, he wore an Oxford cap,
+and a hood of flaming crimson, which an expert in such matters would
+have identified as belonging to Union College, or Yale, or Harvard, or
+Oxford, or Cambridge, or St. Andrew's, all of which institutions of
+learning had conferred the doctorate on Bishop Potter.
+
+It still lacked a few moments of service time, and when the Bishop was
+seated in the bright light of the sacristy, another feature of
+decoration in his dress appeared. Depending from a chain about the neck
+there glittered upon his breast what the Masons call a "jewel." To the
+non-Masonic eye it was more than a jewel. It suggested rather a shooting
+star, emitting a shower of scintillations from the facets of a hundred
+jewels. When the coruscations of this Masonic emblem caught the eye of
+Dr. Lord, he became uneasy, and began to finger an imaginary token of
+rank upon his own breast. "I ought to have a jewel to wear to-night," he
+said musingly, and muttered of the splendid jewel that he had forgotten
+to bring, given to him years before by the Grand Lodge. By this time the
+hour of service had come; the aproned Masons had marched to their seats
+in the nave of the church, and all available space was thronged by an
+expectant congregation. Nevertheless Dr. Lord requested the rector to go
+forth from the sacristy, and ask the master of the Lodge whether any of
+the brethren present had a jewel to lend for the occasion. This was
+done, but no jewel was forthcoming. The Bishop seemed absorbed in his
+own thoughts.
+
+The choir and clergy entered the chancel, and the service began. Dr.
+Lord had a seat of honor in the sanctuary at the right of the altar.
+When evensong was finished, Bishop Potter preached the sermon, after
+which he returned to the sanctuary, and stood at the left of the altar
+opposite to Dr. Lord. Just before the benediction, which Dr. Lord was to
+pronounce, the Bishop caught the rector's eye, and beckoned. When the
+rector came near, the Bishop removed the Masonic jewel, with its chain,
+and handed it to him.
+
+"Put it around the old man's neck," the Bishop whispered.
+
+This was done, and the venerable clergyman, decorated with the flashing
+symbol, seemed to grow in stature beyond his usual great height, as he
+ascended the steps of the altar, where he uplifted his hands, and in an
+age-worn but magnificent and sonorous voice pronounced the solemn
+blessing.
+
+In the early autumn of 1904 the Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. Dr. Randall T.
+Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England, the first
+occupant of the chair of St. Augustine to visit America, was a guest at
+Fernleigh. The Archbishop and Mrs. Davidson, with the Archbishop's two
+chaplains, were met at the station by Bishop Potter together with a
+delegation of Cooperstown citizens. The first carriage that left the
+station contained the English and American bishops; the second carried
+the two chaplains, escorted by the village rector. As this carriage left
+the station, David H. Gregory, the perennial wit of the summer colony,
+called out,
+
+"Don't forget to show the gentlemen the Indian in the Cooper Grounds."
+
+The chaplains of the Archbishop exchanged glances of pleased
+anticipation. What they had heard suggested that Cooperstown kept a live
+Indian on view as a symbol of its history and romance, just as Rome
+maintains always its pair of wolves at the Capitoline hill. The rector
+tried in vain to divert their thoughts toward other objects. When the
+carriage rolled through the Cooper Grounds the chaplains insisted upon
+seeing the Indian. There was nothing to do but to point out J. Q. A.
+Ward's sculptured Indian which stands in the midst of the park, a
+replica of the one in Central Park, New York, and better mounted,
+altogether a fine work of art, but--
+
+"Oh, I say," exclaimed one of the chaplains, as they looked at one
+another in deep disappointment, "Not alive; not alive!"
+
+During the Archbishop's stay in Cooperstown he attended daily services
+in Christ Church, and enjoyed visiting points of interest on the lake
+and in the village. That a souvenir of the visit might be preserved the
+Archbishop and the Bishop were photographed together on the front porch
+of Fernleigh. Apparently some prosaic adviser had represented to the
+Archbishop that his usual costume would make him undesirably conspicuous
+in America, for during his tour of this country the Primate of all
+England abandoned the picturesque every-day dress of an English bishop,
+with its knickerbockers and gaiters, in favor of the international
+hideousness of pantaloons. At the time of the photograph Bishop Potter
+was wearing leggings, having just returned from riding, so that the two
+bishops appeared to have exchanged costumes.
+
+[Illustration: THE ARCHBISHOP WITH BISHOP POTTER]
+
+The Archbishop desired not to have anything like a public reception, but
+it was intimated to a few neighbors that they would be welcomed at
+Fernleigh on a certain evening. At this gathering the most regal figure,
+who, in the ancient finery of her apparel, wearing a headdress topped
+with an ostrich plume, may be said to have eclipsed the most
+distinguished guests, was Susan Augusta Cooper, granddaughter of the
+novelist, representing, as it were, the very foundation of the village.
+Miss Cooper was one of the most characteristic survivals of the old
+r�gime in Cooperstown. She lived next door to Fernleigh in Byberry
+Cottage, which had been built as a home for the two unmarried daughters
+of the novelist shortly after the burning of Otsego Hall, and largely
+out of material rescued from it, including the oaken doors, the
+balusters of the stairway, and two bookcases from Cooper's library which
+were transferred to the cottage. Susan Augusta Cooper took up her
+residence there with her mother and aunts in 1875, and when she died in
+1915 had been the sole occupant of the cottage for many years. She was a
+type of old-fashioned neighborliness, and made a specialty of
+ministration to the needs of sick and poor throughout the village. One
+frequently met her on some errand of mercy; the basket on her arm
+contained good things prepared with her own hands for the needy; the
+large and stately figure had grown rather mountainous with advancing
+years, and the dignity of her slow and measured pace suggested the
+steady progress of a ship moving in calm waters. The solemnity of her
+countenance, and the grave manner of her carefully chosen words, were
+lovably familiar to those who knew her warm and generous heart.
+
+When Miss Cooper's health failed she was obliged to undergo an operation
+which left her a cripple, unable to get about except in a wheel-chair
+propelled by an attendant. Always a faithful communicant of Christ
+Church, her disability occasioned what came to be almost a parochial
+ceremony, for when Miss Cooper made her communion she was wheeled to the
+chancel steps, and the priest came forward to administer to her, while
+the other communicants respectfully waited until she had withdrawn.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+BYBERRY COTTAGE as originally built]
+
+Added to her other infirmities, an affection of the eyes gradually
+darkened her vision until she became totally blind. In a condition of
+helplessness which would seem to make existence unendurable, Miss Cooper
+found much to make her happy, and life was sweet to her to the end. She
+enjoyed the society of friends, and it gave her keen pleasure, blind and
+crippled as she was, to be seated in state at large social functions.
+Such was her habitual solemnity of manner that few gave her credit for
+the sense of humor which lightened many of her dark days. She uttered
+her jests with so much gravity that they were often taken in earnest.
+Now and again she made sport of her own infirmities. Meeting her one
+day in her wheel-chair, after her eyesight had begun to fail, a neighbor
+inquired for her health. "Quite comfortable," replied Miss Cooper, in
+solemn tones, "except for my eyes. They tell me it is a fine day, with
+beautiful blue sky. The sky is blue, but to my eyes it is shrunk to the
+size of a bachelor's-button!" Miss Cooper was very reluctant in
+consenting to the amputation which prolonged her life for several years.
+Even after the surgeons stood ready in the operating-room she for a time
+declined to submit to the ordeal. There was a prolonged discussion which
+resulted at last, on the advice of friends, in obtaining her consent.
+The chief surgeon entering the room approached the bedside rubbing his
+hands and, grasping at something to say to reassure the patient,
+remarked in silken tones, "Well, Miss Cooper, I'm glad to hear that you
+prefer to have the amputation." The situation seemed desperate, and
+nerves were at a high tension among Miss Cooper's friends. "Well,
+doctor," was her tart rejoinder, "I must say that 'prefer' is hardly the
+word that I should use!" With this she gave a chuckle that proved her
+spirit undaunted, and relieved the strain.
+
+Miss Cooper had great respect for the clergy, and for a bishop her
+reverence was unbounded. When Bishop Potter dedicated the monument at
+the grave of Leslie Pell-Clarke, in Lakewood Cemetery, a terrific
+thunderstorm arose during the ceremonies, and Miss Cooper was taken home
+in the carriage with the distinguished prelate to escape the deluge. The
+various conveyances plunged down the hillside post-haste, with
+lightning crashing on every side. Some of the ladies in the party became
+hysterical. Miss Cooper alone was perfectly calm. "With a bishop by my
+side," she exclaimed, "I am not in the least afraid to die!"
+
+[Illustration: THE CLARK ESTATE OFFICE]
+
+In the summer of 1904 Bishop Potter unwittingly acted as the accomplice
+of a burglar who robbed the safe of the Clark Estate office in
+Cooperstown, and escaped with a quantity of jewels. The newspapers
+estimated the value of the stolen jewels at from $20,000 to $100,000,
+and the robbery became a celebrated case in police annals. The burglary
+was unusual in having taken place in broad daylight, with Bishop Potter
+calmly at work at his desk on the second floor of the small building.
+When the clerks left the office for luncheon at noon they locked the
+outside door, but did not close the vault in which the papers and
+valuables were kept. It was a brilliant summer day, the seventh of July;
+villagers and tourists were passing and repassing through the adjacent
+Cooper Grounds; the clerks were to return within an hour, and in the
+mean time the Bishop was there. Nobody dreamed of the possibility of a
+burglary, but it was the unexpected that happened. When the vault was to
+be closed and locked at the end of the day, a tin box containing a
+casket of jewels was missing. In the basement of the building the tin
+box which had contained the jewel-case was found empty, and near by was
+a hatchet usually kept in the basement, and with which the box had been
+pried open.
+
+The news of the robbery caused intense excitement in the community. The
+village policeman together with the county sheriff and his deputies met
+in conference at the Clark Estate office; knots of people gathered upon
+the streets in earnest discussion; the village press was busy turning
+out handbills announcing the robbery and offering a large reward for the
+apprehension of the thief; the telegraph wires hummed with messages to
+the police of the state and nation. Next morning Pinkerton detectives
+arrived under the leadership of George S. Dougherty, afterward deputy
+police commissioner of the city of New York.
+
+The clues discovered by the detectives were not encouraging. In the
+office nothing appeared beyond the fact that the box of jewels had been
+removed from the safe. In the basement the discarded tin box that had
+contained the casket of jewels lay upon the floor not far from the
+hatchet with which it had been opened, and the only remarkable
+circumstance was that the floor all about the empty box was bespattered
+with blood. The detectives said also that they noticed the frequent
+appearance of a woman's footprints which were well defined and seemed to
+encircle the spot where the empty jewel-box lay.
+
+The blood-stains appeared to offer the most serviceable clue, and to
+account for them three theories were suggested. First: The robber had
+been caught in the act by someone who had disappeared in pursuit, after
+one or the other had been wounded in the struggle. Second: There was
+more than one robber, and there had been a bloody quarrel over the
+division of the booty. Third: In opening the tin box containing the
+jewels the robber had cut himself either with the hatchet or with the
+jagged tin. Since the Bishop, who had been in the building during the
+robbery, heard no sound of any struggle, the first two theories were
+abandoned, and the third alone seemed probable. Advices were accordingly
+telegraphed to the police of various cities to look out for a man with a
+bandaged hand. For several days thereafter suspicious-looking men in
+remote parts of the country who had had the misfortune to injure a hand
+suffered the added misfortune of being detained by the police; but
+nothing came of it.
+
+In order to aid in the recovery of the property, and to make it
+difficult for the thief to dispose of it, a description of the stolen
+jewelry was given out, and summarized as follows: a pearl collar; a
+diamond bow-knot with pear-shaped pearl pendant; a ring set with two
+diamonds and a ruby; a ring set with diamond and ruby; a small diamond
+ring; a solitaire diamond ring; a diamond marquise ring; a ring set with
+two diamonds crosswise; a diamond bracelet; a diamond and pearl
+bracelet.
+
+Dougherty the detective had another method of procedure in reserve. He
+had brought with him to Cooperstown an album containing photographs of
+the most noted bank-sneaks and yegg-men. After studying the "job" at the
+Clark Estate office he came to the conclusion that it was the work of a
+professional, and began to run over in his mind the various crooks who
+might have planned and carried out a robbery of this particular sort.
+Many of these were gradually eliminated for one reason or another, until
+he had narrowed the field to a few suspects. Dougherty then began to
+make inquiries about the village to learn whether anyone had noticed a
+stranger loitering in the neighborhood of the Clark Estate offices on
+the day of the robbery. His search was rewarded by finding several
+persons who remembered such a stranger. One of them described the
+loiterer as a man about sixty years old, with "pleasant, laughing eyes."
+Dougherty already had in mind Billy Coleman, alias Hoyt, alias Grant,
+alias Holton, alias Houston, a man with an international police record.
+He produced Coleman's photograph, and the likeness was promptly
+identified as that of the loiterer. Another who remembered seeing the
+stranger picked out from the entire gallery of rogues the likeness of
+Coleman.
+
+Although he had no real evidence against him the detective was now sure
+of his man, and felt certain that, somewhere in the mazes of New York
+City, Coleman and the missing jewels would be found. Returning to New
+York, Dougherty roamed the streets of the city, day and night, looking
+for Coleman. After two weeks of fruitless search he met one of Coleman's
+"pals" coming up Eighth Avenue. Acting on the theory that this man would
+ultimately get in touch with Coleman, the detective determined to keep
+him in sight. He shadowed him all night, following him from haunt to
+haunt. The next morning, when Coleman's friend retired to a
+rooming-house, and asked for a bed, Dougherty put two subordinates on
+guard, while he himself snatched a few hours of sleep. The detective
+proved to be upon the right track, for within thirty-six hours the
+shadowed man joined Billy Coleman.
+
+The suspected thief occupied a flat at 271 West 154th Street. From this
+time Dougherty or one of his deputies followed every movement of Billy
+Coleman. Day after day they tracked him through the city from one resort
+to another. In the evening they followed him home, and kept a watchful
+eye on the premises. Coleman's actions were provokingly innocent. At
+nightfall he frequently left home, accompanied by his wife, but only to
+take their little dog out for an airing. On a Sunday evening while
+Dougherty was shadowing Coleman and his wife, hoping that they might
+lead him to some clue to the robbery, he was amazed to see them enter an
+Episcopal church, where they remained throughout the service. Bishop
+Potter, to whom Dougherty had confided his suspicions of Coleman,
+laughed heartily when the detective mentioned this incident.
+
+"Surely, Dougherty, you don't want me to believe that one good churchman
+would rob another, do you?" the Bishop exclaimed.
+
+Dougherty felt that as the case stood he was making no headway. Coleman,
+who perhaps realized that he might be under suspicion, made no false
+moves. The detective resolved upon another plan of action. He decided to
+have Coleman charged with the robbery and arrested, after which he was
+certain to be released for lack of evidence. He calculated that an
+official discharge from any complicity in the stealing of the jewels
+would so reassure Coleman that he might afterward betray himself,
+through lack of caution, to watchful detectives. Coleman was accordingly
+arrested, and held for the grand jury in Cooperstown. The case against
+him was too weak to stand. The grand jurors were much absorbed in
+conclusions drawn from the blood-stains found on the floor of the
+basement of the Clark Estate office, and when it was shown that Coleman
+bore no sign of scratch or scar they promptly discharged him. Coleman
+left Cooperstown a free man, and chatted amicably with Dougherty as they
+rode together on the train to New York. On reaching the city they parted
+company at the Christopher Street elevated station, and Coleman rode on
+up town to his home, serenely confident of Dougherty's failure and of
+his own security.
+
+This was in October. From the moment of his arrival in the city Coleman
+was shadowed day and night. Detectives rented a room in a house across
+the street from Coleman's flat. Whenever he left his home they
+cautiously followed him. For a time he seemed to be making tests to
+learn whether or not he was being followed. Sometimes he would enter a
+large department-store, mingle with the crowds, and suddenly find his
+way out of a side door into a little-frequented street. But the
+detectives were equally wily. They adopted various disguises, and never
+let him out of their sight. After about two months they observed that
+Coleman began to make frequent trips toward Morningside Park. He made
+always for the same region, where he appeared to walk aimlessly about,
+but with his eyes fixed on the ground, as though counting his steps. On
+the morning of the third of January, during a heavy snowstorm, Coleman
+was followed to West 155th Street and Eighth Avenue, where, in a little
+open space near an iron-foundry, he scraped aside the snow, and began a
+small excavation of the earth. For some reason he failed to find the
+object of his search, and returned home with an air of dejection. One
+detective shadowed him homeward; the others did not wait for the falling
+snow to obliterate the traces of his excavation. They began digging in
+the same spot on a more generous scale, and eighteen inches below the
+surface unearthed a glass fruit-jar. The jar, on being lifted to the
+light, dazzled the eyes of the detectives, for it contained the missing
+jewels, which for six months had lain there in the earth where thousands
+of people had daily passed them by.
+
+The detectives, having removed the jewels, placed in the jar a note
+addressed to Billy Coleman, signed by Dougherty and his assistants,
+McDonals and Wade, stating that they had the jewels, and would call upon
+him at the earliest opportunity. They reburied the jar, and restored the
+surroundings to their former condition. Coleman, as had been foreseen,
+afterward returned to the spot, and dug up the jar. The detectives were
+near enough to witness the wretched man's distress when, on reading the
+note, he realized that the fortune had escaped him and that the prison
+awaited him. He was immediately placed under arrest, and confessed all.
+Concerning a few pieces of jewelry that were missing from those found in
+the jar he gave information that led to their recovery. Coleman was once
+more taken to Cooperstown, and, with the additional evidence, was easily
+convicted of the robbery.
+
+Coleman was a man of such remarkable intelligence and engaging
+personality that Bishop Potter, whose near presence at the time of the
+robbery the burglar little suspected, became much interested in him.
+There is no doubt that Coleman was really touched by the kindness which
+Bishop and Mrs. Potter showed to him and to his wife, and his resolution
+to reform was quite sincere.
+
+"There is nothing in being a crook," he said. "I am sixty years old, and
+have been in prison half my life. My advice to young men is 'Don't
+steal.'"
+
+At Bishop Potter's request the sentence of the court was lighter than
+Coleman's record might have warranted, and he was sent to Auburn prison
+for six years and five months, a term which discounts for good behaviour
+reduced to four years and four months.
+
+Coleman's explanation of the blood-stains which had played so important
+a part in the various theories of the robbery was one that nobody had
+thought to venture. He said that before he opened the jewel-casket in
+the basement he really had no idea what it contained, and when he saw
+the fortune in gems that had come into his possession his great
+excitement brought on a nose-bleed.[128] His clothes were so
+blood-stained that he was in mortal fear of being arrested on that
+account, but, as he wore a black suit, the stains were not conspicuous.
+As to the woman's footprints, which the detectives said they found, no
+explanation was ever made.
+
+Ten years later an elderly man was arrested in New York, charged with
+robbing a Wells-Fargo Express wagon on Broadway. With the aid of an
+umbrella handle he had drawn from the rear of the wagon a package
+containing $100,000 in cancelled cheques--not a very successful haul.
+His age and apparent harmlessness so much impressed the justices in
+Special Sessions that he would undoubtedly have been released on
+suspended sentence had not a detective who had been engaged in the Clark
+robbery case passed his cell in the Tombs. The detective recognized the
+famous Billy Coleman, whose police record dated back to 1869, showing
+thirteen arrests and a total period of twenty-eight years in prison.
+
+Bishop Potter's last notable public appearance in Cooperstown was at the
+Village Centennial Celebration in August of 1907. He was the most
+picturesque figure in a scene rich in kaleidoscopic color and historic
+significance when, on the Sunday afternoon which began the week's
+festivities, multitudes listened beneath the sunlit trees upon the green
+of the Cooper Grounds, while the Bishop, mantled in an academic gown of
+crimson, described his vision of the future of religion in America.
+
+The Cooperstown Centennial celebration was remarkable for its great
+success in calm defiance of the fact that the year of its observance was
+not really the centennial of anything worth commemorating in the history
+of the village. The psychological moment seemed to have arrived when the
+people of the village were resolved to devote themselves to some high
+effort in praise of Cooperstown, and so they gloriously celebrated, in
+1907, the centennial which a former generation had neglected, and which
+succeeding generations might indolently ignore. A disused act of village
+incorporation passed in 1807 was seized upon as suggesting a convenient
+antiquity, but there was no slavish conformity to mere accidents of
+date, and the whole history of Cooperstown was included in this elastic
+centenary. The entire community was united in the desire and effort to
+make the celebration a success, and the sticklers for historical
+propriety became quite as enthusiastic as the others. The commemoration
+was planned and carried out on a really dignified scale, with an
+avoidance of tawdriness; and the elements of the celebration, with
+religious, historical, literary exercises, and pageantry, were well
+proportioned in their appeal to the mind, to the romantic emotions, and
+to the love of the spectacular. Some of the addresses such as that of
+Brander Matthews on Fenimore Cooper, were valuable contributions to the
+literary annals of America. Throngs of spectators were attracted to
+Cooperstown by the celebration, and in one day there were at least
+15,000 people in the village which included only about 2,500 in its
+normal population. The old village and lake offered an effective
+background to the scenes of carnival. Natty Bumppo at home in his log
+cabin, Chingachgook with his canoe, appeared in living representation in
+the line of floats that paraded the village to set forth the historic
+and romantic memories of the place. A chorus of village schoolgirls
+dressed in white, and with flowing hair, presented an exquisite scene
+at Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard, bringing their tribute of
+flowers, and singing the lyric written by Andrew B. Saxton to the music
+of Andrew Allez. Otsego Lake offered a superb spectacle in the calm
+summer night, reflecting the glare of rockets and the bursting into
+bloom of aerial gardens of flame. There were moments of utter darkness
+suddenly dispelled by dazzling cataracts of fire that made one aware of
+thousands of pallid faces thronging the shore, while the effulgence set
+the waters ablaze from Council Rock to the Sleeping Lion, and flung a
+weird splendor upon the forests of the surrounding hills.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+THE LYRIC AT COOPER'S GRAVE]
+
+A lovable patriarch of the village was Samuel M. Shaw, well known
+throughout the state as editor of the _Freeman's Journal_. He had once
+been an editor of the _Argus_, in Albany, and became editor and
+proprietor of the _Freeman's Journal_ in Cooperstown in 1851. In this
+position he continued more than half a century, and had a history almost
+unique in village journalism. When he began his work Shaw was regarded
+as an innovator, for he was one of the first editors in the country to
+introduce columns of local news and personal items, a practice which, at
+a time when newspapers were wholly devoted to politics, speeches,
+foreign affairs and literary miscellany, was widely ridiculed. He
+survived long enough to be regarded as an exemplar of conservative and
+old-fashioned journalism, and became the Nestor of Cooperstown. In the
+office of the _Freeman's Journal_, with its clutter of old machinery,
+piles of grimy books, its floor littered with newspapers, its wall
+streaked with cobwebs, the aged editor seemed exactly to fit into the
+surroundings. Here he received his friends, for the bed-ridden wife at
+Carr's Hotel, where he had rooms, was unequal to much social duty. The
+printing-office was his kingdom, and here, at the battered desk, he
+reigned supreme, a benevolent-looking man, with white beard closely
+enough trimmed to show a firm mouth, while the bald head shone above the
+desk as he bent his eyes closely to the pen in writing, and the left
+hand occasionally stroked the cluster of silvery locks that overhung the
+back of his collar. Late every afternoon he put aside his pen and
+proof-sheets, and with a coat held capewise about his bent shoulders,
+toddled to the Mohican Club to play bottle-pool with his old friend, G.
+Pomeroy Keese. Every Sunday the editor's venerable figure was
+conspicuous in a front pew of the Baptist church, in which he was a
+pillar, and always held up as an example to the youth of the village.
+
+When Samuel Shaw died, in 1907, occurred a dramatic episode which only a
+village community can produce. During his long career Shaw had
+accumulated a fair amount of property, and in his will had made kindly
+bequests to certain friends. Not until his death did it become generally
+known that his means had been dissipated by unfortunate speculations in
+the stock market, which was then in a depressed condition, and that
+margins upon which he had made purchases had been wiped out, hastening
+his death by financial worry, and leaving his estate almost bankrupt.
+
+At his funeral the Baptist church was crowded by a congregation which
+represented the tribute of a whole village to a man who had been a
+leader in its affairs for more than fifty years. The pastor of the
+church, the Rev. Cyrus W. Negus, had not been long in the village, but
+already was known for his earnestness and sincerity. To deliver a
+funeral sermon over the body of so distinguished a member of his church
+offered an opportunity to make an impression upon the entire community.
+He began his sermon with the usual expressions of Christian faith in the
+presence of death, and passed to a commendation of Samuel Shaw's many
+good deeds in public service and private life during his long career.
+Then he changed his tone, and, to the amazement of every hearer,
+expressed his deep disapproval of the speculations in the stock market
+which had brought the veteran editor in sorrow to the grave, and
+declared that he was unable to indorse the qualities in the character of
+a man so prominent in religious and civic life which permitted him to
+resort to slippery methods of financial gain. In this respect Samuel
+Shaw was to be held up not as an example, but as a warning to the youth
+of the village.
+
+Never was a congregation more astonished than when the speaker proceeded
+to develop such a theme in the face of the mourning friends of the dead.
+Probably the great majority of the congregation felt that the pastor's
+view of the iniquity of such stock speculations was utterly mistaken.
+Certainly all the friends of the dead editor were too indignant to
+realize in that hour that they were witnesses of an unusual exhibition
+of moral courage on the part of a preacher. It was some months later,
+when the Rev. Cyrus W. Negus himself lay dead, and all the bells of the
+village rang his requiem, that a friend and admirer of Samuel Shaw could
+also fairly recognize the mettle of this preacher who had the pluck to
+speak out what he believed to be his message, with every worldly reason
+to be silent. He had dared to defy the conventions of indiscriminate
+eulogy at funerals, to stand practically alone against public opinion,
+and to turn an opportunity of winning popular applause into an occasion
+for speaking out the necessary truth as he saw it. Some of his best
+friends felt that he had blundered, but no one who saw and heard this
+frail and pale-faced Baptist minister, as he stood by the coffin of
+Samuel Shaw uttering the quiet words that fell like lead upon the tense
+and breathless audience, may honestly deny his courage.
+
+In some respects the most remarkable man in Cooperstown at this period
+was Dr. Henry D. Sill. It is perhaps a singular distinction in a
+Christian community that Dr. Sill should have been chiefly renowned for
+being a Christian. It was not that the Christianity of the village was
+below the average of Christian communities. It was rather that Dr. Sill
+so strikingly personified the Christian virtues as to become a saint
+among Christians. By common consent he was put in a class by himself.
+Christians were exhorted to imitate him, but nobody was expected really
+to equal him. He was at this time only forty years old, but was revered
+not only by the young, but by the aged, as wise unto salvation. He was
+the son of Jedediah P. Sill, a respected and influential business man of
+Cooperstown, and after graduation at Princeton and at the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons, he settled down to practise in his own village.
+Dr. Sill lived with his sister at "The Maples," in the spacious house
+which stands on Chestnut Street, with sculptured lions guarding the
+doorway, next to the Methodist parsonage. His office occupied the little
+wing at the north. Unlike some who pass for philanthropists in the
+outer world, Henry Sill was regarded as a saint in his own household.
+Mrs. Robe, the aged aunt who made one of the family, and cultivated the
+art of growing old beautifully and gracefully, herself a Unitarian, used
+always to conclude her frequent arguments against Calvinistic theology
+by saying, "Well, Henry wouldn't treat people so, and I believe that God
+is as good as Henry!"
+
+Dr. Sill was a man of some means, but spent very little on himself. It
+had been his ambition to be a missionary, but since circumstances made
+it impossible to carry out this design, he annually contributed the
+entire salary of a foreign missionary whom he called his "substitute."
+He spent large sums of money in the improvement of Thanksgiving
+Hospital, in which he was deeply interested, and the equipment of that
+institution, especially of the operating-room, which gave it a rank far
+above the hospitals in many larger towns, was chiefly owing to his
+generosity.
+
+Dr. Sill was a physician, but specialized in surgery, and, while he
+never developed any spectacular rapidity of technique, became known as
+one of the most capable and conscientious surgeons in central New York.
+He always told patients what he believed to be the exact truth, and
+without the untoward results which some practitioners apprehend from
+such a policy. A surgeon who prayed with patients just before resorting
+to the knife was sometimes rather disconcerting to the irreligious, but
+his attitude was a comfort to many in the dire distress of illness, and
+in all it inspired confidence in the man himself. In many an isolated
+farm house of Otsego the only religious ministrations came with Dr.
+Sill's medical attendance, and there were unnumbered cases in which his
+call to heal the body resulted in the regeneration of a soul.
+
+Where patients were able to pay, Dr. Sill charged a good price for his
+services, but the fees were adjusted upon a sliding scale, and the
+amount of his professional service without pay is incalculable. In this
+respect he was not unlike his colleagues in a profession which probably
+gives more for nothing than any other, but, having independent means, he
+was able to go farther in this direction than most practitioners, and he
+counted it a pleasure to give away his time and skill without reward.
+
+There was a tinge of Puritanism in Dr. Sill's Christianity which to some
+minds imported an unnecessary strictness of view, but none could quarrel
+with it, for he practised his austerities upon himself, not toward
+others. Certain precepts of the Sermon on the Mount usually interpreted
+in a figurative sense he took literally as rules of action. "Give to him
+that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
+away" was one of these. His literal fidelity to this precept afforded
+him the deep satisfaction of giving aid to honest neighbors in distress;
+it enabled him to come to the rescue in the emergencies which sometimes
+face the most industrious and deserving. But also it gave him the pain
+of learning how many plausible persons are eager to make fair promises
+that mean nothing, and taught him that there are human beings to whom
+acts of loving-kindness are as pearls before swine. The honest man in
+trouble came to Dr. Sill, the drunkard to take the pledge, the sorrowful
+to be comforted, the desperate to be advised. But so came also the
+rogue, and the wheedling hypocrite, and all such as desired to obtain
+something for nothing. The doctor had a large acquaintance among
+unfortunate outcasts, for he regularly visited the county jail to talk
+and pray with its inmates. The extent to which Dr. Sill aided the
+worthless was a cause of grief to the judicious, but he was not really,
+as some supposed, the dupe of impostors. He was well aware of the
+probably unworthy character of many to whom he gave assistance, but
+there was always an element of doubt in such cases, and his theory was
+that it was better to aid ninety-nine humbugs than to take the risk of
+closing the door against one who was deserving of help.
+
+Dr. Sill was much consulted in relation to the civic and religious
+welfare of the community. His conscientious habit of deciding in all
+things, great and small, upon the absolutely right course of action gave
+him an air of slowness and hesitation in manner. He would stand
+listening intently, without comment, to violent arguments for and
+against a project, turning toward each speaker the frank dark eyes that
+illumined his pale countenance. When it came to his decision he had a
+way of planting his right heel forward, and compressing his lips, which
+he then opened with a slight smack of determination, giving quiet
+utterance to his judgment. It was usually quite impossible to move him
+from a decision thus made, and those who misinterpreted the mildness of
+his manner soon learned that the man himself was adamant.
+
+The first years of the twentieth century included an era of new
+buildings. Just above Leatherstocking Falls, in 1908, William E. Guy of
+St. Louis built and established the beautiful summer home at
+Leatherstocking Farm. The remains of the old grist mill at the falls
+were torn down, and the stones from the foundation were used in the new
+building.
+
+In 1910, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany, grandson of the novelist,
+built Fynmere (the name being an old form of the word Fenimore) as a
+country residence. Its site on the hillside above the road that curves
+about the southern end of Mount Vision commands a superb view down the
+Susquehanna Valley, while the eastern windows of the house look into the
+heart of the ascending forest. The use of native field stone in the
+construction of this house is most effective, and at once gave to the
+residence, when fresh from the builder's hands, the air of being long
+habituated to the spot, and quite in harmony with the antiquities that
+abound in the appointments and ornamentation of the place. Within a
+niche of the main hall of the house is the bust of Fenimore Cooper which
+David d'Angers made in Paris in 1828; and embedded in the foundation of
+the building is the corner-stone with the original marking that Cooper
+carved in 1813 for the house that he built, but which was burned before
+he could move into it, at Fenimore. Fynmere has contributed to the
+revival of pleasures that belonged to an elder day in Cooperstown, for
+it has drawn hither large house-parties of young people to enjoy the
+holidays of Christmastide, to join in winter sports, and to appreciate
+the splendors of snow and ice in a region usually renowned only for the
+charm of its summer season.
+
+From the beginning of Cooperstown's celebrity as a watering-place the
+hope was cherished, among the residents, that the village might include
+a suitable hotel overlooking the lake, and attracting visitors to linger
+on its shores. This dream was realized in 1909 when the O-te-sa-ga
+opened, having been built by Edward S. Clark and his brother Stephen C.
+Clark. The hotel was planned to accommodate three hundred guests, and
+occupies the old site of Holt-Averell, commanding a magnificent view of
+the full length of the lake.
+
+Cooperstown is a village of incomparable charm. There is not the like of
+it in all America. It has a character of its own sufficiently
+distinctive to prevent it from becoming the leech-like community into
+which, through the slow commercializing of native self-respect, a summer
+resort sometimes degenerates, stupidly enduring the winter in order to
+batten upon the pleasures of the rich in summer. Cooperstown is old
+enough and wise enough to have a juster appreciation of lasting values.
+It has tradition and atmosphere. It is a village that rejoices in the
+simple virtues of life peculiar to a small community, while its fame as
+a summer resort annually brings its residents within reach of far
+influences and wide horizons.
+
+[Illustration: COOPERSTOWN FROM MT. VISION]
+
+All lovers of Cooperstown know a favorite summer walk that passes from
+the village up the hill on the eastern border of the lake, rises beyond
+Prospect Rock, winds over a wooded summit, descends, turns westerly
+through a shady grove, crosses a farm, then threads a stretch of densest
+foliage, when suddenly one emerges upon a clearing, and unexpectedly
+beholds, glittering far below, the waters of the Glimmerglass, with the
+homes and spires of the village gleaming amidst the green leafage of the
+valley.
+
+It is impossible not to idealize the village when one views it from this
+height. To the tourist, who comes merely to admire, it is a view that
+possesses the glamour of enchantment. How happy should be the people who
+dwell in this peaceful village, surrounded by such charming scenery! How
+lofty should be their ideals, and how pure their lives, who abide amid
+such glories of nature!
+
+But for residents of Cooperstown this view is one that has more than
+beauty. It grips the heart. As the resident looks down upon the streets
+and houses amongst the trees it is with a sympathetic knowledge of the
+dwellers there, and of the joys that delight them, of the sorrows that
+crush them, of the sins that dog them, and of the hopes that inspire
+them.
+
+The drama of life has been many times enacted amid the scenes of this
+village, and here is the prologue and epilogue of many a romance and
+tragedy.
+
+Boys and girls are at play in the streets, and are skylarking along the
+shore of lake and river. Ambitious youngsters go out into the wider
+world to seek their fortunes. But there is always a homecoming. Youth
+has its day.
+
+There are two aged men from different quarters of the village who daily
+resort in summer to the Cooper Grounds, and sit in the sunshine upon the
+same bench. Either is visibly uneasy until the other arrives. But
+together they are happy. On this spot where the history of the village
+began they take turns at being narrator and listener, while each relates
+to the other the story of his life, and describes his triumphs in days
+that are gone. They give no heed to passers-by, or to the traffic of
+neighboring streets. But a village church bell tolls, and they fall
+silent, lifting their heads to watch the funeral train as it passes the
+Cooper Grounds and winds slowly upward from the main street to the quiet
+garden by the lake, on the slope of the eastern hills.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 128: George S. Dougherty, in _Chicago Saturday Blade_, January
+8, 1916.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE MAP OF COOPERSTOWN]
+
+VISITORS' GUIDE
+
+
+Chief points of interest are indicated on the village map, in the order
+most convenient for a short tour, by letters from A to M.
+
+A--Cooper Grounds. Site of Fenimore Cooper's residence.
+
+B--Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard. Christ Church, erected 1807, in
+which he worshipped.
+
+C--Fernleigh, the Clark residence, where Bishop Potter died.
+
+D--Byberry Cottage, built for the daughters of Fenimore Cooper, 1852.
+
+E--Pomeroy Place, "the old stone house," 1804.
+
+F--Indian Mound, in the northeast corner of Fernleigh-Over.
+
+G--Oldest house in the village, 1790.
+
+H--Edgewater, 1810.
+
+I--Council Rock, mentioned in _The Deerslayer_ as the meeting-place of
+the Indians.
+
+J--Mortar marking site of Clinton's Dam, during the Revolution, 1779.
+
+K--Village Library and Museum.
+
+L--Clark Estate Offices, 1831.
+
+M--Public Boat Landings.
+
+N--Mill Island.
+
+O--Former residence of Justice Nelson, U.S. Supreme Court.
+
+P--Universalist church.
+
+Q--Presbyterian church, 1805.
+
+R--Baptist church.
+
+S--Church of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Lake.
+
+T--Methodist church.
+
+U--Grounds upon which the first game of Base Ball was played.
+
+V--O-te-sa-ga.
+
+W--Riverbrink.
+
+X--Lakelands, 1804.
+
+Y--Woodside, 1829.
+
+Z--Fynmere, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Story of Cooperstown
+
+Author: Ralph Birdsall
+
+Release Date: June 19, 2006 [EBook #18621]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF COOPERSTOWN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lisa Reigel, Curtis Weyant, Michael Zeug and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by Cornell University Digital
+Collections)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a>
+<img src="images/frontphoto.jpg" alt="Cooperstown From the Northwest" title="Cooperstown From the Northwest" width="50%" />
+<p class="illus20"><i>Joseph B. Slote</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Cooperstown From the Northwest</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1>THE STORY OF COOPERSTOWN</h1>
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+
+<h2>RALPH BIRDSALL</h2>
+
+<h3>Rector of Christ Church</h3>
+
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><i>With Sixty-eight Illustrations from Photographs</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="paddedp4">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">
+NEW YORK,<br />
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,<br />
+1925<br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">
+Copyright, 1917, by<br />
+<span class="smcap">Ralph Birdsall</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><i>First printing, July, 1917</i><br />
+<i>Second printing, December, 1917</i><br />
+<i>Third printing, August, 1920</i><br />
+<i>Fourth printing, August, 1925</i>
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 20%;' />
+<p class="center"><i>Printed in the United States of America</i></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h2>
+
+
+<p>The ensuing narrative is a faithful record of life in Cooperstown from
+the earliest times, except that the persons and events to be described
+have been selected for their story-interest, to the exclusion of much
+that a history is expected to contain. The dull thread of village
+history has been followed only in such directions as served for
+stringing upon it and holding to the light the more shining gems of
+incident and personality to which it led. Trivial happenings have been
+included for the sake of some quaint, picturesque, or romantic quality.
+Much of importance has been omitted that declined to yield to such
+treatment as the writer had in view. The effort has been made to exclude
+everything that seemed unlikely to be of interest to the general reader.
+Those who seek family records, or the mention of all names worthy to be
+recorded in the history of the village, will find the book wanting.</p>
+
+<p>The local history has been already three times recorded, first in 1838
+by Fenimore Cooper, whose work was brought down to date by S. T.
+Livermore in 1863, and by Samuel M. Shaw in 1886. While now out of print
+many copies of these books are still accessible.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii"></a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+<table summary="Table of Contents" cellpadding="10" width="80%">
+<tr>
+  <td class="r">CHAPTER</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Indians</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Coming of the White Men</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">A Bypath of the Revolution</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Beginning of the Settlement</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">A Village in the Making</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Old-Time Love and Religion</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Homes and Gossip of Other Days</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Pioneer Court Room</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Father Nash</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Immortal Natty Bumppo</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_174">174</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Strange Tales of the Gallows</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Solid Survivals</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Birthplace of Base Ball</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Fenimore Cooper in the Village</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Mr. Justice Nelson</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Christ Churchyard</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">From Apple Hill to Fernleigh</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">The Lake of Romance and Fishermen</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td>
+  <td class="l"><span class="smcap">Twentieth Century Beginnings</span></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_393">393</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="l"><a href="#VILLAGE_MAP_OF_COOPERSTOWN"><span class="smcap">Village Map and Guide</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#Page_432">432</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x"></a></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="ILLUSTRATIONS" id="ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<table summary="List of Illustrations" cellpadding="10">
+<tr>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">PAGE</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#frontis"><span class="smcap">Cooperstown</span></a>, from the northwest</td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Joseph B. Slote</i></td>
+  <td class="r"><a href="#frontis">Frontispiece</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_2"><span class="smcap">The Cooper Grounds</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Arthur J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">2</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_8"><span class="smcap">Council Rock</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Arthur J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">8</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_13"><span class="smcap">The Otsego Iroquois Pipe</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">13</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_21"><span class="smcap">At Mill Island</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Charles Frederick Zabriskie</i></td>
+  <td class="r">21</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_52"><span class="smcap">Joseph Brant</span></a>, from the Romney portrait</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">52</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_71"><span class="smcap">Site of Clinton's Dam</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">71</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_78"><span class="smcap">Otsego Lake</span></a>, from Cooperstown</td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">78</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_86"><span class="smcap">The Oldest House</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Charles A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">86</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_91"><span class="smcap">William Cooper</span></a>, from the Stuart portrait</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">91</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_104"><span class="smcap">Averell Cottage</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">104</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_110"><span class="smcap">The Worthington Homestead</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Forrest D. Coleman</i></td>
+  <td class="r">110</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_127"><span class="smcap">Christ Church</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">127</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_131"><span class="smcap">The House at Lakelands</span></a>, as originally built</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">131</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_133"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Wilson</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">133</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_137"><span class="smcap">Lakelands</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">137</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_141"><span class="smcap">Pomeroy Place</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>J. Patzig</i></td>
+  <td class="r">141</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_151"><span class="smcap">Ambrose L. Jordan</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">151</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_156"><span class="smcap">Jordan's Home, and his Law Office</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">156</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_158"><span class="smcap">The Home of Robert Campbell</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>J. B. Slote</i></td>
+  <td class="r">158</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_171"><span class="smcap">Father Nash</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">171</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_185"><span class="smcap">Leatherstocking Monument</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">185</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span><a href="#photo_188"><span class="smcap">Natty Bumppo's Cave</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">188</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_193"><span class="smcap">Riverbrink</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">193</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_212"><span class="smcap">Edgewater</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">212</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_221"><span class="smcap">Residence of W. H. Averell and Judge Prentiss</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">221</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_226"><span class="smcap">Woodside Hall</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Forrest D. Coleman</i></td>
+  <td class="r">226</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_228"><span class="smcap">The Gate-Tower at Woodside</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Walter C. Stokes</i></td>
+  <td class="r">228</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_230"><span class="smcap">Swanswick</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">230</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_233"><span class="smcap">Shadow Brook</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>James W. Tucker</i></td>
+  <td class="r">233</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_238"><span class="smcap">Hyde Hall</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">238</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_243"><span class="smcap">Hyde Clarke</span></a>, from the Emmet portrait</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">243</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_246"><span class="smcap">A Wedding Day at Hyde</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">246</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_249"><span class="smcap">Base Ball on Native Soil</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">249</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_256"><span class="smcap">The Original House at Apple Hill</span></a> (now Fernleigh)</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">256</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_259"><span class="smcap">Fenimore</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">259</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_260"><span class="smcap">Otsego Hall</span></a>, from an old drawing</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">260</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_263"><span class="smcap">James Fenimore Cooper</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">263</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_265"><span class="smcap">The Chalet</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">265</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_267"><span class="smcap">The Novelist's Library</span></a>, a drawing by G. Pomeroy Keese</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">267</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_269"><span class="smcap">A Page of Cooper's Manuscript</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">269</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_271"><span class="smcap">The Home of Nancy Williams</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">271</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_282"><span class="smcap">Three-Mile Point</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">282</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_284"><span class="smcap">The Call for the Indignation Meeting</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">284</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_293"><span class="smcap">The Cooper Screens in Christ Church</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>F. D. Coleman</i></td>
+  <td class="r">293</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_297"><span class="smcap">At Fenimore Cooper's Grave</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Alice Choate</i></td>
+  <td class="r">297</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_300"><span class="smcap">Samuel Nelson, LL.D.</span></a></td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">300</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_314"><span class="smcap">The Home of Justice Nelson</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">314</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_320"><span class="smcap">Nelson Avenue</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">320</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span><a href="#photo_327"><span class="smcap">Christ Churchyard</span></a>, from the Rectory</td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Alice Choate</i></td>
+  <td class="r">327</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_334"><span class="smcap">The Cooper Plot, in Christ Churchyard</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">334</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_337"><span class="smcap">A Funeral in Christ Churchyard</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>J. B. Slote</i></td>
+  <td class="r">337</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_347"><span class="smcap">Main Street, Looking West from Fair Street</span></a>, 1861</td>
+  <td>&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="r">347</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_357"><span class="smcap">Fernleigh</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">357</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_359"><span class="smcap">Kingfisher Tower</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>M. Antoinette Abrams</i></td>
+  <td class="r">359</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_365"><span class="smcap">The Lake, From the O-te-sa-ga</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>J. B. Slote</i></td>
+  <td class="r">365</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_374"><span class="smcap">Fishermen's Shanties on the Frozen Lake</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">374</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_378"><span class="smcap">Hop-Picking</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Elizabeth Hudson</i></td>
+  <td class="r">378</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_381"><span class="smcap">Map of Otsego Lake</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>Henry L. Eckerson</i></td>
+  <td class="r">381</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_383"><span class="smcap">The Susquehanna, near its Source</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">383</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_387"><span class="smcap">Leatherstocking Falls</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">387</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_388"><span class="smcap">Five-Mile Point</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">388</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_389"><span class="smcap">Mohican Canyon</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>M. Antoinette Abrams</i></td>
+  <td class="r">389</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_391"><span class="smcap">Gravelly Point</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">391</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_395"><span class="smcap">Bishop Potter</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. F. Bradley</i></td>
+  <td class="r">395</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_396"><span class="smcap">The Rectory</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">396</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_405"><span class="smcap">The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of New York</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">405</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_407"><span class="smcap">Byberry Cottage</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></td>
+  <td class="r">407</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_409"><span class="smcap">The Clark Estate Office</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">409</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_420"><span class="smcap">The Lyric at Cooper's Grave</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>J. B. Slote</i></td>
+  <td class="r">420</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_430"><span class="smcap">Cooperstown, from Mount Vision</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>A. J. Telfer</i></td>
+  <td class="r">430</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+  <td><a href="#photo_432"><span class="smcap">Map of Cooperstown</span></a></td>
+  <td class="r"><i>H. L. Eckerson</i></td>
+  <td class="r">432</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h1>The Story of Cooperstown</h1>
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>THE INDIANS</h3>
+
+
+<p>The main street of Cooperstown traverses the village in a direction
+generally east and west. While the street and its shops are far superior
+to those of most small towns, the business centre, from which the
+visitor gains his first impression, gives no hint of the quaint and
+rustic beauty that makes Cooperstown one of the most charming villages
+in America.</p>
+
+<p>Following the main street toward the east, one reaches the original part
+of the settlement, and the prospect is more gratefully reminiscent of an
+old-time village. In summer the gateway of the Cooper Grounds opens a
+pleasing vista of shaded greensward, while the cross street which runs
+down to the lake at this point attracts the eye to a half-concealed view
+of the Glimmerglass, with the Sleeping Lion in the distance at the
+north.</p>
+
+<p>The historical associations of the village, from the earliest times, are
+centered in the Cooper Grounds. Within this space, when the first white
+man came, were found apple trees, in full bearing, which Indians had
+planted, showing an occupation by red men in the late Iroquois period.
+On these grounds the first white settler, Col. George <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>Croghan, built in
+1769 his hut of logs. During the Revolutionary War it was upon this spot
+that Clinton's troops were encamped for five weeks before their
+spectacular descent of the Susquehanna River. On this site William
+Cooper, the founder of the village, built his first residence, and
+afterward erected Otsego Hall, which later became the home of his son,
+James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="photo_2" id="photo_2"></a>
+<img src="images/photo_2.jpg" alt="The Cooper Grounds" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Cooper Grounds</p></div>
+
+<p>Beyond the Cooper Grounds, on the main street, the buildings seen on
+either hand belong to the earlier period of village history, except the
+Village Club and Library, which gracefully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>conforms to the older style.
+After passing the next cross-street, the main thoroughfare leads across
+the Susquehanna River, and, beyond the bridge, becomes identified with
+the old road to Cherry Valley. Keeping on up the incline, one finds
+Mount Vision rising before him, and begins to gain fascinating glimpses
+into the grounds of Woodside Hall, whose white pillars gleam amid the
+pines above the Egyptian gate-tower, and whose windows, commanding the
+whole length of the main street westward, reflect the fire of every
+sunset.</p>
+
+<p>Just before reaching Woodside, one observes a road which makes off from
+the highway at the right, and runs south. Opening from this road to
+Fernleigh-Over, and quite close to the corner, is a small iron gate that
+creaks between two posts of stone. The gate opens upon a path which
+leads, a few paces westward, to a large, terraced mound, well sodded,
+and topped by two maple trees.</p>
+
+<p>Sunk into the face of this mound is a slab of granite which bears this
+inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+<span style="margin-left: 2em"><span class="smcap">White Man, Greeting!</span></span><br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">We, near whose bones you stand,</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">were Iroquois. The wide land</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">which now is yours was ours.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Friendly hands have given back</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">to us enough for a tomb.</span><br />
+</div>
+
+<p>These lines offer a fitting introduction to the story of Cooperstown.
+There is enough of truth and poetry in them to touch the heart of the
+most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>indifferent passer-by. No sense of pride stirs the soul of any
+white man as he reads this pathetic memorial of an exiled race and its
+vanished empire. From this region and from many another hill and valley
+the Indians were driven by their white conquerors, banished from one
+reservation to another, compelled to exchange a vast empire of the
+forest for the blanket and tin cup of Uncle Sam's patronage.</p>
+
+<p>The mound in Fernleigh-Over is probably an Indian burial site of some
+antiquity. In 1874, when the place was being graded, a number of Indian
+skeletons were uncovered in various parts of the grounds. The owner of
+the property, Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, caused all the bones to be
+collected and buried at the foot of the mound. Some years afterward she
+marked the mound with the granite slab and its inscribed epitaph.</p>
+
+<p>The lines were composed by the Rev. William Wilberforce Lord, D.D., a
+former rector of Christ Church, in this village, once hailed by
+Wordsworth as the coming poet of America. He had written some noble
+verse, but wilted beneath the scathing criticism of Edgar Allan Poe,<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+and after becoming a clergyman published little poetry. This epitaph
+alone, however, fully justifies Dr. Lord's earlier ambition, for no poet
+of his time could have included more of beauty and truth and pathos
+within the compass of so brief an inscription.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p><p>In a comment upon the placing of this tablet, Mrs. Clark afterward
+wrote: "The position of the stone is misleading, and gives one an idea
+that the mound contains the bones&mdash;whereas they are buried at the foot
+of the mound. I have sometimes wondered if this rather curiously shaped
+mound, with the two maple trees thereon, might not contain undisturbed
+skeletons; and I feel sure that throughout this strip of land, which the
+grading only superficially disturbed, there are many bones of the
+Iroquois, for in 1900, when we cut down some trees, a skull was found in
+the fork of a root."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clark's record shows that the mound existed prior to 1874, and
+since this particular corner of ground was unoccupied before that date
+except, for a period, by the barns and stables of Lakelands across the
+way, it is reasonable to suppose that the mound was made by the Indians.
+While the mounds of New York State cannot be compared in size and extent
+with those of the West, writers on Indian antiquities, from
+Schoolcraft<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> onward, have identified as the work of red men many such
+formations within the Empire State. The mounds were commonly used by the
+Indians as places of burial, and sometimes as sites for houses, or as
+fortifications.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> The mound in Fernleigh-Over may be reasonably
+regarded as a monument erected by the Indians to the memory of their
+dead.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p><p>Two Indian skeletons were found in Fernleigh grounds in 1910, when a
+tennis court was being made, and the skeletons of Indians have been
+unearthed in some other parts of the village. A concealed sentry keeps
+vigil not far away from Fernleigh. The garden at the northwest corner of
+River and Church streets, nearly opposite to Fernleigh, has had for many
+years, on the River Street side, a retaining wall. When Fenimore Cooper
+owned the property this wall was his despair. For at a point above
+Greencrest, the wall, which then consisted of dry field stone, could
+never be kept plumb, but obstinately bulged toward the east; and as
+often as it was rebuilt, just so often it tottered to ruin. There was a
+tradition that this singular freak was caused by the spirit of an Indian
+chief whose grave lay in the garden, and whose resentment toward the
+village improvements of a paleface civilization found vigorous
+expression in kicking down the wall. It was at last decided to replace
+the retaining wall with one of heavier proportions and more solid
+masonry. On tearing down the wall the tradition of former years was
+recalled, for there sat the grim skeleton of an Indian, fully armed for
+war! The new wall included him as before, but to this day there is a
+point in the wall where stone and mortar cannot long contain the Indian
+spirit's wrath. This Indian sentinel was first discovered by William
+Cooper when River Street was graded, and four generations of tradition
+in the Cooper family testified to his tutelary character.</p>
+
+<p>The banks of the Susquehanna, near the village, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>and the shores of
+Otsego Lake, have yielded a plentiful harvest of Indian relics in
+arrow-heads and spearpoints, with an occasional bannerstone, pipe, or
+bit of pottery. Often as the region has been traversed in search of
+relics, there seems always to be something left for the careful gleaner;
+and the experienced eye, within a short walk along riverbank or
+lakeshore, is certain to light upon some memento of the vanished Indian,
+while every fresh turning of the soil reveals some record of savage
+life.</p>
+
+<p>Morgan describes an Indian trail as being from twelve to eighteen inches
+wide, and, where the soil was soft, often worn to a depth of twelve
+inches. Deeply as these trails were grooved in the earth by centuries of
+use, it is to be doubted if many traces of them now remain, although
+over the summit of Hannah's Hill, sheltered by thick pine woods, just
+west of the village, there runs toward the lake a trail, which, though
+long disused, is clearly marked, and is believed to have been worn by
+the feet of Indians. It is indeed possible that this is a remaining
+segment of the great trail from the north, which, as Morgan's map<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+shows, here touched Otsego Lake, and bent toward the southwest. For, in
+1911, a likely trace of it was found by Frank M. Turnbull while clearing
+the woods on the McNamee property west of the village. In line with the
+trail on Hannah's Hill, and southwest of it, were two huge hemlocks that
+bore upon their trunks the old wounds of blazes made as if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>by the axes
+of Indians. The blazes were vertical, deeply indented, and the thick
+bark had grown outward and around them, forming in each a pocket into
+which a man might sink his elbow and forearm. These patriarchal trees of
+the forest were about four feet in diameter at the base, and on being
+felled showed, by count of the rings, an age of nearly three hundred
+years.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="photo_8" id="photo_8"></a><img src="images/photo_8.jpg" alt="Council Rock" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Council Rock</p></div>
+
+<p>When Fenimore Cooper, in <i>The Deerslayer</i>, describes Council Rock as a
+favorite meeting place of the Indians, where the tribes resorted "to
+make their treaties and bury their hatchets," he claims a picturesque
+bit of stage setting for his drama, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>but also records an early
+tradition. This rock, sometimes called Otsego Rock, standing forth from
+the water where the Susquehanna emerges from the lake, had been a
+favorite landmark for the rendezvous of Indians. As one views it now,
+from the foot of River Street, it lifts its rounded top not quite so
+high above the water as when Cooper described it in 1841. The damming of
+the Susquehanna to furnish power for the village water supply has raised
+the whole level of Otsego Lake, and gives an artificial fullness to the
+first reaches of the long river.</p>
+
+<p>Whether Cooperstown stands upon the site of an old Indian village is a
+debated question. Richard Smith's journal describes his visit at the
+foot of Otsego Lake in 1769, before the time of any considerable
+settlement by white men, and makes no mention of any Indian residents of
+the place. He saw many Indians here, but gives the impression that they
+were come from a distance to visit the Indian Agent whose headquarters
+lay at the foot of Otsego Lake. On the other hand, a stray hint comes
+from the papers of William Cooper, among which is a memorandum including
+various notes relating to population and other statistics, jotted down
+apparently in preparation for a speech or article on early conditions
+here, and containing the item, "Old Indian Village." A more significant
+record appears in the <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i>, published in 1838, in
+which Fenimore Cooper asserts that "arrow-heads, stone hatchets, and
+other memorials of Indian usages, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>were found in great abundance by the
+first settlers, in the vicinity of the village." In <i>The Pioneers</i>, his
+description of Cooperstown includes, in a location to be identified with
+the present Cooper Grounds, fruit trees which he says "had been left by
+the Indians, and began already to assume the moss and inclination of
+age," when the first settlers came.</p>
+
+<p>The fruit trees would indicate permanent though late occupation of this
+site by Indians; "stone hatchets in great abundance" would suggest that
+a prehistoric village was here. But it is difficult to understand how so
+little trace should now remain of the one-time "great abundance" of
+hatchets. Such is not the case at any other permanent prehistoric site
+in the general region, where pestles and hatchets continue to be found
+even in streets, as well as in yards, and well-tilled gardens.</p>
+
+<p>Every few years the inhabitants of ancient villages in the east were
+wont, for various reasons, to build new cabins on new ground, though not
+far removed from the old. Not all the sites of ancient Otesaga, if
+ancient Otesaga existed, can have been covered by Cooperstown. Some
+fields should still produce something out of "an abundance" of village
+debris. Yet only one hatchet has come, in many years, from all the foot
+of the lake.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Many points, spear and arrow, have been found on all
+shores of Otsego; for beyond doubt the lake, from very early time, was a
+resort for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>aboriginal hunters and fishermen. But points indicate only
+camp sites.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, by reason of the notable absence at this time of stone
+relics indicating permanent residence, it seems possible that the
+statement concerning their original abundance was exaggerated, and there
+is no good reason for supposing, on the strength of this statement
+alone, that there was a prehistoric village on the site of Cooperstown.
+Perhaps in early times, during the contests with Southern Indians, the
+place lay too much in the way of war parties. But the apple trees,
+concerning which there is no doubt, would indicate rather conclusively
+an occupation by Indians within the historic period, which, as in the
+case of many another of the later villages, might have left small
+trace.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1895 two young men of Cooperstown who afterward adopted callings in
+other fields of science, Benjamin White, Ph.D., and Dr. James Ferguson,
+conducted amateur archeological expeditions which resulted in the
+discovery of a regular camp site formerly used by the Indians. This lies
+within the present village of Cooperstown, on a level stretch along the
+west bank of the Susquehanna, in what used to be called the Hinman lot,
+but now belongs to Fernleigh, a few rods south of Fernleigh House. It
+includes an even floor of low land not far above the level of the river,
+containing a spring on its margin, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>forming a plot perhaps two
+hundred yards in length and half as much in breadth. The ground begins
+thence to rise rather steeply toward the north and west, sheltering from
+wind and storm the glen below, while affording points of observation,
+looking up and down the stream.</p>
+
+<p>The young explorers went carefully over the surface of this ground,
+digging to a considerable depth in some parts, and using an ash-sifter
+for a thorough examination of the debris. "We found spearheads, game and
+war points in large numbers," says Dr. White, "as well as drills,
+punches or awls, scrapers, knives, hammer-stones, and sinkers. Deer
+horn, bones, and thick strata of ashes were found, the latter in one
+place only. Whether or no this was the site of an Indian village, I
+cannot say. Altogether it must have yielded six or eight hundred
+implements of various sorts. Fernleigh-Over, Riverbrink, and Lakelands
+yielded arrow-heads and sinkers, but no other implements. The present
+site of the Country Club was a profitable field for arrow-heads."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Ferguson, referring to the same spot, writes, "I have long had an
+idea that there had been a small Indian village located in what we knew
+as Hinman's lot. After the land was ploughed we found many arrow-heads,
+awls of bone and flint, and fragments of pottery. There were several
+areas where fires had been located, the soil being well baked, with
+mingled charcoal and burned bones. There were also about the fire sites
+fragments of deer horn, bears' teeth, and much broken pottery. Spear
+heads were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>rather few, sinkers and hammer-stones more numerous. I never
+found any perfect axes, but did find fragments."</p>
+
+<p>The great number of imperfect arrow-heads and flint chips found here, as
+well as on the flat northeast of Iroquois Farm house, and on the low
+land between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, shows the
+frequent occupation of these places as Indian camps.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 70%;">
+<p class="figcenter"><a name="photo_13" id="photo_13"></a><img class="bbox" src="images/photo_13.jpg" alt="The Otsego Iroquois Pipe" width="100%" /></p></div>
+
+<p>In 1916 David R. Dorn conducted a more intensive examination of the plot
+explored by Dr. White and Dr. Ferguson. His investigation revealed a
+site that showed two distinct layers of Indian relics, the lower and
+more ancient being of Algonquin type, while the signs of later occupancy
+were Iroquois. At about eighteen inches beneath the surface was found
+the complete skeleton of an Iroquois Indian. With the skeleton was
+unearthed a pipe, of Iroquois manufacture, which Arthur C. Parker, the
+State archeologist, declared to be one of the most perfect specimens
+known.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p><p>Taking all the evidence together, it may be asserted that the present
+site of Cooperstown was from ancient times the resort of Indian hunters
+and fishermen, and at a later period, more than a generation before its
+settlement by white men, as indicated by the size of the apple trees
+which they found, included a settled Indian village.</p>
+
+<p>On Morgan's map of Iroquois territory as it existed in 1720, he shows a
+village at the foot of Otsego Lake to which he gives the Indian name
+Ote-sa-ga.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Our present form, Otsego, is a variant of the same
+original. Morgan wrote the word in three syllables, adding the letter
+"e" after the "t" merely to make sure that the "o" should be pronounced
+long. It seems certain that Morgan never pronounced the word as
+"O-te-sa-ga." This form of the name, however, when the third syllable
+carries the accent and a broad "a," is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>defensible on the ground of its
+majestic euphony, for it should be permitted to take some liberties with
+a name that has been spelled by high authorities in a dozen different
+ways.</p>
+
+<p>The explanation of Otsego, or Otesaga, as signifying "a place of
+meeting" has been generally abandoned by scholars, in spite of the vogue
+which Fenimore Cooper gave it along with the interpretation of
+Susquehanna as meaning "crooked river." But as to the latter the doctors
+disagree, some claiming that Susquehanna, which is not an Iroquois but
+an Algonquin word, means "muddy stream"; others, following Dr.
+Beauchamp, that it is a corruption of a word meaning "river with long
+reaches." It must be confessed that Cooper credited the Indian words
+with intelligible and appropriate meanings, so that, in the absence of
+agreement among the specialists, the interpretations which he made
+popular will continue to satisfy the ordinary thirst for this sort of
+knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>Assuming the existence of an Indian village on the present site of
+Cooperstown, before the coming of the white man, the question of the
+probable character of its inhabitants opens another field of study. Most
+of the relics found in this region belong to the Algonquin type. On the
+other hand Otsego is an Iroquois word, and it seems to be generally
+agreed that the Otsego region was included, in the historic period, in
+the possessions of the Iroquois, as the league of the Five Nations was
+called by the French. The league included the Mohawks, Oneidas,
+Onondagas, Cayugas, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>Senecas; and took in also, in the eighteenth
+century, as the sixth nation, the Tuscaroras.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> While the village at
+the foot of the lake would properly be called Mohawk, owing obedience to
+the council of the original Mohawk towns, it might well have been
+composed largely of Indians from other tribes. Fragments of shattered
+tribes found refuge with the Iroquois in the latter days. Some were
+adopted; some stayed on sufferance. The Minsis, a branch of the
+Delawares, as well as the Delawares proper, were allowed to occupy the
+southern part of the Iroquois territory. It will be recalled, in this
+connection, that Cooper's favorite Indian heroes, Chingachgook and
+Uncas, are of Delaware stock.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite possible that, near the beginning of the eighteenth
+century&mdash;basing the date, among other things, on the appearance of the
+apple trees when the first white man came&mdash;there was a cosmopolitan
+Indian community at the foot of Otsego Lake. Besides Mohawks, there
+would have been included Oneidas, their nearest neighbors on the west;
+and probably Delawares, or Mohicans. There might have been also some
+one-time prisoners, adopted by the Iroquois, but belonging originally to
+distant nations.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<p>All writers on the history of the Eastern Indians agree in assigning the
+highest place to the Iroquois. Parkman asserts that they afford <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>perhaps
+an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without emerging
+from the primitive condition of the hunter. Morgan declares that in the
+width of their sway they had reared the most powerful empire that ever
+existed in America north of the Aztec monarchy. The home country of the
+Iroquois included nearly the whole of the present State of New York, but
+at the era of their highest military supremacy, about 1660, they made
+their influence felt from New England to the Mississippi, and from the
+St. Lawrence to the Tennessee. Within this league, the tribal territory
+of the Mohawks extended to the Hudson River and Lake Champlain on the
+east, northward to the St. Lawrence, and westward to a boundary not
+easily determined, but which included Otsego Lake. In the great league
+of the Iroquois the name of the Mohawk nation always stood first, and of
+all the Iroquois nations they were the most renowned in war. Joseph
+Brant, whom John Fiske calls the most remarkable Indian known to
+history, was a Mohawk chief.</p>
+
+<p>Although the field of Iroquois influence was so wide, and their military
+fame so great, it is a mistake to imagine that the forests of their time
+were thickly peopled with red men, or that they were perpetually at war.
+The entire population of the Iroquois throughout what is now the State
+of New York probably never numbered more than 20,000 souls. Of these the
+whole Mohawk nation counted only about 3,000, grouped in small <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>villages
+over their wide territory.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The avowed object of the Iroquois
+confederacy was peace. By means of a great political fraternity the
+purpose was to break up the spirit of perpetual warfare which had wasted
+the Indian race from age to age.<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> To a considerable degree this
+purpose was realized. After the power of the Iroquois had become
+consolidated, their villages were no longer stockaded, such defences
+having ceased to be necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Otsego has witnessed other aspects of Indian life than those of war and
+the chase. The Iroquois were agriculturists, and they, or rather their
+women, cultivated not only fruit trees, but corn, melons, squash,
+pumpkins, beans, and tobacco.<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> They had other human interests also,
+not unlike our own. As the young people grew up amid sylvan charms that
+are wont to stir romantic feelings in the heart of youth to-day, one is
+tempted to imagine the trysts in the wood, the flirtations, the
+courtships, among Indian braves and dusky maidens, that touched life
+with tender sentiment in the days of the red man's glory. During many
+summers before the white man came the breath of nature sighing through
+the pines of Otsego, the winding river murmuring lovelorn secrets to the
+flowers that nodded on its margin, the moon rising over Mount Vision and
+shedding its splendor upon the lake, were subtle influences in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>secret
+meetings between men and maidens, in whispered vows beneath the trees,
+in courtships on the border of the Glimmerglass, in lovemaking along the
+shores of the Susquehanna.</p>
+
+<p>The greater part of the Iroquois were allies of the British in the
+Revolutionary War, although some Mohawks remained neutral, and most of
+the Oneidas and Tuscaroras became engaged on the side of the Americans.
+It is not strange that, in a war whose causes they could not understand,
+the Iroquois should have been loyal to the King of England, with whom
+their alliances had been made for nearly two centuries. The Indians had
+nothing to gain in this war, and everything to lose. They lost
+everything, and after the war were thrown upon the mercies of the
+victorious Americans. The Iroquois confederacy came to an end, and few
+of the Mohawks ever returned to the scene of their council fires, or to
+the graves of their ancestors.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>Many friendly relationships were established between the white men and
+the Indians, both before and after the Revolutionary War. In 1764 there
+was a missionary school of Mohawk Indian boys at the foot of Otsego Lake
+under the instruction of a young Mohawk named Moses, who had been
+educated at a missionary institution for Indians at Lebanon. A report of
+one of the missionaries, the Rev. J. C. Smith, written at this time,
+gives a glimpse of the Indians as they came <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>under civilizing influence
+on the very spot where Cooperstown was afterward to flourish:</p>
+
+<p>"I am every day diverted and pleased with a view of Moses and his
+school, as I can sit in my study and see him and all his scholars at any
+time, the schoolhouse being nothing but an open barrack. And I am much
+pleased to see eight or ten and sometimes more scholars sitting under
+their bark table, some reading, some writing and others studying, and
+all engaged to appearances with as much seriousness and attention as you
+will see in almost any worshipping assembly and Moses at the head of
+them with the gravity of fifty or three score."<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p>
+
+<p>Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of the novelist, says that for some
+years after the village was commenced, Mill Island was a favorite resort
+of the Indians, who came frequently in parties to the new settlement,
+remaining here for months together. Mill Island lies in the Susquehanna
+a short distance below Fernleigh, near the dam, where the river reaches
+out two arms to enclose it, and with so little effort that it is
+difficult to distinguish the island from the mainland. In the early days
+of the village the island was covered with woods, and the Indians chose
+it for their camp, in preference to other situations. Miss Cooper thinks
+it may have been a place of resort to their fishing and hunting parties
+when the country was a wilderness. In <i>Rural Hours</i>, writing in 1851,
+she gives a curious description of a visit <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>made at Otsego Hall by some
+Indians who had encamped at Mill Island. There were three of them,&mdash;a
+father, son, and grandson,&mdash;who made their appearance, claiming a
+hereditary acquaintance with the master of the house, Fenimore Cooper.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 40%;">
+<a name="photo_21" id="photo_21"></a><img src="images/photo_21.jpg" alt="At Mill Island" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>C. F. Zabriskie</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">At Mill Island</p></div>
+
+<p>"The leader and patriarch of the party," says Miss Cooper, "was a
+Methodist minister&mdash;the Rev. Mr. Kunkerpott. He was notwithstanding a
+full-blooded Indian, with the regular copper-colored complexion, and
+high cheek bones; the outline of his face was decidedly Roman, and his
+long, gray hair had a wave which is rare among <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>his people; his mouth,
+where the savage expression is usually most strongly marked, was small,
+with a kindly expression about it. Altogether he was a strange mixture
+of the Methodist preacher and the Indian patriarch. His son was much
+more savage than himself in appearance&mdash;a silent, cold-looking man; and
+the grandson, a boy of ten or twelve, was one of the most uncouth,
+impish-looking creatures we ever beheld. He wore a long-tailed coat
+twice too large for him, with boots of the same size. The child's face
+was very wild, and he was bareheaded, with an unusual quantity of long,
+black hair streaming about his head and shoulders. While the grandfather
+was conversing about old times, the boy diverted himself by twirling
+around on one leg, a feat which would have seemed almost impossible,
+booted as he was, but which he nevertheless accomplished with remarkable
+dexterity, spinning round and round, his arms extended, his large black
+eyes staring stupidly before him, his mouth open, and his long hair
+flying in every direction, as wild a looking creature as one could wish
+to see."</p>
+
+<p>After the period of which Miss Cooper writes, Indians were even more
+rarely seen in Cooperstown, and their visits soon ceased altogether. It
+is a far cry from the Chingachgook and Uncas whom Fenimore Cooper
+imagined to the Rev. Mr. Kunkerpott and other Indians whom his daughter
+saw and described. So much so that Cooper has been accused of creating,
+in his novels, a sort of Indians which never existed either here or
+elsewhere. There is no doubt, however, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>he studied carefully such
+Indians as were in his day to be found, and had some basis of fact for
+the qualities which he imparted to the Indians of his imagination. Miss
+Cooper says that her father followed Indian delegations from town to
+town, observing them carefully, conversing with them freely, and was
+impressed "with the vein of poetry and of laconic eloquence marking
+their brief speeches."</p>
+
+<p>Brander Matthews says that if there is any lack of faithfulness in
+Cooper's presentation of the Indian character, it is due to the fact
+that he was a romancer, and therefore an optimist, bent on making the
+best of things. He told the truth as he saw it, and nothing but the
+truth; but he did not tell the whole truth. Here Cooper was akin to
+Scott, who chose to dwell only on the bright side of chivalry, and to
+picture the merry England of Richard Lionheart as a pleasanter period to
+live in than it could have been in reality. Cooper's red men are
+probably closer to the actual facts than Scott's black knights and white
+ladies.<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>Cooper himself comes to the defense of his Indians in the preface of the
+<i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i>. "It is the privilege of all writers of
+fiction," he declares, "more particularly when their works aspire to the
+elevation of romances, to present the <i>beau-ideal</i> of their characters
+to the reader. This it is which constitutes poetry, and to suppose that
+the red man is to be represented only in the squalid misery or in the
+degraded moral state that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>certainly more or less belongs to his
+condition, is, we apprehend, taking a very narrow view of an author's
+privileges. Such criticism would have deprived the world of even Homer."</p>
+
+<p>Our early history has been less sympathetic toward the Indian. The story
+of the massacre which occurred at Cherry Valley, not many miles from
+Cooperstown, in 1778, although the Tories who took part in it were quite
+as savage as their Indian allies, has made memorable the darker side of
+Indian character. But although many innocent victims were exacted by his
+revenge both here and elsewhere, it was not without cause that the
+Indian resorted to bloody measures against the whites. Americans of
+to-day can well afford a generous appreciation of the once powerful race
+who were their predecessors in sovereignty on this continent. The league
+of the Iroquois is no more, but in the Empire State of the American
+Republic the scene of their ancient Indian empire remains. It is left
+for the white man to commemorate the Indian who made no effort to
+perpetuate memorials of himself, erected no boastful monuments, and
+carved no inscriptions to record his many conquests. Having gained great
+wealth by developing the resources of a land which the Indians used only
+as hunting grounds, the white man may none the less appreciate the lofty
+qualities of a race of men who, just because they felt no lust of
+riches, never emerged from the hunter state, but found the joy of life
+amid primeval forests.</p>
+
+<p>The League of the Iroquois has had a strange <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>history, which is part of
+the history of America&mdash;a history which left no record, except by
+chance, of a government that had no archives, an empire that had no
+throne, a language that had no books, a citizenship without a city, a
+religion that had no temple except that which the Great Spirit created
+in the beginning.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Poe. <i>Works</i>, "William W. Lord," Vol. vii, p. 217
+(Amontillado Ed). Edmund Clarence Stedman, in his <i>Poets of America</i>, p.
+41, 123, champions Lord.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Notes on the Iroquois</i>, Henry R. Schoolcraft, Chap. vi.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Major J. W. Powell, <i>The Forum</i>, January, 1890.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Lewis H. Morgan's map, 1851, in the <i>League of the
+Iroquois</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> From Fernleigh garden, near the river, 1895.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> These opinions are quoted from a communication kindly
+written by Willard E. Yager, of Oneonta.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Ote-sa-ga was probably derived, by transposition very
+common in like case, from the first map name of Ostega (Ostaga),
+1770-1775. Dr. Beauchamp sought to derive this from "otsta," a word for
+which Schoolcraft was his authority, and which was supposed to be Oneida
+for "rock," the Mohawk form "otsteara." But Schoolcraft, as Beauchamp
+himself elsewhere shows (Indian Names, p. 6), sometimes took liberties
+with original Indian forms of words. The Mohawk word for "rock" is
+"ostenra"; the Oneida would be "ostela." The first with the locative
+terminal "ga," gives "ostenraga"; the second, "ostelaga." Both are far
+removed from "Ostaga." Ostaga is more naturally derived from the Mohawk
+"otsata," or "osata," both which forms occur in Bruyas. Otsataga, by
+elision, readily becomes Otstaga, and again Ostaga. The change is even
+simpler with Osataga. The meaning of Ostaga, thus explained, would be
+"place of cloud," by extension "place of storm"&mdash;in contrast, perhaps,
+with the little lakes, which were <i>waiontha</i>, "calm." (Bruyas,
+64).&mdash;<i>Willard E. Yager.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>League of the Iroquois</i>, Lewis H. Morgan, Lloyd's Ed.,
+Vol. I, p. 93.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Yager.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, Francis W. Halsey, 16.
+<i>League of the Iroquois</i>, II. 227.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>League of the Iroquois</i>, I. 87.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> do., I. 249-251.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, 150.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, 75, 160.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Address at the Cooperstown Centennial.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Within six years after Hendrik Hudson sailed up the river which bears
+his name, and some five years before the Pilgrim fathers landed at
+Plymouth, the first white men looked upon Otsego Lake, and saw the
+wooded shore upon which Cooperstown now stands. It was in 1614, or in
+the year following, that two Dutchmen set out from Fort Orange (Albany)
+to explore the fur country, and crossing from the Mohawk to Otsego Lake,
+proceeded down the Susquehanna.<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> From this time, first under the
+Dutch, then under English rule, traders came frequently to the foot of
+Otsego Lake. Soon after the traders, Christian missionaries ventured
+into the wilderness, ministering at first chiefly to the Indians. Later
+came the first settlers.</p>
+
+<p>That the influence of traders was not always helpful to Christian
+missionaries is illustrated by an incident in the missionary journey of
+the Rev. Gideon Hawley, a Presbyterian divine, who, with some zealous
+companions, came from New England to preach to the Indians of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>Susquehanna in 1753. They reached the river at a point where was a
+small Indian settlement near the present village of Colliers, seventeen
+miles below Cooperstown. Here they were joined by a trader named George
+Winedecker, who had come down from Otsego Lake with a boat-load of
+goods, including rum, to supply the Indian villages down the river.
+During the night the red men, full of Winedecker's rum, became embroiled
+in a murderous orgy. The missionaries were awakened by the howling of
+the Indians over their dead, and in the morning saw Indian women
+skulking in the bushes, hiding guns and hatchets, for fear of the
+intoxicated Indians who were drinking deeper. "Here, in one party, were
+missionaries with the Bible and a trader with the rum&mdash;the two gifts of
+the white man to the Indian."<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>Susquehanna lands were first conveyed to white men by the Indians in
+1684 as a part of a treaty of alliance with the English, although the
+Indians retained the right to live and hunt on the river. The granting
+of land titles by the Provincial government began not long
+afterward.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The first recorded patent on Otsego Lake was obtained in
+1740 by John J. Petrie at the northern end. John Groesbeck, an officer
+of the court of chancery, acquired in 1741 a patent lying northeast of
+the lake, including what afterward became the Clarke property and the
+site of Hyde Hall. Nearly the whole east side of the lake, with the
+present <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>Lakelands tract just east of the Susquehanna at its source, was
+covered by the patent which Godfrey Miller obtained in 1761, and upon
+which, according to the journal of Richard Smith, twelve persons were
+resident eight years later.<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>Early in the eighteenth century it is probable that traders were from
+time to time resident at the foot of Otsego, but the first attempt
+toward a permanent settlement on the present site of Cooperstown was
+made by John Christopher Hartwick in 1761. In that year Hartwick
+obtained from the Provincial government a patent to the lands which,
+southwest of Cooperstown, still perpetuate his name, and began a
+settlement at the foot of Otsego Lake under the misapprehension that the
+site was included in his patent. It was not long before Hartwick
+discovered his error, and withdrew to the proper limits of his tract,
+but this attempt to found a village upon the spot which William Cooper
+afterward selected connects with the history of Cooperstown a unique
+character and memorable name.</p>
+
+<p>Hartwick, who was born in Germany in 1714, came to America at about
+thirty years of age as a missionary preacher, and in his time was as
+famous for his eccentricities, as he afterward became for his pious
+benefactions. He held some settled charges, but, except for twelve years
+at Rhinebeck, he seems for the most part to have been a wandering
+preacher, and the records of his pastorates extend from Philadelphia to
+Boston, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>and from Virginia and Maryland to the distant coast of Maine.</p>
+
+<p>If Hartwick would not be long tied down to a settled pastorate, he was
+even more fearful of matrimonial bondage, and shunned women as a plague.
+It was not an uncommon thing for him, if he saw that he was about to
+meet a woman in the road, to cross over, or even to leap a fence, in
+order to avoid her. On one occasion when he was disturbed in preaching
+by the presence of a dog, he exclaimed with much earnestness that dogs
+and children had better be kept at home, and it would not be much
+matter, he added, if the women were kept there too!<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Seeking shelter
+one night at a log hut not far from the present Hartwick village, he was
+cheerfully received by the occupants, a man and his wife, who gave up to
+their guest the one bed in the only bedroom, and stretched themselves
+for the night upon the floor before the kitchen fire. The night grew
+bitter cold, and the wife, awaking, bethought her of the guest, whether
+he might not be too lightly covered. She went silently to his room, and
+spread upon his bed a part of her simple wardrobe. Hartwick promptly
+arose, dressed himself, made his way out of the house to the stable,
+saddled his horse, and rode away in the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>His contemporaries agree in representing Hartwick as slovenly in his
+habits, often preaching in his blanket coat, and not always with the
+cleanest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>linen; eccentric in his manners, curt, and at times irritable
+in his intercourse with others&mdash;an exceedingly undesirable addition to
+the social and domestic circle, so that his hosts were accustomed to
+tell him plainly, at the beginning of a visit, "You may stay here so
+many days, and then you must go."<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> In some quarters his visits were
+dreaded because of his excessively long prayers at family worship.<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p>
+
+<p>One may dwell without malice upon the eccentricities of this singular
+man, for they are qualities that set him forth from his more staid
+contemporaries, without detracting from the virtues which gave
+permanence to his work. Hartwick was a lover of God and men. Although
+rough and unpolished, he was a man of learning, being well versed in
+theology, and as familiar with the Latin language as with his own.</p>
+
+<p>The great purpose of Hartwick's career was the founding of a community
+for the promotion of religion and education, the building in the
+wilderness of a Christian city whose halls of learning should influence
+the coming ages. The roving life that brought Hartwick into contact with
+the Indians awakened his desire to Christianize and educate them, and
+the influence which he gained among them opened the way, through the
+acquirement of land, for the carrying out of his favorite project. The
+patent that he obtained from the Provincial government in 1761 covered a
+tract of land, substantially the present town of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>Hartwick, which he had
+purchased from the Indians for one hundred pounds in 1754. In settling
+the land Hartwick required each tenant to agree to a condition in the
+lease by which the tenant became Hartwick's parishioner, and
+acknowledged the authority of Hartwick, or his substitute, as "pastor,
+teacher, and spiritual counsellor." Owing to his desultory business
+methods and the weight of advancing years, Hartwick after a time found
+himself unequal to the management of this estate, and in 1791 William
+Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, became his agent, with authority to
+dispose of the property to tenants. By this arrangement Hartwick was cut
+off from his original design of being the spiritual director of his
+tenants, and came to the end of his life without building the city of
+which he dreamed.</p>
+
+<p>Hartwick's last will and testament, however, shows that he never
+abandoned his design, but determined that it should be carried out after
+his death. The will is one of the most curious documents ever penned, a
+mixture of autobiography, piety, and contempt of legal form. A lawyer to
+whom he submitted it pronounced it "legally defective in every page, and
+almost in every sentence." But Hartwick's only amendment of it was to
+add a perplexing codicil to seven other codicils which already had been
+appended.<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The will provides for the laying out of a regular town,
+closely built, to be called the New Jerusalem, with buildings and hall
+for a seminary.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>Hartwick died in 1796, in his eighty-third year. The task of
+administering the estate according to the will was found to be almost
+hopeless. The executors, aided by a special act of legislature, set
+about to carry out its evident spirit. Preliminary to the establishment
+of a seminary, the executors sent the Rev. John Frederick Ernst, a
+Lutheran minister, to Hartwick patent, to preach to the inhabitants, and
+to assist in the education of their youth. In connection with this work
+Mr. Ernst came to Cooperstown in 1799, held religious services in the
+old Academy, on the present site of the Universalist church, and had
+some youngsters of the village under his instruction. His descendants
+lived in Cooperstown for more than a century after him.</p>
+
+<p>The main building of Hartwick Seminary was erected in 1812, at the
+present site, near the bank of the Susquehanna River, about five miles
+southward of Cooperstown, and some four miles eastward from Hartwick
+village. The school was opened in 1815, and received from the
+legislature a charter in 1816. It is the oldest theological school in
+the State of New York, and the oldest Lutheran theological seminary in
+America. In addition to being a theological school, Hartwick Seminary is
+now devoted to general education, and includes among its pupils not only
+boys, but, in spite of the prejudice of its founder, young women.</p>
+
+<p>Among the original trustees named in the charter of Hartwick Seminary
+was the Rev. Daniel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>Nash, the first rector of Christ Church,
+Cooperstown. Judge Samuel Nelson, and Col. John H. Prentiss, of
+Cooperstown, were afterward trustees for many years, and in their time
+there was among the people of this village a lively interest in Hartwick
+Seminary, the literary exercises at the end of each scholastic year
+being largely attended by visitors from Cooperstown. It is significant
+of the close relation which formerly existed between the two villages
+that the street which runs westward from the Presbyterian church in
+Cooperstown, now called Elm Street, was at one time known to the
+inhabitants as "the Hartwick Road."</p>
+
+<p>Local history has wronged<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> the memory of John Christopher Hartwick by
+the oft repeated statement that he committed suicide. It is true that a
+man named Christianus Hartwick took his own life in 1800, and that his
+grave lies in Hinman Hollow, only a few miles from Hartwick Seminary.
+But John Christopher Hartwick, after whom the town and seminary are
+named, died a natural death at Clermont, N. Y., four years before the
+suicide.</p>
+
+<p>A wanderer in life, Hartwick after his death was long in quest of a
+peaceful grave. His remains were first buried in the graveyard of the
+Lutheran church in East Camp. Two years later, in accordance with the
+wish expressed in Hartwick's will, the body was removed and entombed
+beneath the pulpit of Ebenezer church, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>at the corner of Pine and Lodge
+streets, in Albany, deposited in a stone coffin, secured by brickwork,
+and covered with an inscribed slab of marble. In 1869, when the church
+was rebuilt, the body was removed to the public cemetery in Albany. When
+this cemetery was converted into Washington Park, Hartwick's body was
+transferred to the lot of the First Lutheran church in the Albany Rural
+Cemetery on the Troy road, where his dust is now contained in an unknown
+and forgotten grave. The board of trustees of Hartwick Seminary
+afterward ordered that Hartwick's remains should be disinterred and
+brought for burial to the town to which he gave his name, but the
+remains could not be found.</p>
+
+<p>The marble slab that once covered the body of Hartwick in Ebenezer
+church lay for many years beneath the basement floor of the First
+Lutheran church, which succeeded the older building. In 1913 this relic
+of Hartwick's sepulchre was sent to the seminary which he founded, where
+it occupies once more a place of honor. Besides Hartwick's name, and the
+record of his birth and death, the marble bears, inscribed in German,
+this sentiment:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Man's life, in its appointed limit,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is seventy, is eighty years;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But care and grief and anguish dim it,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">However joyous it appears.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The winged moments swiftly flee,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bear us to eternity.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The village of Hartwick is distantly connected with another religious
+movement which the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>founder of Hartwick Seminary would have viewed with
+the utmost abhorrence. In 1820, and for several years thereafter, first
+in the house of John Davison, and afterward in Jerome Clark's attic, lay
+an old trunk containing the closely handwritten pages of a romance
+entitled <i>The Manuscript Found</i>, by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding. This was
+written in 1812, in Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, where the
+exploration of earth mounds containing skeletons and other relics fired
+Spaulding's imagination, and suggested the character of his tale. It was
+written in Biblical style, and for the purpose of the romance was
+presented as a translation from hieroglyphical writing upon metal plates
+exhumed from a mound, to which the author had been guided by a vision.
+It purported to be a history of the peopling of America by the lost
+tribes of Israel. Spaulding frequently read the manuscript to circles of
+admiring friends, and afterward carried it to Pittsburgh, leaving it, in
+the hope of having it published, in the care of a printer named
+Patterson. The manuscript was finally rejected. Spaulding died, and in
+1820 his widow married John Davison of Hartwick, to which place the old
+trunk containing her first husband's manuscript was sent.</p>
+
+<p>In 1823 Joseph Smith gave out that he had been directed in a vision to a
+hill near Palmyra, New York, where he discovered some gold plates
+curiously inscribed, and containing a new revelation. This supposed
+revelation he published in 1830 as the "Book of Mormon."</p>
+
+<p>Mormonism flourished and moved westward. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>In the course of time a Mormon
+meeting was held in Conneaut, Ohio, and out of curiosity was largely
+attended by the townspeople. Some readings were given from the Book of
+Mormon, and certain of the hearers were astonished at the similarity
+between Joseph Smith's book and <i>The Manuscript Found</i>, which Solomon
+Spaulding had read aloud to friends in the same town many years before.
+They recognized the same peculiar names, unheard of elsewhere, such as
+Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite, and Nephi. It was learned, it is said, that
+Smith had closely followed Spaulding's story, adding only his own
+peculiar tenets about marriage, and inventing the theory of the great
+spectacles by means of which he professed to have deciphered the
+mysterious characters.</p>
+
+<p>Spaulding's friends raised a question which has never been cleared up
+and was at last forgotten. It was pointed out that Sidney Rigdon, who
+figured as a preacher and as an adviser of Smith among the first of the
+"Latter Day Saints," happened to have been an employ&eacute; in Patterson's
+printing office in Pittsburgh during the very period when Spaulding's
+manuscript was there awaiting approval or rejection. But the matter was
+never brought to a definite issue, and nothing more came of it except a
+rather curious episode. Mrs. Davison removed from Hartwick about 1828,
+leaving the trunk in charge of Jerome Clark. In 1834 a man named
+Hurlburt sought Mrs. Davison, and said that he had been sent by a
+committee to procure <i>The Manuscript Found</i>, written by Solomon
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>Spaulding, so as to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a
+letter from her brother, William H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley, upon
+whose farm Joseph Smith had been an employ&eacute;, requesting her to lend the
+manuscript to Hurlburt, in order "to uproot this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt
+represented that he himself had been a convert to Mormonism, but had
+given it up, and wished to expose its wickedness. On Hurlburt's repeated
+promise to return the work, Mrs. Davison gave him a note addressed to
+Jerome Clark of Hartwick, requesting him to open the old trunk and
+deliver the manuscript. This was done. Hurlburt took the manuscript, and
+not only did he never return it, but he never replied to any of the many
+letters requesting its return. The Spaulding manuscript has utterly
+disappeared.<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>The year 1768 brings another unique personage into the field of our
+local history. In that year the English met the Indians at Fort Stanwix
+(Rome, Oneida county) in a conference which resulted in establishing a
+formally acknowledged boundary between the territory of the red men and
+the land which the colonists had begun to make their own. The lands of
+the upper Susquehanna thus became, prior to the Revolution, the extreme
+western frontier of old New York, and Otsego Lake was included within
+English territory by a margin, at the west, of about twenty miles. Sir
+William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, conducted the
+negotiations, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>the securing of the Fort Stanwix deed was one of the
+most astute accomplishments of his long career.</p>
+
+<p>An interested party to these proceedings was Sir William's deputy agent
+for Indian affairs, Colonel George Croghan, who had accompanied him to
+the conference. Nearly twenty years before, Croghan had obtained from
+the Indians a tract of land near Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), in
+Pennsylvania. During this Fort Stanwix conference which established the
+new frontier Croghan succeeded in getting confirmation of the former
+grant, with the privilege of making an exchange for a tract of equal
+extent in the region now ceded to the English. Under this agreement
+Croghan and certain associates afterward took up 100,000 acres of land
+in what are now Otsego, Burlington, and New Lisbon townships, Otsego
+county.<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> And so it came about that in the next year, 1769, Colonel
+George Croghan came to the foot of Otsego Lake, built him a hut, and was
+the first settler on the present site of Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<p>The story of the fortune and failure of Croghan, who was a remarkable
+and picturesque character, reads like a romance. He so far surpassed all
+men of his time in genius for commerce with the Indians, and in skillful
+marketing of Indian products, that Hanna calls him "The King of the
+Traders." Lavish in his expenditures, big in his ventures, he made and
+lost fortunes with equal facility. He alternated between the height <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>of
+opulence and the verge of bankruptcy. Like Sir William Johnson, Croghan
+had a special aptitude for making friendships with the Indians, so that,
+according to his own statement, "he was in such favor and confidence
+with the councils of the Six Nations that he was, in the year 1746,
+admitted by them as a Councillor into the Onondaga Councill, which is
+the Supreme Councill of the Six Nations. He understands the Language of
+the Six Nations and of several other of the Indian nations."<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>Long before the sojourn in Otsego, Croghan had become, during his fits
+of prosperity, a power in the Pennsylvania region, and probably deserved
+the pungently qualified praise of Hassler, who, in his <i>Old
+Westmoreland</i>, declares that "the man of most influence in this
+community [Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh] was the fat old Trader and
+Indian-Agent, Colonel George Croghan, who lived on a pretentious
+plantation about four miles up the Allegheny River&mdash;an Irishman by birth
+and an Episcopalian by religion, when he permitted religion to trouble
+him."</p>
+
+<p>Two documents relating to Croghan illustrate his extremes of fortune;
+the one a petition to protect him against imprisonment for debt, the
+other a complaint against him as a monopolist of the fur trade. It seems
+that in 1755 Croghan had been compelled by impending bankruptcy and fear
+of the debtor's prison to remove from settled parts of Pennsylvania, and
+to take refuge in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>Indian country. Here he was in great danger from
+the French and their Indians, but wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania
+that he was more afraid of imprisonment for debt than of losing his
+scalp. At a meeting of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November, 1755,
+fifteen creditors of Croghan presented a petition that Croghan and his
+partner, William Trent, be rendered free from debt for a space of ten
+years. The petition recited that there should be taken into
+consideration "the great knowledge of said George Croghan in Indian
+affairs, his extensive influence among them, and the service and public
+utility he may be of to this Province in these respects."<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> In
+accordance with this petition a bill was passed by which Croghan was
+freed from the danger of arrest for debt, and, although the act was
+vetoed by King George II three years later, Croghan evidently made
+profitable use of his liberty.</p>
+
+<p>On July 9, 1759, less than four years after Croghan so narrowly escaped
+the debtor's prison, a complaint from Philadelphia was addressed to the
+Governor of Pennsylvania protesting against Croghan's policy of crushing
+competitors in the trade with Indians by a control of prices in skins
+and peltry.<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> The complaint was signed by the eight Provincial
+Commissioners for the Indian Trade newly appointed by the Assembly,
+including Edward Pennington, the celebrated Quaker merchant of
+Philadelphia; Thomas Willing, afterward <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>a member of the Continental
+Congress, and the first president of the Bank of North America, the
+earliest chartered in the country; and William Fisher, who was mayor of
+Philadelphia just before the Revolution. Such formidable opposition
+shows that Croghan, from being an object of pity to his creditors, had
+risen to affluence as the head of a "trust."</p>
+
+<p>Owing to his business methods, some of the Quakers were not well
+disposed toward Croghan. At a conference with the Delawares and Six
+Nations held at Easton, in 1758, one of the Quakers present wrote home
+an account of the proceedings in a tone not favorable to Croghan. "He
+treats them [the Indians] with liquor," wrote the Quaker, "and gives out
+that he himself is an Indian.... At the close of the conference one
+Nichos, a Mohawk, made a speech.... This Nichos is G. Croghan's
+father-in-law."</p>
+
+<p>If Croghan is to be believed, however, he was opposed to giving liquor
+to the Indians. While arranging for this very conference he had written
+to Secretary Richard Peters of Pennsylvania, "You'll excuse boath
+writing and peper, and guess at my maining, fer I have at this minnitt
+20 drunken Indians about me. I shall be ruined if ye taps are not
+stopt."</p>
+
+<p>Although Croghan had come to America in 1741, this letter, with its
+"guess at my maining," and another in which he has "lase" for "lease,"
+suggest that, if his pronunciation may be judged from his spelling, he
+retained a rich Irish brogue. Certainly his Irish wit and good nature
+served <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>him well in his dealing with the Indians. He was frequently
+useful in outwitting the French Indian-agents, and in maintaining the
+friendship of the red men for the English as against the French. General
+Bouquet, who seems to have detested Croghan, wrote to General Gage, at a
+time when new powers had been conferred upon Indian-agents, "It is to be
+regretted that powers of such importance should be trusted to a man
+illiterate, impudent, and ill-bred." Nevertheless, within a few months,
+Bouquet wrote to Gage recommending Croghan as the person most competent
+to negotiate with the Western Indians for British control of the French
+posts in the Illinois country&mdash;a mission upon which Croghan was wounded,
+captured, and pillaged by the Indians. In 1768 the General Assembly in
+Philadelphia put upon record, in a message to the Governor, a high
+opinion of Croghan, referring to "the eminent services he has rendered
+to the Nation and its Colonies in conciliating the affections of the
+Indians to the British interest."</p>
+
+<p>At the end of a stormy voyage from America, being shipwrecked on the
+Norman coast, Croghan reached England in February, 1764, bearing an
+important letter on Indian affairs from Sir William Johnson to the Lords
+of Trade. One might expect to find Croghan gratified by the comforts of
+London life as compared with the rough hardships of America. A scout
+under Washington's command, a captain of Indians under Braddock, a
+border ranger upon the western frontier, a trader upon the banks of the
+Ohio, a pioneer in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>many a wilderness, Croghan had seen all kinds of
+hard service in the twenty-three years since he left Ireland. But in the
+midst of metropolitan splendors he grew homesick for the wild life of
+the New World. Writing in March, and again in April, to American
+friends, he expressed his disgust with the city's pride and pomp,
+declared that he was sick of London and its vanities, and set forth as
+his chief ambition a desire to live on a little farm in America. In the
+autumn of the same year Croghan shipped for the long journey across the
+Atlantic. It is five years later that he appears at the foot of Otsego
+Lake, apparently in fulfillment of his desire to make a home and to be
+the founder of a settlement.</p>
+
+<p>In 1769 Richard Smith came to the Susquehanna region from Burlington,
+New Jersey. The immediate purpose of his tour was to make a survey of
+the Otsego patent in which he, as one of the proprietors, was
+interested. Smith traveled up the Hudson River to Albany, thence along
+the Mohawk to Canajoharie, from which point his carefully kept
+journal<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> abounds in interesting allusions to Otsego:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"13th. May. ... Pursuing a S. W. Course for Cherry Valley
+[from Canajoharie]. We met, on their Return, Four Waggons,
+which had carried some of Col. Croghan's Goods to his Seat at
+the Foot of Lake Otsego.... Capt. Prevost ... is now improving
+his Estate at the Head of the Lake; the Capt. married
+Croghan's Daughter....</p>
+
+<p>"14th. ... Distance from Cherry Valley to Capt. Prevost's is 9
+miles.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>"15th. ... We arrived at Capt. Prevost's in 4 Hours, the Road
+not well cleared, but full of Stumps and rugged, thro' deep
+blac Mould all the Way.... Mr. Prevost has built a Log House,
+lined with rough Boards, of one story, on a Cove, which forms
+the Head of Lake Otsego. He has cleared 16 or 18 acres round
+his House and erected a Saw Mill. He began to settle only in
+May last.... The Capt. treated us elegantly. He has several
+Families seated near him....</p>
+
+<p>"16th. We proceeded in Col. Croghan's Batteau, large and sharp
+at each end, down the Lake,... The Water of greenish cast,
+denoting probable Limestone bottom; the Lake is skirted on
+either side with Hills covered by White Pines and the Spruce
+called Hemloc chiefly. We saw a Number of Ducks, some Loons,
+Sea-gulls, and Whitish coloured Swallows, the Water very clear
+so that we descried the gravelly Bottom in one Part 10 or 12
+Feet down. The rest of the Lake seemed to be very deep; very
+little low Land is to be seen round the Lake. Mr. Croghan,
+Deputy to Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent for Indian
+Affairs, is now here, and has Carpenters and other Men at Work
+preparing to build Two Dwelling Houses and 5 or 6 Out Houses.
+His Situation [on the site of the Cooper Grounds, within the
+present village of Cooperstown] commands a view of the whole
+Lake, and is in that Respect superior to Prevost's. The site
+is a gravelly, stiff clay, covered with towering white Pines,
+just where the River Susquehannah, no more than 10 or 12 yards
+broad, runs downward out of the Lake with a strong
+Current.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> Here we found a Body of Indians, mostly from
+Ahquhaga,<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> come to pay their Devoirs to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>Col.; some of
+them speak a little English.... We lodged at Col. Croghan's.</p>
+
+<p>"23rd. ... At Col. Croghan's ... being rainy, we staid here
+all day.</p>
+
+<p>"24th. It rained again. The Elevated Hills of this country
+seem to intercept the flying vapors and draw down more
+moisture than more humble places.... With 3 carpenters felled
+a white Pine Tree and began a Canoe.... Some Trout were caught
+this Morng. 22 Inches long; they are spotted like ours with
+Yellow Bellies, yellow flesh when boiled &amp;amp; wide mouths. There
+are Two species, the Common &amp;amp; the Salmon Trout. Some Chubs
+were likewise taken, above a Foot in length. The other Fish
+common in the Lake &amp;amp; other Waters, according to Information,
+are Pickerel, large and shaped like a Pike, Red Perch, Catfish
+reported to be upwards of Two feet long, Eels, Suckers, Pike,
+a few shad and some other Sorts not as yet perfectly known.
+The Bait now used is Pidgeon's Flesh or Guts, for Worms are
+scarce. The Land Frogs or Toads are very large, spotted with
+green and yellow, Bears and Deer are Common.... Muscetoes &amp;
+Gnats are now troublesome. We observed a natural Strawberry
+Patch before Croghan's Door which is at present in bloom, we
+found the Ground Squirrels and small red squirrels very
+numerous and I approached near to one Rabbit whose Face
+appeared of a blac Colour.</p>
+
+<p>"25th. We finished and launched our Canoe into the Lake. She
+is 32 feet 7 inches in Length and 2 Feet 4 inches broad....</p>
+
+<p>"27th. ... We engaged Joseph Brant, the Mohawk, to go down
+with us to Aquahga. Last night a drunken Indian came and
+kissed Col. Croghan and me very joyously. Here are Natives of
+different Nations almost continually. They visit the Deputy
+Superintendent as Dogs to the Bone, for what they can get....</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>"We found many petrified Shells in these Parts, &amp; sometimes on
+the Tops of High Hills.... Col. Croghan showed us a piece of
+Copper Ore, as supposed. The Indian who gave it to him said he
+found it on our Tract.... Col. C says that some of his Cows
+were out in the Woods all last Winter without Hay, and they
+now look well....</p>
+
+<p>"The Col. had a Cargo of Goods arrived to-day, such as Hogs,
+Poultry, Crockery ware, and Glass. The settled Indian Wages
+here are 4s a Day, York Currency, being Half a Dollar.</p>
+
+<p>"28th. Sunday. I had an Opportunity of inspecting the Bark
+Canoes often used by the Natives; these Boats are constructed
+of a single sheet of Bark, stripped from the Elm, Hiccory, or
+Chesnut, 12 or 14 Feet long, and 3 or 4 Feet broad, and sharp
+at each End, and these sewed with thongs of the same Bark. In
+Lieu of a Gunnel, they have a small Pole fastned with Thongs,
+sticks across &amp; Ribs of Bark, and they deposit Sheets of Bark
+in her Bottom to prevent Breaches there. These vessels are
+very light, each broken and often patched with Pieces of Bark
+as well as corked with Oakum composed of pounded Bark.</p>
+
+<p>"The Col. talks of building a Saw Mill and Grist Mill here on
+the Susquehannah, near his House, and has had a Millwright to
+view the Spot.</p>
+
+<p>"29th. Myself, with Joseph Brant, his wife and Child, and
+another Young Mohawk named James, went down in the new Canoe
+to our upper Corner.... This River ... is full of Logs and
+Trees, and short, crooked Turns, and the Navigation for Canoes
+and Batteaux requires dexterity."</p></div>
+
+<p>The household which Smith visited at the foot of Otsego Lake was an
+interesting one, and had some remarkable connections. There was not only
+"the fat old trader, and Indian-agent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>Colonel George Croghan," but
+also his Indian wife, daughter of the Mohawk chief Nichos, or Nickas, of
+Canajoharie. Catherine,<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> the Colonel's little daughter, then ten
+years old, helped her Indian mother with the household tasks, or danced
+in her play about the cabin door, little dreaming that she was afterward
+to become the third wife of Joseph Brant, the famous chieftain who had
+just guided Richard Smith down the Susquehanna.</p>
+
+<p>Croghan's elder daughter, Susannah, who had married Captain Augustine
+Prevost, was the child of Croghan's first wife, a white woman. Capt. and
+Mrs. Prevost lived at the head of Otsego Lake, in a house where
+Swanswick now stands. Before the coming of Prevost, a settlement had
+been made here as early as 1762,<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> the earliest permanent settlement
+on Otsego Lake. Captain Augustine Prevost, or Major Prevost, as he
+afterward became, was born at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1744, and died at
+the age of 77 years, at Greenville, N. Y., where the Prevost mansion
+still stands. He was twice married, and had twenty-two children. Prevost
+was beloved as a bosom friend and companion by Joseph Brant, and their
+intimacy was interrupted, much to the Mohawk's sorrow, only when Prevost
+was ordered to join his regiment in Jamaica in 1772. This friendship
+with Croghan's son-in-law seems to have brought the famous Mohawk
+chieftain as a frequent visitor to Otsego Lake, and may account for his
+attachment and subsequent marriage to Croghan's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>younger daughter. Thus
+is completed the circle of intimates that gathered at Croghan's hut, on
+the present site of Cooperstown, in 1769&mdash;the Irish trader; his Indian
+squaw; the British officer and his wife; the young half-Indian girl; and
+the Mohawk warrior whose name was to become a terror to settlers
+throughout the Susquehanna Valley&mdash;the same who afterward was received
+at court in London, who dined with Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, was
+lionized by Boswell, and had his portrait painted by Romney.<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p>
+
+<p>Croghan's attempted settlement was not a success. He began to show signs
+of failing health and waning fortune. On July 18, 1769, he wrote from
+Lake Otsego to Thomas Wharton of Philadelphia, "Eight days ago I was
+favored with yours. I should have answered it before now, but was then
+lying in a violent fit of the gout, for ye first time, wh. has confin'd
+me to bed for 18 days, &amp; now am only able to sit up on ye bedside."
+During the next winter Croghan was in New York and Philadelphia, but in
+March and April, 1770, he was again at Otsego, whence he wrote to Sir
+William Johnson concerning financial difficulties. In May he wrote of a
+proposed journey southward for his health and business interests.</p>
+
+<p>But Croghan was never in business for his health. In October he was once
+more on his old plantation near Fort Pitt, where Washington, on an
+exploring expedition, visited him and dined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>with him. It seems that he
+was trying to persuade Washington to buy land of him in the West, and,
+according to Washington's surveyor, Captain William Crawford, was using
+Washington's prospective purchases as an inducement to others, at the
+same time not being very sure of his title, "selling any land that any
+person will buy of him, inside or outside of his line."</p>
+
+<p>Croghan never returned to Otsego. He mortgaged his tract of land to
+William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, and lost it under
+foreclosure in 1773. The title later passed to William Cooper and Andrew
+Craig, both of Burlington, New Jersey, which was also the home of
+Richard Smith, who had visited Croghan at Otsego.</p>
+
+<p>Appended to one of Croghan's deeds is a map purporting to show the
+improvements which he had made at the foot of the lake, but, says
+Fenimore Cooper, "it is supposed that this map was made for effect."
+When William Cooper first visited the spot, in 1785, the only building
+was one of hewn logs, about fifteen feet square, probably Croghan's hut,
+deserted and dismantled, standing in the space now included in the
+Cooper Grounds, near the site of the present Clark Estate office. Except
+for the visit of Clinton's troops in 1779, the place had been abandoned
+for fifteen years. The only signs of "improvements" were seen in a few
+places cleared of underbrush, with felled and girdled trees, and in the
+remains of some log fences already falling into ruin. Silence and
+desolation had fallen upon "the little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>farm in America" upon which
+Croghan had dreamed of passing his declining years.</p>
+
+<p>In an inventory of the estate of Alexander Ross of Pittsburgh, 1784,
+appears in the record of effects a promissory note made by George
+Croghan, with this appended remark: "Dead, and no Property."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, 32.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, 61.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Four Great Rivers</i>, Halsey, lvii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Four Great Rivers</i>, 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Henry M. Pohlman, D.D., <i>Hartwick Seminary Memorial
+Volume</i>, 1867, p. 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Pohlman, 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> James Pitcher, D.D., <i>Centennial Address</i>, 1897, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Hartwick Sem. Mem.</i>, 27.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>History of Cooperstown</i>, Livermore, 11.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> "The Book of Mormon," <i>Scribner's Magazine</i>, August,
+1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>The Wilderness Trail</i>, Chas. A. Hanna, II, 59, 60.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>The Wilderness Trail</i>, II, 30.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>The Wilderness Trail</i>, II, 8.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> do., II, 20.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Published in <i>Four Great Rivers</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> This current is now sluggish, owing to the dam of the
+water works lower down the river.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> The largest Indian village in the Susquehanna Valley,
+about 50 miles in an air line from Otsego, twice as far by water,
+situated on the river at a point where the present village of Windsor
+stands, some 14 miles easterly from Binghamton.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>The Wilderness Trail</i>, II, 84.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, 125.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, 320.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>A BYPATH OF THE REVOLUTION</h3>
+
+
+<p>The settlers on the New York frontier were many of them Scotch-Irish,
+nursing an inherited hostility to England. The greater part of the
+Iroquois Indians, more particularly the Mohawks, had a sentimental
+regard for the covenant which, for a century, had made the red men loyal
+to the British king. Here was a native antagonism between settlers and
+Indians which during the Revolution partly contributed to the warfare of
+torch and scalping knife that raged in the Susquehanna region.</p>
+
+<p>Brant, the Mohawk chief, although himself a full-blooded Indian, known
+among his own people as Thayendanegea, had become, through long
+association with Sir William Johnson and his friends, a king's man and
+churchman. With the doctrines of the Church of England which he had
+embraced on becoming a communicant, he adopted also the contempt for
+dissenters which was so common among churchmen. Once, on tasting a
+crabapple, it is said, Brant puckered up his mouth, and exclaimed, "It
+is as bitter as a Presbyterian!" While in other parts of the country
+many churchmen espoused the cause of American independence, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>it happened
+that in the Susquehanna region the patriots were generally Calvinists.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 40%;">
+<a name="photo_52" id="photo_52"></a><img src="images/photo_52.jpg" alt="Joseph Brant" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Joseph Brant</span><br />
+From the portrait by Romney</p></div>
+
+
+<p>Another contributory cause of trouble between the Indians and
+frontiersmen had to do with the lands around the Mohawk villages,
+concerning which there had been frequent disputes since the Fort Stanwix
+treaty.<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>In May, 1777, Brant established himself with a band of Indian warriors
+and some Tories at Unadilla, driving out the settlers, and serving
+notice upon all that they must either leave the country or declare
+themselves for the English cause. At a conference held among officers of
+the American forces it was decided that General Nicholas Herkimer, the
+military chief of Tryon county, (which then included the region that
+later became Otsego county), should go to Unadilla to parley with the
+Indians. Herkimer, with 380 men, came down from Canajoharie through
+Cherry Valley to Otsego Lake, and thence along the Susquehanna River to
+Unadilla, which he reached late in June. Thus the Indian trail which
+passed near Council Rock was first used as the path of the paleface
+warriors.</p>
+
+<p>The conference at Unadilla found the Indians fully determined for the
+British cause, and came to an abrupt termination, beneath darkened
+skies, amid a hubbub of Mohawk war-whoops and the rattle of a sudden
+hailstorm that swooped down upon the assemblage. Herkimer marched his
+men back to Cherry Valley.<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p>Six weeks later the battle of Oriskany was fought, a victory for the
+militia of Tryon County, but a costly victory, for it inflamed their
+hitherto lukewarm Indian enemies with the spirit of revenge, and set in
+motion the forces of border warfare which during the next five years
+desolated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>the frontier. The forays along the border had a direct
+relation to the central conflict of the Revolutionary War. With the
+Indians for allies it was the policy of the British to harry the
+settlers on the frontier, in order to draw away to their defense forces
+that were essential to the strength of the Americans in the Hudson
+Valley. Aside from motives of private vengeance among Indians and
+Tories, this was the military purpose which determined the burning of
+Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake, in June, 1778, and the massacre
+of Cherry Valley in November.<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
+
+<p>To protect the frontier against further raids, an expedition was
+planned, consisting of two divisions: one under General John Sullivan,
+which was to cross from Easton to the Susquehanna, and thence ascend the
+river to Tioga Point (Athens, Pa.); the other, under General James
+Clinton, was to proceed from Albany up the Mohawk to Canajoharie,
+crossing to Otsego Lake, and going thence down the Susquehanna to Tioga
+Point, where the two divisions were to unite in a combined attack upon
+the Indian settlements in Western New York.<a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> This expedition involved
+one-third of Washington's whole army.</p>
+
+<p>General Clinton's force included about 1,800 men, bringing three months'
+provisions and 220 boats from Schenectady up the Mohawk to Canajoharie,
+where the brigade went into camp.</p>
+
+<p>The twenty miles overland to Otsego Lake was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>traversed during the
+latter part of June, 1779, the boats and stores being carried in wagons,
+several hundred horses having been made ready for this purpose at
+Canajoharie. Part of the brigade reached the lake by means of the
+Continental road, of which traces still remain, leading to the shore
+near the mouth of Shadow Brook in Hyde Bay.<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Here they launched their
+fleet of bateaux and floated down the lake to their landing at the
+present site of Cooperstown. "This passage down the lake was made on a
+lovely summer's day, and the surrounding hills being covered with living
+green, every dash of the oar throwing up the clear, sparkling water, a
+thousand delighted warblers greeting them from the shores as the
+response of the martial music from the boats&mdash;the whole being so
+entirely novel&mdash;the effect must have been truly enchanting and
+picturesque."<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>Apparently not all the regiments took the same route. Lieut. Erkuries
+Beatty, of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, says in his journal<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>
+that "the regiment marched by Cherry Valley to the lower end of the
+lake," while the baggage of the detachment went to the Springfield
+landing, with a proper guard. From this point, himself being in the
+party, "we put the baggage on board boats," he says, "and proceeded to
+the lower end of the lake, and found the regiment there before us."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>During the first week in July the entire brigade had become encamped at
+the foot of the lake, to remain here, as it turned out, for a period of
+five weeks. The present Cooper Grounds, where the Indians, long before,
+had planted their apple trees, and where Colonel Croghan, in 1769, had
+built his hut, now became the scene of a military encampment. Lieut.
+Beatty's journal describes the location of the various regiments in Camp
+Lake Otsego, as it was called. Croghan's house, which stood near the
+site of the present Clark Estate office, was used as a magazine, and
+around it was encamped a company of artillery, under Capt. Thomas
+Machin. Here also the stores were gathered. On the right of the
+artillery, facing the lake, the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment was
+encamped, while on the left were the tents of Colonel Peter Gansevoort's
+Third New York Regiment. At the latter's rear, in the second line, was
+the Fifth New York, under command of Col. Lewis Dubois; behind the
+artillery camp lay Col. Alden's Sixth Massachusetts Regiment; and the
+Fourth New York, under Lieut.-Col. Weissenfels, occupied the space at
+the rear of the Fourth Pennsylvania. A few Oneida Indians came with Col.
+Alden's regiment and encamped on the banks of the lake, where "they all
+soon got drunk," says Beatty, "and made a terrible noise."</p>
+
+<p>On the Fourth of July, which fell upon Sunday, the third anniversary of
+the American Independence was celebrated at Camp Lake Otsego, General
+Clinton "being pleased to order that all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>troops under his command
+should draw a gill of rum per man, extraordinary, in memory of that
+happy event." The troops assembled at three o'clock in the afternoon and
+paraded on the bank at the south end of the lake. The brigade was drawn
+up in one line along the shore, with the two pieces of artillery on the
+right. The ceremony of the occasion is described by Lieut. van
+Hovenburgh as a "fudie joy."<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> A salute of thirteen guns was fired by
+the artillery, and three volleys from the muskets of the infantry, with
+three cheers from all the troops after each fire. The troops were then
+drawn up in a circle by columns on a little hill, and the Rev. John
+Gano, a Baptist minister, chaplain of the brigade, preached from Exodus
+xii, 14: "This day shall be unto you for a memorial ... throughout your
+generations." After the dismissal of the troops, Col. Rignier, the
+Adjutant General, gave an invitation to all the officers to come and
+drink grog with him in the evening. "Accordingly," says Lieut. Beatty,
+"a number of officers (almost all) assembled at a large Bowry which he
+had prepared on the bank of the lake. We sat on the ground in a large
+circle, and closed the day with a number of toasts suitable and a great
+deal of mirth for two or three hours, and then returned to our tents."</p>
+
+<p>The stay at Otsego Lake seems to have been for the most part a pleasant
+experience. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>was plenty to eat. A drove of fat cattle was brought
+from the Mohawk valley for the use of the troops. The Sixth
+Massachusetts improved upon the culinary equipment of camp life by the
+construction of a huge oven. Lieut. McKendry writes enthusiastically of
+the delicious apples and cucumbers gathered near the camp.<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Col.
+Rignier was a leader of fishing parties, and quantities of trout were
+taken from the lake to be served sizzling hot from the coals to hungry
+soldiers. There was much liquid refreshment, for the officers at least,
+which came not from lake or river. On June 28th there had been a
+luncheon of officers at Camp Liberty, Low's Mills (near Swanswick),
+greatly enlivened by the toasts that were drunk, for General Clinton had
+given to each officer a keg of rum containing two gallons. On July 7,
+Lieut. Beatty records that "all the officers of the line met this
+evening at the large Bower, and took a sociable drink of grog given by
+Col. Gansevoort's officers." This sociable drink seems to have created
+an appetite for more. Under date of July 8, the next day, this laconic
+entry appears in the journal of Lieut. McKendry: "The officers drew each
+one keg more of rum."</p>
+
+<p>Had the journals of the officers been more confiding in their records,
+an intimate view of the camp life might have been disclosed to
+posterity. For example, judging from McKendry's journal alone, Sunday,
+August 1, was decorously uneventful. He has this entry:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p><p>"August 1, Sunday&mdash;Mr. Gano delivered a sermon."</p>
+
+<p>Lieut. Beatty also remembers the sermon, but frankly subordinates it to
+other incidents of the day to which Lieut. McKendry was indifferent, or
+thought best not to allude. Beatty has this comment:</p>
+
+<p>"August 1, Sunday&mdash;To-day at 11 o'clock the officers of the brigade met
+agreeable to general orders to learn the Salute with the Sword. The
+General's curiosity led him out to see how they saluted.</p>
+
+<p>"After they were dismissed the officers formed a circle round the
+General and requested of him to give them a keg of rum to drink. We
+little expected to have the favour granted us, but we happened to take
+the General in one of his generous thoughts, which he is but seldom
+possessed of, and instead of one he gave us six. We gratefully
+acknowledged the favour with thanks, and immediately repaired to the
+cool spring<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> where we drank two of our kegs with a great deal of
+mirth and harmony, toasting the General frequently&mdash;and then returned to
+our dinners. In the afternoon Parson Gano gave us a sermon."</p>
+
+<p>On the next morning at 11 o'clock the officers again assembled at the
+spring "to finish the remainder of our kegs," says Beatty, "which we did
+with the sociability we had done the day before," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>and, he might have
+added, with twice as much rum.</p>
+
+<p>To the troops in general rum was measured out with a more sparing hand.
+Their pleasures were of a simpler kind, and they seem to have contented
+themselves with fishing in the lake, hunting and roaming through the
+woods, inviting an occasional attack from stray Indians, which added the
+zest of adventure to the routine of camp life. One Sunday afternoon some
+soldiers found, concealed in a thicket of bushes and covered with bark,
+near one of the pickets, "a very fine chest of carpenter's tools, and
+some books, map, and number of papers. It is supposed," says Beatty,
+"that it was the property of Croghan who formerly lived here, but is now
+gone to the enemy. Therefore the chest is a lawful prize to the men that
+found it."</p>
+
+<p>The five weeks at the foot of Otsego Lake were not, however, passed in
+idleness. The troops were drilled every day. Target practice for the
+musketry is recorded by the journals of officers, and a brass
+cannon-ball marked "J. C.," found more than a century later in the Glen
+road, west of the village, suggests that the artillery was also engaged
+in the perfecting of its marksmanship, which must have awakened strange
+echoes amid the hills of Otsego.</p>
+
+<p>There were two incidents of camp life that were long remembered among
+Clinton's troops, the one a bit of comedy, the other a grim commonplace
+of martial law. The latter related to the discipline of deserters, to
+whom various degrees of punishment were meted out by court-martial. On
+July 20 two deserters were brought into camp, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>and on the next day three
+others. The more fortunate were sentenced to be whipped. Sergeant
+Spears, of the Sixth Massachusetts, was tied to a tree, and the woods
+resounded to the blows of the lash, until one hundred strokes had fallen
+upon his naked back. Another soldier received five hundred lashes. Three
+were sentenced to be shot&mdash;Jonathan Pierce, soldier in the Sixth
+Massachusetts Regiment; Frederick Snyder, of the Fourth Pennsylvania;
+Anthony Dunnavan, of the Third New York.</p>
+
+<p>On July 28, at nine o'clock in the morning, the whole brigade was
+ordered out on grand parade to witness the execution of the three men.
+The condemned deserters were required to stand, with their backs to the
+river, on the rise of land at the west side of the lake's outlet. The
+troops were drawn up facing them. A firing squad made ready.</p>
+
+<p>All stood motionless, expectant, silent. It was a day that blazed with
+sunshine, intensely hot.<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> The air was breathless. Shore and sky were
+reflected, as in a mirror, from the unruffled surface of the lake.
+Meantime information had come to General Clinton that Dunnavan had
+previously deserted from the British army to join the Americans, and
+afterward had persuaded the two younger men to desert with him from the
+American forces. Clinton, manifestly glad of an excuse for leniency,
+pardoned Pierce and Snyder on the spot.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p><p>Concerning Dunnavan he was obdurate. "He is good for neither king nor
+country," exclaimed the General; "Let him be shot."</p>
+
+<p>A crash of musketry, with a puff of smoke, and Dunnavan dropped. The
+troops marched back to camp. The deserter's body was buried in an
+unmarked grave.<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>The other incident relates to some negro troops who were included in the
+brigade. That they might readily be distinguished the negroes wore wool
+hats with the brim and lower half of the crown colored black&mdash;the
+remainder being left drab, or the native color. A company or two of
+these black soldiers were included in a part of the brigade that was one
+day being drilled by Col. Rignier, the popular French officer, a large,
+well-made, jovial fellow, who was acting as Adjutant General. One of the
+negro soldiers, from inattention, failed to execute a command in proper
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo!" cried the colonel, "you black son of a&mdash;wid a wite face!&mdash;why
+you no mind you beezness?"</p>
+
+<p>This hasty exclamation in broken English so pleased the troops that a
+general burst of laughter followed. Seeing the men mirthful at his
+expense, the colonel good-humoredly gave the command to order arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said he, "laugh your pelly full all!"</p>
+
+<p>The French colonel himself joined in the shout <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>that followed, while
+hill and dale echoed the boisterous merriment.<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p>
+
+<p>Clinton's expedition is chiefly memorable in Cooperstown for the exploit
+by which the heavily laden bateaux, when the brigade departed for the
+south, were carried down the Susquehanna. The river was too shallow and
+narrow, in the first reaches of its course, to offer easy passage for
+the heavy boats, and for some distance the stream was clogged with
+flood-wood and fallen trees. This difficulty was overcome by building a
+dam at the outlet of Otsego Lake, raising its level to such a point
+that, when the water was released, the more than two hundred bateaux
+were readily guided down the swollen stream.</p>
+
+<p>The preparation for this feat preceded the encampment of the brigade on
+the shore of the lake. On June 21, before Clinton had left Canajoharie,
+Colonel William Butler, who had marched his Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment
+over from Cherry Valley to Springfield, "ordered a party of men to the
+foot of the Lake to dam the same,<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> that the water might be raised to
+carry the boats down the Susquehanna River; Captain Benjamin Warren, of
+the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded the party.... The water in
+the Lake was raised one foot." General Clinton says "at least two,"
+while another account claims that the surface of the lake was raised as
+much as three feet.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p><p>Another reference to this exploit is found in the journal of Lieut.
+Beatty, who says, under date of June 22, "On the lower end of the lake
+we found two companies of Col. Alden's (Sixth Mass.) Reg't, who had made
+a dam across the neck that runs out of the lake, so as to raise the
+water to carry the boats down the creek."</p>
+
+<p>On Friday, August 6, the following conversation took place at a
+conference between General Clinton and Chaplain Gano:<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p>
+
+<p>"Chaplain," said the General, "you will have your last preaching service
+here day after to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah indeed! Are we to march soon? Before another Sunday?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but I do not want the men to know it."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor shall I tell them; but General, am I at liberty to preach from any
+text I choose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Chaplain."</p>
+
+<p>"And you will not, in any event, tax me with violation of confidence?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! only stick to your Bible, and I'll give the official orders."</p>
+
+<p>On the following Sunday, beneath the arches of their forest cathedral,
+the brigade of nearly two thousand men was gathered for religious
+service. Chaplain Gano chose the text of the sermon from Acts xx. 7:
+"Ready to depart on the morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Immediately on the conclusion of the religious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>service, before the
+congregation had dispersed, "the general rose up," says the chaplain's
+record, "and ordered each captain to appoint a certain number of men out
+of his company to draw the boats from the lake and string them along the
+Susquehanna below the dam, and load them, that they might be ready to
+depart the next morning." At six o'clock in the evening the sluice-way
+was broken up, and the water filled the river, which was almost dry the
+day before.<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<p>On Monday morning the start was made. Each of the boats was manned by
+three men. The light infantry and rifle corps under Colonel Butler
+formed an advance guard. The soldiers marched on either side of the
+river. Another guard of infantry marched in the rear, and in the centre
+of the land lines the horses and cattle were driven. "The first day,"
+says McKendry, "the boats made thirty miles, and the troops marching
+each side of the river made sixteen."</p>
+
+<p>The freshet caused by the sudden release of the pent-up water swelled
+the stream for a distance of more than a hundred miles. Campbell says
+that as far south as Tioga the rise in the water was great enough to
+flow back into the western branch, causing the Chemung River to reverse
+its course. The <i>Gazetteer of New York</i> said that the Indians upon the
+banks of the Susquehanna, witnessing the extraordinary rise of the river
+in midsummer, without any apparent cause, were struck with superstitious
+dread, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>in the very outset were disheartened at the apparent
+interposition of the Great Spirit in favor of their foes. Stone observes
+that the sudden swelling of the river, bearing upon its surge a flotilla
+of more than two hundred vessels, through a region of primitive forests,
+was a spectacle which might well appall the untutored inhabitants of the
+region thus invaded.</p>
+
+<p>Clinton's brigade joined General Sullivan's division at Tioga Point on
+the 22nd of August. From this place the combined forces began a campaign
+of ruthless destruction against the Indians of the Genesee country.
+Stone says the Indians were hunted like wild beasts, their villages were
+burned, their corn was destroyed, their fruit trees were cut down; till
+neither house, nor field of corn, nor inhabitants remained in the whole
+country. The power of the Iroquois was gone. Homeless in their own land,
+the Indians marched to Niagara, where they passed the winter under the
+protection of the English.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Sullivan expedition had accomplished its purpose, with the loss of
+only forty men.</p>
+
+<p>In 1788, in the digging of the cellar of William Cooper's first house,
+which stood on Main Street at the present entrance of the Cooper
+Grounds, a large iron cannon was discovered, said to have been buried by
+Clinton's troops. For ten or twelve years after the settlement of the
+place, this cannon, which came to be affectionately known as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>"the
+Cricket," was the only piece of artillery used for the purposes of
+salutes and merrymakings in the vicinity of Cooperstown. After about
+fifty years of this service it burst in the cause of rejoicing on a
+certain Fourth of July. At the time of its final disaster (for it had
+met with many vicissitudes), it is said that there was no perceptible
+difference in size between its touchhole and its muzzle.<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1898, a building which stood in the Cooper Grounds next east of the
+Clark Estate office was removed, and in grading the land workmen found,
+just beneath the surface, the stump of a locust tree about two feet in
+diameter. This was about twenty-five feet east of the office building,
+and about the same distance from Main Street. The stump was pulled out
+by teams of horses, and beneath it, at a depth of about four feet from
+the surface, some charred material was found, and a mass of what proved
+to be, when cleansed of adhesions, American Army buttons of the
+Revolutionary period. The find was made by Charles J. Tuttle, a
+well-known mason and contractor of the village, and veteran of the Civil
+War. The buttons were of different sizes and shapes, some plated in
+silver, others in gold, while many were of brass. Within a short time
+the news of the find had spread through the village, and a troop of
+relic hunters gathered at the spot, but the hole had been filled up
+without further investigation. At the time of Clinton's encampment, in
+1779, there must have been a building <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>whose cellar had been used as a
+storeroom for military supplies. The charred material suggests that the
+building was at some time burned. The locust stump tells of a tree that
+sprang up amid the ruins, flourished, and died, within a hundred and
+twenty years after the departure of Clinton's troops.</p>
+
+<p>Fenimore Cooper, writing in 1838, said that traces of Clinton's dam were
+still to be seen. The last of the logs that remained of the old dam were
+removed on October 26, 1825, in connection with a curious local
+celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal, which on that day was the
+occasion of general rejoicing throughout the State of New York. Cannon,
+placed a few miles apart, from Buffalo to Albany, and thence to Sandy
+Hook, were proclaiming that Governor DeWitt Clinton, whose influence had
+so large a share in this great enterprise, had entered the first canal
+boat at Buffalo, and was on his way to New York. Since Governor Clinton
+was the son of General James Clinton, under whose command the dam at the
+outlet of Otsego Lake had been built, it seemed appropriate to the
+inhabitants that Cooperstown should have a celebration of its own, and
+could thus most auspiciously begin a project which some bold spirits
+then had in mind, nothing less than the construction of a Susquehanna
+Canal, to connect Cooperstown with the Erie Canal at the north, and with
+the coal fields of Pennsylvania at the south.</p>
+
+<p>On this occasion the villagers gathered in Christ Church for a religious
+service and to hear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>an address delivered by Samuel Starkweather, after
+which they marched in procession to the Red Lion Inn. Here a public
+banquet was served, and "after the removal of the cloth," says the
+contemporary account, "toasts were drunk under the discharge of cannon,
+most of them being succeeded by hearty cheering and animated airs from
+the band." The hopes which gave importance to this celebration are
+expressed in two of the toasts proposed, one by Henry Phinney, "The
+contemplated Susquehanna River Canal"; the other by Elisha Foote, "A
+speedy union of the pure waters of Otsego Lake with the Erie Canal."</p>
+
+<p>When the company had left the table the whole village marched to the
+river, and assembled on the shore near the site of Clinton's dam. Boat
+horns, (sometimes called canal horns) about six feet long, typical of
+the "long ditch," were then common, and furnished blasts of martial
+music amid the crowd. The multitude was mustered somewhat after the
+order of a brigade. One company, consisting of over forty men with
+wheelbarrows and shovels, known as "sappers, miners and excavators,"
+commanded by Captain William Wilson, marched with their comrades boldly
+to the scene of action. Lawrence McNamee, president of the day,
+personating Governor Clinton, threw the first shovelful of dirt. When
+the last remaining log of the old dam had been removed the procession
+marched back to the village, while the air was "rent with the huzzas of
+those who witnessed the first practical essay toward rendering the
+waters of the Susquehanna navigable for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>the purposes of commerce," and
+a nine-pounder upon the top of Mount Vision, at regular intervals, told
+the hills and valleys around that Cooperstown was rejoicing.<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is almost needless to say that the development of railway
+transportation put an end to this project for a canal.</p>
+
+<p>On September 2, 1901, another generation of people assembled near the
+outlet of the lake to witness the unveiling of a marker placed by Otsego
+Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Isabella Scott
+Ernst, regent, to indicate the site and to commemorate the fame of
+Clinton's dam.<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> The crowd approached the bank of the Susquehanna by
+descending from River Street, where an arch of bunting had been erected.
+A large float anchored near the western bank was trimmed with flags,
+bunting, and vines. Directly across the river, on the eastern point of
+the outlet, the newly erected marker was concealed beneath the folds of
+an American flag. While a band played "The Stars and Stripes Forever,"
+the spectators who lined the shore saw approaching from beneath the
+green foliage down the river a canoe paddled by a young man who wore the
+gay dress and war-paint of a Mohawk brave. Seated with him in the canoe
+were two little girls, attired in patriotic colors. The three in the
+canoe were lineal descendants of Revolutionary stock. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>The young girls
+were Jennie Ordelia Mason and Fannie May Converse, both descendants of
+James Parshall, an orderly sergeant who was present at the building of
+the dam in 1779. The Indian was impersonated by F. Hamilton McGown, a
+descendant of John Parshall, private, a brother of James Parshall. The
+canoe was paddled close to the eastern shore, and the three occupants
+drew aside the flag which concealed the marker, amid the applause of the
+spectators assembled on the banks. The trio in the canoe then drifted
+back down the river, and were soon lost to view beyond the overhanging
+branches.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_71" id="photo_71"></a><img src="images/photo_71.jpg" alt="Site of Clinton's Dam" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Site of Clinton's Dam</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>The marker is a large boulder placed a few feet from the eastern bank of
+the river at the very outlet of the lake. Surmounting the rock is a
+ten-inch siege mortar thirty inches in length and weighing 1971 pounds,
+which did service at Fort Foote, Maryland, during the Civil War. On the
+western side of the boulder is a bronze tablet marked by the insignia of
+the Daughters of the American Revolution, and bearing this inscription:</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">Here was built a Dam the summer<br />
+of 1779 by the Soldiers under Gen.<br />
+Clinton to enable them to join<br />
+the Forces of Gen. Sullivan<br />
+at Tioga.</span></p>
+
+<p>Four years after Clinton's troops had made their famous journey down the
+Susquehanna, the site of Cooperstown was visited by the most
+distinguished citizen and soldier in America. For in 1783, at the
+conclusion of the war, George Washington, on an exploring expedition,
+passed a few hours at the foot of Otsego Lake. In a letter to the
+Marquis de Chastellux he says that he "traversed the country to the head
+of the eastern branch of the Susquehannah, and viewed the lake Otsego,
+and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie."
+In the same letter he says, "I am anxiously desirous to quit the walks
+of public life, and under my own vine and my own fig-tree to seek those
+enjoyments, and that relaxation, which a mind that has been continually
+on the stretch for more than eight years, stands so much need of."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>Weary of war, and longing for some tranquil retreat from the cares of
+his exalted station, as he looked upon the scene which has become
+familiar to all lovers of Cooperstown&mdash;the peaceful lake, with verdant
+hills surrounding, and the Sleeping Lion at the end of the vista&mdash;the
+calm beauty of this view, rather than the splendid images of martial
+triumph, was reflected in the soul of Washington.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, pp. 148, 161, 165.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, Chapters III and IV.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, p. 197.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> do., p. 257.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, p. 259.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>History of Schoharie County</i>, Jeptha R. Simms, 298.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Sullivan's Indian Expedition</i>, Frederick Cook, p. 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Journal of Lieut. Rudolphus van Hovenburgh, 4th New York
+Reg't., <i>Sullivan's Indian Expedition</i>, p. 276.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Sullivan's Indian Expedition</i>, p. 201.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> There is a spring in the present grounds of Averell
+cottage; another in the grounds of the O-te-sa-ga, and a third at the
+foot of Nelson Avenue.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Lieut. Beatty's journal.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Lieut. McKendry's journal.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>History of Schoharie County</i>, 299.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Journal of Lieut. William McKendry, of the 6th Mass.
+Reg't, of which he was Quartermaster.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Pathfinders of the Revolution</i>, William Elliott Griffis,
+p. 95. <i>Sullivan's Indian Expedition</i>, p. 386.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> McKendry's journal.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>The Old New York Frontier</i>, p. 283.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>History of Cooperstown</i>, Livermore, p. 17. <i>The Freeman's
+Journal</i>, Oct. 31, 1825.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> <i>Otsego Farmer</i>, Sept. 6, 1901.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BEGINNING OF THE SETTLEMENT</h3>
+
+
+<p>On an autumn day in the year 1785 a solitary horseman might have been
+seen emerging from the forest near Otsego Lake. The old-fashioned
+novelist who invented the "solitary horseman" as a means of introducing
+a romance could not have found a better use for his favorite phrase than
+to describe the approach of this visitor. For with his coming the
+history of Cooperstown began. Following the trail from Cherry Valley,
+the horseman came over the hill which rises toward the east from the
+foot of Otsego Lake. Before descending into the vale, he dismounted and
+climbed a sapling, in order to gain a glimpse beyond the dense screen of
+intervening trees. From this elevation he looked down upon an enchanting
+view of glimmering waters and wooded shores. While he gazed, a deer came
+forth from the woods near Otsego Rock and slaked its thirst in the
+liquid that flamed with the reflected red and gold of autumnal foliage.
+The beauty of this first view always lingered in the heart of William
+Cooper, and the hill from which he gained it he afterward called "the
+Vision," in memory of his first impression. To this day the hill is
+known as "Mount Vision."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>In a letter written some years afterwards, William Cooper thus describes
+his venture into this region:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego, where
+there existed not an inhabitant, nor any trace of a road; I
+was alone, three hundred miles from home, without bread, meat,
+or food of any kind; fire and fishing tackle were my only
+means of subsistence. I caught trout in the brook and roasted
+them in the ashes. My horse fed on the grass that grew by the
+edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch coat,
+nothing but the melancholy Wilderness around me. In this way I
+explored the country, formed my plans of future settlement,
+and meditated upon the spot where a place of trade or a
+village should afterward be established.<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The Cooper family had settled in America in 1679, coming from
+Buckingham, in England, and for a century made their home in Bucks
+County, Pennsylvania. William Cooper was born in Byberry township,
+Pennsylvania, December 2, 1754. He afterward became a resident of
+Burlington, New Jersey, where he married Elizabeth Fenimore, daughter of
+Richard Fenimore, whose family came from Oxfordshire, in England.</p>
+
+<p>William Cooper was associated with Andrew Craig, also of Burlington, in
+acquiring the title of the Otsego tract of land which Croghan had
+mortgaged to William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, and had lost
+under foreclosures in 1773. In January, 1786, Cooper took possession of
+that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>portion of the Croghan tract which has since been known as
+Cooper's patent, under a deed given by the sheriff of Montgomery county,
+which had been set off from Tryon county, and included the later Otsego.
+The patent included 29,350 acres, and cost the new proprietors, to
+obtain it, about fifty cents an acre. Cooper bought out his partner's
+share in the tract, and soon became sole owner.</p>
+
+<p>It is characteristic of Cooper's energy that he began the settlement of
+his land in the midst of winter, and had many families resident upon it
+before the snow had melted, in the spring of 1786. Deeds were given to
+Israel Guild and several others, who, during the summer, established
+themselves on spots that are now within the limits of the village of
+Cooperstown. These places were originally intended as farms, the village
+having been planned to extend from the lake in a narrow strip southward,
+rather than across the valley, as its later growth actually determined.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the blockhouse built by Croghan on a site included in the
+present Cooper Grounds, a log house at this period stood near the corner
+of Main and River streets, and was occupied by a Mrs. Johnson, a widow,
+who, with her family, was among the first residents. Near her home she
+constructed a frame house, the first to be erected in the place. It was
+purchased by William Ellison, a surveyor, who, during the summer of
+1786, removed it to a position near the outlet of the lake, on what are
+now the grounds of Edgewater. The building was of good size, having two
+stories, and was used as a tavern until it was pulled down <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>in 1810,
+when Edgewater was built. In June, 1786, John Miller came, and reaching
+the bank of the river near the outlet on the east side, felled a large
+pine across the stream to answer the purpose of a bridge. The stump of
+this tree was for many years a relic within the grounds of Lakelands.
+There was a small colony of settlers during this summer, and William
+Cooper himself came once or twice in the course of the season; but none
+passed the succeeding winter within the village plot except Israel
+Guild, who had taken possession of the blockhouse, William Ellison at
+his tavern, and Mrs. Johnson in her hut of logs.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1787 Cooper arrived, accompanied by his wife, who came,
+however, only for a short visit. They reached the head of the lake in a
+chaise, and descended to the foot in a canoe. Mrs. Cooper felt so much
+alarm during this passage that she disliked returning in a boat, and the
+chaise was brought to the foot of the lake, astride two canoes, for her
+homeward journey. Mrs. Cooper's timidity occasioned the building of the
+first real bridge across the Susquehanna, an improvement which had
+already been contemplated as a public service. The road beyond the
+bridge was so rude, and difficult to pass, that when the chaise left the
+village men accompanied it with ropes, to prevent it from upsetting.</p>
+
+<p>During the spring and summer of 1787 many settlers arrived, a good part
+of them from Connecticut; and most of the land on the patent was taken
+up. Several small log tenements were constructed on the site of the
+village, and the permanent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>residents numbered about twenty souls.
+Meantime Cooper had been extending his holdings in adjacent patents,
+until he had the settlement of a large part of the present county more
+or less subject to his control. In other parts of the State also he came
+to own or control large areas of land, until, toward the end of his
+life, he had "settled more acres than any man in America."</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="photo_78" id="photo_78"></a><img src="images/photo_78.jpg" alt="Otsego Lake, from Cooperstown" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Otsego Lake, from Cooperstown</p></div>
+
+<p>Early in 1788, Cooper erected a house for his own residence. Aside from
+the log huts it was the second dwelling erected in the place. It stood
+on Main Street at the present entrance of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>Cooper Grounds, looking
+down Fair Street, and commanding a view of the full length of the lake.
+The building was of two stories, with two wings. It is represented on
+the original map of the village, where it is marked "Manor House." This
+house was removed a short distance down the street in 1799, on the
+completion of Otsego Hall, William Cooper's second residence in
+Cooperstown, and was destroyed by fire in 1812.</p>
+
+<p>In 1788 John Howard came, and established a tannery on the north side of
+Lake Street west of Pioneer Street, near the waters of Willow Brook,
+which there gurgles to the lake. Howard, who was distinguished as the
+father of the first child born in the settlement, afterward became
+captain of the local militia, and is commemorated as a hero in Christ
+churchyard, where his epitaph recites that he was drowned, July 13,
+1799:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Striving another's life to save<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He sunk beneath the swelling wave."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It was in the summer of 1788 that William Cooper made a definite plan
+for the village. Three streets were laid out running south from the
+lake, and six streets that crossed them at right angles. The street
+along the margin of the lake was called Front Street (now Lake Street),
+and the others parallel to it were numbered from Second (the present
+Main Street) up to Sixth. Of the streets running south, that next to the
+river was called Water Street (now River Street), and that at the
+opposite side of the plot, West Street, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>which is the present Pioneer
+Street. The parallel street between these two was divided by the Cooper
+Grounds; the section near the lake was called Fair Street, while south
+of the Cooper Grounds it was known as Main Street. This last never
+gained the importance which its name seemed to demand, and is now known
+as part of Fair Street. The map showing the original plan of the village
+is dated September 26, 1788.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from the Foot of the Lake, as the settlement was sometimes called,
+it was known as Cooperton, and Cooperstown,<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> until 1791, when the
+latter name came into general use, on the designation of this village as
+the county seat of the newly created Otsego county.</p>
+
+<p>The settlers upon Cooper's tract were mostly poor people, and it
+happened that their first efforts were followed by a season of dearth.
+In the winter of 1788-9, grain rose in Albany to a price before unknown.
+The demand swept all the granaries of the Mohawk country, and a famine
+aggravated the privations of the Otsego settlers. In the month of April,
+Cooper arrived with several loads of provisions intended for his own use
+and that of the laborers he had brought with him; but in a few days all
+was gone, and there remained not one pound of salt meat, nor a single
+biscuit. Many were reduced to such distress as to live upon the root of
+wild leeks; some, more fortunate, lived upon milk, whilst others found
+nourishment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>in a syrup made of maple sugar and water. The quantity of
+leeks eaten by the people had such an effect upon their breath that they
+could be smelled at many paces distant, and when they came together
+there was an odor as from cattle that had been pastured in a field of
+garlic. "Judge of my feelings at this epoch," wrote Cooper, "with two
+hundred families about me, and not a morsel of bread."</p>
+
+<p>"A singular event seemed sent by a good Providence to our relief,"
+Cooper's letter continues; "it was reported to me that unusual shoals of
+fish were seen moving in the clear waters of the Susquehanna. I went,
+and was surprised to find that they were herrings. We made something
+like a small net, by the interweaving of twigs, and by this rude and
+simple contrivance we were able to take them in thousands. In less than
+ten days each family had an ample supply, with plenty of salt. I also
+obtained from the Legislature, then in session, seventeen hundred
+bushels of corn."</p>
+
+<p>Those who settled the first farms in the Otsego region had not the means
+of clearing more than a small spot in the midst of thick and lofty
+woods, so that their grain grew chiefly in the shade; their maize did
+not ripen; their wheat was blasted; and for the grinding of what little
+they gathered there was no mill within twenty miles, while few were
+owners of horses. Some walked to the mill at Canajoharie, twenty-five
+miles away, carrying their grist on their shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>William Cooper, after coming to live here, realized that the situation
+of the settlers was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>precarious. He brought a stock of goods to the new
+settlement, and established a general store under Richard R. Smith, son
+of the Richard Smith who had visited Croghan at Otsego Lake twenty years
+before. Cooper also erected a storehouse, and filled it with large
+quantities of grain purchased at distant places. He borrowed potash
+kettles, which he brought here, and established potash works among the
+inhabitants. He obtained on credit a large number of sugar kettles. By
+these means he was able to exchange provisions and tools for the labor
+of the settlers, giving them credit for their maple sugar and potash,
+until in the first year he had collected in one mass forty-three
+hogsheads of sugar, and three hundred barrels of pot and pearl ash,
+worth about nine thousand dollars. These industries held the colonists
+together.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper collected the people at convenient seasons, and under his
+leadership they constructed such roads and bridges as were then suited
+to their purposes. Perhaps it was at this time that Cooper devised the
+cunning method which he afterward confided to William Sampson: "A few
+quarts of liquor, cheerfully bestowed, will open a road, or build a
+bridge, which would cost, if done by contract, hundreds of dollars."</p>
+
+<p>In 1789 Cooper set up at his newly finished Manor House a frontier
+establishment that became famous for its hospitality. For a year before
+bringing his family from Burlington he kept bachelor's hall, and the
+festive joys of the place were long memorable among all lovers of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>good
+cheer. Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of the region, could at almost any
+time furnish the table with a saddle of venison; the lake abounded with
+the most delicious fish; while the cellar of the Manor House was stored
+with the imprisoned sunshine of distant lands.</p>
+
+<p>At Christmastide, in 1789, a house-party entertained by William Cooper
+celebrated the season with high revelry. Among the guests was Colonel
+Hendrik Frey, the boniface of Canajoharie, a famous fun-lover and
+merrymaker. A large lumber sleigh was fitted out, with four horses, and
+the whole party sallied forth for a morning drive upon the frozen lake.
+On the western bank of the lake resided, quite alone, a Frenchman known
+as Monsieur Ebbal, a former officer of the army of France, whose real
+title was said to be L'Abbe de Raffcourt.<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> Perceiving the sleigh and
+four nearing his house, this gentleman, with the courtesy of his nation,
+went forth upon the ice to greet the party in a manner befitting the
+pomp of its approach. Cooper cordially invited the Frenchman to join
+him, promising him plenty of game, with copious libations of Madeira, by
+way of inducement. Though a good table companion in general, no
+persuasion could prevail on M. Ebbal to accept this sudden invitation,
+until, provoked by his obstinacy, the party laid violent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>hands on him,
+and brought him to the village by force.</p>
+
+<p>The unwilling guest took his captivity in good part, and was soon as
+buoyant and gay as any of his companions. He habitually wore a
+long-skirted surtout, or overcoat, which at that time was almost the
+mark of a Frenchman, and this he pertinaciously refused to lay aside,
+even when he took his seat at table. On the contrary, he kept it
+buttoned to the very throat, as if in defiance of his captors. The
+Christmas joke, a plentiful board, and heavy potations, however, threw
+the guest off his guard. Warmed with wine and the blazing fire of logs,
+he incautiously unbuttoned; when his delighted companions discovered
+that the accidents of the frontier, the establishment of a bachelor who
+kept no servant, and certain irregularities in washing days, together
+with the sudden abduction of his person, had induced the gallant
+Frenchman to come abroad without his shirt. He was uncased on the spot,
+amid the shouts of the merrymakers, and incontinently put into linen.
+"Cooper was so polite," added the mirth-loving Hendrik Frey, as he used
+to tell the story for many years afterward, "that he supplied a shirt
+with ruffles at the wristbands, which made Ebbal very happy for the rest
+of the night. Mein Gott, how his hands did go, after he got the
+ruffles!"<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1790 the house at the northwest corner of Main and
+River streets was erected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>by Benjamin Griffin. It now survives as the
+oldest house in the village. Not long after its erection the house
+became the residence of the Rev. John Frederick Ernst, the Lutheran
+minister who came here in connection with the work of the projected
+seminary at Hartwick; and for many years the old cottage was the
+homestead of the Ernst family.<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_86" id="photo_86"></a><img src="images/photo_86.jpg" alt="The Oldest House" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Oldest House</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>In this year William Cooper decided to give up his residence in New
+Jersey, and to bring his family to Cooperstown for their permanent home.
+Accordingly he returned to Burlington, and early in the autumn completed
+arrangements for the transportation of his family and belongings to
+Otsego. Only in one quarter did he find any opposition to his project,
+but that opposition was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>serious. His wife positively refused to go.</p>
+
+<p>Three years before, Mrs. Cooper had had a brief experience of the new
+settlement. She remembered the tippy boat, the rough pioneers, and the
+carriage that had to be steadied with ropes as it careened through the
+woods. In Burlington there was a well-established society, congenial
+friends, an atmosphere of culture, and such comforts as civilization was
+then able to afford. Mrs. Cooper had no mind to exchange her residence
+in Burlington for the wild uncertainties of life in the wilderness; and
+so with the conveyance ready and waiting at the door, and with her
+husband pleading, she sat firmly in the chair at the desk in the library
+of her Burlington home, and positively refused to budge.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Cooper was a strong-minded woman, but William Cooper was a
+stronger-minded man. He seized the chair, with his wife seated in it,
+and putting her aboard the wagon, chair and all, began the long journey
+to Otsego. Thus William Cooper carried his point, while his wife also
+carried hers, for she travelled the whole distance in the chair from
+which she vowed she would not move. The chair itself, sacred to the
+memory of two strong minds, is still in use in the Cooper family.</p>
+
+<p>This journey had much to do with the shaping of another mind which was
+not at the time consulted or considered. For Mrs. Cooper brought with
+her the baby boy of the household, thirteen months old, whose whole
+life, because of this change of residence, was cast in a new mould. This
+child was called James, but in later years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>he adopted also his mother's
+family name, so that he honored both father and mother in the fame which
+he gave to the name of James Fenimore Cooper. All his first impressions,
+he said long afterward, were obtained in the Otsego region. It is to be
+doubted whether Fenimore Cooper would have gained such wide celebrity as
+a novelist if he had not discovered the unique field of romance which
+the lake and hills of Otsego began to open to his vision. Had Fenimore
+Cooper remained in Burlington he might have written good novels, but not
+<i>The Leather-Stocking Tales</i>, for which he is most renowned. So that
+when William Cooper took up his residence in Otsego, he not only became
+the founder of a town, but he brought to the town the founder of
+American romance.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>A Guide in the Wilderness</i>, a series of letters to
+William Sampson, published in Dublin, 1810, reprinted by James Fenimore
+Cooper, grandson of the novelist, 1897.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> The names "Cooper" and "Cooperstown" are pronounced by the
+Cooper family and by natives of the village with a short <i>oo</i>, as in the
+word <i>book</i>, not as in <i>moon</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Ebbal is <i>L'Abbe</i>, spelled backward. His last years were
+spent near New Berlin, beside a lonely waterfall, where he had a flower
+garden, and kept bees. His grave was four miles south of New Berlin,
+until relatives came and removed his remains to France.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> The account of this incident is quoted from Fenimore
+Cooper's <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> In his <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i>, (1838), Fenimore
+Cooper says, "The house standing at the southeast corner of Second and
+Water streets, [now called Main and River street], and which for the
+last forty years has belonged to the Ernst family, was erected this
+summer [1790] by Mr. Benjamin Griffin. It is now the second oldest house
+in the village." Cooper had already referred to the house of Israel
+Guild, erected in 1788, as the oldest house standing in the village (in
+1838). Guild's house was burned in the fire of 1862, and therefore the
+house erected by Griffin has been, ever since that time, the oldest
+house. By some inadvertence, Cooper incorrectly designated the location
+of the Griffin house. He placed it at the southeast corner of Main and
+River streets, when he meant to say <i>northwest</i>. That Cooper writing of
+what was perfectly familiar to him, should have overlooked so palpable
+an error, seems most improbable; yet that he did so is now beyond doubt,
+although for many years his authority was cited to disprove the claims
+of the oldest house in Cooperstown. At the time of Cooper's writing, the
+house standing nearest to the southeast corner of Main and River
+streets, afterward torn down, had been built by Richard Cooper, and
+never had belonged to the Ernst family. Furthermore, in a letter dated
+May 23, 1805, Rev. John Frederick Ernst, in reply to an inquiry
+concerning the location of his property in Cooperstown, wrote to his
+son&mdash;"Here is a copy from the deed: 'The house-lot&mdash;being the northwest
+corner of Water Street and Second Street, is seventy-five feet front on
+the said streets, and seventy-five feet in rear on the west and north by
+[then] vacant lots, belonging [then both] to Wm. Cooper, Esq.'" It is
+clear that this is the same property which Fenimore Cooper, by some
+slip, described as being at the southeast corner. Some of the earlier
+charts of Cooperstown were drawn with the lake front at the bottom of
+the map, for convenience of reference, thus reversing the north and
+south of the usual cartography. It may plausibly be conjectured that
+Cooper had one of these maps before him as he wrote, and unthinkingly
+recorded, in this instance, its transposed points of the compass. This
+labored exposition of a small matter would be an inexcusable pedantry,
+except that the location of the oldest house in the village is of
+particular interest.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>A VILLAGE IN THE MAKING</h3>
+
+
+<p>The county of Otsego was formed February 16, 1791, being carved out of
+Montgomery county. Cooperstown was designated as the county seat, and
+William Cooper was appointed the first judge of the county court. A
+court-house and jail was built at the southeast corner of Main and
+Pioneer streets, the lower story, of logs, being used as a prison, and
+the upper story, of framed work, as court room. A tavern was erected on
+the same lot, and contained the jury rooms, conveniently near to the
+sources of refreshment.</p>
+
+<p>During the summer of this year the Red Lion Tavern<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> was erected at
+the southwest corner of Main and Pioneer streets, and was kept by Major
+Joseph Griffin. It projected more than half way across Main Street, and
+at that time marked the western limit of the village. For more than
+three score years and ten, even after the village grew westward beyond
+it, this projecting building gave a unique character to the main street,
+intercepted all thirsty wayfarers, and held an important place <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>in the
+life of the community. Its first crude sign, representing a red lion
+rampant, was painted by Richard R. Smith,<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> the first storekeeper of
+the village, and first sheriff of the county.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Cooper was the lord of the manor, as it were, in the new
+community, yet maintained a relation of comradeship with the settlers.
+Enjoying the friendship of some of the most eminent men of his time,
+himself superior in intelligence and culture to most of his local
+contemporaries, Cooper had qualities that won the affection and loyalty
+of the sturdy pioneers. It is characteristic of him that he once offered
+a lot, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres of land, to any man on
+the patent who could throw him in a wrestling match. The wrestling took
+place in front of the Red Lion Inn. One contestant was finally
+successful, and the land was duly conveyed to the victor. It is possible
+that some of the lots owned by Judge Cooper were of no great value, for
+it is related that when his eldest son was showing the sights of New
+York to the youngster of the family he took him to a pasty shop, and
+after watching the boy eat pasty after pasty said, "Jim, eat all you
+want, but remember that each one costs the old man a lot."</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_91" id="photo_91"></a><img src="images/photo_91.jpg" alt="William Cooper" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">William Cooper</span><br />
+From the portrait by Gilbert Stuart</p></div>
+
+<p>Some idea of the position that the "old man" occupied in the village
+which he founded may be gained from the novel that the eater of the
+pasties afterward entitled <i>The Pioneers</i>. In this book, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>while
+historical accuracy is disclaimed, Judge Temple is easily identified as
+an idealized Judge Cooper, and a faithful picture of life in the early
+village may be recognized; for, as the author says in his introduction,
+while the incidents of the tale are purely fiction, "the literal facts
+are chiefly connected with the natural and artificial objects, and the
+customs of the inhabitants." The village of Templeton, in the novel, is
+the Cooperstown of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>reality in its early days. The spirit of the times,
+and the character of the men who lived here are thus distinctly
+reflected in the placid current of Fenimore Cooper's first
+Leather-Stocking tale. At the present day the personal appearance of
+Judge Cooper himself is vividly recalled from the past through the
+existence of three portraits, one by Gilbert Stuart, one by Copley, and
+a third by an unknown artist. From these likenesses one gains an
+impression of his kindly gray eye, firm countenance, and robust figure.
+His keen sense of humor relieved the strain of many a hardship in the
+life of the frontier, for he is remembered as "noble-looking,
+warm-hearted, and witty, with a deep laugh, sweet voice, and fine rich
+eye, as he used to lighten the way with his anecdotes and fun."</p>
+
+<p>During the twenty-five years that followed the close of the
+Revolutionary War, Judge Cooper was a speculator in lands on a large
+scale, and was steadily engaged in the settlement of the tracts which he
+owned and those in which he had a joint interest with others. His
+judgment concerning land values was keen and far-sighted. That he was
+not infallible is shown by his payment of ten dollars an acre for land
+in the North Woods which is hardly worth a quarter of that price to-day.
+On the other hand, in February, 1803, he bought the town of De Kalb, in
+St. Lawrence county, about 64,000 acres, for the sum of $62,720, and
+within three months had sold 56,886 acres for $112,226. It was for
+successful ventures of this sort that Judge Cooper became widely known,
+and was brought into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>correspondence with foreign investors, such as
+Necker and Madame de Sta&euml;l, who appear to have become owners of lands,
+through Cooper, in the northern counties of New York.</p>
+
+<p>Much of Cooper's success in the settlement of new lands was owing to his
+system of selling to settlers on the installment plan, instead of
+binding tenants to the payment of perpetual rent, as some proprietors of
+great estates attempted to do, involving endless litigation and the
+"anti-rent war."</p>
+
+<p>Judge Cooper's friendly relation to the settlers extended, in many
+instances, to the relief of individual needs by loans of money, which
+was not always repaid. One of the French settlers, often a guest at
+Judge Cooper's house, borrowed of him fifty dollars. As time went on
+Judge Cooper noticed that his debtor's visits became less and less
+frequent, until finally they ceased. Meeting the man one day, he
+remonstrated with him, telling him that so small a matter should not
+cause him annoyance, and urging him not to allow it to interfere with
+his visits at the Cooper homestead. The Frenchman, however, felt that
+the fifty dollars weighed heavily on his honor, and that he could not
+partake of the Judge's hospitality until the debt was paid. Not long
+afterward Judge Cooper saw his debtor approaching him with every
+manifestation of joy, waving his hat, and shouting, "Judge Cooper! Judge
+Cooper! My mother is dead! My mother is dead! I pay you the fifty
+dollars."</p>
+
+<p>Before the close of his career Judge Cooper had amassed a large fortune.
+After having been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>engaged for twenty years in the improvement of lands
+he declared that the work which he had undertaken for the sole purpose
+of promoting his interest had become fastened upon him by habit, and
+remained as the principal source of his pleasure and recreation. Within
+this period the settlement which he began at Otsego Lake reached a high
+degree of prosperity. "This was the first settlement I made," writes
+Judge Cooper, "and the first attempted after the Revolution; it was, of
+course, attended with the greatest difficulties; nevertheless, to its
+success many others have owed their origin."</p>
+
+<p>Judge Cooper's political career reflects another aspect of pioneer life
+in the new settlements. Besides his election as first judge of the Court
+of Common Pleas of Otsego county, an office which he held from 1791 to
+1800, he was elected to Congress in 1795, and again in 1799. The <i>Otsego
+Herald</i> of June 23, 1796, describes the reception given by the people of
+the village to Judge Cooper on his return from Congress. When it was
+known that his carriage was nearing the village, a mounted escort went
+forth to meet him on the road that skirted Mount Vision, and when the
+procession crossed the bridge and entered the main street it passed
+through "a double row of citizens" assembled to greet the congressman,
+while "sixteen cannon" roared a welcome.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Cooper was a prominent member of the Federalist party, and devoted
+much of his time to its cause. He was on intimate terms with its
+leaders, and in constant correspondence with many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>of them. Although the
+franchise, at this period, was restricted by a property qualification,
+and the voters were comparatively few, the interest in politics entered
+largely into the life of all the inhabitants, and the political
+enthusiasm was unlimited. The polls could be kept open five days, to
+accommodate all who desired to vote, and as there was no secret ballot
+the excitement during elections was constant and intense. Nearly every
+elector seems to have been a politician, and the letters of the time are
+full of politics and party animosity. The shout of battle still resounds
+in the title of a little book published by Elihu Phinney in 1796: "The
+Political Wars of Otsego: or, Downfall of Jacobinism and Despotism;
+Being a Collection of Pieces, lately published in the <i>Otsego Herald</i>.
+To which is added, an Address to the Citizens of the United States; and
+extracts from Jack Tar's Journals, kept on board the ship Liberty,
+containing a summary account of her Origin, Builders, Materials,
+Use&mdash;and her Dangerous Voyage from the lowlands of Cape Monarchy to the
+Port of Free Representative Government. By the author of the
+Plough-Jogger."<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the political correspondence of Judge Cooper and his contemporaries
+there are frequent complaints of fraud, and of the influence and
+prominence of foreigners, especially the Irish, with grave expressions
+of fear for the future of the country and the stability of property. The
+Federalists describe themselves as "friends of order," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>and refer to
+their opponents as "anti-Christians," and "enemies of the country." One
+of Judge Cooper's friends who had removed to Philadelphia writes: "We
+are busy about electing a senator in the state legislature. The contest
+is between B. R. M.&mdash;&mdash;, a gentleman, and consequently a Federalist, and
+a dirty stinking anti-federal Jew tavern-keeper called I. I&mdash;&mdash;. But,
+Judge, the friends to order here don't understand the business, they are
+uniformly beaten, we used to order these things better at Cooperstown."</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that Judge Cooper had gained some reputation for his skill
+in electioneering in Otsego county. Philip Schuyler, writing to Judge
+Cooper of the election of 1791, says: "I believe fasting and prayer to
+be good, but if you had only fasted and prayed I am sure we should not
+have had seven hundred votes from your country&mdash;report says that you was
+very civil to the young and handsome of the sex, that you flattered the
+old and ugly, and even embraced the toothless and decrepid, in order to
+obtain votes. When will you write a treatise on electioneering? Whenever
+you do, afford only a few copies to your friends."</p>
+
+<p>Judge Cooper's chief political opponent in the county was Jedediah Peck,
+who settled in Burlington, Otsego county, in 1790, a man of an entirely
+different type from Judge Cooper, yet equally famous in the political
+life of the times. Coarse and uneducated, Peck overcame all
+disadvantages by his shrewdness, intellectual power, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>and great natural
+ability. He gained much influence with the people of the county by his
+homely skill as a traveling preacher, going about distributing tracts,
+and preaching wherever he could gather an audience. He was an aggressive
+supporter of the political views and administrative policies of Thomas
+Jefferson, and violently antagonized the Federalists of the county, who
+were under the leadership of Judge Cooper. This opposition culminated
+during the administration of President Adams in 1798, when Peck was
+arrested under the Alien and Sedition Act for circulating petitions
+against that Act. He was indicted and taken to New York in irons, but
+was never brought to trial, and upon the repeal of the Act was
+discharged. Peck's arrest and imprisonment fastened attention upon him,
+and, together with his continued denunciation of the federal
+administration, made him the recognized leader of the Republican
+(Jeffersonian) party of Otsego county, so that he dictated its policy
+and nominations for many years thereafter. Indeed, the overthrow of the
+Federal party in this State, with the consequent success of Jefferson in
+the presidential canvass, is attributed to the excitement and
+indignation aroused by the spectacle of this little dried up man,
+one-eyed but kindly in expression and venerable, a veteran of the
+Revolutionary War, being transported through the State in the custody of
+federal officials, and manacled, the latter an unnecessary and
+outrageous indignity.</p>
+
+<p>Jedediah Peck was a member of Assembly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>from 1798 to 1804, and State
+Senator until 1808. Although looked up to by multitudes as the political
+leader of his time, Peck was noted at Albany for his shabbiness of
+dress. He wore coarse boots, which he never blackened. On one occasion,
+on the eve of an important debate, some wag at the tavern blackened one
+of Peck's boots. Peck, in dressing for the fray, did not recognize the
+shining boot, and having put on one began to search high and low for the
+other. At last, enlightened by the laughter of his comrades, he drew on
+the polished boot, and with his feet thus ill-matched strode into the
+Assembly chamber, where he delivered one of his most powerful speeches.</p>
+
+<p>For many years Jedediah Peck unsuccessfully urged a bill for the
+abolition of imprisonment for debt, which was later adopted. His most
+permanent and valuable contribution to the welfare of posterity was the
+scheme for the common school system of the State, which he had long
+advocated, and of which, as chairman of the five commissioners appointed
+by the Governor in 1811, he became the author.<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p>
+
+<p>Some of the asperities of political life in the early days of Otsego
+county may be inferred from certain affidavits, printed copies of which,
+such as were apparently used as campaign documents, were found among
+Judge Cooper's papers, endorsed in his handwriting, "Oath how I whipped
+Cochran." The Cochran referred to was a political opponent.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>Jessie Hyde, of the town of Warren, being duly sworn, saith,
+that on the sixteenth day of October in the year 1799, he this
+deponent, did see James Cochran make an assault upon one
+William Cooper in the public highway. That the said William
+Cooper defended himself, and in the struggle Mr. Cochran, in a
+submissive manner, requested of Judge Cooper to let him go.</p>
+
+<p class="author"><i>Jessie Hyde.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>
+Sworn this sixteenth day of<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">October, 1799, before me</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richard Edwards, Master in Chancery</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;"><i>Otsego County.</i> SS.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Personally appeared Stephen Ingalls, one of the constables of
+the town of Otsego, and being duly sworn, deposeth and saith,
+that he was present at the close of a bruising match between
+James Cochran Esq., and William Cooper Esq., on or about the
+sixteenth of October last, when the said James Cochran
+confessed to the said William Cooper these words: "I
+acknowledge you are too much of a buffer for me," at which
+time it was understood, as this deponent conceives, that
+Cochran was confessedly beaten.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<i>Stephen Ingalls.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sworn before me this<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">sixth day of November, 1799,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joshua Dewey, Justice of the Peace.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The same incident, viewed from another angle, appears in a letter
+written by the Rev. John Frederick Ernst to his son in Albany, and dated
+at Cooperstown, October 20, 1799.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is nothing of any particular news here, except that a
+Mr. Cochran, late member of Congress, in whose place I. Cooper
+is now elected, came here last week, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>on one of the
+court-days, with a great deal of brass had the impertinence to
+assault our honorable Wm. Cooper in the street, &amp; to give him
+a Cowskinning&mdash;because, as it is reported, he should have told
+lies about Cochran. As both fell a clinging &amp; beating one
+another Mr. Mason stepped between and parted them."</p></div>
+
+<p>Still another account of the episode is given by Levi Beardsley. He says
+that the trouble arose over Cochran's use of his fiddle during a
+political campaign. Cochran stayed over night at Canandaigua, and when a
+dance was got up, he obliged and amused the company by fiddling for
+them. He beat Judge Cooper at the election for Congress, but whether
+from the influence of music and dancing it is now too late to inquire.
+However, it was alleged that Judge Cooper had either published or
+remarked that Cochran had been through the district with his violin, and
+had fiddled himself into office. This came to Cochran's ear and brought
+him from Montgomery county to Cooperstown. He came on horseback, and
+arrived while Judge Cooper was presiding as judge of the court of common
+pleas. As Cooper issued from the court house, Cochran met him, and after
+alluding to the election, informed the Judge that he had come from the
+Mohawk to chastise him for the insult. When Cooper remarked that Cochran
+could not be in earnest the latter replied by a cut with his cowskin.
+Cooper then closed with his adversary, but Cochran being a large, strong
+man they were pretty well matched for the scuffle. They were separated
+by friends, and Cochran was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>afterward fined a small amount for breach
+of the peace.<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p>
+
+<p>At the early organization of the county there was considerable strife
+between Cooperstown and Cherry Valley in regard to the location of
+public buildings. It is said that Judge Cooper playfully remarked that
+the court house should be placed in Cooperstown, the jail in Newtown
+Martin (Middlefield), and the gallows in Cherry Valley.<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Judge Cooper began holding court in Cooperstown in 1791 a number of
+lawyers were attracted to the county seat, the first to take up
+residence here being Abraham Ten Broeck of New Jersey, soon followed by
+Jacob G. Fonda of Schenectady. Ten Broeck was the original of Van der
+School, the parenthetical lawyer in <i>The Pioneers</i>, his compositions
+having been remarkable for parentheses. A year later two others of the
+legal profession were added to the village community, Joseph Strong, and
+Moss Kent, brother of the celebrated Chancellor Kent. Dr. Nathaniel Gott
+and Dr. Farnsworth coming at about the same time gave the villagers a
+choice among three physicians, Dr. Thomas Fuller being the senior in
+practice. The development of Cooperstown as a trading centre brought
+Peter Ten Broeck and several other merchants here in 1791, followed
+shortly afterward by Rensselaer Williams and Richard Williams of New
+Jersey, whose collateral descendants are still identified with the
+village.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p><p>The early shopkeepers of Cooperstown included some who had been engaged
+in more distinguished callings. A merchant who excited the most lively
+curiosity among the settlers was a Frenchman known as Mr. Le Quoy who
+kept a small grocery store in the village, and seemed to be altogether
+superior to such an occupation. After much speculation concerning his
+past the village was set agog by an incident which accidentally brought
+to light the story of his career. Among the early settlers in Otsego
+county was a French gentleman named Louis de Villers, who, in 1793,
+happened to be in Cooperstown at a time when a fellow countryman named
+Renouard, who afterward settled in the county, had recently reached the
+place. Renouard, who was a seaman, and an incessant user of tobacco,
+found himself out of his favorite weed, and his first concern was to
+inquire of de Villers where tobacco might be purchased in the village.
+De Villers directed him to the shop kept by Le Quoy, saying that he
+would help a compatriot by making his purchase there. In a few minutes
+Renouard returned from the shop, pale and agitated.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? Are you unwell?" inquired de Villers.</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of God," burst out Renouard, "who is the man that sold me
+this tobacco?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Le Quoy, a countryman of ours."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Mr. Le Quoy de Mersereau."</p>
+
+<p>"I know nothing about the 'de Mersereau'; he calls himself Le Quoy. Do
+you know anything of him?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p><p>"When I went to Martinique to be port captain of St. Pierre," answered
+Renouard, "this man was the civil governor of the island, and refused to
+confirm my appointment."</p>
+
+<p>Subsequent inquiry confirmed this story, Le Quoy explaining that the
+influence of a lady stood in the way of Renouard's preferment. Le Quoy
+had been driven from Martinique by the French Revolution, and his choice
+of Cooperstown as a retreat came about through a friendly office which
+he had performed, while governor of the island, in liberating one of the
+ships of John Murray &amp; Sons of New York. The act brought about an
+exchange of civilities between the head of this firm and Le Quoy, so
+that when the latter came to New York, desiring to invest in a country
+store until his fortunes should revive, Murray referred him to his
+friend Judge Cooper, under whose advice the Frenchman established
+himself in Cooperstown. He at length made his peace with the new French
+government, and, closing his grocery in Cooperstown, was ultimately
+restored to his office as civil governor of Martinique.<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> He appears
+as one of the characters in Fenimore Cooper's novel, <i>The Pioneers</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The house on Lake Street known as Averell Cottage was erected in 1793,
+the central part of it, with chimneys at each end, constituting the
+original structure. It has ever since been in possession of lineal
+descendants of the first owner, James Averell, Jr. James Averell settled
+on the patent in 1787, and in 1792 exchanged his farm <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>for John Howard's
+tannery on Lake Street just west of Pioneer Street.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 70%;">
+<a name="photo_104" id="photo_104"></a><img src="images/photo_104.jpg" alt="Averell Cottage" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Averell Cottage</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1794 a state road was laid out between Albany and Cooperstown. This
+road came over Mount Vision and descended toward the village by a route
+that may still be traced down the hillside from Prospect Rock.
+Cooperstown was then first included in a post route, and a post office
+was opened in the village, with Joseph Griffin as postmaster. The mail
+arrived weekly for some years; it then came twice a week; then thrice.
+The daily mail was not established until 1821.</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of the mail was something of a ceremony in the early days
+of Cooperstown. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>Toward evening the sound of the postman's horn was
+faintly heard as he rounded the slopes of Mount Vision; the blasts grew
+louder as he descended the hill and approached the village; then the
+thunder of the four post-horses as they crossed the bridge was heard,
+and the postman drew up with a flourish at the post office, where the
+villagers had gathered to await the news of the outer world. <i>The Otsego
+Herald</i> publishes a letter from an indignant citizen, complaining that
+the mails were opened in a bar-room. Since the first postmaster was also
+a tavern keeper, the charge was probably true.</p>
+
+<p>Among the new houses built in 1796 was one that has survived to the
+present time, and stands on Main Street adjoining the Second National
+Bank on the east. This house, distinguished for the quaint beauty of its
+doorway, was first occupied by Rensselaer and Richard Williams. At about
+this time the Academy was erected on the hill at the corner of Pioneer
+and Church streets, where the Universalist church now stands. It was
+"65-1/2 feet long, 32 wide, and 25 feet posts," while the summit of its
+belfry was seventy feet high. It was erected by public subscription, at
+a cost of about $1,450. "It was one of those tasteless buildings that
+afflict all new countries," says Fenimore Cooper, "and contained two
+school rooms below, a passage and the stairs; while the upper story was
+in a single room."</p>
+
+<p>The first school in the village had been opened a year or two earlier by
+Joshua Dewey, a graduate of Yale, who taught Fenimore Cooper his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>A B
+C's. He was succeeded as village schoolmaster by Oliver Cory. The latter
+assumed charge of the new Academy. The school exhibitions of this
+institution in which Brutus and Cassius figured in hats of the cut of
+1776, blue coats faced with red, of no cut at all, and matross swords,
+were long afterward the subject of mirth in the village. Fenimore
+Cooper, at one time a pupil in the Academy, took part in a school
+exhibition, and at the age of eight years became the pride of Master
+Cory for his moving recitation of the "Beggar's Petition"&mdash;acting the
+part of an old man wrapped in a faded cloak and leaning on his staff.</p>
+
+<p>A reminiscence of old Academy days is connected with the first
+considerable musical instrument in the village. Judge Cooper had brought
+from Philadelphia a large mechanical organ of imposing appearance, which
+he placed in the hall of the Manor House. When the organ was first put
+up and adjusted a rehearsal of country dances, reels, and more serious
+music, was enjoyed not only by the family gathered to hear it, but the
+loud tones floated from the windows and into the school room of the
+Academy in the next street. As the strains of <i>Hail Columbia</i> poured
+into the school room, Master Cory skillfully met a moment of open
+rebellion with these words: "Boys, that organ is a remarkable
+instrument. You never heard the like of it before. I give you half an
+hour's intermission. Go into the street and listen to the music."<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>The Academy, containing at that time the largest room in the village,
+was as much used for other purposes as for those of education. The
+court, on great occasions, was sometimes held here. It was used
+impartially for religious meetings and for balls. The Free Masons of the
+village, who had secured a charter for Otsego Lodge in 1795, held a
+religious service, followed by dinner, and a ball, in the Academy, on
+the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, 1796. Of this
+occasion Jacob Morris writes, "The brilliancy exhibited at Cooperstown
+last Tuesday&mdash;the Masonic festival&mdash;was the admiration and astonishment
+of all beholders. Upwards of eighty people sat down to one table&mdash;some
+very excellent toasts were drunk and the greatest decency and decorum
+was observed.... In the evening we had a splendid ball, sixty couple,
+thirty in a set, both sets on the floor at the same time, pleasant
+manners and good dancing."</p>
+
+<p>A centre of convivial resort at this period was the Blue Anchor tavern,
+which was established as a rival of the Red Lion inn, and diagonally
+across the way from it, at the northeast corner of Main and Pioneer
+streets. The Blue Anchor, according to Fenimore Cooper, was for many
+years in much request "among all the genteeler portion of the
+travelers." Its host was William Cook, from whom the character of Ben
+Pump, in <i>The Pioneers</i>, was drawn, a man of singular humors, great
+heartiness of character, and perfect integrity. He had been the steward
+of an English East-Indianman, and enjoyed an enviable reputation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>in the
+village for his skill in mixing punch and flip. On holidays, a stranger
+would have been apt to mistake him for one of the magnates of the land,
+as he invariably appeared in a drab coat of the style of 1776 with
+buttons as large as dollars, breeches, striped stockings, buckles that
+covered half his foot, and a cocked hat large enough to extinguish him.
+The landlord of the Blue Anchor was a general favorite; his laugh and
+his pious oaths became famous.</p>
+
+<p>In 1796 Judge Cooper commenced the construction of his new residence,
+Otsego Hall, which he completed and began to occupy, in June, 1799. The
+new house stood near the centre of what are now known as the Cooper
+Grounds, on the site marked by the statue of the Indian Hunter. Otsego
+Hall was for many years the largest private residence in the newer parts
+of the State, and remained as the finest building in the village until
+it was destroyed by fire in 1852. It is said to have been originally of
+the exact proportions of the van Rensselaer Manor House at Albany, where
+Judge Cooper was a frequent visitor.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, in early days, when Judge Cooper was away from home,
+fire broke out in the Hall, and an alarm given by the neighbors brought
+the volunteer fire department to the scene. Mrs. Cooper firmly took
+charge of the situation. Locking the doors of the house she called out
+to the servants, "You look out for the fire, and I'll attend to the fire
+department!" With this she poured hot water from a second-story window
+upon the firemen, and quickly drove them away.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "The Bold Dragoon" of Fenimore Cooper's novel, <i>The
+Pioneers</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> The original of Richard Jones, in <i>The Pioneers</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Plough-Jogger was the pseudonym of Jedediah Peck.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>Address at Cooperstown Centennial</i>, Walter H. Bunn.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, Levi Beardsley, p. 89.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Beardsley's <i>Reminiscences</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>James Fenimore Cooper</i>, Mary E. Phillips, p. 26. The
+organ is now at Fynmere.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>OLD-TIME LOVE AND RELIGION</h3>
+
+
+<p>Enough has been recorded to show the general character of Cooperstown as
+it existed at the close of the eighteenth century. A more intimate view
+of its life at this period is suggested by a package of faded letters,
+some of which are here printed, not as supplying historical data, for in
+this they are quite lacking, but because whoever reads them with
+imagination begins to breathe the atmosphere of the time of their
+writing, and in the charm of their feminine confidences discovers a side
+of frontier life that is not otherwise revealed.</p>
+
+<p>The letters were written to Chloe Fuller, who visited in Cooperstown for
+some years at the home of Dr. Thomas Fuller. The doctor's wife before
+her marriage, although not related to him, had the same family name, and
+Chloe Fuller was her younger sister. Chloe Fuller became celebrated as a
+village belle, and it was said that she had more beaus in constant
+attendance than any other girl in Otsego. Dr. Fuller was a favorite with
+two generations of young men in the village, for he had also two young
+daughters, who, a few years later, became noted for their qualities of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>mind and daintiness of apparel. Eliza and Emma Fuller were
+blue-stockings who knew the value of pretty bonnets and gowns. In the
+early days of the Presbyterian church, the sabbath splendor of their
+entrance at divine service, always a little late, and with the necessity
+of being ushered to the very front pew, divided the devotion of the
+worshippers. Eliza Fuller became the wife of Judge Morehouse, and
+established the traditional hospitality of Woodside Hall.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_110" id="photo_110"></a><img src="images/photo_110.jpg" alt="The Worthington Homestead" width="65%" />
+<p class="illus15"><i>Forrest D. Coleman</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Worthington Homestead</p></div>
+
+<p>Chloe Fuller married Trumbull Dorrance, a descendant of Governor
+Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, and her daughter, becoming the wife
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>of John R. Worthington, was long identified with Cooperstown as mistress
+of the White House, the Worthington homestead built in 1802 on Main
+street. The letters belong to the period of Chloe Fuller's girlhood:</p>
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="center">ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.</p>
+
+<p class="right">Albany, November 20th, 1798.</p>
+
+<p>Believe me, my very dear Friend, that your letter by Mr.
+Williams afforded me great pleasure in the perusal, and it
+should most undoubtedly have been answered 'ere now had not I
+been deprived of opportunities; and at all events I must write
+by the <i>good Man</i>! I think the epithet you bestowed a very
+judicious one&mdash;but I really believe, Chloe, you have made a
+conquest there&mdash;when he delivered me your letter, 'It is from
+Miss Chloe,' said he with a (methought) significant smile.</p>
+
+<p>I have been well ever since my departure. Now and then the
+involuntary sigh escapes when my imagination presents me
+Cooperstown, and some of its dear inhabitants! I already long
+to see you all. Oh! for an hour with your sister and you.</p>
+
+<p>My dear Chloe, convince me that I am sometimes present to your
+memory by writing long and frequent letters. Don't wait for
+answers. Write whenever you find a conveyance; and I shall
+with pleasure follow your example.</p>
+
+<p>'Tis past one o'clock. Let my writing at this late, or rather,
+early hour convince you that I wish to cultivate a
+correspondence with you. I must quit. So Good night, my
+friend. May Jove grant you pleasant dreams, and may Heavenly
+blessings enliven your waking hours is the wish of your
+sincerely affectionate Friend.</p>
+
+<p class="author">ELIZA.</p>
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.</p>
+
+<p class="right">Albany, Novbr. 28th. 1798</p>
+
+<p>Just before we sat down to Tea, Mr. French called and brought
+your letter. I immediately recognized the already well-known
+hand of my fondly remembered Friend. I was all impatience to
+open it, which out of politeness I dispensed with till his
+departure.</p>
+
+<p>I was highly gratified with the perusal! Happy, my Chloe,
+should I esteem myself were it in my power to 'revive your
+drooping spirits'. But why, my dear Friend, are they drooping?
+What is the cause? Believe me, nothing but my friendship for
+you induces me to interrogate you so; and let me beg you in
+the name of friendship to answer me candidly. You may, my dear
+Friend, unbosom yourself to me. I shall sympathize with you
+and make your griefs mine. I wish you would write fully, and
+long letters. This time I will excuse you, but let me beg of
+you not to wait till an opportunity is going&mdash;but when you
+retire to your chamber think of Eliza, and dedicate a few
+moments to writing, since we can no longer chat together.</p>
+
+<p>I am happy to hear you have found so agreeable an acquaintance
+as Miss Cooper. I doubt not but that I should like her. So you
+were a sleighing with the Doctor? Remember there are two
+Doctors in Cooperstown, and you leave me to conjecture which!</p>
+
+<p>You would make me believe Mr. K.&mdash;&mdash; sometimes talks of me. I
+fear it is only when you remind him that there is such a
+person in existence.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ten Broeck spent the evening with us. He brought me a
+letter from my Father. By his conversation I understand Mr.
+K.&mdash;&mdash; will not be in Albany this year!</p>
+
+<p>The clock has already struck one; my eyes feel quite heavy; my
+writing will evince this. My best respects to the Miss
+Williams. I hope you are intimate with them. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>They are fine
+women! A close intimacy with them will convince you of this.
+Tell Mrs. Morgan, Delia, and all those whom love will make me
+remember, that I very frequently think of them. Good night!
+Pleasant dreams to you! I will endeavor to dream of you and
+some others in Cooperstown who are dear to the heart of</p>
+
+<p class="center">Your unfeigned Friend,</p>
+<p class="author">ELIZA.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Oh Night more pleasing than the fairest day:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'When Fancy gives, what Absence takes away!'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>P. S. I have sent all over the City, but cannot procure any
+ingrained silks of the color you intended to work your shawl.
+Should you fancy any other, let me know, and I will with
+pleasure send it. Accept of this ribbon for the sake of Eliza,
+who wishes oft she was with you.</p>
+
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+Friday night, December 28th, 1798.</p>
+<p>My dear Chloe,</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Williams delivered me your short yet pleasing letter.... I
+hope you passed Christmas agreeably.... I can assure you I
+did, being favored with the company of Mr. K. and his sister.
+I regret that her stay in town is so short. Ever since her
+arrival my time has been so occupied that my moments for
+writing were few. Tis now late&mdash;they leave early in the
+morning&mdash;so you must accept a few lines this time. I have sent
+my little namesake a New Year's frock, which I beg your sister
+will let her accept of. The ribbon I before mentioned
+accompanies this. Good night&mdash;and Happy New Year to you all.</p>
+
+<p>Write soon, and a long letter. Remember me to my friends, and
+think of</p>
+
+<p class="center">Yours affectionately and in great haste,</p>
+<p class="author">ELIZA.</p>
+
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.</p>
+
+<p class="right">Albany, February 10, 1799.</p>
+
+<p>Why, my dear Chloe, do you preserve this long silence? To
+forgetfulness of me, or want of affection I dare not impute
+it, for even the most distant idea of this is too painful. No,
+I will judge more favorably of my lovely Friend, and think
+want of time has been hitherto the cause. Yet let me urge you
+not to continue this painful silence, but think of, and write
+to your absent friend. Cooperstown and its inhabitants will
+ever afford a pleasing subject to Eliza. Tell me how you spend
+your time, your most intimate companions, whether you often
+see my father, and if any of my friends ever talk of me....
+All our family is now in bed, yet cannot I let Mr. Strong go
+without writing a few lines. I wish you felt as anxious to
+write me.</p>
+
+<p>Does your Hat please you? I am almost afraid it will not, tho'
+I know I have used my utmost endeavors. If it does not, you
+must take the <i>Will</i> for the <i>Deed</i>.</p>
+
+<p>My best love to your dear Sister. Kiss my little namesake for
+me. Remember me to all enquiring friends, and think of me as
+ever</p>
+
+<p class="center">Your truly affectionate</p>
+<p class="author">ELIZA.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Kent is still at Poughkeepsie; it I fear has more powerful
+attractions than Albany.</p>
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">HANNAH COOPER TO CHLOE FULLER.</p>
+
+<p>My dear Chloe&mdash;Your sister informs me&mdash;she sets out to-morrow
+upon her visit to you. I profit by her going to write a few
+lines to you. I have nothing very material to
+communicate&mdash;except that I often think of you&mdash;and continue to
+love you&mdash;which I hope you did not doubt&mdash;before I mentioned
+it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>We jog along much after the old way here&mdash;you know there are
+but three articles of news worth
+mentioning&mdash;Births&mdash;Deaths&mdash;and Marriages&mdash;for this last you
+know we were never renowned&mdash;from the second, thank Heaven, we
+are in a great measure exempted, and atone by the multitude of
+our first&mdash;for the deficiency of both.</p>
+
+<p>We have some hopes of seeing you this Winter&mdash;either with your
+sister or by another mode&mdash;which I hope may be better&mdash;A
+certain Person&mdash;who occasionally visited Coopers Town&mdash;has not
+been here lately&mdash;it consoles me, though, that whilst his back
+is turned upon us&mdash;he is looking the right way. Come then, my
+child, and be induced by his looks, or smiles, or attentions,
+to make us another visit&mdash;We will meet you with smiles and
+pleasure&mdash;Mama desires to be remembered to your Mother. The
+Boys send their love to Norvey&mdash;and I&mdash;my dear Chloe&mdash;beg to
+be thought of&mdash;by you&mdash;with affection&mdash;and that you will
+accept of much love from</p>
+
+<p class="author">HANNAH COOPER.</p>
+<p>Coopers Town, January 5th, 1800.</p>
+
+<p class="paddedp2">&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.</p>
+
+<p class="right">Cooperstown, August 4th. 1801.</p>
+
+<p>My beloved Chloe,</p>
+
+<p>Again I date my letter from this place in which I formed for
+you that friendship which neither revolving time, change of
+place or circumstances has been able to alter. Would that I
+had you as personally at my side as your dear image is
+constantly present to my imagination. Perhaps now that I am on
+the verge of departure it is happier for me that you are more
+remote, as parting with you would prove an additional pang to
+that which I now feel at the thought of leaving my respected
+friend, your dear, dear Sister. I have been here three weeks
+yesterday, and expect in a few minutes more to take my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>exit.
+You will say, perhaps, my stay is short compared to my former
+ones. It is so, but, Chloe, ah! how fast our friends decrease!
+Our mutual friend, our pious pattern!&mdash;Miss Cooper&mdash;is here no
+more! narrow is the cell in which her lovely form is laid! but
+her mind, her soul, I trust is gone to a soil more kind, more
+congenial, to a Friend in whom while here its best affections
+and confidences appear'd to be placed! In every place in which
+I used to meet with her&mdash;in her Father's Hall, which she
+highly graced&mdash;the vacant chair, the trifling conversation, my
+own absence of mind tell me, death has robbed me of a treasure
+that empires cannot give! Reflection, however, and daily
+experience, not only inspire me with resignation to the Wise
+Ruler of all events, but fill me with gratitude that God in
+compassion has removed her from a scene of afflictions, from
+new trials, from growing evils, which a tender sensibility
+like hers too keenly felt long to survive.</p>
+
+<p>Richard, you may have heard, has married one of Col. Cary's
+Daughters&mdash;Nancy&mdash;a young, giddy Girl. I fear she will never
+supply the place of a Daughter to Mrs. Cooper! I have hardly a
+fonder desire for you or for myself than that we might be and
+live like her, whose memory, I trust, we shall ever
+cherish....</p>
+
+<p>But, Chloe, a word or two about yourself. Are not you almost
+married? You are so far away there is no such thing as hearing
+about it. Miss Betsy Williams is well &amp; speaks of you with
+affection. Nancy at present is in Trenton. Do let me hear from
+you soon. I must go. Burn this scrawl. Kiss little Mary for
+me. Adieu. May God bless you and your truly affectionate
+friend</p>
+
+<p class="author">ELIZA MACDONALD.</p><br /></div>
+
+<p>Hannah Cooper was Judge Cooper's eldest daughter, of whom Fenimore
+Cooper afterward wrote that she "was perhaps as extensively and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>favorably known in the middle states as any female of her years." In
+1795, when she was seventeen years of age, Talleyrand was a guest at
+Otsego Hall, and the following acrostic on Hannah Cooper's name is
+attributed to the pen of the celebrated diplomat:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Aimable philosophe au printemps de son &acirc;ge,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ni les temps, ni les lieus n'alt&egrave;rent son esprit;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ne c&egrave;dent qu' &agrave; ses go&ucirc;ts simples et sans &eacute;talage,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, &eacute;crit.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Cultivez, belle Anna, votre go&ucirc;t pour l'&eacute;tude;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">On ne saurait ici mieux employer son temps;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Otsego n'est pas gai&mdash;mais, tout est habitude;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Paris vous d&eacute;plairait fort au premier moment;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Et qui jouit de soi dans une solitude,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Rentrant au monde, est s&ucirc;r d'en faire l'ornement.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Hannah Cooper afterward attended school in New York City, and passed the
+winter of 1799 in Philadelphia while her father was a member of
+Congress. Also a member of that Congress was William Henry Harrison,
+later the hero of Tippecanoe, and afterward President of the United
+States. In this connection Fenimore Cooper, just before Harrison's
+inauguration as President, uncovered a long forgotten bit of romance
+which he related confidentially in a letter to his old mess-mate
+Commodore Shubrick as a "great political discovery." "Miss Anne Cooper
+was lately in Philadelphia,"&mdash;the letter is dated February 28,
+1841,&mdash;"where she met Mr. Thomas Biddle, who asked if our family were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>not Harrison men. The reason of so singular a question was asked, and
+Mr. Biddle answered that in 1799 Mr. Harrison was dying with love for
+Miss Cooper, that he (Mr. Biddle) was his confidant, and that he
+<i>thinks</i> but does not <i>know</i> that he was refused. If not refused it was
+because he was not encouraged to propose.... Don't let this go any
+further, however. I confess to think all the better of the General for
+this discovery, for it shows that he had forty years ago both taste and
+judgment in a matter in which men so often fail."<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the twenty-third year of her age, Hannah Cooper was killed by a fall
+from a horse, September 10, 1800. She and her brother, Richard Fenimore
+Cooper, had set out on horseback to pay a visit at the home of General
+Jacob Morris at Butternuts (now Morris), some twenty miles from
+Cooperstown, and having arrived within about a mile of their
+destination, the horse on which Miss Cooper rode took fright at a little
+dog, which rushed forth barking from a farm house, and Miss Cooper was
+thrown against the root of a tree, being almost instantly killed. Her
+brother rode back to Cooperstown with the sad news.</p>
+
+<p>A monument still stands near the public highway to mark the spot where
+Miss Cooper met her death. She had many admirers, but the inscription on
+this monument is said to have been written by her best beloved, Moss
+Kent, referred to in Eliza MacDonald's letters.</p>
+
+<p>Hannah Cooper's tomb in Christ churchyard, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>within the Cooper family
+plot, is inscribed with some plaintive verses that her father composed
+and caused to be carved upon the slab, with the singular omission of her
+name, which was not added until many years afterward.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cooper was a perfect type of the kind of feminine piety most
+admired in her day. She shared largely in the benevolences of her
+father, and was often seen on horseback carrying provisions to the poor
+people of the settlement. "She visited the prisoners in the jail
+frequently, giving them books, and sometimes talked with them through
+the grates of their windows, endeavoring to impress upon their minds the
+truths of morality and religion. By her winning, tender and persuasive
+conversation, their hard hearts, at times, were deeply affected."</p>
+
+<p>This elder sister of the novelist was the first tutor of his childhood,
+and he held her memory in great reverence. In the preface of a reprint
+of <i>The Pioneers</i> Cooper took occasion to deny a statement that in the
+character of the heroine of his romance he had delineated his sister, a
+suggestion in which he seemed to find a serious reflection upon his
+fineness of feeling. "Circumstances rendered this sister singularly dear
+to the author," he wrote. "After a lapse of half a century, he is
+writing this paragraph with a pain that would induce him to cancel it,
+were it not still more painful to have it believed that one whom he
+regarded with a reverence that surpassed the love of a brother, was
+converted by him into the heroine of a work of fiction."</p>
+
+<p>Although Hannah Cooper was thus excluded, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>by her brother's delicacy,
+from the place which rumor had assigned to her among the characters of
+his first Leather-Stocking tale, her name is commemorated in the actual
+scene of the story, for the pine-clad summit which overlooks the village
+of Cooperstown from the west is still called in her honor, "Hannah's
+Hill."</p>
+
+<p>The position of the grave that lies next south of Hannah Cooper's tomb
+in Christ churchyard is a tribute to the reverent affection which she
+inspired. It is the grave of Colonel Richard Cary, one of General
+Washington's aides, and his burial in a plot otherwise exclusively
+reserved for interments of the Cooper family is attributed by tradition
+to Colonel Cary's fervent admiration for the piety of Hannah Cooper.
+Colonel Cary at the close of the Revolutionary War settled in
+Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake. Often a visitor in Cooperstown
+he became acquainted with Miss Cooper, and was inspired by a devotion to
+her character entirely becoming in a man old enough to be her father,
+and already blessed with a family of his own. He is described as "an
+upright, well-bred and agreeable gentleman, possessed of wit and genius,
+and good humor." Six years after Hannah Cooper's death Colonel Cary
+suffered severe reverses of fortune, and was "put on the limits," as the
+penalty of unpaid debt was then described, being an exile from his home
+in Springfield, and required to remain within the village bounds of
+Cooperstown. As winter drew on Colonel Cary died. His dying request was
+that he might be buried near Miss Cooper's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>grave, "for," he said,
+"nobody can more surely get to Heaven than by clinging to the skirts of
+Hannah Cooper!"</p>
+
+<p>At Hannah Cooper's funeral a singularly noble and picturesque character
+was brought into the history of Cooperstown, for the officiating
+clergyman was Father Nash, who then for the first time held service in
+the village, and afterward became the first rector of Christ Church,
+being for forty years the most noted apostle of religion in Otsego
+county.</p>
+
+<p>During the first ten years of the existence of the village, the people
+depended on rare visits of missionaries for the little religious
+instruction they received. The settlers in the region were divided as to
+religious faith; the Presbyterians, though the most numerous, were the
+least able to offer financial support for any regular religious
+establishment. Missionaries occasionally penetrated to this spot, and
+now and then a travelling Baptist, or a Methodist, preached in a tavern,
+schoolhouse or barn. On August 28, 1795, a letter appeared in the
+<i>Otsego Herald</i> deploring the general indifference to religion which
+prevailed in the settlement, and calling for a public meeting to
+organize a church congregation. The Rev. Elisha Mosely, a Presbyterian
+minister, was thereupon engaged for six months, and during that period
+held the first regular religious services in Cooperstown. He preached
+the first Thanksgiving sermon in the village, on November 26, 1795, in
+the Court House.</p>
+
+<p>Through the vigorous efforts of the Rev. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>Nathaniel Stacy, an itinerant
+preacher, the doctrine of Universalism gained a strong foothold in this
+region. Under his ministrations the society at Fly Creek was organized
+in 1805, said to be the first society of the Universalist denomination
+established in this State. Stacy was a man of small stature, a rapid
+speaker, full of Biblical quotations, apt in comparing the Old and New
+Testaments, and happy in the use of vivid illustrations. The vehemence
+and rapidity of his utterance sometimes sprinkled with saliva the
+hearers seated near him, which gave occasion for a famous taunt flung at
+Ambrose Clark, one of Stacy's converts and an early settler of
+Pierstown, when his brother Abel said that "Ambrose had rather be spit
+upon by Stacy than to hear the gospel preached."</p>
+
+<p>In 1797, the Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany,
+with the Patroon, both regents of the university of the State, visited
+the Cherry Valley academy, and then extended their journey to
+Cooperstown, where Dr. Ellison held service and preached in the Court
+House. This was the first time that the services of the Episcopal Church
+were held in the village. Dr. Ellison was an Englishman, a graduate of
+Oxford, a king's man, and a staunch defender of the Church against all
+dissent. He was a sporting parson, of convivial habits, and after his
+first visit to Cooperstown frequently enjoyed the hospitality of Judge
+Cooper, whom he joined in sundry adventures.</p>
+
+<p>The Presbyterians and Congregationalists in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>and about Cooperstown
+formed themselves into a legal society on December 29, 1798. This church
+was regularly organized with the Rev. Isaac Lewis, a Presbyterian
+minister, as pastor, on October 1, 1800, and the Presbyterian
+organization has ever since continuously existed in Cooperstown. The
+Presbyterian church building was erected in 1805, and has not been
+materially altered since 1835, when some changes in the structure were
+made. The carpenters who built the church were twin brothers, Cyrus and
+Cyrenus Clark. They were assisted by Edmund Pearsall, who was noted for
+his rapid work and skill, as well as for his daring exploits at
+"raisings." When the steeple of the church was raised Pearsall astounded
+the village by standing on his head on the top of one of the posts near
+the summit.</p>
+
+<p>The pastor of this church for more than twenty years during its early
+days was the Rev. John Smith, a tall, strongly-built man, who loomed
+large in the pulpit as a champion of old-fashioned orthodoxy. His manner
+of delivery was soporific, his voice thick and monotonous, but none
+could gainsay the learning and intellectual power of his discourses.</p>
+
+<p>Mony Groat was sexton of the church. He performed also the office of
+policeman in the gallery during the service, going about with a cane,
+and rapping the heads of disorderly boys. In winter his duties were
+multiplied. The church was heated by a stove placed above the middle
+alley, supported by a platform sustained upon four posts, and those
+having pews near the pulpit <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>had to walk directly underneath. Several
+times during the service on cold days the sexton used to come up the
+aisle with his ladder and basket of fuel, place his ladder in position,
+mount the platform, replenish the fire, descend the ladder, and make his
+exit, ladder and all.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps because it was the first church edifice in the village the
+Presbyterian church came into use sometimes for celebrations of a civic
+nature. The first Otsego County Fair, Tuesday, October 14, 1817, was
+held in this house of worship. The Otsego County Agricultural Society
+had been organized in January of that year, and the officers of the
+first fair were: president, Jacob Morris; recording secretary, John H.
+Prentiss; corresponding secretary, James Cooper, who had not yet begun
+his literary career.</p>
+
+<p>The exercises in the church followed an elaborate programme, including
+prayers, vocal and instrumental music, and the formal award of premiums.</p>
+
+<p>After the premiums had been awarded the corresponding secretary read a
+letter from Governor Dewitt Clinton which accompanied a bag of wheat
+that had been "raised by Gordon S. Mumford, Esq., on his farm on the
+island of New York." While this letter was being read by James Cooper
+the bag of wheat was brought to the pulpit of the church, and deposited
+at the foot of it.</p>
+
+<p>Within the Presbyterian burying ground, at the rear of the church, lie
+the remains of some of the best known of the early settlers. A strange
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>perversity of fate, however, has singled out for the attention of the
+tourist a tombstone that has no other claim to distinction than a
+surprising feature of the epitaph. This tallish slab of marble stands
+not far from the northeast corner of the burying ground. It is decorated
+at the top with the conventionally chiseled outlines of urn and weeping
+willow, and bears an inscription in memory of "Mrs. Susannah, the wife
+of Mr. Peter Ensign, who died July 18, 1825, aged 54 years," and whose
+praises are sung in some verses that begin with this astonishing
+comment:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Lord, she is thin!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It seems that the stonecutter omitted a final "e" in the last word, and
+tried in vain to squeeze it in above the line.</p>
+
+<p>The permanent legal establishment of Christ Church was made on January
+1, 1811, when a meeting was held "in the Brick church in Cooperstown,"
+and it was resolved "that this church be known hereafter by the name and
+title of Christ's Church."</p>
+
+<p>The erection of the brick church had been commenced in 1807, and it was
+consecrated in 1810. The present nave, exclusive of the transept and
+chancel, is of the original structure. In the sacristy of the church a
+wooden model may be seen, made by G. Pomeroy Keese, showing both
+exterior and interior of the church as it existed in 1810.</p>
+
+<p>The Methodists held occasional services in the village for many years,
+and erected their first church, not far from the site of their present
+building, in 1817.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><p>The Universalists were organized in Cooperstown on April 26, 1831, with
+the Rev. Job Potter as pastor. On the site of the old Academy, which had
+been destroyed by fire, their house of worship was erected in 1833, and
+stands practically unchanged at the present time. That there was a
+somewhat strong rivalry between the Universalists and the Presbyterians,
+whose places of worship stand so near to each other on the same street,
+is suggested by an incident which occurred during the Rev. Job Potter's
+pastorate. The Universalists had organized a Sunday School picnic, and
+the children had gathered at the church in goodly numbers. The sidewalk
+was thronged. A procession was formed, headed by the ice cream cans,
+together with sundry huge baskets, all appetizingly displayed. Just as
+the procession was about to move down the hill to embark for Three-Mile
+Point, a small-sized Universalist, stirred by generous impulse, hailed
+young Dick, a small-sized Presbyterian, who stood on the opposite side
+of the street gazing with assumed stoicism on the fascinating pageant.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Dick! Come up to our picnic. We're going to have ice cream and
+cake and pies, and lots of good things."</p>
+
+<p>To this cordial invitation Dick, thrusting his clenched fists deep into
+his pockets, responded at the top of his voice:</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir-ee! I believe in a hell!"<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p>
+
+<p>As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century the Baptists were
+accustomed to immerse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>their converts with appropriate services near
+Council Rock. They organized on January 21, 1834, with the Rev. Lewis
+Raymond as pastor. Their church building was erected during the next
+year.</p>
+
+<p>The Roman Catholic congregation was organized in September, 1847, with
+the Rev. Father Kilbride as pastor. Their first church was built in
+1851, at the corner of Elm and Susquehanna streets. The present St.
+Mary's Church, the "Church of Our Lady of the Lake," was built in 1867.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 70%;">
+<a name="photo_127" id="photo_127"></a><img src="images/photo_127.jpg" alt="Christ Church" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Christ Church</p></div>
+
+<p>Toward the middle of the century the three most conspicuous steeples in
+the village scene were those of Christ Church, the Presbyterian, and
+the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>Baptist. From the shape of their towers, which have since been
+modified, they were known as the "Casters," and distinguished as salt,
+pepper, and mustard respectively.<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p>
+
+<p>The land for the Presbyterian church as well as for Christ Church was
+given by Judge Cooper. Within Christ churchyard he reserved a space,
+including his daughter's grave, as a family burial plot, where he
+himself was buried in 1809, cut down in the full vigor of his fifty-five
+years. While leaving a political meeting in Albany, as he was descending
+the steps of the old state capitol, after a session abounding in stormy
+debate, Judge Cooper was struck on the head with a walking stick by a
+political opponent, and died as a result of the blow.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Cooper was originally a Quaker, but that he afterward found
+himself out of sympathy with the Society of Friends is shown in a formal
+document by which his relations to that denomination were severed. He
+was instrumental in the erection of Christ Church, for a letter written
+by him shows that he conducted the negotiations with the corporation of
+Trinity parish, New York, which, in 1806, gave $1,500 toward the
+construction of the edifice. An obituary notice published in the
+<i>Cooperstown Federalist</i> at the time of his death says that Judge Cooper
+"was thoroughly persuaded of the truth of Revelation."</p>
+
+<p>The rood-screen in Christ Church commemorates <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>Judge Cooper, and a
+dignified sarcophagus covers his grave in the churchyard. Recalling the
+story of his career, one is disposed to claim for his simple epitaph a
+share of the attention bestowed upon the tomb of his more illustrious
+son. For here lies the foremost pioneer of Cooperstown, notable among
+the frontiersmen of America.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>James Fenimore Cooper</i>, by Mary E. Phillips, p. 15.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, Elihu Phinney, 1890.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>A few Omitted Leaves in the History of Cooperstown</i>, G.
+Pomeroy Keese, 1907.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>HOMES AND GOSSIP OF OTHER DAYS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Early in the century activities were renewed, just across the river from
+Cooperstown, in the development of what was known as the Bowers Patent,
+originally owned by John R. Myer of New York, whose daughter became the
+wife of Henry Bowers. For some years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs.
+Bowers lived at Brighton, near Boston, in a residence that was one of
+the finest relics of Colonial days, commanding a fine view of Boston,
+Cambridge, Charleston, and the bay, with its numerous islands. They
+afterward removed to New York City, and Henry Bowers made journeys
+thence to the Otsego region, where a settlement had been commenced in
+Middlefield, then called Newtown Martin,<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> some years before the
+founding of Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<p>In 1791, Henry Bowers surveyed and laid out a proposed village of
+"Bowerstown," across the river from Cooperstown. It was to extend from
+the Susquehanna to the base of the hill on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>east, and from the lake
+to a point about 1,000 feet south. The projected village never became a
+reality, although the name is perpetuated by the present hamlet of
+Bowerstown, which still flourishes about a mile to the south, on a site
+that was once included in the Bowers Patent, where a saw-mill was
+erected on Red Creek in 1791, the first in this part of the country. A
+modern saw-mill now occupies the same site.</p>
+
+<p>The residences across the river are all in the town of Middlefield, but
+the village of Cooperstown has extended its corporate limits to include
+some of them, and virtually claims them all.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_133" id="photo_133"></a><img class="bbox" src="images/photo_133.jpg" alt="Mrs. Wilson" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Mrs. Wilson</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p><p>After the death of Henry Bowers, his son, John Myer Bowers, married in
+1802 Margaretta Stewart Wilson. Young Bowers was said to be the
+handsomest and most fascinating man in New York, and had inherited a
+fortune which in that day was regarded as princely. Shortly after the
+marriage he decided to make his residence on the Bowers Patent in
+Otsego, and came hither with his bride in 1803, occupying a part of the
+Ernst house at the northwest corner of Main and River streets, while the
+present house at Lakelands was under construction. The building was
+erected during 1804, and Mr. and Mrs. Bowers took possession in 1805.
+Mrs. Bowers's mother, Mrs. Wilson, made her home with them, and lived at
+Lakelands for a half a century. These two ladies contributed much to the
+life of the community, and the younger generation was fascinated by
+their vivid memories of the leading spirits of the Revolutionary War.
+Mrs. Wilson occupies a niche of fame in <i>The Women of the American
+Revolution</i>, by Elizabeth F. Ellet, who said of her that "her
+reminiscences would form a most valuable contribution to the domestic
+history of the Revolution." She was in Philadelphia on the day of the
+Declaration of Independence, and made one of a party entertained at a
+brilliant f&ecirc;te, given in honor of the event, on board the frigate
+Washington, at anchor in the Delaware, by Captain Reid, the commander.
+The magnificent brocade which she wore on this occasion, with its hooped
+petticoat, flowing train, laces, gimp, and flowers, remained in her
+wardrobe unaltered for many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>years. Mrs. Wilson was Martha Stewart,
+daughter of Col. Charles Stewart of New Jersey, who was a member of
+Washington's staff. At the age of seventeen she married Robert Wilson,
+also closely associated with Washington, and in the midst of the war she
+was left a widow. During the Revolution Mrs. Wilson was more favorably
+situated for observation and knowledge of significant movements and
+events than any other lady of her native state. Her father, at the head
+of an important department under the commander-in-chief, became
+familiarly acquainted with the principal officers of the army; and,
+headquarters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>being most of the time within twenty or thirty miles of
+her residence, she not only had constant communication in person and by
+letter with him, but frequently entertained at her house many of his
+military friends. General Washington himself, with whom she had been on
+terms of friendship since 1775, visited her at different times at her
+home in Hackettstown. Mrs. Washington also was several times the guest
+of Mrs. Wilson, both at her own house and at that of her father at
+Landsdown. Such was the liberality of Mrs. Wilson's patriotism that her
+gates on the public road bore in conspicuous characters the inscription,
+"Hospitality within to all American officers, and refreshment for their
+soldiers," an invitation which, on the regular route of communication
+between the northern and southern posts of the army, was often accepted.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_131" id="photo_131"></a><img src="images/photo_131.jpg" alt="The House at Lakelands" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The House at Lakelands,</span> as originally built</p></div>
+
+<p>The hospitality which Mrs. Wilson had the privilege of extending to
+illustrious guests was returned by marked attentions to her daughter and
+only child, on her entrance into society in Philadelphia during the
+presidency of Washington. Mrs. Wilson was the object of much devotion on
+her own account at the capital, where her appearance was thus described
+by a lady of Philadelphia in a letter to a friend: "Mrs. Wilson looked
+charmingly this evening in a Brunswick robe of striped muslin, trimmed
+with spotted lawn; a beautiful handkerchief gracefully arranged at her
+neck; her hair becomingly craped and thrown into curls under a very
+elegant white bonnet, with green-leafed band, worn on one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>side." At the
+same time the debutante daughter, Margaretta Wilson, became a favorite
+with Mrs. Washington, who distinguished her with courtesies rarely shown
+to persons of her age. A contemporary letter describes her appearance at
+a drawing-room given by the President and Mrs. Washington: "Miss Wilson
+looked beautifully last night. She was in full dress, yet in elegant
+simplicity. She wore book muslin over white mantua, trimmed with broad
+lace round the neck; half sleeves of the same, also trimmed with lace;
+with white satin sash and slippers; her hair elegantly dressed in curls,
+without flowers, feathers or jewelry. Mrs. Moylan told me she was the
+handsomest person at the drawing room, and more admired than anyone
+there."<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p>
+
+<p>Such was the belle whom John Myer Bowers carried away as his bride to
+the wilds of Otsego, where, shortly afterward, at Lakelands, her mother
+also came to dwell. These two ladies, with their unusual experiences,
+added a new flavor to the life of Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<p>Eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers at Lakelands were girls. The
+father's hopeful anticipations were so well known in the community that
+when a son and heir, Henry J. Bowers, was born at last, in 1824, the
+event was signalized by the ringing of the village church bells in
+Cooperstown, the only birthday in the region that was ever honored by
+such a demonstration.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p><p>John Myer Bowers, in his later years, was far from being the Beau
+Brummel of his youthful days in New York, and came to be known in the
+village as a distinct character, ruggedly determined not to yield to the
+infirmities of old age. When his physical strength began to fail he kept
+a horse constantly in harness and standing at the door of Lakelands that
+he might ride to and from the village. This horse, known as "Old Chap,"
+was a familiar figure on the road in those days, and faithful to his
+master to the advanced age of thirty-seven years.</p>
+
+<p>John M. Bowers died in the year 1846. His widow continued to occupy
+Lakelands until her death in 1872, and a daughter, Martha S. Bowers,
+continued the occupancy during her life. After the death of the latter
+Lakelands was sold in making division of the Bowers estate. Henry J.
+Bowers married in 1848 a daughter of William C. Crain, a prominent
+citizen of the adjoining county of Herkimer. She was a woman of large
+intellectual gifts and undaunted spirit, and personally undertook the
+education of their eldest son, John Myer Bowers, who sat on the floor
+before her, while the mother, book in hand, instilled into his mind the
+importance of the three R's, with much stress upon the principles of
+fidelity and loyalty as elements of success in business. At the age of
+sixteen years she sent him to New York to study law under one of the
+leading attorneys of that city. He became one of the foremost lawyers of
+the State, and a few years after its sale repurchased Lakelands, with
+its forty acres <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>along lake and river, as his summer home. No native son
+of Cooperstown has had a more successful career than John M. Bowers. In
+1915 he won a verdict for Theodore Roosevelt in the celebrated trial at
+Syracuse in which suit for libel was brought against the former
+President of the United States by William Barnes, the proprietor of the
+<i>Albany Evening Journal</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_137" id="photo_137"></a><img src="images/photo_137.jpg" alt="Lakelands" width="75%" />
+<p class="illus15"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Lakelands</p></div>
+
+<p>A mansard roof was added to Lakelands at the period during which the
+property was out of the possession of the Bowers family, but the
+remainder of the house is of the original building, and the carved
+wooden doors and mantel-pieces within testify to the skill of old-time
+workmanship <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>in Cooperstown. The wide stretches of lawn shaded by
+venerable trees, and the long sweep of lake shore commanded by Lakelands
+make it a charming country seat.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>In 1801 George Pomeroy, a young man of twenty-two years, arrived from
+Albany, and set up in business as the first druggist in the village and
+county. His store stood on Main Street on the site of the present Clark
+Gymnasium. Some of the hardships of the early settlers to which history
+may only allude are suggested by a sign which hung in front of the drug
+store of Dr. Pomeroy, as he was called. This sign depicted a hand
+pointing to these words: "Itch cured for 2 cts. 4 cts. 6 cts. Unguentum.
+Walk in."</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Pomeroy had other talents beside his skill in chemistry, and soon
+became a popular citizen of the village, displaying one accomplishment
+that was perhaps not so rare then as now in being an expert in the
+exposition of the Bible. Dr. Pomeroy was not so absorbed in his Bible as
+to be indifferent to the heavenly qualities which radiated from the
+person of Ann Cooper, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the founder of
+the village, for it soon appeared that these two young people had formed
+a romantic attachment. In aspiring to the hand of the heiress Dr.
+Pomeroy could not promise to endow her with great riches, but he had a
+good name in being a grandson of General Seth Pomeroy who fought at
+Bunker Hill.</p>
+
+<p>It was as a wedding gift to his daughter, on her marriage to George
+Pomeroy in 1804, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>Judge Cooper built the old stone house which
+stands at the corner of Main and River streets. It was the first stone
+house constructed in the village, and the peculiar herring-bone style in
+which the stone is laid lends to this old residence a quaint and unusual
+charm. Under the eastern gable of the house is wrought in stone a spread
+eagle, with the date of the building, and the initials of the young
+couple who began housekeeping there. The involved order of the
+initials&mdash;G. A. P. C.&mdash;the master-mason, Jamie Allen,<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> explained by
+saying that the lives, like the initials, of the bride and groom, should
+be so entwined as to make their union permanent. And so it proved, for
+they lived in peace and harmony to a great age. The house was for many
+years called "Deacon Place," Dr. Pomeroy being widely known as a deacon
+of the Presbyterian church, but in later times it was named "Pomeroy
+Place."</p>
+
+<p>Ten children were born to the first occupants of the old stone house,
+and it became one of the liveliest centres of hospitality to old and
+young in Cooperstown. Years afterward there were those whose mouths
+watered at the recollection of the dining-room in the southwest quarter
+of the house, where many a merry feast was held, with particularly fond
+memories of delicious light buckwheat cakes that came hot from the
+griddle through a sliding window connected with the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>As years went on Mrs. Pomeroy became famous as a pattern of good works.
+In days when trained nurses were unknown, in almost every family when
+sickness came the first call was for "Aunt Pomeroy," who was by many
+considered wiser than the physicians. In the course of time the
+surviving children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy had homes and families
+of their own, and the old couple were left once more alone in the old
+stone house. Aunt Pomeroy's favorite place for receiving her friends was
+in the northeast corner room of the lower floor. There she was
+accustomed to sit in her rocking-chair, with her book, ordinarily a
+volume of sermons, or her knitting, usually a shawl to be sold for the
+benefit of missions to the heathen. She was fond of a game of whist, and
+her great-grandchildren once attempted to teach her to play euchre. She
+was getting on very well with the new game, until an opponent took her
+king in the trump suit with the right bower. She threw down her cards,
+exclaiming, "No more of a game where a jack takes a king!" She was
+always ready to receive visitors, of whom there were many, except at one
+hour of the day, which was sacred to an ancient pact between her husband
+and herself. Between the hours of five and six Aunt Pomeroy withdrew to
+her chamber, while Deacon Pomeroy, at his store, refused himself to
+customers, and retired to his private office, so that each devoted the
+same space of time to a secluded reading of the Bible.</p>
+
+<p>The old couple were not permitted to end their days in the house which
+had been made a kind of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>symbol of their married happiness, and which
+they had occupied for nearly half a century. Late in life, owing to
+financial losses, Mrs. Pomeroy was compelled to sell the property. The
+aged pair closed the wooden shutters at the windows, fastened the door
+behind them, and descended the steps of the old stone house, never to
+return.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 50%;">
+<a name="photo_141" id="photo_141"></a><img src="images/photo_141.jpg" alt="Pomeroy Place" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>J. Patzig</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Pomeroy Place</p></div>
+
+<p>Mrs. Pomeroy passed her later years at Edgewater, the home of her
+grandson. Her death was typical of her life of piety. On a certain
+afternoon seventy-five women were assembled for Lenten sewing. After
+greeting them all in the drawing-room Aunt Pomeroy ascended the stairs
+to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>her room, stretched herself upon the bed, and quietly drew her last
+breath. In accordance with the old custom the clock in the death-chamber
+was stopped, and a sheet was drawn over the mirror. Down stairs the
+rector of the parish read a prayer, and the women filed out of the house
+in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Pomeroy Place was not permanently lost to the family for which it was
+originally built. When the centennial of the building was celebrated in
+1904, the house had already returned to its first estate, having been
+purchased by the granddaughter of the original owners, Mrs. George Stone
+Benedict, who with her daughter, Clare Benedict, came to occupy it as
+their American home between journeys abroad.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Benedict's sister, Constance Fenimore Woolson, who made many summer
+visits in Cooperstown, may be said to have drawn her original literary
+inspiration from this region, for Otsego appears in her first work, "The
+Haunted Lake," published in December, 1871, in <i>Harper's Magazine</i>,
+while Pomeroy Place itself is commemorated in one of her earliest
+productions, "The Old Stone House." From this period till her death in
+1893 the sketches, poems, and novels that came from Miss Woolson's pen
+reached such a level of literary art that Edmund Clarence Stedman called
+her one of the leading women in the American literature of the century.
+Miss Woolson spent the latter years of her life in Europe, changing her
+residence frequently. Gracefully impulsive and independent, she had a
+gypsy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>instinct for the roving life of liberty out-of-doors; yet in
+character and demeanor she was so serenely poised, so self-contained,
+with such inviolable reserve and dignity, that she was, as Stedman put
+it, "like old lace."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>One of the most remarkable men of early times in Cooperstown was Elihu
+Phinney, publisher of the <i>Otsego Herald</i>, who had brought his presses
+and type here in the winter of 1795, breaking a track through the snow
+of the wilderness with six teams of horses. The first number of the
+<i>Otsego Herald, or Western Advertiser</i>, a weekly journal, appeared on
+the third day of April. This was the second newspaper published in the
+State, west of Albany, and its title shows that Cooperstown was then
+regarded as belonging to the far west of civilization. Like all
+newspapers of that period, the early files of the <i>Otsego Herald</i> appear
+to the modern reader to be singularly lacking in local news, and only
+the rarest mention of what was going on in Cooperstown is to be found in
+its faded pages. There is much of the news of Europe, and the political
+news of America admits the printing in full of long speeches delivered
+in Congress, but the happenings in Cooperstown seem to have been left to
+the tongues of village gossips, and the advertising columns stand almost
+alone in reflecting the daily life of the place.</p>
+
+<p>Elihu Phinney was a great favorite in the village, being a man of
+delightful social qualities, and distinguished for his remarkable wit
+and satire. His bookstore in Cooperstown furnished a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>large section of
+the country with an elemental literature, and with many historical
+works. A year after his arrival he was made associate judge of the
+county. It was in the printing office of Judge Phinney that Fenimore
+Cooper, when a boy, was in the habit of setting type "for fun," which
+experience he afterward stated was very useful to him in the oversight
+of the typographical production of his writings. On the overthrow of
+John Adams's administration Judge Phinney changed the political policy
+of his newspaper, <i>The Otsego Herald</i>, and became a supporter of Thomas
+Jefferson, in opposition to the views of his patron, Judge Cooper, who
+remained a Federalist. It was this breach of political friendship which
+brought to Cooperstown Col. John H. Prentiss, who came from the office
+of the <i>New York Evening Post</i>, in 1808, to conduct a newspaper in
+opposition to <i>The Otsego Herald</i>. Thus came into being <i>The Impartial
+Observer</i>, which shortly changed its name to <i>The Cooperstown
+Federalist</i>, and in 1828 became <i>The Freeman's Journal</i>, under which
+name it is still published.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Phinney founded a bookselling and publishing business which,
+through his sons and grandsons, was carried on in Cooperstown for the
+better part of a century after its establishment. His place of business
+was on the east side of Pioneer Street, next south of the building that
+stands at the corner of Main Street, and the present building on the
+original site of their enterprise was erected by the Phinneys in 1849.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>The Phinney establishment became famous for original methods of
+conducting business. Large wagons were ingeniously constructed to serve
+as locomotive bookstores. They had movable tops and counters, and their
+shelves were stocked with hundreds of varieties of books. Traveling
+agents drove these wagons to many villages where books were scarcely
+attainable otherwise. The Erie Canal opened even more remote fields of
+enterprise. The Phinneys had a canal boat fitted up as a floating
+bookstore, which carried a variety beyond that found in the ordinary
+village, anchoring in winter at one of the largest towns on the Erie
+Canal. Up to the year 1849, when the publishing department was moved to
+Buffalo, and only a bookstore remained of the Phinney enterprise in
+Cooperstown, their efforts had built up in this village a large
+publishing business, while they stocked and maintained the largest
+bookstores in towns as far away as Utica, Buffalo, and Detroit. As early
+as 1820 their stereotype foundry in Cooperstown had cast a set of plates
+for a quarto family Bible, one of the first ever made in the United
+States, and of which some 200,000 copies were printed. Later they
+published Fenimore Cooper's <i>Naval History</i>, Col. Stone's <i>Life of
+Brant</i>, several volumes by Rev. Jacob and John S. C. Abbott which were
+household favorites for a generation afterward, not to mention many
+school text-books and histories.</p>
+
+<p>The occasion which caused the removal of this publishing business from
+the village arose out of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>the discontent of some workmen whose services
+were dispensed with when new power presses were substituted for
+hand-work in printing. The entire manufactory was burned at night by
+incendiaries in the spring of 1849.</p>
+
+<p>Elihu Phinney, the founder of the business, was the originator in 1796
+of <i>Phinney's Calendar, or Western Almanac</i>, which was known in every
+household of the region, for some three score years and ten. The weather
+predictions in this calendar were always gravely consulted. In one year
+it happened, through a typographical displacement, that snow was
+predicted for the fourth of July. When the glorious Fourth arrived the
+thermometer dropped below the freezing point, and snow actually fell, a
+circumstance which greatly increased the already reverent regard for
+Phinney's Almanac.</p>
+
+<p>A quaint character who established himself in the village before the
+coming of Elihu Phinney was Dr. Nathaniel Gott. He was a man of fiery
+spirit. When Dr. Gott's patients, on being restored to health, seemed
+inclined to forget their indebtedness to him, he threatened them with
+chastisement, and published the following rhymed notice in the <i>Otsego
+Herald</i>:</p>
+
+<div class="block">
+Says Dr. Gott,<br />
+I'll tell you what,<br />
+I'm called on hot,<br />
+All round the Ot-<br />
+-Segonian plot,<br />
+To pay my shot<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>For pill and pot.<br />
+If you don't trot<br />
+Up to the spot,<br />
+And ease my lot,<br />
+You'll smell it hot.<br />
+<br />
+NATHANIEL GOTT.</div>
+
+<p>Dr. Gott was an eccentric. He wore short breeches, with long stockings,
+and always ate his meals from a wooden trencher. Among a company of
+village men enjoying a convivial evening at the tavern a contest of wit
+and satire arose between Dr. Gott and Elihu Phinney who had become warm
+friends. Finally it was proposed that each should compose an impromptu
+epitaph for the other. In the epitaph which he improvised for Judge
+Phinney Dr. Gott, adapting the conceit of the schoolmen, made out Judge
+Phinney's soul to be so small that thousands of such could dance on the
+point of a cambric needle. Judge Phinney retorted with the following:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Beneath this turf doth stink and rot<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">The body of old Dr. Gott;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now earth is eased and hell is pleased,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Since Satan hath his carcass seized.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Amid shouts of laughter from the onlookers, Dr. Gott, turning jest into
+earnest, strode from the tavern, and his friendship for Judge Phinney
+was ended.</p>
+
+<p>The town pump stood on the north side of Main Street a few rods east of
+Chestnut street. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>Its former position is now marked by a tablet set in
+the sidewalk. On the corner west of the pump Daniel Olendorf kept a
+tavern. He was a small man, and very lame from a stiff knee. The muscles
+of the leg were contracted, making it considerably shorter than the
+other. At one time he was leading a lame horse through the street, when
+a little dog came following on behind, holding up one leg and limping
+along on the other three. The sight caused no little merriment along the
+street when the lame man, the lame horse, and the lame dog were seen
+marching in procession. Olendorf, wondering at the cause of so much
+amusement, looked back and saw the uninvited follower. He picked up a
+stone, and flung it at the dog, exclaiming, "Get along home; there is
+limping enough here without you, you little lame cuss, coming limping
+after us!"</p>
+
+<p>Young James Cooper, afterward the novelist, had left the village when a
+young lad to be tutored by the rector of St. Peter's, Albany, and
+thereafter spent little of his boyhood in Cooperstown. After his
+uncompleted course at Yale, and a year's cruise at sea, he returned for
+a time, in 1807, to his village home, being then a youth of eighteen
+years. To this period belongs the incident of his participation in a
+foot-race among some of his former companions in the village. The
+racecourse agreed upon was around the central square, that is, beginning
+at the intersection of Main and Pioneer streets, at the Red Lion Inn,
+the runners were to go up Pioneer Street to Church Street, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>thence to
+River Street, down River Street to Main, and so back to the place of
+starting.</p>
+
+<p>James Cooper was mentioned as one of the competitors, and his antagonist
+was selected. The prize was a basket of fruit. Cooper accepted the
+challenge, but not on even terms. It was not enough for the young sailor
+to outrun the landsman; he would do more. Among many spectators Cooper
+caught sight of a little girl. He caught her up in his arms, exclaiming,
+"I'll carry her with me and beat you!" Thus the race began, the little
+black-eyed girl clutching Cooper's shoulders. As the contestants rushed
+up Pioneer Street, and turned the corner where the Universalist church
+now stands, the amused and excited villagers saw with surprise that the
+sailor with his burden was keeping pace with the other flying youth.
+Around the square the runners turned the next two corners almost
+abreast. After rounding the corner of the Old Stone House, as they came
+up the main street toward the goal Cooper, bearing the little girl
+aloft, gave a burst of speed, amid wild cheers, drew away from his
+opponent, and won the race. The basket of fruit was his, which he
+distributed among the spectators, and the little girl, afterward the
+wife of Capt. William Wilson, long lived in the village to tell the
+story of her ride upon James Cooper's shoulders.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> The <i>Otsego Herald</i> of Jan. 14, 1796, contained a notice
+of warning issued by Henry Bowers against persons who had been cutting
+down trees "on my patent, in Newtown Martin."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>The Women of the Revolution</i>, Elizabeth F. Ellet,
+published in 1850, pp. 37-67.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> A skillful builder and noted character, commemorated by
+Fenimore Cooper in <i>Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll</i>.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PIONEER COURT ROOM</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the fore part of the nineteenth century, when public amusements were
+few, the people of Cooperstown found a pleasant relaxation from the hard
+tasks of pioneer life in attending the trial of suits at law in the
+court house. Here were large crowds of interested spectators, and the
+matters of litigation were widely discussed in the taverns and homes of
+the village. Cooperstown, as the county seat, was the chief battle
+ground of an endless warfare among the lawyers of the region, and the
+forensic struggles of the first twenty years of the century developed an
+array of legal talent in Otsego county which gained the reputation of
+being the ablest in the State west of the Hudson. In those days the best
+lawyers were orators, and some were actors who would have done credit to
+the dramatic profession. The public had its favorites among them, and
+their names were known in every household. The trial practice of that
+day was a keen encounter of wits between men of high native talent who
+perfectly understood each other's motives, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>and showed infinite
+dexterity in twisting facts and arguments to serve their purposes.<a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_151" id="photo_151"></a><img src="images/photo_151.jpg" alt="Ambrose L. Jordan" width="100%" />
+<p class="figcenter"><span class="smcap">Ambrose L. Jordan</span></p></div>
+
+<p>The ablest lawyer in the county from 1813 to 1820, when he removed to
+Hudson, was Ambrose L. Jordan, who began his career in Cooperstown in
+partnership with Col. Farrand Stranahan. Jordan was a commanding figure,
+six feet tall, slim and graceful in figure; blue eyes that were at once
+keen and kindly added lustre to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>impression produced by the
+sensitive features of his countenance. He had a profusion of brown curls
+and a complexion as fine as a woman's. Dignified and courtly in manner,
+he was as brilliant in conversation as he was impressive and powerful as
+an orator. In natural eloquence Jordan was a man of the first rank.
+Added to this he was a close student, and prepared his cases with great
+care. He had great powers of endurance, and in long trials always
+appeared fresh and strong after other advocates were exhausted. In his
+pleadings before a jury he used every resource at his command, indulging
+in flights of oratory that kindled the imagination, dazzling his hearers
+with rhetorical tropes and figures, at times humorous and playful, with
+a tendency to personal allusion most uncomfortable for his opponent.
+Jordan was terrible in sarcasm. One Asbury Newman, a poor, worthless,
+drunken fellow, ever ready to testify on either side for a drink of
+whiskey, was brought upon the witness stand. Jordan knew his man. After
+exhibiting his character in its true light, ringing all the changes upon
+his worthlessness, and ridiculing his opponent for bringing him there,
+he closed by saying, "Gentlemen of the jury, I will convince you that
+this degenerate specimen of humanity is not the son of the saintly and
+exemplary Elder Asbury Newman, but that he is the legitimate son of
+Beelzebub the prince of devils. He is an eyesore to his father, a sore
+eye to his mother, a vagabond upon earth, and a most damnable liar!"
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>Poor Asbury never appeared in court as a witness afterwards.<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p>
+
+<p>Jordan would never submit to being imposed upon by sharp practice. On
+one occasion, as he was returning homeward in the early evening from the
+trial of a case in a neighboring village, his wagon broke down. There
+was some snow on the ground, and a farmer in a lumber sleigh was gliding
+by, when Jordan requested his assistance to reach Cooperstown, some five
+miles away. The two put the broken wagon on the sleigh, and leading the
+disengaged horse, drove on to Jordan's home. No bargain had been made,
+and when, at the journey's end, Jordan inquired what he should pay, the
+sharp farmer named a most extortionate sum. Jordan then declared that
+the pay demanded was three times as much as the service was worth; yet
+rather than have any hard feeling about the matter he would pay double
+price: but more he would not pay. The offer was refused, and the farmer
+departed, breathing threats.</p>
+
+<p>Within a few days a summons was served on Jordan to appear before a
+justice who was a near neighbor and friend of the farmer. On the trial
+the justice gave judgment for the plaintiff for the full amount of the
+claim, and costs. As soon as the law would permit, execution was issued
+on this judgment, and placed in the hands of a deputy sheriff for
+collection.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>Jordan managed to have information of the coming of the officer to
+collect this judgment. His law partner, Col. Stranahan, was the owner of
+a handsome gold watch and chain, which for that occasion Jordan
+borrowed, and hung up conspicuously from a nail on the front of the desk
+at which he was writing, in the little office building which then stood
+on Main Street, near Jordan's home.</p>
+
+<p>When the officer entered, saying that he had an execution against him,
+Jordan asserted that he did not intend to pay it.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said the officer, "my duty requires me to levy on your property,
+and I shall take this,"&mdash;at the same time taking the watch, and putting
+it into his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"My friend," said Jordan, "I advise you to put back the watch. If you do
+not, you will get yourself into trouble."</p>
+
+<p>The deputy was obdurate, however, and left the office, taking with him
+the watch. With all possible expedition a writ and other papers in a
+replevin suit were prepared for an action of Stranahan against the
+deputy sheriff. The sheriff of the county was found, the replevin writ
+put into his hands, which he at once served on the deputy, took back the
+watch and delivered it to the owner. The deputy sheriff called on the
+farmer to indemnify him in the replevin suit, which he felt compelled to
+do. The result of the affair, which was soon arrived at, was this: the
+plaintiff succeeded in the replevin suit, the costs of which amounted to
+over one hundred dollars. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>The judgment obtained by the extortionate
+farmer was about twenty dollars, and he finally had to pay over to
+Jordan, as Stranahan's attorney, the difference between these sums.<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Ambrose Jordan began the practice of law in Cooperstown he planted
+an elm tree on Chestnut Street in front of his home, at the northwest
+corner of Main Street. This elm, grown to mighty proportions, celebrated
+its one hundredth birthday in 1913. Within a few paces of the corner,
+facing on Main Street, and in the rear of the dwelling which fronts
+Chestnut Street, stood the small building that Jordan occupied as an
+office. This is one of the few remaining examples of the detached law
+offices which were common in Cooperstown, as in other villages, in early
+days, and often stood in the dooryard of a lawyer's residence.<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_156" id="photo_156"></a><img src="images/photo_156.jpg" alt="Jordan's Home" width="75%" />
+<p class="illus10"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Jordan's Home, and his Law Office</p></div>
+
+<p>Jordan's partner, Col. Stranahan, was less conspicuous as a lawyer than
+as a soldier and politician. He was in command of a regiment throughout
+the War of 1812, and received official commendation for gallantry. On
+his record for military service and personal popularity he was elected
+senator, from what was then known as the Western District, in 1814, and
+again in 1823. During this period he became the recognized leader of the
+Otsego Democracy. Stranahan was a poor man, and his official service was
+rendered at the sacrifice of his law practice. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>Cooperstown
+celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our national independence, Col.
+Stranahan, because of his debts, was a prisoner in the county jail. A
+multitude of people from every part of the county had gathered in
+Cooperstown, and among the guests of honor were two old friends of
+Stranahan, Alvan Stewart and Levi Beardsley of Cherry Valley, the former
+being the orator of the day. Stewart and Beardsley, greatly distressed
+that, on an occasion devoted to the celebration of liberty, Stranahan
+should be in jail, went to the sheriff and gave their word to indemnify
+him, if he would bring his prisoner to the celebration. Accordingly
+Stranahan came, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>closely attended by the sheriff, and, after the
+oration, dined with the celebrating party. After the drinking of many
+toasts, toward evening the sheriff wished to return with his prisoner to
+the jail. By this time the party was in a merry mood, and full of the
+spirit of independence. The sheriff had some difficulty in persuading
+the banqueters to permit him to withdraw Stranahan from the festivities.
+Finally it was decided that if Stranahan must return to jail it should
+be with an escort of honor, and a group under the leadership of Stewart,
+Beardsley, and Judge Morell agreed to perform this duty. On reaching the
+jail the members of the escort were seized by another freak of fancy,
+and insisted upon being locked up with Stranahan. The sheriff having
+complied with their wishes, the prisoners soon tired of their
+confinement without further refreshment, and sent for the plaintiff
+against Stranahan to come to the jail. This being done they affected a
+compromise with him, by which he agreed to cancel a part of the debt if
+Stranahan's friends would each pay him twenty dollars. Thus Stranahan
+was released in triumph, and the rest of the night was passed in
+celebrating the event.<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p>
+
+<p>Ambrose L. Jordan's chief rival among the lawyers of Otsego county was
+his neighbor Samuel Starkweather, a man of great physical and mental
+power. He was in many ways to be contrasted with Jordan, more strongly
+built, swarthy, having dark eyes and hair, with a massive head <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>set upon
+broad shoulders, and every feature of his face indicative of strong will
+and energetic action. Somewhat less of an orator than Jordan,
+Starkweather equalled him in close logical reasoning.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 50%;">
+<a name="photo_158" id="photo_158"></a><img src="images/photo_158.jpg" alt="The Home of Robert Campbell" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>J. B. Slote</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Home of Robert Campbell</p></div>
+
+<p>At the beginning of the century John Russell, Elijah H. Metcalf, and
+Robert Campbell were resident in Cooperstown. Russell was the second
+member of Congress to be elected from the place. Col. Metcalf served two
+years in the legislature of the State. Campbell, of the well-known
+Cherry Valley family, built for his residence in 1807 the house which
+still stands on Lake Street facing the length of Chestnut Street. He was
+a man of stout build, with a full face, slightly retiring forehead, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>a
+trifle bald, urbane and unassuming in deportment. As a pleader at the
+bar he was only moderately eloquent, but he was popularly designated far
+and near as "the honest lawyer," and his advice was not only much sought
+but implicitly relied upon. In a period not much devoted to the
+amenities of legal procedure one member of this group of lawyers, George
+Morell, made a reputation not so much as an advocate as for his
+faultless diction and polished manners.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Alvan Stewart of Cherry Valley was the clown of the
+court room, and to such good purpose that the ablest lawyers of
+Cooperstown dreaded him as an opponent. He was a master of absurd wit
+and ridicule. In Proctor's <i>Bench and Bar</i> he is referred to as "one of
+the most powerful adversaries that ever stood before a jury." He was not
+a profound lawyer, and seems never to have studied the arrangement of
+his cases, nor to have bestowed any care in preparation for their
+presentation, but his mind was richly furnished with thoughts upon every
+subject which came up for discussion in the progress of a trial, and his
+illustrations, although unusual and grotesque were strikingly
+appropriate. His greatest power lay in that he could be humorous or
+pathetic, acrimonious or conciliating, denouncing the theories,
+testimony and pleas of the opposition in lofty declamation, and almost
+in the same breath convulsing his audience, the court and jury included,
+by the most laughable exhibitions of ridicule and burlesque.<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>A case in which Alvan Stewart opposed Samuel Starkweather was long
+afterward famous in Cooperstown.<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> The case was an important one, and
+was brought to a climax when the logical and serious Starkweather began
+summing up for the defense. While he was speaking Stewart took a
+position so as to gaze continually into the face of his opponent,
+evidently with the intention of disconcerting him, and of distracting
+the attention of the jury. Starkweather was not a little irritated at
+Stewart's absurd look and attitude. In spite of this, however, he
+grappled with the strong points at issue, and elucidated them with
+telling logic in his own favor; he kept the closest attention of the
+jury, producing conviction in the justice of his position; and took his
+seat well satisfied that he would have a favorable verdict. In his
+closing words Starkweather made some allusion to Stewart's staring eyes,
+and cautioned the jury against being influenced by the well-known
+absurdities which he was wont to introduce.</p>
+
+<p>Stewart in the mean time sat with a pompously assumed calmness and
+dignity, like a turkey cock beside his brooding mate before awaking the
+dawn with his matin gobbling. After a time he began to gather himself
+up, and slowly lengthened out to his full height, about six feet four.
+His blue frock coat thrown back upon his shoulders sat loosely around
+him. His arms hanging down beside him like useless appendages to a
+statue; his white waistcoat all open except one or two buttons <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>at the
+bottom; his white necktie wound carelessly about his neck; his shirt
+collar wide open; his face a kind of oblong quadrilateral containing
+features grotesquely drawn downward; his eyes, large and prominent, so
+turned as to show most of the sclerotic white of the eyeballs,&mdash;all were
+combined to present the buffoon in his utmost burlesque of himself.</p>
+
+<p>Alvan Stewart's first movement was to turn his head and roll his eyes so
+as to fix the attention of his audience, who were ever ready to laugh
+when his lips opened, whether wit or folly came from them. Then, with an
+awkward bow, he paid his respects to the court, and, turning to the
+jury, commenced:</p>
+
+<p>"It appears, gentlemen of the jury, from the remarks of the opposing
+counsel," here turning to Starkweather, "that my <i>eyes</i> constitute the
+principal thing at issue"&mdash;pausing a moment, then turning again to the
+jury,&mdash;"in the cause pending before us. They are the same eyes that my
+Maker fashioned for me, and I have used them continually ever since I
+was a b-o-y,"&mdash;drawing the last word out with a deep guttural
+voice,&mdash;"and this is the first time that I have ever heard their
+legitimacy questioned." He then went on to compare his eyes to two full
+moons rising upon the scene, a phenomenon made necessary to dispel a
+little of the darkness that, under the pretence of light and justice,
+had been ingeniously thrown around the cause they were to decide. For a
+full half hour this rambling burlesque was continued, with a manner of
+delivery indescribably <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>ludicrous, only now and then touching upon the
+cause on trial, and then only to fling ridicule upon some of the points
+previously argued for the defendant.</p>
+
+<p>During all this time the spectators were shaking with laughter, while
+the jury and even the judge had to press their lips to retain their
+gravity, and were not always successful. More than once Stewart was
+interrupted by Starkweather for bringing in matters not related to the
+subject under litigation, or for making statements not warranted by the
+facts. Stewart stood blinking at him until he had finished, then turned
+beseechingly to the judge; when the decision was against him he struck
+out into some other line of buffoonery equally grotesque. In conclusion
+he came down to argumentation, bringing his logic to bear upon the few
+points that he had not involved with absurdities, and sat down in
+triumph.</p>
+
+<p>When the verdict had been rendered in Stewart's favor, Starkweather
+strode forth from the court room in a rage, muttering fierce
+imprecations against a man who was capable of overmatching reason and
+justice by low buffoonery.</p>
+
+<p>But none could be long angry at Stewart. He had no personal enmities and
+no enemies. Later in life he became an anti-slavery agitator and
+temperance lecturer pledged to total abstinence, the latter a much
+needed measure of reform in the case of Alvan Stewart.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>Noted Men of Otsego during the Early Years</i>, Walter H.
+Bunn, Address at the Cooperstown Centennial.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> <i>Random Sketches of Fifty, Sixty and More Years Ago</i>,
+Richard Fry, in the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, 1878.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>History of Otsego County</i>, 1878, p. 283.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Moved to the north of the residence, 1917.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, Levi Beardsley, 223.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Walter H. Bunn.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Richard Fry.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>FATHER NASH</h3>
+
+
+<p>The saintly life and strange personal charm of the Rev. Daniel Nash, the
+first rector of Christ Church, made a deep impression upon the village
+of Cooperstown in its early days; and the wide range of his apostolic
+labors as a missionary gave him a singular fame, during half a century,
+throughout Otsego county, and far beyond its borders. The grave of
+Father Nash is in Christ churchyard, marked by the tallest of the
+monuments along the driveway, at a spot which he himself had chosen for
+his burial.</p>
+
+<p>Daniel Nash was born in Massachusetts at Great Barrington (then called
+Housatonic) May 28, 1763.<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> At the age of twenty-two years he was
+graduated at Yale in the same class with Noah Webster. He was originally
+Presbyterian in his doctrinal belief, and in polity was sympathetic with
+the Congregational denomination, of which he was a member. But within
+ten years after his graduation from college Daniel Nash became a
+communicant of the Episcopal Church and began to study for Holy Orders.
+It was one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>of the quaint sayings attributed to him in later years that
+"you may bray a Presbyterian as with a pestle in a mortar, and you
+cannot get all of his Presbyterianism out of him," and when asked how he
+accounted for his own experience, "I was caught young," he would reply.</p>
+
+<p>Through the influence of the Rev. Dr. Daniel Burhans, who had made
+several missionary tours through Otsego and adjoining counties, Nash
+became fired with zeal for missionary work in this romantic and
+adventurous field. In 1797, having taken deacon's orders, he was
+accompanied to Otsego by his bride of a little more than a year, who was
+Olive Lusk, described as "an amiable lady of benignant mind and placid
+manners," the daughter of an intimate friend of his father. They made
+their first home at Exeter, in Otsego, and the early ministerial acts of
+Daniel Nash were divided between Exeter and Morris, about eighteen miles
+distant.<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p>
+
+<p>The missionary zeal of Daniel Nash was so intense that he was unable to
+comprehend lukewarmness in such a cause. The first bishop of the diocese
+of New York, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, belonged to a type of
+ecclesiastical life that was characteristic of the century then closing.
+Orthodox, scholarly, not ungenuinely religious, a gentleman of lofty
+aims and distinguished manners, Bishop Provoost charmingly entertained
+at his New York residence the rugged missionary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>of Otsego who came to
+report to him, but he was quite unable to enter into a missionary
+enthusiasm that appeared to him fanatical, or to understand the
+character of an educated man who lived by choice among the people of
+rude settlements and untamed forests. Nash was so indignant at the
+attitude of his chief that he resolved not to receive from his hands the
+ordination to the priesthood, and it was not until the autumn of 1801,
+shortly after the consecration of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore as
+coadjutor bishop of New York, that he became a priest.</p>
+
+<p>As the result of tireless labor, of much travel through difficult
+regions, by the maintenance of divine services at many outposts, Father
+Nash was able little by little to establish self-supporting church
+organizations throughout Otsego and the neighboring region. In 1801 Zion
+Church was built at Morris. Eight years later Father Nash organized St.
+Matthew's parish at Unadilla, and in 1811 completed the formal
+organization of Christ Church parish in Cooperstown, where the church
+building had been erected in 1807-10, and where Father Nash now came to
+be in partial residence as rector during seven years.<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p>
+
+<p>Aside from these parishes which so soon became permanently established
+this extraordinary man was regularly or occasionally visiting and
+shepherding the people of many other settlements. In Otsego county,
+besides giving pastoral attention to Exeter, Morris, Unadilla, and
+Cooperstown, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>he held services and preached&mdash;to name them in the order
+of his first visits&mdash;in Richfield, Springfield, and Cherry Valley;
+Westford and Milford; Edmeston, Burlington, and Hartwick; Fly Creek and
+Burlington Flats; Laurens, LeRoy (now Schuyler's Lake), Hartwick Hill,
+and Worcester; New Lisbon and Richfield Springs. In Chenango county,
+after the establishment of the church in New Berlin, he officiated at
+Sherburne and Mount Upton. Beyond these points he extended his work to
+Windsor and Colesville in Broome county; to Franklin and Stamford in
+Delaware county; to Canajoharie and Warren in Montgomery county; to
+Lebanon in Madison county; to Paris, Verona, Oneida Castle, Oneida, and
+New Hartford, in Oneida county; to Cape Vincent on Lake Ontario in
+Jefferson county; and to Ogdensburg in St. Lawrence county, one hundred
+and fifty miles to the north of the missionary's Otsego home.<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> Such
+was the field of the priest who officially reported each year to the
+convention of the diocese of New York as "Rector of the churches in
+Otsego county."</p>
+
+<p>Here belongs the story of an unusual coincidence. From 1816 to 1831
+there lived, in the same general region of New York State, within one
+hundred miles of the apostle of Otsego, another well known Christian
+minister whose surname was Nash, whose only Christian name was
+Daniel&mdash;the Rev. Daniel Nash,&mdash;always known, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>by a title which popular
+affection had bestowed on him, as "Father" Nash. To the people of Otsego
+and Chenango counties the name of Father Nash was a household word,
+while to the residents of Lewis and Jefferson counties the same name
+signified quite a different person. It is curious that no chronicle of
+either region betrays any contemporary knowledge of the coincidence.
+Each prophet was honored in his own country, and unknown in the
+stronghold of the other. This is the more strange, since their paths
+almost crossed in the year 1817, when the two men of identical name,
+title, and profession were within forty-five miles of each other, one
+being resident as pastor of the Stow's Square church, three miles north
+of Lowville in Lewis county, while the Otsego missionary was holding
+services at Verona in Oneida county. At different times they traversed
+the same counties: it was in 1816 that the Otsego missionary made tours
+in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties; the other Father Nash is known
+to have visited these counties eight years later.<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p>
+
+<p>The series of coincidences is made more singular by the fact that each
+Father Nash had married a wife whose first name was Olive, so that not
+only were both men called Father Nash, but the wife, after the custom of
+that day, in each case was addressed as Mrs. Olive Nash.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from these remarkable identities the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>men were quite
+dissimilar. Both were natives of Massachusetts, but the Otsego Nash came
+from the extreme west of that State, the other from the farthest east.
+Both originally belonged to the Congregational denomination, but the
+Otsego Nash had become a priest of the Episcopal Church, while the other
+was a Presbyterian minister. The Presbyterian Nash was a famous
+revivalist. The Otsego missionary detested revivals. He said that the
+converts "reminded him of little humble-bees, which are rather larger
+when hatched than they are sometimes afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>There is something almost mysterious in the figure of this second Father
+Nash rising from the mist of bygone years, and one is quite prepared to
+read of him<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> that he went forth to labor for souls with a double
+black veil before his face, like the minister in Hawthorne's weird tale
+whose congregation was terrified by the "double fold of crape, hanging
+down from his forehead to his mouth, and slightly stirring with his
+breath." Three miles north of Lowville in Lewis county, in Stow's Square
+churchyard, a marble shaft eight feet high, conspicuous from almost any
+point in the country which stretches away to the Adirondack wilderness,
+commemorates, in connection with the church that he erected there, the
+Father Nash who labored in Lewis and Jefferson counties, and in an
+obscure cemetery, not far distant, a modest headstone marks his grave.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the story of Cooperstown's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>Father Nash, no estimate of
+his work can fail to take into account the character of the field in
+which he labored. When he came to this region the country, while
+partially settled, was mostly a wilderness. The difficulties of travel
+were great. The manner of life among pioneers was crude. Bishop
+Philander Chase visited Otsego county in 1799, and gives a vivid
+impression of the more than apostolic simplicity of Father Nash's
+surroundings.<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a
+href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> The Bishop found the
+missionary living in a cabin of unhewn logs, into which he had recently
+moved, and from which he was about to remove to another, equally poor,
+inhabiting with his family a single room, which contained all his
+worldly goods, and driving nails into the walls to make his wardrobe.
+The bishop assisted the missionary in his moving, and describes how they
+walked the road together, carrying a basket of crockery between them,
+and "talked of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."</p>
+
+<p>In his missionary journeys Father Nash rode on horseback from place to
+place, often carrying one of his children, and Mrs. Nash with another in
+her arms behind him on the horse's back, for she was greatly useful in
+the music and responses of the services.</p>
+
+<p>Father Nash held services punctually according to previous appointment,
+but they were sometimes strangely interrupted. The terror of wolves had
+not been banished from Otsego, and on one occasion, at Richfield, the
+entire congregation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>disappeared in pursuit of a huge bear that had
+suddenly alarmed the neighborhood.<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> The bear was captured, and
+furnished a supper of which the congregation partook in the evening.
+While the bear hunt had spoiled his sermon, Father Nash cheerfully
+asserted that it was a Christian deed to destroy so dangerous a brute
+even on a Sunday, and a venial offense against the canons of the Church.
+It is further related that Father Nash ate so much bear steak, on this
+occasion, as to make him quite ill.</p>
+
+<p>Although Fenimore Cooper was usually loath to admit that any character
+in his novels was drawn from life, Father Nash was generally recognized
+as the original of the Rev. Mr. Grant in the novel descriptive of
+Cooperstown which appeared under the title of <i>The Pioneers</i>. If this
+identification be justified, it must be said that while the author of
+the <i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i> has well represented the genuine piety of
+his model, he has disguised him as a rather anaemic and depressing
+person. Father Nash was a man of rugged health, six feet in height, full
+in figure, over two hundred pounds in weight, of fresh and fair
+complexion, wearing a wig of longish hair parted in the middle, and
+dressed always, as circumstances permitted, with a strict regard for
+neatness.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_171" id="photo_171"></a><img src="images/photo_171.jpg" alt="Father Nash" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Father Nash</p></div>
+
+<p>The only original portrait of Father Nash now remaining, from which all
+the extant engravings were taken, hangs in the sacristy of Christ
+Church. This portrait was given to the church in 1910, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>when the parish
+centennial was celebrated, by Father Nash's granddaughter, Mrs. Anna
+Marie Holland, of Saginaw, Michigan, and his great grandson, Harry C.
+Nash, of Buffalo. Mrs. Holland related a quaint incident concerning the
+portrait as connected with her own childhood. As it hung in her father's
+house, she used to be both annoyed and terrified at the manner in which
+the eyes of the portrait followed her about the room with persistent
+and, as she thought, reproving gaze. Especially when she had been guilty
+of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>some childish prank, the silent reproach in her grandfather's eyes
+was intolerable. One day she climbed upon a chair before the portrait,
+and with a pin attempted to blind the eyes. The pin pricks are still
+visible upon the canvas.</p>
+
+<p>At three score years and ten Father Nash looked upon the bright side of
+everything, being full of anecdote and humor, and appeared to have more
+of the simplicity and vivacity of youth than men who were thirty years
+his junior. One who saw him at this period of life attributed the old
+missionary's health and vigor in part to his great cheerfulness.<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p>
+
+<p>The slightest sketch of Father Nash would be incomplete without some
+reference to the story of his answer to a farmer who asked him what he
+fed his lambs. "Catechism," replied Father Nash, "catechism!" And behind
+the smile that followed this homely sally the analyst of character would
+have seen the earnest purpose of his mission to the children of Otsego
+which was one of the sublime secrets of his ministry.</p>
+
+<p>In the history of Western New York Father Nash of Otsego deserves a
+place of honor among the foremost pioneers. Wherever the most
+adventurous men were found pushing westward the frontier of
+civilization, there was Father Nash, uplifting the standard of the
+Church. Not only had he courage and energy; he displayed remarkable
+foresight in his manner of laying foundations. Of the Episcopal churches
+in the Otsego <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>region the greater number were established by him, and
+most of them flourish at the present time.</p>
+
+<p>"No Otsego pioneer deserves honor more," says Halsey, in <i>The Old New
+York Frontier</i>, "not the road builder or leveler of forests, not the men
+who fought against Brant and the Tories. To none of these, in so large a
+degree, can we apply with such full measure of truth the sayings that no
+man liveth himself, and that his works do follow him."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Lives of Phelps and Nash</i>, John N. Norton.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>History of Zion Church Parish, Morris</i>, by Katherine M.
+Sanderson, p. 6.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Historic Records of Christ Church, Cooperstown</i>, G.
+Pomeroy Keese.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Reports of Rev. Daniel Nash to New York Convention,
+1803-1827.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> For The Otsego Nash see Reports of Daniel Nash to New York
+Conventions. For the other see <i>Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney</i>, New
+York, A. S. Barnes and Co., 1876, pp. 52, 70, 117.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Finney, <i>Memoirs</i>, p. 70.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>Bishop Chase's Reminiscences</i>, Vol. I, p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, Levi Beardsley, p. 42.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> <i>The Church Review</i>, New Haven, October, 1848, p. 398.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE IMMORTAL NATTY BUMPPO</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the opinion of Sainte-Beuve, Fenimore Cooper possessed the "creative
+faculty which brings into the world new characters, and by virtue of
+which Rabelais produced Panurge, Le Sage Gil-Blas, and Richardson
+Pamela." Thackeray, praising the heroes of Scott's creation, expressed
+an equal liking for Cooper's, adding that "perhaps Leather-Stocking is
+better than any one in Scott's lot. La Longue Carabine is one of the
+great prize-men of fiction. He ranks with your Uncle Toby, Sir Roger de
+Coverley, Falstaff&mdash;heroic figures all, American or British; and the
+artist has deserved well of his country who devised him." Thackeray
+proved the sincerity of his admiration when he borrowed a hint from the
+noble death-scene of Leather-Stocking in <i>The Prairie</i>, and adapted it
+to describe the passing of Colonel Newcome.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper's wide audience of general readers is here in agreement with
+Sainte-Beuve the critic and Thackeray the novelist. Whatever else may be
+said of Cooper's works it is certain that in the man Natty Bumppo, known
+as "Leather-Stocking," "Pathfinder," "Deerslayer," and "La <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>Longue
+Carabine," Cooper created an immortal being. Among heroes of fiction
+Leather-Stocking stands with the few that are as real to the imagination
+as the personages of veritable history. Readers of Cooper recall
+Leather-Stocking with genuine affection; others, without having read a
+line of the <i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i> have somehow formed an idea of his
+person and character. Leather-Stocking is a rare hero in being noble
+without being offensive. "Perhaps there is no better proof of Cooper's
+genuine power," says Brander Matthews, "than that he can insist on
+Leather-Stocking's goodness,&mdash;a dangerous gift for a novelist to bestow
+on a man,&mdash;and that he can show us Leather-Stocking declining the
+advances of a handsome woman,&mdash;a dangerous position for a novelist to
+put a man in,&mdash;without any reader ever having felt inclined to think
+Leather-Stocking a prig."</p>
+
+<p>Leather-Stocking was first introduced to the public in <i>The Pioneers</i>,
+the novel descriptive of early days in Cooperstown which Cooper
+published in 1823. The character was not yet fully developed, but
+Nathaniel Bumppo in outward appearance stood at once complete. "He was
+tall, and so meagre as to make him seem above even the six feet that he
+actually stood in his stockings. On his head, which was thinly covered
+with lank, sandy hair, he wore a cap made of fox-skin. His face was
+skinny, and thin almost to emaciation; but yet it bore no signs of
+disease; on the contrary, it had every indication of the most robust and
+enduring health. The cold and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>exposure had, together, given it a
+color of uniform red. His gray eyes were glancing under a pair of shaggy
+brows, that overhung them in long hairs of gray mingled with their
+natural hue; his scraggy neck was bare, and burnt to the same tint with
+his face. A kind of coat, made of dressed deerskin, with the hair on,
+was belted close to his lank body, by a girdle of colored worsted. On
+his feet were deerskin moccasins, ornamented with porcupines' quills,
+after the manner of the Indians, and his limbs were guarded with long
+leggings of the same material as the moccasins, which, gartering over
+the knees of his tarnished buckskin breeches, had obtained for him,
+among the settlers, the nick-name of Leather-Stocking."</p>
+
+<p>In this story the novelist had presented Leather-Stocking as a finished
+portrait, with his long rifle, dog Hector, and all. Cooper had described
+him as a man of seventy years, and intimated no purpose of carrying him
+over into another volume. Natty Bumppo proved to be so popular, however,
+that in 1826 Cooper made him an important figure in <i>The Last of the
+Mohicans</i>, representing him in young manhood, at the age of thirty
+years, and betrayed a more profound interest in the spirit of the
+character which he had discovered. The success of this venture
+encouraged the author, in the next year, to bring Leather-Stocking
+forward, for what he intended to be the last time, in <i>The Prairie</i>. The
+closing chapter of that story describes the death and burial of
+Leather-Stocking.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>But the public could not have enough of Natty Bumppo, and the result was
+that, after leaving him in his grave, Cooper resurrected
+Leather-Stocking as the hero of two more novels. In <i>The Pathfinder</i>,
+published in 1840, he described Natty Bumppo at the age of forty years;
+and <i>The Deerslayer</i>, the last published of the series, gave a youthful
+picture of Leather-Stocking at the age of twenty. When the
+<i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i> were afterward published complete they of
+course followed the logical order in the presentation of the hero's
+life, without regard to the dates of original publication. The actual
+order in which they were written, however, suggests an interesting
+glimpse of Cooper's method of work in developing his most successful
+character.</p>
+
+<p>It is generally believed that an old hunter named Shipman, who lived in
+Cooperstown during Fenimore Cooper's boyhood, suggested to the novelist
+the picturesque character of Leather-Stocking. The persistence of this
+tradition requires some explanation, for it is not strikingly confirmed
+by what Cooper himself had to say of the matter. In the preface of the
+<i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i>, written after the series was complete, he
+said: "The author has often been asked if he had any original in his
+mind for the character of Leather-Stocking. In a physical sense,
+different individuals known to the writer in early life certainly
+presented themselves as models, through his recollection; but in a moral
+sense this man of the forest is purely a creation."</p>
+
+<p>In the face of this, the most that can be said for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>the current
+tradition is that Cooper's assertion does not exclude it from
+consideration. What he lays stress upon is that the inner spirit of
+Leather-Stocking was the novelist's creation. His statement is not
+inconsistent with the possibility that he had the hunter Shipman chiefly
+in mind as the prototype of Leather-Stocking, with some characteristics
+added from other hunters, of whom there were many in the early days of
+Cooperstown. The heat with which he denies having drawn upon the
+character of his own sister in portraying the heroine of <i>The Pioneers</i>
+seems to betray a feeling, which later writers have not often shared,
+that an author cannot transfer real persons to the pages of fiction
+without a violation of good taste. Here lies perhaps a partial
+explanation of the fact that Cooper never acknowledged a living model
+for any of his characters. Even Judge Temple in <i>The Pioneers</i>, who
+occupies exactly the position of Judge Cooper in reference to the
+village which he actually founded, Fenimore Cooper will not admit to be
+drawn in the likeness of his father. He disposes of this supposition in
+the introduction of <i>The Pioneers</i> by observing that "the great
+proprietor resident on his lands, and giving his name to his estates, is
+common over the whole of New York." Yet in the same introduction he
+confesses that "in commencing to describe scenes, and perhaps he may add
+characters, that were so familiar to his own youth, there was a constant
+temptation to delineate that which he had known, rather than that which
+he might have imagined." How far he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>yielded to the temptation is a
+question which, in making as if to reply, he deftly leaves unanswered,
+and his unwillingness to satisfy curiosity on this point is the one
+thing that a careful reading of his words makes clear. He is free to
+admit in a general way that he drew upon life for material, but he will
+not be pinned down as to any particular character; yet only in the one
+instance&mdash;when his sister was named as the original of Elizabeth
+Temple&mdash;did he flatly deny the identification of a real original with a
+creature of his fiction. After all, even if Cooper had drawn many of his
+characters from real life, there would have been so much modification
+necessary to fit them into the action of a story as to warrant him in
+the assertion "that there was no intention to describe with particular
+accuracy any real character"; and if he did not wish to take the public
+into his confidence regarding these intimate details of his work, he had
+a perfect right to treat the matter as evasively as the truth would
+permit.</p>
+
+<p>One can see reasons for Cooper's unwillingness to inform the public that
+his old neighbors in Cooperstown were to be recognized in his books.
+There is the creative artist's reason, who does not wish to be regarded
+as a mere photographer; there is the gentleman's sensitiveness to
+certain rights of privacy not to be invaded by public print; there is
+the experience of a writer who was often dismayed at the facility of his
+pen in stirring neighborly animosities.</p>
+
+<p>As to Leather-Stocking, this is to be said: that in Cooper's boyhood
+there lived in Cooperstown <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>a hunter named Shipman whom Cooper himself
+in the <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i>, published in 1838, described as "the
+Leather-Stocking of the region." Furthermore,&mdash;whether owing to any
+private information from Fenimore Cooper cannot now be ascertained,&mdash;the
+tradition from his time to the present day, in spite of the author's
+vague disclaimer, persistently clings to Shipman as the original of
+Leather-Stocking.</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, the matter in dispute has not been the identity of
+Shipman with Leather-Stocking, but the identity of Shipman himself. Who
+was Shipman? This is the question that has stirred controversy; and two
+ghosts have arisen from the past, each claiming to be the Shipman whom
+Cooper idealized, re-christened, and made immortal.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper gave to his hero the name of Nathaniel Bumppo. It has been
+claimed that Cooper borrowed not only the character but the Christian
+name of Nathaniel Shipman, a famous hunter and trapper, who came to
+Otsego Lake at the time of the Revolutionary War, and made his home in a
+cave on the border of the lake until about 1805.</p>
+
+<p>According to the discoverers of this original of Leather-Stocking,
+Nathaniel Shipman was a close friend of the Mohican Indians, and fought
+with them against the French and the Canadian Indians. In the years
+immediately preceding the American Revolution Shipman was a well known
+settler of Hoosick, northeast of Albany and near the border of Vermont,
+where he had built him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>a cabin on the banks of the Walloomsac. He was
+well disposed toward the English, and one of his closest friends was an
+officer in the British army. When the Revolutionary War began, while
+Shipman's heart was with the movement for independence, his friendship
+for the English was such that he determined to be strictly neutral,
+helping neither one side nor the other. There is nothing to show that he
+was not genuinely neutral. But his patriot neighbors were intolerant of
+such neutrality. Anyone who was not for them was against them. Shipman
+was put down as a Tory, and his neighbors treated him to a coat of tar
+and feathers.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this event Nathaniel Shipman disappeared from Hoosick, and
+not even his own family knew whither he had gone.</p>
+
+<p>In process of time Shipman's daughter married a John Ryan of Hoosick.
+Ryan served in the Legislature from 1803 to 1806, and at that time
+became acquainted with Judge William Cooper, founder of Cooperstown, and
+father of the novelist. In the course of their frequent meetings Judge
+Cooper told Ryan of an interesting character whom he had seen in
+Cooperstown, and described the picturesque appearance and quaint sayings
+of the old hunter who lived on the border of Otsego Lake. At home Ryan
+told the story to his wife, who soon became convinced that the old white
+hunter whom Cooper had described was none other than her father, who had
+been missing for twenty-six years.</p>
+
+<p>Ryan went to Otsego Lake, and, having found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>the hunter, learned that he
+was indeed Nathaniel Shipman who had disappeared from Hoosick at the
+time of the Revolutionary War. Ryan persuaded the old man to return with
+him, and brought him back to live in the home which then stood some two
+miles east of Hoosick Falls. In spite of the devotion of his daughter,
+however, the aged hunter never felt quite at home beneath her roof, or
+among the former neighbors. His heart was in the wilds, and it is said
+that he made frequent visits to the place where he had passed so many
+years in unrestricted freedom, where there was none to question his
+sincerity or to doubt his loyalty.</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Shipman died at the Ryan home in 1809, and his grave is in the
+old burying ground on Main Street in Hoosick Falls.</p>
+
+<p>The local tradition in Cooperstown does not recognize Nathaniel Shipman
+of Hoosick Falls. When a movement was made in 1915 to erect at Hoosick
+Falls a monument to Nathaniel Shipman as the original of
+Leather-Stocking, the proposition was made the subject of scornful
+comment in Cooperstown, and Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick was referred to
+as "a spurious Natty Bumppo."</p>
+
+<p>Cooperstown agrees that the original of Leather-Stocking was named
+Shipman. But the name of the original hunter was not Nathaniel. He was
+David Shipman. His grave is not far from Cooperstown, in the Adams
+burying ground between the villages of Fly Creek and Toddsville, and at
+the beginning of the twentieth century was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>marked with a tombstone by
+Otsego chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. David
+Shipman's descendants live in Cooperstown at the present time. When the
+Hoosick Falls claim to Leather-Stocking was first published in 1915, it
+was accompanied with the statement that the facts were known to the
+people of Hoosick sixty years before. Notwithstanding this the claim was
+contradicted in Cooperstown by the positive statement that "for over a
+century David Shipman has held the undisputed honor of being the real
+Leather-Stocking of Cooper's tales."</p>
+
+<p>David Shipman served in the American army in the Revolutionary War, and
+was a member of the Fourteenth Regiment of Albany county militia under
+Col. John Knickerbocker and Lieut.-Col. John van Rensselaer. After the
+Revolution he lived just over the hills west of Cooperstown in a log
+cabin on the east bank of Oak's Creek, about equi-distant between
+Toddsville and Fly Creek village. In 1878 Aden Adams of Cooperstown,
+aged 81, stated that he well remembered David Shipman. As described by
+Adams, he was tall and slim, dressed in tanned deerskin, wore moccasins
+and long stockings of leather fastened at the knee, and carried a gun of
+great length. He was one of the most famous hunters of the whole
+country, and with his dogs roamed the forest in search of deer, bear,
+and foxes. He supplied the Cooper family at Otsego Hall with deer and
+bear meat, and also assisted Judge Cooper when he was surveying land
+about Cooperstown in the early days of the settlement. Colonel
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>Cheney<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> says that after going west, David Shipman returned to his old
+home in the Fly Creek valley, and lived there for several years. His
+wife died, and was buried in the Adams cemetery. The ground was wet, and
+water partially filled the grave. Elder Bostwick, a Baptist minister
+from the town of Hartwick, officiated at the funeral, and upon remarking
+to Shipman that it was a poor place to bury the dead, the old hunter
+answered, "I know it, but if I live to die, I expect to be buried here
+myself."<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p>
+
+<p>Cooper's most famous hero, carved in marble, rifle in hand, and with the
+dog Hector at his feet, stands at the top of the Leatherstocking
+monument in Lakewood cemetery, on a rise of ground near the entrance,
+overlooking Otsego Lake from the east side, about fifteen minutes walk
+from the village of Cooperstown. That a monument commemorative of Cooper
+and Leather-Stocking should stand in the public cemetery, in which
+neither the author nor his supposed model is buried, is sometimes
+puzzling to visitors. It is said, however, that the site was chosen with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>reference to certain scenes in <i>The Pioneers</i>. The monument stands near
+the spot upon which the novelist, for the purpose of his romance, placed
+the hut of Natty Bumppo. It is not far below the road referred to in the
+opening scene of the tale, where the travelers gained their first
+glimpse of the village, and stands at the foot of the wooded slope upon
+which, in the same story, Leather-Stocking shot the panther that was
+about to spring upon Elizabeth Temple.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 40%;">
+<a name="photo_185" id="photo_185"></a><img src="images/photo_185.jpg" alt="Leatherstocking Monument" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Leatherstocking Monument</p></div>
+
+<p>The monument itself was the result of an unsuccessful effort which was
+made shortly after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>Fenimore Cooper's death in 1851 to erect in his
+memory a statue or monument in one of the public squares of New York
+City. To this end, ten days after his death, a public meeting of
+citizens of New York, at which Washington Irving presided, was held in
+the City Hall; two weeks later the Historical Society of New York held a
+meeting in commemoration of Cooper; and on February 24, 1852, there was
+a great demonstration at Metropolitan Hall, with speeches by Daniel
+Webster and George Bancroft, and a memorial discourse by William Cullen
+Bryant. The raising of funds for a memorial, which these meetings set as
+their object, was not commensurate with the expenditure of rhetoric. The
+sum of $678 was contributed, chiefly at the meeting in Metropolitan
+Hall, and the committee organized to solicit subscriptions did nothing
+further.</p>
+
+<p>Six years later Alfred Clarke and G. Pomeroy Keese of Cooperstown
+undertook to raise by subscription a sufficient sum to erect a monument
+in Cooper's memory in or near the village in which he lived, having in
+view the transfer of whatever sum might be on deposit in New York toward
+the proposed monument. They raised $2,500, to which Washington Irving,
+acting for the defunct committee in New York, added the $678 already
+contributed.</p>
+
+<p>The monument, of white Italian marble, with the statuette of
+Leather-Stocking at the top, was sculptured by Robert E. Launitz, and
+erected in the spring of 1860. The small bronze casts of this statuette,
+which one sees in some of the older <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>homes in Cooperstown, belong to the
+same period.</p>
+
+<p>Another attempt to give artistic expression to pride in Natty Bumppo was
+wrought in less permanent material. Upon the drop-curtain on the stage
+of the Village Hall was painted the scene from <i>The Pioneers</i> which
+represents Leather-Stocking, Judge Temple, and Edwards grouped about a
+deer that has been shot on the border of the lake. In producing this
+scene the artist enlarged an illustration drawn by F. O. C. Darley for
+an early edition of <i>The Pioneers</i>. The original scene described by
+Cooper, and as depicted by Darley, was a wintry one, showing the lake
+shore in a mantle of snow. This was thought to be a bit too chilly for a
+playhouse, so the view as transferred to the curtain was brightened up
+by the addition of green foliage; and deft touches of the scene
+painter's brush, without altering the pose of any of the figures,
+changed winter into glorious summer. Many a Cooperstown audience,
+waiting for the performance to begin, has studied the scene which this
+curtain displays, not without wonder that Leather-Stocking is in furs,
+and that Judge Temple, in so radiant a summertime, has taken the
+precaution to retain his earmuffs.</p>
+
+<p>Natty Bumppo's Cave, a not very remarkable freak of nature which
+Fenimore Cooper's pen has made one of the chief points of interest in
+the region of Cooperstown, is about a mile from the village, high up on
+the hill that rises from the eastern side of the lake. It offers a stiff
+climb to the inexperienced, but not to others. It is not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>much of a
+cave, being hardly more than a deep and curiously formed cleft between
+the rocks. From the platform of rock over the cave a magnificent view
+may be had of the lake and its more distant shores, with the hills
+beyond.</p>
+
+<div  class="photoright" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_188" id="photo_188"></a><img src="images/photo_188.jpg" alt="Natty Bumppo's Cave" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Natty Bumppo's Cave</p></div>
+
+<p>In <i>The Pioneers</i> Cooper takes advantage of poetic license to enlarge
+the cave for the purpose of his story, but the description is exact
+enough to identify it with the present Natty Bumppo's cave. In the
+summer of 1909 was discovered lower down the hillside another and larger
+cave, the small entrance of which, in the woods beyond Kingfisher Tower,
+at Point Judith, had long remained unobserved. Here the name of Natty
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>Bumppo came near being involved in another controversy, for some local
+archeologists maintained that the newly discovered cave was the one
+which Cooper meant to describe as Natty Bumppo's, being better adapted
+to the requirements of the narrative than the one that tradition had
+fixed upon.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper might have provided a better cave for Natty Bumppo, but he did
+not. On this point the testimony of his eldest daughter, Susan Fenimore
+Cooper, is decisive. She was in many ways her father's confidant, and in
+his later years closely associated with him in literary work. No other
+person has written so intimately of him. In <i>Pages and Pictures</i>, which
+Miss Cooper published in 1861, she gives a drawing of Natty Bumppo's
+cave, and it is the one that has been associated with the tradition and
+story of the village down to the present time. It is quite possible,
+however, that the cave near Point Judith is the one referred to in the
+tradition of Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick Falls.</p>
+
+<p>Natty Bumppo will live forever as a symbolic figure, representative of
+certain indigenous qualities in American life. Lowell found in
+Leather-Stocking "the protagonist of our New World epic, a figure as
+poetic as that of Achilles, as ideally representative as that of Don
+Quixote, as romantic in his relation to our homespun and plebeian myths
+as Arthur in his to his mailed and plumed cycle of chivalry." Americans
+themselves do not realize how widely, in other countries,
+Leather-Stocking is still regarded as typical of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>certain qualities in
+the American character. Among Americans who had half-forgotten their
+Cooper, there was no little surprise at the exclamation of Gabriel
+Hanotaux, member of the French Academy, distinguished author and
+statesman of France, when, in the spring of 1917, on the entrance of the
+United States into the war against Germany, he expressed his joy in a
+message that was cabled round the world, "Old Leather-Stocking still
+slumbers in the depth of the American soul!"</p>
+
+<p>There is a point on Otsego Lake, opposite to Natty Bumppo's cave, from
+which passing boatmen awaken the famous Echo of the Glimmerglass. For
+more than half of the nineteenth century there lived in the village a
+negro whose lungs were renowned for their power to call forth the
+fullness of this strange echo. "Joe Tom," as he was named, was always
+called upon, as the guide of lake excursions, to perform this peculiar
+duty. Stationing his scow at the focal point, the negro would shout
+across the water, "Natty Bumppo! Natty Bumppo!&mdash;Who's there?" And after
+a moment the cry would be flung back, as by the spirit of
+Leather-Stocking, from the heights of the steep woods and rocky faces of
+the hill. On a still summer evening Joe Tom was sometimes able, by a
+single shout, to call forth three distinct echoes, which were heard in
+regular succession,&mdash;the first from the region of the cave, the second
+from Mount Vision, and the third from Hannah's Hill on the opposite side
+of the lake, until the margin of the Glimmerglass seemed to resound
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>with cries of "Natty Bumppo!&mdash;Natty Bumppo!" uttered by eerie voices.</p>
+
+<p>The years pass, and no other name retains such magic power to wake the
+sleeping echo of the Glimmerglass.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>History of Otsego County</i>, 1878, p. 249.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Calvin Graves, who came to Cooperstown in 1794, and lived
+in the place for 84 years, is quoted as saying that he well knew
+Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of Cooper's novels, and that Shipman was
+never married. Graves said that he had often visited the old hunter's
+cave in company with him. This testimony seems to point to the Hoosick
+Shipman, who having deserted his family for twenty-six years, might
+easily pass for a bachelor in Otsego, and who is said to have lived in a
+cave, concerning which nothing is mentioned in the traditions of David
+Shipman.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>STRANGE TALES OF THE GALLOWS</h3>
+
+
+<p>At the eastern end of the main street of the village the bridge across
+the Susquehanna River commands a view for a short distance up and down
+the stream, far enough toward the north to glimpse its source in Otsego
+Lake, while to the south Fernleigh House appears, high amid the trees on
+the western bank, and the drifting current below is lost in foliage.
+Nearer at hand, as seen from the south side of the bridge, Riverbrink
+claims the eastern shore. Here stands a solemn-visaged house that looks
+down upon the scene of one of the most extraordinary dramas ever enacted
+beneath the gallows-tree.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_193" id="photo_193"></a><img src="images/photo_193.jpg" alt="Riverbrink" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Riverbrink</p></div>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1805, on the flat a little below the place where the
+house now stands, the gibbet was erected for a public execution. The
+condemned man was Stephen Arnold, whose crime was committed in
+Burlington, in this county, during the previous winter. Arnold was a
+school teacher, and having no children of his own, had taken into his
+home Betsey Van Amburgh, a child six years of age. An ungovernable
+temper added a kind of ferocious zeal to the duty of educating this
+child, for it was her inability to pronounce <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>the word "gig" according
+to his directions that brought the teacher to the gallows. Betsey
+insisted on pronouncing the word as "jig," and declared that she could
+not do otherwise. Whereupon Arnold took her out of the house into the
+severely cold evening air, and there whipped her naked body until he
+himself became cold. He then took her indoors to make her pronounce the
+word correctly, which she failed to do; and again she was taken out and
+whipped in the same manner. This act of brutality he repeated seven
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>times, declaring that he "had as lieve whip her to death as not." The
+poor child languished four days, and expired.</p>
+
+<p>Arnold's trial was held in June, in Cooperstown. He was speedily
+convicted of murder, and sentenced to die.</p>
+
+<p>The date fixed for the execution, Friday, July 19, 1805, was a gala day
+in Cooperstown. The infamy of Arnold's crime had stirred public
+indignation throughout this section of the State, and the prospect of
+witnessing his execution had been eagerly anticipated, through motives
+ranging from morbid curiosity to a stern sense of duty, in the most
+distant hamlets of the region. By seven o'clock in the morning on the
+day fixed for the hanging the main street of Cooperstown was filled with
+people who had travelled from so great a distance that not one in twenty
+was known to any of the villagers. The concourse increased until shortly
+after noon, when, in the village which normally contained about five
+hundred people, the crowd included about eight thousand.</p>
+
+<p>The first centre of interest was the county courthouse and jail which
+stood at the then western limits of the village, on the southeast corner
+of Main and Pioneer streets. The door of the jail was on the Pioneer
+street side of the building, and across the way were the stocks and
+whipping-post. These rude symbols of justice might well be a terror to
+evil doers. A sample of the punishment meted out to petty offenders is
+found in the record that in 1791 a local physician was put in the stocks
+for having mixed an emetic with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>beverage drunk at a ball given at
+the Red Lion Inn; and four years later a man was flogged at the
+whipping-post, for stealing some pieces of ribbon. Both culprits were
+also banished from the village, apropos of which form of punishment
+Fenimore Cooper at a later day was moved to remark, "It is to be
+regretted that it has fallen into disuse."</p>
+
+<p>The crowds that gathered to witness the hanging of Stephen Arnold filled
+the street in the neighborhood of the jail until the prisoner was
+brought forth at noon, when some remained to watch the parade, while
+others hurried on to the place of execution to secure good points of
+view for the spectacle. A procession was formed in front of the court
+house under the direction of the sheriff. The ministers of religion and
+other gentlemen, preceded by the sheriff on horseback, moved with
+funeral music after the prisoner, who was carried on a wagon and guarded
+by a battalion of light infantry and a company of artillery. In this
+array the procession moved solemnly down the main street and across the
+bridge to the place of execution on the east bank of the river. There
+stood the gallows; at its foot was a coffin.</p>
+
+<p>The condemned man was assisted to a seat upon his coffin. About him
+gathered the parsons, the representatives of the law, and the soldiery.
+There was no house on the bank of the river at that time, and the
+thousands of spectators were massed in the natural amphitheatre which
+rises, and then rose uninterrupted, toward the east, from the shore of
+the Susquehanna.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>An interested observer who looked down upon the assemblage from the high
+western bank of the river has recorded a vivid impression of the beauty
+of the scene and the picturesque and emotional qualities of the
+occasion.<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Looking back toward the village, and then sweeping with a
+glance the north and east, his eye caught the roofs of buildings covered
+with spectators, windows crowded with faces, every surrounding point of
+view occupied. The natural amphitheatre across the river was "filled
+with all classes and gradations of citizens, from the opulent landlord
+to the humble laborer. Blooming nymphs were there and jolly swains,
+delicate ladies and spruce gentlemen, fond mothers and affectionate
+sisters, prattling children and hoary sages, servile slaves and
+imperious masters." In the elevated background of the landscape
+carriages appeared filled with people. It was a warm July day, brilliant
+with sunshine, and splendid in the greenery of summer foliage. The
+throngs of spectators, tier upon tier, as it were, presented a
+kaleidoscopic effect of movement and color, in the undulating appearance
+of silks and muslins of different hues, as the eye traversed the
+multitude; in the swaying and bobbing of hundreds of umbrellas and
+parasols of various colors; in the vibration of thousands of fans in
+playful mediation, while the death-struggle of a man upon the gallows
+was eagerly awaited. In the foreground, on the bank of the Susquehanna,
+the gibbet, with the solemn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>group about it, relieved only by flashes of
+color in the military uniforms, and by the gleam of swords and bayonets,
+fascinated every eye.</p>
+
+<p>A great silence fell upon the multitude when the preliminaries to the
+execution began with a prayer offered by the Rev. Mr. Williams of
+Worcester. The Rev. Isaac Lewis, pastor of the Presbyterian church in
+Cooperstown, then stood forth to deliver the sermon. Few preachers, even
+in the largest centres of life, have occasion to address congregations
+numbered by thousands. What an opportunity was here given to an obscure
+country parson, when he faced an audience of some eight thousand people!
+Mr. Lewis preached upon the subject of the Penitent Thief, taking as his
+text the forty-second and forty-third verses of the twenty-third chapter
+of St. Luke: "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
+into Thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today
+shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Nothing is recorded of the sermon
+beyond that it was "a pathetic, concise, and excellently adapted
+discourse." Elder Vining closed the religious exercises by a solemn
+appeal to the throne of grace for mercy and forgiveness, as well for the
+vast auditory as for the prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>The condemned man seemed deeply affected, and perfectly resigned to the
+justice of his fate. His penitence was manifest, and drew forth tears of
+sympathy from the spectators. After the exercises the prisoner seated
+himself on the coffin for a short space, when he was informed that if
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>he wished to say anything to the people he might now have opportunity.
+He arose and addressed a few words to the surrounding multitude,
+earnestly urging them to be warned by his fatal example to place a
+strict guard upon their passions, the fatal indulgence of which had
+brought him to the shameful condition in which they beheld him,
+notwithstanding he never intended to commit murder. He concluded his
+address with these words: "It appears to me that if you will not take
+warning at this affecting scene, you would not be warned though one
+should arise from the dead."</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of this speech the sheriff stepped forward and made
+ready for the hanging, finally adjusting the fatal cord, except for
+fastening it to the beam of the gallows.</p>
+
+<p>Near by was a palsied crone, so eager to witness the hanging that she
+had been carried to the scene in her rocking-chair, which was placed
+upon an improvised platform. Here she had rocked to and fro in her chair
+during the whole proceeding, until, when the hangman made ready his
+noose, the old hag rocked with such nervous violence that she toppled
+over backward, chair and all, her neck being broken by the fall.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoner remained apparently absorbed in meditation which was
+entirely abstracted from terrestrial objects. The thousands of
+spectators waited in silent and gloomy suspense for the final
+catastrophe. The sheriff stood forth and addressed to the condemned man
+a few remarks pertinent to the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>Having carried the proceedings to this crucial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>point, the sheriff,
+Solomon Martin, then changed his role, and produced from his pocket a
+letter from his excellency Morgan Lewis, Governor of the State of New
+York, containing directions for a respite of the execution until further
+orders, and announcing that a reprieve, in due form, would soon be
+forwarded.</p>
+
+<p>It was now long after noon, and the sheriff, having received this letter
+at nine o'clock in the morning, had kept it in his pocket during the
+entire proceedings, "conceiving it improper to divulge the respite until
+the crisis." The sheriff had acted with the advice of a few others who
+were let into the secret. Even the attending ministers of religion were
+uninformed of the respite until it was dramatically produced upon the
+stage. The thing, in fact, outdid all stagecraft, for while it is quite
+consistent with the traditions of theatrical art that an execution
+should be stayed at the critical moment by the appearance of a furiously
+galloping horseman waving a reprieve above his head, probably never
+elsewhere in the history of the drama or in the annals of the law has
+the official document been produced at the gallows, after the adjustment
+of the fatal noose, from the pocket of the hangman!</p>
+
+<p>In the judgment of the sheriff it appeared that since the order for a
+respite had arrived too late to forestall the gathering of great
+multitudes to witness the hanging, it was equally clear that it had come
+too early to be made public at once without causing unnecessary
+disappointment to thousands who were still enjoying the ecstasies of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>anticipation. So he carried out the original programme to the letter,
+going through with all the preliminaries and forms of the execution,
+stopping short only of the actual hanging.</p>
+
+<p>When the sheriff made his amazing announcement from the scaffold, the
+prisoner swooned, and the whole scene was changed. The prisoner was
+reconducted to the jail with the same pomp and bravery of troops and
+music that had brought him to the scaffold. The spectators slowly
+dispersed, and before sunset the village assumed its accustomed
+tranquility.</p>
+
+<p>The next issue of <i>The Otsego Herald</i> asserted that "the proceedings of
+the day were opened, progressed, and closed in a manner which reflected
+honor on the judiciary, the executive, the clergy, the military, and the
+citizens of the county."</p>
+
+<p>Arnold was never hanged. The State legislature commuted his sentence to
+imprisonment for life.</p>
+
+<p>Another story of the gallows belongs to a later period. On Friday,
+August 24, 1827, the hanging of a man named Strang was witnessed in
+Albany by about thirty thousand spectators. Judging from contemporary
+accounts, the circumstances of the execution were not edifying. "We are
+more than ever convinced," said the <i>Albany Gazette</i>, "of the bad effect
+of public executions. Scenes of the most disgraceful drunkenness,
+gambling, profanity, and almost all kinds of debauchery, were exhibited
+in the vicinity of the gallows, and even at the time the culprit was
+suffering. We do most sincerely hope that some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>law may be enacted
+requiring that executions shall be performed in private." The <i>Albany
+Argus</i> was more hopeful of some moral benefit from the execution.
+"Whilst we may question the utility," it said, "of such spectacles,
+tending as they do in general, to gratify a morbid curiosity, and to
+excite a sympathy for the criminal rather than an abhorrence, and
+consequently a prevention of crime; we trust none who were witnesses of
+the scene, will forget that this ignominious death was the consequence
+of an indulgence of vicious courses and criminal passions."</p>
+
+<p>Preliminary to the hanging there was the usual speech from the gallows.
+Addressing the multitude the condemned murderer said he hoped his
+execution would lead them to reflect upon the effects of sin and lust,
+and induce them to avoid those acts for which he was about to suffer a
+painful and ignominious death.</p>
+
+<p>Among the spectators at this hanging was Levi Kelley of Cooperstown,
+who, in order to witness the spectacle, had covered a distance of 75
+miles, drawn by his favorite team of black horses, a noble span, of
+which he was very proud. Kelley was much depressed in spirit by the
+dreadful scene at the gallows, and to a friend who accompanied him on
+the homeward journey remarked that no one who had ever witnessed such a
+melancholy spectacle could ever be guilty of the crime of murder.</p>
+
+<p>In Christ churchyard in Cooperstown, near the southern border of the
+burial ground, and about twenty paces from River Street, stands a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>tombstone which commemorates a former resident of the village, and is
+unusual for the precision of terms in which it records the date of his
+decease; for there is inscribed not merely the day, but the very hour,
+of death. The inscription reads:</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">In memory of</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Abraham Spafard</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">who died</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">at 8 o'clock P. M.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">3d. Sept. 1827</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">in the 49th year of</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">his age.</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">The trump shall sound</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">and the dead shall be raised.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The passer-by who suspects a concealed significance in this desire to
+emphasize the exact hour of Abraham Spafard's death is not mistaken.
+Abraham Spafard was murdered, shot to the heart by Levi Kelley, and died
+almost instantly, at 8 o'clock in the evening, September 3, 1827, just
+ten days after Kelley had witnessed the hanging in Albany.</p>
+
+<p>The murderer is buried in the same churchyard with his victim. For
+Kelley, on the maternal side, was a connection of the Cooper family.
+During his imprisonment before and after the trial he was frequently
+visited at the jail by Mrs. George Pomeroy, daughter of William Cooper,
+a lady noted for her many works of Christian charity, and after Kelley
+had paid the penalty of his crime, she brought it about that his body
+was interred in the Cooper plot in Christ churchyard, although <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>no stone
+was ever raised to mark the place of his burial, and the exact spot is
+now unknown.</p>
+
+<p>The murder occurred in the house of Levi Kelley, in which Abraham
+Spafard lived as tenant in Pierstown, about three miles north of
+Cooperstown. Kelley was noted for his furious outbursts of temper, while
+Spafard was of an amiable and peaceable disposition. Kelley violently
+attacked a lame boy who was employed about the place, and when Spafard
+interposed, Kelley's anger turned against Spafard, so that a struggle
+ensued. The evidence at the trial showed that Spafard struck no blow and
+committed no violence, using no more force than was necessary for his
+defence. He besought Kelley to desist, and at last, unclenching Kelley's
+hands from his throat, Spafard retired quietly into the house. Kelley
+then ran for his gun, and following Spafard into his room, shot him to
+the heart. Kelley's own wife, as well as the members of Spafard's
+family, were the terrified witnesses of the murder.</p>
+
+<p>Kelley's trial, which was held in Cooperstown, began on the twenty-first
+of November, and was concluded on the next day. The judge in the case
+was the Hon. Samuel Nelson, afterward associate justice of the Supreme
+Court of the United States. In passing sentence Judge Nelson addressed
+to the prisoner a homily which created a deep impression upon the
+crowded court room.</p>
+
+<p>The execution of Levi Kelley was attended by an immense concourse of
+people. The hanging of a murderer was still regarded by many, in that
+day, not only as fit method of punishment, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>but as offering a spectacle
+of great moral and educational value. It was at once a deterrent from
+crime and a vindication of the majesty of the law. When the day set for
+the execution of Kelley was come, there was many a home in which the
+father of the family announced at breakfast that the children must be
+duly washed and dressed in Sabbath array, to accompany him, as in duty
+bound, to the solemn spectacle. Nor were all attracted to the dreadful
+scene by a sense of duty only, perhaps, at a period when public shows
+were few.</p>
+
+<p>The gibbet was erected, amid the December snow, at a point about four
+hundred feet south of the site occupied by the present High School, very
+near, if not in the midst of, what is now Chestnut Street. Christmas Day
+was followed by a thaw, and on Friday, the day set for the execution, a
+torrent of rain fell during the morning hours. Yet before noon the
+village was thronged with a multitude of men, women and children, keenly
+anticipating the gruesome tragedy, until more than four thousand people
+were gathered about the gallows.</p>
+
+<p>The court-house and jail stood then not far from their present site. The
+procession from the jail to the place of execution was conducted with
+much military pomp. Two marshals, each mounted on a prancing steed, led
+a troop of cavalry, a corps of artillery, and four companies of
+infantry. This formidable array of forces, drawn up in a hollow square
+at the jail, having enclosed within its ranks the condemned man and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>attending ministers of the Gospel, moved solemnly to the place of
+execution. The prisoner, apparently in a feeble state of health, lay
+upon a bed in a sleigh drawn by his favorite black horses, the same that
+he had driven to Albany to witness the execution of Strang. The
+ministers of religion, the Rev. Mr. Potter and the Rev. John Smith,
+pastor of the Presbyterian church, rode in state in the two sleighs that
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>Near the gallows there had been erected for the accommodation of
+spectators a staging one hundred feet in length and twelve feet in
+depth, the front being elevated six feet and the rear eight feet from
+the ground. From this structure about six hundred people commanded an
+excellent view of the gibbet, while some three thousand others, lacking
+this advantage, jostled each other, craning their necks, and standing on
+tiptoe, to see what was going forward.</p>
+
+<p>The procession from the jail had arrived upon the grounds, and the
+solemnities were about to commence, when the staging suddenly gave way
+and fell with a tremendous crash. The spectators upon it were plunged
+into a confused heap, struggling for freedom amid the broken timbers.
+The shrieks and groans that arose from the scrimmage terrified the
+assemblage, and the wild rush of anxious friends and relatives toward
+the scene of accident resulted almost in a riot. When order had been in
+some measure restored the work of rescue began. Between twenty and
+thirty persons were drawn forth from the wreckage severely injured.
+Elisha C. Tracy, an engraver, was found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>to be dead, the upper part of
+his face being crushed inward to the depth of more than an inch. Daniel
+Williams, an elderly man resident at Richfield, had a leg and arm
+broken, and died a few hours later. The dead and wounded were carried
+from the field, and some of the spectators, having had enough of
+tragedy, withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremonies of the execution then proceeded, although amid an
+atmosphere of intense nervous excitement. The condemned man was taken
+from his sleigh, and, because of his illness, required assistance in
+ascending the gallows. As he stood there, the centre of all eyes, he
+seemed a different man from the passionate murderer of Abraham Spafard.
+Weak and sick, he looked down upon the multitude assembled to see him
+die. His look was one of regretful sympathy because of the unexpected
+accident rather than of fear of his own impending fate. "Who are killed;
+and how many are injured?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>The rope was noosed about Kelley's neck. The Presbyterian minister
+stepped forward, and commended the convict's soul to the mercy of God in
+a prayer in which Kelley, with bowed head, seemed to participate. Then
+the drop fell. After a few twitchings of the limbs, the body quivered,
+and hung still. The show was over. The crowd dispersed.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of this exhibition was to give voice to a growing sentiment
+against public hangings. The next issue of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>
+protested against such spectacles as demoralizing, and suggested a
+movement in the State legislature to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>amend the law. Kelley's was in
+fact the last public hanging in Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<p>The execution of Levi Kelley, with its unexpected accompanying
+catastrophe, was long the talk of the neighborhood. It was commemorated
+by Isaac Squire, an Otsego rhymester, in some verses that are of curious
+interest as a survival of the old ballad form in which events were wont
+to be celebrated. Many years afterward there were those who recalled
+that the doleful lines were committed to memory by some of the village
+children, and sung to a droning tune:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;</span>
+<span class="i0">LINES ON THE EXECUTION OF LEVI KELLEY.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;</span>
+<span class="i0">Part First<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In eighteen hundred twenty seven<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Poor Kelley broke the law of Heaven;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He murdered his poor tenant there,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Who took his place to work on share.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Twas early on a Monday night<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This horrid scene was brought to light;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He seized his loaded gun in hand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And with malicious fury ran,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And when about four feet apart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Alas! he shot him to the heart.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The expiring words, we understand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Were, "O Lord, I'm a dying man!"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">They quickly ran him to relieve,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But death could grant him no reprieve;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He expired almost instantly,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In his affrighted family.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span><span class="i0">Kelley's indicted for the crime;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Confined in prison for a time;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A murderer here can take no rest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While guilt lies heavy on his breast.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">November on the twenty-first,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For murder of a fellow dust,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He was arraigned before the bar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And tried by his country there.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Full testimony did appear<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That when the Jury came to hear<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In verdict they were soon agreed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That he was guilty of this deed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And in their verdict they did bring<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That cause of death was found in him;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Judge his sentence did declare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And thus declared him guilty there:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Your time is set, O do remember,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The twenty-eighth of December,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Between the hours of twelve and three,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Be launched into eternity.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Your time is short on earth to stay;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Prepare for death without delay;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Though you no pity showed at all,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May God have mercy on your soul."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;</span>
+<span class="i0">Part Second.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">December on the twenty-eighth<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Did Levi Kelley meet his fate;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This awful scene I now relate<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Caused thousands there to fear and quake.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span><span class="i0">Though wet and rainy was the day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The people thronged from every way;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With anxious thought each came to see<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The unhappy fate of poor Kelley.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The day was come, the time drew near,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When the poor prisoner must appear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The officers they did prepare,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And round him formed a hollow square,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That they with safety might convey<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Him to the place of destiny;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The music made a solemn sound<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While they marched slowly to the ground.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A scaffold was erected there,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And hundreds on it did repair,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That all thereon might plainly see<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The unhappy fate of poor Kelley.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Before they bid this scene adieu,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">An awful sight appeared in view.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">See, hundreds with the scaffold fall!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And some to rise no more at all<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Till the great day when all shall rise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To their great joy or sad surprise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And hear their sentence "Doomed to Hell,"<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Or, "With the saints in glory dwell."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The wounded here in numbers lie,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And loud for help now some do cry<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While others are too faint to speak,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And some in death's cold arms asleep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span><span class="i0">The cry was heard once and again<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That "Hundreds now we fear are slain!"<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But God in this distressing hour<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Revives again each withering flower.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Poor Kelley, in this trying time,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Was executed for his crime.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He hung an awful sight to see;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May this a solemn warning be.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">A word to such, before we close,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That love the way poor Kelley chose;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Their vicious ways if you attend<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Will bring you to some awful end.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> <i>Otsego Herald</i>, July 19, 1805.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>SOLID SURVIVALS</h3>
+
+
+<p>The property which now includes Edgewater was inherited by Isaac Cooper,
+the second son of Judge Cooper, on the death of his father in 1809. In
+the following year he began the erection of the house, which took nearly
+four years in building. Aside from its now venerable aspect, this solid
+residence, constructed of old-fashioned brick, preserves much of its
+original appearance as one of the largest dwellings in the village. It
+was modeled after a colonial residence in Philadelphia well known to the
+Cooper family. The style of the entrance hall, with the balanced
+symmetry of semicircular stairways that ascend to the upper floor, is
+singularly effective, while the carved wood of the interior, as seen in
+the doorcaps and mouldings, displays skillful workmanship. No house in
+Cooperstown commands so fine a general view of Otsego Lake as that which
+is to be seen from the porch of Edgewater. The surrounding ground
+includes over two acres, and extends to the waters of the lake, although
+now traversed by Lake Street, which made its way, by long usage, across
+the original property. The house is approached through the paths of an
+old time garden, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>thickly grown with shrubs, and shaded by a variety of
+trees.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_212" id="photo_212"></a><img src="images/photo_212.jpg" alt="Edgewater" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Edgewater</p></div>
+
+<p>Isaac Cooper had married Mary Ann, daughter of General Jacob Morris, of
+Morris, Otsego county, and took possession of Edgewater as his residence
+on December 4, 1813. It is not difficult to understand the feeling of
+satisfaction, on being established in this beautiful home, which
+prompted Isaac Cooper, at the age of thirty-two years, to record the
+event in his diary thus:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Moved&mdash;where I hope to end my Days&mdash;and I pray Heaven to allow
+this House and this Lot&mdash;whereon I this day brought my Family,
+to descend to my children and to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>my children's children, and
+may they increase in virtue and respectability, and become
+worthy of the blessings of Heaven.</p></div>
+
+<p>This diary is hardly more than a record of weather, with a single line
+of "general observations," under which head, from day to day, he makes
+brief mention of his doings, social engagements; births, marriages, and
+deaths among his friends; his own frequent illnesses: occasionally he
+moralizes, or indulges in a bit of self-criticism. A few entries
+selected from Isaac Cooper's diary will show its general character. It
+will be noticed that he refers to himself in the third person as "Mr.
+C." or "Mr. Cooper."</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>August 20, 1814&mdash;New waggon paraded, to the admiration of the
+villagers.</p>
+
+<p>August 30&mdash;Quilting party at Mrs. Pomeroy's&mdash;very pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>January 4, 1815&mdash;Cate, Mr. Prentiss married.</p>
+
+<p>February 7&mdash;Time passes heavily! Good reason why!</p>
+
+<p>August 8&mdash;Laid corner brick of Morrell's &amp; Prentiss' House.</p>
+
+<p>July 30, 1816&mdash;Tea Party at Mrs. Poms. Also a party on the
+Lake. Major Prevost fell overboard.</p>
+
+<p>October 5&mdash;Done quilting, thank fortune.</p>
+
+<p>October 25&mdash;Mr. C. set out plum trees in back yard.</p>
+
+<p>October 28&mdash;Mr. C. fell down stairs last night. Don't feel so
+well for it.</p>
+
+<p>November 13&mdash;Took in some pork.</p>
+
+<p>November 16&mdash;Mr. Phinney played backgammon with Mrs. Cooper
+this evening.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>November 27&mdash;A Milliner arrived with an assortment of elegant
+cheap hats. (Sold a twelve dollar one! I wonder who to?)</p>
+
+<p>November 28&mdash;A mystery dissolved. Mrs. Starkweather was the
+purchaser of the hat.</p>
+
+<p>December 4&mdash;Mrs. Cooper's neck washed&mdash;good!</p>
+
+<p>December 5&mdash;A dinner party at Mr. J. Cooper's.</p>
+
+<p>December 13&mdash;Dipped 700 candles.</p>
+
+<p>December 16&mdash;Wine and Brandy tap't. Head combed.</p>
+
+<p>February 7, 1817&mdash;Tea Party&mdash;30 besides us, viz; Mr. and Mrs.
+Campbell, the Miss Starrs, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Pomeroys, Mr. and
+Mrs. George Pomeroy, Mr. and Mrs. E. Phinney, Miss Tiffany,
+Miss Talmage, Miss Shankland, the Misses Fuller, H. Phinney,
+Mr. Aitchison, Mr. Lyman, Mr. Crafts, Mr. Stewart, Mr. and
+Mrs. Morrell, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Miss Edmonds, Miss Webb, Mrs.
+Prentiss, Mrs. Dr. Webb, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Williams.</p>
+
+<p>February 17&mdash;72 loads of wood last week, making my supply for
+1817, say 200 loads, exclusive of office.</p>
+
+<p>February 22&mdash;Dr. Pomeroy, Mr. George Pomeroy, and Col. Seth
+Pomeroy spent the eve. here.</p>
+
+<p>April 1&mdash;A barrel of Pork, this day opened. Robins killed
+yesterday by A. L. J., a <i>sin</i>.</p>
+
+<p>May 9&mdash;Mr. Cooper feels for all mankind.</p>
+
+<p>September 12&mdash;The Old Lady very ill.</p>
+
+<p>September 13&mdash;Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper departed this life.</p>
+
+<p>October 18&mdash;Mr. Gratz breakfasted here.</p></div>
+
+<p>Concerning some settlements in the region, much has been written of the
+spirit of democracy in which they were established, and it has been
+pointed out that all social distinctions were levelled in the common
+tasks of frontier life. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>does not appear that this was the case in
+Cooperstown. From the time of the first settlement, apparently, an
+aristocratic group was formed in the orbit of the Cooper nucleus, and
+social climbing began before the wolves and bears had been quite driven
+from the forests of Otsego. The tea party of February 7, 1817, mentioned
+in the diary, probably names most of those who were at that time
+admitted to the inner circle of the socially elect; another entry, dated
+December 31, 1816, relates to a different social sphere, and
+unconsciously reveals the great gulf which had already been fixed
+between the one and the other, together with the aristocrat's
+supercilious astonishment that "that class of society" is in some
+respects quite as desirable as his own:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>This New Year's eve there was a ball at the Hotel (Col.
+Henry's), a very decently conducted and a very respectable
+assemblage of the worthy mechanics and that class of society.
+I was present, and would not wish to see better conduct,
+better dress, and better looking Ladies!!! There was perfect
+neatness of dress, without as much Indian finery as I have
+seen where they suppose they know better.</p></div>
+
+<p>Another glimpse into the depth of the social gulf is obtained in the
+back pages of Isaac Cooper's diary, where he records his accounts for
+wages with the household servants. There is this entry, signed by the
+humble cross-mark of Betsey Wallby, who "came to work on March 20, 1815,
+at one dollar a week":</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>March 20, 1816&mdash;By one year's services, faithfully and orderly
+performed&mdash;free from Yankee dignity, and ideas of
+Liberty&mdash;which is insolence only. $52.00.</p></div>
+
+<p>On New Year's day, 1818, death came to Isaac Cooper at Edgewater, and he
+was laid at rest in Christ churchyard with the humblest pioneers of the
+hamlet. Only for a little more than four years had he enjoyed the home
+which he established at Edgewater.</p>
+
+<p>In Isaac Cooper's diary, by another hand, these words were added:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>September, 1823&mdash;Sold our house. Necessity compelled us.</p></div>
+
+<p>Shortly before the house was vacated by the family of Isaac Cooper, the
+garden of Edgewater was the scene of a pretty romance. Isaac Cooper's
+second daughter, Elizabeth Fenimore, was a child of rare beauty, and as
+she began to grow toward womanhood became renowned for wit and
+loveliness. Strictly guarded by the conventional proprieties, Elizabeth
+made glorious excursions into the realm of fancy, where errant knights
+are ever in search of fair ladies to deliver them from castle dungeons.
+Edgewater, with the freedom of its garden, was a pleasant sort of
+prison, but Elizabeth was not less gratified when the knight of her
+dreams actually appeared in the person of a young college student who
+was spending his summer vacation in Cooperstown&mdash;Samuel Wootton Beall, a
+native of Maryland. Summer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>evenings in Edgewater garden passed quickly
+away, and there came a night of farewell, for on the next day young
+Beall must return to his college, and to long months of Greek, Latin,
+and mathematics. On that night the young man brought a Methodist
+minister into the garden with him. There was a mysterious signal.
+Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper glided out of the house, and joined the two in
+darkness. They stood beneath the locust tree which rose just east of the
+front steps, while in low voices the young lovers took their vows, and
+the parson pronounced them man and wife. The bride immediately crept
+back into the house, thrilling with her secret, while the bridegroom
+went his way, and on the next day was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing was said of the wedding until Samuel Beall was graduated from
+college, and returned to Cooperstown to claim his wife. Beyond the
+extreme youth of the couple, there was really no objection to the match.
+Mrs. Cooper was astonished at the announcement, but gave her blessing to
+the union. Only one condition she exacted. Shocked at the informality of
+their wedding, she required them to be remarried with the full rites of
+the Church.</p>
+
+<p>Young Beall and his wife went West, where he prospered, and, returning
+to Cooperstown in 1836, purchased Woodside as their residence. After a
+few years at Woodside, they settled once more in the West.</p>
+
+<p>In Edgewater garden the locust that sheltered the secret marriage was
+long known as the Bridal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>Tree, and grew to lofty size. In the winter of
+1908 the first fall of snow came upon the wings of a great wind. During
+the night the big locust fell crashing to the ground, and in the morning
+was found covered with a mantle of virgin snow, gleaming white like a
+bridal veil.</p>
+
+<p>In 1828, Edgewater having passed into the hands of a company which had
+organized to establish a seminary for girls, the house was rearranged
+for such occupancy. The numerals which then marked the rooms of the
+students are still to be seen on the doorways of the top floor. The
+school was a financial failure, and in 1834 the trustees sold Edgewater
+as a summer residence to Theodore Keese of New York, who, eight years
+previously, had married the eldest daughter of George Pomeroy and Ann
+Cooper, sister of Isaac Cooper. Thus the property came back into the
+family of the original owner.</p>
+
+<p>In 1836 Mr. and Mrs. Keese came to Cooperstown to live, and their
+eight-year-old son, George Pomeroy Keese, then began a residence at
+Edgewater that continued for seventy-four years. In 1849, at the age of
+twenty-one years, he brought to Edgewater his bride, Caroline Adriance
+Foote, a daughter of Surgeon Lyman Foote, of the United States Army. In
+this house their eight children were born, and all of these, with the
+exception of one who died in infancy, lived to celebrate the sixtieth
+wedding anniversary which their parents commemorated with a notable
+gathering of friends at Edgewater in the autumn of 1909. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>Living to old
+age in perfect health of body and mind Mr. and Mrs. Keese made Edgewater
+a famous centre of hospitality.</p>
+
+<p>During this long residence in Cooperstown Pomeroy Keese stood in the
+forefront of its affairs, and came to occupy a unique position in the
+life of the village. In boyhood, as the grand-nephew of Fenimore Cooper,
+he was brought into close contact with the novelist, and at the
+beginning of the twentieth century was one of the few residents of the
+village who distinctly recalled the famous writer's personality. He was
+best known to the business world as president for nearly forty years of
+the Second National Bank of Cooperstown, but the qualities that made him
+so interesting a figure lay rather in the many avocations of his life.
+He was senior warden of Christ Church at the time of his death, and had
+been a member of its vestry for more than half a century. Of thirteen
+successive rectors of Christ Church he had known all but Father Nash,
+the first. For the old village church, surrounded with its quaint tombs
+and overshadowing pines, he had a love that seemed about to call forth
+the response of personality from things inanimate.</p>
+
+<p>On the streets of Cooperstown, in his later years, G. Pomeroy Keese was
+a picturesque and characteristic figure. His face seemed weather-beaten
+rather than old; his eye was like that of a sailor, with a focus for
+distant horizons; the style of thin side-whisker affected by a former
+generation gave full play to every expression of his countenance. It was
+a common sight, of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>winter's day, to glimpse his slight and dapper
+form with quick step ambling to the post-office, while, quite innocent
+of overcoat, he compromised with the frosty air by clasping his hands,
+one over the other, across his chest, as a means of keeping warm!</p>
+
+<p>Pomeroy Keese was somewhat contemptuous toward mufflers, arctics, and
+other toggery which Otsego winters imposed upon his neighbors. He seemed
+immune against the assault of climatic rigors. His attitude toward the
+weather was confidential, for he was the most weatherwise of men. He
+kept a daily record of the weather, with accurate meteorological data,
+for more than half a century, and for many years furnished the local
+official figures for the United States weather bureau. From his
+experience he originated the theory that, while seasons from year to
+year appear to differ widely in their character, the temperature and
+precipitation within the compass of each year actually reach the same
+general average. It seemed to cause him real annoyance when a period of
+weather departed too widely from the usual average, yet if a cold snap
+or hot spell was generous enough to break all previous records his
+enthusiasm was boundless.</p>
+
+<p>An equally substantial though smaller house that antedated Edgewater by
+a few years was erected in the summer of 1802 by John Miller as a farm
+house. It was built of bricks, and was the second building in the place
+that was not constructed of wood. It stands at the southwest corner of
+Pine Street and Lake Street, facing the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>latter, and the dense evergreen
+hedge which surrounds the house seems to hold it aloof from the later
+growth of the village. It is said that the house is haunted, for not
+long after it was built a tenant of the place murdered his wife by
+smothering her with a pillow in her bedroom, and for many years it was
+rumored that occupants of the house occasionally were terrified by
+muffled sounds of moaning as of one in mortal agony.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_221" id="photo_221"></a><img src="images/photo_221.jpg" alt="Residence of William H. Averell and Judge Prentiss" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Residence of William H. Averell and Judge Prentiss</p></div>
+
+<p>The building referred to in Isaac Cooper's diary as "Morrell's and
+Prentiss' house" includes the two brick houses on Main Street which
+stand conjoined just east of the Village Club and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>Library. Judge
+Morrell went West, and his house, the more westerly of the two, became
+better known as the property of its later owner, William Holt Averell,
+whose descendants continued to occupy it a century after him. The
+adjoining house, built by Col. Prentiss, remained after his death in
+possession of his family, and his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Prentiss
+Browning, lived to celebrate its centennial.</p>
+
+<p>Col. John H. Prentiss, for more than half a century a resident, and for
+forty years editor of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, was a notable figure in
+Cooperstown. Under his editorial management the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>
+became a strong political organ, and exercised an influence that made
+Otsego one of the stanchest Democratic counties in the State of New
+York. Col. Prentiss represented his district in Congress during the four
+years of Van Buren's administration, having been reelected at the
+expiration of his first term. It was at this time that his next door
+neighbor, William Holt Averell, was a candidate for Congress on the Whig
+ticket. The first returns indicated that Averell had been elected, and
+there was a noisy demonstration by Averell's supporters in front of his
+residence, bringing him forth for a speech which was received with great
+enthusiasm. The returns came in slowly in those days, and a day or two
+had passed before it was learned that Prentiss had been elected, and his
+doorstep became the scene of another jubilation. According to the
+recollections of some this seesawing of returns occurred more than once,
+and the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>neighbors, whose friendship was not interrupted by their
+political antagonisms, each joined in the demonstration in honor of the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>A large part of the work of publishing his newspaper was done by Judge
+Prentiss himself. Besides being sole editor, he attended to the
+financial department, and for forty years, except while in Congress, he
+gave his personal attention in the printing office to the mechanical
+department. A later writer recalls often seeing Col. Prentiss in the
+press-room, with coat off, sleeves rolled up, either inking the type
+with two large soft balls, or pulling at the lever of the old Ramage
+press. He describes him as "an industrious, energetic man, a little
+inclined to aristocratic bearing, but open, frank and cordial with his
+friends."</p>
+
+<p>The last appearance of Col. Prentiss in public life, from which he had
+previously kept aloof for several years, was as a delegate to the
+Democratic State convention which was held in Albany on February 1,
+1861. In that body of distinguished and able men, of which he was one of
+the vice-presidents, he attracted much attention, and the question was
+frequently asked by those in attendance, referring to Col. Prentiss,
+"Who is that large, fine-looking old gentleman, with white, flowing
+hair?"<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p>
+
+<p>Colonel Prentiss's next door neighbor, William Holt Averell, son of
+James Averell, Jr., was for more than half a century one of the most
+prominent citizens of the village, who did more perhaps <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>than any other
+for its financial development. He was one of the first directors and for
+many years president of the Otsego County Bank, the original of the
+present First National Bank, and for which the building across the way
+from his house, now used as the Clark Estate office, was erected in
+1831. As he issued every day from the doorway of this building with its
+portico of fluted columns, his figure was exactly such as the
+imagination might now devise as most in harmony with the surroundings;
+for in his youth Averell was extremely punctilious in his dress, being a
+very handsome man, and for many years it was his custom to wear a white
+beaver hat, and ruffled shirt, with ruffles at the cuffs that set off to
+good advantage his small and delicate hands. He did all his reading and
+work at night. Those who passed his windows at a late hour were sure to
+glimpse him bending over his desk, and nobody else in Cooperstown went
+to bed late enough to see his lamp extinguished, for the servants often
+found him still at work when they came to summon him to breakfast in the
+morning. He lived long enough to be regarded as a gentleman of the old
+school, positive and dogmatic in his opinions, which were usually those
+of a minority, but which he defended with the resourcefulness of a
+brilliant and well-trained mind.</p>
+
+<p>In 1813 Henry Phinney, one of the two sons of Elihu Phinney, began the
+construction of the large brick house on Chestnut street now known as
+"Willowbrook," and completed it three years later. In Cooper's
+<i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>several houses "of respectable dimensions
+and of genteel finish" are mentioned as having been erected between the
+years of 1820 and 1835. Among these is the house of Elihu Phinney, the
+younger son of the pioneer, which still stands on Pioneer Street
+opposite to the Universalist church. It is of brick, partly surrounded
+by a veranda, and exquisite in many details of construction, much of the
+interior woodwork being notable in excellence of chaste design.</p>
+
+<p>During this same general period several houses of stone were erected
+that still remain among the most solid and attractive in Cooperstown.
+William Nichols built Greystone, the fine old residence that stands at
+the southwest corner of Fair and Lake streets; Ellory Cory erected the
+house on the west side of Pioneer Street near Lake Street; John Hannay
+set a new standard for the western part of the village when he put up on
+the north side of Main Street, not far from Chestnut Street, the
+dignified residence now occupied by the Mohican Club. In 1827 the low
+structures of stone which stand on the east side of Pioneer Street,
+between Main and Church street, were erected; and in 1828 the
+three-story stone building on the north side of Main Street, midway
+between Pioneer and Chestnut streets, was an important addition to the
+business section of the village.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_226" id="photo_226"></a><img src="images/photo_226.jpg" alt="Woodside Hall" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>Forrest D. Coleman</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Woodside Hall</p></div>
+
+<p>A country-house of classic poise and symmetry was designed in 1829, when
+Eben B. Morehouse purchased a few acres from the Bowers estate, on the
+side of Mount Vision, at the point where the old state road made its
+first turn to ascend the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>mountain, and there erected the dwelling
+called Woodside Hall. For many years an Indian wigwam stood on the site
+now occupied by Woodside. This old stone house, set on the hillside
+against a background of dense pine forest, has an air of singular
+dignity and repose. Standing at the head of the ascending road which
+continues the main street of the village, Woodside, with its row of
+columns gleaming white amid the living green of the forest, may be seen
+from almost any point along the main thoroughfare of Cooperstown. It is
+approached from the highway by a rise of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>ground, where the Egyptian
+gate-tower adds a fanciful interest to the entrance, with glimpses of
+the terraced lawn and garden that climb toward the house. In summer, on
+gaining the porch, one looks back upon a mass of foliage beneath which
+Cooperstown lies concealed, except for a vista that traverses the length
+of the village and rises to the pines that crown the hills beyond; while
+a glance toward the north sweeps across the surface of the lake to its
+western shore. The woods that come down almost to the house are composed
+of pines and hemlocks of splendid proportions and great antiquity,
+lending a shadowy atmosphere of mystery to the environs of Woodside
+Hall.</p>
+
+<p>The charm and grace of this residence seem to reflect certain qualities
+in the character of Judge Eben B. Morehouse, who designed it as his
+home. For he is described as a man of rare personality and unusual
+culture, whose intellectual ability gave him exceptional rank in his
+profession. He was district attorney in 1829, member of Assembly in
+1831, and became a justice of the Supreme Court of the State in 1847.
+Mrs. Morehouse, a daughter of Dr. Fuller, one of the pioneer physicians
+of Cooperstown, was a woman of many social gifts, and established
+traditions of hospitality and festivity at Woodside.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_228" id="photo_228"></a><img src="images/photo_228.jpg" alt="The Gate-Tower at Woodside" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>Walter C. Stokes</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Gate-Tower at Woodside</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1836 Judge Morehouse suffered reverses of fortune, and when he had
+sold Woodside to Samuel W. Beall, took up his residence in a modest
+cottage in the village. It was said of Judge Morehouse that, during this
+period, in walking about the village streets, he was careful never to
+raise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>his eyes toward Woodside, and, if occasion brought him in the
+vicinity of his old home, he passed it with averted face. After a few
+years he was able, to his great joy, to buy Woodside back again, and he
+continued residence there until his death in 1849.</p>
+
+<p>A President of the United States was once lost in the grounds of
+Woodside. It was in 1839, when Judge Morehouse gave a large evening
+reception for President Martin Van Buren. After the reception, when the
+guests were departed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>Mr. Van Buren and a friend who accompanied him
+became separated from their companions, and lost their way in attempting
+to find the gate-tower. For a long time they wandered and groped about
+in the darkness of the grounds, finally returning to the house for a
+guide and a lantern, just as the family were going to bed.</p>
+
+<p>In 1856 Mrs. Morehouse sold Woodside to the Hon. Joseph L. White, whose
+family entertained generously and delightfully. White was a
+distinguished lawyer of New York, and one of the most famous stump
+orators of his time. He became identified with the early days of the
+Nicaragua Canal project. While at work on the isthmus he was killed by
+the bullet of an assassin.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of White, the place was bought by John F. Scott, whose
+family were among the earliest settlers in Springfield at the head of
+the lake.</p>
+
+<p>In 1895 Woodside was purchased by Walter C. Stokes of New York. Mr. and
+Mrs. Stokes, occupying Woodside as a summer home, gave it new
+embellishment, and revived the traditions of its hospitality.</p>
+
+<p>At the extreme northwest margin of the lake there is a little cove, with
+a landing, near which one ascends from the shore by means of a swaying
+board walk over swampy ground, where flags and forget-me-nots bloom
+luxuriantly during summer days, and fireflies hold carnival at night. At
+the top of the slope stands "Swanswick," a cottage-like and rambling
+house whose rear windows look down the lake, while the low veranda in
+front <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>opens upon a lawn and quiet lily-padded pond, a mill-pond
+originally, for near at hand are the falls that operated Low's mills, in
+the days of the pioneers. Swanswick stands upon the site of a house
+erected in 1762, the first ever inhabited by a white man on the shore of
+Otsego Lake. The present house was built after the Revolution by Colonel
+Richard Cary, one of Washington's aides, and the place was called Rose
+Lawn. General Washington was a guest here when he made his visit in
+Otsego in 1783, and a ball was given in his honor. The daughter of the
+house was Anne Low Cary who married Richard Cooper, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>after his death
+became the wife of George Hyde Clarke, who built Hyde Hall. She
+inherited Rose Lawn from her mother, and gave it to her son, Alfred
+Cooper Clarke. The latter was childless, and left the place to his
+nephew, Leslie Pell, who belonged to the well known Pell family of New
+York and Newport, and who assumed legally the name of Clarke.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_230" id="photo_230"></a><img src="images/photo_230.jpg" alt="Swanswick" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Swanswick</p></div>
+
+<p>Leslie Pell-Clarke married the charming Henrietta Temple, a cousin of
+Henry James the novelist, and of William James, the psychologist. He
+changed the name of the place to Swanswick, and lived there from the
+early 'seventies until his death in 1904. The Pell-Clarkes made
+Swanswick known as a haven of good cheer for miles around. The old
+house, simple in its lines and modest in proportions, had an air of
+singular distinction. The library in the west wing, with its curious
+skylight, and bookcases well stocked with the classic favorites of an
+English country gentleman, was a revelation to the connoisseur of old
+volumes; and the whole house was full of quaintly delightful surprises.
+It was the master of the house himself who gave to the place its
+atmosphere. He was ideally the centre of things, especially when he sat
+in the library reading aloud from some favorite author, which he did
+always with perfect justice of expression, and in a voice of unrivalled
+melody. He was a lover of outdoor life, and laid out on his own property
+at the head of the lake the golf grounds now managed by the Otsego Golf
+Club, the oldest links of any in America that have been maintained on
+their original course. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>Mr. and Mrs. Pell-Clarke were reckoned and
+beloved as partly belonging to Cooperstown, for they drove down from the
+head of the lake almost daily, drawn by the whitish speckled horses,
+Pepper and Salt, that everybody came to know. Pell-Clarke had the frame
+and bearing of an athlete. Tall, with clean-cut features, he was one of
+the handsomest men of his time, a noble and brilliant soul, an exuberant
+and fascinating personality.</p>
+
+<p>A country-seat that may be described as unique in all America, Hyde
+Hall, lies nestled in the haunches of the Sleeping Lion, toward the head
+of Otsego Lake. "The Sleeping Lion" is Cooperstown's nickname for Mount
+Wellington, the wooded hill that stretches along the northern margin of
+the Glimmerglass. The formal name was given to Mount Wellington by the
+builder of Hyde Hall, in honor of his famous classmate at Eton, in
+England. When this mountain is viewed from Cooperstown the aptness of
+the more familiar, descriptive term&mdash;the Sleeping Lion&mdash;becomes evident.
+In spite of its distance from the village, Hyde Hall has its place not
+only in the view but in the story of Cooperstown, for its proprietors
+have been closely associated with the life at the southern end of the
+lake.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_233" id="photo_233"></a><img src="images/photo_233.jpg" alt="Shadow Brook" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>J. W. Tucker</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Shadow Brook</p></div>
+
+<p>The grounds of Hyde Hall lie toward the head of Otsego, on the eastern
+side, where Hyde Bay increases the width of the lake by a generous sweep
+of rounded shore. Into this bay from the east flows Shadow Brook, the
+most picturesque stream of water in the region, whose pellucid current
+reflects clear images of foliage and sky, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>offers a favorite resort,
+in shaded nooks, to the drifting canoes of lovers. In a clearing of the
+woods farther northward along the shore, and at a good elevation, stands
+Hyde Hall, facing the southeast across the bay. It is massively
+constructed of large blocks of stone, and seems designed for a race of
+giants. The main part of the house, completed in 1815, is two stories
+high, in the colonial style, and over two hundred feet in length. In
+1832 the facade was added, in the Empire style, with two splendid rooms
+on either <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>side of a large entrance hall. The doorways and windows, as
+well as the chambers into which they open, are planned on a big scale.
+Solidity of construction appears throughout the building, where even the
+partition walls are of brick or stone. The masons, carpenters, and
+mechanics who built Hyde Hall lived on the premises while the house was
+under construction. They quarried and cut the stone from adjacent beds
+of local limestone; they burnt the brick from clay found at the foot of
+the hill; they cut the timber in the neighboring forest, and
+manufactured all the windows, doors, and panel-work.</p>
+
+<p>The house commands a superb view of the lake, and is surrounded by
+beautiful old trees and forest land. Upwards of three thousand acres
+belonging to Hyde Hall enclose it on all sides, and the residence is
+approached by three private roads averaging over a mile in length.</p>
+
+<p>Within the house, as one tries to visualize its spirit, from Trumbull's
+portrait of the Duke of Wellington, which stands above the fireplace in
+the great drawing-room, through rambling passages with glimpses of a
+courtyard and alcoves and wings; up curved stairways to landings that
+present unexpected steps down and steps up; along halls that beckon amid
+dim lights to unrevealed recesses of space; down through kitchens where
+huge pots and cauldrons reflect the glow of living coals, while shadowy
+outlines of spits and cranes are lifted amid a smoke of savory odors;
+deeper down into the spacious wine-cellars darkly festooned with
+cobwebs, and chill as the family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>burying-vault where vines and snakes
+squirm through the bars of its iron gates beneath the hill,&mdash;out of
+these fleeting impressions rises the atmosphere of an old-world
+tradition strangely created amid the original wilds of Otsego at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century. It is a house that should be
+ashamed not to harbor romance, and mystery, and ghosts.</p>
+
+<p>Hyde Hall has the air of an English country-seat, with squire and
+tenantry, transplanted to the soil of an alien democracy. To comprehend
+its place in the life of Cooperstown it must be regarded as the symbol
+of certain ancestral traditions toward which good Americans are expected
+to be indifferent. George Clarke, who was colonial governor of New York
+from 1737 to 1744, came to America shortly after being graduated at
+Oxford, having received an appointment to colonial office from Walpole,
+then prime minister of England. He came from Swanswick, near Bath. After
+a few years' residence in New York he met and married Anne Hyde, the
+daughter of Edward Hyde, royal governor of North Carolina. She
+subsequently became the heiress of Hyde, in England, in her own right,
+and by the old English law of coverture, George Clarke became the owner
+of the estate. The lady died during his term of office as governor of
+the colony, and was buried, with a public funeral, in the vault of Lord
+Cornburg in Trinity church, New York.</p>
+
+<p>George Clarke, the builder of Hyde Hall on Otsego Lake, was a
+great-grandson of the colonial governor, a part of whose large estate of
+lands <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>in America he inherited. He came to America in 1791, to comply
+with the statute requiring all English born subjects who were minors
+during the War for Independence, and who owned lands in this State
+subject to confiscation, to become American citizens. After several
+trips across the water George Clarke decided, in 1809, to make his abode
+in the New World, and leaving his home, Hyde Hall, at Hyde, in Cheshire,
+he came to America, married as his second wife Anne Cary, the widow of
+Richard Cooper, brother of James Fenimore Cooper, and in 1813 began the
+building of his new Hyde Hall.</p>
+
+<p>The property originally controlled from Hyde Hall was of vast extent. At
+an early day George Clarke encountered much opposition from his
+tenantry. The tenure by which they held their lands was not in
+accordance with the views of American settlers. The estates were leased
+out, some as durable leases, at a small rent, and others for three
+lives, or twenty-one years. The settlers disliked the relation of
+landlord and tenant, and Clarke was frequently annoyed by demands which
+his high English notions of strict right would not allow him to concede.
+His prejudices were strong, and if he believed anyone intended to wrong
+him, he was stubborn in resisting any invasion of his rights. Hence
+there were many collisions between landlord and tenant in the early days
+of Hyde Hall. The warm aspect of his nature, which disarmed the enmities
+of tenants, appeared in his social qualities. He was companionable, gave
+good dinners, conversed well, told a good story, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>delighted in a good
+one from others, and when in a gay mood would sing an excellent song,
+generally one that he had brought with him from Merrie England.</p>
+
+<p>In his habits and sentiments Clarke was thoroughly English. He delighted
+to have his dinner got up in old English style, with the best of roast
+beef and mutton, garnished with such delicacies as the lake and country
+afforded, and just such as his countrymen, who knew how to appreciate
+good things, would order, were they the caterers; and in these
+particulars he hardly ever failed to excel. Not only were his household
+arrangements in this style, but he was English in his religious views;
+unless those matters were held in conformity to the Anglican Church they
+were not acceptable.</p>
+
+<p>When Clarke's son George, who afterward succeeded to the estate, was
+baptized, in 1824, Father Nash officiated, and several other clergymen
+of the Episcopal Church were in attendance, besides some guests from
+Utica, and many from Cooperstown and the surrounding country who had
+come to Hyde Hall for the occasion. The christening was performed with
+suitable gravity, and in due time the dinner was announced, which was in
+the substantial excellent style that Clarke knew well how to order for
+such a festivity. The host was talkative and charming; as the dinner
+proceeded the guests became increasingly good-humored, exceedingly well
+satisfied with him and with themselves. "In due time the ladies and
+clergy retired," says Levi Beardsley,<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> who was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>present at the feast,
+"and then the guests were effectually plied with creature comforts."</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_238" id="photo_238"></a><img src="images/photo_238.jpg" alt="Hyde Hall" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Hyde Hall</p></div>
+
+<p>Nothing seemed more delightful to the first proprietor of Hyde Hall than
+thus to sit in company with congenial men at the flowing bowl; to begin
+in the enjoyment of rational conversation; to discuss literature and art
+and statecraft; to warm up to the telling of rare stories and the
+singing of good songs; and, in the end, to get his guests, or a portion
+of them, "under the table." On this occasion, after partaking of the
+viands and good cheer, the guests left the table in the early part of
+the evening, and repaired to the plateau in front of the house, where
+some of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>them ran foot-races in the dark, with no great credit to
+themselves as pedestrians. As they were going back into the house, one
+of the guests stumbled and fell into the hall, where he lay for some
+time, obstructing the closing of the outer door. One of the servants
+came to Clarke, who had retired for the night, and asked what he should
+do with the large gentleman who had fallen in the doorway, and was
+unable to rise. "Drag him in, and put him under the table" was the order
+which was immediately complied with, and under the table the fallen
+guest remained until morning.</p>
+
+<p>The builder of Hyde Hall died in 1835, and his only American born son,
+George Clarke, succeeded him in his American estate, thus becoming at
+the age of twenty-one years the largest landed proprietor in the State
+of New York. The patents which he held included 1,000 acres in Fulton
+county, 6,000 acres in Dutchess county, 7,000 acres in Oneida, 12,000 in
+Montgomery, besides 16,000 acres in Otsego county, and a valuable tract
+in Greene county including one-half of the village of Catskill. George
+Clarke married Anna Maria Gregory, daughter of Dudley S. Gregory, the
+wealthiest man in Jersey City, and their married life was begun in great
+prosperity, with a town house on Fifth Avenue in New York, in addition
+to the country-seat on Otsego Lake.</p>
+
+<p>Clarke had three span of fast horses, and was a familiar figure in
+Cooperstown when he drove to service at Christ Church every Sunday, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>frequently came to the village for the transaction of business, or to
+meet his friends, making nothing of the seven mile drive from his home.</p>
+
+<p>In his younger days Clarke was quite celebrated as a beau and dandy, and
+at one time was said to be the best dressed man in New York; but in his
+later years he became notorious for his carelessness of attire, and few
+of his tenants wore a cheaper costume. In this matter he was indifferent
+to public opinion, and went about looking like an old-fashioned farmer.
+In winter he covered himself with a buffalo coat that had areas of bare
+hide worn through the fur; in summer his favorite habiliment was a linen
+duster. For Fifth Avenue in New York he dressed in the same clothes that
+served him in Cooperstown. When his friends ventured to remonstrate, he
+put them off by saying that dress was a matter of indifference alike in
+city or country. "In Cooperstown," said he, "everybody knows me; in New
+York nobody knows me." When he had become accustomed to a suit of
+clothes, he was as loath to change them as to alter his friendships or
+politics. As he was plain in dress, so he was simple and abstemious in
+habits of life. His bare living probably cost as little as that of any
+working-man in the country.</p>
+
+<p>George Clarke had an insatiable land-hunger. In looking after his wide
+estates he allowed the Hyde Hall Property to become dilapidated, and
+mortgaged the land that he owned to buy more. His land gave him great
+yields of hops at the height of that industry in Otsego, but he was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>always inclined to buy more hops rather than to sell. Little by little,
+mortgages were foreclosed; Hyde Hall fell into decay; and in 1889 George
+Clarke died insolvent.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clarke, in her youth, was said to be one of the most beautiful
+women of her day. Those who knew her in later years can testify to an
+abiding charm of personality which time could never efface. Hyde Hall in
+summer she loved, but always the most perfect place in the world to her
+was Monte Carlo, and there for many years she passed the winter,
+becoming at last the oldest member of the American colony, having
+crossed the ocean thirty times from America to Southern France. An old
+lady tireless of life and all its activities, sprightly in manner,
+brilliant in conversation, graceful in gesture, gay in dress, decked in
+jewelry that scintillated with her quick motions, shod in tiny,
+high-heeled slippers that clicked the measure of an alert step, and
+sometimes permitted a flash of bright silk stockings; a lover of life
+and gaiety and beauty to whom Monte Carlo seemed the most homelike spot
+on earth&mdash;her reign as mistress in her younger days gave a color of its
+own to the story of Hyde Hall.</p>
+
+<p>When George Clarke died in 1889, his son, George Hyde Clarke, having
+been graduated at the Columbia Law School, had for several years made
+his home at Hyde Hall, and had restored the place to something like its
+original condition. He married Mary Gale Carter, granddaughter of
+William Holt Averell of Cooperstown, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>it was through her inheritance
+that the old home was saved to the family.</p>
+
+<p>Hyde Clarke inherited some of the English traditions of his grandfather.
+He was sent to England at the age of fourteen years, and educated at the
+famous Harrow school. In spite of his later devotion to legal studies,
+and his admission to the bar of the State of New York, his real tastes
+inclined to agriculture. Having been trained as a scholar, he added
+farming to his accomplishments, and when he settled down at Hyde Hall it
+was as a son of the soil. For the rest of his life, being at once a
+gentleman and a farmer, he was the better in both characters for being
+so much in each. The combination of birth and practical aptitude gave
+him a position quite unique in Cooperstown and the surrounding country.
+He was a man of wide reading and culture, an exceedingly good talker,
+and a delightful social companion. He was at the same time respected as
+a farmer among farmers, who knew him well, and called him by his
+Christian name. It is related that shortly after her marriage to Hyde
+Clarke, the stately and distinguished Mrs. Clarke was complaining to her
+butcher in Cooperstown that he had sent her poor meat. "Very sorry, Mrs.
+Clarke," replied the butcher "but 'twas one of Hyde's own critters!"</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_243" id="photo_243"></a><img src="images/photo_243.jpg" alt="Hyde Clarke" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Hyde Clarke</span><br />
+From the portrait by Ellen G. Emmet</p></div>
+
+<p>Hyde Clarke had certain mannerisms that added interest to his
+personality. He would sometimes sit silent in company, without the
+slightest effort to contribute to the conversation; but when he chose to
+talk, he talked well and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>informingly, and it was a delight to hear him.
+In a voice well-modulated and even, he selected his words with care,
+sometimes pausing for the precise expression, which he brought out with
+a quiet emphasis that made its exactness impressive. Repeatedly in
+conversation he seemed about to smile, or there was a movement behind
+the drooping moustache and in the eyes that suggested merriment, which
+quickly disappeared when one began to smile in return, leaving one with
+a foolish sense of having smiled at nothing. His deliberation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>of speech
+was significant of his carefulness of thought and judgment, and he was
+always leisurely in action. If he invited a guest to dine with him at
+seven o'clock, he was quite likely himself not to reach home until
+seven-thirty. A tall, calm man, he had the "British stare" to
+perfection, which in him was not an affectation, but arose from an
+entire lack of self-consciousness, and from moments of
+absent-mindedness. He could stare one out of countenance without
+intending rudeness; he could ignore the social amenities when he chose,
+without giving offense; while he was the only man in Otsego who could
+enter a lady's drawing-room in farming togs and with a hat on, without
+seeming less than well-bred.</p>
+
+<p>His arrival at the services of Christ Church on the Sunday mornings of
+winter became characteristic. Always late for the service, and often
+coming in after the sermon had begun, he walked deliberately forward up
+the main alley, clad in the great fur coat which had served him for the
+cold drive from Hyde Hall. Arrived at his pew, the front one at the
+left, he would stand there while he slowly removed his coat, meantime
+gazing curiously at the preacher, as if wondering what the text might
+have been. Still standing, his hand described circles over his head
+while he unreeled the long muffler wrapped about his throat. Then,
+turning about, he would give a wide stare at the congregation, produce
+his handkerchief, and with a trumpet-blast sit down to compose himself
+for the rest of the sermon.</p>
+
+<p>Hyde Clarke was exactly the man to have lived <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>in what Levi Beardsley
+called the "Baronial establishment" of Hyde Hall, amid broad acres of
+wooded hill, and farm, and pasture. Besides being a practical farmer and
+hop-grower, he was a leader among politicians of the better sort in the
+Democratic party of the county and State. Through many avenues of
+interest he reached all sides of life, and gained experiences that saved
+his culture from dilettanteism, and made him a man among men, a true
+democrat. In his judgments of men, he was big enough to overlook the
+little imperfections that often conceal a fundamental soundness of
+character; he saw the good in all, and spoke evil of none. He had
+friendships among people of all sorts and conditions. Nor did he limit
+his friendship to the human race; he knew horses and cows and dogs. He
+loved all moods of nature, and faced all kinds of weather.</p>
+
+<p>Hyde Hall, in the first century of its existence, measured the lives of
+three men, passing from father to son, and leaving its traditions to the
+great-grandson of the builder, another George Hyde Clarke, who, in 1915,
+married Emily Borie Ryerson, a daughter of Arthur Ryerson of Chicago, a
+gentleman affectionately remembered as the host of "Ringwood" at the
+head of the lake, and mourned for his untimely death at sea, in the loss
+of the <i>Titanic</i>.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_246" id="photo_246"></a><img src="images/photo_246.jpg" alt="A Wedding-Day at Hyde" width="65%" /><br />
+<span class="captionsc">A Wedding-Day at Hyde</span></div>
+
+<p>Hyde Hall is at its best as the centre of a function, crowded with
+guests, buzzing with conversation, while the company overflows from the
+house to the lawn, presenting a kaleidoscope of color in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>the shifting
+throng that moves to and fro in the spacious foreground of the venerable
+mansion. There are those to whom one scene stands out as typical of Hyde
+Hall in its glory: a brilliant autumn afternoon in 1907, the wedding day
+of the daughter of the house; a picturesque concourse of wedding guests
+upon the lawn before the doorway; a sudden lifting of all eyes to the
+balcony above the portico, where the bride appears, clad in her wedding
+gown, stands radiant, with her bridal bouquet poised aloft, and flings
+it to the bridesmaids grouped below.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> <i>History of Otsego County</i>, 1877, p. 285.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, from which the description of Clarke is
+taken.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BIRTHPLACE OF BASE BALL</h3>
+
+
+<p>The game of Base Ball was invented and first played in Cooperstown in
+1839. Few statements of historical fact can be supported by the decision
+of a commission of experts especially appointed to examine the evidence
+and render a verdict, but in fixing the origin of Base Ball it is
+exactly this solemn form of procedure that has placed the matter beyond
+doubt.</p>
+
+<p>In 1905 a friendly controversy arose, as to the origin of Base Ball,
+between A. G. Spalding, for many years famous as a patron of the sport,
+and Henry Chadwick, fondly known as the "Father of Base Ball." Chadwick
+had long contended that the game of Base Ball derived its origin from
+the old English pastime called "Rounders." Spalding took issue with him,
+asserting that Base Ball is distinctively American, not only in
+development, but in origin, and has no connection with "Rounders," nor
+any other imported game. Each view enlisted its champions, and, when no
+agreement could be reached, the contending forces decided to refer the
+whole matter to a special Base Ball commission for full consideration
+and final judgment.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p><p>The members of the commission were well known in the Base Ball world,
+and some of them were men of national reputation in more serious fields
+of achievement. They were A. G. Mills of New York, an enthusiastic ball
+player before and during the Civil War; the Hon. Arthur P. Gorman,
+former United States Senator from Maryland; the Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley,
+United States Senator from Connecticut, and formerly Governor of that
+State; N. E. Young of Washington, D. C., a veteran ball player, and the
+first secretary of the National Base Ball League; Alfred J. Reach of
+Philadelphia, and George Wright of Boston, both well known business men,
+and, in their day, famous ball players; James E. Sullivan of New York,
+president of the Amateur Athletic Union. The last named acted as
+secretary of the commission, and during three years conducted an
+extensive correspondence in collecting data, as well as following up
+various clues that might prove useful in the determination of the
+question at issue. When all available evidence had been gathered the
+whole matter was compiled and laid before the special commission, which
+spent several months in going over the mass of data and argument.</p>
+
+<p>Briefs were addressed to the commission, by Chadwick in support of his
+contention that Base Ball was developed from the English game of
+"Rounders," and by his opponents, who claimed a purely American origin
+for the national game.</p>
+
+<p>The similarity of the two games, Chadwick contended, was shown in the
+fact that "Rounders" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>was played by two opposing sides of contestants,
+on a special field of play, in which a ball was pitched or tossed to an
+opposing batsman, who endeavored to strike the ball out into the field,
+far enough to admit of his safely running the round of the bases before
+the ball could be returned, so as to enable him to score a run, the side
+scoring the most runs winning the game. This basic principle of
+"Rounders," Chadwick contended, is identical with the fundamental
+principle of Base Ball.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_249" id="photo_249"></a><img src="images/photo_249.jpg" alt="Base Ball on Native Soil" width="65%" /><br />
+<p class="captionsc">Base Ball on Native Soil</p></div>
+
+<p>Those who maintained the strictly American origin of Base Ball were
+unwilling to admit a connection with any game of any other country,
+except in so far as all games of ball have a certain similarity and
+family relationship. It was pointed out that if the mere tossing or
+handling of a ball, or striking it with some kind of stick, could be
+accepted as the origin of our game, it would carry it far back of
+Anglo-Saxon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>civilization&mdash;beyond Rome, beyond Greece, at least to the
+palmy days of the Chaldean Empire. It was urged that in the early
+'forties of the nineteenth century, when anti-British feeling still ran
+high, it is most unlikely that a sport of British origin would have been
+adopted in America. It was recalled that Col. James Lee, who was one of
+the moving spirits in the original effort to popularize Base Ball in New
+York City, and an organizer of the Knickerbocker Ball Club in 1845, had
+asserted that the game of Base Ball was chosen instead of and in
+opposition to Cricket on the very ground that the former was a purely
+American game, and because of the then existing prejudice against
+adopting any game of foreign invention. The champions of this theory of
+American origin further contended that those who would derive Base Ball
+from "Rounders" had totally ignored the earlier history of both games,
+and had been misled by certain modern developments of "Rounders," as
+more recently played in England, after many of the features of Base Ball
+had been appropriated by the English game.</p>
+
+<p>The American source of Base Ball is traced to the game of "One Old Cat,"
+which was a favorite among the boys in old colonial times. This was
+played by three boys&mdash;a thrower, a catcher, and a batsman. If the
+batsman after striking the ball could run to a goal about thirty feet
+distant, and return before the ball could be fielded, he counted one
+tally. This game was developed to include more players. "Two Old Cat"
+was played by four boys&mdash;two batsmen and two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>throwers&mdash;each alternating
+as catchers, and a "tally" was made by the batsman hitting the ball and
+exchanging places with the batsman at the opposite goal. In the same
+manner "Three Old Cat" was played by six, and "Four Old Cat" by eight
+boys. "Four Old Cat," with four batsmen and four throwers, each
+alternating as catchers, was played on a square-shaped field, each side
+of which was about forty feet long. All the batsmen were forced to run
+to the next corner, or "goal," of this square whenever any one of the
+batsmen struck the ball, but if the ball was caught on the fly or first
+bound, or any one of the four batsmen was hit by a thrown ball between
+goals, the runner was out, and his place was taken by the fielding
+player who put him out.</p>
+
+<p>From this game was developed "Town Ball," so called because it came to
+be the popular game at all town meetings. This game accommodated a
+greater number of players than "Four Old Cat," and resolved the
+individual players into two competing sides. It placed one thrower in
+the centre of the "Four Old Cat" square field, and had but one catcher.
+The corners of the field were called first, second, third, and fourth
+goals. The batsman's position was half way between first and fourth
+goals. The number of players on a side was at first unlimited, but
+"three out, all out," had already become the rule, allowing the fielding
+side to take their innings at bat.</p>
+
+<p>This method of alternating sides at bat was retained in the fully
+developed game of Base Ball, and marks the most radical difference in
+the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>ancestry of Base Ball and the English "Rounders." For the great
+feature of "Rounders," from which it derives its name, is the "rounder"
+itself, meaning that whenever one of the "in" side makes a complete
+continuous circuit of the bases, or, as it would be called in Base Ball,
+a "home run," he thereby reinstates the entire side; it then becomes
+necessary to begin over again to retire each one of the side at bat,
+until all of them have been put out. If Base Ball had been derived from
+Rounders, it would be likely to show in its history some trace of this
+distinctive feature of the English game. But no such feature has ever
+appeared in Base Ball or its antecedents.<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p>
+
+<p>All these considerations, with much else, entered into the discussions
+of the special Base Ball commission. The final decision of the
+commission was unanimous, and was published early in 1908.<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> The
+decision covered two points, the first rejecting the alleged connection
+with Rounders, the second fixing the time and place of the origin of
+Base Ball in America. Under the first head the commission decided "that
+Base Ball is of American origin, and has no traceable connection
+whatever with 'Rounders,' or any other foreign game."</p>
+
+<p>It was the second point in the decision, however, that added historic
+lustre to a village already famous in romance. The commission <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>decided
+"that the first scheme for playing Base Ball, according to the best
+evidence obtainable to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday at
+Cooperstown, N. Y., in 1839."</p>
+
+<p>Up to the time of this investigation it had been supposed that the
+modern game of Base Ball originated in New York City, where the game was
+played in a desultory sort of way by the young business men as early as
+1842, although the first rules were not promulgated until the
+organization of the old Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1845. But Abner
+Graves, a mining engineer of Denver, convinced the commission that the
+real origin of the game must be sought elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Graves was a boy playfellow of Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown in 1839.
+He was present when Doubleday outlined with a stick in the dirt the
+present diamond-shaped Base Ball field, indicating the location of the
+players in the field; and afterward saw him make a diagram of the field
+on paper, with a crude pencil memorandum of the rules for his new game,
+which he named "Base Ball." Although sixty-eight years had passed since
+that time Graves distinctly remembered the incident, and recalled
+playing the game, with other boys, under Abner Doubleday's direction.</p>
+
+<p>Doubleday's game seems to have been an orderly and systematic
+development of "Town Ball," in which confusion and collision among
+players in attempting to catch the batted ball were frequent, and injury
+due to this cause, or to the practice of putting out the runner by
+hitting him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>with the ball, often occurred. Although Doubleday provided
+for eleven men on a side, instead of nine, using four outfielders
+instead of three, and stationing an extra shortstop between first and
+second bases, he had nevertheless invented fundamental principles that
+became characteristic of Base Ball. He had definitely limited the number
+of contestants on each side, and had fixed the position of players in
+the field, allotting certain territory to each, besides adding something
+like the present method of putting out the baserunner to the old one of
+"plugging" him with the ball. Under Doubleday's rules a runner not on
+base might be put out by being touched with the ball in the hand of an
+opposing player. From this was an easy step to the practice of throwing
+the ball to a baseman to anticipate the runner. The new importance thus
+given to the bases, in their relation to both fielders and batters,
+justified for the game the name of "Base Ball."</p>
+
+<p>"Abner Doubleday," writes Graves, "was several years older than I. In
+1838 and 1839 I was attending the 'Frog Hollow' school south of the
+Presbyterian church, while he was at school somewhere on the hill. I do
+not know, neither is it possible for anyone to know, on what spot the
+first game of Base Ball was played according to Doubleday's plan. He
+went diligently among the boys in the town, and in several schools,
+explaining the plan, and inducing them to play Base Ball in lieu of the
+other games. Doubleday's game was played in a good many places around
+town: sometimes in the old militia muster lot, or training <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>ground, a
+couple of hundred yards southeasterly from the Court House,<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> where
+County Fairs were occasionally held; sometimes in Mr. Bennett's field
+south of Otsego Academy;<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> at other times over in the Miller's Bay
+neighborhood,<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> and up the lake.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember one dandy, fine, rollicking game where men and big boys from
+the Academy and other schools played up on Mr. Phinney's farm, a mile or
+two up the west side of the lake,<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> when Abner Doubleday and Prof.
+Green chose sides, and Doubleday's side beat Green's side badly.
+Doubleday was captain and catcher for his side, and I think John Graves
+and Elihu Phinney were the pitchers for the two sides. I wasn't in the
+game, but stood close by Doubleday, and wanted Prof. Green to win. In
+his first time at bat Prof. Green missed three consecutive balls. Abner
+caught all three, then pounded Mr. Green on the back with the ball,
+while they and all others were roaring with laughter, and yelling 'Prof.
+is out!'"</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_256" id="photo_256"></a><img src="images/photo_256.jpg" alt="The Original House at Apple Hill" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Original House at Apple Hill</p></div>
+
+<p>It is of interest to recall that Abner Doubleday, the inventor of Base
+Ball went from his school <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>in Cooperstown to West Point, where he was
+graduated in 1842, and served with distinction in the Civil War,
+attaining to the rank of Major General. Base Ball, indeed, owes much of
+its vogue to the United States Army, for it was played as a camp
+diversion by the soldiers of the Civil War, who, during the years of
+peace that followed, spread the fever of this pastime throughout the
+length and breadth of the United States, and thus gave to the game its
+national character.</p>
+
+<p>In 1908, at the time of the Base Ball Commission's decision that the
+game originated at Cooperstown in 1839, there were several old residents
+of the village whose recollections included that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>early period. On the
+strength of their statements rests a probability that the Cooperstown
+Classical and Military Academy, which was flourishing in 1839 under
+Major William H. Duff, was the school attended by Doubleday. This would
+be in accord with the recollection of Abner Graves that, in 1839,
+Doubleday was "at school somewhere on the hill." This school was at
+"Apple Hill," as it was called, in the grounds of the present
+"Fernleigh," where the Clark residence was built and now stands. Owing
+to the number of trees and the abrupt slope to the river, it is not
+likely that a full-sized Base Ball game was ever played within these
+grounds. But it is pleasant to fancy young Doubleday standing here,
+surrounded by an eager crowd of boys, amid the golden sunlight and
+greenery of long ago, as he traces on the earth with a stick his famous
+diamond, and from these shades goes forth with his companions to begin
+the national game of America.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Opinion of John M. Ward, a famous player, afterward a
+lawyer in New York City.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide</i>, 1908, p. 48.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> The Watkins place on Chestnut Street, opposite the Village
+Hall, occupies this training ground, which extended east and south to
+the rear of the buildings on Main Street, and included part of the
+Phinney lot.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> The clergy house of St. Mary's Church occupies the site of
+the Otsego Academy.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> The Country Club grounds.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> The present "Brookwood."</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>FENIMORE COOPER IN THE VILLAGE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The childhood memories of James Fenimore Cooper were associated with the
+village which his father had settled at the foot of Otsego Lake, for
+hither he was brought a babe in arms, and remained until, at the age of
+nine years, he was sent to Albany to be tutored by the rector of St.
+Peter's Church. After his career at Yale and in the Navy, he was married
+in 1811 to Susan de Lancey, and brought his bride to Cooperstown on
+their honeymoon. Three years later they came back to take up their
+residence at "Fenimore" just out of the village, on Otsego Lake, but,
+after three seasons of farming, circumstances once more drew Fenimore
+Cooper away from Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_259" id="photo_259"></a><img src="images/photo_259.jpg" alt="Fenimore" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Fenimore</p></div>
+
+<p>It was in 1834, when he had become a novelist of international fame, and
+had lived for seven years in Europe, that Cooper, at the age of
+forty-five years, took steps to make a permanent home in the village of
+his childhood. Otsego Hall, which his father had built upon the site now
+marked by the statue of the Indian Hunter, in the Cooper Grounds, was
+repaired and partly remodeled, and here Fenimore Cooper dwelt until his
+death in 1851.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p><p>Two names of later renown are connected with Fenimore Cooper's
+reconstruction of Otsego Hall. Among the artisans employed was a lad of
+seventeen years apprenticed as a joiner, Erastus D. Palmer, who already
+had begun to attract attention as a wood-carver, and afterward became
+famous as a sculptor. While the alterations were in progress Cooper had
+as his guest in Cooperstown Samuel F. B. Morse, who assisted him in
+carrying out his ideas for the reconstruction of the Hall, and drew the
+designs which gave it more the style of an English country house.<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a>
+The local <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>gossips said that Morse aspired to the hand of his friend's
+eldest daughter, Susan Augusta Fenimore, then twenty-one years of age,
+but that Cooper had no mind to yield so fair a prize to an impecunious
+painter, a widower, and already forty-three years old. Morse was at this
+time experimenting with the telegraph instrument which was afterward to
+bring him wealth and such fame as an inventor as to overshadow his
+reputation as an artist.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_260" id="photo_260"></a><img src="images/photo_260.jpg" alt="Otsego Hall" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Otsego Hall</p></div>
+
+<p>The Cooper Grounds, now kept as a public park by the Clark Estate,
+include the property that belonged to Fenimore Cooper. Otsego Hall,
+which was destroyed by fire in 1852, after the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>novelist's death, must
+be imagined at the centre of the grounds, where its outward appearance,
+as well as the arrangement of its interior, may be reconstructed by the
+fancy from the wooden model made from a design by G. Pomeroy Keese, and
+now to be seen in the village museum. Cooper's favorite garden-seat
+exists in facsimile in its original situation at the southeast corner of
+the grounds.</p>
+
+<p>When in 1834 the old mansion of the founder of Cooperstown began once
+more to be occupied it was a matter of great interest to the people of
+the village. Many of them well remembered Fenimore Cooper and his bride
+when, twenty years before, they had lived at Fenimore. They recalled the
+former resident as James Cooper, for it was not until 1826 that he
+adopted the middle name, in compliance with a request which his mother
+had made that he should use her family name.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Twenty years had made
+many changes in Cooperstown, and there was a large proportion of
+residents who knew Fenimore Cooper only from his writings and by
+reputation. Therefore when he came back to dwell in the home of his
+youth he was regarded by many almost as a newcomer in the neighborhood,
+and to his family as well as to himself a rather cautious welcome was
+given. It had to be admitted at the outset that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>the changes which
+Fenimore Cooper made in Otsego Hall were disapproved by some of the
+villagers. They did not like the foreign air which the old house now
+began to give itself with its battlements and gothic elaborations. Here
+was the first muttering of the storm that clouded the later years of
+Fenimore Cooper.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_263" id="photo_263"></a><img src="images/photo_263.jpg" alt="James Fenimore Cooper" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">James Fenimore Cooper</p></div>
+
+<p>Cooper's personal appearance was in accord with the strong individuality
+of his character. He was of massive, compact form, six feet in height,
+over two hundred pounds in weight and rather portly in later years, of
+firm and aristocratic bearing, a commanding figure: "a very castle of a
+man" was the phrase which Washington Irving applied to him. The
+bust<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> made by David d'Angers in Paris in 1828 gives to Cooper a
+classic splendor of head and countenance which is in agreement with the
+impression produced upon those who well remembered him. He had a full,
+expansive forehead, strong features, florid complexion, a mouth firm
+without harshness, and clear gray eyes. His head, which was set firmly
+and proudly upon giant shoulders, had a peculiar and incessant
+oscillating motion. His expressive eyes also were singularly volatile in
+their movement&mdash;seldom at perfect rest. He was always clean shaven, so
+that nothing was lost of the changes of expression which animated his
+mobile face in conversation. He had a hearty way of meeting men, a
+little bustling, and an emphatic frankness of manner which Bryant says
+startled him at first, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>but which he came at last to like and to admire.
+Cooper was a great talker. His voice was agreeably sonorous. He talked
+well, and with infinite resource. He could dash into animated
+conversation on almost any subject, and was not slow to express decided
+opinions, in which at times he almost demanded acquiescence. His
+earnestness was often mistaken for brusqueness and violence; "for," says
+Lounsbury,<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> "he was, in some measure, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>of that class of men who
+appear to be excited when they are only interested." He created a strong
+impression of vigor, intelligence, impulsiveness, vivacity, and
+manliness.</p>
+
+<p>When walking Cooper usually carried a stick, but never for support. In
+his last years he carried a small, slender walking stick of polished
+wood, having a curved handle, and too short for any purpose but to
+flourish in the hands. As he walked briskly along the village street,
+erect, and with expanded chest, this slender stick was often held
+horizontally across his back with his arms skewered behind it, while at
+his heels a pet dog trotted, a little black mongrel called "Frisk." In
+returning from the walk which proved to be his last he stopped at
+Edgewater, then the home of his niece, and, on leaving, forgot to take
+his stick. There it has remained, through the years that have passed
+since his death, just as he left it, hanging by its curved handle from a
+shelf of one of the bookcases in the library.</p>
+
+<p>During this residence in Cooperstown Fenimore Cooper wrote some twenty
+of his novels, his <i>Naval History</i>, the <i>Chronicles of Cooperstown</i>,
+besides many sketches of travel and articles contributed to magazines.
+This prodigious amount of writing, together with many other activities,
+made his life a full one. He rose early, and a considerable portion of
+his writing was accomplished before breakfast. In summer hardly a day
+passed without a visit to the Chalet farm, on the east side of the lake,
+where he sought relaxation from his mental labors. Accordingly, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>at
+about eleven o'clock he might be seen issuing from the gate of his
+residence in a wagon, driving a tall sorrel horse named Pumpkin. This
+animal was ill suited to the dignity of his driver. He had a singularity
+of gait which consisted in occasionally going on three legs, and at
+times elevating both hind legs in a manner rather amusing than alarming;
+often he persisted in backing when urged to go forward, and always his
+emotions were expressed by the switching of his very light wisp of a
+tail. Mrs. Cooper was most frequently Mr. Cooper's companion on these
+daily excursions, although often the eldest daughter took the place in
+the vehicle by her father's side.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_265" id="photo_265"></a><img src="images/photo_265.jpg" alt="The Chalet" width="70%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Chalet</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p><p>In the late afternoon Cooper usually devoted some time to the
+composition of his novels, without touching pen to paper. It was his
+custom to work out the scenes of his stories while promenading the large
+hall of his home. Here he paced to and fro in the twilight of the
+afternoon, his hands crossed behind his back, his brow carrying the
+impression of deep thought. He nodded vigorously from time to time, and
+muttered to himself, inventing and carrying on the conversation of his
+various imaginary characters. After the evening meal he put work aside,
+and passed the time with the family, sometimes reading, often in a game
+of chess with Mrs. Cooper, whom, ever since their wedding day, when they
+played chess between the ceremony and supper, he had fondly called his
+"check-mate." He never smoked, and seldom drank beyond a glass of wine
+which he took with his dinner.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_267" id="photo_267"></a><img src="images/photo_267.jpg" alt="The Novelist's Library" width="75%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Novelist's Library</span><br />
+From a drawing by G. Pomeroy Keese</p></div>
+
+<p>In the early morning, when Cooper shut himself in the library, he set
+down on paper in its final form the portion of narrative that he had
+worked out while pacing the hall the previous afternoon. The library
+opened from the main hall, and occupied the southwestern corner of the
+house. It was lighted by tall, deeply-recessed windows, against which
+the branches of the evergreens outside flung their waving shadows. The
+wainscoting was of dark oak, and the sombre bookcases that lined the
+walls were of the same material. A large fireplace occupied the space
+between the two western windows. Across the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>room stood a folding
+screen<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> upon which had been pasted a collection of engravings
+representing scenes known to the family during their tour and residence
+in Europe, together with a number of notes and autographs from persons
+of distinction. Attached to the top of one of the bookcases was a huge
+pair of antlers<a name="FNanchor_107" id="FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> holding in their embrace a calabash from the
+southern seas.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p>
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_269" id="photo_269"></a><img class="bbox" src="images/photo_269.jpg" alt="A Page Of Cooper's Manuscript" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">A Page Of Cooper's Manuscript</span><br />
+(Two-fifths of actual size)</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p><p>The table at which the novelist sat once belonged to his maternal
+grandfather, Richard Fenimore, and had been brought by Judge Cooper from
+Burlington at the settlement of Cooperstown. It was a plain one of
+English walnut, and the chair in which he sat was of the same material.
+Cooper wrote rapidly, in a fine, small, clear hand, upon large sheets of
+foolscap, and seldom made an erasure. No company was permitted in the
+room while he was writing except an Angora cat who was allowed to bound
+upon the desk without rebuke, or even to perch upon the author's
+shoulders. Here the cat settled down contentedly, and with half-shut
+eyes watched the steady driving of the quill across the paper.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many books written in this library <i>The Deerslayer</i> brought
+the greatest fame to Cooperstown, for it peopled the shores of Otsego
+Lake with the creatures of Cooper's fancy, and added to the natural
+beauty of its scenery the glamour of romance. The idea of writing this
+story came to Fenimore Cooper on a summer afternoon as he drove from the
+Chalet homeward in his farm wagon, with his favorite daughter by his
+side, along the shaded road on the east shore of the lake. He was
+singing cheerily, for, although no musician, often he sang snatches of
+familiar songs that had struck his fancy, and above the rumbling of the
+wagon his booming voice frequently was heard along the road in a sudden
+burst of "Scots, wha ha'e wi' Wallace <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>bled!" or Moore's "Love's Young
+Dream"&mdash;always especial favorites with him. On this occasion, however,
+it was a political song that he was singing, a ditty then popular during
+the campaign of 1840 in the party opposed to his own. Suddenly he
+paused, as an opening in the woods revealed a charming view of the lake.
+His spirited gray eye rested a moment on the water, with an expression
+of abstracted poetical thought, familiar to those who lived with him;
+then, turning to the companion at his side, he exclaimed: "I must write
+one more book, dearie, about our little lake!" Again his eye rested on
+the water and wooded shores with the far-seeing look of one who already
+had a vision of living figures and dusky forms moving amid the quiet
+scene. A moment of silence followed. Then Fenimore Cooper cracked his
+whip, resumed his song, with some careless chat on incidents of the day,
+and drove homeward. Not long afterward he shut himself in his library,
+and the first pages of <i>The Deerslayer</i> were written.<a name="FNanchor_108" id="FNanchor_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p>
+
+<p>There were perhaps many in the village who felt honored in being
+neighbor to a novelist of international fame. But the general sentiment
+toward Fenimore Cooper in his home town was not altogether created by
+his success as a writer. It may be that the aged Miss Nancy Williams,
+who lived in the house which still stands on Main Street next east of
+the Second National Bank, was not alone in her estimate of this kind of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>success. Her favorite seat was at a front window where she was daily
+occupied in knitting, and watching all passers-by. Whenever Fenimore
+Cooper passed, whom she had known as a boy, Miss Williams called out to
+him: "James, why don't you stop wasting your time writing those silly
+novels, and try to make something of yourself!"</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_271" id="photo_271"></a><img src="images/photo_271.jpg" alt="The Home of Nancy Williams" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Home of Nancy Williams</p></div>
+
+<p>Whatever may have been the village estimate of his fame as a novelist,
+there were certain personal traits in Cooper that went farther than
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>anything he ever wrote to fix the esteem of his fellow citizens. Among
+acquaintances whom he admitted as his social equals he was universally
+beloved; to these he showed all the charm and fascination of a gracious
+personality and brilliant mind. The more intimately Cooper was
+approached the more unreservedly he was admired, and within his own
+family he was almost adored. In the humbler walks of life those who
+habitually recognized Cooper as a superior had nothing to complain of.
+But there were many in Cooperstown who had no warmth of feeling toward
+Fenimore Cooper. They were quick to detect in him an attitude of
+contemptuous superiority toward the villagers. Some of the neighbors
+felt that he willingly remained a stranger to them. When he passed along
+the street without seeing people who expected a greeting from him, his
+friends averred that it was because his mind, abstracted from present
+scenes and passers-by, was engaged in the dramatic development of some
+tale of sea or forest. But those who felt snubbed by his indifference
+were less charitable in their interpretation of his bearing toward them.
+Cooper had been for seven years a lion in Europe, splendidly entertained
+by the Princess Galitzin in Paris, where he was overwhelmed with
+invitations from counts and countesses; dining at Holland House in
+London with Lord and Lady Holland; a guest of honor at a ball given by a
+prince in Rome; presented at the brilliant Tuscan court at Florence, for
+which occasion he was decked in lace frills and ruff, with dress hat and
+sword;&mdash;such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>incidents of his foreign life began to be mentioned to
+account for Cooper's disinclination to encourage familiar acquaintance
+with the villagers of Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper himself was entirely unconscious of any arrogance in his
+attitude, and when, in connection with the later controversies, it came
+to his knowledge that some villagers accused him of posing as an
+aristocrat in Cooperstown, he resented the imputation with some
+bitterness. "In this part of the world," he said, "it is thought
+aristocratic not to frequent taverns, and lounge at corners, squirting
+tobacco juice."<a name="FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> Cooper was strongly democratic in his convictions,
+and was so far from having been a toady during his residence in Europe
+that he had made enemies in aristocratic circles abroad by his fearless
+championship of republican institutions. At the same time he was
+fastidiously undemocratic in many of his tastes. It is a keen
+observation of Lounsbury's that Cooper "was an aristocrat in feeling,
+and a democrat by conviction." His recognition of the worth of true
+manhood, entirely apart from rank and social refinement, is shown in the
+noble character of Leather-Stocking. Yet the manners and customs of
+uncultivated people in real life were most offensive to his squeamish
+taste, and much of his concern for the welfare of his countrymen had to
+do with their neglect of the decencies and amenities of social
+behaviour.</p>
+
+<p>More than half a century after his death there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>were some living in
+Cooperstown who frequently related their childhood memories of Fenimore
+Cooper. His tendency to lecture the neighbors on their manners was
+burned into the memory of a child who, as she sat on her doorstep, was
+engaged with the novelist in pleasant conversation, until he spied a
+ring that she was wearing upon the third finger of her left hand. This
+he made the text of a solemn declaration upon the impropriety of wearing
+falsely the symbol of a sacred relationship. The lesson intended was
+probably sensible and wholesome, but the effect produced upon the child
+was a terror of Fenimore Cooper which lasted as long as life. On the
+other hand, one who was a slip of a girl at the time used afterward to
+boast that Fenimore Cooper had opened a gate for her when she was riding
+horseback, and stood hat in hand while she passed through.</p>
+
+<p>Allowance must be made for a somewhat distorted perspective in the
+impression produced by Cooper upon the memories of not a few children,
+for, judging from their reminiscences, the Garden of Eden was not more
+inviting than his, nor its fruits more to be desired, nor was the angel
+with the flaming sword more terribly vigilant than Fenimore Cooper in
+guarding the trees from unholy hands. The glimpses of the novelist most
+vividly remembered by these youngsters relate to attempted invasions of
+the orchard near his house, and their furious repulse by the irascible
+owner, who charged upon the trespassers with loud objurgations and a
+flourishing stick. One who picked a rose without permission long
+remembered the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>"awful lecture" that Cooper gave her, and how he said,
+"It is just as bad to take my flowers as to steal my money."<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a></p>
+
+<p>Among the children of his own friends there was quite a different
+opinion of Cooper. Elihu Phinney, who was a playmate of the novelist's
+son Paul, and a frequent guest at Otsego Hall, had an intense admiration
+for the author of the <i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i>, although he long
+remembered a lesson in table manners, by which, on one of these visits,
+his host had startled him. At dinner young Elihu passed his plate with
+knife and fork upon it for a second supply, when from the head of the
+table came this reprimand: "My boy, never leave your implements on the
+plate. You might drop knife or fork in a lady's lap. Take them both
+firmly in your left hand, and hold them until your plate is returned."
+Half a century afterward Elihu Phinney declared that whatever the ruling
+of etiquette might be in this matter, he had never since failed to heed
+this bit of advice from Fenimore Cooper. Mrs. Stephen H. Synnott, wife
+of a one-time rector of Christ Church in Cooperstown, remembered Cooper
+as a genuine lover of children. She was Alice Trumbull Worthington, and
+during the novelist's latter years she lived as a child in the White
+House on Main Street, nearest neighbor to Otsego Hall. "To meet Fenimore
+Cooper on the street in the village was always a pleasure," says Mrs.
+Synnott. "His eye twinkled, his face beamed, and his cane <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>pointed at
+you with a smile and a greeting of some forthcoming humor. When I
+happened to be passing the gates of the old Hall, and he and Mrs. Cooper
+were driving home from his farm, I often ran to open the gate for him,
+which trifling act he acknowledged with old-time courtesy. His fine
+garden joined my father's, and once, being in the vicinity of the fence,
+he tossed me several muskmelons to catch, which at that time were quite
+rare in the village gardens."</p>
+
+<p>To this same little girl, when she had sent him an appreciation of one
+of his novels, Fenimore Cooper wrote a letter that certainly shows a
+benignant attitude toward children. "I am so much accustomed to
+newspapers," he wrote, "that their censure and their praise pass but for
+little, but the attentions of a young lady of your tender years to an
+old man who is old enough to be her grandfather are not so easily
+overlooked.... I hope that you and I and John will have an opportunity
+of visiting the blackberry bushes, next summer, in company. I now invite
+you to select your party, to be composed of as many little girls, and
+little boys, too, if you can find those you like, to go to my farm next
+summer, and spend an hour or two in finding berries. It shall be your
+party, and the invitations must go out in your name, and you must speak
+to me about it, in order that I may not forget it, and you can have your
+school if you like or any one else. I shall ask only one guest myself,
+and that will be John,<a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> who knows the road, having been there once
+already."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p><p>Another child who found Fenimore Cooper a most genial friend was
+Caroline A. Foote, who afterward became Mrs. G. Pomeroy Keese. She was a
+frequent visitor at Otsego Hall, where the novelist made much of her,
+and when she was thirteen years old he wrote some original verses in her
+autograph album, at her request, concluding with these lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In after life, when thou shalt grow<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">To womanhood, and learn to feel<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The tenderness the aged know<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">To guide their children's weal,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then wilt thou bless with bended knee<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Some smiling child as I bless thee.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Encouraged by this success, Caroline Foote afterward asked Cooper to
+write some verses for her schoolmate, Julia Bryant, daughter of William
+Cullen Bryant, who was a warm friend of the novelist. With his young
+petitioner by his side Cooper sat at the old desk in the library of
+Otsego Hall and laughingly dashed off these lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Charming young lady, Miss Julia by name,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Your friend, little Cally, your wishes proclaim;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Read this, and you'll soon learn to know it,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">I'm not your papa the great lyric poet.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In order to understand the local controversy which divided village
+sentiment concerning Fenimore Cooper, and gave rise to the long series
+of libel suits, it is necessary to consider certain influences of more
+remote origin.</p>
+
+<p>In 1826, when Cooper began his seven years' <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>residence in Europe, before
+making his home in Cooperstown, he had become the most widely read of
+American authors. No other American writer, in fact, during the
+nineteenth century, enjoyed so wide a contemporary popularity. His works
+appeared simultaneously in America, England, and France. They were
+speedily translated into German and Italian, and in most instances soon
+found their way into the other cultivated tongues of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_112" id="FNanchor_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>
+Cooper's friend Morse said that his novels were published, as soon as he
+produced them, in thirty-four different places in Europe, and that they
+had been seen by American travelers in the languages of Turkey and
+Persia, in Constantinople, in Egypt, at Jerusalem, at Ispahan. At a
+dinner given in New York in Cooper's honor, just before his departure
+for Europe, Chancellor Kent, who presided, voiced the general feeling by
+toasting him as the "genius which has rendered our native soil classic
+ground, and given to our early history the enchantment of fiction."</p>
+
+<p>Patriotism in Cooper was almost a passion, and it burned in him with new
+ardor because of the misunderstanding and disparagement of America which
+he encountered almost everywhere in Europe. The praise which came to him
+from Europeans irritated him with its air of surprise that anything good
+could be expected from America or an American. Nor did he much
+ingratiate himself in British society, where, when the conversation
+turned upon matters discreditable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>to the United States, it became his
+custom to bring up other matters discreditable to Great Britain. On the
+Continent he pursued much the same course, and published his first
+"novels with a purpose," <i>The Bravo</i>, <i>The Heidenmauer</i>, and <i>The
+Headsman</i>, the object of which was to demonstrate the superiority of
+democratic institutions over the medieval inheritances of Europe. In his
+introduction to <i>The Heidenmauer</i> he wrote a sentence that stirred the
+wrath of the newspaper press of his own country: "Each hour, as life
+advances," he asserted, "am I made to see how capricious and vulgar is
+the immortality conferred by a newspaper." This provoked at home the
+retort "The press has built him up; the press shall pull him down!" He
+began to be bitterly attacked in some American newspapers, which accused
+him of "flouting his Americanism throughout Europe."</p>
+
+<p>When Cooper returned to America in 1833 it was with a sore heart. He had
+tried to set Europe right about America, and the result had been only to
+arouse resentment abroad and antagonism at home. It is not surprising
+that he found America much changed in seven years, and not for the
+better. It had been a period of rapid growth. New men were beginning to
+push the "old families" to the wall, and social rank was beginning to
+wait on wealth, in utter indifference to the classifications of the
+elder aristocracy. To Cooper it seemed that while America had grown in
+his absence there had been a vast expansion of mediocrity. Manners were
+dying out; architecture had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>become debased; towns were larger but more
+tawdry. In these observations, although they were furiously resented at
+the time, Cooper was probably correct. There was a period of about fifty
+years in the nineteenth century, when, in the development of material
+resources, there was a large indifference to manners in America, and a
+decline in the love for beautiful things and in the power to create
+them. This period of neglect toward the refinements of life set in at
+just about the time of Cooper's residence abroad.</p>
+
+<p>But America, in this awkward age of its youthful growth, was in no mood
+either to profit by criticisms or to be indifferent to them. Cooper
+began to regard the attitude of Americans as pusillanimous. They toadied
+to foreign opinion, and dared not stand up for America abroad; while at
+home nothing American was ever to be criticised. When he expressed the
+opinion that the bay of Naples was more beautiful than the bay of New
+York, or complained that the streets of New York were ill-paved and
+poorly lighted as compared with those of foreign cities, he was informed
+by the hushed voices of friends that it would never do. His criticisms
+of America were received with deeper umbrage, as coming from an
+American, than the sarcasms of Dickens which, ten years later, aroused a
+tempest of indignation.</p>
+
+<p>It was in these circumstances that he returned to the village of his
+youth, and took up his residence at Otsego Hall, in Cooperstown. Here he
+wrote the <i>Letter to His Countrymen</i> in which he set out to answer
+certain criticisms of his writings <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>that had appeared in New York
+newspapers, and, in apparent disgust, publicly announced that he had
+made up his mind to abandon authorship. Into this letter he imported
+some remarks upon a political controversy which was then agitating the
+nation, and touched the political situation in such a way, at a time
+when feeling ran high, that he succeeded in enraging the adherents of
+both political parties.</p>
+
+<p>A storm of newspaper abuse then fell upon Cooper. He was not the man to
+realize that, in controversy, silence is sometimes the most effective
+weapon. He replied to every attack. Nor did he remain on the defensive.
+He began new hostilities. He abandoned his resolution to abandon
+authorship. <i>The Monikins</i>, a satirical novel in which men are
+burlesqued by monkeys, was published in 1835. In the ten volumes of
+travel published from 1836 to 1838 he dealt out occasional criticisms of
+both England and America with so impartial a hand that he drew down upon
+himself the savage vituperation of the press on both sides of the
+Atlantic. Then came the period during which, from being the most popular
+American author, he became the most unpopular man of letters to whom the
+nation has ever given birth. "For years," says Lounsbury, "a storm of
+abuse fell upon him, which for violence, for virulence, and even for
+malignity, surpassed anything in the history of American literature, if
+not in the history of literature itself."</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_282" id="photo_282"></a><img src="images/photo_282.jpg" alt="Three-Mile Point" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Three-Mile Point</p></div>
+
+<p>On the western shore of Otsego Lake there is a low, wooded tongue of
+land which projects for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>a short distance into the water, and is called,
+in reference to its distance from Cooperstown, Three-Mile Point. This
+has been a favorite resort for picnics and other outings of villagers
+since 1822. When Fenimore Cooper took up his residence in the village in
+1834, after his return from Europe, he found that the free use of
+Three-Mile Point by the public had given rise to the notion that it was
+owned by the community. This impression he took pains to correct, saying
+that while he had no desire to prevent the public from resorting to the
+Point, he wished it clearly understood that it was owned by the
+descendants of Judge William Cooper, of whose will he was executor. A
+defiant attitude toward his claim, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>and the destruction of a tree at
+Three-Mile Point afterward led Cooper to publish in the <i>Freeman's
+Journal</i> the following warning:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The public is warned against trespassing on the Three-Mile
+Point, it being the intention of the subscriber rigidly to
+enforce the title of the estate, of which he is the
+representative, to the same. The public has not, nor has it
+ever had any right to the same beyond what has been conceded
+by the liberality of the owners. J. FENIMORE COOPER.</p></div>
+
+<p>Immediately upon the publication of this notice, a handbill was put into
+circulation, which, in sarcastic terms, called for a public meeting of
+protest. "The citizens of the Village of Cooperstown," it ran, "are
+requested to meet at the Inn of Isaac Lewis, in said Village, this
+evening, at 7 o'clock, to take means to meet, and defend against the
+arrogant pretensions of one James Fenimore Cooper, claiming title to the
+'Three-Mile Point,' and denying to the citizens the right of using the
+same, as they have been accustomed to from time immemorial, without
+being indebted to the <span class="smcap lowercase">LIBERALITY</span> of any one man, whether native
+or foreigner."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_284" id="photo_284"></a><img src="images/photo_284.jpg" alt="The Call for the Indignation Meeting" width="75%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Call for the Indignation Meeting</span><br />
+From original printer's proof: one-half actual size.</p></div>
+
+<p>The meeting was held, and stirring speeches were made. A series of
+resolutions was passed, following a preamble setting forth the facts as
+understood by the meeting of citizens:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Resolved, By the aforesaid citizens that we will wholly
+disregard the notice given by James F. Cooper, forbidding the
+public to frequent the Three-Mile Point.</p>
+
+<p>Resolved, That inasmuch as it is well known that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>late
+William Cooper intended the use of the Point in question for
+the citizens of this village and its vicinity, we deem it no
+more than a proper respect for the memory and intentions of
+the father, that the son should recognize the claim of the
+citizens to the use of the premises, even had he the power to
+deny it.</p>
+
+<p>Resolved, That we will hold his threat to enforce title to the
+premises, as we do his whole conduct in relation to the
+matter, in perfect contempt.</p>
+
+<p>Resolved, That the language and conduct of Cooper, in his
+attempts to procure acknowledgments of "liberality," and his
+attempt to force the citizens into asking his permission to
+use the premises, has been such as to render himself odious to
+a greater portion of the citizens of this community.</p>
+
+<p>Resolved, That we do recommend and request the trustees of the
+Franklin Library, in this village, to remove all books, of
+which Cooper is the author, from said library.</p>
+
+<p>Resolved also, That we will and do denounce any man as
+sycophant, who has, or shall, ask permission of James F.
+Cooper to visit the Point in question.</p></div>
+
+<p>It was said that the meeting resolved to take Cooper's books from the
+Library and burn them at a public bonfire, but if so, this proposal did
+not appear in the resolutions as finally drafted.</p>
+
+<p>The actual point at issue in this controversy was soon settled. In a
+letter to the <i>Freeman's Journal</i> Cooper showed that his father's will,
+drawn up in 1808, made a particular devise of Three-Mile Point. The
+words of the document were explicit: "I give and bequeath my place,
+called Myrtle Grove [Three-Mile Point], on the west side of the Lake
+Otsego, to all my descendants in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>common until the year 1850; then to be
+inherited by the youngest thereof bearing my name."</p>
+
+<p>But the results of the controversy were far-reaching. The quarrel gave
+rise to Cooper's unfortunate book <i>Home as Found</i>, to new controversies,
+and to the long series of libel suits.</p>
+
+<p><i>Home as Found</i> was intended to set forth in the course of a story the
+principles involved in the dispute about Three-Mile Point. It gave the
+author an opportunity also to enlarge upon his criticisms of America,
+and particularly of New York City. For this purpose the story brought
+upon the scene an American family long resident in Europe whom the
+writer called the Effinghams. Against the vulgar background of American
+life the members of this family were intended to personify all the
+accomplishments of culture and social refinement.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper's own attitude was astonishing in his failure to realize that in
+the Effinghams he would be supposed to be representing himself and his
+own family. The intimation was sufficiently obvious. The family returned
+from residence abroad; the removal to the village of "Templeton," with
+direct reference to <i>The Pioneers</i>; the story of the Three-Mile Point
+controversy&mdash;the inference seemed to follow from the parallel that the
+Effinghams were the Coopers. But Cooper's general unwillingness to
+acknowledge that any of his characters were drawn from life was here
+carried to the last extreme. It was evident that he was honestly
+unconscious of any such inference; his purpose was to deal with
+principles, not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>persons. When the name of Effingham was derisively
+applied to him, he resented the imputation.</p>
+
+<p>The controversy between Cooper and his critics had now reached a degree
+of violence that was grotesque. To stand alone, as Cooper stood, against
+furious assaults that represented the sentiments of nearly the whole
+public was not conducive to playful moods of the spirit; yet the
+controversy had its humorous side, and if the novelist had had a keen
+sense of humor he would have been spared much trouble. Certain aspects
+of the ludicrous appealed to Cooper, and there was a range of absurdity
+within which his merriment was easily excited, as when he laughed until
+the tears ran down his cheeks because his man-of-all-work thought that
+boiled oil should be called "biled ile"; but his attempts to create and
+sustain humorous characters, such as the singing-master in <i>The Last of
+the Mohicans</i>, justify Balzac's comments on Cooper's "profound and
+radical impotence for the comic." Nothing could be more comic than his
+r&ocirc;le of lecturer to the American people upon refinements of social usage
+and manners. The many who were guilty of the vulgarities which he wished
+to correct were precisely those who could not be made to see the
+impropriety of them, and most fiercely resented any attempt to improve
+their deportment. If Cooper had possessed an acute sense of humor he
+would never have written <i>Home as Found</i>, nor would he have dignified
+with a reply the attack of every scribbler who assailed him. But he took
+all criticisms seriously, and felt it a solemn duty, in justice <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>to
+himself and to the principles for which he stood, to defend himself
+against all and sundry. There is no doubt that in standing alone against
+the whole world he believed himself to be performing a public service,
+and displayed a degree of courage which is too rare not to command
+extraordinary admiration. At the same time those of his friends who
+described him as borne down by the weight of his sorrow at the
+misunderstanding and ingratitude which he encountered had not taken the
+full measure of his character. So splendid a fighter as Fenimore Cooper
+usually finds some pleasure in fighting, especially if, as in his case,
+he is habitually victorious. He leaped into the fray of each controversy
+with such alacrity that it is difficult to avoid the belief that Cooper
+was animated not only by a sense of justice, but by a joy of battle.</p>
+
+<p>The occasion of the libel suits was the publication in August, 1837, in
+the <i>Otsego Republican</i>, a Cooperstown newspaper, of an article copied
+from the <i>Norwich Telegraph</i>, in which Cooper was roundly abused in
+reference to the Three-Mile Point controversy, and to which the
+<i>Republican</i> added comments of its own, repeating the disproved
+statement that the father of the novelist had reserved the Point for the
+use of the inhabitants of the village. Cooper promptly notified the
+editor of the <i>Republican</i>, Andrew M. Barber, that unless the statements
+were retracted he would enter suit for libel. Barber refused to retract;
+the suit was begun; and in May, 1839, at the final trial, the jury
+returned a verdict of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>four hundred dollars for the plaintiff. The
+editor sought to avoid the payment of the whole award, and a great
+outcry was raised against Cooper because the sheriff levied upon some
+money which Barber had laid away and locked up in a trunk. Cooper sued
+also the <i>Norwich Telegraph</i>, and when other newspapers took the side of
+their associates he entered suit promptly against any that published
+libelous statements. In this way one suit led to another, until Cooper
+was bringing action against the <i>Oneida Whig</i>, published at Utica; the
+<i>Courier and Enquirer</i> of New York, edited by James Watson Webb; the
+<i>Evening Signal</i> of New York, edited by Park Benjamin; the <i>Commercial
+Advertiser</i> of New York, edited by Col. William L. Stone; the <i>Tribune</i>,
+edited by Horace Greeley; and the <i>Albany Evening Journal</i>, edited by
+Thurlow Weed. This list includes the leading Whig journals of the time
+in the State of New York, which were among the most influential in the
+whole country. Col. Stone, Thurlow Weed, and Watson Webb were former
+residents of Cooperstown, the two first named having each served an
+apprenticeship as printer in the office of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>. Weed
+was recognized as the leader of the Whig party in the nation, and his
+newspaper was correspondingly important. He was Cooper's most persistent
+opponent, and in 1841 the novelist had commenced five suits against him
+for various articles published in the <i>Evening Journal</i>. It is a curious
+fact that Weed was noted as a bigoted admirer of his adversary's novels.
+Weed himself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>afterward related that when about to leave Albany by
+stage-coach to attend one of these trials, and inquiring at the
+booksellers for some late publication to read on the journey, he was
+informed that the only new book was <i>The Two Admirals</i>, which had just
+been issued. "I took the book," said Weed, "and soon became so absorbed
+that I had hardly any time or thought for the trial, through which the
+author who charmed me was trying to push me to the wall."</p>
+
+<p>The libel suits extended over the period from 1838 to 1844. Cooper acted
+almost wholly as his own lawyer, and argued his own cases in court. He
+was pitted against leaders of the bar in the greatest State in the
+Union. He had become personally unpopular, and was engaged in an
+unpopular cause. He won his verdicts from reluctant juries, but, in
+nearly every case, he won. The libel law of the State of New York was
+made, to a great extent, by the Fenimore Cooper cases.</p>
+
+<p>To complete the story, the final disposition of Three-Mile Point, the
+innocuous cause of all this controversy, must here be anticipated. In
+1899 Simon Uhlman, a wealthy hop merchant, purchased a summer home on
+the lakeside nearest to Three-Mile Point, and, desiring to acquire this
+tongue of land for his own use, made inquiries of Samuel M. Shaw, the
+veteran editor of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, to ascertain from whom the
+purchase might be made. Shaw learned from G. Pomeroy Keese that under
+the terms of Judge Cooper's will, the Point was then owned by William
+Cooper of Baltimore, and hastily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>arranged for the purchase at a
+moderate price, not for Uhlman, but for the village of Cooperstown. Thus
+Uhlman lost a desirable water front, and William Cooper a big price for
+his land, but the citizens of Cooperstown gained a playground, the
+denial of which to their forebears had nearly caused a riot. Uhlman
+afterward sold his place, Uncas Lodge, to Adolphus Busch of St. Louis.</p>
+
+<p>Cooper's reputation as an author suffered from his success as a litigant
+in an unpopular cause, and his prosecution of the libel suits injured
+the sale of his books, not only then, but for some years after his
+death. In 1844, just after Cooper had reduced the newspapers of the
+State to silence, Edward Everett Hale visited Cooperstown, and says that
+when he tried to buy a copy of <i>The Pioneers</i> at a local bookseller's
+the dealer coolly declared that he had never heard of the book.<a name="FNanchor_113" id="FNanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p>
+
+<p>While public attention was engaged by the libel suits, Cooper was
+occupied with much else. It was during this period that he published his
+important <i>Naval History</i>, besides ten of his novels. Nor was there any
+loss of interest in his various avocations, among which, in 1840, he
+found time to plan and supervise extensive alterations in Christ Church,
+of which he had become a vestryman in 1835. With his mind full of the
+Gothic splendor of churches that he had seen in England, he set out to
+beautify the village church at home. The broad windows with rounded tops
+he caused to be somewhat narrowed, and pointed, in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>fashion usually
+described as Gothic. Traces of this change still appear in the exterior
+brickwork of the church, for the outline of the original windows has
+never been obliterated. To this alteration Cooper added the buttresses
+all about the church, not for structural necessity, but as an
+architectural embellishment. The interior he caused to be entirely
+remodeled, and finished in native oak. Cooper especially prided himself
+upon an oaken screen which, as his gift to the church, he erected behind
+the altar. The alterations in the church are referred to in a letter
+dated "Hall, Cooperstown, April 22nd, 1840" and addressed to Harmanus
+Bleecker of Albany:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I have just been revolutionizing Christ Church, Cooperstown,
+not turning out a vestry, but converting its pine interior
+into oak&mdash;<i>bona fide</i> oak, and erecting a screen that I trust,
+though it may have no influence on my soul, will carry my name
+down to posterity. It is really a pretty thing&mdash;pure Gothic,
+and is the wonder of the country round."</p></div>
+
+<p>This screen remained in the church, with some alteration, until 1891,
+when, at the time the chancel was built, it was unfortunately thrown out
+and not replaced. In 1910 the remnants of the old screen were
+reconstructed to fit the two archways that open into the church on
+either side of the chancel, and the panels of the original work were cut
+out, allowing a vista through the tracery. The screen that stands at the
+left hand as one faces the chancel is almost entirely of the original
+design and material.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 65%;">
+<a name="photo_293" id="photo_293"></a><img src="images/photo_293.jpg" alt="The Cooper Screens in Christ Church" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Cooper Screens in Christ Church</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p><p>Amid his manifold interests, Fenimore Cooper at one time amused himself
+in the study of the so-called occult sciences. Having advocated with
+apparent enthusiasm a belief in animal magnetism and clairvoyance, he
+caused public meetings to be held in the old Court House in Cooperstown,
+where, evening after evening, the mysteries of hypnotism were discussed.
+On one of these occasions a negro, who had proved at several meetings to
+be an excellent subject, was hypnotized in the presence of the audience,
+and pronounced to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>be both clairvoyant and insensible to pain. While
+Cooper was descanting eloquently upon this strange phenomenon, the
+darkey, suddenly rolling up his eyeballs, and displaying all his ivory,
+sprung spasmodically into the air, and then tumbled back in his seat.
+This startling interruption of the lecture remained unexplained for many
+years, until Elihu Phinney, the young friend and neighbor of Fenimore
+Cooper, confessed to being responsible for it. It seems that, during the
+course of the lectures, Phinney had had an argument with Harvey Perkins
+concerning the possibility of a truly hypnotic state, which Perkins
+affirmed and Phinney denied. Perkins finally said:</p>
+
+<p>"So, you won't admit that the negro is rendered insensible to pain?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never, no, not for a moment," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Perkins, "here is a darning needle four inches long. Take
+this with you to the lecture to-night, and at the first opportunity
+thrust it slyly for a full inch into his thigh. If he flinches, I will
+give up; if not, you will believe."</p>
+
+<p>"Most assuredly," said Phinney, and it was this test which caused the
+interruption of Fenimore Cooper's lecture on hypnotism.<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1843, at about eleven o'clock every morning, Fenimore
+Cooper was seen coming forth from the gates of Otsego Hall escorting a
+strange-looking companion. The figures of the two men offered a singular
+contrast. Cooper, tall and portly, with the ruddy glow of health upon
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>his countenance, was swinging a light whip of a cane more ornamental
+than useful, and stepped forward with a firm and elastic tread. The man
+by his side was a shriveled and weather-beaten hulk, hobbling, and with
+halting step pressing heavily upon a crooked stick that served for his
+support. Sometimes they walked the village streets together. At other
+times they came down upon the border of the lake for a sail upon its
+waters in a skiff which Cooper had rigged with a lug-sail in
+recollection of early Mediterranean days. Here the stranger was more at
+home, for the man was Ned Myers, an old sailor who had been Cooper's
+messmate on board the <i>Sterling</i> nearly forty years before. The old
+salt, who had passed a lifetime on many seas, developed a great respect
+for Otsego Lake, which he found to be "a slippery place to navigate." "I
+thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw the Otsego," he
+afterward declared, "but on this lake it sometimes blew two or three
+different ways at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange chance which renewed the acquaintance between Fenimore
+Cooper and Ned Myers. Their ways were long separated. Myers had
+continued to follow the sea, and became at last a derelict at the
+"Sailor's Snug Harbor" at the port of New York. Here it was that having
+read some of Cooper's sea tales it occurred to the old sailor that the
+author might be the young James Cooper whom he had known aboard the
+<i>Sterling</i>. Accordingly he wrote to the novelist at Cooperstown, seeking
+the desired information, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>and received in reply a cordial letter
+beginning with the words, "I am your old shipmate, Ned."</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_297" id="photo_297"></a><img src="images/photo_297.jpg" alt="At Fenimore Cooper's Grave" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>Alice Choate</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">At Fenimore Cooper's Grave</p></div>
+
+<p>On his next visit in New York, Cooper got into touch with Myers, and
+invited the old tar to spend several weeks of the summer as his guest at
+Otsego Hall in Cooperstown. The novelist had much in common with Ned
+Myers, for his own experience at sea was sufficient to qualify him as a
+sailor. "I have been myself," said Cooper, "one of eleven hands,
+officers included, to navigate a ship of three hundred tons across the
+Atlantic Ocean; and, what is more, we often reefed topsails with the
+watch." While in Cooperstown as the guest of the novelist the old sailor
+who had shipped on seventy-two different craft, and had passed a quarter
+of a century out of sight of land, spun the yarn of his experience which
+Cooper wove into the story of <i>Ned Myers</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p>It is remarkable that one whose writings evince so strong an orthodoxy
+of Christian faith, with a championship of churchly doctrines too rigid
+for many of his readers, did not himself become a communicant of the
+Church until the last year of his life. On Sunday, July 27, 1851, Bishop
+de Lancey visited Christ Church, Cooperstown, and among those to whom he
+administered the sacrament of Confirmation, in the presence of a large
+congregation, was his brother-in-law, James Fenimore Cooper. The
+novelist's family pew was one which stood sidelong at the right of the
+chancel. He had by this time become quite infirm, and the bishop, after
+receiving the other candidates at the sanctuary rail, left the chancel,
+and<a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"></a> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>administered Confirmation to Fenimore Cooper kneeling in his own
+pew.</p>
+
+<p>Fenimore Cooper died less than two months later, on Sunday, September
+14, 1851, aged sixty-two years lacking one day. The body lay in state at
+Otsego Hall, and on Wednesday the funeral services were held in Christ
+Church, the interment being made in the Cooper plot in Christ
+churchyard. This grave, covered by the prostrate slab of marble marked
+by a cross, and bearing an inscription that sets forth nothing beyond
+the novelist's name, with dates of birth and death, has become a shrine
+of literary pilgrimage. The hurried tourist is disappointed in not being
+greeted by some conspicuous monument to beckon him at once to the famous
+tomb; but a more genuine tribute to the novelist's memory appears when
+the visitor's eye lights upon the path leading from the gate of the
+enclosure, and deeply worn in the sod by the feet of wayfarers in many a
+long journey, through the years, to Cooper's grave.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>James Fenimore Cooper</i>, by Mary E. Phillips, p. 262.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> In 1826 he applied to the legislature to change his name
+to James Cooper Fenimore, since there were no men of his mother's family
+to continue the name. The request was not granted, but the change was
+made to James Fenimore-Cooper. He soon dropped the hyphen.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Now in the hall at Fynmere, the home built in Cooperstown
+by the novelist's grandson, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>James Fenimore Cooper</i>, by Thomas R. Lounsbury, American
+Men of Letters series, p. 80.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Now at Fynmere.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Now at Edgewater.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Pages and Pictures</i>, Susan Fenimore Cooper, p. 322.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>James Fenimore Cooper</i>, W. B. Shubrick Clymer, p. 90.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Livermore, p. 204.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> John Worthington, afterward United States Consul in
+Malta.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Lounsbury.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Cooperstown Centennial Book, p. 133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, Elihu Phinney, 1890.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>MR. JUSTICE NELSON</h3>
+
+
+<p>Samuel Nelson, LL.D., who became a resident of Cooperstown in 1824, made
+this village his home for nearly fifty years. At the time of his death
+in 1873, he had long been recognized not only as the first citizen of
+Cooperstown, but as a man of national reputation.</p>
+
+<p>Before taking up his residence in Cooperstown, Nelson had become judge
+of the Sixth circuit, which included Otsego county; in 1831 he was
+promoted to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, of which, six
+years later, he became chief justice. In 1845 he went upon the bench of
+the Supreme Court of the United States, and served with distinction
+until his voluntary retirement in 1872, which brought to a close the
+longest judicial career in history, covering a period of half a century.
+In 1871 Judge Nelson was one of five members representing the United
+States in the Joint High Commission appointed to devise means to settle
+differences between the American and British governments, and
+contributed not a little to bringing about the agreement which resulted
+in the Treaty of Washington.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p><p>During this long public career, Judge Nelson retained his home in
+Cooperstown, where he was in residence much of the time. In that day the
+drift of successful men to the cities had not yet become a law of
+growth, and many a big man dwelt by choice in a small community. So it
+was with Judge Nelson, who, on retiring from the highest tribunal of the
+nation, could imagine nothing more grateful than to spend all his time
+in the village from which the pressure of judicial duty had kept him too
+much away.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 30%;">
+<a name="photo_300" id="photo_300"></a><img src="images/photo_300.jpg" alt="Samuel Nelson, LL.D." width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Samuel Nelson, LL.D.</p></div>
+
+<p>Judge Nelson first became widely known in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>1837, when he was appointed
+chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The court
+was then composed of three judges, whose principal duty it was to hear
+and decide questions of law. It was a judicial body of great dignity and
+learning, with a fame so illustrious that its decisions had long been
+cited as authority in Westminster Hall, and in all the States of the
+Union where the common law prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>In the Supreme Court of the United States, when he was promoted to that
+tribunal, and in the United States Circuit Courts, Judge Nelson was
+called upon to administer branches of law with which he was not in
+practice familiar, and some fears were expressed that these untried
+duties might cause him embarrassment. It was suggested that his long and
+severely critical administration of the common law, through its
+pleadings and practice, might have so educated him that he would fail in
+appreciating the more liberal and expansive systems of Equity, Maritime,
+Admiralty, and international jurisprudence administered in the national
+courts; and it was also thought improbable that a judge who had been
+early in professional life elevated to the bench of a common law court,
+would be able to explore and understand the complicated mechanical,
+chemical, and other scientific questions, which in Patent causes were
+constantly arising for exclusive adjudication in the federal courts.</p>
+
+<p>But these apprehensions were all disappointed. Judge Nelson had no
+sooner taken his seat on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>bench of the Circuit Court in New York
+City,<a name="FNanchor_115" id="FNanchor_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> than he perceived that the cases on the calendar, though few
+in number, were so complicated, and embraced so many intricate
+questions, that they must be mastered according to a method that his
+former experience did not furnish. He investigated every new question as
+it arose. He listened earnestly to the arguments of counsel, and ever
+seemed resolved, before they concluded, to understand the points on
+which the case must finally turn. Often he descended from the bench when
+complicated machinery, or specimens illustrative of science, or models
+of vessels intended to develop the relations of colliding ships, were
+before him, and by their close and repeated study strove to understand
+the real points in controversy.</p>
+
+<p>Thus Judge Nelson built up a sound knowledge of the principles and
+practice of every branch of law which he was called upon to administer.
+An appeal or writ of error from his decisions was seldom taken. So
+familiar did he become with the jurisprudence involved in the
+administration of the Patent laws of this country, so thoroughly did he
+investigate questions of science and mechanics, and so sound a judgment
+was he known to form on these subjects, that his opinions concerning
+them were by courts and counsel accepted as of greater authority than
+those of any other judge. For many years before the close of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>his labors
+at the Circuit, patentees felt that when he had judicially passed upon
+their rights they were substantially settled, and hence there came
+before him repeatedly from distant points cases involving the validity
+of the most valuable patents in the country, and to his decision the
+parties generally submitted without appeal. On questions of admiralty
+and maritime law also he came to be considered a great authority. In his
+later years he was so adept in reaching the essential points of
+complicated cases that he was generally credited with a marvellous
+faculty of intuition. He was not guided by any intuition, however, but
+by the results of his careful study and legal experience.</p>
+
+<p>In 1857 the Supreme Court of the United States rendered the famous Dred
+Scott decision, which became one of the contributory causes of the Civil
+War. Only two members of the court dissented. Justice Nelson concurred
+in the conclusion of Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the decision,
+dissenting on one point only, and adding that, in his opinion, the power
+of Congress could not be one-sided; if it existed to destroy slavery, it
+could also establish slavery.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Nelson had gained some acquaintance with slavery in his own home
+town, for, when first he took up his residence in Cooperstown, in 1824,
+there were a number of slaves in the village. Some of the earliest
+settlers had negroes in bondage. Among these was James Averell, Jr., who
+worked his tannery by slave labor. One of his slaves, known as Tom
+Bronk, was for many years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>well known in Cooperstown as the servant of
+the former owner's son, William Holt Averell, and lived to a great age.
+The clumsily written bill of sale by which Tom Bronk became the property
+of James Averell, Jr., is still in existence:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Know all men by these Presents, that I, George Henry
+Livingston, of the town of Sharon, County of Schoharie and
+State of New York, for and in Consideration of the Sum of
+three hundred Dollars Lawful money of the State of New York to
+me in hand paid by James Averill Jr of the town and County of
+Otsego and State Aforesaid At or before the Sealing and
+delivery of these Presents, the Receipt whereof, I the said
+George Henry Livingston do hereby acknowledge, have granted,
+bargained and sold, and by these presents, do grant, bargain
+and sell, unto the said James Averill Jr, his Executors,
+Administrators, and assigns, one negro man About thirty Six
+years of age and known by the name of Tom to have and to hold
+the said negro man Tom to the said James Averill Jr. his
+Executors, Administrators, and assigns forever; and I the said
+George Henry Livingston for myself, my heirs Executors, and
+Administrators the Said negro man unto the said James Averill
+Jr. his Executors, administrators, and assigns, against me the
+said George Henry Livingston, my Executors, and
+Administrators, and against all and every other person or
+persons Whomsoever Shall and will warrent. And forever Defend
+by these presents. And also warrent the said negro man to be
+Sound and in health. According to the best of my knowledge in
+witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the
+Second Day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand
+Eight hundred Fifteen.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 3em;">
+Signed, Sealed, and Delivered<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Presence of</span><br />
+<span class="smcap lowercase">ZACHARIAH HUGER</span><br />
+<span class="smcap lowercase">KOERL VAN SCHAYCK</span><br />
+<span class="smcap lowercase">GEORGE</span> <span style="font-size: 140%"><b>X</b></span> <span class="smcap lowercase">HENRY LIVINGSTON</span>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">his mark</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p><p>A group of settlers who came from the Barbadoes brought with them
+slaves, who were afterward freed, and the tombstone of Joseph Stewart,
+in the Cooper family plot in Christ churchyard, emphasizes, in capital
+letters, the fact that, although born a slave, he was for twenty years a
+<i>free</i> servant of Judge Cooper. These instances, and an advertisement in
+the <i>Otsego Herald</i> in 1799, show that slavery was not uncommon here in
+the early days:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap lowercase">A YOUNG WENCH</span>&mdash;<i>For Sale</i>&mdash;She is a good cook, and
+ready at all kinds of housework. None can exceed her if she is
+kept from liquor. She is 24 years of age&mdash;no husband nor
+children. Price $200; inquire of the printer.</p></div>
+
+<p>The act which entirely abolished slavery in the State of New York did
+not take effect until July 4th, 1827, on which occasion about sixty
+Cooperstown negroes marched with a flying banner and martial music to
+the Presbyterian church, where Hayden Waters, a village darkey,
+delivered an address that was heard not only by his colored brethren,
+but by a large assemblage of white citizens.</p>
+
+<p>Justice Nelson's concurrence in the Dred Scott decision did not
+necessarily register his approval of slavery, but only his
+interpretation of the law as it then existed. He never owned any slaves,
+and was regarded by the negroes in Cooperstown as a powerful friend of
+their race. A favorite servant of his household for some years was a
+free negro named Jenny York, who had been a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>slave in her youth. She was
+a unique character, famous as a cook, having an unusually keen
+appreciation of a cook's perquisites. Choice provisions and delicacies
+disappeared through systematic dole at Judge Nelson's kitchen door, or
+sometimes being reserved against a holiday, reappeared to furnish a
+banquet in the servants' hall, to which Jenny's many dusky friends were
+bidden. The current story is that, when Jenny died, the negroes of the
+village chose for her grave an epitaph which, at their request, Judge
+Nelson caused to be inscribed upon her tomb exactly as they had worded
+it. This inscription may still be seen upon a tombstone that faces the
+street at the eastern end of Christ churchyard, in the part which was
+reserved for the burial of negroes. Jenny was sincerely mourned at the
+time of her death, but with the passing of the years no tears are shed
+at her grave but those of sympathetic laughter. A just appreciation of
+the delicate balance of mercy and justice in her unusual epitaph
+requires some definite knowledge of both the virtues and weaknesses of
+Jenny York. The enigmatical eulogy reads as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+JENNY YORK<br />
+DIED FEB. 22, 1837.<br />
+AET. 50 YEA.<br /></p>
+<hr class="short" />
+<p class="center">
+SHE HAD HER FAULTS<br />
+BUT<br />
+WAS KIND TO THE POOR.</p>
+
+
+<p>When Nelson went upon the bench of the national Supreme Court he became
+acquainted with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>Stephen A. Douglas, who was then springing into
+prominence in Congress; and it was said that the "little giant" got much
+of the legal ammunition for his speeches from the new associate justice.
+More than once Justice Nelson was suggested as the Democratic candidate
+for President of the United States, and at the Democratic national
+convention held in Chicago during the Civil War Governor Horatio Seymour
+of New York attempted to carry his nomination. It was known, however,
+that Judge Nelson had declined to allow the use of his name, and had
+expressed the opinion that a justice of the federal supreme court never
+should be regarded as a possible candidate for political office. Nelson
+at this time was in many ways the strongest man on the bench of the
+Supreme Court, and Salmon P. Chase, who was appointed chief justice in
+1864, placed great reliance upon his advice and judgment. On one
+occasion at the table of John V. L. Pruyn in Albany, when his host
+addressed Chase as "Mr. Chief Justice," the latter pleasantly
+interrupted him&mdash;"Your friend Nelson is Chief Justice," he said.</p>
+
+<p>During the Civil War, although a member of the Democratic party, Justice
+Nelson won and retained the confidence of the party in power, and his
+loyalty was never questioned. He disapproved of what he held to be
+invasions of the rights of citizens which were made under military
+authority, but never by word or act obstructed the maintenance of the
+federal government. President Lincoln and Secretary Seward reposed
+great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>faith in Judge Nelson's wisdom, and in critical emergencies
+consulted him upon delicate questions of international law which arose
+during the progress of the war.</p>
+
+<p>An episode of the Civil War period in Cooperstown, although the truth of
+the matter was a state secret at the time, had a relation to Justice
+Nelson that is of interest in this connection. In a visit of the
+diplomatic corps from Washington the village enjoyed such memorable
+emotions of civic pride that the date of the event, the twenty-first of
+August, 1863, was long afterward referred to, by the oldest inhabitants,
+as "Cooperstown's great day."</p>
+
+<p>It was said that the entertainment of the legations at Cooperstown was
+included as part of an excursion through New York State which Secretary
+Seward had planned to impress upon foreign governments the strength and
+resources of the North.</p>
+
+<p>The party arrived from Sharon Springs, and had luncheon at the Inn at
+Five-Mile Point, on Otsego Lake. Secretary Seward's guests included Lord
+Lyons, of England; Baron Gerolt, of Prussia; M. Mercier, of France;
+Baron Stroeckel, of Russia; M. Tassara, of Spain; M. Molina, of
+Nicaragua; together with the representatives of Italy, Sweden, and
+Chili; and several secretaries and attach&eacute;s of various legations. A few
+citizens of Cooperstown, including Judge Nelson, were invited to take
+luncheon with the visitors. The master of ceremonies was the Hon. Levi
+C. Turner of Cooperstown, who was at that time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>Judge advocate in the
+War Department, and had accompanied the party from Washington.</p>
+
+<p>The luncheon passed without incident, except that a weighty citizen of
+the village undertook to demonstrate, for the benefit of the foreigners,
+the American method of eating corn on the cob, to the great disgust of a
+dapper attach&eacute; of the British legation, who was horrified by the
+performance. When the guests had left the table, which had been set
+beneath the trees, and were lounging about in peaceful enjoyment of the
+forest shade and lakeland view, there appeared upon the scene a person
+who impressed the foreigners as being a veritable pioneer. He was a
+tall, loose-jointed creature, bearded and long-haired; he wore a slouch
+hat and a hickory shirt, while one suspender supported blue jean
+overalls, which disappeared in a pair of cowhide boots of huge
+proportions. This uninvited guest calmly inspected the assembled
+company, drew near to the deserted tables, helped himself to a tumbler
+and a bottle of brandy, from which he poured out four fingers of the
+fiery liquid, and drank it raw. He seemed thoughtful for a moment; then
+repeated the dose. Thus agreeably stimulated the stranger made himself
+at home in the company, and became talkative.</p>
+
+<p>"I say," he said, bustling alongside the French minister, "you're goin'
+to stand right by us in this muss, ain't you?"</p>
+
+<p>The polite diplomat hastened to assure him that the French government
+desired nothing but the most friendly relations. The man drew nearer
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>than was necessary for diplomatic intercourse:</p>
+
+<p>"Honor bright, now, and no foolin'?"</p>
+
+<p>The ambassador repeated his assurance of friendship, and edged away from
+the pioneer, whose gesticulations became alarming as he shouted,</p>
+
+<p>"You've got to, don't you see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>What he wanted the Frenchman to see was the power of the Union
+Government, and, as words failed him to describe it, the uninvited guest
+attempted to make visible, in his own person, the frightfulness of the
+god of War. He leaped into the air, flung his hat on the ground, struck
+a pugilistic attitude, and began to dance around the ambassador,
+squaring off with his fists, as though preparing a knockout blow for the
+French Republic. The two were quickly surrounded by a ring of diplomats
+and citizens of Cooperstown, the foreigners being doubtful whether the
+matter should be taken in jest or earnest, while the villagers were
+hesitating between enjoyment of the comedy and a sense of duty toward
+their guests. As for M. Mercier, he was aghast at the rudeness of the
+challenge. He folded his arms, drew himself up, shrugged his shoulders,
+puffed out his cheeks, and stared at the adversary with eyes aflame.</p>
+
+<p>Before the pugilistic stranger could execute his threats Judge Hezekiah
+Sturges of Cooperstown interposed his burly form; at a nod from him two
+muscular citizens of the village seized the invader by the back of the
+neck and the seat of his overalls, made him "walk Spanish" quickly to
+the shore, and heaved him into the lake.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p><p>In the late afternoon the party of diplomats were conveyed by carriages
+to Cooperstown, where they became severally the guests of various
+citizens. The distinguished visitors were greeted by a salute of guns;
+while fireworks and bonfires were the order of the evening. The Fly
+Creek Band, accompanied by a large crowd of villagers, under the
+leadership of James I. Hendryx, serenaded the foreign ministers at their
+various places of sojourn, and speeches were called for, which were
+loudly applauded. Judge Turner's house, the old Campbell homestead,
+which stands on Lake Street, facing Chestnut Street, was first visited,
+for there William H. Seward, Secretary of State, was the guest of honor.
+The band played a waltz, and the crowd cheered. Judge Turner soon
+appeared, and introduced the Secretary of State, who made a brief
+speech. He said that the weather in Washington had become exasperatingly
+hot; matters of complex nature and of international importance had to be
+discussed; there was danger that he and the foreign minsters might
+become fretful and peevish; and so he had asked the entire diplomatic
+corps to take a vacation, and meanwhile affairs of State might go hang.</p>
+
+<p>The speech pleased the crowd. The band played another waltz, to the tune
+of which the procession marched through the main street and across the
+river to Woodside, where Lord Lyons, the British minister, was the guest
+of John F. Scott. Here the band played a third waltz, while hundreds of
+cheering men clambered up the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>terraced slope of the garden. Some one
+called for Lord Lyons, and the whole crowd took up the cry, "Lord Lyons!
+Lord Lyons!" This soon became "Lyons! Lyons!" although one enthusiastic
+Irishman of great vocal power kept crying, "Misther Lynes! Misther
+Lynes!"</p>
+
+<p>At this point the leader of the band was instructed to play "God Save
+the Queen," as a compliment to the guest of Woodside.</p>
+
+<p>"My heaven!" he whined, "we can't play nothing but three waltzes!"</p>
+
+<p>One of the waltzes was then repeated, and the host of Woodside appeared.
+He explained that Lord Lyons had been paying a visit across the river,
+but was expected to return at any moment. Just then Lord Lyons himself
+came hopping up the steps of the terrace, short, fat, lively, a man of
+talent, who soon recovered his breath, and made a speech that elicited
+hearty cheers.</p>
+
+<p>The Russian ambassador was the guest of Edward Clark at Apple Hill,
+where Fernleigh now stands. The diplomat had retired when the crowd of
+serenaders arrived, and was awakened by the blare of the band and loud
+demands for "a speech from the great Roosian bear!" The guest was
+assisted by his host to crawl through the window over the porch, in
+scanty raiment, to speak to the assembled citizens. At the residence of
+Jedediah P. Sill, which stands on Chestnut Street next to the Methodist
+parsonage, the Italian ambassador received the crowd with bows and
+smiles.</p>
+
+<p>Similar visits were paid at the places of sojourn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>of the other
+representatives of foreign powers; but the most uproarious assembly was
+that which gathered before the home of George L. Bowne, where the
+Spanish ambassador was being entertained. This house stands on the west
+side of Chestnut Street, next south of Willow Brook, which here ducks
+beneath a culvert to cross the highway.</p>
+
+<p>The representative of the Queen of Spain had only a limited knowledge of
+the English language, but what he lacked in vocabulary he made up in
+gestures, shrugging his shoulders up to his ears.</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," he began, "you will excuse me from a speech. In my country,
+we, the nobility, do not make speeches to the common people."&mdash;(Vigorous
+cheers greeted this statement, and Judge Turner, who stood near the
+speaker, remarked, "True, every word.") "I the English language not well
+do speak,"&mdash;("Go on, go on; you're a daisy, that's what you are," cried
+voices from the crowd, while Judge Turner kept saying with judicial
+gravity, "Every word true.") At this point the Spaniard became
+incoherent, but, although nobody could understand a word, wild cheers
+greeted him at every pause in his discourse. He let loose a flood of
+eloquence, which being consistently endorsed by Judge Turner, was
+applauded until the speaker stopped from sheer exhaustion.<a name="FNanchor_116" id="FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p>
+
+<p>It was long after midnight when the last speech had been made and the
+crowds dispersed.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_314" id="photo_314"></a><img src="images/photo_314.jpg" alt="The Home of Justice Nelson" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Home of Justice Nelson</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p><p>A pair of small boys, who had made the occasion an excuse for staying
+out a good part of the warm summer night, passed Justice Nelson's
+residence on Main Street, as they strolled homeward, and noticed that
+here a light was still burning. The deserted street was feebly lit by a
+few gas lamps, but the other houses in the neighborhood were dark, and
+the boys were attracted as moths to a flame by the glimmering through
+the blinds of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>Judge Nelson's windows. The lighted room was the one on
+the ground floor at the right of the doorway. Because of the warmth of
+the night, the window-sashes had been raised, and the curtains drawn
+back, so that the interior of the room was screened from passers-by only
+by the closed slats of the blinds. These were temptingly near to the
+sidewalk, and the young imps, standing on tiptoe, did not hesitate, when
+they had discovered a chink between the slats, to peek into the
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>They saw a room lined with rows of books bound in law-calf, for it was
+Judge Nelson's library. In the midst a student's lamp shed a mellow
+light upon the usual paraphernalia of a lawyer's desk, and dimly
+illuminated the features of two men who sat facing each other across the
+table. The large form, massive head, and long gray hair of Judge Nelson,
+who sat with his back to the fireplace, were instantly recognized by the
+peering eyes at the window. The man who faced him was of a different
+type, a rather small figure, with nothing commanding in his appearance;
+he had a shock of sandy hair, blue eyes, and a smoothly shaven mouth and
+chin somewhat receding from a finely chiseled nose. He was speaking
+earnestly, and in a tone of conviction. His voice was harsh, but his
+manner was suave, agreeable, and persuasive.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's he?" whispered one of the boys.</p>
+
+<p>"That's Mr. Seward from Washington," replied the other, "I heard him
+make a speech in front of Judge Turner's house."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p><p>The eavesdroppers continued to listen, but the conversation between
+Judge Nelson and Mr. Seward was carried on in such low tones that they
+could make little of it. Now and again they caught a phrase&mdash;"more
+troops"&mdash;"President Lincoln"&mdash;"save the Union,"&mdash;but the purport of the
+matter was beyond them.</p>
+
+<p>The spying youngsters crept into their beds that night laden with a
+sense of mystery in this weird consultation, of which they had been
+witnesses, between the senior justice of the Supreme Court of the United
+States and the Secretary of State of the United States. Next day they
+boasted among their comrades of having discovered some secret affair of
+state.</p>
+
+<p>Years afterward, through Justice Nelson's son, Judge R. R. Nelson of St.
+Paul, Minnesota, it came out that these young spies had rightly divined
+the truth. The conference which the Secretary of State held with Justice
+Nelson during the small hours of the morning of August 22nd, 1863, was
+had at the instance of President Lincoln, and was importantly related to
+the conduct of the Civil War. The conference itself, in fact, was the
+secret motive of the diplomatic excursion, which had been designed
+especially to divert attention from it.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that the administration at Washington had become greatly
+worried over a situation that had developed concerning the drafting of
+troops. A heavy draft had been ordered,&mdash;Otsego county had been called
+upon to furnish nearly a thousand men,&mdash;and there was great excitement
+throughout <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>the northern states. At this critical juncture one of
+Justice Nelson's associates on the bench, who was sitting in the United
+States Circuit in Pennsylvania, had granted a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>
+directing a certain drafted man to be brought before him, and the
+position taken by counsel was that the draft was unconstitutional and
+illegal. This justice, like Nelson, belonged to the Democratic party,
+and was therefore in many ways opposed to the Lincoln administration. He
+was known to entertain opinions which might lead him to decide that the
+draft was unconstitutional.</p>
+
+<p>President Lincoln became apprehensive, and sent for Secretary Seward.</p>
+
+<p>"We must have more troops," said the President, "and we can get them in
+only one way. Now if this draft should be declared unconstitutional, it
+would create a most serious state of affairs at the North, and would
+greatly encourage the South; it might even defeat our efforts to save
+the Union. In some way, if possible, this situation of affairs must be
+prevented."</p>
+
+<p>"I know of but one man who can prevent it," replied Seward. "He is a
+strong personal friend of the Pennsylvania justice, and of the same
+political party, though more loyal to the Union. I think he can
+influence him. I refer to Justice Nelson of the Supreme Court, who is
+now at his home in Cooperstown."</p>
+
+<p>When the President urged the Secretary to confer with Judge Nelson
+without delay, Seward was somewhat taken aback. To summon Nelson to
+Washington in order to ask of him so delicate a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>favor was not to be
+thought of. On the other hand for the Secretary of State to go to
+Cooperstown to confer with the Democratic justice would be certain to
+provoke political gossip and newspaper speculation, at the risk of
+defeating the object desired.</p>
+
+<p>But President Lincoln was determined.</p>
+
+<p>"In some way it must be done," he said. "You must see Justice Nelson."</p>
+
+<p>The upshot of the matter was that the fertile brain of the Secretary
+evolved and carried out the plan that brought the diplomatic corps from
+Washington to Cooperstown on an excursion, under color of which he had
+his interview with Justice Nelson.</p>
+
+<p>The result was all that the Secretary of State had hoped for. Judge
+Nelson held that the draft was not unconstitutional, and promptly so
+informed his friend in Pennsylvania, whose opinion was soon given in
+accordance with the views of his learned associate.</p>
+
+<p>Thus "Cooperstown's great day" turned out to be of wider import than the
+cheering crowds of villagers imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Justice Nelson's appointment by President Grant in 1871 as one of the
+five American members of the Joint High Commission to negotiate a treaty
+with Great Britain was a just tribute to his personal character as well
+as to his knowledge of international law. The matters in dispute
+concerned British possessions in North America, as well as the so-called
+Alabama claims arising out of the Civil War. Justice Nelson was already
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>known by reputation to the British members of the commission, and they
+accorded him the fullest respect and confidence. In this controversy,
+which rankled in the hearts and affected the judgment of millions of
+people, Judge Nelson brought to the solution such wisdom and acuteness,
+accompanied by persuasive manners, frankness, conscientiousness, and
+learning, that all accorded to him the highest consideration and regard.
+His brilliant and successful service in the Joint High Commission during
+the seventy days of its sessions was regarded as a fitting culmination
+of half a century of public office. For his signature of the Treaty of
+Washington turned out to be his last official act. During the final
+hours of the session the chill of the rooms in which the commissioners
+sat was the cause of an illness from which Justice Nelson never fully
+recovered, and which occasioned his resignation from the bench of the
+Supreme Court in 1872. In commenting upon his resignation, the <i>New York
+Tribune</i> said, "It would be difficult to exaggerate the respect and
+regard which will follow this able and incorruptible jurist from the
+post he has so long filled with honor to himself and profit to the
+commonwealth, when he retires to the well-earned repose which his gifts
+of mind and heart will enable him so perfectly to enjoy."</p>
+
+<p>In the village of Cooperstown the street called Nelson Avenue is named
+in honor of the distinguished jurist, and three different places of
+residence are associated with his memory. When in 1825 he married, as
+his second wife, Catharine A. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>Russell, daughter of Judge John Russell
+of Cooperstown, they began housekeeping at Apple Hill, on the site now
+occupied by Fernleigh. In 1829 they removed to Fenimore, which still
+stands just outside of the village, near the western shore of the lake,
+and lived there until 1838, when they took up their residence at Mrs.
+Nelson's homestead, the large brick house on the north side of Main
+Street near the corner of Pioneer Street, and made it their home for the
+rest of their lives.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_320" id="photo_320"></a><img src="images/photo_320.jpg" alt="Nelson Avenue" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Nelson Avenue</p></div>
+
+<p>Although Judge Nelson survived Fenimore Cooper by more than twenty
+years, he was only three years his junior, and the two men became
+intimate personal friends in Cooperstown. They were often seen together
+on the street, and in fine personal presence and noble bearing they
+bore <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>some resemblance to each other. In the old stone Cory building on
+Main Street, when the lower part was conducted as a hardware store,
+Judge Nelson and Fenimore Cooper used often to spend an evening, sitting
+about the stove in a circle of admiring auditors gathered to hear the
+great men talk. It was shortly after Fenimore Cooper's return to
+Cooperstown to live at Otsego Hall that Judge Nelson was appointed Chief
+Justice of the State, and Cooper ever thereafter spoke of his friend as
+"the Chief." The novelist had a good deal of the lawyer in his
+composition, and he often discussed legal matters with Judge Nelson, as
+well as political affairs of state. Both were fond of farming and rural
+pursuits, and as their farms lay on opposite sides of the lake, Judge
+Nelson's at Fenimore, and Cooper's at the Chalet, they were able
+frequently to compare notes of their success as agriculturists, perhaps
+with the more interest because Cooper himself had formerly owned the
+farm at Fenimore.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Nelson was not seldom seen on horseback in Cooperstown, and
+continued this form of exercise long after he had passed the limit of
+three score years and ten. In his later years he was described as a
+broad-shouldered and magnificent figure, with a massive head crowned
+with a wealth of gray hair. He was simple and unaffected in his manners,
+and never assumed any magniloquence because of his exalted position. On
+returning from Washington to Cooperstown for the summer, he seemed to
+delight in holding a kind of indiscriminate levee in the main street of
+the village, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>greeting old neighbors, shopkeepers, and farmers alike,
+and remembering most of them by their Christian names. In those days the
+merchants were accustomed to leave their empty packing-boxes on the
+sidewalk in front of their shops, and it was no uncommon sight to see
+this Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States seated carelessly
+on a dry-goods box, while he chatted with a group of admiring villagers.
+His conversation was always entertaining, not only because of his wealth
+of mind, but on account of his prodigious memory of men and events. His
+gift of memory was undoubtedly of great use to him on the bench, for he
+could restate complicated facts in cases so long since heard by him that
+the issues had been forgotten by the counsel concerned in them.</p>
+
+<p>Judge Nelson was for many years a vestryman, and later a warden, of
+Christ Church in Cooperstown. In his day there was no thoroughfare
+through the Cooper Grounds, and he walked to church by way of River
+Street. Above the stone wall on the west side of River Street was an
+abundant growth of tansy. It was Judge Nelson's invariable habit to pick
+a sprig of tansy on his way to Sunday morning service, and he entered
+the church absently holding the pungent herb to his nostrils, as he made
+his way to the pew now marked by a tablet in the north transept.</p>
+
+<p>On February 13, 1873, the honors paid to Judge Nelson on his retirement
+from the bench of the United States Supreme Court were of a character
+never before known in America, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>not in England since Lord Mansfield
+was the recipient of similar honors at the hands of Erskine and the
+other lights of the British bar. A committee which included several of
+the foremost lawyers in New York City, and officially representing the
+Bar of the Third District, came in a special car from New York to
+Cooperstown to present to Judge Nelson an address expressive of
+appreciation of his long service on the bench, and of regret at his
+retirement, in sympathy with similar resolutions adopted in Albany and
+Washington.</p>
+
+<p>It was a gala day in Cooperstown when its most distinguished citizen was
+so honored. The streets, glistening with snow, were filled with people
+careering about in sleighs. The American flag flapped in the breeze from
+the tall liberty-pole which then stood at the midst of the cross-roads
+where Main and Pioneer streets intersect. A horse-race upon the frozen
+lake had been arranged for the entertainment of the visitors, and some
+of the young people had bob-sleds ready, prepared to give the
+distinguished metropolitan lawyers a thrilling ride down the slope of
+Mt. Vision when the ceremonies should be over.</p>
+
+<p>In the early afternoon the legal and judicial delegation walked quietly
+two by two to the residence of Judge Nelson, which, although now invaded
+by the business requirements of the village, still holds its place on
+Main Street. In the procession were three federal judges, and a dozen
+chosen members of the bar of New York. The door of the old house, at
+which nobody stops to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>knock any more, was thrown open to receive the
+distinguished delegation. The villagers had gathered in the
+drawing-room, at the left of the entrance, to take part in the
+ceremonies. Among many ladies who graced the scene the three daughters
+of Fenimore Cooper were particularly noted by the visitors. The retired
+judge sat in his armchair, arrayed in black, wearing a high choker
+necktie, while Mrs. Nelson, a lovely old lady with a face as fresh at
+seventy as a summer rain, supported herself on the arm of the chair. The
+judicial delegation came into the parlor led by Judge Woodruff, E. W.
+Stoughton, Judge Benedict, and Judge Blatchford, while Clarence A.
+Seward, Sidney Webster and others followed. Judge Nelson retained his
+seat, and the most impressive silence prevailed. Then Stoughton,
+chairman of the committee, after some introductory remarks, read the
+address which had been prepared by the Bar of New York.</p>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of this address Judge Nelson drew out his spectacles
+and read his reply, in a voice that trembled with emotion. Then he rose
+slowly and received the personal congratulations of the delegation and
+of the village friends assembled.</p>
+
+<p>When, a few months later, Samuel Nelson was dead, and the press of the
+nation was printing lengthy eulogies of his career as a jurist, a few
+lines in the little weekly newspaper of his own home town gave the
+highest estimate of his life that can be accorded to any man:</p>
+
+<p>"In his home Judge Nelson was a great man. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>The almost extreme modesty
+which characterized his public life had its counterpart in thoroughly
+developed domestic virtues, which not only made him beloved to devotion
+by all the members of his family, but endeared him to all with whom he
+was brought into contact. There was in his disposition a placidness of
+temper which made him always easy of approach, and rendered intercourse
+with him a permanent spring of pure enjoyment."</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> From the beginning justices of the Supreme Court of the
+United States sat, from time to time, as circuit judges. (Stuart v.
+Laird, 1 Cranch, p. 308.) Justice Nelson was assigned to the Second
+Circuit, which includes New York.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Perry P. Rogers.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>CHRIST CHURCHYARD</h3>
+
+
+<p>When in 1856 Frederick A. Lee and Dorr Russell formed the Lakewood
+Cemetery Association, and purchased the beautiful tract that lies along
+the hill on the east side of the lake, a half-mile from the village, the
+older burying-grounds within the town began gradually to be disused.
+Christ churchyard, which contains the oldest graves of the original
+settlement, has long since ceased to be used for burials, beyond those
+occasionally permitted, for special reasons, by act of the Vestry of the
+parish. This disuse has secured to the churchyard the right to grow old
+gracefully, without the too frequent intrusion of recent death, and to
+acquire the picturesque charm of antiquity which in cemeteries seems to
+dispel all the terrors of mortality.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_327" id="photo_327"></a><img src="images/photo_327.jpg" alt="A Glimpse from the Rectory" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>Alice Choate</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">A Glimpse from the Rectory</p></div>
+
+<p>The love of old burial-grounds belongs to a distinct type of mind and
+temperament. To some minds all cemeteries are equally devoid of
+interest. Among visitors in Christ churchyard, of whom there are
+thousands during every summer, the classification of sightseers is
+automatic. Some glance at Cooper's grave, peep into the church to
+glimpse the memorials of the novelist, and hurry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>away with an air of
+duty done. The lovers of churchyards linger, and stroll thoughtfully
+among the tombs. They find a charm in the most obscure memorials of the
+dead. They read aloud to each other the quaint inscriptions. Now and
+again they pause, note-book in hand, to copy some chiseled epitaph that
+strikes the fancy. They kneel or lie prone upon the turf before a
+crumbling tomb to decipher its doleful couplets, thrusting aside the
+concealing grasses, lest a word be missed. They wander here and there
+beneath the shadow of the venerable elms and pines, and, before
+departing, enter the old church, to rest and pray within the stillness
+of its fane.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from the part of the churchyard reserved <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>for the burials of the
+Cooper family, the only enclosed plot is the small one just south of it,
+squared in by a low fence of rusty iron. This belonged to the family of
+the Rev. Frederick T. Tiffany, who succeeded Father Nash as rector of
+Christ Church, and afterward became a chaplain in Congress.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest tomb in the churchyard holds an inconspicuous place two tiers
+east of the Tiffany enclosure. It is the grave of Samuel Griffin, the
+inn-keeper's child, who died at the Red Lion Tavern. The gravestone is
+dated 1792, which is ancient for this part of the country.</p>
+
+<p>In the first burials within these grounds, it was the intention to
+regard the old Christian tradition in accord with which the dead are
+buried with the feet toward the east. Yet, since the graves naturally
+follow the parallel of the enclosure, which is not exactly east and
+west, but conforms to the general bent of the village, they fall short,
+by a few points of the compass, of facing due east.</p>
+
+<p>Among the early settlers of Cooperstown there was one family not to be
+put off with any vagueness of orientation. It was that of Joshua Starr,
+a potter, whom Fenimore Cooper describes as "a respectable inhabitant of
+the village." To the mind of Joshua Starr, who survived the other
+members of his family, it was plain that if a proper grave should face
+east, it should face the east, and not east by south. Accordingly, the
+graves of the Starr family, a few steps northward from Samuel Griffin's,
+are notable among <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>the tombs of Christ churchyard in being set with the
+foot due east, as by a mariner's compass. The wide headstones split the
+plane of the meridian; their edges cleave the noonday sun and the polar
+star. To the casual observer these three tombstones, as compared with
+all others in the churchyard, seem quite awry. In reality they alone are
+meticulously correct, a standing tribute to the exact eye of Joshua
+Starr, the potter.</p>
+
+<p>Southward from Samuel Griffin's grave, in the next tier to the east, a
+curious use of verse appears upon two stones, whereby Capt. Joseph Jones
+and his wife Keziah, both dying in 1799, seem to converse in responsive
+couplets. Mrs. Jones avers, majestically,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Within this Silent grave I ly.</span></div></div>
+
+<p>To which the hero of the Revolution quite meekly replies,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">This space is all I occupy.</span></div></div>
+
+<p>The crudeness of some epitaphs gives them a grotesque touch of realism.
+Here is one just south of the squared-in Tiffany plot:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Mourn not since freed from<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">human ills,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My dearest friends &amp; two<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Infants still,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My consumptive pains God<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">semed well,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">My soul to prepair with<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">him to dwell.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p><p>Northward of this tomb is a sarcophagus that shows a well laid plan in a
+state of perpetual incompletion. Besides serving as a monument of the
+dead, the tomb was intended to be a kind of family record. The names of
+children and grandchildren were inscribed, and as they departed this
+life their names were marked with a chiseled asterisk referring to a
+foot-note which pronounced them "dead." Four deaths were so recorded;
+then the sculptured enrollment was discontinued. Written still among the
+living there remain four names, of those who have been long dead, while
+the name of one born after the monument was erected, and survivor of all
+the others, was never included in the memorial.</p>
+
+<p>Near the orientated tombs of the Starrs the grave of an infant who died
+in 1794 bears this epitaph:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sleep on sweet babe; injoy thy rest:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">God call'd the soon, he saw it best.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A more severe view of the Deity appears upon a gravestone six rows east
+of this, commemorating James and Tamson Eaton, who died in 1846. Tamson
+was fifteen years old, and, as the verse reveals, was a girl:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">This youth cut down in all her bloom,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sent by her God to an early doom<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Tamson's brother James was killed by lightning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>a few months later, and
+the event is thus versified:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">What voice is that? 'Tis God,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">He speaketh from the clouds;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In thunder is concealed the rod<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That smites him to the ground.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Near the driveway and toward the church is the tombstone of Mary
+Olendorf, which bears these feeling lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Tread softly o'er this sacred mound<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For Mary lies beneath this ground<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">May garlands deck and myrtles rise<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To guard the Tomb where Mary lies.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A short distance eastward from the centre of the churchyard, and nearly
+abreast of the obelisk commemorating Father Nash, stands somewhat apart
+the rugged tombstone of Scipio, an old slave. Aside from the graves of
+Fenimore Cooper and his father, the founder of the village, not
+forgetting the grave of Jenny York,<a name="FNanchor_117" id="FNanchor_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> which is the joy of the
+churchyard, no tomb in the enclosure receives more attention from
+strangers than that of Scipio, with its quaint verses descriptive of the
+aged slave.</p>
+
+<p>North of this stone, after passing three intervening tombs, one comes
+upon an odd inscription <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>that marks the grave of a fourteen-year-old
+boy, who was drowned December 3, 1810:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Thus were Parents bereavd<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">of a dutiful son and community<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">of a promising youth, while<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">pursuing with assiduity the<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">act of industry.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>What this act of industry was that cost the life of young Garrett
+Bissell is not related.</p>
+
+<p>A number of those buried in Christ churchyard died violent deaths; one
+was murdered, and another was hanged, but that story has been already
+told.</p>
+
+<p>"Joe Tom," a negro whose tomb fronts the east end of the churchyard,
+where the members of his race were buried apart from the whites, was for
+more than a score of years sexton of Christ Church, and when he died, in
+1881, had been for a half a century a unique figure in the life of the
+village. "Joe Tom" was always the general factotum at public
+entertainments, and had won a title as "the politest negro in the
+world." Music of a lively sort he scraped from the fiddle or beat upon
+the triangle. He was head usher at meetings, chief cook at picnics, a
+stentorian prompter at dances, and chief oar at lake excursions.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion there was to be a burial in the churchyard in the
+afternoon, for which Joe had made no preparation before escorting a
+picnic party to Three-Mile Point in the morning. Suddenly he remembered
+the funeral. Seizing a boat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>he rowed hastily back to the village,
+commenced digging the grave, tolled the bell, and, while the funeral
+service was being held in the church, completed his task, standing ready
+with solemn visage to perform the final duty of casting the earth upon
+the coffin. He then went back to the Point, and finished the day by
+escorting his party home. Not infrequently his day's work was protracted
+far into the night. If there was a midnight country dance the tinkle of
+his triangle could be heard until near sunrise, and often he was seen
+returning by daylight from some nocturnal festivity, fast asleep in a
+farmer's wagon.<a name="FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a></p>
+
+<p>If his versatile life rendered him somewhat uncertain at times in the
+discharge of his duties as sexton of Christ Church, he never failed to
+disarm criticism by his plausible and polite excuses. In his day the
+bell rope was operated from the vestibule of the church, and Joe Tom,
+arrayed in Sunday finery, was a familiar figure to church-goers, as he
+stood in the church porch tolling the bell with measured stroke, and
+inclining his woolly head with each motion to the entrance of every
+worshipper.</p>
+
+<p>Joe was born in slavery in the island of Barbadoes, and was brought,
+when quite young, to Cooperstown, by Joseph D. Husbands. Few persons in
+his day were better known than Joe Tom, yet, in his latter years, ill
+health withdrew him from public notice, and at his funeral he was laid
+away in the churchyard, unsung, if not unwept. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>A contemporary expressed
+a hope that the dead can have no knowledge of their own obsequies, for
+"poor Joe, who was the very soul of music, would hardly have been
+satisfied with a service in which not a key was struck, or note raised
+for one who had so often tuned his harp for others."</p>
+
+<div class="img">
+<a name="photo_334" id="photo_334"></a><img src="images/photo_334.jpg" alt="The Cooper Plot" width="60%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Cooper Plot, Christ Churchyard</p></div>
+
+<p>Within the Cooper enclosure in Christ churchyard, the grave of Susan
+Fenimore Cooper attracts the attention of all who are familiar with
+local history. A daughter of the novelist, Miss Cooper's memory is
+revered in Cooperstown for qualities all her own. After her father's
+death her home was at Byberry Cottage. She gained more than local fame,
+in her time, as a graceful writer, and was distinguished for her
+knowledge <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>of the birds and flowers of Otsego hills. But her life-work
+was given to the Orphan House of the Holy Saviour, which she established
+in 1870, where homeless and destitute children were cared for and
+educated, and where now, on the broader basis of the Susan Fenimore
+Cooper Foundation, unusual opportunities for vocational training are
+extended to boys and girls. Nor shall it be forgotten that, while others
+gave more largely of funds, the Thanksgiving Hospital, founded in
+gratitude for the close of the Civil War, originated in Miss Cooper's
+heart and mind.</p>
+
+<p>A memorial window in Christ Church idealizes in form and color the
+spirit of this noble woman, without attempting portraiture. A real
+likeness of Miss Cooper, as she appeared in her ripest years, would
+recall a sweet face framed in dangling curls, a manner somewhat prim,
+but always gentle and placid, a figure slight and spare, with a bonnet
+and Paisley shawl that are all but essential to the resemblance. She
+would best be represented in the midst of orphan children whom she
+catechises for the benefit of some visiting dignitary, while the little
+rascals, taking advantage of her growing deafness, titter forth the most
+palpable absurdities in reply, sure of her benignant smile and
+commendatory "Very good; very good indeed!"</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_337" id="photo_337"></a><img src="images/photo_337.jpg" alt="A Funeral in Christ Churchyard" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>J. B. Slote</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">A Funeral in Christ Churchyard</p></div>
+
+<p>One of Miss Cooper's most devoted helpers in the early days of the
+Orphan House was Dr. Wilson T. Bassett, who for many years gave his
+professional services without charge, and greatly interested himself in
+the welfare of the children. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>Dr. Bassett was for a long time the most
+widely known physician and surgeon of the region, while his wife, who
+followed the same profession, was the pioneer woman physician of Otsego
+county, and did much to allay the popular prejudice against women in the
+field of medicine. Dr. Wilson Bassett became noted as an expert witness
+in medical cases that were carried to court, and in murder trials when
+insanity had been set up as a defence. The resourcefulness which he
+displayed on such occasions led to his being described as "the most
+accomplished witness that has ever been placed upon the stand in Otsego
+county." Dr. Bassett's personal appearance marked him as belonging to
+the old school. He was the last man in Cooperstown to wear a black stock
+about his collar. His face suggested both firmness and a sense of humor.
+The quality of decision appeared in the mouth which the smooth-shaven
+upper lip displayed above the white chin-whisker, while the tousled
+shock of white hair and twinkling blue eyes were indicative of the
+whimsical turn of mind that manifested itself in witty and sententious
+sayings. His long experience in the court-room made him alive to the
+vast expense which the trial and punishment of criminals imposes upon
+the State, and led to his belief that criminality is usually to be
+attributed to lack of proper training in youth. His favorite plea for
+the support of the children in Miss Cooper's orphanage was "It's cheaper
+to educate 'em than to hang 'em!" The daughter of the two physicians,
+Dr. Mary Imogene Bassett, inherited the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>talent of both parents, and
+later enjoyed the singular distinction, while still in active practice,
+of having a monument erected to commemorate her professional career,
+when, in 1917, Edward Severin Clark began to build the Mary Imogene
+Bassett Hospital and Pathological Laboratory, merging with it the
+traditions of the older Thanksgiving Hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Christ churchyard has been the scene of many impressive funerals, when,
+as in olden times, the unity of design in the order for Burial has been
+carried out, so that the outdoor function appears <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>as a natural sequence
+to the service of the sanctuary, and is connected with it by an orderly
+processional from the church to the churchyard. Here, in the glory of
+summer foliage, is a superb setting for such a service; and the rare
+occasions of interments within this quaint God's acre are long
+remembered by those who witness them. After the service in the church
+the procession of choir and clergy, headed by the crucifer, issues from
+the doorway, followed by stalwart men carrying the bier upon their
+shoulders. The mourners and congregation come reverently after, and with
+the thrilling chorus of some hymn of triumph over death the procession
+moves slowly to the grave. The sunshine sifts through the foliage of the
+over-arching trees, glitters upon the processional cross, gleams upon
+the white robes of the choristers, and transforms into a mantle of glory
+the pall that drapes the body of the dead. A solemn hush falls upon the
+company as the priest steps forward for the formal act of burial. The
+dust flashes in the sunbeams as it falls from his hand into the open
+grave, while the rhythmic phrases of the committal float once again over
+the consecrated ground. No words in the English tongue have vibrated
+more deeply in human hearts than the majestic and exultant avowal of
+faith with which the Church consigns to the grave the bodies of her
+dead.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> See <a href="#Page_306">p. 306</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> <i>A Few Omitted Leaves</i>, G. P. Keese.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>FROM APPLE HILL TO FERNLEIGH</h3>
+
+
+<p>Cooperstown had its representation in the Civil War, for, aside from the
+soldiers who enlisted from the village, it was a former schoolboy of
+Apple Hill, Captain Abner Doubleday, in command of the batteries at Fort
+Sumter, who aimed the first big gun fired in defence of the Union.
+Another officer from Cooperstown, Lieut. Marmaduke Cooper, died at
+Fortress Monroe; a third, Lieut. Morris Foote, was taken prisoner, and
+escaped, with thrilling experiences, from a detention camp in South
+Carolina; while his brother, Lieut. Frank Foote, lost a leg in the
+battle of the Wilderness, for three months was mourned as dead by his
+family, and had the pleasure, on his return to Cooperstown, of reading
+his own obituary.</p>
+
+<p>Among the citizens who stayed at home during the war were some who did
+much to stir up Union sentiment in Cooperstown, where the political
+opinions of not a few had taken the form of opposition to the Northern
+cause. Among these enthusiasts was John Worthington, who was cashier in
+the bank established by his father, John R. Worthington, in a building
+which stood on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>north side of Main Street not far west of Fair
+Street. There were then two divisions of the Democratic party, known as
+"War Democrats" and "Peace Democrats." The motto of the latter, as
+applied to the Southern States, was "Erring sisters, go in peace." This
+was too much for Worthington, who caused a large banner to be stretched
+across the entire front of the Worthington Bank, surmounted by the Stars
+and Stripes, and the words, "Victory will bring Peace."</p>
+
+<p>Worthington had a strong spirit of adventure in his composition, and,
+just before the war, had astonished the village by one of his
+characteristic exploits. In July a traveling aeronaut had appeared on
+the Fair Grounds, which were then in the region of the village south of
+Christ Church, proposing to make a series of flights for the
+entertainment of the public. He had an enormous balloon which was
+floated by being filled with heated air and smoke. The first ascension
+was a great success, and the aeronaut landed safely beyond the top of
+Mount Vision. When the next flight was to be made, just as the inflation
+was completed, John Worthington stepped out of the crowd, and asked to
+take the place of the aeronaut, who readily consented. There was a
+southerly breeze, and the balloon, as it sailed over the village, barely
+escaped the top of Christ Church spire. It then rose straight upward
+and, as the air within it cooled, began rapidly to descend. By a strange
+coincidence the balloon dropped in the main street, within a short
+distance of the Worthington Bank, at the very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>moment when its
+proprietor was descending the steps. The street was agog at the sudden
+appearance of the balloon, but none was more amazed than the elder
+Worthington when he saw his own son extricating himself from the folds
+of smoking cloth.</p>
+
+<p>"John," he called out in astonishment, "Did you go up in that balloon?"</p>
+
+<p>"I came down in it," said John, and would admit no more.</p>
+
+<p>John Worthington was many years afterward included as a belated member
+of the Shakespeare Reading Club, an organization which began in 1877,
+and held regular meetings, with reading of the plays and of original
+papers by the members, during a period of thirty years. This
+organization, with the Cooperstown Literary Association, kept up the
+intellectual traditions of the village during the latter part of the
+nineteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>The Shakespeare Club included the choice minds of the town, and the
+study of the master poet was undertaken with becoming reverence. While
+Worthington's sisters were already members of the club, and Worthington
+himself was second to none in the village in keenness of literary
+appreciation, he was notorious for eccentricities of whimsical wit and
+humor, and it was only after long deliberation that it was finally
+decided to elect him to membership. His first appearance at a meeting of
+the club gave rise to an unforeseen situation, for the order in which
+the members sat about the table had become fixed by traditions of
+precedence, and the attempt to place another <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>chair caused a flutter of
+debate in politely subdued voices. Worthington was kept standing while
+this discussion was going on, and suddenly astounded the company by
+gravely seating himself upon the floor.</p>
+
+<p>John Worthington was appointed United States consul in Malta under
+President Arthur, and continued in office under Cleveland's first
+administration. This was the heyday of his life. In Malta he made
+friends in the army and navy and diplomatic service of many nations. His
+conversational gifts and capricious drollery gave him great social
+popularity in the brilliant shifting throng that passed through the
+gates of the Mediterranean, and his wife, who was Cora Lull, of New
+Berlin, was charmingly adapted by nature and acquirements to the graces
+of diplomatic life. During his term of service at Malta in 1883
+Worthington was instrumental in removing the body of John Howard Payne,
+author of "Home, Sweet Home," from the cemetery in Carthage, Tunis, to
+the United States. He made a stubborn effort to procure a band to play
+Payne's song as the remains left Tunis aboard the ship homeward bound,
+but not anyone could play "Home, Sweet Home," although Worthington had
+brought the notes with him. However, after the disinterment, of which
+Worthington was a witness, the body was placed in the chapel of the
+little English church, and a few Americans and English reverently
+gathered there, while Mrs. Worthington, who was known as "Cooperstown's
+sweetest singer," sang touchingly the famous song of home, written by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>the man who had no home during the last forty years of his life, and
+whose body, thirty years after his death, was going home at last to be
+interred in its native soil.</p>
+
+<p>While traveling in Egypt, Worthington had an audience with the Khedive,
+Tewfik Pasha Mohammed, in his palace on the Nile. The conversation was
+formal and perfunctory, until, in reply to an amiable inquiry,
+Worthington stated that his home was in a village, in New York State,
+named Cooperstown. At the mention of this name the Khedive exhibited
+genuine interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Cooperstown," he repeated, "Is not Cooperstown the home of Fenimore
+Cooper, the great author?"</p>
+
+<p>It was now Worthington's turn to exhibit interest, for in boyhood he had
+been next door neighbor to Cooper; and he asked if his Highness was
+acquainted with the writings of the novelist. The Khedive had read all
+of Cooper's books. Some of them he cared little for, but those he did
+care for he loved. <i>The Leather-Stocking Tales</i> had opened a new world
+to him, and he was charmed. <i>The Deerslayer</i> he "adored." The sublime
+and shadowy forests, the silent lakes high up in evergreen hills, the
+cool rivers&mdash;how they captivated his imagination! how they invited his
+soul! He would, he exclaimed, give a year of his life if he might view
+the Glimmerglass, if he might tread a forest trail. In his library the
+Khedive showed to his visitor, with evident satisfaction, his three
+magnificent sets of Cooper's works, in French, in German, and in
+English.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p><p>John Worthington's later days were passed in Cooperstown, where he lived
+to be the village man of letters, delighting his contemporaries with
+contributions of picturesque prose and graceful verse that would have
+given him a wider renown had he written otherwise than, as it seemed,
+for the mere pleasure of writing for the entertainment of his friends.
+His twelve years of service at Malta, with many excursions in the
+ancient world, developed in him an oriental color of mind, and gave even
+to the Otsego of his childhood, when he returned hither to live, the
+dreamy glamour of the mystic East. At home he lived altogether among
+books, and in the companionship of poetic imagination passed the years
+of almost exile from Malta, his fondest retrospect. A winning soul was
+John Worthington, widely beloved for what he was, and mourned for all
+that he might have been.</p>
+
+<p>During the Civil War a girl of extraordinary beauty and vivacity,
+skilled as a musician, drew many suitors to her home, the house which
+still stands at the southwest corner of Pioneer and Elm streets. Her
+name was Elizabeth Davis, and her happy disposition made her a universal
+favorite in the community. Toward the close of the war she suffered a
+disappointment in love, the exact nature of which was not made known,
+but so seriously affecting her attitude toward life that she registered
+a solemn vow never again to be seen in public. From this time forth she
+kept to the house, although it was said that she sometimes walked about
+at night. Years passed. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>Father, mother, brother, and sister, followed
+one another to the grave, until Elizabeth Davis became the only
+inhabitant of the old house. Nobody ever saw her except a negro who
+brought her supplies. In the village there grew up a new generation to
+which she was a stranger. The windows of the house showed an abundance
+of the choicest plants, always carefully tended. Passers-by often
+arrested their steps to listen to the sound of a piano splendidly played
+within. But nobody ever caught a glimpse of a face or form. The most
+that the nearest neighbors saw was a hand and arm that were stretched
+forth from the windows every evening to close the blinds. Thus Elizabeth
+Davis lived for more than thirty years after the close of the war, and
+carried her secret to the grave.</p>
+
+<p>In the time of the Civil War the favorite reading matter of the soldiers
+in camp and hospital throughout the northern armies was supplied by the
+enterprise of Erastus F. Beadle, who had learned the publishing business
+in the employment of the Phinneys in Cooperstown, himself being a native
+of Pierstown, just over the hill. He became known throughout the United
+States as the publisher of "Beadle's Dime Novels," and on his retirement
+from business in 1889 purchased "Glimmerview," the residence which
+overlooks the lake next east of the O-te-sa-ga. Here he died in 1894.
+This inventor of the "dime novel" made an amazing success of publishing
+paper-covered books adapted to the popular taste on a scale of cheapness
+and in quantities which had never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>before been dreamed of. After leaving
+Cooperstown, he began business for himself in Buffalo, publishing
+magazines, and on his removal to New York, in 1858, discovered, in the
+publication of "The Dime Song Book," the field which he afterward made
+so profitable. To the song books were added, in rapid succession, the
+"Household Manual," the "Letter Writer," and the "Book of Etiquette." In
+the summer of 1860 the Dime Novels were started. These little
+salmon-covered books became immediately popular all over the country,
+and the business grew to vast proportions, until Beadle had about
+twenty-five writers employed in the composition of stories for his
+imprint. The business was afterward expanded to include the publication
+of popular "Libraries,"&mdash;the Dime Library, the Boy's Library, the Pocket
+Library, and the Half-Dime Library. After his retirement from business,
+as a resident of Cooperstown, Beadle did much for the development of the
+village.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_347" id="photo_347"></a><img class="bbox" src="images/photo_347.jpg" alt="Main Street" width="70%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Main Street</span><br />
+Looking west from Fair Street, 1861. The Clark Gymnasium displaces the
+two buildings at the left.</p></div>
+
+<p>The village had troubles of its own during the progress of the war. In
+the spring of 1862, a disastrous fire, the largest conflagration in the
+history of Cooperstown, destroyed at least a third of the business
+district. The fire started near the Cory stone building, which alone
+survived of the stores and shops in the path of the flames that spread
+on the north side of Main Street, and extended from the building next to
+the present Mohican Club as far east as Pioneer Street. The fire then
+crossed to the south side of Main Street, destroying the old Eagle
+Tavern, originally the Red <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>Lion, and burning westward as far as the
+present Carr's Hotel. Up Pioneer Street, on the west side the flames ate
+their way as far south as the Phinney residence. The buildings at the
+eastern corners of Main and Pioneer streets were several times on fire,
+and were saved only by supreme efforts of the village firemen. The
+survival of the Cory building was due in part to its solid stone
+construction, but chiefly to the efforts of two plucky men, David P.
+House and George Newell, who stationed themselves on the roof, and while
+the fire worked its way around the rear of the building, succeeded in
+defending their position, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>although so terribly scorched that for weeks
+afterward they went about swathed in bandages.</p>
+
+<p>A few nights later the Otsego Hotel and adjacent buildings, which stood
+on the site of the present Village Library, were also destroyed by fire.
+At this conflagration, which seemed about to complete the destruction of
+Main Street, a woman appeared, who equalled the courage of the firemen
+in her defiance of the flames. She was Susan Hewes, a maiden lady who
+kept a milliner's shop in the little one-story building that stands on
+the north side of the Main Street, a short distance west of the corner
+of Fair Street. Emulating the example of the men who saved the Cory
+building, she appeared on the roof of her little shop, and presented a
+dramatic spectacle as she stood forth in the glare of the flames, crying
+out that she would save her property at the cost of her life.
+Fortunately the flames were checked without any such sacrifice, and
+Susan Hewes lived to become, more than half a century afterward, the
+oldest native inhabitant of the village, famous for the old-fashioned
+tangled garden on Pine Street, where she dwelt so long among her
+favorite flowers. During the Civil War period she was a marked figure in
+the village, for her outspoken independence in expressing sympathy for
+the Southern cause led to a visit of remonstrance with which a committee
+of leading citizens honored her in her little milliner's shop; while her
+refusal to submit to the dictates of fashion when the huge hoop-skirts
+came into vogue caused her to be gazed upon as a marvel of
+incompleteness in dress.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span></p><p>For a time Cooperstown was much depressed by the ruin which fire had
+wrought in the village, but, before long, a new business section began
+slowly to rise from the ashes of the old. West of Pioneer Street, where
+the Eagle Tavern had narrowed the width of the main thoroughfare to the
+dimensions of a mere lane, the street was now made of uniform width, and
+new business blocks were erected. By the close of the Civil War all
+signs of destruction had disappeared, and the Main street of
+Cooperstown, if far less picturesque than before, had assumed the
+appearance of brand new prosperity.</p>
+
+<p>This period, in fact, marks the beginning of a gradual change in the
+character of Cooperstown, by which an elderly village, typical in its
+inherited traditions, has taken on the airs of a summer resort, and has
+become the residence, for a part of each year, of wealthy families whose
+chief interests lie elsewhere, and to whom Otsego is a playground. While
+much of the older character of the village remains, the contact with the
+outer world has had a far-reaching effect upon its inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the old-fashioned merchants were at first inclined to resent the
+demands made by city folk in excess of the time-honored customs of trade
+in Cooperstown. Seth Doubleday kept a store at the northwest corner of
+Main and Pioneer streets. One day a lady from the city came in airily,
+ordered a mackerel delivered at her summer home in the village, and was
+out again before Doubleday could recover his breath. At <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>that period all
+villagers went to market with a basket, and carried their own goods
+home. Nobody thought of having purchases delivered by the merchant.
+Doubleday was enraged at what seemed to him an insolent demand, and the
+longer he reflected on the matter the more furious did he become. At
+last, leaving his shop unattended, he went in person to the customer's
+house to deliver the mackerel. The lady herself opened the door.
+Doubleday took the fish by the tail, and slapped it down vigorously upon
+the doorstep, exclaiming, "There, madam, is your damned three-cent
+mackerel, and <i>delivered</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>The new phase of village life may perhaps be dated from the purchase of
+the Apple Hill property by Edward Clark of New York, who, in 1856, made
+his summer home here, and after the close of the Civil War erected his
+mansion. The establishment of this country-seat was but the beginning of
+the extension of Edward Clark's estate in this region, and created a
+relationship to the village which his descendants have ever since
+continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Apple Hill," as the place was called before Edward Clark's purchase, or
+"Fernleigh," as he renamed it, is thus a connecting link between the old
+and the new in Cooperstown. It has a story that brings the elder
+traditions of the village into touch with the newer spirit of modern
+enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>Apple Hill was originally the property of Richard Fenimore Cooper,
+eldest son of the founder of the village. In the summer of 1800 he built
+the house which stood until displaced by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>Fernleigh House in 1869.
+Fenimore Cooper described the site as "much the best within the limits
+of the village," no doubt with reference to the superb view of the
+Susquehanna which the veranda at the rear of the house commands. Richard
+Cooper planted the black walnut and locust trees, some of which are yet
+standing in front of the house at Fernleigh. To the home at Apple Hill
+he brought from the head of the lake as a bride, Anne Cary, who after
+his death became the wife of George Clarke of Hyde Hall.</p>
+
+<p>From 1825 to 1828 Apple Hill was the residence of the afterward
+distinguished Judge Samuel Nelson, and during the next five years was
+owned and occupied by General John A. Dix, who had resigned from the
+army, and settled down in Cooperstown to practise law. His first cases
+were prepared in a little office that stood near the gate of the Apple
+Hill property. At that time it is said that he made a poor impression as
+a public speaker, and gave small promise of his later fame. In 1833 he
+became secretary of state of New York, and afterward was United States
+Senator. During the Civil War he raised seventeen regiments, and as
+Secretary of the Treasury at the outbreak of the war issued the famous
+order which first convinced the country that the executive government at
+Washington was really determined to meet force with force: "If anyone
+attempts to pull down the American flag, shoot him on the spot!" After
+the war General Dix was minister to France, and in 1872 was elected
+Governor of the State of New York. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>Among the children of General Dix
+who played hide-and-seek amid the trees of Apple Hill was Morgan Dix,
+afterward the distinguished rector of Trinity parish, New York, who in
+later years passed many summers in Cooperstown. It was remembered of Dr.
+Dix's childhood that when his mother sent him away from Cooperstown to
+school, being apprehensive of his safe conduct on the journey, she put
+him into the stage-coach completely enveloped in a green baize bag that
+she had made for the purpose, with nothing but the boy's head emerging
+from the opening which was snugly tied around his neck. Dr. Dix's last
+visit to Cooperstown was in 1891 when he was a guest at the Cooper
+House, and was driven forth, with two hundred and fifty other guests, by
+the fire which burned it to the ground in the early dawn of the eighth
+of August. This summer hotel stood within the grounds occupied by the
+Present High School. Its burning was a calamity to Cooperstown, for
+under the management of Simeon E. Crittenden it had become widely
+famous, and drew guests from every part of the country.</p>
+
+<p>From 1833 to 1839 Apple Hill was the home of Levi C. Turner, who married
+the daughter of Robert Campbell, and afterward was for some years county
+judge. During the Civil War Turner was Judge Advocate in the War
+Department under President Lincoln, concerning whom he had many intimate
+reminiscences.</p>
+
+<p>In early days, before the common school system was developed, there were
+many attempts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>to establish private schools in Cooperstown, with more or
+less success. John Burroughs, the famous naturalist, received the last
+of his schooling in the spring and summer of 1856 at the Cooperstown
+Seminary, afterward converted into the summer hotel known as the Cooper
+House.</p>
+
+<p>But of all the private schools in the village the most noted was
+established at Apple Hill in 1839 by William H. Duff, a former officer
+of the British Army, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Duff had
+a romantic history, involved in a good deal of mystery. He had emigrated
+from England to Canada, bringing with him a beautiful young wife,&mdash;an
+elopement, it was said. Mrs. Duff was evidently of gentle birth, while
+her husband was of commanding presence, military bearing, and
+captivating manners. Whether he was entitled to the rank of Major, which
+he assumed, was always doubted.</p>
+
+<p>Duff was well informed in all branches of army tactics, and the school
+that he established was well known as a military academy. The
+institution became popular, and the boys in their uniforms gave a new
+and welcome touch of color to the life of the village. The afternoon
+drills were witnessed by many spectators, and when the school increased
+until a mounted field-piece, drawn by four horses, was added to the
+equipment, the exhibit became quite sensational. Few pupils of that day
+could ever forget the winter drills on the frozen lake, with the
+thermometer near zero, as requiring an endurance worthy of hardier
+veterans.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p><p>One incident connected with the school made a sensation at the time.
+During the winter of 1840 a strong party of Indians found their way to
+the village, and remained for several days. One of them got into a
+drunken bout, and died quite suddenly. Shortly after the departure of
+the band the rumor was circulated among the loungers in the streets that
+the friends of the dead Indian suspected foul play, and were coming from
+their encampment on the following night to wreak vengeance upon the
+village. These flying rumors came to the ears of some of the pupils of
+Duff's Academy, who hastened to communicate the alarming intelligence to
+their principal. Whether Duff really accepted the truth of the reports,
+or wished to test the military efficiency and courage of his pupils, he
+promptly called his troops together, delivered an impressive harangue on
+the danger of the situation and the glory to be won by rallying to the
+defence of the village against a savage foe. Plans were soon made to
+repel the attack. Muskets were made ready for service. Some boys were
+sent into the village for powder, others for lead from which they were
+soon actively engaged in moulding bullets. A detachment was sent to
+remove to the house all effects from the schoolroom which stood near the
+gate, and the doors and windows of the house were strongly barricaded.
+Preparations were made to patrol the village at night, and the school
+was detailed into squads, who were to protect the principal streets.
+Sentries paced from the house to the gate, and from Christ churchyard
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>to the corner of Main Street, while outposts were stationed across the
+river who were to give warning of the enemy's approach by the discharge
+of a musket. The younger boys were left at home on guard at the doors
+and windows of the house. As the midnight hour approached Major Duff
+sallied forth and inspected the disposal of his forces. During the long
+winter darkness of that night the boys marched up and down the village
+streets, with imaginations so fearfully wrought up as to deny the need
+of sleep which lay heavy upon them. If any of the inhabitants of the
+village sympathized in this watchfulness in their behalf, or kept awake
+to see what was going on, there was no evidence of it. The boys were
+left to their vigil. They passed the night in anxious watching. No
+Indians appeared, and all danger was dispelled by the rays of the rising
+sun.</p>
+
+<p>Too much prosperity was the ruin of Duff's school. It became so
+successful that the principal neglected duty for pleasure, leaving the
+school in charge of subordinates. Then, in less than five years from its
+beginning, it failed. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, Duff obtained
+a captain's commission in the United States Army, and when last seen by
+his old friends he presented an imposing appearance as he rode down
+Broadway in New York at the head of his company, with martial music and
+flying colors, to embark for Vera Cruz.<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p><p>George A. Starkweather purchased Apple Hill in 1847, and lived there
+until he sold it in 1856 to Edward Clark. The latter had been attracted
+to Cooperstown as at one time the home of his distinguished
+father-in-law, and law-partner, Ambrose L. Jordan. Mrs. Clark, who was
+Jordan's eldest child, was born while the Jordans were resident in
+Cooperstown in the house which still stands at the northwest corner of
+Main and Chestnut streets, and after they removed to Hudson the daughter
+was sent back to Cooperstown to attend the boarding school which was
+conducted for a time in Isaac Cooper's old house at Edgewater. It was
+through these associations that Edward Clark and his bride, after their
+marriage in 1836, began to be frequent visitors in Cooperstown.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1848 Isaac M. Singer had become a client of Jordan &amp; Clark
+in New York City. He was an erratic genius, and had taken up various
+occupations without much success, besides having invented valuable
+mechanical devices which had brought him no profit. The form of
+sewing-machine that he invented, and which has ever since been
+associated with his name, was not profitable at first, and under
+Singer's management the title to the invention became involved, and was
+likely to be lost. In this emergency the inventor applied to his legal
+adviser, Clark, to advance the means to redeem an interest of one-third
+in the sewing-machine invention and business, and to hold that share as
+security for money advanced. Afterward was formed the co-partnership of
+I. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span>M. Singer &amp; Co., in which Clark was the legal adviser and half
+owner. The business was carried on by this firm with great success from
+1851 to 1863, during which period Edward Clark established his residence
+in Cooperstown. After Singer's death Clark became president of the
+Singer Manufacturing Company.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_357" id="photo_357"></a><img src="images/photo_357.jpg" alt="Fernleigh" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Fernleigh</p></div>
+
+<p>Edward Clark spent many winters in Europe, residing at different times
+in Paris and in Rome, but his summers were usually devoted to
+Cooperstown, and the present stone house at Fernleigh was his summer
+home for twenty-three years. When this house was erected it was regarded
+as a wonder. It took four years in building, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>was indeed of
+remarkable workmanship, with substantial masonry and the most exquisite
+elaborations of woodwork. But it had the misfortune to be built in the
+"black walnut period," when taste in domestic architecture was at a low
+ebb, so that much of the interior, and some of the exterior, has since
+been altered. The stone building southwest of the house was built as a
+Turkish bath.</p>
+
+<p>In 1873, Edward Clark purchased Fernleigh-Over from the Bowers estate,
+and from time to time added to his property in Cooperstown, notably in
+the purchase of farms on either side of the lake. He became much
+identified with the interests of the village, and built the Hotel
+Fenimore.</p>
+
+<p>Edward Clark was entranced by Otsego Lake, upon which he spent much time
+in sailing. His <i>Nina</i> and <i>Elise</i> were beautiful sailing yachts, and
+would have been an ornament to any waters. Clark was described by
+village contemporaries as a man of somewhat peculiar temperament. He was
+naturally reticent, and seemed to be most highly appreciated by his
+intimates. In educational matters he was greatly interested, having
+given largely to Williams College, of which he was a graduate and Doctor
+of Laws. He contributed generously to the welfare of the schools of
+Cooperstown, in which he established the Clark Punctuality prizes. In
+Cooperstown, and elsewhere, he did much charitable work in a quiet way.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 50%;">
+<a name="photo_359" id="photo_359"></a><img src="images/photo_359.jpg" alt="Kingfisher Tower" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>M. Antoinette Abrams</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Kingfisher Tower</p></div>
+
+<p>In 1876 Kingfisher Tower was completed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>which Edward Clark had caused
+to be erected at Point Judith, about two miles from Cooperstown, on the
+eastern shore of Otsego Lake. It was said that Clark's motive in
+building the tower was to furnish work for many in the community who
+were out of employment. Scoffers referred to the building derisively as
+"Clark's folly." At the request of a village newspaper, Clark himself
+wrote an account of it which was published anonymously.</p>
+
+<p>"Kingfisher Tower," he wrote, "consists of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>miniature castle, after
+the style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, standing upon the
+extremity of the Point and rising out of the water to a height of nearly
+sixty feet. It forms an objective point in the scene presented by the
+lake and surrounding hills; it adds solemnity to the landscape, seeming
+to stand guard over the vicinity, while it gives a character of
+antiquity to the lake, a charm by which we cannot help being impressed
+in such scenes. The effect of the structure is that of a picture from
+medieval times, and its value to the lake is very great. Mr. Clark has
+been led to erect it simply by a desire to beautify the lake and add an
+attraction which must be seen by all who traverse the lake or drive
+along its shores. They whose minds can rise above simple notions of
+utility to an appreciation of art joined to nature, will thank him for
+it."</p>
+
+<p>When Edward Clark died, in 1882, his youngest and only surviving son,
+Alfred Corning Clark, much of whose life had been spent abroad,
+inherited the greater part of his father's property, and became
+proprietor of Fernleigh.</p>
+
+<p>Alfred Corning Clark possessed in a magnified degree certain qualities
+which had distinguished his father. He was more retiring, more reticent,
+more inclined to find the full joy of life only among intimates. He
+became a patron of art and music, and himself an amateur in singing. He
+built Mendelssohn Hall, in New York, for the use of a musical
+organization to which he belonged. Of books he was not only a lover, but
+a student, devoted to the classics, and well versed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>in modern
+languages. In the village of Cooperstown he was known as a bookworm. He
+enjoyed walking about his own grounds, but hardly ever went into the
+village, and there were many residents of Cooperstown who had never seen
+his face. The proprietor of the corner book store in his day remarked
+that he had never but once seen Alfred Corning Clark in the village
+street, and this was when he had an errand at the book store to make an
+inquiry concerning a newly published volume.</p>
+
+<p>In the use of his great fortune Clark was extremely liberal in charities
+and toward such other objects as commended themselves to his judgment;
+while he was correspondingly powerful in opposition to whatever involved
+a principle with which he disagreed.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clark, who was Elizabeth Scriven, was a woman of exceptional gifts
+of mind and benignance of character, well qualified to assume the
+responsibilities which fell upon her when Alfred Corning Clark died, at
+the age of fifty-three years, in 1896. With cultivated tastes, she had
+also a practical talent for business, and, although well served by
+agents in the management of her large interests, was always thoroughly
+informed and full of initiative. In New York, among men of affairs, she
+was regarded as one of the most far-seeing judges of real estate values
+in the city. In the management of her domestic and other concerns she
+had an extraordinary faculty for administration, which failed of
+attaining genius only through the effort which she put forth to give
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>personal attention to details. This amiable weakness nevertheless added
+the interest of her personality to undertakings that might have failed
+for the lack of such a spirit as hers; and in her many charities the
+personal touch which she took the trouble to give added infinitely to
+the happiness and self-respect of those to whom her kindness, as in
+neighborly thoughtfulness, was extended.</p>
+
+<p>In Cooperstown Mrs. Clark became an arbiter of the social and moral
+virtues, and the things that she frowned upon were usually not done. She
+had a wholesome influence in resisting certain excesses which not seldom
+appear in communities partly given over to the pursuit of pleasure. In
+some innovations against which she protested, Mrs. Clark at last
+gracefully yielded to the inevitable. This was the case with
+automobiles, which, when they first appeared upon the country roads, she
+regarded with the alarm and disgust of one devoted to a carriage and
+horses, and would have banished them from Otsego if she had had the
+power. In that period of transition few country roads were adapted to
+the use of motors, and to meet one of the new machines while driving in
+a carriage along the lake shore was to suffer the apprehension of
+imminent death from the fury of plunging horses, and to be nearly choked
+in a cloud of dust.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clark was fond of walking, and she was a familiar figure in the
+residence streets of the village in summer, usually dressed in white,
+without a bonnet, and carrying a white parasol above <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>her head, as she
+moved with quick step upon some errand.</p>
+
+<p>The homestead at Fernleigh represents much that has contributed to the
+development of Cooperstown. The greater part of the industry controlled
+by the Clark estates is managed from the offices of the Singer Building
+in New York, which when it was erected in 1909 was the tallest office
+building in the world. But a large part of the interests of the estates
+is centered in the picturesque old building, originally built for a
+bank, which stands near the entrance of the Cooper Grounds in
+Cooperstown. The Cooper Grounds themselves were rescued from a condition
+of desolation in which they had lain for many years after the death of
+Fenimore Cooper, and are maintained by the Clark estates for the benefit
+of the public. The Village Club and Library across the way is a creation
+of the Clark estates. On the hills east and west of the village, and
+along the eastern shore of the lake for a stretch of nearly six miles,
+the same ownership has preserved for all lovers of nature the noble
+forests that lend a charm of wildness to the region.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>A Few Omitted Leaves</i>, Keese, p. 12; <i>History of
+Cooperstown</i>, Livermore, p. 46.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LAKE OF ROMANCE AND FISHERMEN</h3>
+
+
+<p>The period from 1870 to 1880 was one of rapid growth and development in
+Cooperstown. The permanent population increased to over two thousand
+souls, and a number of fine summer residences were erected. Almost all
+of its natural advantages Cooperstown owes to Otsego Lake. These had
+been long appreciated by residents of the village, and now began to be
+generally sought by visitors from afar. In summer, the shores of the
+lake come to be dotted with the camp-houses and tents of those who
+sought relief from the swelter of cities in the cool forests of Otsego,
+and found delight in the sailing and fishing for which the Glimmerglass
+is famous.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_365" id="photo_365"></a><img src="images/photo_365.jpg" alt="The Lake from the O-te-sa-ga" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>J. B. Slote</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Lake from the O-te-sa-ga</p></div>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1870 Capt. Daniel B. Boden began regular steam
+navigation of Otsego Lake by means of a small steamboat which he had
+brought to Cooperstown by railroad, and which had been used as a gunboat
+in Southern waters during the Civil War. The boat was renamed the <i>Mary
+Boden</i>. In the following summer a rival steamboat was launched, much
+larger than the former, called the <i>Natty Bumppo</i>, and owned principally
+by A. H. Watkins and Elihu Phinney. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>At the beginning of the next season
+the conservative folk of the village were scandalized by the <i>Mary
+Boden</i>, which then commenced to make lake trips on Sunday, a breach of
+ancient custom in which the owners of the <i>Natty Bumppo</i> indignantly
+declined to compete. On a night early in July there was an alarm of
+fire, a great blaze at the lake front, and villagers running to the
+scene found that one of the steamboats was in flames and beyond hope of
+salvage. A small child at a front window of Edgewater, watching the
+fire, clapped her hands, and cried out, "It's the wicker <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span>[wicked] boat!
+It's the wicker boat!" But it was not the wicked boat that was ablaze.
+It was the <i>Natty Bumppo</i>, which burned to the water's edge a total
+loss, the boat that had never left its dock on Sunday. The event was
+long recalled by some in the village as an instance of grave error in
+the usually correct dispensations of Providence. The <i>Natty Bumppo</i> was
+replaced, in the next season, by a new steamboat bearing the same name.
+The new <i>Natty Bumppo</i> and the old <i>Mary Boden</i> were the famous boats of
+the lake until they were succeeded by the <i>Pioneer</i> and the <i>Cyclone</i>,
+and later by the <i>Deerslayer</i>, the <i>Pathfinder</i>, and the <i>Mohican</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from the use of canoes, the first general navigation of the lake
+was undertaken in 1794 by a man known as Admiral Hassy, who in his day
+was the most celebrated fisherman of Otsego. He had a large flat boat
+which he called the ship <i>Jay</i>, and upon which he used boards for sails.
+This craft was safe, but not speedy.</p>
+
+<p>Some thirty years later a group of enterprising individuals built a
+horse-boat as a means of transporting lake parties. The boat had at each
+end a high cabin topped by a platform. These excrescences caught
+whatever breeze was blowing, and made the craft unmanageable. The
+struggles of the two poor horses who were expected to propel the boat
+were not equal to a gale of Pierstown trade-winds. More than once a lake
+party starting for Three-Mile Point, aboard this vessel, found itself
+stranded on the opposite shore.</p>
+
+<p>During the first half of the century a "general <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span>lake party" in the
+summer corresponded to the "select ball" of each winter as constituting
+one of the two great social events of the year in Cooperstown. It ought
+to be said that the term "lake party" had a distinct social
+significance, and the word "picnic," which came later to be used to
+describe the same thing, meant to the elder inhabitants an affair that
+had quite lost the flavor of the older custom, and the use of the word
+was regarded as one of the signs of social decadence.</p>
+
+<p>The means of navigation most often used by the lake parties was a huge
+scow propelled by long oars. A typical lake party was given in July of
+1840, when Governor Seward visited Cooperstown. On the way home upon the
+lake the old scow, according to custom, was stopped opposite to the
+Echo, and several persons tried their voices to show off the wonderfully
+clear reverberations that would be flung back from the eastern hillside.
+But the master of this art was "Joe Tom," the negro who had been chief
+cook of the lake party, and was now at one of the long oars of the scow.
+On being asked to awaken the famous echo, Joe Tom shouted, "Hurrah for
+Governor Steward!" and when the echo came back, "You've got it to a 't,'
+Joe!" exclaimed Governor Seward.</p>
+
+<p>At this period the authority in aquatic affairs, and the most renowned
+fisherman of the lake, was Commodore Boden. Miss Cooper says of her
+father's novel <i>Home as Found</i> that the one character in it "avowedly
+and minutely drawn from life" was that of the Commodore, "a figure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>long
+familiar to those living on the lake shores&mdash;a venerable figure, tall
+and upright, to be seen for some three score years moving to and fro
+over the water, trolling for pickerel or angling for perch, almost any
+day in the year, excepting when the waters were icebound in
+winter."<a name="FNanchor_120" id="FNanchor_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The commodore was of quite imposing appearance, handsome
+alike in form and figure, straight as an arrow, and lithe as an Indian,
+with silvery locks that hung gracefully down upon his shoulders. His
+method of fishing was fascinating to watch. Standing erect in his boat,
+the commodore would paddle from the outlet of the lake to some inviting
+patch of weeds, and there, in quite shallow water, noiselessly drop his
+anchor. Then, wielding a rod nearly twenty feet in length, he would
+"skip" his tempting bait&mdash;generally the side of a small perch&mdash;with
+amazing vigor and marvellous dexterity, oftentimes taking fifteen or
+twenty pickerel in less than an hour. To see him strike, manipulate and
+land a fish weighing three or four pounds, his pliant rod bending nearly
+to a semicircle, was a spectacle not to be forgotten.<a name="FNanchor_121" id="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p>
+
+<p>In 1850 Peter P. Cooper brought from the Lake Ontario a little schooner,
+and became so famous as a boatman and fisherman that he was regarded as
+the successor of Admiral Hassy and Commodore Boden. Capt. Cooper
+established a boat livery which included five sailboats and twenty
+rowboats. He developed the fisheries of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>Otsego Lake on a big scale,
+having introduced the gill net as a means of catching bass. In the
+spring of 1851 there were taken from the lake 25,000 bass. The gill net
+which Capt. Cooper introduced is made of the best kind of linen thread,
+with meshes from two to two and a half inches square. The net is about
+three feet wide, having leads attached to one edge, and corks fastened
+to the other. The leaded edge is carried to the bottom of the lake,
+while the other is buoyed up by the corks, making a complete fence
+across the lake at its bottom, even where it is very deep. The fish swim
+against the fence, which at once yields to their force, but as it
+yields, forms a sack whose meshes gather about their fins and tail,
+making it impossible to back out or otherwise escape. Their efforts
+serve only to entangle the fish more deeply in the net. Elihu Phinney,
+the most expert amateur fisherman of the period, denounced Capt.
+Cooper's gill net as the "most deadly and abominable of all devices."</p>
+
+<p>The Otsego bass never exceed about six pounds in weight, the average
+being much smaller. Occasionally a lake trout of larger size is caught.
+With hook and line trout of great size are not often taken. On Friday,
+August 21, 1908, Alexander S. Phinney caught with hook and line, near
+Kingfisher Tower, a trout thirty-six inches long and weighing twenty
+pounds. He tussled with this trout for an hour, with six hundred feet of
+line, before he succeeded in landing him in the boat. In the next season
+the same fisherman caught a trout weighing eighteen pounds. So far as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>authentic records go, these two trout are the largest fish ever caught
+in the lake with hook and line.</p>
+
+<p>The conditions in Otsego Lake are favorable for the artificial
+propagation of fish, and many plantings have been made, at first by
+private enterprise, and afterward by the State. The lake extends in a
+direction from N. N. East to S. S. West about nine miles, varying in
+width from about three quarters of a mile to a mile and a half. The
+surface of the lake is 1,194 feet above tide-water. The average depth is
+about fifty feet, although about two miles north of the village
+soundings have been taken to a depth of one hundred and fifty feet,
+while toward the midst of the lake the depths are greater. In many
+places the water deepens gradually from the shore, but along the eastern
+bank there are points at which, Fenimore Cooper declared, "a large ship
+might float with her yards in the forest." The lake is chiefly supplied
+from cold bottom springs. Its only constant tributaries are two small
+streams, whose entire volume is not half that of its outlet, the
+Susquehanna River, which here begins its long journey to Chesapeake Bay.
+The upper and lower portions of the lake, being shallow and weedy,
+afford ample pickerel grounds, while the middle portion and whole
+eastern shore are admirably adapted, by deep water and soft marl bottom,
+to the coregoni and salmon trout, and nearer shore, by rocky bottom and
+sharp ledges, to the rock bass, black bass, and yellow perch. Large fish
+find an abundant food supply in the "lake shiner," an exquisitely
+beautiful creature <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>and dainty morsel, about four inches long.</p>
+
+<p>The fish for which the lake has become famous among epicures is the
+"Otsego bass." In <i>The Pioneers</i>, published in 1823, Fenimore Cooper
+expressed the general opinion when he put into the mouth of one of his
+characters this eulogy of the Otsego bass: "These fish are of a quality
+and flavor that in other countries would make them esteemed a luxury on
+the tables of princes. The world has no better fish than the bass of
+Otsego; it unites the richness of the shad to the firmness of the
+salmon." More than sixty years later much the same opinion prevailed,
+when Elihu Phinney described Otsego bass as "beyond all peradventure the
+very finest fresh water fish that swims."</p>
+
+<p>There has long been a difference of opinion as to whether the so-called
+Otsego bass is to be regarded as a distinct species. Louis Agassiz, the
+highest authority of his time, after careful analysis pronounced the
+Otsego bass to be "in its organic structure a distinct fish, not found
+in any other waters of the world." In 1915 Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the New
+York State fish culturist, declared that the so-called Otsego bass "is
+merely the common Labrador whitefish which has become dwarfed in size by
+some peculiarities of its habitat." De Witt Clinton, a former governor
+of New York, wrote the first scientific description, accompanied by a
+drawing, of this fish, which he called "the Salmo Otsego, or the Otsego
+Basse."<a name="FNanchor_122" id="FNanchor_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> At the time when Clinton wrote, the whitefishes were placed in
+the genus Salmo. In 1911, in the bulletin of the United States bureau of
+fisheries,<a name="FNanchor_123" id="FNanchor_123"></a><a
+href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Dr. Evermann
+asserted concerning Clinton's drawing of Otsego bass, which he had
+examined, that "the cut, although crude, plainly shows <i>Coregonus
+clupeaformis</i>. The form is elliptical, and the back shows the dark
+streaks along the rows of scales usually characteristic of that
+species." The same author, in collaboration with Dr. Jordan,<a
+name="FNanchor_124" id="FNanchor_124"></a><a
+href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> says concerning the
+common whitefish: "This species, like others of wide distribution, is
+subject to considerable variations, dependent upon food, waters, etc.
+One of these is the so-called Otsego bass, var Otsego (Clinton), a form
+landlocked in Otsego Lake at the head of the Susquehanna River."</p>
+
+<p>There are Otsego fishermen who are not impressed by this array of
+learning, and still insist that the Otsego bass is quite different from
+any other fish in the world. The <i>Otsego Farmer</i> in 1915 summed up the
+matter thus: "Otsego bass is not what is ordinarily termed whitefish,
+but is probably a species of the same family. As a matter of fact,
+Otsego Lake has been stocked with whitefish fry from the Great Lakes,
+and now the nets of fishermen are always filled with a mixture of
+whitefish and Otsego bass. Whatever Dr. Bean may think about it, any
+Otsego Lake fisherman can tell the difference, and any epicure having
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>once tasted Otsego bass is never again deceived by whitefish."</p>
+
+<p>A view which seems to reconcile these diverse opinions is that of
+Alexander S. Phinney, the most famous amateur fisherman of Otsego at the
+beginning of the twentieth century. He holds that Otsego bass is quite
+distinct from whitefish, but believes that the true Otsego bass has
+disappeared, giving place to a hybrid fish, now called Otsego bass, but
+really a cross between that variety and the whitefish with which Otsego
+has been stocked from the Great Lakes.</p>
+
+<p>As many as five thousand Otsego bass have been taken with one draught of
+the seine, but in view of the great difficulty of catching any with hook
+and line, the following suggestion from an old authority, Seth Green, is
+still of interest: "The Otsego bass can be taken with small minnows or
+red angle worms. I think if your tackle is very fine, and you do not
+twitch when they bite, they will swallow the bait. Put five or ten hooks
+(O'Shaunessy 8's, forged) on a fine snell, and loop them five feet
+apart; with a small sinker at the end. Bait some with small minnows (an
+inch or so in length) and some with worms. Cast out as far as you can
+from the boat, and let it lie half or three quarters of an hour on the
+bottom, feeling now and then to see if you have one on. The best way is
+to let them hook themselves. The angle worms, if used for bait, should
+be strung on to the hook with both ends left dangling. A light stroke
+must be made and the fish handled very carefully."</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_374" id="photo_374"></a><img src="images/photo_374.jpg" alt="Fishermen's Shanties on the Frozen Lake" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Fishermen's Shanties on the Frozen Lake</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span></p><p>Many fishermen are successful in taking Otsego bass with hook and line
+in winter, by fishing through the ice. No sooner has the lake become
+frozen from shore to shore, usually after Christmas, than the whole
+surface becomes dotted with the shanties of fishermen, which remain
+until the ice begins to weaken in the spring. The typical fisherman's
+shanty on the ice-bound lake is about five by six feet in floor space,
+and six feet high. It has a window, and the floor is so arranged that it
+can be raised to keep the fisherman above the water that sometimes
+floods the surface of the ice. Holes are cut through the floor, and
+through the ice beneath, for the admission of the fishing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>lines. The
+shanty is warmed by a small stove, with its stove-pipe sticking out
+through the roof. A chair and a coal box complete the furniture.</p>
+
+<p>Two methods of fishing through the ice for Otsego bass are used by the
+occupants of the shanties. According to one method the hook is dropped
+to the bottom of the lake, and the fish are attracted to its vicinity by
+bait strewn on the bottom. The other method is used nearer shore, where
+the baited hook is let down part way toward the bottom, to tempt the
+fish that move amid the grass and weeds.</p>
+
+<p>There are others besides fishermen to whom the frozen surface of Otsego
+Lake offers the means of pleasure and occupation. In some seasons the
+freezing of the lake occurs within a few hours, after a great and sudden
+fall in temperature, during a night of calm and intense cold. At such
+times, before snow has fallen upon the surface, the lake presents a
+scene of splendor. The ice is quite transparent, and has the effect of a
+great sheet of glass spread out amid the hills. This offers a perfect
+surface for skating, and attracts not only the boys and girls of the
+village, but a large number of their elders. The lake grows lively with
+the gracefully gliding promenade of skaters, with here and there a group
+playing at hockey, while others disport themselves at "crack the whip."
+The friction of so many gliding feet imparts to the frozen surface a low
+and weirdly humming sound, and the droning note is echoed by the hills,
+until the valley resounds with monotonous music. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>are times when
+the lake is so well frozen that skaters traverse the entire length. In
+some seasons ice-boats have been used, slanting from end to end of the
+lake with prodigious speed. As the winter advances and the ice grows
+stronger, driving upon the lake becomes common, and horse-races upon the
+ice have sometimes been included among the winter sports.</p>
+
+<p>At about five miles above the foot of the lake, and extending across it
+from shore to shore, a large fissure in the ice usually appears during
+the winter. This fissure is sometimes so wide that a team cannot cross
+it, and many years ago a span of horses was accidentally driven into it.
+The crevice in the ice has caused much speculation. The lake is narrow
+at the place where the crack appears, and the fissure is supposed to be
+created by expansion from the north and from the south, causing the ice
+to rise several feet in gable-like form until the ridge cracks, for
+fragments of ice are found on each side of the crevice.<a name="FNanchor_125" id="FNanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p>
+
+<p>The tremendous forces exerted by the expansion of the freezing lake cry
+aloud on still winter nights, whenever, after a period of thawing
+weather, the mercury suddenly drops to a point far below zero. On such
+nights, while the trees of the surrounding forest here and there begin
+to be so penetrated with the fierce cold that they crack like
+rifle-shots, the ice-bound lake sets up an unearthly groaning, and the
+cavernous sound <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span>of its bellowing echoes dismally over the sleeping
+village, like the trumpetings of some huge leviathan in agony.</p>
+
+<p>Cooperstown has a winter harvest-time, in January or February, when ice
+is cut from the lake for the summer supply. This industry occupies a
+large force of men, with plows, saws, hooks, crowbars, horses and
+bob-sleds, for several weeks. The ice taken from Otsego Lake, from ten
+to twenty inches thick, according to the severity of the winter, is
+always pure as mountain dew, and clear as crystal.</p>
+
+<p>The midsummer view of Otsego Lake at one time included, in the clearings
+along the western shore and hillsides, a great luxuriance of hop-vines.
+The golden wreaths of hops, as they hang ripening in the August
+sunshine, sweeping in graceful clusters from the tall poles, or swinging
+in the breeze in umbrella-like canopies, add a more picturesque feature
+to the landscape than any other growing crop.</p>
+
+<p>Hops have a part in the story of Cooperstown, which was at one time the
+centre of the most important hop-growing industry in America. Hop
+culture was introduced into Otsego county about the year 1830. In 1845
+only 168,605 pounds were produced. In 1885, within a radial distance of
+forty miles from Cooperstown was included more than half of the
+hop-producing region of the United States.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_378" id="photo_378"></a><img src="images/photo_378.jpg" alt="Hop Picking" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>Elizabeth Hudson</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Hop Picking</p></div>
+
+<p>The hop-picking season, during the latter part of August, has given a
+picturesque character of its own to the life of the village and
+environs. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>the primitive days of the industry, when the harvesting of
+the crop did not require any additional help from outside of the
+immediate region, the task of hop-picking was lightened by the enjoyment
+of social pleasures and romantic excitements that came to be associated
+with it by the young people of Otsego. At the beginning of the picking
+season, in those days, anyone passing through the country would meet
+wagon after wagon, of the style known as a "democrat," loaded down with
+gay and lively maidens, with one or two young men to each load. On
+reaching the hop-yard to which they were assigned, these frolicsome
+parties exchanged their holiday attire for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span>broad-rimmed hats and
+working dresses. Boxes were placed about the hop-yard, four pickers to
+each, the boxes being divided into four sections holding ten bushels
+apiece, and into these were dropped the clusters picked from the vines
+by nimble fingers. Experienced hands can fill two or more boxes in a
+day, for which as much as fifty cents a box used to be paid.</p>
+
+<p>The midday lunch was taken beneath the shade of the nearest tree, or, in
+case the pickers were boarded by the grower, all adjourned to the
+largest room in an out-building, where a rural feast was spread with no
+niggard hand. Hop-pickers expect to live on the fat of the farmer's
+land, and as a rule they are not disappointed. Whole sheep and beeves
+vanish like manna before the Israelites in the short three weeks of the
+picking season, while gallons of coffee, firkins of butter, barrels of
+flour, and sugar by the hundred weight are swallowed up in the capacious
+maw of the small army. The nightly hop-dance used to be an indispensable
+adjunct of the picking season, much counted upon by the gay throng, but
+rather frowned upon, as an occasion of scandal, by staid and proper
+seniors.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 30%;">
+<a name="photo_381" id="photo_381"></a><img class="bbox" src="images/photo_381.jpg" alt="MAP OF OTSEGO LAKE" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption">MAP OF OTSEGO LAKE</p></div>
+
+<p>With the great increase in hop-production during the early 'eighties,
+the romance of hop-picking, on many farms, gave place to a picturesque
+but undesirable invasion of vagabondage from the large cities. Some
+farmers continued to choose their pickers from among the better sort of
+young men and maidens of the neighborhood, but many large growers,
+requiring a great number of hands <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>for a short season, resorted to the
+unemployed of neighboring cities, and the result was an annual
+immigration from Albany, Troy, Binghamton, and other cities farther
+north, which taxed the capacity of the railways. Among these workers
+many were honest and capable, but a large part of them were attracted by
+the prospect of three weeks of board and lodging, with an amount of pay
+which, if small, was sufficient for a glorious spree. It became the
+custom in Cooperstown to augment the village police force during the
+hop-picking season, for city thugs were likely to be abroad, and when
+the pickers were paid off their revels were apt to become both obnoxious
+and dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>Hops will be seen growing in the summer along the shores and hillsides
+of Otsego Lake, so long as beer is made; for, aside from the very
+limited amount required to leaven bread, and the comparatively small
+amount used in druggists' preparations, there is no use for hops except
+in the making of beer. But never again will there be in Otsego such
+luxuriance of hop-culture as that which developed in the 'eighties
+before the Pacific coast learned to compete successfully with the
+hop-growers of New York State.</p>
+
+<p>Hop-culture is a gamble which in Otsego county has made fortunes for
+some farmers and brought ruin to others. The growth of the product is
+singularly at the mercy of freaks of weather, and its preparation for
+the market is beset by many possibilities of failure. It is a crop of
+which it is most difficult to count the final cost, or to predict<a name="Page_381" id="Page_381"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span>the
+market price. It has varied in price more than any other product of the
+soil. In 1878 the entire crop was marketed at from five to twelve cents
+a pound. But for many years every farmer in Otsego remembered the season
+of 1882-83, when the average cost of producing a pound of hops was ten
+cents, and hops were selling at a dollar a pound, so that, as was said
+at the time, "five pounds of hops could be exchanged for a barrel of
+flour."<a name="FNanchor_126" id="FNanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> Many farmers made money at this time, but some held their
+hops for an even higher price, and lost. One farmer held thousands of
+pounds of hops in his great barn, and kept buying in the crops of other
+farmers, awaiting a price of $1.20, at which he had resolved to sell.
+Two years later the hops were still in the barn, and nine-tenths of
+their value was lost. There were other tragedies of this sort, yet for
+years afterward, while some continued to grow hops at a fair profit,
+many a farmer in the vicinity of Cooperstown, lured by the hope of a
+dollar-a-pound season, was kept on the verge of poverty by his faith in
+the golden vine.</p>
+
+<p>Otsego Lake is chiefly famous as the scene of events in two of Cooper's
+<i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i>. There are glimpses of it in <i>The Pioneers</i>,
+while in <i>The Deerslayer</i> the whole action revolves about this lake,
+which throughout the story is called the "Glimmerglass." The scenes of
+incidents in these two tales are still pointed out on Otsego Lake, and
+have become as much a part of its history as of its romance.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_383" id="photo_383"></a><img src="images/photo_383.jpg" alt="The Susquehanna" width="100%" />
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">The Susquehanna,</span> near its source</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span></p><p>To begin with points described in <i>The Deerslayer</i>, the beehive-shaped
+rock where the youthful Leather-Stocking had his rendezvous with
+Chingachgook is that now known as Council Rock, and still juts above the
+water at the outlet of the lake, near the western shore of the
+Susquehanna's source. Here it was that exactly at sunset, to keep his
+appointment with Leather-Stocking, the tall, handsome, and athletic
+young Delaware Indian suddenly appeared in full war-paint, standing upon
+the rock, having escaped his lurking foes. Not far from this point, at a
+short distance down the river, Deerslayer got his first glimpse of the
+beautiful Judith Hutter, as she peered from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>window of the "ark,"
+which had been moored beneath the screening foliage of overhanging
+trees. It was through these waters, and through the outlet, soon
+afterward, that Floating Tom Hutter and Hurry Harry, aided by
+Deerslayer, drew the ark back into the lake in the nick of time to
+escape a band of hostile Iroquois.</p>
+
+<p>On the western side of the lake, just beyond the O-te-sa-ga as one
+travels northward, the first little bay that indents the shore, now
+called Blackbird Bay, and somewhat changed in shape and aspect by
+fillings of soil and other improvements at the Country Club, is the
+"Rat's Cove," where Floating Tom Hutter was fond of keeping his ark
+anchored behind the trees that covered the narrow strip of jutting land.
+Here it was, at the beginning of the story, that Deerslayer and Hurry
+Harry sought Tom in vain, and on this margin of the lake the buck
+appeared at which Hurry took the shot that awakened the echoes of the
+Glimmerglass. Adjacent to this bay, in the midst of the stretch of land
+between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, was the Huron camp in
+which Hutter and Hurry were captured by the redskins; and the quantities
+of arrowheads found here in later times suggest that it actually was a
+favorite place of Indian encampment.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 40%;">
+<a name="photo_387" id="photo_387"></a><img src="images/photo_387.jpg" alt="Leatherstocking Falls" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>Arthur J. Telfer</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Leatherstocking Falls</p></div>
+
+<p>North of Blackbird Bay and the Country Club, and beyond Fenimore Farm,
+are Glimmerglen Cove and Brookwood Point, where charming residences that
+overlook the lake add their own attractions to the names of
+"Glimmerglen" and "Brookwood," by which they are known. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span>stream that
+gushes into the lake from Brookwood is the one in which Hetty Hutter
+made her ablutions, and from which she drank, while on her lonely way
+southward to the Huron camp, in her simple-minded scheme for the rescue
+of her father and Hurry Harry.</p>
+
+<p>A short distance north of Brookwood there empties into the lake a stream
+which is worth tracing toward its source as far as the hillside beyond
+the road that skirts the lake, for here the water comes tumbling down
+from the height in the beautiful Leatherstocking Falls. A shady glen is
+here, a favorite resort of small picnic parties, and while nothing of
+Cooper's romance has been added to the scene except the name, some
+interest may be found in the traces of an old mill which once got its
+power from Leatherstocking Falls.</p>
+
+<p>Some tense situations in the story of the <i>Deerslayer</i> are associated
+with Three-Mile Point, the present picnic resort of Cooperstown; and a
+full understanding of the events described as having taken place on this
+spot almost depends upon some reference to the actual conformation of
+the land. It was on the northern side of the projecting point that Hetty
+had landed on the errand just referred to, setting her canoe adrift.
+Wah-ta-wah promised to meet her Delaware lover, Chingachgook, at the
+same landing-place, on the next night, at the moment when the planet
+Jupiter should top the pines of the eastern shore. Here came
+Chingachgook and Deerslayer in their canoe, at the appointed time, to
+steal the maiden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span>from the Hurons, but found that she could not keep the
+tryst. Around this point Deerslayer gently propelled his canoe southward
+until he gained a view of the fire-lit camp, which the Hurons had moved
+from the region of Blackbird Bay to the southern slope of Three-Mile
+Point. Back again to its northern side he paddled softly, and having
+joined Chingachgook, they left the canoe on the beach near the point,
+and made their stealthy detour, approaching the camp from the west, in
+the shadow of the trees, informing Wah-ta-wah of their presence by
+Chingachgook's squirrel-signal. The spring that still bubbles for the
+refreshment of picnickers on the northern shore of the Point was the one
+which Wah-ta-wah made a pretext to draw away from the camp the old squaw
+who guarded her, and here Deerslayer throttled the vigilant hag, while
+Chingachgook and his Indian sweetheart raced for the canoe. Here, when
+Deerslayer released his grip to follow them, the squaw alarmed the camp.
+Along the stretch of beach he ran eastward to the place where the lovers
+were already in the canoe awaiting him, and from this point Deerslayer
+pushed their canoe to safety, yielding himself to capture.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_388" id="photo_388"></a><img src="images/photo_388.jpg" alt="Five-Mile Point" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Five-Mile Point</p></div>
+
+<p>It was at Five-Mile Point that the Hurons were afterward encamped when
+Deerslayer, whom they had released on parole, returned at the appointed
+hour to redeem his plighted word. Back of Five-Mile Point is a
+picturesque rocky gorge called Mohican Canyon, through which a brook
+ripples, with clumps of fern and rose peeping<a name="Page_387" id="Page_387"></a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span>from the crevices of its
+rugged walls. Having fulfilled his pledge, Deerslayer soon ventured the
+dash for liberty that so nearly succeeded; and, after making a circuit
+of the slope, it was along the ridge of Mohican Canyon that he ran at
+top speed to try a plunge for the lake, with the whole band of Indians
+in pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>In the open area of Five-Mile Point, after his recapture, Deerslayer was
+bound to a tree, and became a target for the hairbreadth marksmanship of
+Huron tomahawks, preliminary to being put to torture.</p>
+
+<p>North of this spot, and along the shore, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span>Hutter's Point is of interest
+to the reader of the <i>Leather-Stocking Tales</i>, for here is the path by
+which Deerslayer reached the lake at the beginning of his romantic
+history, and gained his first view of the Glimmerglass. In the second
+chapter of the <i>Deerslayer</i>, Cooper's famous description of the lake as
+it was when the first white man came, based upon his own recollection of
+it when nine-tenths of its shores were in virgin forest, was conceived
+from the angle of Hutter's Point.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 50%;">
+<a name="photo_389" id="photo_389"></a><img src="images/photo_389.jpg" alt="Mohican Canyon" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>M. Antoinette Abram</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Mohican Canyon</p></div>
+
+<p>Not far from the northern end of the lake a faint discoloration of the
+water, with a few reeds projecting above the surface, reveals the
+location of the so-called "sunken island," where the waters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span>of the lake
+shoal from a great depth, and offer the site upon which, at the southern
+end of the shoal, Cooper's imagination built the "Muskrat Castle" of Tom
+Hutter, at which the terrific struggle with the Indians occurred when
+Hutter was killed. At the northern end of the sunken island was the
+watery grave in which the mother of Judith and Hetty lay, and which
+afterward became the grave of Hutter, and finally of Hetty herself.<a name="FNanchor_127" id="FNanchor_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p>
+
+<p>Across the lake, on its eastern shore, south of Hyde Bay, is Gravelly
+Point, to which Hutter's lost canoe drifted, and where Deerslayer killed
+his first Indian. Farther south is Point Judith, now marked by
+Kingfisher Tower, where Deerslayer, returning to the Glimmerglass
+fifteen years after the events described in the story, found the
+stranded wreck of the ark, and saw fluttering from a log a ribbon that
+had been worn by the lovely Judith Hutter. Here "he tore away the ribbon
+and knotted it to the stock of Killdeer, which had been the gift of the
+girl herself."</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 45%;">
+<a name="photo_391" id="photo_391"></a><img src="images/photo_391.jpg" alt="Gravelly Point" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Gravelly Point</p></div>
+
+<p>Toward the foot of the lake the eastern hills and shore belong to scenes
+of Leather-Stocking's elder days, as described in <i>The Pioneers</i>. North
+of Lakewood Cemetery a climb up the precipitous mountainside leads to
+Natty Bumppo's Cave, which, with some poetic license in his treatment
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span>of its dimensions, the novelist employs as a setting for the final
+climax of his story. To the platform of rock over the cave, as a refuge
+from the forest fire, Leather-Stocking guided Elizabeth Temple and
+Edwards, and carried the dying Chingachgook. On this spot, with his
+glazing eyes fixed upon the western hills, the last of the Mohicans
+yielded up his spirit. Here was the scene of Captain Hollister's charge
+at the head of the Templeton Light Infantry, so swiftly followed by the
+revelation of the mystery which the cave concealed.</p>
+
+<p>Not far from the spot upon which the Leather-Stocking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> monument now
+stands, near the main entrance of Lakewood cemetery, the log hut of
+Leather-Stocking stood, and afterward, according to the story,
+Chingachgook was buried there. Farther southward, the road that branches
+off to ascend Mount Vision is the one by which Judge Temple and his
+daughter approached the village in the opening scene of the story, and
+it was during their descent from the upper level of this road that the
+buck was shot by Edwards and Leather-Stocking, when Judge Temple's
+marksmanship had failed. Near the branching of this road a stairway
+climbs the mountain, and reaches the pathway of Prospect Rock, where
+Elizabeth found the old Mohican, and was trapped by the forest fire.
+Upon this natural terrace a rustic observatory now stands, which offers
+a superb view of the lake and village.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the summit of Mount Vision, overlooking the village, that
+Elizabeth Temple was faced by a panther crouching to spring upon her,
+and had resigned herself to a cruel death, when she heard the quiet
+voice of old Leather-Stocking, followed by the crack of the rifle that
+saved her life, as he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Hist! hist! Stoop lower, gal; your bonnet hides the creatur's head!"</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> <i>Pages and Pictures</i>, 301.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Elihu Phinney in Shaw's <i>History of Cooperstown</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Letter to John W. Francis, 1822.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Vol xxix, p. 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> U.S. National Museum, Bulletin 47, p. 465.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Livermore, <i>History of Cooperstown</i>, p. 133.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> G. P. Keese, <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, October, 1885.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127" id="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> For the purpose of the story, as he explains in the
+preface of <i>The Deerslayer</i>, Cooper places the "sunken island" farther
+south, nearly opposite to Hutter's Point, and at a greater distance from
+the shore than its real situation.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGINNINGS</h3>
+
+
+<p>A man of national reputation made Cooperstown his summer home in 1903,
+when the Rt. Rev. Dr. Henry C. Potter, seventh Bishop of New York, who
+had married Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, took up his residence at
+Fernleigh. In his administration of the most populous diocese in
+America, Bishop Potter had gained wide renown as an ecclesiastic; added
+to which his prominence in civic affairs, and in matters of national
+importance, together with a public championship of workingmen's rights
+at which many wealthy churchpeople stood aghast, made him one of the
+most notable figures in American life. He passed his summers in
+Cooperstown until his death at Fernleigh in July, 1908, and the near
+view of his big personality caused him to be as greatly beloved in the
+village as he was honored in the city. He entered with zest into the
+interests of the village, gave a new impetus to many of its activities,
+and made friends in all walks of life.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 35%;">
+<a name="photo_395" id="photo_395"></a><img src="images/photo_395.jpg" alt="Bishop Potter" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>A. F. Bradley</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">Bishop Potter</p></div>
+
+<p>When Bishop Potter came to dwell in Cooperstown, the village had already
+made up its mind that he was a rather austere and distant man, an
+official person, the quintessence of ecclesiastical
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span>statesmanship,&mdash;urbane, but unyielding. He looked the part. Tall, erect,
+and of splendid figure, his countenance had the aristocratic beauty of a
+family noted for its handsome men. The noble head and the poutingly
+compressed lips of a wide mouth gave an impression of power, while a
+slight droop of the left eyelid, and a thin rim of white around the iris
+of the eyes, imparted a veiled and filmy coldness to his glance. The
+personal dignity of the Bishop, his commanding presence, a certain
+picturesque magnificence, the rich and well-modulated voice, the
+incisiveness of his manner of speech, with the clear-cut value given to
+every word and syllable, were characteristics that marked him as a
+leader of men.</p>
+
+<p>But Cooperstown soon came to realize the lovable traits and real
+simplicity of its most distinguished resident. He placed many villagers
+in his debt by personal acts of kindness, and charmed all by his genial
+friendliness. In any company he was the chief source of entertainment.
+Although he applied himself intensely to official work during certain
+hours of every day in the summer, when the hour of relaxation came he
+laid aside his task. With all his cares, he was never the grim man
+forcing himself to be gay. His contribution to the pleasure of a company
+was spontaneous and contagious. Not the least highly developed of his
+qualities was the Bishop's sense of humor. He was an incomparable
+raconteur, and many an incident of village life gave him material for a
+story which, with certain poetic license of embellishment that he
+sometimes allowed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>himself, set his hearers in a roar. He was as ready
+to hear a good story as to tell one, and his ringing laugh was a
+delight. The Bishop talked much and well. His use of the pause in
+speaking, with a momentary compression of the lips now and then between
+clauses, heightened the effect of crispness in his felicitously chosen
+phrases. He was a good listener if one had anything to say, but he was
+not averse to presiding in monologue over a number of people, and often
+did so, for his fund of talk was so rich that others, in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>presence,
+were sometimes slow to offer any contribution of their own. He was most
+adroit at this sort of entertainment, and had a way of apparently
+bringing others of the company into the conversation&mdash;usually those who
+seemed rather shy and overawed,&mdash;without requiring them to utter so much
+as a word. In the midst of his talk the Bishop would interject such a
+remark as, "You will understand me, Mr. So-and-So, when I say"., or
+"Mrs. Blank, you will be particularly interested to know"., turning
+earnestly toward the person addressed. Of course Mr. So-and-So and Mrs.
+Blank brightened up at being singled out by the great man, and beamed
+with pleasure at having thus contributed to the conversation.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_396" id="photo_396"></a><img src="images/photo_396.jpg" alt="The Rectory" width="70%" />
+<p class="illus10"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Rectory</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span></p><p>In the morning of every week-day, just as the village clock struck nine,
+the Bishop could be seen issuing from Fernleigh, whence, after passing
+the Rectory, he pursued a slow and stately course down the curved path
+of the Cooper Grounds to the Clark Estate building, where he had an
+office on the upper floor at the southwest corner. On warm summer days,
+he discarded broadcloth, and was dressed in flannels of spotless white.
+He walked with a stick, and there was a slight limp of the left leg, due
+to an injury received in riding. So strong and erect was his bearing,
+however, in spite of his more than three score years and ten, that the
+slow gait seemed to be caused rather by preference than necessity, and
+the limp really appeared to add to the majesty of his measured pace.
+Anyone who joined him was obliged to walk as slowly as the Bishop, who
+never hastened his steps, but conversed affably; now and then, as some
+thought struck him forcibly, he paused abruptly in his walk, and stood
+still to utter what was in his mind, moving forward again, by way of
+emphasis, at the end of a sentence. In these walks through the Cooper
+Grounds, and about the village, the Bishop assumed acquaintance with
+everyone, and frequently stopped to enter into conversation with a
+neighbor, a passing tourist, or some workman toiling in a ditch. It was
+because of his genuine interest in everyone that the village came to
+regard Bishop Potter no longer as a distinguished metropolitan, but as a
+genial neighbor. A stable-boy who at this period drove the village
+rector to a country funeral expressed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span>the sentiment of many when he
+said: "I used to think the Bishop was stuck up; but he is really just as
+common as me or you!"</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Potter took great delight in amusing occurrences in which he
+shared as he went about the village. In fact he seemed deliberately to
+invite them, and afterward described the incidents with contagious
+merriment. One day as he was about to enter a car of the trolley road on
+Main Street, an enormously fat countrywoman was standing on the
+platform, bidding farewell to her her friends. She had much to say, and
+completely blocked the entrance to the car. After waiting patiently for
+some moments the Bishop addressed the woman in his most gracious manner.
+"Madam," said he, "I don't wish to interfere with your conversation, but
+if you will kindly move either one way or the other, so that I may enter
+the car, I shall be greatly obliged." The woman glared at him. "Are you
+the conductor of this car?" she snapped, "Because if you be, you're the
+sassiest conductor that ever <i>I</i> see!"</p>
+
+<p>In the late summer of 1904, "Doc" Brady, a lovable old Irish heart, who
+used to peddle portraits of the Pope, corn salve, and various trifles,
+encountered Bishop Potter in front of the Village Library, and invited a
+purchase of his wares, which at this time included campaign buttons of
+Col. Roosevelt and Judge Parker, attached to packages of chewing-gum.
+"Here ye are, Bishop," he cried; "Get a button for your favorite
+candidate!" The Bishop impartially selected a button of each kind, and
+pushed the chewing-gum <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>aside. "Take your goom, Bishop, take your goom,"
+urged Brady, as the Bishop moved away. "No, certainly not," was the firm
+reply. But Doc Brady was insistent, and hurrying after the Bishop forced
+the gum upon him. "There," said he, "if you don't chew it yourself, take
+it home to Mrs. Potter!" The Bishop's laugh rang aloud through the
+Cooper Grounds as he slowly ascended the path, taking home the
+chewing-gum to Fernleigh.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop usually left his office in the Clark Estate building toward
+one o'clock, and Mrs. Potter often walked down to join him on the way
+home. Sometimes, as she passed the office, she hailed the Bishop, and
+conversed with him as he stood at the open window above. On one
+occasion, when Mrs. Potter had several ladies as guests, they all
+chatted with the Bishop through the window on their way to Fernleigh. A
+moment later, recalling something that he had neglected to mention, he
+summoned a gardener who was at work close at hand, and asked him to
+request the ladies kindly to step back to the window, as the Bishop had
+something to say to them. Shortly afterward, in response to the
+gardener's summons, there was lined up beneath the window a happy group
+of female excursionists carrying lunch-baskets, entire strangers to the
+Bishop, and in a quite a flutter of anticipation of what the
+distinguished prelate might have to communicate. The Bishop was equal to
+the situation. He gave them some information concerning points of
+interest in and about Cooperstown, with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span>a brief summary of the history
+of the Cooper Grounds in which they then stood, and sent them away
+rejoicing in knowledge that added greatly to the pleasure of their
+visit.</p>
+
+<p>A frequent guest at Fernleigh at this time was the Rev. Dr. W. W. Lord,
+formerly rector of Christ Church, and for many years one of the most
+beloved friends of the Clark family. This aged clergyman and poet was a
+scholar of the old-fashioned type, well-versed in the elder
+philosophies, and fond of quoting Greek, Latin, and Hebrew authors in
+the original tongues. Dr. Lord admired Bishop Potter, but the two men
+were of different schools, and the old priest was inclined to stir up
+good-humored controversies in which he pitted his scholasticism against
+the Bishop's more facile and modern if less profound learning. The New
+York prelate entered with great zest into the contest of wits, and let
+slip no opportunity to score a point on Dr. Lord.</p>
+
+<p>Although usually numbered among the evangelicals, Bishop Potter in his
+latter years was sympathetic with certain aspects of Catholic
+ceremonial. He believed in the enrichment of the services of the Church
+by light, color, and symbolism, so far as might be consistent with the
+law of the Anglican communion in America. Dr. Lord belonged to the
+school of churchmanship which abhorred anything beyond the most severe
+simplicity in the services of the Church, and had a large contempt for
+the badges and symbols of ritualism.</p>
+
+<p>On the festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1903, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span>Bishop Potter and Dr.
+Lord were the chief figures at a service held in Christ Church to which
+the Masonic lodges of Cooperstown and vicinity were invited. Both the
+Bishop and Dr. Lord were thirty-third degree Masons. Dr. Lord, because
+of the infirmities of age, at that period seldom officiated in church,
+but for this occasion was to have a place of honor in the chancel, and
+to pronounce the benediction. Bishop Potter was to deliver the sermon.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Lord came early to the sacristy of the church, and, having vested in
+his long flowing surplice and black stole, seated himself to await
+service time. In conversation with the rector, Dr. Lord recalled the
+days when more of the clergy were simple in their apparel, and he
+deplored the tendency to adopt brilliant vestments, colored stoles, and
+academic hoods. A hood, said Dr. Lord, echoing the sentiments of a witty
+English prelate, was often a falsehood. Any man could wear a red bag
+dangling down his back, but nothing except sound scholarship could
+really make a Doctor of Divinity. For his part, said Dr. Lord, he was
+content to be a Doctor of Divinity, by virtue of scholastic learning,
+without wearing a hood to proclaim it.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment the Bishop appeared, having walked from Fernleigh to the
+church fully arrayed in his vestments. He was a resplendent figure. In
+addition to the episcopal robes of his office, he wore an Oxford cap,
+and a hood of flaming crimson, which an expert in such matters would
+have identified as belonging to Union College, or Yale, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span>or Harvard, or
+Oxford, or Cambridge, or St. Andrew's, all of which institutions of
+learning had conferred the doctorate on Bishop Potter.</p>
+
+<p>It still lacked a few moments of service time, and when the Bishop was
+seated in the bright light of the sacristy, another feature of
+decoration in his dress appeared. Depending from a chain about the neck
+there glittered upon his breast what the Masons call a "jewel." To the
+non-Masonic eye it was more than a jewel. It suggested rather a shooting
+star, emitting a shower of scintillations from the facets of a hundred
+jewels. When the coruscations of this Masonic emblem caught the eye of
+Dr. Lord, he became uneasy, and began to finger an imaginary token of
+rank upon his own breast. "I ought to have a jewel to wear to-night," he
+said musingly, and muttered of the splendid jewel that he had forgotten
+to bring, given to him years before by the Grand Lodge. By this time the
+hour of service had come; the aproned Masons had marched to their seats
+in the nave of the church, and all available space was thronged by an
+expectant congregation. Nevertheless Dr. Lord requested the rector to go
+forth from the sacristy, and ask the master of the Lodge whether any of
+the brethren present had a jewel to lend for the occasion. This was
+done, but no jewel was forthcoming. The Bishop seemed absorbed in his
+own thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>The choir and clergy entered the chancel, and the service began. Dr.
+Lord had a seat of honor in the sanctuary at the right of the altar.
+When evensong was finished, Bishop Potter preached <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span>the sermon, after
+which he returned to the sanctuary, and stood at the left of the altar
+opposite to Dr. Lord. Just before the benediction, which Dr. Lord was to
+pronounce, the Bishop caught the rector's eye, and beckoned. When the
+rector came near, the Bishop removed the Masonic jewel, with its chain,
+and handed it to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Put it around the old man's neck," the Bishop whispered.</p>
+
+<p>This was done, and the venerable clergyman, decorated with the flashing
+symbol, seemed to grow in stature beyond his usual great height, as he
+ascended the steps of the altar, where he uplifted his hands, and in an
+age-worn but magnificent and sonorous voice pronounced the solemn
+blessing.</p>
+
+<p>In the early autumn of 1904 the Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. Dr. Randall T.
+Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England, the first
+occupant of the chair of St. Augustine to visit America, was a guest at
+Fernleigh. The Archbishop and Mrs. Davidson, with the Archbishop's two
+chaplains, were met at the station by Bishop Potter together with a
+delegation of Cooperstown citizens. The first carriage that left the
+station contained the English and American bishops; the second carried
+the two chaplains, escorted by the village rector. As this carriage left
+the station, David H. Gregory, the perennial wit of the summer colony,
+called out,</p>
+
+<p>"Don't forget to show the gentlemen the Indian in the Cooper Grounds."</p>
+
+<p>The chaplains of the Archbishop exchanged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span>glances of pleased
+anticipation. What they had heard suggested that Cooperstown kept a live
+Indian on view as a symbol of its history and romance, just as Rome
+maintains always its pair of wolves at the Capitoline hill. The rector
+tried in vain to divert their thoughts toward other objects. When the
+carriage rolled through the Cooper Grounds the chaplains insisted upon
+seeing the Indian. There was nothing to do but to point out J. Q. A.
+Ward's sculptured Indian which stands in the midst of the park, a
+replica of the one in Central Park, New York, and better mounted,
+altogether a fine work of art, but&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I say," exclaimed one of the chaplains, as they looked at one
+another in deep disappointment, "Not alive; not alive!"</p>
+
+<p>During the Archbishop's stay in Cooperstown he attended daily services
+in Christ Church, and enjoyed visiting points of interest on the lake
+and in the village. That a souvenir of the visit might be preserved the
+Archbishop and the Bishop were photographed together on the front porch
+of Fernleigh. Apparently some prosaic adviser had represented to the
+Archbishop that his usual costume would make him undesirably conspicuous
+in America, for during his tour of this country the Primate of all
+England abandoned the picturesque every-day dress of an English bishop,
+with its knickerbockers and gaiters, in favor of the international
+hideousness of pantaloons. At the time of the photograph Bishop Potter
+was wearing leggings, having just returned from riding, so that the two
+bishops appeared to have exchanged costumes.</p>
+
+<div class="photoleft" style="width: 40%;">
+<a name="photo_405" id="photo_405"></a><img src="images/photo_405.jpg" alt="The Archbishop with Bishop Potter" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Archbishop with Bishop Potter</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span></p><p>The Archbishop desired not to have anything like a public reception, but
+it was intimated to a few neighbors that they would be welcomed at
+Fernleigh on a certain evening. At this gathering the most regal figure,
+who, in the ancient finery of her apparel, wearing a headdress topped
+with an ostrich plume, may be said to have eclipsed the most
+distinguished guests, was Susan Augusta Cooper, granddaughter of the
+novelist, representing, as it were, the very foundation of the village.
+Miss Cooper was one of the most characteristic survivals of the old
+r&eacute;gime in Cooperstown. She lived next door to Fernleigh in Byberry
+Cottage, which had been built as a home for the two unmarried daughters
+of the novelist shortly after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span>the burning of Otsego Hall, and largely
+out of material rescued from it, including the oaken doors, the
+balusters of the stairway, and two bookcases from Cooper's library which
+were transferred to the cottage. Susan Augusta Cooper took up her
+residence there with her mother and aunts in 1875, and when she died in
+1915 had been the sole occupant of the cottage for many years. She was a
+type of old-fashioned neighborliness, and made a specialty of
+ministration to the needs of sick and poor throughout the village. One
+frequently met her on some errand of mercy; the basket on her arm
+contained good things prepared with her own hands for the needy; the
+large and stately figure had grown rather mountainous with advancing
+years, and the dignity of her slow and measured pace suggested the
+steady progress of a ship moving in calm waters. The solemnity of her
+countenance, and the grave manner of her carefully chosen words, were
+lovably familiar to those who knew her warm and generous heart.</p>
+
+<p>When Miss Cooper's health failed she was obliged to undergo an operation
+which left her a cripple, unable to get about except in a wheel-chair
+propelled by an attendant. Always a faithful communicant of Christ
+Church, her disability occasioned what came to be almost a parochial
+ceremony, for when Miss Cooper made her communion she was wheeled to the
+chancel steps, and the priest came forward to administer to her, while
+the other communicants respectfully waited until she had withdrawn.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_407" id="photo_407"></a><img src="images/photo_407.jpg" alt="Byberry Cottage" width="70%" />
+<p class="illus15"><i>C. A. Schneider</i></p>
+<p class="caption"><span class="smcap">Byberry Cottage</span> as originally built</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p><p>Added to her other infirmities, an affection of the eyes gradually
+darkened her vision until she became totally blind. In a condition of
+helplessness which would seem to make existence unendurable, Miss Cooper
+found much to make her happy, and life was sweet to her to the end. She
+enjoyed the society of friends, and it gave her keen pleasure, blind and
+crippled as she was, to be seated in state at large social functions.
+Such was her habitual solemnity of manner that few gave her credit for
+the sense of humor which lightened many of her dark days. She uttered
+her jests with so much gravity that they were often taken in earnest.
+Now and again she made sport <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span>of her own infirmities. Meeting her one
+day in her wheel-chair, after her eyesight had begun to fail, a neighbor
+inquired for her health. "Quite comfortable," replied Miss Cooper, in
+solemn tones, "except for my eyes. They tell me it is a fine day, with
+beautiful blue sky. The sky is blue, but to my eyes it is shrunk to the
+size of a bachelor's-button!" Miss Cooper was very reluctant in
+consenting to the amputation which prolonged her life for several years.
+Even after the surgeons stood ready in the operating-room she for a time
+declined to submit to the ordeal. There was a prolonged discussion which
+resulted at last, on the advice of friends, in obtaining her consent.
+The chief surgeon entering the room approached the bedside rubbing his
+hands and, grasping at something to say to reassure the patient,
+remarked in silken tones, "Well, Miss Cooper, I'm glad to hear that you
+prefer to have the amputation." The situation seemed desperate, and
+nerves were at a high tension among Miss Cooper's friends. "Well,
+doctor," was her tart rejoinder, "I must say that 'prefer' is hardly the
+word that I should use!" With this she gave a chuckle that proved her
+spirit undaunted, and relieved the strain.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Cooper had great respect for the clergy, and for a bishop her
+reverence was unbounded. When Bishop Potter dedicated the monument at
+the grave of Leslie Pell-Clarke, in Lakewood Cemetery, a terrific
+thunderstorm arose during the ceremonies, and Miss Cooper was taken home
+in the carriage with the distinguished prelate to escape the deluge. The
+various conveyances <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span>plunged down the hillside post-haste, with
+lightning crashing on every side. Some of the ladies in the party became
+hysterical. Miss Cooper alone was perfectly calm. "With a bishop by my
+side," she exclaimed, "I am not in the least afraid to die!"</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 50%;">
+<a name="photo_409" id="photo_409"></a><img src="images/photo_409.jpg" alt="The Clark Estate Office" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">The Clark Estate Office</p></div>
+
+<p>In the summer of 1904 Bishop Potter unwittingly acted as the accomplice
+of a burglar who robbed the safe of the Clark Estate office in
+Cooperstown, and escaped with a quantity of jewels. The newspapers
+estimated the value of the stolen jewels at from $20,000 to $100,000,
+and the robbery became a celebrated case in police annals. The burglary
+was unusual in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span>having taken place in broad daylight, with Bishop Potter
+calmly at work at his desk on the second floor of the small building.
+When the clerks left the office for luncheon at noon they locked the
+outside door, but did not close the vault in which the papers and
+valuables were kept. It was a brilliant summer day, the seventh of July;
+villagers and tourists were passing and repassing through the adjacent
+Cooper Grounds; the clerks were to return within an hour, and in the
+mean time the Bishop was there. Nobody dreamed of the possibility of a
+burglary, but it was the unexpected that happened. When the vault was to
+be closed and locked at the end of the day, a tin box containing a
+casket of jewels was missing. In the basement of the building the tin
+box which had contained the jewel-case was found empty, and near by was
+a hatchet usually kept in the basement, and with which the box had been
+pried open.</p>
+
+<p>The news of the robbery caused intense excitement in the community. The
+village policeman together with the county sheriff and his deputies met
+in conference at the Clark Estate office; knots of people gathered upon
+the streets in earnest discussion; the village press was busy turning
+out handbills announcing the robbery and offering a large reward for the
+apprehension of the thief; the telegraph wires hummed with messages to
+the police of the state and nation. Next morning Pinkerton detectives
+arrived under the leadership of George S. Dougherty, afterward deputy
+police commissioner of the city of New York.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span></p><p>The clues discovered by the detectives were not encouraging. In the
+office nothing appeared beyond the fact that the box of jewels had been
+removed from the safe. In the basement the discarded tin box that had
+contained the casket of jewels lay upon the floor not far from the
+hatchet with which it had been opened, and the only remarkable
+circumstance was that the floor all about the empty box was bespattered
+with blood. The detectives said also that they noticed the frequent
+appearance of a woman's footprints which were well defined and seemed to
+encircle the spot where the empty jewel-box lay.</p>
+
+<p>The blood-stains appeared to offer the most serviceable clue, and to
+account for them three theories were suggested. First: The robber had
+been caught in the act by someone who had disappeared in pursuit, after
+one or the other had been wounded in the struggle. Second: There was
+more than one robber, and there had been a bloody quarrel over the
+division of the booty. Third: In opening the tin box containing the
+jewels the robber had cut himself either with the hatchet or with the
+jagged tin. Since the Bishop, who had been in the building during the
+robbery, heard no sound of any struggle, the first two theories were
+abandoned, and the third alone seemed probable. Advices were accordingly
+telegraphed to the police of various cities to look out for a man with a
+bandaged hand. For several days thereafter suspicious-looking men in
+remote parts of the country who had had the misfortune to injure a hand
+suffered the added misfortune <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>of being detained by the police; but
+nothing came of it.</p>
+
+<p>In order to aid in the recovery of the property, and to make it
+difficult for the thief to dispose of it, a description of the stolen
+jewelry was given out, and summarized as follows: a pearl collar; a
+diamond bow-knot with pear-shaped pearl pendant; a ring set with two
+diamonds and a ruby; a ring set with diamond and ruby; a small diamond
+ring; a solitaire diamond ring; a diamond marquise ring; a ring set with
+two diamonds crosswise; a diamond bracelet; a diamond and pearl
+bracelet.</p>
+
+<p>Dougherty the detective had another method of procedure in reserve. He
+had brought with him to Cooperstown an album containing photographs of
+the most noted bank-sneaks and yegg-men. After studying the "job" at the
+Clark Estate office he came to the conclusion that it was the work of a
+professional, and began to run over in his mind the various crooks who
+might have planned and carried out a robbery of this particular sort.
+Many of these were gradually eliminated for one reason or another, until
+he had narrowed the field to a few suspects. Dougherty then began to
+make inquiries about the village to learn whether anyone had noticed a
+stranger loitering in the neighborhood of the Clark Estate offices on
+the day of the robbery. His search was rewarded by finding several
+persons who remembered such a stranger. One of them described the
+loiterer as a man about sixty years old, with "pleasant, laughing eyes."
+Dougherty already <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span>had in mind Billy Coleman, alias Hoyt, alias Grant,
+alias Holton, alias Houston, a man with an international police record.
+He produced Coleman's photograph, and the likeness was promptly
+identified as that of the loiterer. Another who remembered seeing the
+stranger picked out from the entire gallery of rogues the likeness of
+Coleman.</p>
+
+<p>Although he had no real evidence against him the detective was now sure
+of his man, and felt certain that, somewhere in the mazes of New York
+City, Coleman and the missing jewels would be found. Returning to New
+York, Dougherty roamed the streets of the city, day and night, looking
+for Coleman. After two weeks of fruitless search he met one of Coleman's
+"pals" coming up Eighth Avenue. Acting on the theory that this man would
+ultimately get in touch with Coleman, the detective determined to keep
+him in sight. He shadowed him all night, following him from haunt to
+haunt. The next morning, when Coleman's friend retired to a
+rooming-house, and asked for a bed, Dougherty put two subordinates on
+guard, while he himself snatched a few hours of sleep. The detective
+proved to be upon the right track, for within thirty-six hours the
+shadowed man joined Billy Coleman.</p>
+
+<p>The suspected thief occupied a flat at 271 West 154th Street. From this
+time Dougherty or one of his deputies followed every movement of Billy
+Coleman. Day after day they tracked him through the city from one resort
+to another. In the evening they followed him home, and kept a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span>watchful
+eye on the premises. Coleman's actions were provokingly innocent. At
+nightfall he frequently left home, accompanied by his wife, but only to
+take their little dog out for an airing. On a Sunday evening while
+Dougherty was shadowing Coleman and his wife, hoping that they might
+lead him to some clue to the robbery, he was amazed to see them enter an
+Episcopal church, where they remained throughout the service. Bishop
+Potter, to whom Dougherty had confided his suspicions of Coleman,
+laughed heartily when the detective mentioned this incident.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, Dougherty, you don't want me to believe that one good churchman
+would rob another, do you?" the Bishop exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Dougherty felt that as the case stood he was making no headway. Coleman,
+who perhaps realized that he might be under suspicion, made no false
+moves. The detective resolved upon another plan of action. He decided to
+have Coleman charged with the robbery and arrested, after which he was
+certain to be released for lack of evidence. He calculated that an
+official discharge from any complicity in the stealing of the jewels
+would so reassure Coleman that he might afterward betray himself,
+through lack of caution, to watchful detectives. Coleman was accordingly
+arrested, and held for the grand jury in Cooperstown. The case against
+him was too weak to stand. The grand jurors were much absorbed in
+conclusions drawn from the blood-stains found on the floor of the
+basement of the Clark Estate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>office, and when it was shown that Coleman
+bore no sign of scratch or scar they promptly discharged him. Coleman
+left Cooperstown a free man, and chatted amicably with Dougherty as they
+rode together on the train to New York. On reaching the city they parted
+company at the Christopher Street elevated station, and Coleman rode on
+up town to his home, serenely confident of Dougherty's failure and of
+his own security.</p>
+
+<p>This was in October. From the moment of his arrival in the city Coleman
+was shadowed day and night. Detectives rented a room in a house across
+the street from Coleman's flat. Whenever he left his home they
+cautiously followed him. For a time he seemed to be making tests to
+learn whether or not he was being followed. Sometimes he would enter a
+large department-store, mingle with the crowds, and suddenly find his
+way out of a side door into a little-frequented street. But the
+detectives were equally wily. They adopted various disguises, and never
+let him out of their sight. After about two months they observed that
+Coleman began to make frequent trips toward Morningside Park. He made
+always for the same region, where he appeared to walk aimlessly about,
+but with his eyes fixed on the ground, as though counting his steps. On
+the morning of the third of January, during a heavy snowstorm, Coleman
+was followed to West 155th Street and Eighth Avenue, where, in a little
+open space near an iron-foundry, he scraped aside the snow, and began a
+small excavation of the earth. For some reason he failed to find the
+object of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span>his search, and returned home with an air of dejection. One
+detective shadowed him homeward; the others did not wait for the falling
+snow to obliterate the traces of his excavation. They began digging in
+the same spot on a more generous scale, and eighteen inches below the
+surface unearthed a glass fruit-jar. The jar, on being lifted to the
+light, dazzled the eyes of the detectives, for it contained the missing
+jewels, which for six months had lain there in the earth where thousands
+of people had daily passed them by.</p>
+
+<p>The detectives, having removed the jewels, placed in the jar a note
+addressed to Billy Coleman, signed by Dougherty and his assistants,
+McDonals and Wade, stating that they had the jewels, and would call upon
+him at the earliest opportunity. They reburied the jar, and restored the
+surroundings to their former condition. Coleman, as had been foreseen,
+afterward returned to the spot, and dug up the jar. The detectives were
+near enough to witness the wretched man's distress when, on reading the
+note, he realized that the fortune had escaped him and that the prison
+awaited him. He was immediately placed under arrest, and confessed all.
+Concerning a few pieces of jewelry that were missing from those found in
+the jar he gave information that led to their recovery. Coleman was once
+more taken to Cooperstown, and, with the additional evidence, was easily
+convicted of the robbery.</p>
+
+<p>Coleman was a man of such remarkable intelligence and engaging
+personality that Bishop Potter, whose near presence at the time of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>robbery the burglar little suspected, became much interested in him.
+There is no doubt that Coleman was really touched by the kindness which
+Bishop and Mrs. Potter showed to him and to his wife, and his resolution
+to reform was quite sincere.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing in being a crook," he said. "I am sixty years old, and
+have been in prison half my life. My advice to young men is 'Don't
+steal.'"</p>
+
+<p>At Bishop Potter's request the sentence of the court was lighter than
+Coleman's record might have warranted, and he was sent to Auburn prison
+for six years and five months, a term which discounts for good behaviour
+reduced to four years and four months.</p>
+
+<p>Coleman's explanation of the blood-stains which had played so important
+a part in the various theories of the robbery was one that nobody had
+thought to venture. He said that before he opened the jewel-casket in
+the basement he really had no idea what it contained, and when he saw
+the fortune in gems that had come into his possession his great
+excitement brought on a nose-bleed.<a name="FNanchor_128" id="FNanchor_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> His clothes were so
+blood-stained that he was in mortal fear of being arrested on that
+account, but, as he wore a black suit, the stains were not conspicuous.
+As to the woman's footprints, which the detectives said they found, no
+explanation was ever made.</p>
+
+<p>Ten years later an elderly man was arrested in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span>New York, charged
+with robbing a Wells-Fargo Express wagon on Broadway. With the aid of an
+umbrella handle he had drawn from the rear of the wagon a package
+containing $100,000 in cancelled cheques&mdash;not a very successful
+haul. His age and apparent harmlessness so much impressed the justices
+in Special Sessions that he would undoubtedly have been released on
+suspended sentence had not a detective who had been engaged in the Clark
+robbery case passed his cell in the Tombs. The detective recognized the
+famous Billy Coleman, whose police record dated back to 1869, showing
+thirteen arrests and a total period of twenty-eight years in prison.</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Potter's last notable public appearance in Cooperstown was at the
+Village Centennial Celebration in August of 1907. He was the most
+picturesque figure in a scene rich in kaleidoscopic color and historic
+significance when, on the Sunday afternoon which began the week's
+festivities, multitudes listened beneath the sunlit trees upon the green
+of the Cooper Grounds, while the Bishop, mantled in an academic gown of
+crimson, described his vision of the future of religion in America.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 60%;">
+<a name="photo_420" id="photo_420"></a><img src="images/photo_420.jpg" alt="The Lyric at Cooper's Grave" width="100%" />
+<p class="author"><i>J. B. Slote</i></p>
+<p class="captionsc">The Lyric at Cooper's Grave</p></div>
+
+<p>The Cooperstown Centennial celebration was remarkable for its great
+success in calm defiance of the fact that the year of its observance was
+not really the centennial of anything worth commemorating in the history
+of the village. The psychological moment seemed to have arrived when the
+people of the village were resolved to devote themselves to some high
+effort in praise of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span>Cooperstown, and so they gloriously celebrated, in
+1907, the centennial which a former generation had neglected, and which
+succeeding generations might indolently ignore. A disused act of village
+incorporation passed in 1807 was seized upon as suggesting a convenient
+antiquity, but there was no slavish conformity to mere accidents of
+date, and the whole history of Cooperstown was included in this elastic
+centenary. The entire community was united in the desire and effort to
+make the celebration a success, and the sticklers for historical
+propriety became quite as enthusiastic as the others. The commemoration
+was planned and carried out on a really dignified scale, with an
+avoidance of tawdriness; and the elements of the celebration, with
+religious, historical, literary exercises, and pageantry, were well
+proportioned in their appeal to the mind, to the romantic emotions, and
+to the love of the spectacular. Some of the addresses such as that of
+Brander Matthews on Fenimore Cooper, were valuable contributions to the
+literary annals of America. Throngs of spectators were attracted to
+Cooperstown by the celebration, and in one day there were at least
+15,000 people in the village which included only about 2,500 in its
+normal population. The old village and lake offered an effective
+background to the scenes of carnival. Natty Bumppo at home in his log
+cabin, Chingachgook with his canoe, appeared in living representation in
+the line of floats that paraded the village to set forth the historic
+and romantic memories of the place. A chorus of village schoolgirls
+dressed in white, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span>with flowing hair, presented an exquisite scene
+at Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard, bringing their tribute of
+flowers, and singing the lyric written by Andrew B. Saxton to the music
+of Andrew Allez. Otsego Lake offered a superb spectacle in the calm
+summer night, reflecting the glare of rockets and the bursting into
+bloom of aerial gardens of flame. There were moments of utter darkness
+suddenly dispelled by dazzling cataracts of fire that made one aware of
+thousands of pallid faces thronging the shore, while the effulgence set
+the waters ablaze from Council Rock to the Sleeping Lion, and flung a
+weird splendor upon the forests of the surrounding hills.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span></p><p>A lovable patriarch of the village was Samuel M. Shaw, well known
+throughout the state as editor of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>. He had once
+been an editor of the <i>Argus</i>, in Albany, and became editor and
+proprietor of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i> in Cooperstown in 1851. In this
+position he continued more than half a century, and had a history almost
+unique in village journalism. When he began his work Shaw was regarded
+as an innovator, for he was one of the first editors in the country to
+introduce columns of local news and personal items, a practice which, at
+a time when newspapers were wholly devoted to politics, speeches,
+foreign affairs and literary miscellany, was widely ridiculed. He
+survived long enough to be regarded as an exemplar of conservative and
+old-fashioned journalism, and became the Nestor of Cooperstown. In the
+office of the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, with its clutter of old machinery,
+piles of grimy books, its floor littered with newspapers, its wall
+streaked with cobwebs, the aged editor seemed exactly to fit into the
+surroundings. Here he received his friends, for the bed-ridden wife at
+Carr's Hotel, where he had rooms, was unequal to much social duty. The
+printing-office was his kingdom, and here, at the battered desk, he
+reigned supreme, a benevolent-looking man, with white beard closely
+enough trimmed to show a firm mouth, while the bald head shone above the
+desk as he bent his eyes closely to the pen in writing, and the left
+hand occasionally stroked the cluster of silvery locks that overhung the
+back of his collar. Late every afternoon he put aside <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span>his pen and
+proof-sheets, and with a coat held capewise about his bent shoulders,
+toddled to the Mohican Club to play bottle-pool with his old friend, G.
+Pomeroy Keese. Every Sunday the editor's venerable figure was
+conspicuous in a front pew of the Baptist church, in which he was a
+pillar, and always held up as an example to the youth of the village.</p>
+
+<p>When Samuel Shaw died, in 1907, occurred a dramatic episode which only a
+village community can produce. During his long career Shaw had
+accumulated a fair amount of property, and in his will had made kindly
+bequests to certain friends. Not until his death did it become generally
+known that his means had been dissipated by unfortunate speculations in
+the stock market, which was then in a depressed condition, and that
+margins upon which he had made purchases had been wiped out, hastening
+his death by financial worry, and leaving his estate almost bankrupt.</p>
+
+<p>At his funeral the Baptist church was crowded by a congregation which
+represented the tribute of a whole village to a man who had been a
+leader in its affairs for more than fifty years. The pastor of the
+church, the Rev. Cyrus W. Negus, had not been long in the village, but
+already was known for his earnestness and sincerity. To deliver a
+funeral sermon over the body of so distinguished a member of his church
+offered an opportunity to make an impression upon the entire community.
+He began his sermon with the usual expressions of Christian faith in the
+presence of death, and passed to a commendation of Samuel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span>Shaw's many
+good deeds in public service and private life during his long career.
+Then he changed his tone, and, to the amazement of every hearer,
+expressed his deep disapproval of the speculations in the stock market
+which had brought the veteran editor in sorrow to the grave, and
+declared that he was unable to indorse the qualities in the character of
+a man so prominent in religious and civic life which permitted him to
+resort to slippery methods of financial gain. In this respect Samuel
+Shaw was to be held up not as an example, but as a warning to the youth
+of the village.</p>
+
+<p>Never was a congregation more astonished than when the speaker proceeded
+to develop such a theme in the face of the mourning friends of the dead.
+Probably the great majority of the congregation felt that the pastor's
+view of the iniquity of such stock speculations was utterly mistaken.
+Certainly all the friends of the dead editor were too indignant to
+realize in that hour that they were witnesses of an unusual exhibition
+of moral courage on the part of a preacher. It was some months later,
+when the Rev. Cyrus W. Negus himself lay dead, and all the bells of the
+village rang his requiem, that a friend and admirer of Samuel Shaw could
+also fairly recognize the mettle of this preacher who had the pluck to
+speak out what he believed to be his message, with every worldly reason
+to be silent. He had dared to defy the conventions of indiscriminate
+eulogy at funerals, to stand practically alone against public opinion,
+and to turn an opportunity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>of winning popular applause into an occasion
+for speaking out the necessary truth as he saw it. Some of his best
+friends felt that he had blundered, but no one who saw and heard this
+frail and pale-faced Baptist minister, as he stood by the coffin of
+Samuel Shaw uttering the quiet words that fell like lead upon the tense
+and breathless audience, may honestly deny his courage.</p>
+
+<p>In some respects the most remarkable man in Cooperstown at this period
+was Dr. Henry D. Sill. It is perhaps a singular distinction in a
+Christian community that Dr. Sill should have been chiefly renowned for
+being a Christian. It was not that the Christianity of the village was
+below the average of Christian communities. It was rather that Dr. Sill
+so strikingly personified the Christian virtues as to become a saint
+among Christians. By common consent he was put in a class by himself.
+Christians were exhorted to imitate him, but nobody was expected really
+to equal him. He was at this time only forty years old, but was revered
+not only by the young, but by the aged, as wise unto salvation. He was
+the son of Jedediah P. Sill, a respected and influential business man of
+Cooperstown, and after graduation at Princeton and at the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons, he settled down to practise in his own village.
+Dr. Sill lived with his sister at "The Maples," in the spacious house
+which stands on Chestnut Street, with sculptured lions guarding the
+doorway, next to the Methodist parsonage. His office occupied the little
+wing at the north. Unlike some who pass for philanthropists in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span>outer world, Henry Sill was regarded as a saint in his own household.
+Mrs. Robe, the aged aunt who made one of the family, and cultivated the
+art of growing old beautifully and gracefully, herself a Unitarian, used
+always to conclude her frequent arguments against Calvinistic theology
+by saying, "Well, Henry wouldn't treat people so, and I believe that God
+is as good as Henry!"</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Sill was a man of some means, but spent very little on himself. It
+had been his ambition to be a missionary, but since circumstances made
+it impossible to carry out this design, he annually contributed the
+entire salary of a foreign missionary whom he called his "substitute."
+He spent large sums of money in the improvement of Thanksgiving
+Hospital, in which he was deeply interested, and the equipment of that
+institution, especially of the operating-room, which gave it a rank far
+above the hospitals in many larger towns, was chiefly owing to his
+generosity.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Sill was a physician, but specialized in surgery, and, while he
+never developed any spectacular rapidity of technique, became known as
+one of the most capable and conscientious surgeons in central New York.
+He always told patients what he believed to be the exact truth, and
+without the untoward results which some practitioners apprehend from
+such a policy. A surgeon who prayed with patients just before resorting
+to the knife was sometimes rather disconcerting to the irreligious, but
+his attitude was a comfort to many in the dire distress of illness, and
+in all it inspired confidence in the man himself. In many an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span>isolated
+farm house of Otsego the only religious ministrations came with Dr.
+Sill's medical attendance, and there were unnumbered cases in which his
+call to heal the body resulted in the regeneration of a soul.</p>
+
+<p>Where patients were able to pay, Dr. Sill charged a good price for his
+services, but the fees were adjusted upon a sliding scale, and the
+amount of his professional service without pay is incalculable. In this
+respect he was not unlike his colleagues in a profession which probably
+gives more for nothing than any other, but, having independent means, he
+was able to go farther in this direction than most practitioners, and he
+counted it a pleasure to give away his time and skill without reward.</p>
+
+<p>There was a tinge of Puritanism in Dr. Sill's Christianity which to some
+minds imported an unnecessary strictness of view, but none could quarrel
+with it, for he practised his austerities upon himself, not toward
+others. Certain precepts of the Sermon on the Mount usually interpreted
+in a figurative sense he took literally as rules of action. "Give to him
+that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
+away" was one of these. His literal fidelity to this precept afforded
+him the deep satisfaction of giving aid to honest neighbors in distress;
+it enabled him to come to the rescue in the emergencies which sometimes
+face the most industrious and deserving. But also it gave him the pain
+of learning how many plausible persons are eager to make fair promises
+that mean nothing, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span>taught him that there are human beings to whom
+acts of loving-kindness are as pearls before swine. The honest man in
+trouble came to Dr. Sill, the drunkard to take the pledge, the sorrowful
+to be comforted, the desperate to be advised. But so came also the
+rogue, and the wheedling hypocrite, and all such as desired to obtain
+something for nothing. The doctor had a large acquaintance among
+unfortunate outcasts, for he regularly visited the county jail to talk
+and pray with its inmates. The extent to which Dr. Sill aided the
+worthless was a cause of grief to the judicious, but he was not really,
+as some supposed, the dupe of impostors. He was well aware of the
+probably unworthy character of many to whom he gave assistance, but
+there was always an element of doubt in such cases, and his theory was
+that it was better to aid ninety-nine humbugs than to take the risk of
+closing the door against one who was deserving of help.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Sill was much consulted in relation to the civic and religious
+welfare of the community. His conscientious habit of deciding in all
+things, great and small, upon the absolutely right course of action gave
+him an air of slowness and hesitation in manner. He would stand
+listening intently, without comment, to violent arguments for and
+against a project, turning toward each speaker the frank dark eyes that
+illumined his pale countenance. When it came to his decision he had a
+way of planting his right heel forward, and compressing his lips, which
+he then opened with a slight smack of determination, giving quiet
+utterance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span>to his judgment. It was usually quite impossible to move him
+from a decision thus made, and those who misinterpreted the mildness of
+his manner soon learned that the man himself was adamant.</p>
+
+<p>The first years of the twentieth century included an era of new
+buildings. Just above Leatherstocking Falls, in 1908, William E. Guy of
+St. Louis built and established the beautiful summer home at
+Leatherstocking Farm. The remains of the old grist mill at the falls
+were torn down, and the stones from the foundation were used in the new
+building.</p>
+
+<p>In 1910, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany, grandson of the novelist,
+built Fynmere (the name being an old form of the word Fenimore) as a
+country residence. Its site on the hillside above the road that curves
+about the southern end of Mount Vision commands a superb view down the
+Susquehanna Valley, while the eastern windows of the house look into the
+heart of the ascending forest. The use of native field stone in the
+construction of this house is most effective, and at once gave to the
+residence, when fresh from the builder's hands, the air of being long
+habituated to the spot, and quite in harmony with the antiquities that
+abound in the appointments and ornamentation of the place. Within a
+niche of the main hall of the house is the bust of Fenimore Cooper which
+David d'Angers made in Paris in 1828; and embedded in the foundation of
+the building is the corner-stone with the original marking that Cooper
+carved in 1813 for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span>house that he built, but which was burned before
+he could move into it, at Fenimore. Fynmere has contributed to the
+revival of pleasures that belonged to an elder day in Cooperstown, for
+it has drawn hither large house-parties of young people to enjoy the
+holidays of Christmastide, to join in winter sports, and to appreciate
+the splendors of snow and ice in a region usually renowned only for the
+charm of its summer season.</p>
+
+<p>From the beginning of Cooperstown's celebrity as a watering-place the
+hope was cherished, among the residents, that the village might include
+a suitable hotel overlooking the lake, and attracting visitors to linger
+on its shores. This dream was realized in 1909 when the O-te-sa-ga
+opened, having been built by Edward S. Clark and his brother Stephen C.
+Clark. The hotel was planned to accommodate three hundred guests, and
+occupies the old site of Holt-Averell, commanding a magnificent view of
+the full length of the lake.</p>
+
+<p>Cooperstown is a village of incomparable charm. There is not the like of
+it in all America. It has a character of its own sufficiently
+distinctive to prevent it from becoming the leech-like community into
+which, through the slow commercializing of native self-respect, a summer
+resort sometimes degenerates, stupidly enduring the winter in order to
+batten upon the pleasures of the rich in summer. Cooperstown is old
+enough and wise enough to have a juster appreciation of lasting values.
+It has tradition and atmosphere. It is a village that rejoices in the
+simple virtues of life peculiar to a small community, while its fame as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span>a summer resort annually brings its residents within reach of far
+influences and wide horizons.</p>
+
+<div class="photoright" style="width: 55%;">
+<a name="photo_430" id="photo_430"></a><img src="images/photo_430.jpg" alt="Cooperstown from Mt. Vision" width="100%" />
+<p class="captionsc">Cooperstown from Mt. Vision</p></div>
+
+<p>All lovers of Cooperstown know a favorite summer walk that passes from
+the village up the hill on the eastern border of the lake, rises beyond
+Prospect Rock, winds over a wooded summit, descends, turns westerly
+through a shady grove, crosses a farm, then threads a stretch of densest
+foliage, when suddenly one emerges upon a clearing, and unexpectedly
+beholds, glittering far below, the waters of the Glimmerglass, with the
+homes and spires of the village gleaming amidst the green leafage of the
+valley.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible not to idealize the village when one views it from this
+height. To the tourist, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span>who comes merely to admire, it is a view that
+possesses the glamour of enchantment. How happy should be the people who
+dwell in this peaceful village, surrounded by such charming scenery! How
+lofty should be their ideals, and how pure their lives, who abide amid
+such glories of nature!</p>
+
+<p>But for residents of Cooperstown this view is one that has more than
+beauty. It grips the heart. As the resident looks down upon the streets
+and houses amongst the trees it is with a sympathetic knowledge of the
+dwellers there, and of the joys that delight them, of the sorrows that
+crush them, of the sins that dog them, and of the hopes that inspire
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The drama of life has been many times enacted amid the scenes of this
+village, and here is the prologue and epilogue of many a romance and
+tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>Boys and girls are at play in the streets, and are skylarking along the
+shore of lake and river. Ambitious youngsters go out into the wider
+world to seek their fortunes. But there is always a homecoming. Youth
+has its day.</p>
+
+<p>There are two aged men from different quarters of the village who daily
+resort in summer to the Cooper Grounds, and sit in the sunshine upon the
+same bench. Either is visibly uneasy until the other arrives. But
+together they are happy. On this spot where the history of the village
+began they take turns at being narrator and listener, while each relates
+to the other the story of his life, and describes his triumphs in days
+that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span>are gone. They give no heed to passers-by, or to the traffic of
+neighboring streets. But a village church bell tolls, and they fall
+silent, lifting their heads to watch the funeral train as it passes the
+Cooper Grounds and winds slowly upward from the main street to the quiet
+garden by the lake, on the slope of the eastern hills.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnotehead">FOOTNOTES:</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128" id="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> George S. Dougherty, in <i>Chicago Saturday Blade</i>, January
+8, 1916.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><a name="VILLAGE_MAP_OF_COOPERSTOWN" id="VILLAGE_MAP_OF_COOPERSTOWN"></a></p>
+<div class="img"><a name="photo_432" id="photo_432"></a><img class="bbox" src="images/photo_432.jpg" alt="VILLAGE MAP OF COOPERSTOWN" width="70%" />
+<p class="caption">VILLAGE MAP OF COOPERSTOWN</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span></p>
+<h2>VISITORS' GUIDE</h2>
+
+
+<p>Chief points of interest are indicated on the village map, in the order
+most convenient for a short tour, by letters from A to M.</p>
+
+<p>A&mdash;Cooper Grounds. Site of Fenimore Cooper's residence.</p>
+
+<p>B&mdash;Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard. Christ Church, erected 1807, in
+which he worshipped.</p>
+
+<p>C&mdash;Fernleigh, the Clark residence, where Bishop Potter died.</p>
+
+<p>D&mdash;Byberry Cottage, built for the daughters of Fenimore Cooper, 1852.</p>
+
+<p>E&mdash;Pomeroy Place, "the old stone house," 1804.</p>
+
+<p>F&mdash;Indian Mound, in the northeast corner of Fernleigh-Over.</p>
+
+<p>G&mdash;Oldest house in the village, 1790.</p>
+
+<p>H&mdash;Edgewater, 1810.</p>
+
+<p>I&mdash;Council Rock, mentioned in <i>The Deerslayer</i> as the meeting-place of
+the Indians.</p>
+
+<p>J&mdash;Mortar marking site of Clinton's Dam, during the Revolution, 1779.</p>
+
+<p>K&mdash;Village Library and Museum.</p>
+
+<p>L&mdash;Clark Estate Offices, 1831.</p>
+
+<p>M&mdash;Public Boat Landings.</p>
+
+<p>N&mdash;Mill Island.</p>
+
+<p>O&mdash;Former residence of Justice Nelson, U.S. Supreme Court.</p>
+
+<p>P&mdash;Universalist church.</p>
+
+<p>Q&mdash;Presbyterian church, 1805.</p>
+
+<p>R&mdash;Baptist church.</p>
+
+<p>S&mdash;Church of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Lake.</p>
+
+<p>T&mdash;Methodist church.</p>
+
+<p>U&mdash;Grounds upon which the first game of Base Ball was played.</p>
+
+<p>V&mdash;O-te-sa-ga.</p>
+
+<p>W&mdash;Riverbrink.</p>
+
+<p>X&mdash;Lakelands, 1804.</p>
+
+<p>Y&mdash;Woodside, 1829.</p>
+
+<p>Z&mdash;Fynmere, 1910.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall
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+</body>
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@@ -0,0 +1,10844 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Story of Cooperstown
+
+Author: Ralph Birdsall
+
+Release Date: June 19, 2006 [EBook #18621]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF COOPERSTOWN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Lisa Reigel, Curtis Weyant, Michael Zeug and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by Cornell University Digital
+Collections)
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: The majority of the illustrations for this text are
+photographs. Where there is a name listed inside the [Illustration:]
+tag, that is the name of the photographer. Below that is the caption of
+the photograph.
+
+
+[Illustration: _Joseph B. Slote_
+
+COOPERSTOWN FROM THE NORTHWEST]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF COOPERSTOWN
+
+BY
+
+RALPH BIRDSALL
+
+Rector of Christ Church
+
+_With Sixty-eight Illustrations from Photographs_
+
+
+NEW YORK,
+CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS,
+1925
+
+
+Copyright, 1917, by
+RALPH BIRDSALL
+
+
+_First printing, July, 1917_
+_Second printing, December, 1917_
+_Third printing, August, 1920_
+_Fourth printing, August, 1925_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Printed in the United States of America_
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+The ensuing narrative is a faithful record of life in Cooperstown from
+the earliest times, except that the persons and events to be described
+have been selected for their story-interest, to the exclusion of much
+that a history is expected to contain. The dull thread of village
+history has been followed only in such directions as served for
+stringing upon it and holding to the light the more shining gems of
+incident and personality to which it led. Trivial happenings have been
+included for the sake of some quaint, picturesque, or romantic quality.
+Much of importance has been omitted that declined to yield to such
+treatment as the writer had in view. The effort has been made to exclude
+everything that seemed unlikely to be of interest to the general reader.
+Those who seek family records, or the mention of all names worthy to be
+recorded in the history of the village, will find the book wanting.
+
+The local history has been already three times recorded, first in 1838
+by Fenimore Cooper, whose work was brought down to date by S. T.
+Livermore in 1863, and by Samuel M. Shaw in 1886. While now out of print
+many copies of these books are still accessible.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                               PAGE
+
+I. THE INDIANS                                           1
+
+II. THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN                         26
+
+III. A BYPATH OF THE REVOLUTION                         51
+
+IV. THE BEGINNING OF THE SETTLEMENT                     74
+
+V. A VILLAGE IN THE MAKING                              89
+
+VI. OLD-TIME LOVE AND RELIGION                         109
+
+VII. HOMES AND GOSSIP OF OTHER DAYS                    130
+
+VIII. THE PIONEER COURT ROOM                           150
+
+IX. FATHER NASH                                        163
+
+X. THE IMMORTAL NATTY BUMPPO                           174
+
+XI. STRANGE TALES OF THE GALLOWS                       192
+
+XII. SOLID SURVIVALS                                   211
+
+XIII. THE BIRTHPLACE OF BASE BALL                      247
+
+XIV. FENIMORE COOPER IN THE VILLAGE                    258
+
+XV. MR. JUSTICE NELSON                                 299
+
+XVI. CHRIST CHURCHYARD                                 326
+
+XVII. FROM APPLE HILL TO FERNLEIGH                     339
+
+XVIII. THE LAKE OF ROMANCE AND FISHERMEN               364
+
+XIX. TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGINNINGS                      393
+
+VILLAGE MAP AND GUIDE                                  432
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+COOPERSTOWN, from the northwest    _Joseph B. Slote_      Frontispiece
+
+THE COOPER GROUNDS                _Arthur J. Telfer_                 2
+
+COUNCIL ROCK                      _Arthur J. Telfer_                 8
+
+THE OTSEGO IROQUOIS PIPE                                            13
+
+AT MILL ISLAND         _Charles Frederick Zabriskie_                21
+
+JOSEPH BRANT, from the Romney portrait                              52
+
+SITE OF CLINTON'S DAM                 _A. J. Telfer_                71
+
+OTSEGO LAKE, from Cooperstown         _A. J. Telfer_                78
+
+THE OLDEST HOUSE              _Charles A. Schneider_                86
+
+WILLIAM COOPER, from the Stuart portrait                            91
+
+AVERELL COTTAGE                    _C. A. Schneider_               104
+
+THE WORTHINGTON HOMESTEAD       _Forrest D. Coleman_               110
+
+CHRIST CHURCH                         _A. J. Telfer_               127
+
+THE HOUSE AT LAKELANDS, as originally built                        131
+
+MRS. WILSON                                                        133
+
+LAKELANDS                          _C. A. Schneider_               137
+
+POMEROY PLACE                            _J. Patzig_               141
+
+AMBROSE L. JORDAN                                                  151
+
+JORDAN'S HOME, AND HIS LAW OFFICE  _C. A. Schneider_               156
+
+THE HOME OF ROBERT CAMPBELL            _J. B. Slote_               158
+
+FATHER NASH                                                        171
+
+LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT              _A. J. Telfer_               185
+
+NATTY BUMPPO'S CAVE                _C. A. Schneider_               188
+
+RIVERBRINK                         _C. A. Schneider_               193
+
+EDGEWATER                             _A. J. Telfer_               212
+
+RESIDENCE OF W. H. AVERELL AND JUDGE
+  PRENTISS                         _C. A. Schneider_               221
+
+WOODSIDE HALL                   _Forrest D. Coleman_               226
+
+THE GATE-TOWER AT WOODSIDE        _Walter C. Stokes_               228
+
+SWANSWICK                             _A. J. Telfer_               230
+
+SHADOW BROOK                       _James W. Tucker_               233
+
+HYDE HALL                             _A. J. Telfer_               238
+
+HYDE CLARKE, from the Emmet portrait                               243
+
+A WEDDING DAY AT HYDE                 _A. J. Telfer_               246
+
+BASE BALL ON NATIVE SOIL              _A. J. Telfer_               249
+
+THE ORIGINAL HOUSE AT APPLE HILL (now Fernleigh)                   256
+
+FENIMORE                              _A. J. Telfer_               259
+
+OTSEGO HALL, from an old drawing                                   260
+
+JAMES FENIMORE COOPER                                              263
+
+THE CHALET                            _A. J. Telfer_               265
+
+THE NOVELIST'S LIBRARY, a drawing by G. Pomeroy Keese              267
+
+A PAGE OF COOPER'S MANUSCRIPT                                      269
+
+THE HOME OF NANCY WILLIAMS         _C. A. Schneider_               271
+
+THREE-MILE POINT                      _A. J. Telfer_               282
+
+THE CALL FOR THE INDIGNATION MEETING                               284
+
+THE COOPER SCREENS IN CHRIST CHURCH  _F. D. Coleman_               293
+
+AT FENIMORE COOPER'S GRAVE            _Alice Choate_               297
+
+SAMUEL NELSON, LL.D.                                               300
+
+THE HOME OF JUSTICE NELSON         _C. A. Schneider_               314
+
+NELSON AVENUE                         _A. J. Telfer_               320
+
+CHRIST CHURCHYARD, from the Rectory   _Alice Choate_               327
+
+THE COOPER PLOT, IN CHRIST
+  CHURCHYARD                          _A. J. Telfer_               334
+
+A FUNERAL IN CHRIST CHURCHYARD         _J. B. Slote_               337
+
+MAIN STREET, LOOKING WEST FROM FAIR STREET, 1861                   347
+
+FERNLEIGH                             _A. J. Telfer_               357
+
+KINGFISHER TOWER              _M. Antoinette Abrams_               359
+
+THE LAKE, FROM THE O-TE-SA-GA          _J. B. Slote_               365
+
+FISHERMEN'S SHANTIES ON THE FROZEN
+  LAKE                                _A. J. Telfer_               374
+
+HOP-PICKING                       _Elizabeth Hudson_               378
+
+MAP OF OTSEGO LAKE               _Henry L. Eckerson_               381
+
+THE SUSQUEHANNA, NEAR ITS SOURCE      _A. J. Telfer_               383
+
+LEATHERSTOCKING FALLS                 _A. J. Telfer_               387
+
+FIVE-MILE POINT                       _A. J. Telfer_               388
+
+MOHICAN CANYON                _M. Antoinette Abrams_               389
+
+GRAVELLY POINT                        _A. J. Telfer_               391
+
+BISHOP POTTER                        _A. F. Bradley_               395
+
+THE RECTORY                        _C. A. Schneider_               396
+
+THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND THE
+  BISHOP OF NEW YORK                  _A. J. Telfer_               405
+
+BYBERRY COTTAGE                    _C. A. Schneider_               407
+
+THE CLARK ESTATE OFFICE               _A. J. Telfer_               409
+
+THE LYRIC AT COOPER'S GRAVE            _J. B. Slote_               420
+
+COOPERSTOWN, FROM MOUNT VISION        _A. J. Telfer_               430
+
+MAP OF COOPERSTOWN                  _H. L. Eckerson_               432
+
+
+
+
+The Story of Cooperstown
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE INDIANS
+
+
+The main street of Cooperstown traverses the village in a direction
+generally east and west. While the street and its shops are far superior
+to those of most small towns, the business centre, from which the
+visitor gains his first impression, gives no hint of the quaint and
+rustic beauty that makes Cooperstown one of the most charming villages
+in America.
+
+Following the main street toward the east, one reaches the original part
+of the settlement, and the prospect is more gratefully reminiscent of an
+old-time village. In summer the gateway of the Cooper Grounds opens a
+pleasing vista of shaded greensward, while the cross street which runs
+down to the lake at this point attracts the eye to a half-concealed view
+of the Glimmerglass, with the Sleeping Lion in the distance at the
+north.
+
+The historical associations of the village, from the earliest times, are
+centered in the Cooper Grounds. Within this space, when the first white
+man came, were found apple trees, in full bearing, which Indians had
+planted, showing an occupation by red men in the late Iroquois period.
+On these grounds the first white settler, Col. George Croghan, built in
+1769 his hut of logs. During the Revolutionary War it was upon this spot
+that Clinton's troops were encamped for five weeks before their
+spectacular descent of the Susquehanna River. On this site William
+Cooper, the founder of the village, built his first residence, and
+afterward erected Otsego Hall, which later became the home of his son,
+James Fenimore Cooper, the novelist.
+
+[Illustration: THE COOPER GROUNDS]
+
+Beyond the Cooper Grounds, on the main street, the buildings seen on
+either hand belong to the earlier period of village history, except the
+Village Club and Library, which gracefully conforms to the older style.
+After passing the next cross-street, the main thoroughfare leads across
+the Susquehanna River, and, beyond the bridge, becomes identified with
+the old road to Cherry Valley. Keeping on up the incline, one finds
+Mount Vision rising before him, and begins to gain fascinating glimpses
+into the grounds of Woodside Hall, whose white pillars gleam amid the
+pines above the Egyptian gate-tower, and whose windows, commanding the
+whole length of the main street westward, reflect the fire of every
+sunset.
+
+Just before reaching Woodside, one observes a road which makes off from
+the highway at the right, and runs south. Opening from this road to
+Fernleigh-Over, and quite close to the corner, is a small iron gate that
+creaks between two posts of stone. The gate opens upon a path which
+leads, a few paces westward, to a large, terraced mound, well sodded,
+and topped by two maple trees.
+
+Sunk into the face of this mound is a slab of granite which bears this
+inscription:
+
+     WHITE MAN, GREETING!
+
+     WE, NEAR WHOSE BONES YOU STAND,
+     WERE IROQUOIS. THE WIDE LAND
+     WHICH NOW IS YOURS WAS OURS.
+     FRIENDLY HANDS HAVE GIVEN BACK
+     TO US ENOUGH FOR A TOMB.
+
+These lines offer a fitting introduction to the story of Cooperstown.
+There is enough of truth and poetry in them to touch the heart of the
+most indifferent passer-by. No sense of pride stirs the soul of any
+white man as he reads this pathetic memorial of an exiled race and its
+vanished empire. From this region and from many another hill and valley
+the Indians were driven by their white conquerors, banished from one
+reservation to another, compelled to exchange a vast empire of the
+forest for the blanket and tin cup of Uncle Sam's patronage.
+
+The mound in Fernleigh-Over is probably an Indian burial site of some
+antiquity. In 1874, when the place was being graded, a number of Indian
+skeletons were uncovered in various parts of the grounds. The owner of
+the property, Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, caused all the bones to be
+collected and buried at the foot of the mound. Some years afterward she
+marked the mound with the granite slab and its inscribed epitaph.
+
+The lines were composed by the Rev. William Wilberforce Lord, D.D., a
+former rector of Christ Church, in this village, once hailed by
+Wordsworth as the coming poet of America. He had written some noble
+verse, but wilted beneath the scathing criticism of Edgar Allan Poe,[1]
+and after becoming a clergyman published little poetry. This epitaph
+alone, however, fully justifies Dr. Lord's earlier ambition, for no poet
+of his time could have included more of beauty and truth and pathos
+within the compass of so brief an inscription.
+
+In a comment upon the placing of this tablet, Mrs. Clark afterward
+wrote: "The position of the stone is misleading, and gives one an idea
+that the mound contains the bones--whereas they are buried at the foot
+of the mound. I have sometimes wondered if this rather curiously shaped
+mound, with the two maple trees thereon, might not contain undisturbed
+skeletons; and I feel sure that throughout this strip of land, which the
+grading only superficially disturbed, there are many bones of the
+Iroquois, for in 1900, when we cut down some trees, a skull was found in
+the fork of a root."
+
+Mrs. Clark's record shows that the mound existed prior to 1874, and
+since this particular corner of ground was unoccupied before that date
+except, for a period, by the barns and stables of Lakelands across the
+way, it is reasonable to suppose that the mound was made by the Indians.
+While the mounds of New York State cannot be compared in size and extent
+with those of the West, writers on Indian antiquities, from
+Schoolcraft[2] onward, have identified as the work of red men many such
+formations within the Empire State. The mounds were commonly used by the
+Indians as places of burial, and sometimes as sites for houses, or as
+fortifications.[3] The mound in Fernleigh-Over may be reasonably
+regarded as a monument erected by the Indians to the memory of their
+dead.
+
+Two Indian skeletons were found in Fernleigh grounds in 1910, when a
+tennis court was being made, and the skeletons of Indians have been
+unearthed in some other parts of the village. A concealed sentry keeps
+vigil not far away from Fernleigh. The garden at the northwest corner of
+River and Church streets, nearly opposite to Fernleigh, has had for many
+years, on the River Street side, a retaining wall. When Fenimore Cooper
+owned the property this wall was his despair. For at a point above
+Greencrest, the wall, which then consisted of dry field stone, could
+never be kept plumb, but obstinately bulged toward the east; and as
+often as it was rebuilt, just so often it tottered to ruin. There was a
+tradition that this singular freak was caused by the spirit of an Indian
+chief whose grave lay in the garden, and whose resentment toward the
+village improvements of a paleface civilization found vigorous
+expression in kicking down the wall. It was at last decided to replace
+the retaining wall with one of heavier proportions and more solid
+masonry. On tearing down the wall the tradition of former years was
+recalled, for there sat the grim skeleton of an Indian, fully armed for
+war! The new wall included him as before, but to this day there is a
+point in the wall where stone and mortar cannot long contain the Indian
+spirit's wrath. This Indian sentinel was first discovered by William
+Cooper when River Street was graded, and four generations of tradition
+in the Cooper family testified to his tutelary character.
+
+The banks of the Susquehanna, near the village, and the shores of
+Otsego Lake, have yielded a plentiful harvest of Indian relics in
+arrow-heads and spearpoints, with an occasional bannerstone, pipe, or
+bit of pottery. Often as the region has been traversed in search of
+relics, there seems always to be something left for the careful gleaner;
+and the experienced eye, within a short walk along riverbank or
+lakeshore, is certain to light upon some memento of the vanished Indian,
+while every fresh turning of the soil reveals some record of savage
+life.
+
+Morgan describes an Indian trail as being from twelve to eighteen inches
+wide, and, where the soil was soft, often worn to a depth of twelve
+inches. Deeply as these trails were grooved in the earth by centuries of
+use, it is to be doubted if many traces of them now remain, although
+over the summit of Hannah's Hill, sheltered by thick pine woods, just
+west of the village, there runs toward the lake a trail, which, though
+long disused, is clearly marked, and is believed to have been worn by
+the feet of Indians. It is indeed possible that this is a remaining
+segment of the great trail from the north, which, as Morgan's map[4]
+shows, here touched Otsego Lake, and bent toward the southwest. For, in
+1911, a likely trace of it was found by Frank M. Turnbull while clearing
+the woods on the McNamee property west of the village. In line with the
+trail on Hannah's Hill, and southwest of it, were two huge hemlocks that
+bore upon their trunks the old wounds of blazes made as if by the axes
+of Indians. The blazes were vertical, deeply indented, and the thick
+bark had grown outward and around them, forming in each a pocket into
+which a man might sink his elbow and forearm. These patriarchal trees of
+the forest were about four feet in diameter at the base, and on being
+felled showed, by count of the rings, an age of nearly three hundred
+years.
+
+[Illustration: COUNCIL ROCK]
+
+When Fenimore Cooper, in _The Deerslayer_, describes Council Rock as a
+favorite meeting place of the Indians, where the tribes resorted "to
+make their treaties and bury their hatchets," he claims a picturesque
+bit of stage setting for his drama, but also records an early
+tradition. This rock, sometimes called Otsego Rock, standing forth from
+the water where the Susquehanna emerges from the lake, had been a
+favorite landmark for the rendezvous of Indians. As one views it now,
+from the foot of River Street, it lifts its rounded top not quite so
+high above the water as when Cooper described it in 1841. The damming of
+the Susquehanna to furnish power for the village water supply has raised
+the whole level of Otsego Lake, and gives an artificial fullness to the
+first reaches of the long river.
+
+Whether Cooperstown stands upon the site of an old Indian village is a
+debated question. Richard Smith's journal describes his visit at the
+foot of Otsego Lake in 1769, before the time of any considerable
+settlement by white men, and makes no mention of any Indian residents of
+the place. He saw many Indians here, but gives the impression that they
+were come from a distance to visit the Indian Agent whose headquarters
+lay at the foot of Otsego Lake. On the other hand, a stray hint comes
+from the papers of William Cooper, among which is a memorandum including
+various notes relating to population and other statistics, jotted down
+apparently in preparation for a speech or article on early conditions
+here, and containing the item, "Old Indian Village." A more significant
+record appears in the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_, published in 1838, in
+which Fenimore Cooper asserts that "arrow-heads, stone hatchets, and
+other memorials of Indian usages, were found in great abundance by the
+first settlers, in the vicinity of the village." In _The Pioneers_, his
+description of Cooperstown includes, in a location to be identified with
+the present Cooper Grounds, fruit trees which he says "had been left by
+the Indians, and began already to assume the moss and inclination of
+age," when the first settlers came.
+
+The fruit trees would indicate permanent though late occupation of this
+site by Indians; "stone hatchets in great abundance" would suggest that
+a prehistoric village was here. But it is difficult to understand how so
+little trace should now remain of the one-time "great abundance" of
+hatchets. Such is not the case at any other permanent prehistoric site
+in the general region, where pestles and hatchets continue to be found
+even in streets, as well as in yards, and well-tilled gardens.
+
+Every few years the inhabitants of ancient villages in the east were
+wont, for various reasons, to build new cabins on new ground, though not
+far removed from the old. Not all the sites of ancient Otesaga, if
+ancient Otesaga existed, can have been covered by Cooperstown. Some
+fields should still produce something out of "an abundance" of village
+debris. Yet only one hatchet has come, in many years, from all the foot
+of the lake.[5] Many points, spear and arrow, have been found on all
+shores of Otsego; for beyond doubt the lake, from very early time, was a
+resort for aboriginal hunters and fishermen. But points indicate only
+camp sites.
+
+On the whole, by reason of the notable absence at this time of stone
+relics indicating permanent residence, it seems possible that the
+statement concerning their original abundance was exaggerated, and there
+is no good reason for supposing, on the strength of this statement
+alone, that there was a prehistoric village on the site of Cooperstown.
+Perhaps in early times, during the contests with Southern Indians, the
+place lay too much in the way of war parties. But the apple trees,
+concerning which there is no doubt, would indicate rather conclusively
+an occupation by Indians within the historic period, which, as in the
+case of many another of the later villages, might have left small
+trace.[6]
+
+In 1895 two young men of Cooperstown who afterward adopted callings in
+other fields of science, Benjamin White, Ph.D., and Dr. James Ferguson,
+conducted amateur archeological expeditions which resulted in the
+discovery of a regular camp site formerly used by the Indians. This lies
+within the present village of Cooperstown, on a level stretch along the
+west bank of the Susquehanna, in what used to be called the Hinman lot,
+but now belongs to Fernleigh, a few rods south of Fernleigh House. It
+includes an even floor of low land not far above the level of the river,
+containing a spring on its margin, and forming a plot perhaps two
+hundred yards in length and half as much in breadth. The ground begins
+thence to rise rather steeply toward the north and west, sheltering from
+wind and storm the glen below, while affording points of observation,
+looking up and down the stream.
+
+The young explorers went carefully over the surface of this ground,
+digging to a considerable depth in some parts, and using an ash-sifter
+for a thorough examination of the debris. "We found spearheads, game and
+war points in large numbers," says Dr. White, "as well as drills,
+punches or awls, scrapers, knives, hammer-stones, and sinkers. Deer
+horn, bones, and thick strata of ashes were found, the latter in one
+place only. Whether or no this was the site of an Indian village, I
+cannot say. Altogether it must have yielded six or eight hundred
+implements of various sorts. Fernleigh-Over, Riverbrink, and Lakelands
+yielded arrow-heads and sinkers, but no other implements. The present
+site of the Country Club was a profitable field for arrow-heads."
+
+Dr. Ferguson, referring to the same spot, writes, "I have long had an
+idea that there had been a small Indian village located in what we knew
+as Hinman's lot. After the land was ploughed we found many arrow-heads,
+awls of bone and flint, and fragments of pottery. There were several
+areas where fires had been located, the soil being well baked, with
+mingled charcoal and burned bones. There were also about the fire sites
+fragments of deer horn, bears' teeth, and much broken pottery. Spear
+heads were rather few, sinkers and hammer-stones more numerous. I never
+found any perfect axes, but did find fragments."
+
+The great number of imperfect arrow-heads and flint chips found here, as
+well as on the flat northeast of Iroquois Farm house, and on the low
+land between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, shows the
+frequent occupation of these places as Indian camps.
+
+[Illustration: THE OTSEGO IROQUOIS PIPE
+
+(Seven-tenths actual size)]
+
+In 1916 David R. Dorn conducted a more intensive examination of the plot
+explored by Dr. White and Dr. Ferguson. His investigation revealed a
+site that showed two distinct layers of Indian relics, the lower and
+more ancient being of Algonquin type, while the signs of later occupancy
+were Iroquois. At about eighteen inches beneath the surface was found
+the complete skeleton of an Iroquois Indian. With the skeleton was
+unearthed a pipe, of Iroquois manufacture, which Arthur C. Parker, the
+State archeologist, declared to be one of the most perfect specimens
+known.
+
+Taking all the evidence together, it may be asserted that the present
+site of Cooperstown was from ancient times the resort of Indian hunters
+and fishermen, and at a later period, more than a generation before its
+settlement by white men, as indicated by the size of the apple trees
+which they found, included a settled Indian village.
+
+On Morgan's map of Iroquois territory as it existed in 1720, he shows a
+village at the foot of Otsego Lake to which he gives the Indian name
+Ote-sa-ga.[7] Our present form, Otsego, is a variant of the same
+original. Morgan wrote the word in three syllables, adding the letter
+"e" after the "t" merely to make sure that the "o" should be pronounced
+long. It seems certain that Morgan never pronounced the word as
+"O-te-sa-ga." This form of the name, however, when the third syllable
+carries the accent and a broad "a," is defensible on the ground of its
+majestic euphony, for it should be permitted to take some liberties with
+a name that has been spelled by high authorities in a dozen different
+ways.
+
+The explanation of Otsego, or Otesaga, as signifying "a place of
+meeting" has been generally abandoned by scholars, in spite of the vogue
+which Fenimore Cooper gave it along with the interpretation of
+Susquehanna as meaning "crooked river." But as to the latter the doctors
+disagree, some claiming that Susquehanna, which is not an Iroquois but
+an Algonquin word, means "muddy stream"; others, following Dr.
+Beauchamp, that it is a corruption of a word meaning "river with long
+reaches." It must be confessed that Cooper credited the Indian words
+with intelligible and appropriate meanings, so that, in the absence of
+agreement among the specialists, the interpretations which he made
+popular will continue to satisfy the ordinary thirst for this sort of
+knowledge.
+
+Assuming the existence of an Indian village on the present site of
+Cooperstown, before the coming of the white man, the question of the
+probable character of its inhabitants opens another field of study. Most
+of the relics found in this region belong to the Algonquin type. On the
+other hand Otsego is an Iroquois word, and it seems to be generally
+agreed that the Otsego region was included, in the historic period, in
+the possessions of the Iroquois, as the league of the Five Nations was
+called by the French. The league included the Mohawks, Oneidas,
+Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas; and took in also, in the eighteenth
+century, as the sixth nation, the Tuscaroras.[8] While the village at
+the foot of the lake would properly be called Mohawk, owing obedience to
+the council of the original Mohawk towns, it might well have been
+composed largely of Indians from other tribes. Fragments of shattered
+tribes found refuge with the Iroquois in the latter days. Some were
+adopted; some stayed on sufferance. The Minsis, a branch of the
+Delawares, as well as the Delawares proper, were allowed to occupy the
+southern part of the Iroquois territory. It will be recalled, in this
+connection, that Cooper's favorite Indian heroes, Chingachgook and
+Uncas, are of Delaware stock.
+
+It is quite possible that, near the beginning of the eighteenth
+century--basing the date, among other things, on the appearance of the
+apple trees when the first white man came--there was a cosmopolitan
+Indian community at the foot of Otsego Lake. Besides Mohawks, there
+would have been included Oneidas, their nearest neighbors on the west;
+and probably Delawares, or Mohicans. There might have been also some
+one-time prisoners, adopted by the Iroquois, but belonging originally to
+distant nations.[9]
+
+All writers on the history of the Eastern Indians agree in assigning the
+highest place to the Iroquois. Parkman asserts that they afford perhaps
+an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without emerging
+from the primitive condition of the hunter. Morgan declares that in the
+width of their sway they had reared the most powerful empire that ever
+existed in America north of the Aztec monarchy. The home country of the
+Iroquois included nearly the whole of the present State of New York, but
+at the era of their highest military supremacy, about 1660, they made
+their influence felt from New England to the Mississippi, and from the
+St. Lawrence to the Tennessee. Within this league, the tribal territory
+of the Mohawks extended to the Hudson River and Lake Champlain on the
+east, northward to the St. Lawrence, and westward to a boundary not
+easily determined, but which included Otsego Lake. In the great league
+of the Iroquois the name of the Mohawk nation always stood first, and of
+all the Iroquois nations they were the most renowned in war. Joseph
+Brant, whom John Fiske calls the most remarkable Indian known to
+history, was a Mohawk chief.
+
+Although the field of Iroquois influence was so wide, and their military
+fame so great, it is a mistake to imagine that the forests of their time
+were thickly peopled with red men, or that they were perpetually at war.
+The entire population of the Iroquois throughout what is now the State
+of New York probably never numbered more than 20,000 souls. Of these the
+whole Mohawk nation counted only about 3,000, grouped in small villages
+over their wide territory.[10] The avowed object of the Iroquois
+confederacy was peace. By means of a great political fraternity the
+purpose was to break up the spirit of perpetual warfare which had wasted
+the Indian race from age to age.[11] To a considerable degree this
+purpose was realized. After the power of the Iroquois had become
+consolidated, their villages were no longer stockaded, such defences
+having ceased to be necessary.
+
+Otsego has witnessed other aspects of Indian life than those of war and
+the chase. The Iroquois were agriculturists, and they, or rather their
+women, cultivated not only fruit trees, but corn, melons, squash,
+pumpkins, beans, and tobacco.[12] They had other human interests also,
+not unlike our own. As the young people grew up amid sylvan charms that
+are wont to stir romantic feelings in the heart of youth to-day, one is
+tempted to imagine the trysts in the wood, the flirtations, the
+courtships, among Indian braves and dusky maidens, that touched life
+with tender sentiment in the days of the red man's glory. During many
+summers before the white man came the breath of nature sighing through
+the pines of Otsego, the winding river murmuring lovelorn secrets to the
+flowers that nodded on its margin, the moon rising over Mount Vision and
+shedding its splendor upon the lake, were subtle influences in secret
+meetings between men and maidens, in whispered vows beneath the trees,
+in courtships on the border of the Glimmerglass, in lovemaking along the
+shores of the Susquehanna.
+
+The greater part of the Iroquois were allies of the British in the
+Revolutionary War, although some Mohawks remained neutral, and most of
+the Oneidas and Tuscaroras became engaged on the side of the Americans.
+It is not strange that, in a war whose causes they could not understand,
+the Iroquois should have been loyal to the King of England, with whom
+their alliances had been made for nearly two centuries. The Indians had
+nothing to gain in this war, and everything to lose. They lost
+everything, and after the war were thrown upon the mercies of the
+victorious Americans. The Iroquois confederacy came to an end, and few
+of the Mohawks ever returned to the scene of their council fires, or to
+the graves of their ancestors.[13]
+
+Many friendly relationships were established between the white men and
+the Indians, both before and after the Revolutionary War. In 1764 there
+was a missionary school of Mohawk Indian boys at the foot of Otsego Lake
+under the instruction of a young Mohawk named Moses, who had been
+educated at a missionary institution for Indians at Lebanon. A report of
+one of the missionaries, the Rev. J. C. Smith, written at this time,
+gives a glimpse of the Indians as they came under civilizing influence
+on the very spot where Cooperstown was afterward to flourish:
+
+"I am every day diverted and pleased with a view of Moses and his
+school, as I can sit in my study and see him and all his scholars at any
+time, the schoolhouse being nothing but an open barrack. And I am much
+pleased to see eight or ten and sometimes more scholars sitting under
+their bark table, some reading, some writing and others studying, and
+all engaged to appearances with as much seriousness and attention as you
+will see in almost any worshipping assembly and Moses at the head of
+them with the gravity of fifty or three score."[14]
+
+Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of the novelist, says that for some
+years after the village was commenced, Mill Island was a favorite resort
+of the Indians, who came frequently in parties to the new settlement,
+remaining here for months together. Mill Island lies in the Susquehanna
+a short distance below Fernleigh, near the dam, where the river reaches
+out two arms to enclose it, and with so little effort that it is
+difficult to distinguish the island from the mainland. In the early days
+of the village the island was covered with woods, and the Indians chose
+it for their camp, in preference to other situations. Miss Cooper thinks
+it may have been a place of resort to their fishing and hunting parties
+when the country was a wilderness. In _Rural Hours_, writing in 1851,
+she gives a curious description of a visit made at Otsego Hall by some
+Indians who had encamped at Mill Island. There were three of them,--a
+father, son, and grandson,--who made their appearance, claiming a
+hereditary acquaintance with the master of the house, Fenimore Cooper.
+
+[Illustration: _C. F. Zabriskie_
+
+AT MILL ISLAND]
+
+"The leader and patriarch of the party," says Miss Cooper, "was a
+Methodist minister--the Rev. Mr. Kunkerpott. He was notwithstanding a
+full-blooded Indian, with the regular copper-colored complexion, and
+high cheek bones; the outline of his face was decidedly Roman, and his
+long, gray hair had a wave which is rare among his people; his mouth,
+where the savage expression is usually most strongly marked, was small,
+with a kindly expression about it. Altogether he was a strange mixture
+of the Methodist preacher and the Indian patriarch. His son was much
+more savage than himself in appearance--a silent, cold-looking man; and
+the grandson, a boy of ten or twelve, was one of the most uncouth,
+impish-looking creatures we ever beheld. He wore a long-tailed coat
+twice too large for him, with boots of the same size. The child's face
+was very wild, and he was bareheaded, with an unusual quantity of long,
+black hair streaming about his head and shoulders. While the grandfather
+was conversing about old times, the boy diverted himself by twirling
+around on one leg, a feat which would have seemed almost impossible,
+booted as he was, but which he nevertheless accomplished with remarkable
+dexterity, spinning round and round, his arms extended, his large black
+eyes staring stupidly before him, his mouth open, and his long hair
+flying in every direction, as wild a looking creature as one could wish
+to see."
+
+After the period of which Miss Cooper writes, Indians were even more
+rarely seen in Cooperstown, and their visits soon ceased altogether. It
+is a far cry from the Chingachgook and Uncas whom Fenimore Cooper
+imagined to the Rev. Mr. Kunkerpott and other Indians whom his daughter
+saw and described. So much so that Cooper has been accused of creating,
+in his novels, a sort of Indians which never existed either here or
+elsewhere. There is no doubt, however, that he studied carefully such
+Indians as were in his day to be found, and had some basis of fact for
+the qualities which he imparted to the Indians of his imagination. Miss
+Cooper says that her father followed Indian delegations from town to
+town, observing them carefully, conversing with them freely, and was
+impressed "with the vein of poetry and of laconic eloquence marking
+their brief speeches."
+
+Brander Matthews says that if there is any lack of faithfulness in
+Cooper's presentation of the Indian character, it is due to the fact
+that he was a romancer, and therefore an optimist, bent on making the
+best of things. He told the truth as he saw it, and nothing but the
+truth; but he did not tell the whole truth. Here Cooper was akin to
+Scott, who chose to dwell only on the bright side of chivalry, and to
+picture the merry England of Richard Lionheart as a pleasanter period to
+live in than it could have been in reality. Cooper's red men are
+probably closer to the actual facts than Scott's black knights and white
+ladies.[15]
+
+Cooper himself comes to the defense of his Indians in the preface of the
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_. "It is the privilege of all writers of
+fiction," he declares, "more particularly when their works aspire to the
+elevation of romances, to present the _beau-ideal_ of their characters
+to the reader. This it is which constitutes poetry, and to suppose that
+the red man is to be represented only in the squalid misery or in the
+degraded moral state that certainly more or less belongs to his
+condition, is, we apprehend, taking a very narrow view of an author's
+privileges. Such criticism would have deprived the world of even Homer."
+
+Our early history has been less sympathetic toward the Indian. The story
+of the massacre which occurred at Cherry Valley, not many miles from
+Cooperstown, in 1778, although the Tories who took part in it were quite
+as savage as their Indian allies, has made memorable the darker side of
+Indian character. But although many innocent victims were exacted by his
+revenge both here and elsewhere, it was not without cause that the
+Indian resorted to bloody measures against the whites. Americans of
+to-day can well afford a generous appreciation of the once powerful race
+who were their predecessors in sovereignty on this continent. The league
+of the Iroquois is no more, but in the Empire State of the American
+Republic the scene of their ancient Indian empire remains. It is left
+for the white man to commemorate the Indian who made no effort to
+perpetuate memorials of himself, erected no boastful monuments, and
+carved no inscriptions to record his many conquests. Having gained great
+wealth by developing the resources of a land which the Indians used only
+as hunting grounds, the white man may none the less appreciate the lofty
+qualities of a race of men who, just because they felt no lust of
+riches, never emerged from the hunter state, but found the joy of life
+amid primeval forests.
+
+The League of the Iroquois has had a strange history, which is part of
+the history of America--a history which left no record, except by
+chance, of a government that had no archives, an empire that had no
+throne, a language that had no books, a citizenship without a city, a
+religion that had no temple except that which the Great Spirit created
+in the beginning.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: Poe. _Works_, "William W. Lord," Vol. vii, p. 217
+(Amontillado Ed). Edmund Clarence Stedman, in his _Poets of America_, p.
+41, 123, champions Lord.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Notes on the Iroquois_, Henry R. Schoolcraft, Chap. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Major J. W. Powell, _The Forum_, January, 1890.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Lewis H. Morgan's map, 1851, in the _League of the
+Iroquois_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: From Fernleigh garden, near the river, 1895.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These opinions are quoted from a communication kindly
+written by Willard E. Yager, of Oneonta.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Ote-sa-ga was probably derived, by transposition very
+common in like case, from the first map name of Ostega (Ostaga),
+1770-1775. Dr. Beauchamp sought to derive this from "otsta," a word for
+which Schoolcraft was his authority, and which was supposed to be Oneida
+for "rock," the Mohawk form "otsteara." But Schoolcraft, as Beauchamp
+himself elsewhere shows (Indian Names, p. 6), sometimes took liberties
+with original Indian forms of words. The Mohawk word for "rock" is
+"ostenra"; the Oneida would be "ostela." The first with the locative
+terminal "ga," gives "ostenraga"; the second, "ostelaga." Both are far
+removed from "Ostaga." Ostaga is more naturally derived from the Mohawk
+"otsata," or "osata," both which forms occur in Bruyas. Otsataga, by
+elision, readily becomes Otstaga, and again Ostaga. The change is even
+simpler with Osataga. The meaning of Ostaga, thus explained, would be
+"place of cloud," by extension "place of storm"--in contrast, perhaps,
+with the little lakes, which were _waiontha_, "calm." (Bruyas,
+64).--_Willard E. Yager._]
+
+[Footnote 8: _League of the Iroquois_, Lewis H. Morgan, Lloyd's Ed.,
+Vol. I, p. 93.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Yager.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Old New York Frontier_, Francis W. Halsey, 16.
+_League of the Iroquois_, II. 227.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _League of the Iroquois_, I. 87.]
+
+[Footnote 12: do., I. 249-251.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _The Old New York Frontier_, 150.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _The Old New York Frontier_, 75, 160.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Address at the Cooperstown Centennial._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN
+
+
+Within six years after Hendrik Hudson sailed up the river which bears
+his name, and some five years before the Pilgrim fathers landed at
+Plymouth, the first white men looked upon Otsego Lake, and saw the
+wooded shore upon which Cooperstown now stands. It was in 1614, or in
+the year following, that two Dutchmen set out from Fort Orange (Albany)
+to explore the fur country, and crossing from the Mohawk to Otsego Lake,
+proceeded down the Susquehanna.[16] From this time, first under the
+Dutch, then under English rule, traders came frequently to the foot of
+Otsego Lake. Soon after the traders, Christian missionaries ventured
+into the wilderness, ministering at first chiefly to the Indians. Later
+came the first settlers.
+
+That the influence of traders was not always helpful to Christian
+missionaries is illustrated by an incident in the missionary journey of
+the Rev. Gideon Hawley, a Presbyterian divine, who, with some zealous
+companions, came from New England to preach to the Indians of the
+Susquehanna in 1753. They reached the river at a point where was a
+small Indian settlement near the present village of Colliers, seventeen
+miles below Cooperstown. Here they were joined by a trader named George
+Winedecker, who had come down from Otsego Lake with a boat-load of
+goods, including rum, to supply the Indian villages down the river.
+During the night the red men, full of Winedecker's rum, became embroiled
+in a murderous orgy. The missionaries were awakened by the howling of
+the Indians over their dead, and in the morning saw Indian women
+skulking in the bushes, hiding guns and hatchets, for fear of the
+intoxicated Indians who were drinking deeper. "Here, in one party, were
+missionaries with the Bible and a trader with the rum--the two gifts of
+the white man to the Indian."[17]
+
+Susquehanna lands were first conveyed to white men by the Indians in
+1684 as a part of a treaty of alliance with the English, although the
+Indians retained the right to live and hunt on the river. The granting
+of land titles by the Provincial government began not long
+afterward.[18] The first recorded patent on Otsego Lake was obtained in
+1740 by John J. Petrie at the northern end. John Groesbeck, an officer
+of the court of chancery, acquired in 1741 a patent lying northeast of
+the lake, including what afterward became the Clarke property and the
+site of Hyde Hall. Nearly the whole east side of the lake, with the
+present Lakelands tract just east of the Susquehanna at its source, was
+covered by the patent which Godfrey Miller obtained in 1761, and upon
+which, according to the journal of Richard Smith, twelve persons were
+resident eight years later.[19]
+
+Early in the eighteenth century it is probable that traders were from
+time to time resident at the foot of Otsego, but the first attempt
+toward a permanent settlement on the present site of Cooperstown was
+made by John Christopher Hartwick in 1761. In that year Hartwick
+obtained from the Provincial government a patent to the lands which,
+southwest of Cooperstown, still perpetuate his name, and began a
+settlement at the foot of Otsego Lake under the misapprehension that the
+site was included in his patent. It was not long before Hartwick
+discovered his error, and withdrew to the proper limits of his tract,
+but this attempt to found a village upon the spot which William Cooper
+afterward selected connects with the history of Cooperstown a unique
+character and memorable name.
+
+Hartwick, who was born in Germany in 1714, came to America at about
+thirty years of age as a missionary preacher, and in his time was as
+famous for his eccentricities, as he afterward became for his pious
+benefactions. He held some settled charges, but, except for twelve years
+at Rhinebeck, he seems for the most part to have been a wandering
+preacher, and the records of his pastorates extend from Philadelphia to
+Boston, and from Virginia and Maryland to the distant coast of Maine.
+
+If Hartwick would not be long tied down to a settled pastorate, he was
+even more fearful of matrimonial bondage, and shunned women as a plague.
+It was not an uncommon thing for him, if he saw that he was about to
+meet a woman in the road, to cross over, or even to leap a fence, in
+order to avoid her. On one occasion when he was disturbed in preaching
+by the presence of a dog, he exclaimed with much earnestness that dogs
+and children had better be kept at home, and it would not be much
+matter, he added, if the women were kept there too![20] Seeking shelter
+one night at a log hut not far from the present Hartwick village, he was
+cheerfully received by the occupants, a man and his wife, who gave up to
+their guest the one bed in the only bedroom, and stretched themselves
+for the night upon the floor before the kitchen fire. The night grew
+bitter cold, and the wife, awaking, bethought her of the guest, whether
+he might not be too lightly covered. She went silently to his room, and
+spread upon his bed a part of her simple wardrobe. Hartwick promptly
+arose, dressed himself, made his way out of the house to the stable,
+saddled his horse, and rode away in the darkness.
+
+His contemporaries agree in representing Hartwick as slovenly in his
+habits, often preaching in his blanket coat, and not always with the
+cleanest linen; eccentric in his manners, curt, and at times irritable
+in his intercourse with others--an exceedingly undesirable addition to
+the social and domestic circle, so that his hosts were accustomed to
+tell him plainly, at the beginning of a visit, "You may stay here so
+many days, and then you must go."[21] In some quarters his visits were
+dreaded because of his excessively long prayers at family worship.[22]
+
+One may dwell without malice upon the eccentricities of this singular
+man, for they are qualities that set him forth from his more staid
+contemporaries, without detracting from the virtues which gave
+permanence to his work. Hartwick was a lover of God and men. Although
+rough and unpolished, he was a man of learning, being well versed in
+theology, and as familiar with the Latin language as with his own.
+
+The great purpose of Hartwick's career was the founding of a community
+for the promotion of religion and education, the building in the
+wilderness of a Christian city whose halls of learning should influence
+the coming ages. The roving life that brought Hartwick into contact with
+the Indians awakened his desire to Christianize and educate them, and
+the influence which he gained among them opened the way, through the
+acquirement of land, for the carrying out of his favorite project. The
+patent that he obtained from the Provincial government in 1761 covered a
+tract of land, substantially the present town of Hartwick, which he had
+purchased from the Indians for one hundred pounds in 1754. In settling
+the land Hartwick required each tenant to agree to a condition in the
+lease by which the tenant became Hartwick's parishioner, and
+acknowledged the authority of Hartwick, or his substitute, as "pastor,
+teacher, and spiritual counsellor." Owing to his desultory business
+methods and the weight of advancing years, Hartwick after a time found
+himself unequal to the management of this estate, and in 1791 William
+Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, became his agent, with authority to
+dispose of the property to tenants. By this arrangement Hartwick was cut
+off from his original design of being the spiritual director of his
+tenants, and came to the end of his life without building the city of
+which he dreamed.
+
+Hartwick's last will and testament, however, shows that he never
+abandoned his design, but determined that it should be carried out after
+his death. The will is one of the most curious documents ever penned, a
+mixture of autobiography, piety, and contempt of legal form. A lawyer to
+whom he submitted it pronounced it "legally defective in every page, and
+almost in every sentence." But Hartwick's only amendment of it was to
+add a perplexing codicil to seven other codicils which already had been
+appended.[23] The will provides for the laying out of a regular town,
+closely built, to be called the New Jerusalem, with buildings and hall
+for a seminary.
+
+Hartwick died in 1796, in his eighty-third year. The task of
+administering the estate according to the will was found to be almost
+hopeless. The executors, aided by a special act of legislature, set
+about to carry out its evident spirit. Preliminary to the establishment
+of a seminary, the executors sent the Rev. John Frederick Ernst, a
+Lutheran minister, to Hartwick patent, to preach to the inhabitants, and
+to assist in the education of their youth. In connection with this work
+Mr. Ernst came to Cooperstown in 1799, held religious services in the
+old Academy, on the present site of the Universalist church, and had
+some youngsters of the village under his instruction. His descendants
+lived in Cooperstown for more than a century after him.
+
+The main building of Hartwick Seminary was erected in 1812, at the
+present site, near the bank of the Susquehanna River, about five miles
+southward of Cooperstown, and some four miles eastward from Hartwick
+village. The school was opened in 1815, and received from the
+legislature a charter in 1816. It is the oldest theological school in
+the State of New York, and the oldest Lutheran theological seminary in
+America. In addition to being a theological school, Hartwick Seminary is
+now devoted to general education, and includes among its pupils not only
+boys, but, in spite of the prejudice of its founder, young women.
+
+Among the original trustees named in the charter of Hartwick Seminary
+was the Rev. Daniel Nash, the first rector of Christ Church,
+Cooperstown. Judge Samuel Nelson, and Col. John H. Prentiss, of
+Cooperstown, were afterward trustees for many years, and in their time
+there was among the people of this village a lively interest in Hartwick
+Seminary, the literary exercises at the end of each scholastic year
+being largely attended by visitors from Cooperstown. It is significant
+of the close relation which formerly existed between the two villages
+that the street which runs westward from the Presbyterian church in
+Cooperstown, now called Elm Street, was at one time known to the
+inhabitants as "the Hartwick Road."
+
+Local history has wronged[24] the memory of John Christopher Hartwick by
+the oft repeated statement that he committed suicide. It is true that a
+man named Christianus Hartwick took his own life in 1800, and that his
+grave lies in Hinman Hollow, only a few miles from Hartwick Seminary.
+But John Christopher Hartwick, after whom the town and seminary are
+named, died a natural death at Clermont, N. Y., four years before the
+suicide.
+
+A wanderer in life, Hartwick after his death was long in quest of a
+peaceful grave. His remains were first buried in the graveyard of the
+Lutheran church in East Camp. Two years later, in accordance with the
+wish expressed in Hartwick's will, the body was removed and entombed
+beneath the pulpit of Ebenezer church, at the corner of Pine and Lodge
+streets, in Albany, deposited in a stone coffin, secured by brickwork,
+and covered with an inscribed slab of marble. In 1869, when the church
+was rebuilt, the body was removed to the public cemetery in Albany. When
+this cemetery was converted into Washington Park, Hartwick's body was
+transferred to the lot of the First Lutheran church in the Albany Rural
+Cemetery on the Troy road, where his dust is now contained in an unknown
+and forgotten grave. The board of trustees of Hartwick Seminary
+afterward ordered that Hartwick's remains should be disinterred and
+brought for burial to the town to which he gave his name, but the
+remains could not be found.
+
+The marble slab that once covered the body of Hartwick in Ebenezer
+church lay for many years beneath the basement floor of the First
+Lutheran church, which succeeded the older building. In 1913 this relic
+of Hartwick's sepulchre was sent to the seminary which he founded, where
+it occupies once more a place of honor. Besides Hartwick's name, and the
+record of his birth and death, the marble bears, inscribed in German,
+this sentiment:
+
+     Man's life, in its appointed limit,
+         Is seventy, is eighty years;
+     But care and grief and anguish dim it,
+         However joyous it appears.
+     The winged moments swiftly flee,
+         And bear us to eternity.
+
+The village of Hartwick is distantly connected with another religious
+movement which the founder of Hartwick Seminary would have viewed with
+the utmost abhorrence. In 1820, and for several years thereafter, first
+in the house of John Davison, and afterward in Jerome Clark's attic, lay
+an old trunk containing the closely handwritten pages of a romance
+entitled _The Manuscript Found_, by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding. This was
+written in 1812, in Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, where the
+exploration of earth mounds containing skeletons and other relics fired
+Spaulding's imagination, and suggested the character of his tale. It was
+written in Biblical style, and for the purpose of the romance was
+presented as a translation from hieroglyphical writing upon metal plates
+exhumed from a mound, to which the author had been guided by a vision.
+It purported to be a history of the peopling of America by the lost
+tribes of Israel. Spaulding frequently read the manuscript to circles of
+admiring friends, and afterward carried it to Pittsburgh, leaving it, in
+the hope of having it published, in the care of a printer named
+Patterson. The manuscript was finally rejected. Spaulding died, and in
+1820 his widow married John Davison of Hartwick, to which place the old
+trunk containing her first husband's manuscript was sent.
+
+In 1823 Joseph Smith gave out that he had been directed in a vision to a
+hill near Palmyra, New York, where he discovered some gold plates
+curiously inscribed, and containing a new revelation. This supposed
+revelation he published in 1830 as the "Book of Mormon."
+
+Mormonism flourished and moved westward. In the course of time a Mormon
+meeting was held in Conneaut, Ohio, and out of curiosity was largely
+attended by the townspeople. Some readings were given from the Book of
+Mormon, and certain of the hearers were astonished at the similarity
+between Joseph Smith's book and _The Manuscript Found_, which Solomon
+Spaulding had read aloud to friends in the same town many years before.
+They recognized the same peculiar names, unheard of elsewhere, such as
+Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite, and Nephi. It was learned, it is said, that
+Smith had closely followed Spaulding's story, adding only his own
+peculiar tenets about marriage, and inventing the theory of the great
+spectacles by means of which he professed to have deciphered the
+mysterious characters.
+
+Spaulding's friends raised a question which has never been cleared up
+and was at last forgotten. It was pointed out that Sidney Rigdon, who
+figured as a preacher and as an adviser of Smith among the first of the
+"Latter Day Saints," happened to have been an employe in Patterson's
+printing office in Pittsburgh during the very period when Spaulding's
+manuscript was there awaiting approval or rejection. But the matter was
+never brought to a definite issue, and nothing more came of it except a
+rather curious episode. Mrs. Davison removed from Hartwick about 1828,
+leaving the trunk in charge of Jerome Clark. In 1834 a man named
+Hurlburt sought Mrs. Davison, and said that he had been sent by a
+committee to procure _The Manuscript Found_, written by Solomon
+Spaulding, so as to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a
+letter from her brother, William H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley, upon
+whose farm Joseph Smith had been an employe, requesting her to lend the
+manuscript to Hurlburt, in order "to uproot this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt
+represented that he himself had been a convert to Mormonism, but had
+given it up, and wished to expose its wickedness. On Hurlburt's repeated
+promise to return the work, Mrs. Davison gave him a note addressed to
+Jerome Clark of Hartwick, requesting him to open the old trunk and
+deliver the manuscript. This was done. Hurlburt took the manuscript, and
+not only did he never return it, but he never replied to any of the many
+letters requesting its return. The Spaulding manuscript has utterly
+disappeared.[25]
+
+The year 1768 brings another unique personage into the field of our
+local history. In that year the English met the Indians at Fort Stanwix
+(Rome, Oneida county) in a conference which resulted in establishing a
+formally acknowledged boundary between the territory of the red men and
+the land which the colonists had begun to make their own. The lands of
+the upper Susquehanna thus became, prior to the Revolution, the extreme
+western frontier of old New York, and Otsego Lake was included within
+English territory by a margin, at the west, of about twenty miles. Sir
+William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, conducted the
+negotiations, and the securing of the Fort Stanwix deed was one of the
+most astute accomplishments of his long career.
+
+An interested party to these proceedings was Sir William's deputy agent
+for Indian affairs, Colonel George Croghan, who had accompanied him to
+the conference. Nearly twenty years before, Croghan had obtained from
+the Indians a tract of land near Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), in
+Pennsylvania. During this Fort Stanwix conference which established the
+new frontier Croghan succeeded in getting confirmation of the former
+grant, with the privilege of making an exchange for a tract of equal
+extent in the region now ceded to the English. Under this agreement
+Croghan and certain associates afterward took up 100,000 acres of land
+in what are now Otsego, Burlington, and New Lisbon townships, Otsego
+county.[26] And so it came about that in the next year, 1769, Colonel
+George Croghan came to the foot of Otsego Lake, built him a hut, and was
+the first settler on the present site of Cooperstown.
+
+The story of the fortune and failure of Croghan, who was a remarkable
+and picturesque character, reads like a romance. He so far surpassed all
+men of his time in genius for commerce with the Indians, and in skillful
+marketing of Indian products, that Hanna calls him "The King of the
+Traders." Lavish in his expenditures, big in his ventures, he made and
+lost fortunes with equal facility. He alternated between the height of
+opulence and the verge of bankruptcy. Like Sir William Johnson, Croghan
+had a special aptitude for making friendships with the Indians, so that,
+according to his own statement, "he was in such favor and confidence
+with the councils of the Six Nations that he was, in the year 1746,
+admitted by them as a Councillor into the Onondaga Councill, which is
+the Supreme Councill of the Six Nations. He understands the Language of
+the Six Nations and of several other of the Indian nations."[27]
+
+Long before the sojourn in Otsego, Croghan had become, during his fits
+of prosperity, a power in the Pennsylvania region, and probably deserved
+the pungently qualified praise of Hassler, who, in his _Old
+Westmoreland_, declares that "the man of most influence in this
+community [Fort Pitt, or Pittsburgh] was the fat old Trader and
+Indian-Agent, Colonel George Croghan, who lived on a pretentious
+plantation about four miles up the Allegheny River--an Irishman by birth
+and an Episcopalian by religion, when he permitted religion to trouble
+him."
+
+Two documents relating to Croghan illustrate his extremes of fortune;
+the one a petition to protect him against imprisonment for debt, the
+other a complaint against him as a monopolist of the fur trade. It seems
+that in 1755 Croghan had been compelled by impending bankruptcy and fear
+of the debtor's prison to remove from settled parts of Pennsylvania, and
+to take refuge in the Indian country. Here he was in great danger from
+the French and their Indians, but wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania
+that he was more afraid of imprisonment for debt than of losing his
+scalp. At a meeting of the Pennsylvania Assembly in November, 1755,
+fifteen creditors of Croghan presented a petition that Croghan and his
+partner, William Trent, be rendered free from debt for a space of ten
+years. The petition recited that there should be taken into
+consideration "the great knowledge of said George Croghan in Indian
+affairs, his extensive influence among them, and the service and public
+utility he may be of to this Province in these respects."[28] In
+accordance with this petition a bill was passed by which Croghan was
+freed from the danger of arrest for debt, and, although the act was
+vetoed by King George II three years later, Croghan evidently made
+profitable use of his liberty.
+
+On July 9, 1759, less than four years after Croghan so narrowly escaped
+the debtor's prison, a complaint from Philadelphia was addressed to the
+Governor of Pennsylvania protesting against Croghan's policy of crushing
+competitors in the trade with Indians by a control of prices in skins
+and peltry.[29] The complaint was signed by the eight Provincial
+Commissioners for the Indian Trade newly appointed by the Assembly,
+including Edward Pennington, the celebrated Quaker merchant of
+Philadelphia; Thomas Willing, afterward a member of the Continental
+Congress, and the first president of the Bank of North America, the
+earliest chartered in the country; and William Fisher, who was mayor of
+Philadelphia just before the Revolution. Such formidable opposition
+shows that Croghan, from being an object of pity to his creditors, had
+risen to affluence as the head of a "trust."
+
+Owing to his business methods, some of the Quakers were not well
+disposed toward Croghan. At a conference with the Delawares and Six
+Nations held at Easton, in 1758, one of the Quakers present wrote home
+an account of the proceedings in a tone not favorable to Croghan. "He
+treats them [the Indians] with liquor," wrote the Quaker, "and gives out
+that he himself is an Indian.... At the close of the conference one
+Nichos, a Mohawk, made a speech.... This Nichos is G. Croghan's
+father-in-law."
+
+If Croghan is to be believed, however, he was opposed to giving liquor
+to the Indians. While arranging for this very conference he had written
+to Secretary Richard Peters of Pennsylvania, "You'll excuse boath
+writing and peper, and guess at my maining, fer I have at this minnitt
+20 drunken Indians about me. I shall be ruined if ye taps are not
+stopt."
+
+Although Croghan had come to America in 1741, this letter, with its
+"guess at my maining," and another in which he has "lase" for "lease,"
+suggest that, if his pronunciation may be judged from his spelling, he
+retained a rich Irish brogue. Certainly his Irish wit and good nature
+served him well in his dealing with the Indians. He was frequently
+useful in outwitting the French Indian-agents, and in maintaining the
+friendship of the red men for the English as against the French. General
+Bouquet, who seems to have detested Croghan, wrote to General Gage, at a
+time when new powers had been conferred upon Indian-agents, "It is to be
+regretted that powers of such importance should be trusted to a man
+illiterate, impudent, and ill-bred." Nevertheless, within a few months,
+Bouquet wrote to Gage recommending Croghan as the person most competent
+to negotiate with the Western Indians for British control of the French
+posts in the Illinois country--a mission upon which Croghan was wounded,
+captured, and pillaged by the Indians. In 1768 the General Assembly in
+Philadelphia put upon record, in a message to the Governor, a high
+opinion of Croghan, referring to "the eminent services he has rendered
+to the Nation and its Colonies in conciliating the affections of the
+Indians to the British interest."
+
+At the end of a stormy voyage from America, being shipwrecked on the
+Norman coast, Croghan reached England in February, 1764, bearing an
+important letter on Indian affairs from Sir William Johnson to the Lords
+of Trade. One might expect to find Croghan gratified by the comforts of
+London life as compared with the rough hardships of America. A scout
+under Washington's command, a captain of Indians under Braddock, a
+border ranger upon the western frontier, a trader upon the banks of the
+Ohio, a pioneer in many a wilderness, Croghan had seen all kinds of
+hard service in the twenty-three years since he left Ireland. But in the
+midst of metropolitan splendors he grew homesick for the wild life of
+the New World. Writing in March, and again in April, to American
+friends, he expressed his disgust with the city's pride and pomp,
+declared that he was sick of London and its vanities, and set forth as
+his chief ambition a desire to live on a little farm in America. In the
+autumn of the same year Croghan shipped for the long journey across the
+Atlantic. It is five years later that he appears at the foot of Otsego
+Lake, apparently in fulfillment of his desire to make a home and to be
+the founder of a settlement.
+
+In 1769 Richard Smith came to the Susquehanna region from Burlington,
+New Jersey. The immediate purpose of his tour was to make a survey of
+the Otsego patent in which he, as one of the proprietors, was
+interested. Smith traveled up the Hudson River to Albany, thence along
+the Mohawk to Canajoharie, from which point his carefully kept
+journal[30] abounds in interesting allusions to Otsego:
+
+     "13th. May. ... Pursuing a S. W. Course for Cherry Valley
+     [from Canajoharie]. We met, on their Return, Four Waggons,
+     which had carried some of Col. Croghan's Goods to his Seat at
+     the Foot of Lake Otsego.... Capt. Prevost ... is now improving
+     his Estate at the Head of the Lake; the Capt. married
+     Croghan's Daughter....
+
+     "14th. ... Distance from Cherry Valley to Capt. Prevost's is 9
+     miles.
+
+     "15th. ... We arrived at Capt. Prevost's in 4 Hours, the Road
+     not well cleared, but full of Stumps and rugged, thro' deep
+     blac Mould all the Way.... Mr. Prevost has built a Log House,
+     lined with rough Boards, of one story, on a Cove, which forms
+     the Head of Lake Otsego. He has cleared 16 or 18 acres round
+     his House and erected a Saw Mill. He began to settle only in
+     May last.... The Capt. treated us elegantly. He has several
+     Families seated near him....
+
+     "16th. We proceeded in Col. Croghan's Batteau, large and sharp
+     at each end, down the Lake,... The Water of greenish cast,
+     denoting probable Limestone bottom; the Lake is skirted on
+     either side with Hills covered by White Pines and the Spruce
+     called Hemloc chiefly. We saw a Number of Ducks, some Loons,
+     Sea-gulls, and Whitish coloured Swallows, the Water very clear
+     so that we descried the gravelly Bottom in one Part 10 or 12
+     Feet down. The rest of the Lake seemed to be very deep; very
+     little low Land is to be seen round the Lake. Mr. Croghan,
+     Deputy to Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent for Indian
+     Affairs, is now here, and has Carpenters and other Men at Work
+     preparing to build Two Dwelling Houses and 5 or 6 Out Houses.
+     His Situation [on the site of the Cooper Grounds, within the
+     present village of Cooperstown] commands a view of the whole
+     Lake, and is in that Respect superior to Prevost's. The site
+     is a gravelly, stiff clay, covered with towering white Pines,
+     just where the River Susquehannah, no more than 10 or 12 yards
+     broad, runs downward out of the Lake with a strong
+     Current.[31] Here we found a Body of Indians, mostly from
+     Ahquhaga,[32] come to pay their Devoirs to the Col.; some of
+     them speak a little English.... We lodged at Col. Croghan's.
+
+     "23rd. ... At Col. Croghan's ... being rainy, we staid here
+     all day.
+
+     "24th. It rained again. The Elevated Hills of this country
+     seem to intercept the flying vapors and draw down more
+     moisture than more humble places.... With 3 carpenters felled
+     a white Pine Tree and began a Canoe.... Some Trout were caught
+     this Morng. 22 Inches long; they are spotted like ours with
+     Yellow Bellies, yellow flesh when boiled & wide mouths. There
+     are Two species, the Common & the Salmon Trout. Some Chubs
+     were likewise taken, above a Foot in length. The other Fish
+     common in the Lake & other Waters, according to Information,
+     are Pickerel, large and shaped like a Pike, Red Perch, Catfish
+     reported to be upwards of Two feet long, Eels, Suckers, Pike,
+     a few shad and some other Sorts not as yet perfectly known.
+     The Bait now used is Pidgeon's Flesh or Guts, for Worms are
+     scarce. The Land Frogs or Toads are very large, spotted with
+     green and yellow, Bears and Deer are Common.... Muscetoes &
+     Gnats are now troublesome. We observed a natural Strawberry
+     Patch before Croghan's Door which is at present in bloom, we
+     found the Ground Squirrels and small red squirrels very
+     numerous and I approached near to one Rabbit whose Face
+     appeared of a blac Colour.
+
+     "25th. We finished and launched our Canoe into the Lake. She
+     is 32 feet 7 inches in Length and 2 Feet 4 inches broad....
+
+     "27th. ... We engaged Joseph Brant, the Mohawk, to go down
+     with us to Aquahga. Last night a drunken Indian came and
+     kissed Col. Croghan and me very joyously. Here are Natives of
+     different Nations almost continually. They visit the Deputy
+     Superintendent as Dogs to the Bone, for what they can get....
+
+     "We found many petrified Shells in these Parts, & sometimes on
+     the Tops of High Hills.... Col. Croghan showed us a piece of
+     Copper Ore, as supposed. The Indian who gave it to him said he
+     found it on our Tract.... Col. C says that some of his Cows
+     were out in the Woods all last Winter without Hay, and they
+     now look well....
+
+     "The Col. had a Cargo of Goods arrived to-day, such as Hogs,
+     Poultry, Crockery ware, and Glass. The settled Indian Wages
+     here are 4s a Day, York Currency, being Half a Dollar.
+
+     "28th. Sunday. I had an Opportunity of inspecting the Bark
+     Canoes often used by the Natives; these Boats are constructed
+     of a single sheet of Bark, stripped from the Elm, Hiccory, or
+     Chesnut, 12 or 14 Feet long, and 3 or 4 Feet broad, and sharp
+     at each End, and these sewed with thongs of the same Bark. In
+     Lieu of a Gunnel, they have a small Pole fastned with Thongs,
+     sticks across & Ribs of Bark, and they deposit Sheets of Bark
+     in her Bottom to prevent Breaches there. These vessels are
+     very light, each broken and often patched with Pieces of Bark
+     as well as corked with Oakum composed of pounded Bark.
+
+     "The Col. talks of building a Saw Mill and Grist Mill here on
+     the Susquehannah, near his House, and has had a Millwright to
+     view the Spot.
+
+     "29th. Myself, with Joseph Brant, his wife and Child, and
+     another Young Mohawk named James, went down in the new Canoe
+     to our upper Corner.... This River ... is full of Logs and
+     Trees, and short, crooked Turns, and the Navigation for Canoes
+     and Batteaux requires dexterity."
+
+The household which Smith visited at the foot of Otsego Lake was an
+interesting one, and had some remarkable connections. There was not only
+"the fat old trader, and Indian-agent, Colonel George Croghan," but
+also his Indian wife, daughter of the Mohawk chief Nichos, or Nickas, of
+Canajoharie. Catherine,[33] the Colonel's little daughter, then ten
+years old, helped her Indian mother with the household tasks, or danced
+in her play about the cabin door, little dreaming that she was afterward
+to become the third wife of Joseph Brant, the famous chieftain who had
+just guided Richard Smith down the Susquehanna.
+
+Croghan's elder daughter, Susannah, who had married Captain Augustine
+Prevost, was the child of Croghan's first wife, a white woman. Capt. and
+Mrs. Prevost lived at the head of Otsego Lake, in a house where
+Swanswick now stands. Before the coming of Prevost, a settlement had
+been made here as early as 1762,[34] the earliest permanent settlement
+on Otsego Lake. Captain Augustine Prevost, or Major Prevost, as he
+afterward became, was born at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1744, and died at
+the age of 77 years, at Greenville, N. Y., where the Prevost mansion
+still stands. He was twice married, and had twenty-two children. Prevost
+was beloved as a bosom friend and companion by Joseph Brant, and their
+intimacy was interrupted, much to the Mohawk's sorrow, only when Prevost
+was ordered to join his regiment in Jamaica in 1772. This friendship
+with Croghan's son-in-law seems to have brought the famous Mohawk
+chieftain as a frequent visitor to Otsego Lake, and may account for his
+attachment and subsequent marriage to Croghan's younger daughter. Thus
+is completed the circle of intimates that gathered at Croghan's hut, on
+the present site of Cooperstown, in 1769--the Irish trader; his Indian
+squaw; the British officer and his wife; the young half-Indian girl; and
+the Mohawk warrior whose name was to become a terror to settlers
+throughout the Susquehanna Valley--the same who afterward was received
+at court in London, who dined with Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, was
+lionized by Boswell, and had his portrait painted by Romney.[35]
+
+Croghan's attempted settlement was not a success. He began to show signs
+of failing health and waning fortune. On July 18, 1769, he wrote from
+Lake Otsego to Thomas Wharton of Philadelphia, "Eight days ago I was
+favored with yours. I should have answered it before now, but was then
+lying in a violent fit of the gout, for ye first time, wh. has confin'd
+me to bed for 18 days, & now am only able to sit up on ye bedside."
+During the next winter Croghan was in New York and Philadelphia, but in
+March and April, 1770, he was again at Otsego, whence he wrote to Sir
+William Johnson concerning financial difficulties. In May he wrote of a
+proposed journey southward for his health and business interests.
+
+But Croghan was never in business for his health. In October he was once
+more on his old plantation near Fort Pitt, where Washington, on an
+exploring expedition, visited him and dined with him. It seems that he
+was trying to persuade Washington to buy land of him in the West, and,
+according to Washington's surveyor, Captain William Crawford, was using
+Washington's prospective purchases as an inducement to others, at the
+same time not being very sure of his title, "selling any land that any
+person will buy of him, inside or outside of his line."
+
+Croghan never returned to Otsego. He mortgaged his tract of land to
+William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, and lost it under
+foreclosure in 1773. The title later passed to William Cooper and Andrew
+Craig, both of Burlington, New Jersey, which was also the home of
+Richard Smith, who had visited Croghan at Otsego.
+
+Appended to one of Croghan's deeds is a map purporting to show the
+improvements which he had made at the foot of the lake, but, says
+Fenimore Cooper, "it is supposed that this map was made for effect."
+When William Cooper first visited the spot, in 1785, the only building
+was one of hewn logs, about fifteen feet square, probably Croghan's hut,
+deserted and dismantled, standing in the space now included in the
+Cooper Grounds, near the site of the present Clark Estate office. Except
+for the visit of Clinton's troops in 1779, the place had been abandoned
+for fifteen years. The only signs of "improvements" were seen in a few
+places cleared of underbrush, with felled and girdled trees, and in the
+remains of some log fences already falling into ruin. Silence and
+desolation had fallen upon "the little farm in America" upon which
+Croghan had dreamed of passing his declining years.
+
+In an inventory of the estate of Alexander Ross of Pittsburgh, 1784,
+appears in the record of effects a promissory note made by George
+Croghan, with this appended remark: "Dead, and no Property."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 16: _The Old New York Frontier_, 32.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _The Old New York Frontier_, 61.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Four Great Rivers_, Halsey, lvii.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Four Great Rivers_, 35.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Henry M. Pohlman, D.D., _Hartwick Seminary Memorial
+Volume_, 1867, p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Pohlman, 23.]
+
+[Footnote 22: James Pitcher, D.D., _Centennial Address_, 1897, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Hartwick Sem. Mem._, 27.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _History of Cooperstown_, Livermore, 11.]
+
+[Footnote 25: "The Book of Mormon," _Scribner's Magazine_, August,
+1880.]
+
+[Footnote 26: _The Wilderness Trail_, Chas. A. Hanna, II, 59, 60.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _The Wilderness Trail_, II, 30.]
+
+[Footnote 28: _The Wilderness Trail_, II, 8.]
+
+[Footnote 29: do., II, 20.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Published in _Four Great Rivers_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: This current is now sluggish, owing to the dam of the
+water works lower down the river.]
+
+[Footnote 32: The largest Indian village in the Susquehanna Valley,
+about 50 miles in an air line from Otsego, twice as far by water,
+situated on the river at a point where the present village of Windsor
+stands, some 14 miles easterly from Binghamton.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _The Wilderness Trail_, II, 84.]
+
+[Footnote 34: _The Old New York Frontier_, 125.]
+
+[Footnote 35: _The Old New York Frontier_, 320.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A BYPATH OF THE REVOLUTION
+
+
+The settlers on the New York frontier were many of them Scotch-Irish,
+nursing an inherited hostility to England. The greater part of the
+Iroquois Indians, more particularly the Mohawks, had a sentimental
+regard for the covenant which, for a century, had made the red men loyal
+to the British king. Here was a native antagonism between settlers and
+Indians which during the Revolution partly contributed to the warfare of
+torch and scalping knife that raged in the Susquehanna region.
+
+Brant, the Mohawk chief, although himself a full-blooded Indian, known
+among his own people as Thayendanegea, had become, through long
+association with Sir William Johnson and his friends, a king's man and
+churchman. With the doctrines of the Church of England which he had
+embraced on becoming a communicant, he adopted also the contempt for
+dissenters which was so common among churchmen. Once, on tasting a
+crabapple, it is said, Brant puckered up his mouth, and exclaimed, "It
+is as bitter as a Presbyterian!" While in other parts of the country
+many churchmen espoused the cause of American independence, it happened
+that in the Susquehanna region the patriots were generally Calvinists.
+
+[Illustration: JOSEPH BRANT
+
+From the portrait by Romney]
+
+Another contributory cause of trouble between the Indians and
+frontiersmen had to do with the lands around the Mohawk villages,
+concerning which there had been frequent disputes since the Fort Stanwix
+treaty.[36]
+
+In May, 1777, Brant established himself with a band of Indian warriors
+and some Tories at Unadilla, driving out the settlers, and serving
+notice upon all that they must either leave the country or declare
+themselves for the English cause. At a conference held among officers of
+the American forces it was decided that General Nicholas Herkimer, the
+military chief of Tryon county, (which then included the region that
+later became Otsego county), should go to Unadilla to parley with the
+Indians. Herkimer, with 380 men, came down from Canajoharie through
+Cherry Valley to Otsego Lake, and thence along the Susquehanna River to
+Unadilla, which he reached late in June. Thus the Indian trail which
+passed near Council Rock was first used as the path of the paleface
+warriors.
+
+The conference at Unadilla found the Indians fully determined for the
+British cause, and came to an abrupt termination, beneath darkened
+skies, amid a hubbub of Mohawk war-whoops and the rattle of a sudden
+hailstorm that swooped down upon the assemblage. Herkimer marched his
+men back to Cherry Valley.[37]
+
+Six weeks later the battle of Oriskany was fought, a victory for the
+militia of Tryon County, but a costly victory, for it inflamed their
+hitherto lukewarm Indian enemies with the spirit of revenge, and set in
+motion the forces of border warfare which during the next five years
+desolated the frontier. The forays along the border had a direct
+relation to the central conflict of the Revolutionary War. With the
+Indians for allies it was the policy of the British to harry the
+settlers on the frontier, in order to draw away to their defense forces
+that were essential to the strength of the Americans in the Hudson
+Valley. Aside from motives of private vengeance among Indians and
+Tories, this was the military purpose which determined the burning of
+Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake, in June, 1778, and the massacre
+of Cherry Valley in November.[38]
+
+To protect the frontier against further raids, an expedition was
+planned, consisting of two divisions: one under General John Sullivan,
+which was to cross from Easton to the Susquehanna, and thence ascend the
+river to Tioga Point (Athens, Pa.); the other, under General James
+Clinton, was to proceed from Albany up the Mohawk to Canajoharie,
+crossing to Otsego Lake, and going thence down the Susquehanna to Tioga
+Point, where the two divisions were to unite in a combined attack upon
+the Indian settlements in Western New York.[39] This expedition involved
+one-third of Washington's whole army.
+
+General Clinton's force included about 1,800 men, bringing three months'
+provisions and 220 boats from Schenectady up the Mohawk to Canajoharie,
+where the brigade went into camp.
+
+The twenty miles overland to Otsego Lake was traversed during the
+latter part of June, 1779, the boats and stores being carried in wagons,
+several hundred horses having been made ready for this purpose at
+Canajoharie. Part of the brigade reached the lake by means of the
+Continental road, of which traces still remain, leading to the shore
+near the mouth of Shadow Brook in Hyde Bay.[40] Here they launched their
+fleet of bateaux and floated down the lake to their landing at the
+present site of Cooperstown. "This passage down the lake was made on a
+lovely summer's day, and the surrounding hills being covered with living
+green, every dash of the oar throwing up the clear, sparkling water, a
+thousand delighted warblers greeting them from the shores as the
+response of the martial music from the boats--the whole being so
+entirely novel--the effect must have been truly enchanting and
+picturesque."[41]
+
+Apparently not all the regiments took the same route. Lieut. Erkuries
+Beatty, of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, says in his journal[42]
+that "the regiment marched by Cherry Valley to the lower end of the
+lake," while the baggage of the detachment went to the Springfield
+landing, with a proper guard. From this point, himself being in the
+party, "we put the baggage on board boats," he says, "and proceeded to
+the lower end of the lake, and found the regiment there before us."
+
+During the first week in July the entire brigade had become encamped at
+the foot of the lake, to remain here, as it turned out, for a period of
+five weeks. The present Cooper Grounds, where the Indians, long before,
+had planted their apple trees, and where Colonel Croghan, in 1769, had
+built his hut, now became the scene of a military encampment. Lieut.
+Beatty's journal describes the location of the various regiments in Camp
+Lake Otsego, as it was called. Croghan's house, which stood near the
+site of the present Clark Estate office, was used as a magazine, and
+around it was encamped a company of artillery, under Capt. Thomas
+Machin. Here also the stores were gathered. On the right of the
+artillery, facing the lake, the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment was
+encamped, while on the left were the tents of Colonel Peter Gansevoort's
+Third New York Regiment. At the latter's rear, in the second line, was
+the Fifth New York, under command of Col. Lewis Dubois; behind the
+artillery camp lay Col. Alden's Sixth Massachusetts Regiment; and the
+Fourth New York, under Lieut.-Col. Weissenfels, occupied the space at
+the rear of the Fourth Pennsylvania. A few Oneida Indians came with Col.
+Alden's regiment and encamped on the banks of the lake, where "they all
+soon got drunk," says Beatty, "and made a terrible noise."
+
+On the Fourth of July, which fell upon Sunday, the third anniversary of
+the American Independence was celebrated at Camp Lake Otsego, General
+Clinton "being pleased to order that all troops under his command
+should draw a gill of rum per man, extraordinary, in memory of that
+happy event." The troops assembled at three o'clock in the afternoon and
+paraded on the bank at the south end of the lake. The brigade was drawn
+up in one line along the shore, with the two pieces of artillery on the
+right. The ceremony of the occasion is described by Lieut. van
+Hovenburgh as a "fudie joy."[43] A salute of thirteen guns was fired by
+the artillery, and three volleys from the muskets of the infantry, with
+three cheers from all the troops after each fire. The troops were then
+drawn up in a circle by columns on a little hill, and the Rev. John
+Gano, a Baptist minister, chaplain of the brigade, preached from Exodus
+xii, 14: "This day shall be unto you for a memorial ... throughout your
+generations." After the dismissal of the troops, Col. Rignier, the
+Adjutant General, gave an invitation to all the officers to come and
+drink grog with him in the evening. "Accordingly," says Lieut. Beatty,
+"a number of officers (almost all) assembled at a large Bowry which he
+had prepared on the bank of the lake. We sat on the ground in a large
+circle, and closed the day with a number of toasts suitable and a great
+deal of mirth for two or three hours, and then returned to our tents."
+
+The stay at Otsego Lake seems to have been for the most part a pleasant
+experience. There was plenty to eat. A drove of fat cattle was brought
+from the Mohawk valley for the use of the troops. The Sixth
+Massachusetts improved upon the culinary equipment of camp life by the
+construction of a huge oven. Lieut. McKendry writes enthusiastically of
+the delicious apples and cucumbers gathered near the camp.[44] Col.
+Rignier was a leader of fishing parties, and quantities of trout were
+taken from the lake to be served sizzling hot from the coals to hungry
+soldiers. There was much liquid refreshment, for the officers at least,
+which came not from lake or river. On June 28th there had been a
+luncheon of officers at Camp Liberty, Low's Mills (near Swanswick),
+greatly enlivened by the toasts that were drunk, for General Clinton had
+given to each officer a keg of rum containing two gallons. On July 7,
+Lieut. Beatty records that "all the officers of the line met this
+evening at the large Bower, and took a sociable drink of grog given by
+Col. Gansevoort's officers." This sociable drink seems to have created
+an appetite for more. Under date of July 8, the next day, this laconic
+entry appears in the journal of Lieut. McKendry: "The officers drew each
+one keg more of rum."
+
+Had the journals of the officers been more confiding in their records,
+an intimate view of the camp life might have been disclosed to
+posterity. For example, judging from McKendry's journal alone, Sunday,
+August 1, was decorously uneventful. He has this entry:
+
+"August 1, Sunday--Mr. Gano delivered a sermon."
+
+Lieut. Beatty also remembers the sermon, but frankly subordinates it to
+other incidents of the day to which Lieut. McKendry was indifferent, or
+thought best not to allude. Beatty has this comment:
+
+"August 1, Sunday--To-day at 11 o'clock the officers of the brigade met
+agreeable to general orders to learn the Salute with the Sword. The
+General's curiosity led him out to see how they saluted.
+
+"After they were dismissed the officers formed a circle round the
+General and requested of him to give them a keg of rum to drink. We
+little expected to have the favour granted us, but we happened to take
+the General in one of his generous thoughts, which he is but seldom
+possessed of, and instead of one he gave us six. We gratefully
+acknowledged the favour with thanks, and immediately repaired to the
+cool spring[45] where we drank two of our kegs with a great deal of
+mirth and harmony, toasting the General frequently--and then returned to
+our dinners. In the afternoon Parson Gano gave us a sermon."
+
+On the next morning at 11 o'clock the officers again assembled at the
+spring "to finish the remainder of our kegs," says Beatty, "which we did
+with the sociability we had done the day before," and, he might have
+added, with twice as much rum.
+
+To the troops in general rum was measured out with a more sparing hand.
+Their pleasures were of a simpler kind, and they seem to have contented
+themselves with fishing in the lake, hunting and roaming through the
+woods, inviting an occasional attack from stray Indians, which added the
+zest of adventure to the routine of camp life. One Sunday afternoon some
+soldiers found, concealed in a thicket of bushes and covered with bark,
+near one of the pickets, "a very fine chest of carpenter's tools, and
+some books, map, and number of papers. It is supposed," says Beatty,
+"that it was the property of Croghan who formerly lived here, but is now
+gone to the enemy. Therefore the chest is a lawful prize to the men that
+found it."
+
+The five weeks at the foot of Otsego Lake were not, however, passed in
+idleness. The troops were drilled every day. Target practice for the
+musketry is recorded by the journals of officers, and a brass
+cannon-ball marked "J. C.," found more than a century later in the Glen
+road, west of the village, suggests that the artillery was also engaged
+in the perfecting of its marksmanship, which must have awakened strange
+echoes amid the hills of Otsego.
+
+There were two incidents of camp life that were long remembered among
+Clinton's troops, the one a bit of comedy, the other a grim commonplace
+of martial law. The latter related to the discipline of deserters, to
+whom various degrees of punishment were meted out by court-martial. On
+July 20 two deserters were brought into camp, and on the next day three
+others. The more fortunate were sentenced to be whipped. Sergeant
+Spears, of the Sixth Massachusetts, was tied to a tree, and the woods
+resounded to the blows of the lash, until one hundred strokes had fallen
+upon his naked back. Another soldier received five hundred lashes. Three
+were sentenced to be shot--Jonathan Pierce, soldier in the Sixth
+Massachusetts Regiment; Frederick Snyder, of the Fourth Pennsylvania;
+Anthony Dunnavan, of the Third New York.
+
+On July 28, at nine o'clock in the morning, the whole brigade was
+ordered out on grand parade to witness the execution of the three men.
+The condemned deserters were required to stand, with their backs to the
+river, on the rise of land at the west side of the lake's outlet. The
+troops were drawn up facing them. A firing squad made ready.
+
+All stood motionless, expectant, silent. It was a day that blazed with
+sunshine, intensely hot.[46] The air was breathless. Shore and sky were
+reflected, as in a mirror, from the unruffled surface of the lake.
+
+Meantime information had come to General Clinton that Dunnavan had
+previously deserted from the British army to join the Americans, and
+afterward had persuaded the two younger men to desert with him from the
+American forces. Clinton, manifestly glad of an excuse for leniency,
+pardoned Pierce and Snyder on the spot. Concerning Dunnavan he was
+obdurate. "He is good for neither king nor country," exclaimed the
+General; "Let him be shot."
+
+A crash of musketry, with a puff of smoke, and Dunnavan dropped. The
+troops marched back to camp. The deserter's body was buried in an
+unmarked grave.[47]
+
+The other incident relates to some negro troops who were included in the
+brigade. That they might readily be distinguished the negroes wore wool
+hats with the brim and lower half of the crown colored black--the
+remainder being left drab, or the native color. A company or two of
+these black soldiers were included in a part of the brigade that was one
+day being drilled by Col. Rignier, the popular French officer, a large,
+well-made, jovial fellow, who was acting as Adjutant General. One of the
+negro soldiers, from inattention, failed to execute a command in proper
+time.
+
+"Halloo!" cried the colonel, "you black son of a--wid a wite face!--why
+you no mind you beezness?"
+
+This hasty exclamation in broken English so pleased the troops that a
+general burst of laughter followed. Seeing the men mirthful at his
+expense, the colonel good-humoredly gave the command to order arms.
+
+"Now," said he, "laugh your pelly full all!"
+
+The French colonel himself joined in the shout that followed, while
+hill and dale echoed the boisterous merriment.[48]
+
+Clinton's expedition is chiefly memorable in Cooperstown for the exploit
+by which the heavily laden bateaux, when the brigade departed for the
+south, were carried down the Susquehanna. The river was too shallow and
+narrow, in the first reaches of its course, to offer easy passage for
+the heavy boats, and for some distance the stream was clogged with
+flood-wood and fallen trees. This difficulty was overcome by building a
+dam at the outlet of Otsego Lake, raising its level to such a point
+that, when the water was released, the more than two hundred bateaux
+were readily guided down the swollen stream.
+
+The preparation for this feat preceded the encampment of the brigade on
+the shore of the lake. On June 21, before Clinton had left Canajoharie,
+Colonel William Butler, who had marched his Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment
+over from Cherry Valley to Springfield, "ordered a party of men to the
+foot of the Lake to dam the same,[49] that the water might be raised to
+carry the boats down the Susquehanna River; Captain Benjamin Warren, of
+the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded the party.... The water in
+the Lake was raised one foot." General Clinton says "at least two,"
+while another account claims that the surface of the lake was raised as
+much as three feet.
+
+Another reference to this exploit is found in the journal of Lieut.
+Beatty, who says, under date of June 22, "On the lower end of the lake
+we found two companies of Col. Alden's (Sixth Mass.) Reg't, who had made
+a dam across the neck that runs out of the lake, so as to raise the
+water to carry the boats down the creek."
+
+On Friday, August 6, the following conversation took place at a
+conference between General Clinton and Chaplain Gano:[50]
+
+"Chaplain," said the General, "you will have your last preaching service
+here day after to-morrow."
+
+"Ah indeed! Are we to march soon? Before another Sunday?"
+
+"Yes, but I do not want the men to know it."
+
+"Nor shall I tell them; but General, am I at liberty to preach from any
+text I choose?"
+
+"Certainly, Chaplain."
+
+"And you will not, in any event, tax me with violation of confidence?"
+
+"No! only stick to your Bible, and I'll give the official orders."
+
+On the following Sunday, beneath the arches of their forest cathedral,
+the brigade of nearly two thousand men was gathered for religious
+service. Chaplain Gano chose the text of the sermon from Acts xx. 7:
+"Ready to depart on the morrow."
+
+Immediately on the conclusion of the religious service, before the
+congregation had dispersed, "the general rose up," says the chaplain's
+record, "and ordered each captain to appoint a certain number of men out
+of his company to draw the boats from the lake and string them along the
+Susquehanna below the dam, and load them, that they might be ready to
+depart the next morning." At six o'clock in the evening the sluice-way
+was broken up, and the water filled the river, which was almost dry the
+day before.[51]
+
+On Monday morning the start was made. Each of the boats was manned by
+three men. The light infantry and rifle corps under Colonel Butler
+formed an advance guard. The soldiers marched on either side of the
+river. Another guard of infantry marched in the rear, and in the centre
+of the land lines the horses and cattle were driven. "The first day,"
+says McKendry, "the boats made thirty miles, and the troops marching
+each side of the river made sixteen."
+
+The freshet caused by the sudden release of the pent-up water swelled
+the stream for a distance of more than a hundred miles. Campbell says
+that as far south as Tioga the rise in the water was great enough to
+flow back into the western branch, causing the Chemung River to reverse
+its course. The _Gazetteer of New York_ said that the Indians upon the
+banks of the Susquehanna, witnessing the extraordinary rise of the river
+in midsummer, without any apparent cause, were struck with superstitious
+dread, and in the very outset were disheartened at the apparent
+interposition of the Great Spirit in favor of their foes. Stone observes
+that the sudden swelling of the river, bearing upon its surge a flotilla
+of more than two hundred vessels, through a region of primitive forests,
+was a spectacle which might well appall the untutored inhabitants of the
+region thus invaded.
+
+Clinton's brigade joined General Sullivan's division at Tioga Point on
+the 22nd of August. From this place the combined forces began a campaign
+of ruthless destruction against the Indians of the Genesee country.
+Stone says the Indians were hunted like wild beasts, their villages were
+burned, their corn was destroyed, their fruit trees were cut down; till
+neither house, nor field of corn, nor inhabitants remained in the whole
+country. The power of the Iroquois was gone. Homeless in their own land,
+the Indians marched to Niagara, where they passed the winter under the
+protection of the English.[52]
+
+The Sullivan expedition had accomplished its purpose, with the loss of
+only forty men.
+
+In 1788, in the digging of the cellar of William Cooper's first house,
+which stood on Main Street at the present entrance of the Cooper
+Grounds, a large iron cannon was discovered, said to have been buried by
+Clinton's troops. For ten or twelve years after the settlement of the
+place, this cannon, which came to be affectionately known as "the
+Cricket," was the only piece of artillery used for the purposes of
+salutes and merrymakings in the vicinity of Cooperstown. After about
+fifty years of this service it burst in the cause of rejoicing on a
+certain Fourth of July. At the time of its final disaster (for it had
+met with many vicissitudes), it is said that there was no perceptible
+difference in size between its touchhole and its muzzle.[53]
+
+In 1898, a building which stood in the Cooper Grounds next east of the
+Clark Estate office was removed, and in grading the land workmen found,
+just beneath the surface, the stump of a locust tree about two feet in
+diameter. This was about twenty-five feet east of the office building,
+and about the same distance from Main Street. The stump was pulled out
+by teams of horses, and beneath it, at a depth of about four feet from
+the surface, some charred material was found, and a mass of what proved
+to be, when cleansed of adhesions, American Army buttons of the
+Revolutionary period. The find was made by Charles J. Tuttle, a
+well-known mason and contractor of the village, and veteran of the Civil
+War. The buttons were of different sizes and shapes, some plated in
+silver, others in gold, while many were of brass. Within a short time
+the news of the find had spread through the village, and a troop of
+relic hunters gathered at the spot, but the hole had been filled up
+without further investigation. At the time of Clinton's encampment, in
+1779, there must have been a building whose cellar had been used as a
+storeroom for military supplies. The charred material suggests that the
+building was at some time burned. The locust stump tells of a tree that
+sprang up amid the ruins, flourished, and died, within a hundred and
+twenty years after the departure of Clinton's troops.
+
+Fenimore Cooper, writing in 1838, said that traces of Clinton's dam were
+still to be seen. The last of the logs that remained of the old dam were
+removed on October 26, 1825, in connection with a curious local
+celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal, which on that day was the
+occasion of general rejoicing throughout the State of New York. Cannon,
+placed a few miles apart, from Buffalo to Albany, and thence to Sandy
+Hook, were proclaiming that Governor DeWitt Clinton, whose influence had
+so large a share in this great enterprise, had entered the first canal
+boat at Buffalo, and was on his way to New York. Since Governor Clinton
+was the son of General James Clinton, under whose command the dam at the
+outlet of Otsego Lake had been built, it seemed appropriate to the
+inhabitants that Cooperstown should have a celebration of its own, and
+could thus most auspiciously begin a project which some bold spirits
+then had in mind, nothing less than the construction of a Susquehanna
+Canal, to connect Cooperstown with the Erie Canal at the north, and with
+the coal fields of Pennsylvania at the south.
+
+On this occasion the villagers gathered in Christ Church for a religious
+service and to hear an address delivered by Samuel Starkweather, after
+which they marched in procession to the Red Lion Inn. Here a public
+banquet was served, and "after the removal of the cloth," says the
+contemporary account, "toasts were drunk under the discharge of cannon,
+most of them being succeeded by hearty cheering and animated airs from
+the band." The hopes which gave importance to this celebration are
+expressed in two of the toasts proposed, one by Henry Phinney, "The
+contemplated Susquehanna River Canal"; the other by Elisha Foote, "A
+speedy union of the pure waters of Otsego Lake with the Erie Canal."
+
+When the company had left the table the whole village marched to the
+river, and assembled on the shore near the site of Clinton's dam. Boat
+horns, (sometimes called canal horns) about six feet long, typical of
+the "long ditch," were then common, and furnished blasts of martial
+music amid the crowd. The multitude was mustered somewhat after the
+order of a brigade. One company, consisting of over forty men with
+wheelbarrows and shovels, known as "sappers, miners and excavators,"
+commanded by Captain William Wilson, marched with their comrades boldly
+to the scene of action. Lawrence McNamee, president of the day,
+personating Governor Clinton, threw the first shovelful of dirt. When
+the last remaining log of the old dam had been removed the procession
+marched back to the village, while the air was "rent with the huzzas of
+those who witnessed the first practical essay toward rendering the
+waters of the Susquehanna navigable for the purposes of commerce," and
+a nine-pounder upon the top of Mount Vision, at regular intervals, told
+the hills and valleys around that Cooperstown was rejoicing.[54]
+
+It is almost needless to say that the development of railway
+transportation put an end to this project for a canal.
+
+On September 2, 1901, another generation of people assembled near the
+outlet of the lake to witness the unveiling of a marker placed by Otsego
+Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Isabella Scott
+Ernst, regent, to indicate the site and to commemorate the fame of
+Clinton's dam.[55] The crowd approached the bank of the Susquehanna by
+descending from River Street, where an arch of bunting had been erected.
+A large float anchored near the western bank was trimmed with flags,
+bunting, and vines. Directly across the river, on the eastern point of
+the outlet, the newly erected marker was concealed beneath the folds of
+an American flag. While a band played "The Stars and Stripes Forever,"
+the spectators who lined the shore saw approaching from beneath the
+green foliage down the river a canoe paddled by a young man who wore the
+gay dress and war-paint of a Mohawk brave. Seated with him in the canoe
+were two little girls, attired in patriotic colors. The three in the
+canoe were lineal descendants of Revolutionary stock. The young girls
+were Jennie Ordelia Mason and Fannie May Converse, both descendants of
+James Parshall, an orderly sergeant who was present at the building of
+the dam in 1779. The Indian was impersonated by F. Hamilton McGown, a
+descendant of John Parshall, private, a brother of James Parshall. The
+canoe was paddled close to the eastern shore, and the three occupants
+drew aside the flag which concealed the marker, amid the applause of the
+spectators assembled on the banks. The trio in the canoe then drifted
+back down the river, and were soon lost to view beyond the overhanging
+branches.
+
+[Illustration: SITE OF CLINTON'S DAM]
+
+The marker is a large boulder placed a few feet from the eastern bank of
+the river at the very outlet of the lake. Surmounting the rock is a
+ten-inch siege mortar thirty inches in length and weighing 1971 pounds,
+which did service at Fort Foote, Maryland, during the Civil War. On the
+western side of the boulder is a bronze tablet marked by the insignia of
+the Daughters of the American Revolution, and bearing this inscription:
+
+     HERE WAS BUILT A DAM THE SUMMER
+     OF 1779 BY THE SOLDIERS UNDER GEN.
+     CLINTON TO ENABLE THEM TO JOIN
+     THE FORCES OF GEN. SULLIVAN
+     AT TIOGA.
+
+Four years after Clinton's troops had made their famous journey down the
+Susquehanna, the site of Cooperstown was visited by the most
+distinguished citizen and soldier in America. For in 1783, at the
+conclusion of the war, George Washington, on an exploring expedition,
+passed a few hours at the foot of Otsego Lake. In a letter to the
+Marquis de Chastellux he says that he "traversed the country to the head
+of the eastern branch of the Susquehannah, and viewed the lake Otsego,
+and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River at Canajoharie."
+In the same letter he says, "I am anxiously desirous to quit the walks
+of public life, and under my own vine and my own fig-tree to seek those
+enjoyments, and that relaxation, which a mind that has been continually
+on the stretch for more than eight years, stands so much need of."
+
+Weary of war, and longing for some tranquil retreat from the cares of
+his exalted station, as he looked upon the scene which has become
+familiar to all lovers of Cooperstown--the peaceful lake, with verdant
+hills surrounding, and the Sleeping Lion at the end of the vista--the
+calm beauty of this view, rather than the splendid images of martial
+triumph, was reflected in the soul of Washington.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 36: _The Old New York Frontier_, pp. 148, 161, 165.]
+
+[Footnote 37: _The Old New York Frontier_, Chapters III and IV.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _The Old New York Frontier_, p. 197.]
+
+[Footnote 39: do., p. 257.]
+
+[Footnote 40: _The Old New York Frontier_, p. 259.]
+
+[Footnote 41: _History of Schoharie County_, Jeptha R. Simms, 298.]
+
+[Footnote 42: _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, Frederick Cook, p. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Journal of Lieut. Rudolphus van Hovenburgh, 4th New York
+Reg't., _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, p. 276.]
+
+[Footnote 44: _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, p. 201.]
+
+[Footnote 45: There is a spring in the present grounds of Averell
+cottage; another in the grounds of the O-te-sa-ga, and a third at the
+foot of Nelson Avenue.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Lieut. Beatty's journal.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Lieut. McKendry's journal.]
+
+[Footnote 48: _History of Schoharie County_, 299.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Journal of Lieut. William McKendry, of the 6th Mass.
+Reg't, of which he was Quartermaster.]
+
+[Footnote 50: _Pathfinders of the Revolution_, William Elliott Griffis,
+p. 95. _Sullivan's Indian Expedition_, p. 386.]
+
+[Footnote 51: McKendry's journal.]
+
+[Footnote 52: _The Old New York Frontier_, p. 283.]
+
+[Footnote 53: _Chronicles of Cooperstown._]
+
+[Footnote 54: _History of Cooperstown_, Livermore, p. 17. _The Freeman's
+Journal_, Oct. 31, 1825.]
+
+[Footnote 55: _Otsego Farmer_, Sept. 6, 1901.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE BEGINNING OF THE SETTLEMENT
+
+
+On an autumn day in the year 1785 a solitary horseman might have been
+seen emerging from the forest near Otsego Lake. The old-fashioned
+novelist who invented the "solitary horseman" as a means of introducing
+a romance could not have found a better use for his favorite phrase than
+to describe the approach of this visitor. For with his coming the
+history of Cooperstown began. Following the trail from Cherry Valley,
+the horseman came over the hill which rises toward the east from the
+foot of Otsego Lake. Before descending into the vale, he dismounted and
+climbed a sapling, in order to gain a glimpse beyond the dense screen of
+intervening trees. From this elevation he looked down upon an enchanting
+view of glimmering waters and wooded shores. While he gazed, a deer came
+forth from the woods near Otsego Rock and slaked its thirst in the
+liquid that flamed with the reflected red and gold of autumnal foliage.
+The beauty of this first view always lingered in the heart of William
+Cooper, and the hill from which he gained it he afterward called "the
+Vision," in memory of his first impression. To this day the hill is
+known as "Mount Vision."
+
+In a letter written some years afterwards, William Cooper thus describes
+his venture into this region:
+
+     In 1785 I visited the rough and hilly country of Otsego, where
+     there existed not an inhabitant, nor any trace of a road; I
+     was alone, three hundred miles from home, without bread, meat,
+     or food of any kind; fire and fishing tackle were my only
+     means of subsistence. I caught trout in the brook and roasted
+     them in the ashes. My horse fed on the grass that grew by the
+     edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch coat,
+     nothing but the melancholy Wilderness around me. In this way I
+     explored the country, formed my plans of future settlement,
+     and meditated upon the spot where a place of trade or a
+     village should afterward be established.[56]
+
+The Cooper family had settled in America in 1679, coming from
+Buckingham, in England, and for a century made their home in Bucks
+County, Pennsylvania. William Cooper was born in Byberry township,
+Pennsylvania, December 2, 1754. He afterward became a resident of
+Burlington, New Jersey, where he married Elizabeth Fenimore, daughter of
+Richard Fenimore, whose family came from Oxfordshire, in England.
+
+William Cooper was associated with Andrew Craig, also of Burlington, in
+acquiring the title of the Otsego tract of land which Croghan had
+mortgaged to William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin, and had lost
+under foreclosures in 1773. In January, 1786, Cooper took possession of
+that portion of the Croghan tract which has since been known as
+Cooper's patent, under a deed given by the sheriff of Montgomery county,
+which had been set off from Tryon county, and included the later Otsego.
+The patent included 29,350 acres, and cost the new proprietors, to
+obtain it, about fifty cents an acre. Cooper bought out his partner's
+share in the tract, and soon became sole owner.
+
+It is characteristic of Cooper's energy that he began the settlement of
+his land in the midst of winter, and had many families resident upon it
+before the snow had melted, in the spring of 1786. Deeds were given to
+Israel Guild and several others, who, during the summer, established
+themselves on spots that are now within the limits of the village of
+Cooperstown. These places were originally intended as farms, the village
+having been planned to extend from the lake in a narrow strip southward,
+rather than across the valley, as its later growth actually determined.
+
+Besides the blockhouse built by Croghan on a site included in the
+present Cooper Grounds, a log house at this period stood near the corner
+of Main and River streets, and was occupied by a Mrs. Johnson, a widow,
+who, with her family, was among the first residents. Near her home she
+constructed a frame house, the first to be erected in the place. It was
+purchased by William Ellison, a surveyor, who, during the summer of
+1786, removed it to a position near the outlet of the lake, on what are
+now the grounds of Edgewater. The building was of good size, having two
+stories, and was used as a tavern until it was pulled down in 1810,
+when Edgewater was built. In June, 1786, John Miller came, and reaching
+the bank of the river near the outlet on the east side, felled a large
+pine across the stream to answer the purpose of a bridge. The stump of
+this tree was for many years a relic within the grounds of Lakelands.
+There was a small colony of settlers during this summer, and William
+Cooper himself came once or twice in the course of the season; but none
+passed the succeeding winter within the village plot except Israel
+Guild, who had taken possession of the blockhouse, William Ellison at
+his tavern, and Mrs. Johnson in her hut of logs.
+
+In the spring of 1787 Cooper arrived, accompanied by his wife, who came,
+however, only for a short visit. They reached the head of the lake in a
+chaise, and descended to the foot in a canoe. Mrs. Cooper felt so much
+alarm during this passage that she disliked returning in a boat, and the
+chaise was brought to the foot of the lake, astride two canoes, for her
+homeward journey. Mrs. Cooper's timidity occasioned the building of the
+first real bridge across the Susquehanna, an improvement which had
+already been contemplated as a public service. The road beyond the
+bridge was so rude, and difficult to pass, that when the chaise left the
+village men accompanied it with ropes, to prevent it from upsetting.
+
+During the spring and summer of 1787 many settlers arrived, a good part
+of them from Connecticut; and most of the land on the patent was taken
+up. Several small log tenements were constructed on the site of the
+village, and the permanent residents numbered about twenty souls.
+Meantime Cooper had been extending his holdings in adjacent patents,
+until he had the settlement of a large part of the present county more
+or less subject to his control. In other parts of the State also he came
+to own or control large areas of land, until, toward the end of his
+life, he had "settled more acres than any man in America."
+
+[Illustration: OTSEGO LAKE, FROM COOPERSTOWN]
+
+Early in 1788, Cooper erected a house for his own residence. Aside from
+the log huts it was the second dwelling erected in the place. It stood
+on Main Street at the present entrance of the Cooper Grounds, looking
+down Fair Street, and commanding a view of the full length of the lake.
+The building was of two stories, with two wings. It is represented on
+the original map of the village, where it is marked "Manor House." This
+house was removed a short distance down the street in 1799, on the
+completion of Otsego Hall, William Cooper's second residence in
+Cooperstown, and was destroyed by fire in 1812.
+
+In 1788 John Howard came, and established a tannery on the north side of
+Lake Street west of Pioneer Street, near the waters of Willow Brook,
+which there gurgles to the lake. Howard, who was distinguished as the
+father of the first child born in the settlement, afterward became
+captain of the local militia, and is commemorated as a hero in Christ
+churchyard, where his epitaph recites that he was drowned, July 13,
+1799:
+
+     "Striving another's life to save
+     He sunk beneath the swelling wave."
+
+It was in the summer of 1788 that William Cooper made a definite plan
+for the village. Three streets were laid out running south from the
+lake, and six streets that crossed them at right angles. The street
+along the margin of the lake was called Front Street (now Lake Street),
+and the others parallel to it were numbered from Second (the present
+Main Street) up to Sixth. Of the streets running south, that next to the
+river was called Water Street (now River Street), and that at the
+opposite side of the plot, West Street, which is the present Pioneer
+Street. The parallel street between these two was divided by the Cooper
+Grounds; the section near the lake was called Fair Street, while south
+of the Cooper Grounds it was known as Main Street. This last never
+gained the importance which its name seemed to demand, and is now known
+as part of Fair Street. The map showing the original plan of the village
+is dated September 26, 1788.
+
+Aside from the Foot of the Lake, as the settlement was sometimes called,
+it was known as Cooperton, and Cooperstown,[57] until 1791, when the
+latter name came into general use, on the designation of this village as
+the county seat of the newly created Otsego county.
+
+The settlers upon Cooper's tract were mostly poor people, and it
+happened that their first efforts were followed by a season of dearth.
+In the winter of 1788-9, grain rose in Albany to a price before unknown.
+The demand swept all the granaries of the Mohawk country, and a famine
+aggravated the privations of the Otsego settlers. In the month of April,
+Cooper arrived with several loads of provisions intended for his own use
+and that of the laborers he had brought with him; but in a few days all
+was gone, and there remained not one pound of salt meat, nor a single
+biscuit. Many were reduced to such distress as to live upon the root of
+wild leeks; some, more fortunate, lived upon milk, whilst others found
+nourishment in a syrup made of maple sugar and water. The quantity of
+leeks eaten by the people had such an effect upon their breath that they
+could be smelled at many paces distant, and when they came together
+there was an odor as from cattle that had been pastured in a field of
+garlic. "Judge of my feelings at this epoch," wrote Cooper, "with two
+hundred families about me, and not a morsel of bread."
+
+"A singular event seemed sent by a good Providence to our relief,"
+Cooper's letter continues; "it was reported to me that unusual shoals of
+fish were seen moving in the clear waters of the Susquehanna. I went,
+and was surprised to find that they were herrings. We made something
+like a small net, by the interweaving of twigs, and by this rude and
+simple contrivance we were able to take them in thousands. In less than
+ten days each family had an ample supply, with plenty of salt. I also
+obtained from the Legislature, then in session, seventeen hundred
+bushels of corn."
+
+Those who settled the first farms in the Otsego region had not the means
+of clearing more than a small spot in the midst of thick and lofty
+woods, so that their grain grew chiefly in the shade; their maize did
+not ripen; their wheat was blasted; and for the grinding of what little
+they gathered there was no mill within twenty miles, while few were
+owners of horses. Some walked to the mill at Canajoharie, twenty-five
+miles away, carrying their grist on their shoulders.
+
+William Cooper, after coming to live here, realized that the situation
+of the settlers was precarious. He brought a stock of goods to the new
+settlement, and established a general store under Richard R. Smith, son
+of the Richard Smith who had visited Croghan at Otsego Lake twenty years
+before. Cooper also erected a storehouse, and filled it with large
+quantities of grain purchased at distant places. He borrowed potash
+kettles, which he brought here, and established potash works among the
+inhabitants. He obtained on credit a large number of sugar kettles. By
+these means he was able to exchange provisions and tools for the labor
+of the settlers, giving them credit for their maple sugar and potash,
+until in the first year he had collected in one mass forty-three
+hogsheads of sugar, and three hundred barrels of pot and pearl ash,
+worth about nine thousand dollars. These industries held the colonists
+together.
+
+Cooper collected the people at convenient seasons, and under his
+leadership they constructed such roads and bridges as were then suited
+to their purposes. Perhaps it was at this time that Cooper devised the
+cunning method which he afterward confided to William Sampson: "A few
+quarts of liquor, cheerfully bestowed, will open a road, or build a
+bridge, which would cost, if done by contract, hundreds of dollars."
+
+In 1789 Cooper set up at his newly finished Manor House a frontier
+establishment that became famous for its hospitality. For a year before
+bringing his family from Burlington he kept bachelor's hall, and the
+festive joys of the place were long memorable among all lovers of good
+cheer. Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of the region, could at almost any
+time furnish the table with a saddle of venison; the lake abounded with
+the most delicious fish; while the cellar of the Manor House was stored
+with the imprisoned sunshine of distant lands.
+
+At Christmastide, in 1789, a house-party entertained by William Cooper
+celebrated the season with high revelry. Among the guests was Colonel
+Hendrik Frey, the boniface of Canajoharie, a famous fun-lover and
+merrymaker. A large lumber sleigh was fitted out, with four horses, and
+the whole party sallied forth for a morning drive upon the frozen lake.
+On the western bank of the lake resided, quite alone, a Frenchman known
+as Monsieur Ebbal, a former officer of the army of France, whose real
+title was said to be L'Abbe de Raffcourt.[58] Perceiving the sleigh and
+four nearing his house, this gentleman, with the courtesy of his nation,
+went forth upon the ice to greet the party in a manner befitting the
+pomp of its approach. Cooper cordially invited the Frenchman to join
+him, promising him plenty of game, with copious libations of Madeira, by
+way of inducement. Though a good table companion in general, no
+persuasion could prevail on M. Ebbal to accept this sudden invitation,
+until, provoked by his obstinacy, the party laid violent hands on him,
+and brought him to the village by force.
+
+The unwilling guest took his captivity in good part, and was soon as
+buoyant and gay as any of his companions. He habitually wore a
+long-skirted surtout, or overcoat, which at that time was almost the
+mark of a Frenchman, and this he pertinaciously refused to lay aside,
+even when he took his seat at table. On the contrary, he kept it
+buttoned to the very throat, as if in defiance of his captors. The
+Christmas joke, a plentiful board, and heavy potations, however, threw
+the guest off his guard. Warmed with wine and the blazing fire of logs,
+he incautiously unbuttoned; when his delighted companions discovered
+that the accidents of the frontier, the establishment of a bachelor who
+kept no servant, and certain irregularities in washing days, together
+with the sudden abduction of his person, had induced the gallant
+Frenchman to come abroad without his shirt. He was uncased on the spot,
+amid the shouts of the merrymakers, and incontinently put into linen.
+"Cooper was so polite," added the mirth-loving Hendrik Frey, as he used
+to tell the story for many years afterward, "that he supplied a shirt
+with ruffles at the wristbands, which made Ebbal very happy for the rest
+of the night. Mein Gott, how his hands did go, after he got the
+ruffles!"[59]
+
+In the summer of 1790 the house at the northwest corner of Main and
+River streets was erected by Benjamin Griffin. It now survives as the
+oldest house in the village. Not long after its erection the house
+became the residence of the Rev. John Frederick Ernst, the Lutheran
+minister who came here in connection with the work of the projected
+seminary at Hartwick; and for many years the old cottage was the
+homestead of the Ernst family.[60]
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+THE OLDEST HOUSE]
+
+In this year William Cooper decided to give up his residence in New
+Jersey, and to bring his family to Cooperstown for their permanent home.
+Accordingly he returned to Burlington, and early in the autumn completed
+arrangements for the transportation of his family and belongings to
+Otsego. Only in one quarter did he find any opposition to his project,
+but that opposition was serious. His wife positively refused to go.
+
+Three years before, Mrs. Cooper had had a brief experience of the new
+settlement. She remembered the tippy boat, the rough pioneers, and the
+carriage that had to be steadied with ropes as it careened through the
+woods. In Burlington there was a well-established society, congenial
+friends, an atmosphere of culture, and such comforts as civilization was
+then able to afford. Mrs. Cooper had no mind to exchange her residence
+in Burlington for the wild uncertainties of life in the wilderness; and
+so with the conveyance ready and waiting at the door, and with her
+husband pleading, she sat firmly in the chair at the desk in the library
+of her Burlington home, and positively refused to budge.
+
+Mrs. Cooper was a strong-minded woman, but William Cooper was a
+stronger-minded man. He seized the chair, with his wife seated in it,
+and putting her aboard the wagon, chair and all, began the long journey
+to Otsego. Thus William Cooper carried his point, while his wife also
+carried hers, for she travelled the whole distance in the chair from
+which she vowed she would not move. The chair itself, sacred to the
+memory of two strong minds, is still in use in the Cooper family.
+
+This journey had much to do with the shaping of another mind which was
+not at the time consulted or considered. For Mrs. Cooper brought with
+her the baby boy of the household, thirteen months old, whose whole
+life, because of this change of residence, was cast in a new mould. This
+child was called James, but in later years he adopted also his mother's
+family name, so that he honored both father and mother in the fame which
+he gave to the name of James Fenimore Cooper. All his first impressions,
+he said long afterward, were obtained in the Otsego region. It is to be
+doubted whether Fenimore Cooper would have gained such wide celebrity as
+a novelist if he had not discovered the unique field of romance which
+the lake and hills of Otsego began to open to his vision. Had Fenimore
+Cooper remained in Burlington he might have written good novels, but not
+_The Leather-Stocking Tales_, for which he is most renowned. So that
+when William Cooper took up his residence in Otsego, he not only became
+the founder of a town, but he brought to the town the founder of
+American romance.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 56: _A Guide in the Wilderness_, a series of letters to
+William Sampson, published in Dublin, 1810, reprinted by James Fenimore
+Cooper, grandson of the novelist, 1897.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The names "Cooper" and "Cooperstown" are pronounced by the
+Cooper family and by natives of the village with a short _oo_, as in the
+word _book_, not as in _moon_.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Ebbal is _L'Abbe_, spelled backward. His last years were
+spent near New Berlin, beside a lonely waterfall, where he had a flower
+garden, and kept bees. His grave was four miles south of New Berlin,
+until relatives came and removed his remains to France.]
+
+[Footnote 59: The account of this incident is quoted from Fenimore
+Cooper's _Chronicles of Cooperstown_.]
+
+[Footnote 60: In his _Chronicles of Cooperstown_, (1838), Fenimore
+Cooper says, "The house standing at the southeast corner of Second and
+Water streets, [now called Main and River street], and which for the
+last forty years has belonged to the Ernst family, was erected this
+summer [1790] by Mr. Benjamin Griffin. It is now the second oldest house
+in the village." Cooper had already referred to the house of Israel
+Guild, erected in 1788, as the oldest house standing in the village (in
+1838). Guild's house was burned in the fire of 1862, and therefore the
+house erected by Griffin has been, ever since that time, the oldest
+house. By some inadvertence, Cooper incorrectly designated the location
+of the Griffin house. He placed it at the southeast corner of Main and
+River streets, when he meant to say _northwest_. That Cooper writing of
+what was perfectly familiar to him, should have overlooked so palpable
+an error, seems most improbable; yet that he did so is now beyond doubt,
+although for many years his authority was cited to disprove the claims
+of the oldest house in Cooperstown. At the time of Cooper's writing, the
+house standing nearest to the southeast corner of Main and River
+streets, afterward torn down, had been built by Richard Cooper, and
+never had belonged to the Ernst family. Furthermore, in a letter dated
+May 23, 1805, Rev. John Frederick Ernst, in reply to an inquiry
+concerning the location of his property in Cooperstown, wrote to his
+son--"Here is a copy from the deed: 'The house-lot--being the northwest
+corner of Water Street and Second Street, is seventy-five feet front on
+the said streets, and seventy-five feet in rear on the west and north by
+[then] vacant lots, belonging [then both] to Wm. Cooper, Esq.'" It is
+clear that this is the same property which Fenimore Cooper, by some
+slip, described as being at the southeast corner. Some of the earlier
+charts of Cooperstown were drawn with the lake front at the bottom of
+the map, for convenience of reference, thus reversing the north and
+south of the usual cartography. It may plausibly be conjectured that
+Cooper had one of these maps before him as he wrote, and unthinkingly
+recorded, in this instance, its transposed points of the compass. This
+labored exposition of a small matter would be an inexcusable pedantry,
+except that the location of the oldest house in the village is of
+particular interest.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A VILLAGE IN THE MAKING
+
+
+The county of Otsego was formed February 16, 1791, being carved out of
+Montgomery county. Cooperstown was designated as the county seat, and
+William Cooper was appointed the first judge of the county court. A
+court-house and jail was built at the southeast corner of Main and
+Pioneer streets, the lower story, of logs, being used as a prison, and
+the upper story, of framed work, as court room. A tavern was erected on
+the same lot, and contained the jury rooms, conveniently near to the
+sources of refreshment.
+
+During the summer of this year the Red Lion Tavern[61] was erected at
+the southwest corner of Main and Pioneer streets, and was kept by Major
+Joseph Griffin. It projected more than half way across Main Street, and
+at that time marked the western limit of the village. For more than
+three score years and ten, even after the village grew westward beyond
+it, this projecting building gave a unique character to the main street,
+intercepted all thirsty wayfarers, and held an important place in the
+life of the community. Its first crude sign, representing a red lion
+rampant, was painted by Richard R. Smith,[62] the first storekeeper of
+the village, and first sheriff of the county.
+
+Judge Cooper was the lord of the manor, as it were, in the new
+community, yet maintained a relation of comradeship with the settlers.
+Enjoying the friendship of some of the most eminent men of his time,
+himself superior in intelligence and culture to most of his local
+contemporaries, Cooper had qualities that won the affection and loyalty
+of the sturdy pioneers. It is characteristic of him that he once offered
+a lot, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres of land, to any man on
+the patent who could throw him in a wrestling match. The wrestling took
+place in front of the Red Lion Inn. One contestant was finally
+successful, and the land was duly conveyed to the victor. It is possible
+that some of the lots owned by Judge Cooper were of no great value, for
+it is related that when his eldest son was showing the sights of New
+York to the youngster of the family he took him to a pasty shop, and
+after watching the boy eat pasty after pasty said, "Jim, eat all you
+want, but remember that each one costs the old man a lot."
+
+[Illustration: WILLIAM COOPER
+
+From the portrait by Gilbert Stuart]
+
+Some idea of the position that the "old man" occupied in the village
+which he founded may be gained from the novel that the eater of the
+pasties afterward entitled _The Pioneers_. In this book, while
+historical accuracy is disclaimed, Judge Temple is easily identified as
+an idealized Judge Cooper, and a faithful picture of life in the early
+village may be recognized; for, as the author says in his introduction,
+while the incidents of the tale are purely fiction, "the literal facts
+are chiefly connected with the natural and artificial objects, and the
+customs of the inhabitants." The village of Templeton, in the novel, is
+the Cooperstown of reality in its early days. The spirit of the times,
+and the character of the men who lived here are thus distinctly
+reflected in the placid current of Fenimore Cooper's first
+Leather-Stocking tale. At the present day the personal appearance of
+Judge Cooper himself is vividly recalled from the past through the
+existence of three portraits, one by Gilbert Stuart, one by Copley, and
+a third by an unknown artist. From these likenesses one gains an
+impression of his kindly gray eye, firm countenance, and robust figure.
+His keen sense of humor relieved the strain of many a hardship in the
+life of the frontier, for he is remembered as "noble-looking,
+warm-hearted, and witty, with a deep laugh, sweet voice, and fine rich
+eye, as he used to lighten the way with his anecdotes and fun."
+
+During the twenty-five years that followed the close of the
+Revolutionary War, Judge Cooper was a speculator in lands on a large
+scale, and was steadily engaged in the settlement of the tracts which he
+owned and those in which he had a joint interest with others. His
+judgment concerning land values was keen and far-sighted. That he was
+not infallible is shown by his payment of ten dollars an acre for land
+in the North Woods which is hardly worth a quarter of that price to-day.
+On the other hand, in February, 1803, he bought the town of De Kalb, in
+St. Lawrence county, about 64,000 acres, for the sum of $62,720, and
+within three months had sold 56,886 acres for $112,226. It was for
+successful ventures of this sort that Judge Cooper became widely known,
+and was brought into correspondence with foreign investors, such as
+Necker and Madame de Stael, who appear to have become owners of lands,
+through Cooper, in the northern counties of New York.
+
+Much of Cooper's success in the settlement of new lands was owing to his
+system of selling to settlers on the installment plan, instead of
+binding tenants to the payment of perpetual rent, as some proprietors of
+great estates attempted to do, involving endless litigation and the
+"anti-rent war."
+
+Judge Cooper's friendly relation to the settlers extended, in many
+instances, to the relief of individual needs by loans of money, which
+was not always repaid. One of the French settlers, often a guest at
+Judge Cooper's house, borrowed of him fifty dollars. As time went on
+Judge Cooper noticed that his debtor's visits became less and less
+frequent, until finally they ceased. Meeting the man one day, he
+remonstrated with him, telling him that so small a matter should not
+cause him annoyance, and urging him not to allow it to interfere with
+his visits at the Cooper homestead. The Frenchman, however, felt that
+the fifty dollars weighed heavily on his honor, and that he could not
+partake of the Judge's hospitality until the debt was paid. Not long
+afterward Judge Cooper saw his debtor approaching him with every
+manifestation of joy, waving his hat, and shouting, "Judge Cooper! Judge
+Cooper! My mother is dead! My mother is dead! I pay you the fifty
+dollars."
+
+Before the close of his career Judge Cooper had amassed a large fortune.
+After having been engaged for twenty years in the improvement of lands
+he declared that the work which he had undertaken for the sole purpose
+of promoting his interest had become fastened upon him by habit, and
+remained as the principal source of his pleasure and recreation. Within
+this period the settlement which he began at Otsego Lake reached a high
+degree of prosperity. "This was the first settlement I made," writes
+Judge Cooper, "and the first attempted after the Revolution; it was, of
+course, attended with the greatest difficulties; nevertheless, to its
+success many others have owed their origin."
+
+Judge Cooper's political career reflects another aspect of pioneer life
+in the new settlements. Besides his election as first judge of the Court
+of Common Pleas of Otsego county, an office which he held from 1791 to
+1800, he was elected to Congress in 1795, and again in 1799. The _Otsego
+Herald_ of June 23, 1796, describes the reception given by the people of
+the village to Judge Cooper on his return from Congress. When it was
+known that his carriage was nearing the village, a mounted escort went
+forth to meet him on the road that skirted Mount Vision, and when the
+procession crossed the bridge and entered the main street it passed
+through "a double row of citizens" assembled to greet the congressman,
+while "sixteen cannon" roared a welcome.
+
+Judge Cooper was a prominent member of the Federalist party, and devoted
+much of his time to its cause. He was on intimate terms with its
+leaders, and in constant correspondence with many of them. Although the
+franchise, at this period, was restricted by a property qualification,
+and the voters were comparatively few, the interest in politics entered
+largely into the life of all the inhabitants, and the political
+enthusiasm was unlimited. The polls could be kept open five days, to
+accommodate all who desired to vote, and as there was no secret ballot
+the excitement during elections was constant and intense. Nearly every
+elector seems to have been a politician, and the letters of the time are
+full of politics and party animosity. The shout of battle still resounds
+in the title of a little book published by Elihu Phinney in 1796: "The
+Political Wars of Otsego: or, Downfall of Jacobinism and Despotism;
+Being a Collection of Pieces, lately published in the _Otsego Herald_.
+To which is added, an Address to the Citizens of the United States; and
+extracts from Jack Tar's Journals, kept on board the ship Liberty,
+containing a summary account of her Origin, Builders, Materials,
+Use--and her Dangerous Voyage from the lowlands of Cape Monarchy to the
+Port of Free Representative Government. By the author of the
+Plough-Jogger."[63]
+
+In the political correspondence of Judge Cooper and his contemporaries
+there are frequent complaints of fraud, and of the influence and
+prominence of foreigners, especially the Irish, with grave expressions
+of fear for the future of the country and the stability of property. The
+Federalists describe themselves as "friends of order," and refer to
+their opponents as "anti-Christians," and "enemies of the country." One
+of Judge Cooper's friends who had removed to Philadelphia writes: "We
+are busy about electing a senator in the state legislature. The contest
+is between B. R. M.----, a gentleman, and consequently a Federalist, and
+a dirty stinking anti-federal Jew tavern-keeper called I. I----. But,
+Judge, the friends to order here don't understand the business, they are
+uniformly beaten, we used to order these things better at Cooperstown."
+
+It is evident that Judge Cooper had gained some reputation for his skill
+in electioneering in Otsego county. Philip Schuyler, writing to Judge
+Cooper of the election of 1791, says: "I believe fasting and prayer to
+be good, but if you had only fasted and prayed I am sure we should not
+have had seven hundred votes from your country--report says that you was
+very civil to the young and handsome of the sex, that you flattered the
+old and ugly, and even embraced the toothless and decrepid, in order to
+obtain votes. When will you write a treatise on electioneering? Whenever
+you do, afford only a few copies to your friends."
+
+Judge Cooper's chief political opponent in the county was Jedediah Peck,
+who settled in Burlington, Otsego county, in 1790, a man of an entirely
+different type from Judge Cooper, yet equally famous in the political
+life of the times. Coarse and uneducated, Peck overcame all
+disadvantages by his shrewdness, intellectual power, and great natural
+ability. He gained much influence with the people of the county by his
+homely skill as a traveling preacher, going about distributing tracts,
+and preaching wherever he could gather an audience. He was an aggressive
+supporter of the political views and administrative policies of Thomas
+Jefferson, and violently antagonized the Federalists of the county, who
+were under the leadership of Judge Cooper. This opposition culminated
+during the administration of President Adams in 1798, when Peck was
+arrested under the Alien and Sedition Act for circulating petitions
+against that Act. He was indicted and taken to New York in irons, but
+was never brought to trial, and upon the repeal of the Act was
+discharged. Peck's arrest and imprisonment fastened attention upon him,
+and, together with his continued denunciation of the federal
+administration, made him the recognized leader of the Republican
+(Jeffersonian) party of Otsego county, so that he dictated its policy
+and nominations for many years thereafter. Indeed, the overthrow of the
+Federal party in this State, with the consequent success of Jefferson in
+the presidential canvass, is attributed to the excitement and
+indignation aroused by the spectacle of this little dried up man,
+one-eyed but kindly in expression and venerable, a veteran of the
+Revolutionary War, being transported through the State in the custody of
+federal officials, and manacled, the latter an unnecessary and
+outrageous indignity.
+
+Jedediah Peck was a member of Assembly from 1798 to 1804, and State
+Senator until 1808. Although looked up to by multitudes as the political
+leader of his time, Peck was noted at Albany for his shabbiness of
+dress. He wore coarse boots, which he never blackened. On one occasion,
+on the eve of an important debate, some wag at the tavern blackened one
+of Peck's boots. Peck, in dressing for the fray, did not recognize the
+shining boot, and having put on one began to search high and low for the
+other. At last, enlightened by the laughter of his comrades, he drew on
+the polished boot, and with his feet thus ill-matched strode into the
+Assembly chamber, where he delivered one of his most powerful speeches.
+
+For many years Jedediah Peck unsuccessfully urged a bill for the
+abolition of imprisonment for debt, which was later adopted. His most
+permanent and valuable contribution to the welfare of posterity was the
+scheme for the common school system of the State, which he had long
+advocated, and of which, as chairman of the five commissioners appointed
+by the Governor in 1811, he became the author.[64]
+
+Some of the asperities of political life in the early days of Otsego
+county may be inferred from certain affidavits, printed copies of which,
+such as were apparently used as campaign documents, were found among
+Judge Cooper's papers, endorsed in his handwriting, "Oath how I whipped
+Cochran." The Cochran referred to was a political opponent.
+
+     Jessie Hyde, of the town of Warren, being duly sworn, saith,
+     that on the sixteenth day of October in the year 1799, he this
+     deponent, did see James Cochran make an assault upon one
+     William Cooper in the public highway. That the said William
+     Cooper defended himself, and in the struggle Mr. Cochran, in a
+     submissive manner, requested of Judge Cooper to let him go.
+
+     _Jessie Hyde._
+
+
+     Sworn this sixteenth day of
+       October, 1799, before me
+         Richard Edwards, Master in Chancery
+       _Otsego County._ SS.
+
+     Personally appeared Stephen Ingalls, one of the constables of
+     the town of Otsego, and being duly sworn, deposeth and saith,
+     that he was present at the close of a bruising match between
+     James Cochran Esq., and William Cooper Esq., on or about the
+     sixteenth of October last, when the said James Cochran
+     confessed to the said William Cooper these words: "I
+     acknowledge you are too much of a buffer for me," at which
+     time it was understood, as this deponent conceives, that
+     Cochran was confessedly beaten.
+
+     _Stephen Ingalls._
+
+     Sworn before me this
+       sixth day of November, 1799,
+         Joshua Dewey, Justice of the Peace.
+
+
+
+The same incident, viewed from another angle, appears in a letter
+written by the Rev. John Frederick Ernst to his son in Albany, and dated
+at Cooperstown, October 20, 1799.
+
+     "There is nothing of any particular news here, except that a
+     Mr. Cochran, late member of Congress, in whose place I. Cooper
+     is now elected, came here last week, and on one of the
+     court-days, with a great deal of brass had the impertinence to
+     assault our honorable Wm. Cooper in the street, & to give him
+     a Cowskinning--because, as it is reported, he should have told
+     lies about Cochran. As both fell a clinging & beating one
+     another Mr. Mason stepped between and parted them."
+
+Still another account of the episode is given by Levi Beardsley. He says
+that the trouble arose over Cochran's use of his fiddle during a
+political campaign. Cochran stayed over night at Canandaigua, and when a
+dance was got up, he obliged and amused the company by fiddling for
+them. He beat Judge Cooper at the election for Congress, but whether
+from the influence of music and dancing it is now too late to inquire.
+However, it was alleged that Judge Cooper had either published or
+remarked that Cochran had been through the district with his violin, and
+had fiddled himself into office. This came to Cochran's ear and brought
+him from Montgomery county to Cooperstown. He came on horseback, and
+arrived while Judge Cooper was presiding as judge of the court of common
+pleas. As Cooper issued from the court house, Cochran met him, and after
+alluding to the election, informed the Judge that he had come from the
+Mohawk to chastise him for the insult. When Cooper remarked that Cochran
+could not be in earnest the latter replied by a cut with his cowskin.
+Cooper then closed with his adversary, but Cochran being a large, strong
+man they were pretty well matched for the scuffle. They were separated
+by friends, and Cochran was afterward fined a small amount for breach
+of the peace.[65]
+
+At the early organization of the county there was considerable strife
+between Cooperstown and Cherry Valley in regard to the location of
+public buildings. It is said that Judge Cooper playfully remarked that
+the court house should be placed in Cooperstown, the jail in Newtown
+Martin (Middlefield), and the gallows in Cherry Valley.[66]
+
+When Judge Cooper began holding court in Cooperstown in 1791 a number of
+lawyers were attracted to the county seat, the first to take up
+residence here being Abraham Ten Broeck of New Jersey, soon followed by
+Jacob G. Fonda of Schenectady. Ten Broeck was the original of Van der
+School, the parenthetical lawyer in _The Pioneers_, his compositions
+having been remarkable for parentheses. A year later two others of the
+legal profession were added to the village community, Joseph Strong, and
+Moss Kent, brother of the celebrated Chancellor Kent. Dr. Nathaniel Gott
+and Dr. Farnsworth coming at about the same time gave the villagers a
+choice among three physicians, Dr. Thomas Fuller being the senior in
+practice. The development of Cooperstown as a trading centre brought
+Peter Ten Broeck and several other merchants here in 1791, followed
+shortly afterward by Rensselaer Williams and Richard Williams of New
+Jersey, whose collateral descendants are still identified with the
+village.
+
+The early shopkeepers of Cooperstown included some who had been engaged
+in more distinguished callings. A merchant who excited the most lively
+curiosity among the settlers was a Frenchman known as Mr. Le Quoy who
+kept a small grocery store in the village, and seemed to be altogether
+superior to such an occupation. After much speculation concerning his
+past the village was set agog by an incident which accidentally brought
+to light the story of his career. Among the early settlers in Otsego
+county was a French gentleman named Louis de Villers, who, in 1793,
+happened to be in Cooperstown at a time when a fellow countryman named
+Renouard, who afterward settled in the county, had recently reached the
+place. Renouard, who was a seaman, and an incessant user of tobacco,
+found himself out of his favorite weed, and his first concern was to
+inquire of de Villers where tobacco might be purchased in the village.
+De Villers directed him to the shop kept by Le Quoy, saying that he
+would help a compatriot by making his purchase there. In a few minutes
+Renouard returned from the shop, pale and agitated.
+
+"What is it? Are you unwell?" inquired de Villers.
+
+"In the name of God," burst out Renouard, "who is the man that sold me
+this tobacco?"
+
+"Mr. Le Quoy, a countryman of ours."
+
+"Yes, Mr. Le Quoy de Mersereau."
+
+"I know nothing about the 'de Mersereau'; he calls himself Le Quoy. Do
+you know anything of him?"
+
+"When I went to Martinique to be port captain of St. Pierre," answered
+Renouard, "this man was the civil governor of the island, and refused to
+confirm my appointment."
+
+Subsequent inquiry confirmed this story, Le Quoy explaining that the
+influence of a lady stood in the way of Renouard's preferment. Le Quoy
+had been driven from Martinique by the French Revolution, and his choice
+of Cooperstown as a retreat came about through a friendly office which
+he had performed, while governor of the island, in liberating one of the
+ships of John Murray & Sons of New York. The act brought about an
+exchange of civilities between the head of this firm and Le Quoy, so
+that when the latter came to New York, desiring to invest in a country
+store until his fortunes should revive, Murray referred him to his
+friend Judge Cooper, under whose advice the Frenchman established
+himself in Cooperstown. He at length made his peace with the new French
+government, and, closing his grocery in Cooperstown, was ultimately
+restored to his office as civil governor of Martinique.[67] He appears
+as one of the characters in Fenimore Cooper's novel, _The Pioneers_.
+
+The house on Lake Street known as Averell Cottage was erected in 1793,
+the central part of it, with chimneys at each end, constituting the
+original structure. It has ever since been in possession of lineal
+descendants of the first owner, James Averell, Jr. James Averell settled
+on the patent in 1787, and in 1792 exchanged his farm for John Howard's
+tannery on Lake Street just west of Pioneer Street.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+AVERELL COTTAGE]
+
+In 1794 a state road was laid out between Albany and Cooperstown. This
+road came over Mount Vision and descended toward the village by a route
+that may still be traced down the hillside from Prospect Rock.
+Cooperstown was then first included in a post route, and a post office
+was opened in the village, with Joseph Griffin as postmaster. The mail
+arrived weekly for some years; it then came twice a week; then thrice.
+The daily mail was not established until 1821.
+
+The arrival of the mail was something of a ceremony in the early days of
+Cooperstown. Toward evening the sound of the postman's horn was faintly
+heard as he rounded the slopes of Mount Vision; the blasts grew louder
+as he descended the hill and approached the village; then the thunder of
+the four post-horses as they crossed the bridge was heard, and the
+postman drew up with a flourish at the post office, where the villagers
+had gathered to await the news of the outer world. _The Otsego Herald_
+publishes a letter from an indignant citizen, complaining that the mails
+were opened in a bar-room. Since the first postmaster was also a tavern
+keeper, the charge was probably true.
+
+Among the new houses built in 1796 was one that has survived to the
+present time, and stands on Main Street adjoining the Second National
+Bank on the east. This house, distinguished for the quaint beauty of its
+doorway, was first occupied by Rensselaer and Richard Williams. At about
+this time the Academy was erected on the hill at the corner of Pioneer
+and Church streets, where the Universalist church now stands. It was
+"65-1/2 feet long, 32 wide, and 25 feet posts," while the summit of its
+belfry was seventy feet high. It was erected by public subscription, at
+a cost of about $1,450. "It was one of those tasteless buildings that
+afflict all new countries," says Fenimore Cooper, "and contained two
+school rooms below, a passage and the stairs; while the upper story was
+in a single room."
+
+The first school in the village had been opened a year or two earlier by
+Joshua Dewey, a graduate of Yale, who taught Fenimore Cooper his A B
+C's. He was succeeded as village schoolmaster by Oliver Cory. The latter
+assumed charge of the new Academy. The school exhibitions of this
+institution in which Brutus and Cassius figured in hats of the cut of
+1776, blue coats faced with red, of no cut at all, and matross swords,
+were long afterward the subject of mirth in the village. Fenimore
+Cooper, at one time a pupil in the Academy, took part in a school
+exhibition, and at the age of eight years became the pride of Master
+Cory for his moving recitation of the "Beggar's Petition"--acting the
+part of an old man wrapped in a faded cloak and leaning on his staff.
+
+A reminiscence of old Academy days is connected with the first
+considerable musical instrument in the village. Judge Cooper had brought
+from Philadelphia a large mechanical organ of imposing appearance, which
+he placed in the hall of the Manor House. When the organ was first put
+up and adjusted a rehearsal of country dances, reels, and more serious
+music, was enjoyed not only by the family gathered to hear it, but the
+loud tones floated from the windows and into the school room of the
+Academy in the next street. As the strains of _Hail Columbia_ poured
+into the school room, Master Cory skillfully met a moment of open
+rebellion with these words: "Boys, that organ is a remarkable
+instrument. You never heard the like of it before. I give you half an
+hour's intermission. Go into the street and listen to the music."[68]
+
+The Academy, containing at that time the largest room in the village,
+was as much used for other purposes as for those of education. The
+court, on great occasions, was sometimes held here. It was used
+impartially for religious meetings and for balls. The Free Masons of the
+village, who had secured a charter for Otsego Lodge in 1795, held a
+religious service, followed by dinner, and a ball, in the Academy, on
+the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, 1796. Of this
+occasion Jacob Morris writes, "The brilliancy exhibited at Cooperstown
+last Tuesday--the Masonic festival--was the admiration and astonishment
+of all beholders. Upwards of eighty people sat down to one table--some
+very excellent toasts were drunk and the greatest decency and decorum
+was observed.... In the evening we had a splendid ball, sixty couple,
+thirty in a set, both sets on the floor at the same time, pleasant
+manners and good dancing."
+
+A centre of convivial resort at this period was the Blue Anchor tavern,
+which was established as a rival of the Red Lion inn, and diagonally
+across the way from it, at the northeast corner of Main and Pioneer
+streets. The Blue Anchor, according to Fenimore Cooper, was for many
+years in much request "among all the genteeler portion of the
+travelers." Its host was William Cook, from whom the character of Ben
+Pump, in _The Pioneers_, was drawn, a man of singular humors, great
+heartiness of character, and perfect integrity. He had been the steward
+of an English East-Indianman, and enjoyed an enviable reputation in the
+village for his skill in mixing punch and flip. On holidays, a stranger
+would have been apt to mistake him for one of the magnates of the land,
+as he invariably appeared in a drab coat of the style of 1776 with
+buttons as large as dollars, breeches, striped stockings, buckles that
+covered half his foot, and a cocked hat large enough to extinguish him.
+The landlord of the Blue Anchor was a general favorite; his laugh and
+his pious oaths became famous.
+
+In 1796 Judge Cooper commenced the construction of his new residence,
+Otsego Hall, which he completed and began to occupy, in June, 1799. The
+new house stood near the centre of what are now known as the Cooper
+Grounds, on the site marked by the statue of the Indian Hunter. Otsego
+Hall was for many years the largest private residence in the newer parts
+of the State, and remained as the finest building in the village until
+it was destroyed by fire in 1852. It is said to have been originally of
+the exact proportions of the van Rensselaer Manor House at Albany, where
+Judge Cooper was a frequent visitor.
+
+On one occasion, in early days, when Judge Cooper was away from home,
+fire broke out in the Hall, and an alarm given by the neighbors brought
+the volunteer fire department to the scene. Mrs. Cooper firmly took
+charge of the situation. Locking the doors of the house she called out
+to the servants, "You look out for the fire, and I'll attend to the fire
+department!" With this she poured hot water from a second-story window
+upon the firemen, and quickly drove them away.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 61: "The Bold Dragoon" of Fenimore Cooper's novel, _The
+Pioneers_.]
+
+[Footnote 62: The original of Richard Jones, in _The Pioneers_.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Plough-Jogger was the pseudonym of Jedediah Peck.]
+
+[Footnote 64: _Address at Cooperstown Centennial_, Walter H. Bunn.]
+
+[Footnote 65: _Reminiscences_, Levi Beardsley, p. 89.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Beardsley's _Reminiscences_.]
+
+[Footnote 67: _Chronicles of Cooperstown_.]
+
+[Footnote 68: _James Fenimore Cooper_, Mary E. Phillips, p. 26. The
+organ is now at Fynmere.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+OLD-TIME LOVE AND RELIGION
+
+
+Enough has been recorded to show the general character of Cooperstown as
+it existed at the close of the eighteenth century. A more intimate view
+of its life at this period is suggested by a package of faded letters,
+some of which are here printed, not as supplying historical data, for in
+this they are quite lacking, but because whoever reads them with
+imagination begins to breathe the atmosphere of the time of their
+writing, and in the charm of their feminine confidences discovers a side
+of frontier life that is not otherwise revealed.
+
+The letters were written to Chloe Fuller, who visited in Cooperstown for
+some years at the home of Dr. Thomas Fuller. The doctor's wife before
+her marriage, although not related to him, had the same family name, and
+Chloe Fuller was her younger sister. Chloe Fuller became celebrated as a
+village belle, and it was said that she had more beaus in constant
+attendance than any other girl in Otsego. Dr. Fuller was a favorite with
+two generations of young men in the village, for he had also two young
+daughters, who, a few years later, became noted for their qualities of
+mind and daintiness of apparel. Eliza and Emma Fuller were
+blue-stockings who knew the value of pretty bonnets and gowns. In the
+early days of the Presbyterian church, the sabbath splendor of their
+entrance at divine service, always a little late, and with the necessity
+of being ushered to the very front pew, divided the devotion of the
+worshippers. Eliza Fuller became the wife of Judge Morehouse, and
+established the traditional hospitality of Woodside Hall.
+
+[Illustration: _Forrest D. Coleman_
+
+THE WORTHINGTON HOMESTEAD]
+
+Chloe Fuller married Trumbull Dorrance, a descendant of Governor
+Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut, and her daughter, becoming the wife
+of John R. Worthington, was long identified with Cooperstown as mistress
+of the White House, the Worthington homestead built in 1802 on Main
+street. The letters belong to the period of Chloe Fuller's girlhood:
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Albany, November 20th, 1798.
+
+     Believe me, my very dear Friend, that your letter by Mr.
+     Williams afforded me great pleasure in the perusal, and it
+     should most undoubtedly have been answered 'ere now had not I
+     been deprived of opportunities; and at all events I must write
+     by the _good Man_! I think the epithet you bestowed a very
+     judicious one--but I really believe, Chloe, you have made a
+     conquest there--when he delivered me your letter, 'It is from
+     Miss Chloe,' said he with a (methought) significant smile.
+
+     I have been well ever since my departure. Now and then the
+     involuntary sigh escapes when my imagination presents me
+     Cooperstown, and some of its dear inhabitants! I already long
+     to see you all. Oh! for an hour with your sister and you.
+
+     My dear Chloe, convince me that I am sometimes present to your
+     memory by writing long and frequent letters. Don't wait for
+     answers. Write whenever you find a conveyance; and I shall
+     with pleasure follow your example.
+
+     'Tis past one o'clock. Let my writing at this late, or rather,
+     early hour convince you that I wish to cultivate a
+     correspondence with you. I must quit. So Good night, my
+     friend. May Jove grant you pleasant dreams, and may Heavenly
+     blessings enliven your waking hours is the wish of your
+     sincerely affectionate Friend.
+
+     ELIZA.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Albany, Novbr. 28th. 1798
+
+     Just before we sat down to Tea, Mr. French called and brought
+     your letter. I immediately recognized the already well-known
+     hand of my fondly remembered Friend. I was all impatience to
+     open it, which out of politeness I dispensed with till his
+     departure.
+
+     I was highly gratified with the perusal! Happy, my Chloe,
+     should I esteem myself were it in my power to 'revive your
+     drooping spirits'. But why, my dear Friend, are they drooping?
+     What is the cause? Believe me, nothing but my friendship for
+     you induces me to interrogate you so; and let me beg you in
+     the name of friendship to answer me candidly. You may, my dear
+     Friend, unbosom yourself to me. I shall sympathize with you
+     and make your griefs mine. I wish you would write fully, and
+     long letters. This time I will excuse you, but let me beg of
+     you not to wait till an opportunity is going--but when you
+     retire to your chamber think of Eliza, and dedicate a few
+     moments to writing, since we can no longer chat together.
+
+     I am happy to hear you have found so agreeable an acquaintance
+     as Miss Cooper. I doubt not but that I should like her. So you
+     were a sleighing with the Doctor? Remember there are two
+     Doctors in Cooperstown, and you leave me to conjecture which!
+
+     You would make me believe Mr. K.---- sometimes talks of me. I
+     fear it is only when you remind him that there is such a
+     person in existence.
+
+     Mr. Ten Broeck spent the evening with us. He brought me a
+     letter from my Father. By his conversation I understand Mr.
+     K.---- will not be in Albany this year!
+
+     The clock has already struck one; my eyes feel quite heavy; my
+     writing will evince this. My best respects to the Miss
+     Williams. I hope you are intimate with them. They are fine
+     women! A close intimacy with them will convince you of this.
+     Tell Mrs. Morgan, Delia, and all those whom love will make me
+     remember, that I very frequently think of them. Good night!
+     Pleasant dreams to you! I will endeavor to dream of you and
+     some others in Cooperstown who are dear to the heart of
+
+     Your unfeigned Friend, ELIZA.
+
+     'Oh Night more pleasing than the fairest day:
+     'When Fancy gives, what Absence takes away!'
+
+     P. S. I have sent all over the City, but cannot procure any
+     ingrained silks of the color you intended to work your shawl.
+     Should you fancy any other, let me know, and I will with
+     pleasure send it. Accept of this ribbon for the sake of Eliza,
+     who wishes oft she was with you.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Friday night, December 28th, 1798.
+     My dear Chloe,
+
+     Mr. Williams delivered me your short yet pleasing letter.... I
+     hope you passed Christmas agreeably.... I can assure you I
+     did, being favored with the company of Mr. K. and his sister.
+     I regret that her stay in town is so short. Ever since her
+     arrival my time has been so occupied that my moments for
+     writing were few. Tis now late--they leave early in the
+     morning--so you must accept a few lines this time. I have sent
+     my little namesake a New Year's frock, which I beg your sister
+     will let her accept of. The ribbon I before mentioned
+     accompanies this. Good night--and Happy New Year to you all.
+
+     Write soon, and a long letter. Remember me to my friends, and
+     think of
+
+     Yours affectionately and in great haste, ELIZA.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Albany, February 10, 1799.
+
+     Why, my dear Chloe, do you preserve this long silence? To
+     forgetfulness of me, or want of affection I dare not impute
+     it, for even the most distant idea of this is too painful. No,
+     I will judge more favorably of my lovely Friend, and think
+     want of time has been hitherto the cause. Yet let me urge you
+     not to continue this painful silence, but think of, and write
+     to your absent friend. Cooperstown and its inhabitants will
+     ever afford a pleasing subject to Eliza. Tell me how you spend
+     your time, your most intimate companions, whether you often
+     see my father, and if any of my friends ever talk of me....
+     All our family is now in bed, yet cannot I let Mr. Strong go
+     without writing a few lines. I wish you felt as anxious to
+     write me.
+
+     Does your Hat please you? I am almost afraid it will not, tho'
+     I know I have used my utmost endeavors. If it does not, you
+     must take the _Will_ for the _Deed_.
+
+     My best love to your dear Sister. Kiss my little namesake for
+     me. Remember me to all enquiring friends, and think of me as
+     ever
+
+     Your truly affectionate
+     ELIZA.
+
+     Mr. Kent is still at Poughkeepsie; it I fear has more powerful
+     attractions than Albany.
+
+
+     HANNAH COOPER TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     My dear Chloe--Your sister informs me--she sets out to-morrow
+     upon her visit to you. I profit by her going to write a few
+     lines to you. I have nothing very material to
+     communicate--except that I often think of you--and continue to
+     love you--which I hope you did not doubt--before I mentioned
+     it.
+
+     We jog along much after the old way here--you know there are
+     but three articles of news worth
+     mentioning--Births--Deaths--and Marriages--for this last you
+     know we were never renowned--from the second, thank Heaven, we
+     are in a great measure exempted, and atone by the multitude of
+     our first--for the deficiency of both.
+
+     We have some hopes of seeing you this Winter--either with your
+     sister or by another mode--which I hope may be better--A
+     certain Person--who occasionally visited Coopers Town--has not
+     been here lately--it consoles me, though, that whilst his back
+     is turned upon us--he is looking the right way. Come then, my
+     child, and be induced by his looks, or smiles, or attentions,
+     to make us another visit--We will meet you with smiles and
+     pleasure--Mama desires to be remembered to your Mother. The
+     Boys send their love to Norvey--and I--my dear Chloe--beg to
+     be thought of--by you--with affection--and that you will
+     accept of much love from
+
+     HANNAH COOPER.
+     Coopers Town, January 5th, 1800.
+
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD TO CHLOE FULLER.
+
+     Cooperstown, August 4th. 1801.
+     My beloved Chloe,
+
+     Again I date my letter from this place in which I formed for
+     you that friendship which neither revolving time, change of
+     place or circumstances has been able to alter. Would that I
+     had you as personally at my side as your dear image is
+     constantly present to my imagination. Perhaps now that I am on
+     the verge of departure it is happier for me that you are more
+     remote, as parting with you would prove an additional pang to
+     that which I now feel at the thought of leaving my respected
+     friend, your dear, dear Sister. I have been here three weeks
+     yesterday, and expect in a few minutes more to take my exit.
+     You will say, perhaps, my stay is short compared to my former
+     ones. It is so, but, Chloe, ah! how fast our friends decrease!
+     Our mutual friend, our pious pattern!--Miss Cooper--is here no
+     more! narrow is the cell in which her lovely form is laid! but
+     her mind, her soul, I trust is gone to a soil more kind, more
+     congenial, to a Friend in whom while here its best affections
+     and confidences appear'd to be placed! In every place in which
+     I used to meet with her--in her Father's Hall, which she
+     highly graced--the vacant chair, the trifling conversation, my
+     own absence of mind tell me, death has robbed me of a treasure
+     that empires cannot give! Reflection, however, and daily
+     experience, not only inspire me with resignation to the Wise
+     Ruler of all events, but fill me with gratitude that God in
+     compassion has removed her from a scene of afflictions, from
+     new trials, from growing evils, which a tender sensibility
+     like hers too keenly felt long to survive.
+
+     Richard, you may have heard, has married one of Col. Cary's
+     Daughters--Nancy--a young, giddy Girl. I fear she will never
+     supply the place of a Daughter to Mrs. Cooper! I have hardly a
+     fonder desire for you or for myself than that we might be and
+     live like her, whose memory, I trust, we shall ever
+     cherish....
+
+     But, Chloe, a word or two about yourself. Are not you almost
+     married? You are so far away there is no such thing as hearing
+     about it. Miss Betsy Williams is well & speaks of you with
+     affection. Nancy at present is in Trenton. Do let me hear from
+     you soon. I must go. Burn this scrawl. Kiss little Mary for
+     me. Adieu. May God bless you and your truly affectionate
+     friend
+
+     ELIZA MACDONALD.
+
+Hannah Cooper was Judge Cooper's eldest daughter, of whom Fenimore
+Cooper afterward wrote that she "was perhaps as extensively and
+favorably known in the middle states as any female of her years." In
+1795, when she was seventeen years of age, Talleyrand was a guest at
+Otsego Hall, and the following acrostic on Hannah Cooper's name is
+attributed to the pen of the celebrated diplomat:
+
+     Aimable philosophe au printemps de son age,
+     Ni les temps, ni les lieus n'alterent son esprit;
+     Ne cedent qu' a ses gouts simples et sans etalage,
+     Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, ecrit.
+
+     Cultivez, belle Anna, votre gout pour l'etude;
+     On ne saurait ici mieux employer son temps;
+     Otsego n'est pas gai--mais, tout est habitude;
+     Paris vous deplairait fort au premier moment;
+     Et qui jouit de soi dans une solitude,
+     Rentrant au monde, est sur d'en faire l'ornement.
+
+Hannah Cooper afterward attended school in New York City, and passed the
+winter of 1799 in Philadelphia while her father was a member of
+Congress. Also a member of that Congress was William Henry Harrison,
+later the hero of Tippecanoe, and afterward President of the United
+States. In this connection Fenimore Cooper, just before Harrison's
+inauguration as President, uncovered a long forgotten bit of romance
+which he related confidentially in a letter to his old mess-mate
+Commodore Shubrick as a "great political discovery." "Miss Anne Cooper
+was lately in Philadelphia,"--the letter is dated February 28,
+1841,--"where she met Mr. Thomas Biddle, who asked if our family were
+not Harrison men. The reason of so singular a question was asked, and
+Mr. Biddle answered that in 1799 Mr. Harrison was dying with love for
+Miss Cooper, that he (Mr. Biddle) was his confidant, and that he
+_thinks_ but does not _know_ that he was refused. If not refused it was
+because he was not encouraged to propose.... Don't let this go any
+further, however. I confess to think all the better of the General for
+this discovery, for it shows that he had forty years ago both taste and
+judgment in a matter in which men so often fail."[69]
+
+In the twenty-third year of her age, Hannah Cooper was killed by a fall
+from a horse, September 10, 1800. She and her brother, Richard Fenimore
+Cooper, had set out on horseback to pay a visit at the home of General
+Jacob Morris at Butternuts (now Morris), some twenty miles from
+Cooperstown, and having arrived within about a mile of their
+destination, the horse on which Miss Cooper rode took fright at a little
+dog, which rushed forth barking from a farm house, and Miss Cooper was
+thrown against the root of a tree, being almost instantly killed. Her
+brother rode back to Cooperstown with the sad news.
+
+A monument still stands near the public highway to mark the spot where
+Miss Cooper met her death. She had many admirers, but the inscription on
+this monument is said to have been written by her best beloved, Moss
+Kent, referred to in Eliza MacDonald's letters.
+
+Hannah Cooper's tomb in Christ churchyard, within the Cooper family
+plot, is inscribed with some plaintive verses that her father composed
+and caused to be carved upon the slab, with the singular omission of her
+name, which was not added until many years afterward.
+
+Miss Cooper was a perfect type of the kind of feminine piety most
+admired in her day. She shared largely in the benevolences of her
+father, and was often seen on horseback carrying provisions to the poor
+people of the settlement. "She visited the prisoners in the jail
+frequently, giving them books, and sometimes talked with them through
+the grates of their windows, endeavoring to impress upon their minds the
+truths of morality and religion. By her winning, tender and persuasive
+conversation, their hard hearts, at times, were deeply affected."
+
+This elder sister of the novelist was the first tutor of his childhood,
+and he held her memory in great reverence. In the preface of a reprint
+of _The Pioneers_ Cooper took occasion to deny a statement that in the
+character of the heroine of his romance he had delineated his sister, a
+suggestion in which he seemed to find a serious reflection upon his
+fineness of feeling. "Circumstances rendered this sister singularly dear
+to the author," he wrote. "After a lapse of half a century, he is
+writing this paragraph with a pain that would induce him to cancel it,
+were it not still more painful to have it believed that one whom he
+regarded with a reverence that surpassed the love of a brother, was
+converted by him into the heroine of a work of fiction."
+
+Although Hannah Cooper was thus excluded, by her brother's delicacy,
+from the place which rumor had assigned to her among the characters of
+his first Leather-Stocking tale, her name is commemorated in the actual
+scene of the story, for the pine-clad summit which overlooks the village
+of Cooperstown from the west is still called in her honor, "Hannah's
+Hill."
+
+The position of the grave that lies next south of Hannah Cooper's tomb
+in Christ churchyard is a tribute to the reverent affection which she
+inspired. It is the grave of Colonel Richard Cary, one of General
+Washington's aides, and his burial in a plot otherwise exclusively
+reserved for interments of the Cooper family is attributed by tradition
+to Colonel Cary's fervent admiration for the piety of Hannah Cooper.
+Colonel Cary at the close of the Revolutionary War settled in
+Springfield, at the head of Otsego Lake. Often a visitor in Cooperstown
+he became acquainted with Miss Cooper, and was inspired by a devotion to
+her character entirely becoming in a man old enough to be her father,
+and already blessed with a family of his own. He is described as "an
+upright, well-bred and agreeable gentleman, possessed of wit and genius,
+and good humor." Six years after Hannah Cooper's death Colonel Cary
+suffered severe reverses of fortune, and was "put on the limits," as the
+penalty of unpaid debt was then described, being an exile from his home
+in Springfield, and required to remain within the village bounds of
+Cooperstown. As winter drew on Colonel Cary died. His dying request was
+that he might be buried near Miss Cooper's grave, "for," he said,
+"nobody can more surely get to Heaven than by clinging to the skirts of
+Hannah Cooper!"
+
+At Hannah Cooper's funeral a singularly noble and picturesque character
+was brought into the history of Cooperstown, for the officiating
+clergyman was Father Nash, who then for the first time held service in
+the village, and afterward became the first rector of Christ Church,
+being for forty years the most noted apostle of religion in Otsego
+county.
+
+During the first ten years of the existence of the village, the people
+depended on rare visits of missionaries for the little religious
+instruction they received. The settlers in the region were divided as to
+religious faith; the Presbyterians, though the most numerous, were the
+least able to offer financial support for any regular religious
+establishment. Missionaries occasionally penetrated to this spot, and
+now and then a travelling Baptist, or a Methodist, preached in a tavern,
+schoolhouse or barn. On August 28, 1795, a letter appeared in the
+_Otsego Herald_ deploring the general indifference to religion which
+prevailed in the settlement, and calling for a public meeting to
+organize a church congregation. The Rev. Elisha Mosely, a Presbyterian
+minister, was thereupon engaged for six months, and during that period
+held the first regular religious services in Cooperstown. He preached
+the first Thanksgiving sermon in the village, on November 26, 1795, in
+the Court House.
+
+Through the vigorous efforts of the Rev. Nathaniel Stacy, an itinerant
+preacher, the doctrine of Universalism gained a strong foothold in this
+region. Under his ministrations the society at Fly Creek was organized
+in 1805, said to be the first society of the Universalist denomination
+established in this State. Stacy was a man of small stature, a rapid
+speaker, full of Biblical quotations, apt in comparing the Old and New
+Testaments, and happy in the use of vivid illustrations. The vehemence
+and rapidity of his utterance sometimes sprinkled with saliva the
+hearers seated near him, which gave occasion for a famous taunt flung at
+Ambrose Clark, one of Stacy's converts and an early settler of
+Pierstown, when his brother Abel said that "Ambrose had rather be spit
+upon by Stacy than to hear the gospel preached."
+
+In 1797, the Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of St. Peter's Church, Albany,
+with the Patroon, both regents of the university of the State, visited
+the Cherry Valley academy, and then extended their journey to
+Cooperstown, where Dr. Ellison held service and preached in the Court
+House. This was the first time that the services of the Episcopal Church
+were held in the village. Dr. Ellison was an Englishman, a graduate of
+Oxford, a king's man, and a staunch defender of the Church against all
+dissent. He was a sporting parson, of convivial habits, and after his
+first visit to Cooperstown frequently enjoyed the hospitality of Judge
+Cooper, whom he joined in sundry adventures.
+
+The Presbyterians and Congregationalists in and about Cooperstown
+formed themselves into a legal society on December 29, 1798. This church
+was regularly organized with the Rev. Isaac Lewis, a Presbyterian
+minister, as pastor, on October 1, 1800, and the Presbyterian
+organization has ever since continuously existed in Cooperstown. The
+Presbyterian church building was erected in 1805, and has not been
+materially altered since 1835, when some changes in the structure were
+made. The carpenters who built the church were twin brothers, Cyrus and
+Cyrenus Clark. They were assisted by Edmund Pearsall, who was noted for
+his rapid work and skill, as well as for his daring exploits at
+"raisings." When the steeple of the church was raised Pearsall astounded
+the village by standing on his head on the top of one of the posts near
+the summit.
+
+The pastor of this church for more than twenty years during its early
+days was the Rev. John Smith, a tall, strongly-built man, who loomed
+large in the pulpit as a champion of old-fashioned orthodoxy. His manner
+of delivery was soporific, his voice thick and monotonous, but none
+could gainsay the learning and intellectual power of his discourses.
+
+Mony Groat was sexton of the church. He performed also the office of
+policeman in the gallery during the service, going about with a cane,
+and rapping the heads of disorderly boys. In winter his duties were
+multiplied. The church was heated by a stove placed above the middle
+alley, supported by a platform sustained upon four posts, and those
+having pews near the pulpit had to walk directly underneath. Several
+times during the service on cold days the sexton used to come up the
+aisle with his ladder and basket of fuel, place his ladder in position,
+mount the platform, replenish the fire, descend the ladder, and make his
+exit, ladder and all.
+
+Perhaps because it was the first church edifice in the village the
+Presbyterian church came into use sometimes for celebrations of a civic
+nature. The first Otsego County Fair, Tuesday, October 14, 1817, was
+held in this house of worship. The Otsego County Agricultural Society
+had been organized in January of that year, and the officers of the
+first fair were: president, Jacob Morris; recording secretary, John H.
+Prentiss; corresponding secretary, James Cooper, who had not yet begun
+his literary career.
+
+The exercises in the church followed an elaborate programme, including
+prayers, vocal and instrumental music, and the formal award of premiums.
+
+After the premiums had been awarded the corresponding secretary read a
+letter from Governor Dewitt Clinton which accompanied a bag of wheat
+that had been "raised by Gordon S. Mumford, Esq., on his farm on the
+island of New York." While this letter was being read by James Cooper
+the bag of wheat was brought to the pulpit of the church, and deposited
+at the foot of it.
+
+Within the Presbyterian burying ground, at the rear of the church, lie
+the remains of some of the best known of the early settlers. A strange
+perversity of fate, however, has singled out for the attention of the
+tourist a tombstone that has no other claim to distinction than a
+surprising feature of the epitaph. This tallish slab of marble stands
+not far from the northeast corner of the burying ground. It is decorated
+at the top with the conventionally chiseled outlines of urn and weeping
+willow, and bears an inscription in memory of "Mrs. Susannah, the wife
+of Mr. Peter Ensign, who died July 18, 1825, aged 54 years," and whose
+praises are sung in some verses that begin with this astonishing
+comment:
+
+     "Lord, she is thin!"
+
+It seems that the stonecutter omitted a final "e" in the last word, and
+tried in vain to squeeze it in above the line.
+
+The permanent legal establishment of Christ Church was made on January
+1, 1811, when a meeting was held "in the Brick church in Cooperstown,"
+and it was resolved "that this church be known hereafter by the name and
+title of Christ's Church."
+
+The erection of the brick church had been commenced in 1807, and it was
+consecrated in 1810. The present nave, exclusive of the transept and
+chancel, is of the original structure. In the sacristy of the church a
+wooden model may be seen, made by G. Pomeroy Keese, showing both
+exterior and interior of the church as it existed in 1810.
+
+The Methodists held occasional services in the village for many years,
+and erected their first church, not far from the site of their present
+building, in 1817.
+
+The Universalists were organized in Cooperstown on April 26, 1831, with
+the Rev. Job Potter as pastor. On the site of the old Academy, which had
+been destroyed by fire, their house of worship was erected in 1833, and
+stands practically unchanged at the present time. That there was a
+somewhat strong rivalry between the Universalists and the Presbyterians,
+whose places of worship stand so near to each other on the same street,
+is suggested by an incident which occurred during the Rev. Job Potter's
+pastorate. The Universalists had organized a Sunday School picnic, and
+the children had gathered at the church in goodly numbers. The sidewalk
+was thronged. A procession was formed, headed by the ice cream cans,
+together with sundry huge baskets, all appetizingly displayed. Just as
+the procession was about to move down the hill to embark for Three-Mile
+Point, a small-sized Universalist, stirred by generous impulse, hailed
+young Dick, a small-sized Presbyterian, who stood on the opposite side
+of the street gazing with assumed stoicism on the fascinating pageant.
+
+"Hello, Dick! Come up to our picnic. We're going to have ice cream and
+cake and pies, and lots of good things."
+
+To this cordial invitation Dick, thrusting his clenched fists deep into
+his pockets, responded at the top of his voice:
+
+"No, sir-ee! I believe in a hell!"[70]
+
+As early as the beginning of the nineteenth century the Baptists were
+accustomed to immerse their converts with appropriate services near
+Council Rock. They organized on January 21, 1834, with the Rev. Lewis
+Raymond as pastor. Their church building was erected during the next
+year.
+
+[Illustration: CHRIST CHURCH]
+
+The Roman Catholic congregation was organized in September, 1847, with
+the Rev. Father Kilbride as pastor. Their first church was built in
+1851, at the corner of Elm and Susquehanna streets. The present St.
+Mary's Church, the "Church of Our Lady of the Lake," was built in 1867.
+
+Toward the middle of the century the three most conspicuous steeples in
+the village scene were those of Christ Church, the Presbyterian, and
+the Baptist. From the shape of their towers, which have since been
+modified, they were known as the "Casters," and distinguished as salt,
+pepper, and mustard respectively.[71]
+
+The land for the Presbyterian church as well as for Christ Church was
+given by Judge Cooper. Within Christ churchyard he reserved a space,
+including his daughter's grave, as a family burial plot, where he
+himself was buried in 1809, cut down in the full vigor of his fifty-five
+years. While leaving a political meeting in Albany, as he was descending
+the steps of the old state capitol, after a session abounding in stormy
+debate, Judge Cooper was struck on the head with a walking stick by a
+political opponent, and died as a result of the blow.
+
+Judge Cooper was originally a Quaker, but that he afterward found
+himself out of sympathy with the Society of Friends is shown in a formal
+document by which his relations to that denomination were severed. He
+was instrumental in the erection of Christ Church, for a letter written
+by him shows that he conducted the negotiations with the corporation of
+Trinity parish, New York, which, in 1806, gave $1,500 toward the
+construction of the edifice. An obituary notice published in the
+_Cooperstown Federalist_ at the time of his death says that Judge Cooper
+"was thoroughly persuaded of the truth of Revelation."
+
+The rood-screen in Christ Church commemorates Judge Cooper, and a
+dignified sarcophagus covers his grave in the churchyard. Recalling the
+story of his career, one is disposed to claim for his simple epitaph a
+share of the attention bestowed upon the tomb of his more illustrious
+son. For here lies the foremost pioneer of Cooperstown, notable among
+the frontiersmen of America.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 69: _James Fenimore Cooper_, by Mary E. Phillips, p. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 70: _Reminiscences_, Elihu Phinney, 1890.]
+
+[Footnote 71: _A few Omitted Leaves in the History of Cooperstown_, G.
+Pomeroy Keese, 1907.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+HOMES AND GOSSIP OF OTHER DAYS
+
+
+Early in the century activities were renewed, just across the river from
+Cooperstown, in the development of what was known as the Bowers Patent,
+originally owned by John R. Myer of New York, whose daughter became the
+wife of Henry Bowers. For some years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs.
+Bowers lived at Brighton, near Boston, in a residence that was one of
+the finest relics of Colonial days, commanding a fine view of Boston,
+Cambridge, Charleston, and the bay, with its numerous islands. They
+afterward removed to New York City, and Henry Bowers made journeys
+thence to the Otsego region, where a settlement had been commenced in
+Middlefield, then called Newtown Martin,[72] some years before the
+founding of Cooperstown.
+
+In 1791, Henry Bowers surveyed and laid out a proposed village of
+"Bowerstown," across the river from Cooperstown. It was to extend from
+the Susquehanna to the base of the hill on the east, and from the lake
+to a point about 1,000 feet south. The projected village never became a
+reality, although the name is perpetuated by the present hamlet of
+Bowerstown, which still flourishes about a mile to the south, on a site
+that was once included in the Bowers Patent, where a saw-mill was
+erected on Red Creek in 1791, the first in this part of the country. A
+modern saw-mill now occupies the same site.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOUSE AT LAKELANDS, as originally built]
+
+The residences across the river are all in the town of Middlefield, but
+the village of Cooperstown has extended its corporate limits to include
+some of them, and virtually claims them all.
+
+[Illustration: MRS. WILSON]
+
+After the death of Henry Bowers, his son, John Myer Bowers, married in
+1802 Margaretta Stewart Wilson. Young Bowers was said to be the
+handsomest and most fascinating man in New York, and had inherited a
+fortune which in that day was regarded as princely. Shortly after the
+marriage he decided to make his residence on the Bowers Patent in
+Otsego, and came hither with his bride in 1803, occupying a part of the
+Ernst house at the northwest corner of Main and River streets, while the
+present house at Lakelands was under construction. The building was
+erected during 1804, and Mr. and Mrs. Bowers took possession in 1805.
+Mrs. Bowers's mother, Mrs. Wilson, made her home with them, and lived at
+Lakelands for a half a century. These two ladies contributed much to the
+life of the community, and the younger generation was fascinated by
+their vivid memories of the leading spirits of the Revolutionary War.
+Mrs. Wilson occupies a niche of fame in _The Women of the American
+Revolution_, by Elizabeth F. Ellet, who said of her that "her
+reminiscences would form a most valuable contribution to the domestic
+history of the Revolution." She was in Philadelphia on the day of the
+Declaration of Independence, and made one of a party entertained at a
+brilliant fete, given in honor of the event, on board the frigate
+Washington, at anchor in the Delaware, by Captain Reid, the commander.
+The magnificent brocade which she wore on this occasion, with its hooped
+petticoat, flowing train, laces, gimp, and flowers, remained in her
+wardrobe unaltered for many years. Mrs. Wilson was Martha Stewart,
+daughter of Col. Charles Stewart of New Jersey, who was a member of
+Washington's staff. At the age of seventeen she married Robert Wilson,
+also closely associated with Washington, and in the midst of the war she
+was left a widow. During the Revolution Mrs. Wilson was more favorably
+situated for observation and knowledge of significant movements and
+events than any other lady of her native state. Her father, at the head
+of an important department under the commander-in-chief, became
+familiarly acquainted with the principal officers of the army; and,
+headquarters being most of the time within twenty or thirty miles of
+her residence, she not only had constant communication in person and by
+letter with him, but frequently entertained at her house many of his
+military friends. General Washington himself, with whom she had been on
+terms of friendship since 1775, visited her at different times at her
+home in Hackettstown. Mrs. Washington also was several times the guest
+of Mrs. Wilson, both at her own house and at that of her father at
+Landsdown. Such was the liberality of Mrs. Wilson's patriotism that her
+gates on the public road bore in conspicuous characters the inscription,
+"Hospitality within to all American officers, and refreshment for their
+soldiers," an invitation which, on the regular route of communication
+between the northern and southern posts of the army, was often accepted.
+
+The hospitality which Mrs. Wilson had the privilege of extending to
+illustrious guests was returned by marked attentions to her daughter and
+only child, on her entrance into society in Philadelphia during the
+presidency of Washington. Mrs. Wilson was the object of much devotion on
+her own account at the capital, where her appearance was thus described
+by a lady of Philadelphia in a letter to a friend: "Mrs. Wilson looked
+charmingly this evening in a Brunswick robe of striped muslin, trimmed
+with spotted lawn; a beautiful handkerchief gracefully arranged at her
+neck; her hair becomingly craped and thrown into curls under a very
+elegant white bonnet, with green-leafed band, worn on one side." At the
+same time the debutante daughter, Margaretta Wilson, became a favorite
+with Mrs. Washington, who distinguished her with courtesies rarely shown
+to persons of her age. A contemporary letter describes her appearance at
+a drawing-room given by the President and Mrs. Washington: "Miss Wilson
+looked beautifully last night. She was in full dress, yet in elegant
+simplicity. She wore book muslin over white mantua, trimmed with broad
+lace round the neck; half sleeves of the same, also trimmed with lace;
+with white satin sash and slippers; her hair elegantly dressed in curls,
+without flowers, feathers or jewelry. Mrs. Moylan told me she was the
+handsomest person at the drawing room, and more admired than anyone
+there."[73]
+
+Such was the belle whom John Myer Bowers carried away as his bride to
+the wilds of Otsego, where, shortly afterward, at Lakelands, her mother
+also came to dwell. These two ladies, with their unusual experiences,
+added a new flavor to the life of Cooperstown.
+
+Eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowers at Lakelands were girls. The
+father's hopeful anticipations were so well known in the community that
+when a son and heir, Henry J. Bowers, was born at last, in 1824, the
+event was signalized by the ringing of the village church bells in
+Cooperstown, the only birthday in the region that was ever honored by
+such a demonstration.
+
+John Myer Bowers, in his later years, was far from being the Beau
+Brummel of his youthful days in New York, and came to be known in the
+village as a distinct character, ruggedly determined not to yield to the
+infirmities of old age. When his physical strength began to fail he kept
+a horse constantly in harness and standing at the door of Lakelands that
+he might ride to and from the village. This horse, known as "Old Chap,"
+was a familiar figure on the road in those days, and faithful to his
+master to the advanced age of thirty-seven years.
+
+John M. Bowers died in the year 1846. His widow continued to occupy
+Lakelands until her death in 1872, and a daughter, Martha S. Bowers,
+continued the occupancy during her life. After the death of the latter
+Lakelands was sold in making division of the Bowers estate. Henry J.
+Bowers married in 1848 a daughter of William C. Crain, a prominent
+citizen of the adjoining county of Herkimer. She was a woman of large
+intellectual gifts and undaunted spirit, and personally undertook the
+education of their eldest son, John Myer Bowers, who sat on the floor
+before her, while the mother, book in hand, instilled into his mind the
+importance of the three R's, with much stress upon the principles of
+fidelity and loyalty as elements of success in business. At the age of
+sixteen years she sent him to New York to study law under one of the
+leading attorneys of that city. He became one of the foremost lawyers of
+the State, and a few years after its sale repurchased Lakelands, with
+its forty acres along lake and river, as his summer home. No native son
+of Cooperstown has had a more successful career than John M. Bowers. In
+1915 he won a verdict for Theodore Roosevelt in the celebrated trial at
+Syracuse in which suit for libel was brought against the former
+President of the United States by William Barnes, the proprietor of the
+_Albany Evening Journal_.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+LAKELANDS]
+
+A mansard roof was added to Lakelands at the period during which the
+property was out of the possession of the Bowers family, but the
+remainder of the house is of the original building, and the carved
+wooden doors and mantel-pieces within testify to the skill of old-time
+workmanship in Cooperstown. The wide stretches of lawn shaded by
+venerable trees, and the long sweep of lake shore commanded by Lakelands
+make it a charming country seat.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In 1801 George Pomeroy, a young man of twenty-two years, arrived from
+Albany, and set up in business as the first druggist in the village and
+county. His store stood on Main Street on the site of the present Clark
+Gymnasium. Some of the hardships of the early settlers to which history
+may only allude are suggested by a sign which hung in front of the drug
+store of Dr. Pomeroy, as he was called. This sign depicted a hand
+pointing to these words: "Itch cured for 2 cts. 4 cts. 6 cts. Unguentum.
+Walk in."
+
+Dr. Pomeroy had other talents beside his skill in chemistry, and soon
+became a popular citizen of the village, displaying one accomplishment
+that was perhaps not so rare then as now in being an expert in the
+exposition of the Bible. Dr. Pomeroy was not so absorbed in his Bible as
+to be indifferent to the heavenly qualities which radiated from the
+person of Ann Cooper, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the founder of
+the village, for it soon appeared that these two young people had formed
+a romantic attachment. In aspiring to the hand of the heiress Dr.
+Pomeroy could not promise to endow her with great riches, but he had a
+good name in being a grandson of General Seth Pomeroy who fought at
+Bunker Hill.
+
+It was as a wedding gift to his daughter, on her marriage to George
+Pomeroy in 1804, that Judge Cooper built the old stone house which
+stands at the corner of Main and River streets. It was the first stone
+house constructed in the village, and the peculiar herring-bone style in
+which the stone is laid lends to this old residence a quaint and unusual
+charm. Under the eastern gable of the house is wrought in stone a spread
+eagle, with the date of the building, and the initials of the young
+couple who began housekeeping there. The involved order of the
+initials--G. A. P. C.--the master-mason, Jamie Allen,[74] explained by
+saying that the lives, like the initials, of the bride and groom, should
+be so entwined as to make their union permanent. And so it proved, for
+they lived in peace and harmony to a great age. The house was for many
+years called "Deacon Place," Dr. Pomeroy being widely known as a deacon
+of the Presbyterian church, but in later times it was named "Pomeroy
+Place."
+
+Ten children were born to the first occupants of the old stone house,
+and it became one of the liveliest centres of hospitality to old and
+young in Cooperstown. Years afterward there were those whose mouths
+watered at the recollection of the dining-room in the southwest quarter
+of the house, where many a merry feast was held, with particularly fond
+memories of delicious light buckwheat cakes that came hot from the
+griddle through a sliding window connected with the kitchen.
+
+As years went on Mrs. Pomeroy became famous as a pattern of good works.
+In days when trained nurses were unknown, in almost every family when
+sickness came the first call was for "Aunt Pomeroy," who was by many
+considered wiser than the physicians. In the course of time the
+surviving children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pomeroy had homes and families
+of their own, and the old couple were left once more alone in the old
+stone house. Aunt Pomeroy's favorite place for receiving her friends was
+in the northeast corner room of the lower floor. There she was
+accustomed to sit in her rocking-chair, with her book, ordinarily a
+volume of sermons, or her knitting, usually a shawl to be sold for the
+benefit of missions to the heathen. She was fond of a game of whist, and
+her great-grandchildren once attempted to teach her to play euchre. She
+was getting on very well with the new game, until an opponent took her
+king in the trump suit with the right bower. She threw down her cards,
+exclaiming, "No more of a game where a jack takes a king!" She was
+always ready to receive visitors, of whom there were many, except at one
+hour of the day, which was sacred to an ancient pact between her husband
+and herself. Between the hours of five and six Aunt Pomeroy withdrew to
+her chamber, while Deacon Pomeroy, at his store, refused himself to
+customers, and retired to his private office, so that each devoted the
+same space of time to a secluded reading of the Bible.
+
+The old couple were not permitted to end their days in the house which
+had been made a kind of symbol of their married happiness, and which
+they had occupied for nearly half a century. Late in life, owing to
+financial losses, Mrs. Pomeroy was compelled to sell the property. The
+aged pair closed the wooden shutters at the windows, fastened the door
+behind them, and descended the steps of the old stone house, never to
+return.
+
+[Illustration: _J. Patzig_
+
+POMEROY PLACE]
+
+Mrs. Pomeroy passed her later years at Edgewater, the home of her
+grandson. Her death was typical of her life of piety. On a certain
+afternoon seventy-five women were assembled for Lenten sewing. After
+greeting them all in the drawing-room Aunt Pomeroy ascended the stairs
+to her room, stretched herself upon the bed, and quietly drew her last
+breath. In accordance with the old custom the clock in the death-chamber
+was stopped, and a sheet was drawn over the mirror. Down stairs the
+rector of the parish read a prayer, and the women filed out of the house
+in silence.
+
+Pomeroy Place was not permanently lost to the family for which it was
+originally built. When the centennial of the building was celebrated in
+1904, the house had already returned to its first estate, having been
+purchased by the granddaughter of the original owners, Mrs. George Stone
+Benedict, who with her daughter, Clare Benedict, came to occupy it as
+their American home between journeys abroad.
+
+Mrs. Benedict's sister, Constance Fenimore Woolson, who made many summer
+visits in Cooperstown, may be said to have drawn her original literary
+inspiration from this region, for Otsego appears in her first work, "The
+Haunted Lake," published in December, 1871, in _Harper's Magazine_,
+while Pomeroy Place itself is commemorated in one of her earliest
+productions, "The Old Stone House." From this period till her death in
+1893 the sketches, poems, and novels that came from Miss Woolson's pen
+reached such a level of literary art that Edmund Clarence Stedman called
+her one of the leading women in the American literature of the century.
+Miss Woolson spent the latter years of her life in Europe, changing her
+residence frequently. Gracefully impulsive and independent, she had a
+gypsy instinct for the roving life of liberty out-of-doors; yet in
+character and demeanor she was so serenely poised, so self-contained,
+with such inviolable reserve and dignity, that she was, as Stedman put
+it, "like old lace."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One of the most remarkable men of early times in Cooperstown was Elihu
+Phinney, publisher of the _Otsego Herald_, who had brought his presses
+and type here in the winter of 1795, breaking a track through the snow
+of the wilderness with six teams of horses. The first number of the
+_Otsego Herald, or Western Advertiser_, a weekly journal, appeared on
+the third day of April. This was the second newspaper published in the
+State, west of Albany, and its title shows that Cooperstown was then
+regarded as belonging to the far west of civilization. Like all
+newspapers of that period, the early files of the _Otsego Herald_ appear
+to the modern reader to be singularly lacking in local news, and only
+the rarest mention of what was going on in Cooperstown is to be found in
+its faded pages. There is much of the news of Europe, and the political
+news of America admits the printing in full of long speeches delivered
+in Congress, but the happenings in Cooperstown seem to have been left to
+the tongues of village gossips, and the advertising columns stand almost
+alone in reflecting the daily life of the place.
+
+Elihu Phinney was a great favorite in the village, being a man of
+delightful social qualities, and distinguished for his remarkable wit
+and satire. His bookstore in Cooperstown furnished a large section of
+the country with an elemental literature, and with many historical
+works. A year after his arrival he was made associate judge of the
+county. It was in the printing office of Judge Phinney that Fenimore
+Cooper, when a boy, was in the habit of setting type "for fun," which
+experience he afterward stated was very useful to him in the oversight
+of the typographical production of his writings. On the overthrow of
+John Adams's administration Judge Phinney changed the political policy
+of his newspaper, _The Otsego Herald_, and became a supporter of Thomas
+Jefferson, in opposition to the views of his patron, Judge Cooper, who
+remained a Federalist. It was this breach of political friendship which
+brought to Cooperstown Col. John H. Prentiss, who came from the office
+of the _New York Evening Post_, in 1808, to conduct a newspaper in
+opposition to _The Otsego Herald_. Thus came into being _The Impartial
+Observer_, which shortly changed its name to _The Cooperstown
+Federalist_, and in 1828 became _The Freeman's Journal_, under which
+name it is still published.
+
+Judge Phinney founded a bookselling and publishing business which,
+through his sons and grandsons, was carried on in Cooperstown for the
+better part of a century after its establishment. His place of business
+was on the east side of Pioneer Street, next south of the building that
+stands at the corner of Main Street, and the present building on the
+original site of their enterprise was erected by the Phinneys in 1849.
+
+The Phinney establishment became famous for original methods of
+conducting business. Large wagons were ingeniously constructed to serve
+as locomotive bookstores. They had movable tops and counters, and their
+shelves were stocked with hundreds of varieties of books. Traveling
+agents drove these wagons to many villages where books were scarcely
+attainable otherwise. The Erie Canal opened even more remote fields of
+enterprise. The Phinneys had a canal boat fitted up as a floating
+bookstore, which carried a variety beyond that found in the ordinary
+village, anchoring in winter at one of the largest towns on the Erie
+Canal. Up to the year 1849, when the publishing department was moved to
+Buffalo, and only a bookstore remained of the Phinney enterprise in
+Cooperstown, their efforts had built up in this village a large
+publishing business, while they stocked and maintained the largest
+bookstores in towns as far away as Utica, Buffalo, and Detroit. As early
+as 1820 their stereotype foundry in Cooperstown had cast a set of plates
+for a quarto family Bible, one of the first ever made in the United
+States, and of which some 200,000 copies were printed. Later they
+published Fenimore Cooper's _Naval History_, Col. Stone's _Life of
+Brant_, several volumes by Rev. Jacob and John S. C. Abbott which were
+household favorites for a generation afterward, not to mention many
+school text-books and histories.
+
+The occasion which caused the removal of this publishing business from
+the village arose out of the discontent of some workmen whose services
+were dispensed with when new power presses were substituted for
+hand-work in printing. The entire manufactory was burned at night by
+incendiaries in the spring of 1849.
+
+Elihu Phinney, the founder of the business, was the originator in 1796
+of _Phinney's Calendar, or Western Almanac_, which was known in every
+household of the region, for some three score years and ten. The weather
+predictions in this calendar were always gravely consulted. In one year
+it happened, through a typographical displacement, that snow was
+predicted for the fourth of July. When the glorious Fourth arrived the
+thermometer dropped below the freezing point, and snow actually fell, a
+circumstance which greatly increased the already reverent regard for
+Phinney's Almanac.
+
+A quaint character who established himself in the village before the
+coming of Elihu Phinney was Dr. Nathaniel Gott. He was a man of fiery
+spirit. When Dr. Gott's patients, on being restored to health, seemed
+inclined to forget their indebtedness to him, he threatened them with
+chastisement, and published the following rhymed notice in the _Otsego
+Herald_:
+
+     Says Dr. Gott,
+     I'll tell you what,
+     I'm called on hot,
+     All round the Ot-
+     -Segonian plot,
+     To pay my shot
+     For pill and pot.
+     If you don't trot
+     Up to the spot,
+     And ease my lot,
+     You'll smell it hot.
+
+     NATHANIEL GOTT.
+
+Dr. Gott was an eccentric. He wore short breeches, with long stockings,
+and always ate his meals from a wooden trencher. Among a company of
+village men enjoying a convivial evening at the tavern a contest of wit
+and satire arose between Dr. Gott and Elihu Phinney who had become warm
+friends. Finally it was proposed that each should compose an impromptu
+epitaph for the other. In the epitaph which he improvised for Judge
+Phinney Dr. Gott, adapting the conceit of the schoolmen, made out Judge
+Phinney's soul to be so small that thousands of such could dance on the
+point of a cambric needle. Judge Phinney retorted with the following:
+
+     Beneath this turf doth stink and rot
+       The body of old Dr. Gott;
+     Now earth is eased and hell is pleased,
+       Since Satan hath his carcass seized.
+
+Amid shouts of laughter from the onlookers, Dr. Gott, turning jest into
+earnest, strode from the tavern, and his friendship for Judge Phinney
+was ended.
+
+The town pump stood on the north side of Main Street a few rods east of
+Chestnut street. Its former position is now marked by a tablet set in
+the sidewalk. On the corner west of the pump Daniel Olendorf kept a
+tavern. He was a small man, and very lame from a stiff knee. The muscles
+of the leg were contracted, making it considerably shorter than the
+other. At one time he was leading a lame horse through the street, when
+a little dog came following on behind, holding up one leg and limping
+along on the other three. The sight caused no little merriment along the
+street when the lame man, the lame horse, and the lame dog were seen
+marching in procession. Olendorf, wondering at the cause of so much
+amusement, looked back and saw the uninvited follower. He picked up a
+stone, and flung it at the dog, exclaiming, "Get along home; there is
+limping enough here without you, you little lame cuss, coming limping
+after us!"
+
+Young James Cooper, afterward the novelist, had left the village when a
+young lad to be tutored by the rector of St. Peter's, Albany, and
+thereafter spent little of his boyhood in Cooperstown. After his
+uncompleted course at Yale, and a year's cruise at sea, he returned for
+a time, in 1807, to his village home, being then a youth of eighteen
+years. To this period belongs the incident of his participation in a
+foot-race among some of his former companions in the village. The
+racecourse agreed upon was around the central square, that is, beginning
+at the intersection of Main and Pioneer streets, at the Red Lion Inn,
+the runners were to go up Pioneer Street to Church Street, thence to
+River Street, down River Street to Main, and so back to the place of
+starting.
+
+James Cooper was mentioned as one of the competitors, and his antagonist
+was selected. The prize was a basket of fruit. Cooper accepted the
+challenge, but not on even terms. It was not enough for the young sailor
+to outrun the landsman; he would do more. Among many spectators Cooper
+caught sight of a little girl. He caught her up in his arms, exclaiming,
+"I'll carry her with me and beat you!" Thus the race began, the little
+black-eyed girl clutching Cooper's shoulders. As the contestants rushed
+up Pioneer Street, and turned the corner where the Universalist church
+now stands, the amused and excited villagers saw with surprise that the
+sailor with his burden was keeping pace with the other flying youth.
+Around the square the runners turned the next two corners almost
+abreast. After rounding the corner of the Old Stone House, as they came
+up the main street toward the goal Cooper, bearing the little girl
+aloft, gave a burst of speed, amid wild cheers, drew away from his
+opponent, and won the race. The basket of fruit was his, which he
+distributed among the spectators, and the little girl, afterward the
+wife of Capt. William Wilson, long lived in the village to tell the
+story of her ride upon James Cooper's shoulders.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 72: The _Otsego Herald_ of Jan. 14, 1796, contained a notice
+of warning issued by Henry Bowers against persons who had been cutting
+down trees "on my patent, in Newtown Martin."]
+
+[Footnote 73: _The Women of the Revolution_, Elizabeth F. Ellet,
+published in 1850, pp. 37-67.]
+
+[Footnote 74: A skillful builder and noted character, commemorated by
+Fenimore Cooper in _Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll_.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE PIONEER COURT ROOM
+
+
+In the fore part of the nineteenth century, when public amusements were
+few, the people of Cooperstown found a pleasant relaxation from the hard
+tasks of pioneer life in attending the trial of suits at law in the
+court house. Here were large crowds of interested spectators, and the
+matters of litigation were widely discussed in the taverns and homes of
+the village. Cooperstown, as the county seat, was the chief battle
+ground of an endless warfare among the lawyers of the region, and the
+forensic struggles of the first twenty years of the century developed an
+array of legal talent in Otsego county which gained the reputation of
+being the ablest in the State west of the Hudson. In those days the best
+lawyers were orators, and some were actors who would have done credit to
+the dramatic profession. The public had its favorites among them, and
+their names were known in every household. The trial practice of that
+day was a keen encounter of wits between men of high native talent who
+perfectly understood each other's motives, and showed infinite
+dexterity in twisting facts and arguments to serve their purposes.[75]
+
+[Illustration: AMBROSE L. JORDAN]
+
+The ablest lawyer in the county from 1813 to 1820, when he removed to
+Hudson, was Ambrose L. Jordan, who began his career in Cooperstown in
+partnership with Col. Farrand Stranahan. Jordan was a commanding figure,
+six feet tall, slim and graceful in figure; blue eyes that were at once
+keen and kindly added lustre to the impression produced by the
+sensitive features of his countenance. He had a profusion of brown curls
+and a complexion as fine as a woman's. Dignified and courtly in manner,
+he was as brilliant in conversation as he was impressive and powerful as
+an orator. In natural eloquence Jordan was a man of the first rank.
+Added to this he was a close student, and prepared his cases with great
+care. He had great powers of endurance, and in long trials always
+appeared fresh and strong after other advocates were exhausted. In his
+pleadings before a jury he used every resource at his command, indulging
+in flights of oratory that kindled the imagination, dazzling his hearers
+with rhetorical tropes and figures, at times humorous and playful, with
+a tendency to personal allusion most uncomfortable for his opponent.
+Jordan was terrible in sarcasm. One Asbury Newman, a poor, worthless,
+drunken fellow, ever ready to testify on either side for a drink of
+whiskey, was brought upon the witness stand. Jordan knew his man. After
+exhibiting his character in its true light, ringing all the changes upon
+his worthlessness, and ridiculing his opponent for bringing him there,
+he closed by saying, "Gentlemen of the jury, I will convince you that
+this degenerate specimen of humanity is not the son of the saintly and
+exemplary Elder Asbury Newman, but that he is the legitimate son of
+Beelzebub the prince of devils. He is an eyesore to his father, a sore
+eye to his mother, a vagabond upon earth, and a most damnable liar!"
+Poor Asbury never appeared in court as a witness afterwards.[76]
+
+Jordan would never submit to being imposed upon by sharp practice. On
+one occasion, as he was returning homeward in the early evening from the
+trial of a case in a neighboring village, his wagon broke down. There
+was some snow on the ground, and a farmer in a lumber sleigh was gliding
+by, when Jordan requested his assistance to reach Cooperstown, some five
+miles away. The two put the broken wagon on the sleigh, and leading the
+disengaged horse, drove on to Jordan's home. No bargain had been made,
+and when, at the journey's end, Jordan inquired what he should pay, the
+sharp farmer named a most extortionate sum. Jordan then declared that
+the pay demanded was three times as much as the service was worth; yet
+rather than have any hard feeling about the matter he would pay double
+price: but more he would not pay. The offer was refused, and the farmer
+departed, breathing threats.
+
+Within a few days a summons was served on Jordan to appear before a
+justice who was a near neighbor and friend of the farmer. On the trial
+the justice gave judgment for the plaintiff for the full amount of the
+claim, and costs. As soon as the law would permit, execution was issued
+on this judgment, and placed in the hands of a deputy sheriff for
+collection.
+
+Jordan managed to have information of the coming of the officer to
+collect this judgment. His law partner, Col. Stranahan, was the owner of
+a handsome gold watch and chain, which for that occasion Jordan
+borrowed, and hung up conspicuously from a nail on the front of the desk
+at which he was writing, in the little office building which then stood
+on Main Street, near Jordan's home.
+
+When the officer entered, saying that he had an execution against him,
+Jordan asserted that he did not intend to pay it.
+
+"Then," said the officer, "my duty requires me to levy on your property,
+and I shall take this,"--at the same time taking the watch, and putting
+it into his pocket.
+
+"My friend," said Jordan, "I advise you to put back the watch. If you do
+not, you will get yourself into trouble."
+
+The deputy was obdurate, however, and left the office, taking with him
+the watch. With all possible expedition a writ and other papers in a
+replevin suit were prepared for an action of Stranahan against the
+deputy sheriff. The sheriff of the county was found, the replevin writ
+put into his hands, which he at once served on the deputy, took back the
+watch and delivered it to the owner. The deputy sheriff called on the
+farmer to indemnify him in the replevin suit, which he felt compelled to
+do. The result of the affair, which was soon arrived at, was this: the
+plaintiff succeeded in the replevin suit, the costs of which amounted to
+over one hundred dollars. The judgment obtained by the extortionate
+farmer was about twenty dollars, and he finally had to pay over to
+Jordan, as Stranahan's attorney, the difference between these sums.[77]
+
+When Ambrose Jordan began the practice of law in Cooperstown he planted
+an elm tree on Chestnut Street in front of his home, at the northwest
+corner of Main Street. This elm, grown to mighty proportions, celebrated
+its one hundredth birthday in 1913. Within a few paces of the corner,
+facing on Main Street, and in the rear of the dwelling which fronts
+Chestnut Street, stood the small building that Jordan occupied as an
+office. This is one of the few remaining examples of the detached law
+offices which were common in Cooperstown, as in other villages, in early
+days, and often stood in the dooryard of a lawyer's residence.[78]
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+JORDAN'S HOME, AND HIS LAW OFFICE]
+
+Jordan's partner, Col. Stranahan, was less conspicuous as a lawyer than
+as a soldier and politician. He was in command of a regiment throughout
+the War of 1812, and received official commendation for gallantry. On
+his record for military service and personal popularity he was elected
+senator, from what was then known as the Western District, in 1814, and
+again in 1823. During this period he became the recognized leader of the
+Otsego Democracy. Stranahan was a poor man, and his official service was
+rendered at the sacrifice of his law practice. When Cooperstown
+celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of our national independence, Col.
+Stranahan, because of his debts, was a prisoner in the county jail. A
+multitude of people from every part of the county had gathered in
+Cooperstown, and among the guests of honor were two old friends of
+Stranahan, Alvan Stewart and Levi Beardsley of Cherry Valley, the former
+being the orator of the day. Stewart and Beardsley, greatly distressed
+that, on an occasion devoted to the celebration of liberty, Stranahan
+should be in jail, went to the sheriff and gave their word to indemnify
+him, if he would bring his prisoner to the celebration. Accordingly
+Stranahan came, closely attended by the sheriff, and, after the
+oration, dined with the celebrating party. After the drinking of many
+toasts, toward evening the sheriff wished to return with his prisoner to
+the jail. By this time the party was in a merry mood, and full of the
+spirit of independence. The sheriff had some difficulty in persuading
+the banqueters to permit him to withdraw Stranahan from the festivities.
+Finally it was decided that if Stranahan must return to jail it should
+be with an escort of honor, and a group under the leadership of Stewart,
+Beardsley, and Judge Morell agreed to perform this duty. On reaching the
+jail the members of the escort were seized by another freak of fancy,
+and insisted upon being locked up with Stranahan. The sheriff having
+complied with their wishes, the prisoners soon tired of their
+confinement without further refreshment, and sent for the plaintiff
+against Stranahan to come to the jail. This being done they affected a
+compromise with him, by which he agreed to cancel a part of the debt if
+Stranahan's friends would each pay him twenty dollars. Thus Stranahan
+was released in triumph, and the rest of the night was passed in
+celebrating the event.[79]
+
+Ambrose L. Jordan's chief rival among the lawyers of Otsego county was
+his neighbor Samuel Starkweather, a man of great physical and mental
+power. He was in many ways to be contrasted with Jordan, more strongly
+built, swarthy, having dark eyes and hair, with a massive head set upon
+broad shoulders, and every feature of his face indicative of strong will
+and energetic action. Somewhat less of an orator than Jordan,
+Starkweather equalled him in close logical reasoning.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+THE HOME OF ROBERT CAMPBELL]
+
+At the beginning of the century John Russell, Elijah H. Metcalf, and
+Robert Campbell were resident in Cooperstown. Russell was the second
+member of Congress to be elected from the place. Col. Metcalf served two
+years in the legislature of the State. Campbell, of the well-known
+Cherry Valley family, built for his residence in 1807 the house which
+still stands on Lake Street facing the length of Chestnut Street. He was
+a man of stout build, with a full face, slightly retiring forehead, a
+trifle bald, urbane and unassuming in deportment. As a pleader at the
+bar he was only moderately eloquent, but he was popularly designated far
+and near as "the honest lawyer," and his advice was not only much sought
+but implicitly relied upon. In a period not much devoted to the
+amenities of legal procedure one member of this group of lawyers, George
+Morell, made a reputation not so much as an advocate as for his
+faultless diction and polished manners.
+
+On the other hand, Alvan Stewart of Cherry Valley was the clown of the
+court room, and to such good purpose that the ablest lawyers of
+Cooperstown dreaded him as an opponent. He was a master of absurd wit
+and ridicule. In Proctor's _Bench and Bar_ he is referred to as "one of
+the most powerful adversaries that ever stood before a jury." He was not
+a profound lawyer, and seems never to have studied the arrangement of
+his cases, nor to have bestowed any care in preparation for their
+presentation, but his mind was richly furnished with thoughts upon every
+subject which came up for discussion in the progress of a trial, and his
+illustrations, although unusual and grotesque were strikingly
+appropriate. His greatest power lay in that he could be humorous or
+pathetic, acrimonious or conciliating, denouncing the theories,
+testimony and pleas of the opposition in lofty declamation, and almost
+in the same breath convulsing his audience, the court and jury included,
+by the most laughable exhibitions of ridicule and burlesque.[80]
+
+A case in which Alvan Stewart opposed Samuel Starkweather was long
+afterward famous in Cooperstown.[81] The case was an important one, and
+was brought to a climax when the logical and serious Starkweather began
+summing up for the defense. While he was speaking Stewart took a
+position so as to gaze continually into the face of his opponent,
+evidently with the intention of disconcerting him, and of distracting
+the attention of the jury. Starkweather was not a little irritated at
+Stewart's absurd look and attitude. In spite of this, however, he
+grappled with the strong points at issue, and elucidated them with
+telling logic in his own favor; he kept the closest attention of the
+jury, producing conviction in the justice of his position; and took his
+seat well satisfied that he would have a favorable verdict. In his
+closing words Starkweather made some allusion to Stewart's staring eyes,
+and cautioned the jury against being influenced by the well-known
+absurdities which he was wont to introduce.
+
+Stewart in the mean time sat with a pompously assumed calmness and
+dignity, like a turkey cock beside his brooding mate before awaking the
+dawn with his matin gobbling. After a time he began to gather himself
+up, and slowly lengthened out to his full height, about six feet four.
+His blue frock coat thrown back upon his shoulders sat loosely around
+him. His arms hanging down beside him like useless appendages to a
+statue; his white waistcoat all open except one or two buttons at the
+bottom; his white necktie wound carelessly about his neck; his shirt
+collar wide open; his face a kind of oblong quadrilateral containing
+features grotesquely drawn downward; his eyes, large and prominent, so
+turned as to show most of the sclerotic white of the eyeballs,--all were
+combined to present the buffoon in his utmost burlesque of himself.
+
+Alvan Stewart's first movement was to turn his head and roll his eyes so
+as to fix the attention of his audience, who were ever ready to laugh
+when his lips opened, whether wit or folly came from them. Then, with an
+awkward bow, he paid his respects to the court, and, turning to the
+jury, commenced:
+
+"It appears, gentlemen of the jury, from the remarks of the opposing
+counsel," here turning to Starkweather, "that my _eyes_ constitute the
+principal thing at issue"--pausing a moment, then turning again to the
+jury,--"in the cause pending before us. They are the same eyes that my
+Maker fashioned for me, and I have used them continually ever since I
+was a b-o-y,"--drawing the last word out with a deep guttural
+voice,--"and this is the first time that I have ever heard their
+legitimacy questioned." He then went on to compare his eyes to two full
+moons rising upon the scene, a phenomenon made necessary to dispel a
+little of the darkness that, under the pretence of light and justice,
+had been ingeniously thrown around the cause they were to decide. For a
+full half hour this rambling burlesque was continued, with a manner of
+delivery indescribably ludicrous, only now and then touching upon the
+cause on trial, and then only to fling ridicule upon some of the points
+previously argued for the defendant.
+
+During all this time the spectators were shaking with laughter, while
+the jury and even the judge had to press their lips to retain their
+gravity, and were not always successful. More than once Stewart was
+interrupted by Starkweather for bringing in matters not related to the
+subject under litigation, or for making statements not warranted by the
+facts. Stewart stood blinking at him until he had finished, then turned
+beseechingly to the judge; when the decision was against him he struck
+out into some other line of buffoonery equally grotesque. In conclusion
+he came down to argumentation, bringing his logic to bear upon the few
+points that he had not involved with absurdities, and sat down in
+triumph.
+
+When the verdict had been rendered in Stewart's favor, Starkweather
+strode forth from the court room in a rage, muttering fierce
+imprecations against a man who was capable of overmatching reason and
+justice by low buffoonery.
+
+But none could be long angry at Stewart. He had no personal enmities and
+no enemies. Later in life he became an anti-slavery agitator and
+temperance lecturer pledged to total abstinence, the latter a much
+needed measure of reform in the case of Alvan Stewart.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 75: _Noted Men of Otsego during the Early Years_, Walter H.
+Bunn, Address at the Cooperstown Centennial.]
+
+[Footnote 76: _Random Sketches of Fifty, Sixty and More Years Ago_,
+Richard Fry, in the _Freeman's Journal_, 1878.]
+
+[Footnote 77: _History of Otsego County_, 1878, p. 283.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Moved to the north of the residence, 1917.]
+
+[Footnote 79: _Reminiscences_, Levi Beardsley, 223.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Walter H. Bunn.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Richard Fry.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+FATHER NASH
+
+
+The saintly life and strange personal charm of the Rev. Daniel Nash, the
+first rector of Christ Church, made a deep impression upon the village
+of Cooperstown in its early days; and the wide range of his apostolic
+labors as a missionary gave him a singular fame, during half a century,
+throughout Otsego county, and far beyond its borders. The grave of
+Father Nash is in Christ churchyard, marked by the tallest of the
+monuments along the driveway, at a spot which he himself had chosen for
+his burial.
+
+Daniel Nash was born in Massachusetts at Great Barrington (then called
+Housatonic) May 28, 1763.[82] At the age of twenty-two years he was
+graduated at Yale in the same class with Noah Webster. He was originally
+Presbyterian in his doctrinal belief, and in polity was sympathetic with
+the Congregational denomination, of which he was a member. But within
+ten years after his graduation from college Daniel Nash became a
+communicant of the Episcopal Church and began to study for Holy Orders.
+It was one of the quaint sayings attributed to him in later years that
+"you may bray a Presbyterian as with a pestle in a mortar, and you
+cannot get all of his Presbyterianism out of him," and when asked how he
+accounted for his own experience, "I was caught young," he would reply.
+
+Through the influence of the Rev. Dr. Daniel Burhans, who had made
+several missionary tours through Otsego and adjoining counties, Nash
+became fired with zeal for missionary work in this romantic and
+adventurous field. In 1797, having taken deacon's orders, he was
+accompanied to Otsego by his bride of a little more than a year, who was
+Olive Lusk, described as "an amiable lady of benignant mind and placid
+manners," the daughter of an intimate friend of his father. They made
+their first home at Exeter, in Otsego, and the early ministerial acts of
+Daniel Nash were divided between Exeter and Morris, about eighteen miles
+distant.[83]
+
+The missionary zeal of Daniel Nash was so intense that he was unable to
+comprehend lukewarmness in such a cause. The first bishop of the diocese
+of New York, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, belonged to a type of
+ecclesiastical life that was characteristic of the century then closing.
+Orthodox, scholarly, not ungenuinely religious, a gentleman of lofty
+aims and distinguished manners, Bishop Provoost charmingly entertained
+at his New York residence the rugged missionary of Otsego who came to
+report to him, but he was quite unable to enter into a missionary
+enthusiasm that appeared to him fanatical, or to understand the
+character of an educated man who lived by choice among the people of
+rude settlements and untamed forests. Nash was so indignant at the
+attitude of his chief that he resolved not to receive from his hands the
+ordination to the priesthood, and it was not until the autumn of 1801,
+shortly after the consecration of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore as
+coadjutor bishop of New York, that he became a priest.
+
+As the result of tireless labor, of much travel through difficult
+regions, by the maintenance of divine services at many outposts, Father
+Nash was able little by little to establish self-supporting church
+organizations throughout Otsego and the neighboring region. In 1801 Zion
+Church was built at Morris. Eight years later Father Nash organized St.
+Matthew's parish at Unadilla, and in 1811 completed the formal
+organization of Christ Church parish in Cooperstown, where the church
+building had been erected in 1807-10, and where Father Nash now came to
+be in partial residence as rector during seven years.[84]
+
+Aside from these parishes which so soon became permanently established
+this extraordinary man was regularly or occasionally visiting and
+shepherding the people of many other settlements. In Otsego county,
+besides giving pastoral attention to Exeter, Morris, Unadilla, and
+Cooperstown, he held services and preached--to name them in the order
+of his first visits--in Richfield, Springfield, and Cherry Valley;
+Westford and Milford; Edmeston, Burlington, and Hartwick; Fly Creek and
+Burlington Flats; Laurens, LeRoy (now Schuyler's Lake), Hartwick Hill,
+and Worcester; New Lisbon and Richfield Springs. In Chenango county,
+after the establishment of the church in New Berlin, he officiated at
+Sherburne and Mount Upton. Beyond these points he extended his work to
+Windsor and Colesville in Broome county; to Franklin and Stamford in
+Delaware county; to Canajoharie and Warren in Montgomery county; to
+Lebanon in Madison county; to Paris, Verona, Oneida Castle, Oneida, and
+New Hartford, in Oneida county; to Cape Vincent on Lake Ontario in
+Jefferson county; and to Ogdensburg in St. Lawrence county, one hundred
+and fifty miles to the north of the missionary's Otsego home.[85] Such
+was the field of the priest who officially reported each year to the
+convention of the diocese of New York as "Rector of the churches in
+Otsego county."
+
+Here belongs the story of an unusual coincidence. From 1816 to 1831
+there lived, in the same general region of New York State, within one
+hundred miles of the apostle of Otsego, another well known Christian
+minister whose surname was Nash, whose only Christian name was
+Daniel--the Rev. Daniel Nash,--always known, by a title which popular
+affection had bestowed on him, as "Father" Nash. To the people of Otsego
+and Chenango counties the name of Father Nash was a household word,
+while to the residents of Lewis and Jefferson counties the same name
+signified quite a different person. It is curious that no chronicle of
+either region betrays any contemporary knowledge of the coincidence.
+Each prophet was honored in his own country, and unknown in the
+stronghold of the other. This is the more strange, since their paths
+almost crossed in the year 1817, when the two men of identical name,
+title, and profession were within forty-five miles of each other, one
+being resident as pastor of the Stow's Square church, three miles north
+of Lowville in Lewis county, while the Otsego missionary was holding
+services at Verona in Oneida county. At different times they traversed
+the same counties: it was in 1816 that the Otsego missionary made tours
+in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties; the other Father Nash is known
+to have visited these counties eight years later.[86]
+
+The series of coincidences is made more singular by the fact that each
+Father Nash had married a wife whose first name was Olive, so that not
+only were both men called Father Nash, but the wife, after the custom of
+that day, in each case was addressed as Mrs. Olive Nash.
+
+Aside from these remarkable identities the two men were quite
+dissimilar. Both were natives of Massachusetts, but the Otsego Nash came
+from the extreme west of that State, the other from the farthest east.
+Both originally belonged to the Congregational denomination, but the
+Otsego Nash had become a priest of the Episcopal Church, while the other
+was a Presbyterian minister. The Presbyterian Nash was a famous
+revivalist. The Otsego missionary detested revivals. He said that the
+converts "reminded him of little humble-bees, which are rather larger
+when hatched than they are sometimes afterwards."
+
+There is something almost mysterious in the figure of this second Father
+Nash rising from the mist of bygone years, and one is quite prepared to
+read of him[87] that he went forth to labor for souls with a double
+black veil before his face, like the minister in Hawthorne's weird tale
+whose congregation was terrified by the "double fold of crape, hanging
+down from his forehead to his mouth, and slightly stirring with his
+breath." Three miles north of Lowville in Lewis county, in Stow's Square
+churchyard, a marble shaft eight feet high, conspicuous from almost any
+point in the country which stretches away to the Adirondack wilderness,
+commemorates, in connection with the church that he erected there, the
+Father Nash who labored in Lewis and Jefferson counties, and in an
+obscure cemetery, not far distant, a modest headstone marks his grave.
+
+Returning to the story of Cooperstown's Father Nash, no estimate of his
+work can fail to take into account the character of the field in which
+he labored. When he came to this region the country, while partially
+settled, was mostly a wilderness. The difficulties of travel were great.
+The manner of life among pioneers was crude. Bishop Philander Chase
+visited Otsego county in 1799, and gives a vivid impression of the more
+than apostolic simplicity of Father Nash's surroundings.[88] The Bishop
+found the missionary living in a cabin of unhewn logs, into which he had
+recently moved, and from which he was about to remove to another,
+equally poor, inhabiting with his family a single room, which contained
+all his worldly goods, and driving nails into the walls to make his
+wardrobe. The bishop assisted the missionary in his moving, and
+describes how they walked the road together, carrying a basket of
+crockery between them, and "talked of the things pertaining to the
+Kingdom of God."
+
+In his missionary journeys Father Nash rode on horseback from place to
+place, often carrying one of his children, and Mrs. Nash with another in
+her arms behind him on the horse's back, for she was greatly useful in
+the music and responses of the services.
+
+Father Nash held services punctually according to previous appointment,
+but they were sometimes strangely interrupted. The terror of wolves had
+not been banished from Otsego, and on one occasion, at Richfield, the
+entire congregation disappeared in pursuit of a huge bear that had
+suddenly alarmed the neighborhood.[89] The bear was captured, and
+furnished a supper of which the congregation partook in the evening.
+While the bear hunt had spoiled his sermon, Father Nash cheerfully
+asserted that it was a Christian deed to destroy so dangerous a brute
+even on a Sunday, and a venial offense against the canons of the Church.
+It is further related that Father Nash ate so much bear steak, on this
+occasion, as to make him quite ill.
+
+Although Fenimore Cooper was usually loath to admit that any character
+in his novels was drawn from life, Father Nash was generally recognized
+as the original of the Rev. Mr. Grant in the novel descriptive of
+Cooperstown which appeared under the title of _The Pioneers_. If this
+identification be justified, it must be said that while the author of
+the _Leather-Stocking Tales_ has well represented the genuine piety of
+his model, he has disguised him as a rather anaemic and depressing
+person. Father Nash was a man of rugged health, six feet in height, full
+in figure, over two hundred pounds in weight, of fresh and fair
+complexion, wearing a wig of longish hair parted in the middle, and
+dressed always, as circumstances permitted, with a strict regard for
+neatness.
+
+[Illustration: FATHER NASH]
+
+The only original portrait of Father Nash now remaining, from which all
+the extant engravings were taken, hangs in the sacristy of Christ
+Church. This portrait was given to the church in 1910, when the parish
+centennial was celebrated, by Father Nash's granddaughter, Mrs. Anna
+Marie Holland, of Saginaw, Michigan, and his great grandson, Harry C.
+Nash, of Buffalo. Mrs. Holland related a quaint incident concerning the
+portrait as connected with her own childhood. As it hung in her father's
+house, she used to be both annoyed and terrified at the manner in which
+the eyes of the portrait followed her about the room with persistent
+and, as she thought, reproving gaze. Especially when she had been guilty
+of some childish prank, the silent reproach in her grandfather's eyes
+was intolerable. One day she climbed upon a chair before the portrait,
+and with a pin attempted to blind the eyes. The pin pricks are still
+visible upon the canvas.
+
+At three score years and ten Father Nash looked upon the bright side of
+everything, being full of anecdote and humor, and appeared to have more
+of the simplicity and vivacity of youth than men who were thirty years
+his junior. One who saw him at this period of life attributed the old
+missionary's health and vigor in part to his great cheerfulness.[90]
+
+The slightest sketch of Father Nash would be incomplete without some
+reference to the story of his answer to a farmer who asked him what he
+fed his lambs. "Catechism," replied Father Nash, "catechism!" And behind
+the smile that followed this homely sally the analyst of character would
+have seen the earnest purpose of his mission to the children of Otsego
+which was one of the sublime secrets of his ministry.
+
+In the history of Western New York Father Nash of Otsego deserves a
+place of honor among the foremost pioneers. Wherever the most
+adventurous men were found pushing westward the frontier of
+civilization, there was Father Nash, uplifting the standard of the
+Church. Not only had he courage and energy; he displayed remarkable
+foresight in his manner of laying foundations. Of the Episcopal churches
+in the Otsego region the greater number were established by him, and
+most of them flourish at the present time.
+
+"No Otsego pioneer deserves honor more," says Halsey, in _The Old New
+York Frontier_, "not the road builder or leveler of forests, not the men
+who fought against Brant and the Tories. To none of these, in so large a
+degree, can we apply with such full measure of truth the sayings that no
+man liveth himself, and that his works do follow him."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 82: _Lives of Phelps and Nash_, John N. Norton.]
+
+[Footnote 83: _History of Zion Church Parish, Morris_, by Katherine M.
+Sanderson, p. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 84: _Historic Records of Christ Church, Cooperstown_, G.
+Pomeroy Keese.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Reports of Rev. Daniel Nash to New York Convention,
+1803-1827.]
+
+[Footnote 86: For The Otsego Nash see Reports of Daniel Nash to New York
+Conventions. For the other see _Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney_, New
+York, A. S. Barnes and Co., 1876, pp. 52, 70, 117.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Finney, _Memoirs_, p. 70.]
+
+[Footnote 88: _Bishop Chase's Reminiscences_, Vol. I, p. 33.]
+
+[Footnote 89: _Reminiscences_, Levi Beardsley, p. 42.]
+
+[Footnote 90: _The Church Review_, New Haven, October, 1848, p. 398.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE IMMORTAL NATTY BUMPPO
+
+
+In the opinion of Sainte-Beuve, Fenimore Cooper possessed the "creative
+faculty which brings into the world new characters, and by virtue of
+which Rabelais produced Panurge, Le Sage Gil-Blas, and Richardson
+Pamela." Thackeray, praising the heroes of Scott's creation, expressed
+an equal liking for Cooper's, adding that "perhaps Leather-Stocking is
+better than any one in Scott's lot. La Longue Carabine is one of the
+great prize-men of fiction. He ranks with your Uncle Toby, Sir Roger de
+Coverley, Falstaff--heroic figures all, American or British; and the
+artist has deserved well of his country who devised him." Thackeray
+proved the sincerity of his admiration when he borrowed a hint from the
+noble death-scene of Leather-Stocking in _The Prairie_, and adapted it
+to describe the passing of Colonel Newcome.
+
+Cooper's wide audience of general readers is here in agreement with
+Sainte-Beuve the critic and Thackeray the novelist. Whatever else may be
+said of Cooper's works it is certain that in the man Natty Bumppo, known
+as "Leather-Stocking," "Pathfinder," "Deerslayer," and "La Longue
+Carabine," Cooper created an immortal being. Among heroes of fiction
+Leather-Stocking stands with the few that are as real to the imagination
+as the personages of veritable history. Readers of Cooper recall
+Leather-Stocking with genuine affection; others, without having read a
+line of the _Leather-Stocking Tales_ have somehow formed an idea of his
+person and character. Leather-Stocking is a rare hero in being noble
+without being offensive. "Perhaps there is no better proof of Cooper's
+genuine power," says Brander Matthews, "than that he can insist on
+Leather-Stocking's goodness,--a dangerous gift for a novelist to bestow
+on a man,--and that he can show us Leather-Stocking declining the
+advances of a handsome woman,--a dangerous position for a novelist to
+put a man in,--without any reader ever having felt inclined to think
+Leather-Stocking a prig."
+
+Leather-Stocking was first introduced to the public in _The Pioneers_,
+the novel descriptive of early days in Cooperstown which Cooper
+published in 1823. The character was not yet fully developed, but
+Nathaniel Bumppo in outward appearance stood at once complete. "He was
+tall, and so meagre as to make him seem above even the six feet that he
+actually stood in his stockings. On his head, which was thinly covered
+with lank, sandy hair, he wore a cap made of fox-skin. His face was
+skinny, and thin almost to emaciation; but yet it bore no signs of
+disease; on the contrary, it had every indication of the most robust and
+enduring health. The cold and the exposure had, together, given it a
+color of uniform red. His gray eyes were glancing under a pair of shaggy
+brows, that overhung them in long hairs of gray mingled with their
+natural hue; his scraggy neck was bare, and burnt to the same tint with
+his face. A kind of coat, made of dressed deerskin, with the hair on,
+was belted close to his lank body, by a girdle of colored worsted. On
+his feet were deerskin moccasins, ornamented with porcupines' quills,
+after the manner of the Indians, and his limbs were guarded with long
+leggings of the same material as the moccasins, which, gartering over
+the knees of his tarnished buckskin breeches, had obtained for him,
+among the settlers, the nick-name of Leather-Stocking."
+
+In this story the novelist had presented Leather-Stocking as a finished
+portrait, with his long rifle, dog Hector, and all. Cooper had described
+him as a man of seventy years, and intimated no purpose of carrying him
+over into another volume. Natty Bumppo proved to be so popular, however,
+that in 1826 Cooper made him an important figure in _The Last of the
+Mohicans_, representing him in young manhood, at the age of thirty
+years, and betrayed a more profound interest in the spirit of the
+character which he had discovered. The success of this venture
+encouraged the author, in the next year, to bring Leather-Stocking
+forward, for what he intended to be the last time, in _The Prairie_. The
+closing chapter of that story describes the death and burial of
+Leather-Stocking.
+
+But the public could not have enough of Natty Bumppo, and the result was
+that, after leaving him in his grave, Cooper resurrected
+Leather-Stocking as the hero of two more novels. In _The Pathfinder_,
+published in 1840, he described Natty Bumppo at the age of forty years;
+and _The Deerslayer_, the last published of the series, gave a youthful
+picture of Leather-Stocking at the age of twenty. When the
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_ were afterward published complete they of
+course followed the logical order in the presentation of the hero's
+life, without regard to the dates of original publication. The actual
+order in which they were written, however, suggests an interesting
+glimpse of Cooper's method of work in developing his most successful
+character.
+
+It is generally believed that an old hunter named Shipman, who lived in
+Cooperstown during Fenimore Cooper's boyhood, suggested to the novelist
+the picturesque character of Leather-Stocking. The persistence of this
+tradition requires some explanation, for it is not strikingly confirmed
+by what Cooper himself had to say of the matter. In the preface of the
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_, written after the series was complete, he
+said: "The author has often been asked if he had any original in his
+mind for the character of Leather-Stocking. In a physical sense,
+different individuals known to the writer in early life certainly
+presented themselves as models, through his recollection; but in a moral
+sense this man of the forest is purely a creation."
+
+In the face of this, the most that can be said for the current
+tradition is that Cooper's assertion does not exclude it from
+consideration. What he lays stress upon is that the inner spirit of
+Leather-Stocking was the novelist's creation. His statement is not
+inconsistent with the possibility that he had the hunter Shipman chiefly
+in mind as the prototype of Leather-Stocking, with some characteristics
+added from other hunters, of whom there were many in the early days of
+Cooperstown. The heat with which he denies having drawn upon the
+character of his own sister in portraying the heroine of _The Pioneers_
+seems to betray a feeling, which later writers have not often shared,
+that an author cannot transfer real persons to the pages of fiction
+without a violation of good taste. Here lies perhaps a partial
+explanation of the fact that Cooper never acknowledged a living model
+for any of his characters. Even Judge Temple in _The Pioneers_, who
+occupies exactly the position of Judge Cooper in reference to the
+village which he actually founded, Fenimore Cooper will not admit to be
+drawn in the likeness of his father. He disposes of this supposition in
+the introduction of _The Pioneers_ by observing that "the great
+proprietor resident on his lands, and giving his name to his estates, is
+common over the whole of New York." Yet in the same introduction he
+confesses that "in commencing to describe scenes, and perhaps he may add
+characters, that were so familiar to his own youth, there was a constant
+temptation to delineate that which he had known, rather than that which
+he might have imagined." How far he yielded to the temptation is a
+question which, in making as if to reply, he deftly leaves unanswered,
+and his unwillingness to satisfy curiosity on this point is the one
+thing that a careful reading of his words makes clear. He is free to
+admit in a general way that he drew upon life for material, but he will
+not be pinned down as to any particular character; yet only in the one
+instance--when his sister was named as the original of Elizabeth
+Temple--did he flatly deny the identification of a real original with a
+creature of his fiction. After all, even if Cooper had drawn many of his
+characters from real life, there would have been so much modification
+necessary to fit them into the action of a story as to warrant him in
+the assertion "that there was no intention to describe with particular
+accuracy any real character"; and if he did not wish to take the public
+into his confidence regarding these intimate details of his work, he had
+a perfect right to treat the matter as evasively as the truth would
+permit.
+
+One can see reasons for Cooper's unwillingness to inform the public that
+his old neighbors in Cooperstown were to be recognized in his books.
+There is the creative artist's reason, who does not wish to be regarded
+as a mere photographer; there is the gentleman's sensitiveness to
+certain rights of privacy not to be invaded by public print; there is
+the experience of a writer who was often dismayed at the facility of his
+pen in stirring neighborly animosities.
+
+As to Leather-Stocking, this is to be said: that in Cooper's boyhood
+there lived in Cooperstown a hunter named Shipman whom Cooper himself
+in the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_, published in 1838, described as "the
+Leather-Stocking of the region." Furthermore,--whether owing to any
+private information from Fenimore Cooper cannot now be ascertained,--the
+tradition from his time to the present day, in spite of the author's
+vague disclaimer, persistently clings to Shipman as the original of
+Leather-Stocking.
+
+Strangely enough, the matter in dispute has not been the identity of
+Shipman with Leather-Stocking, but the identity of Shipman himself. Who
+was Shipman? This is the question that has stirred controversy; and two
+ghosts have arisen from the past, each claiming to be the Shipman whom
+Cooper idealized, re-christened, and made immortal.
+
+Cooper gave to his hero the name of Nathaniel Bumppo. It has been
+claimed that Cooper borrowed not only the character but the Christian
+name of Nathaniel Shipman, a famous hunter and trapper, who came to
+Otsego Lake at the time of the Revolutionary War, and made his home in a
+cave on the border of the lake until about 1805.
+
+According to the discoverers of this original of Leather-Stocking,
+Nathaniel Shipman was a close friend of the Mohican Indians, and fought
+with them against the French and the Canadian Indians. In the years
+immediately preceding the American Revolution Shipman was a well known
+settler of Hoosick, northeast of Albany and near the border of Vermont,
+where he had built him a cabin on the banks of the Walloomsac. He was
+well disposed toward the English, and one of his closest friends was an
+officer in the British army. When the Revolutionary War began, while
+Shipman's heart was with the movement for independence, his friendship
+for the English was such that he determined to be strictly neutral,
+helping neither one side nor the other. There is nothing to show that he
+was not genuinely neutral. But his patriot neighbors were intolerant of
+such neutrality. Anyone who was not for them was against them. Shipman
+was put down as a Tory, and his neighbors treated him to a coat of tar
+and feathers.
+
+Soon after this event Nathaniel Shipman disappeared from Hoosick, and
+not even his own family knew whither he had gone.
+
+In process of time Shipman's daughter married a John Ryan of Hoosick.
+Ryan served in the Legislature from 1803 to 1806, and at that time
+became acquainted with Judge William Cooper, founder of Cooperstown, and
+father of the novelist. In the course of their frequent meetings Judge
+Cooper told Ryan of an interesting character whom he had seen in
+Cooperstown, and described the picturesque appearance and quaint sayings
+of the old hunter who lived on the border of Otsego Lake. At home Ryan
+told the story to his wife, who soon became convinced that the old white
+hunter whom Cooper had described was none other than her father, who had
+been missing for twenty-six years.
+
+Ryan went to Otsego Lake, and, having found the hunter, learned that he
+was indeed Nathaniel Shipman who had disappeared from Hoosick at the
+time of the Revolutionary War. Ryan persuaded the old man to return with
+him, and brought him back to live in the home which then stood some two
+miles east of Hoosick Falls. In spite of the devotion of his daughter,
+however, the aged hunter never felt quite at home beneath her roof, or
+among the former neighbors. His heart was in the wilds, and it is said
+that he made frequent visits to the place where he had passed so many
+years in unrestricted freedom, where there was none to question his
+sincerity or to doubt his loyalty.
+
+Nathaniel Shipman died at the Ryan home in 1809, and his grave is in the
+old burying ground on Main Street in Hoosick Falls.
+
+The local tradition in Cooperstown does not recognize Nathaniel Shipman
+of Hoosick Falls. When a movement was made in 1915 to erect at Hoosick
+Falls a monument to Nathaniel Shipman as the original of
+Leather-Stocking, the proposition was made the subject of scornful
+comment in Cooperstown, and Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick was referred to
+as "a spurious Natty Bumppo."
+
+Cooperstown agrees that the original of Leather-Stocking was named
+Shipman. But the name of the original hunter was not Nathaniel. He was
+David Shipman. His grave is not far from Cooperstown, in the Adams
+burying ground between the villages of Fly Creek and Toddsville, and at
+the beginning of the twentieth century was marked with a tombstone by
+Otsego chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. David
+Shipman's descendants live in Cooperstown at the present time. When the
+Hoosick Falls claim to Leather-Stocking was first published in 1915, it
+was accompanied with the statement that the facts were known to the
+people of Hoosick sixty years before. Notwithstanding this the claim was
+contradicted in Cooperstown by the positive statement that "for over a
+century David Shipman has held the undisputed honor of being the real
+Leather-Stocking of Cooper's tales."
+
+David Shipman served in the American army in the Revolutionary War, and
+was a member of the Fourteenth Regiment of Albany county militia under
+Col. John Knickerbocker and Lieut.-Col. John van Rensselaer. After the
+Revolution he lived just over the hills west of Cooperstown in a log
+cabin on the east bank of Oak's Creek, about equi-distant between
+Toddsville and Fly Creek village. In 1878 Aden Adams of Cooperstown,
+aged 81, stated that he well remembered David Shipman. As described by
+Adams, he was tall and slim, dressed in tanned deerskin, wore moccasins
+and long stockings of leather fastened at the knee, and carried a gun of
+great length. He was one of the most famous hunters of the whole
+country, and with his dogs roamed the forest in search of deer, bear,
+and foxes. He supplied the Cooper family at Otsego Hall with deer and
+bear meat, and also assisted Judge Cooper when he was surveying land
+about Cooperstown in the early days of the settlement. Colonel
+Cheney[91] says that after going west, David Shipman returned to his old
+home in the Fly Creek valley, and lived there for several years. His
+wife died, and was buried in the Adams cemetery. The ground was wet, and
+water partially filled the grave. Elder Bostwick, a Baptist minister
+from the town of Hartwick, officiated at the funeral, and upon remarking
+to Shipman that it was a poor place to bury the dead, the old hunter
+answered, "I know it, but if I live to die, I expect to be buried here
+myself."[92]
+
+Cooper's most famous hero, carved in marble, rifle in hand, and with the
+dog Hector at his feet, stands at the top of the Leatherstocking
+monument in Lakewood cemetery, on a rise of ground near the entrance,
+overlooking Otsego Lake from the east side, about fifteen minutes walk
+from the village of Cooperstown. That a monument commemorative of Cooper
+and Leather-Stocking should stand in the public cemetery, in which
+neither the author nor his supposed model is buried, is sometimes
+puzzling to visitors. It is said, however, that the site was chosen with
+reference to certain scenes in _The Pioneers_. The monument stands near
+the spot upon which the novelist, for the purpose of his romance, placed
+the hut of Natty Bumppo. It is not far below the road referred to in the
+opening scene of the tale, where the travelers gained their first
+glimpse of the village, and stands at the foot of the wooded slope upon
+which, in the same story, Leather-Stocking shot the panther that was
+about to spring upon Elizabeth Temple.
+
+[Illustration: LEATHERSTOCKING MONUMENT]
+
+The monument itself was the result of an unsuccessful effort which was
+made shortly after Fenimore Cooper's death in 1851 to erect in his
+memory a statue or monument in one of the public squares of New York
+City. To this end, ten days after his death, a public meeting of
+citizens of New York, at which Washington Irving presided, was held in
+the City Hall; two weeks later the Historical Society of New York held a
+meeting in commemoration of Cooper; and on February 24, 1852, there was
+a great demonstration at Metropolitan Hall, with speeches by Daniel
+Webster and George Bancroft, and a memorial discourse by William Cullen
+Bryant. The raising of funds for a memorial, which these meetings set as
+their object, was not commensurate with the expenditure of rhetoric. The
+sum of $678 was contributed, chiefly at the meeting in Metropolitan
+Hall, and the committee organized to solicit subscriptions did nothing
+further.
+
+Six years later Alfred Clarke and G. Pomeroy Keese of Cooperstown
+undertook to raise by subscription a sufficient sum to erect a monument
+in Cooper's memory in or near the village in which he lived, having in
+view the transfer of whatever sum might be on deposit in New York toward
+the proposed monument. They raised $2,500, to which Washington Irving,
+acting for the defunct committee in New York, added the $678 already
+contributed.
+
+The monument, of white Italian marble, with the statuette of
+Leather-Stocking at the top, was sculptured by Robert E. Launitz, and
+erected in the spring of 1860. The small bronze casts of this statuette,
+which one sees in some of the older homes in Cooperstown, belong to the
+same period.
+
+Another attempt to give artistic expression to pride in Natty Bumppo was
+wrought in less permanent material. Upon the drop-curtain on the stage
+of the Village Hall was painted the scene from _The Pioneers_ which
+represents Leather-Stocking, Judge Temple, and Edwards grouped about a
+deer that has been shot on the border of the lake. In producing this
+scene the artist enlarged an illustration drawn by F. O. C. Darley for
+an early edition of _The Pioneers_. The original scene described by
+Cooper, and as depicted by Darley, was a wintry one, showing the lake
+shore in a mantle of snow. This was thought to be a bit too chilly for a
+playhouse, so the view as transferred to the curtain was brightened up
+by the addition of green foliage; and deft touches of the scene
+painter's brush, without altering the pose of any of the figures,
+changed winter into glorious summer. Many a Cooperstown audience,
+waiting for the performance to begin, has studied the scene which this
+curtain displays, not without wonder that Leather-Stocking is in furs,
+and that Judge Temple, in so radiant a summertime, has taken the
+precaution to retain his earmuffs.
+
+Natty Bumppo's Cave, a not very remarkable freak of nature which
+Fenimore Cooper's pen has made one of the chief points of interest in
+the region of Cooperstown, is about a mile from the village, high up on
+the hill that rises from the eastern side of the lake. It offers a stiff
+climb to the inexperienced, but not to others. It is not much of a
+cave, being hardly more than a deep and curiously formed cleft between
+the rocks. From the platform of rock over the cave a magnificent view
+may be had of the lake and its more distant shores, with the hills
+beyond.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+NATTY BUMPPO'S CAVE]
+
+In _The Pioneers_ Cooper takes advantage of poetic license to enlarge
+the cave for the purpose of his story, but the description is exact
+enough to identify it with the present Natty Bumppo's cave. In the
+summer of 1909 was discovered lower down the hillside another and larger
+cave, the small entrance of which, in the woods beyond Kingfisher Tower,
+at Point Judith, had long remained unobserved. Here the name of Natty
+Bumppo came near being involved in another controversy, for some local
+archeologists maintained that the newly discovered cave was the one
+which Cooper meant to describe as Natty Bumppo's, being better adapted
+to the requirements of the narrative than the one that tradition had
+fixed upon.
+
+Cooper might have provided a better cave for Natty Bumppo, but he did
+not. On this point the testimony of his eldest daughter, Susan Fenimore
+Cooper, is decisive. She was in many ways her father's confidant, and in
+his later years closely associated with him in literary work. No other
+person has written so intimately of him. In _Pages and Pictures_, which
+Miss Cooper published in 1861, she gives a drawing of Natty Bumppo's
+cave, and it is the one that has been associated with the tradition and
+story of the village down to the present time. It is quite possible,
+however, that the cave near Point Judith is the one referred to in the
+tradition of Nathaniel Shipman of Hoosick Falls.
+
+Natty Bumppo will live forever as a symbolic figure, representative of
+certain indigenous qualities in American life. Lowell found in
+Leather-Stocking "the protagonist of our New World epic, a figure as
+poetic as that of Achilles, as ideally representative as that of Don
+Quixote, as romantic in his relation to our homespun and plebeian myths
+as Arthur in his to his mailed and plumed cycle of chivalry." Americans
+themselves do not realize how widely, in other countries,
+Leather-Stocking is still regarded as typical of certain qualities in
+the American character. Among Americans who had half-forgotten their
+Cooper, there was no little surprise at the exclamation of Gabriel
+Hanotaux, member of the French Academy, distinguished author and
+statesman of France, when, in the spring of 1917, on the entrance of the
+United States into the war against Germany, he expressed his joy in a
+message that was cabled round the world, "Old Leather-Stocking still
+slumbers in the depth of the American soul!"
+
+There is a point on Otsego Lake, opposite to Natty Bumppo's cave, from
+which passing boatmen awaken the famous Echo of the Glimmerglass. For
+more than half of the nineteenth century there lived in the village a
+negro whose lungs were renowned for their power to call forth the
+fullness of this strange echo. "Joe Tom," as he was named, was always
+called upon, as the guide of lake excursions, to perform this peculiar
+duty. Stationing his scow at the focal point, the negro would shout
+across the water, "Natty Bumppo! Natty Bumppo!--Who's there?" And after
+a moment the cry would be flung back, as by the spirit of
+Leather-Stocking, from the heights of the steep woods and rocky faces of
+the hill. On a still summer evening Joe Tom was sometimes able, by a
+single shout, to call forth three distinct echoes, which were heard in
+regular succession,--the first from the region of the cave, the second
+from Mount Vision, and the third from Hannah's Hill on the opposite side
+of the lake, until the margin of the Glimmerglass seemed to resound
+with cries of "Natty Bumppo!--Natty Bumppo!" uttered by eerie voices.
+
+The years pass, and no other name retains such magic power to wake the
+sleeping echo of the Glimmerglass.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 91: _History of Otsego County_, 1878, p. 249.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Calvin Graves, who came to Cooperstown in 1794, and lived
+in the place for 84 years, is quoted as saying that he well knew
+Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of Cooper's novels, and that Shipman was
+never married. Graves said that he had often visited the old hunter's
+cave in company with him. This testimony seems to point to the Hoosick
+Shipman, who having deserted his family for twenty-six years, might
+easily pass for a bachelor in Otsego, and who is said to have lived in a
+cave, concerning which nothing is mentioned in the traditions of David
+Shipman.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+STRANGE TALES OF THE GALLOWS
+
+
+At the eastern end of the main street of the village the bridge across
+the Susquehanna River commands a view for a short distance up and down
+the stream, far enough toward the north to glimpse its source in Otsego
+Lake, while to the south Fernleigh House appears, high amid the trees on
+the western bank, and the drifting current below is lost in foliage.
+Nearer at hand, as seen from the south side of the bridge, Riverbrink
+claims the eastern shore. Here stands a solemn-visaged house that looks
+down upon the scene of one of the most extraordinary dramas ever enacted
+beneath the gallows-tree.
+
+[Illustration: RIVERBRINK]
+
+In the summer of 1805, on the flat a little below the place where the
+house now stands, the gibbet was erected for a public execution. The
+condemned man was Stephen Arnold, whose crime was committed in
+Burlington, in this county, during the previous winter. Arnold was a
+school teacher, and having no children of his own, had taken into his
+home Betsey Van Amburgh, a child six years of age. An ungovernable
+temper added a kind of ferocious zeal to the duty of educating this
+child, for it was her inability to pronounce the word "gig" according
+to his directions that brought the teacher to the gallows. Betsey
+insisted on pronouncing the word as "jig," and declared that she could
+not do otherwise. Whereupon Arnold took her out of the house into the
+severely cold evening air, and there whipped her naked body until he
+himself became cold. He then took her indoors to make her pronounce the
+word correctly, which she failed to do; and again she was taken out and
+whipped in the same manner. This act of brutality he repeated seven
+times, declaring that he "had as lieve whip her to death as not." The
+poor child languished four days, and expired.
+
+Arnold's trial was held in June, in Cooperstown. He was speedily
+convicted of murder, and sentenced to die.
+
+The date fixed for the execution, Friday, July 19, 1805, was a gala day
+in Cooperstown. The infamy of Arnold's crime had stirred public
+indignation throughout this section of the State, and the prospect of
+witnessing his execution had been eagerly anticipated, through motives
+ranging from morbid curiosity to a stern sense of duty, in the most
+distant hamlets of the region. By seven o'clock in the morning on the
+day fixed for the hanging the main street of Cooperstown was filled with
+people who had travelled from so great a distance that not one in twenty
+was known to any of the villagers. The concourse increased until shortly
+after noon, when, in the village which normally contained about five
+hundred people, the crowd included about eight thousand.
+
+The first centre of interest was the county courthouse and jail which
+stood at the then western limits of the village, on the southeast corner
+of Main and Pioneer streets. The door of the jail was on the Pioneer
+street side of the building, and across the way were the stocks and
+whipping-post. These rude symbols of justice might well be a terror to
+evil doers. A sample of the punishment meted out to petty offenders is
+found in the record that in 1791 a local physician was put in the stocks
+for having mixed an emetic with the beverage drunk at a ball given at
+the Red Lion Inn; and four years later a man was flogged at the
+whipping-post, for stealing some pieces of ribbon. Both culprits were
+also banished from the village, apropos of which form of punishment
+Fenimore Cooper at a later day was moved to remark, "It is to be
+regretted that it has fallen into disuse."
+
+The crowds that gathered to witness the hanging of Stephen Arnold filled
+the street in the neighborhood of the jail until the prisoner was
+brought forth at noon, when some remained to watch the parade, while
+others hurried on to the place of execution to secure good points of
+view for the spectacle. A procession was formed in front of the court
+house under the direction of the sheriff. The ministers of religion and
+other gentlemen, preceded by the sheriff on horseback, moved with
+funeral music after the prisoner, who was carried on a wagon and guarded
+by a battalion of light infantry and a company of artillery. In this
+array the procession moved solemnly down the main street and across the
+bridge to the place of execution on the east bank of the river. There
+stood the gallows; at its foot was a coffin.
+
+The condemned man was assisted to a seat upon his coffin. About him
+gathered the parsons, the representatives of the law, and the soldiery.
+There was no house on the bank of the river at that time, and the
+thousands of spectators were massed in the natural amphitheatre which
+rises, and then rose uninterrupted, toward the east, from the shore of
+the Susquehanna.
+
+An interested observer who looked down upon the assemblage from the high
+western bank of the river has recorded a vivid impression of the beauty
+of the scene and the picturesque and emotional qualities of the
+occasion.[93] Looking back toward the village, and then sweeping with a
+glance the north and east, his eye caught the roofs of buildings covered
+with spectators, windows crowded with faces, every surrounding point of
+view occupied. The natural amphitheatre across the river was "filled
+with all classes and gradations of citizens, from the opulent landlord
+to the humble laborer. Blooming nymphs were there and jolly swains,
+delicate ladies and spruce gentlemen, fond mothers and affectionate
+sisters, prattling children and hoary sages, servile slaves and
+imperious masters." In the elevated background of the landscape
+carriages appeared filled with people. It was a warm July day, brilliant
+with sunshine, and splendid in the greenery of summer foliage. The
+throngs of spectators, tier upon tier, as it were, presented a
+kaleidoscopic effect of movement and color, in the undulating appearance
+of silks and muslins of different hues, as the eye traversed the
+multitude; in the swaying and bobbing of hundreds of umbrellas and
+parasols of various colors; in the vibration of thousands of fans in
+playful mediation, while the death-struggle of a man upon the gallows
+was eagerly awaited. In the foreground, on the bank of the Susquehanna,
+the gibbet, with the solemn group about it, relieved only by flashes of
+color in the military uniforms, and by the gleam of swords and bayonets,
+fascinated every eye.
+
+A great silence fell upon the multitude when the preliminaries to the
+execution began with a prayer offered by the Rev. Mr. Williams of
+Worcester. The Rev. Isaac Lewis, pastor of the Presbyterian church in
+Cooperstown, then stood forth to deliver the sermon. Few preachers, even
+in the largest centres of life, have occasion to address congregations
+numbered by thousands. What an opportunity was here given to an obscure
+country parson, when he faced an audience of some eight thousand people!
+Mr. Lewis preached upon the subject of the Penitent Thief, taking as his
+text the forty-second and forty-third verses of the twenty-third chapter
+of St. Luke: "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
+into Thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today
+shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Nothing is recorded of the sermon
+beyond that it was "a pathetic, concise, and excellently adapted
+discourse." Elder Vining closed the religious exercises by a solemn
+appeal to the throne of grace for mercy and forgiveness, as well for the
+vast auditory as for the prisoner.
+
+The condemned man seemed deeply affected, and perfectly resigned to the
+justice of his fate. His penitence was manifest, and drew forth tears of
+sympathy from the spectators. After the exercises the prisoner seated
+himself on the coffin for a short space, when he was informed that if
+he wished to say anything to the people he might now have opportunity.
+He arose and addressed a few words to the surrounding multitude,
+earnestly urging them to be warned by his fatal example to place a
+strict guard upon their passions, the fatal indulgence of which had
+brought him to the shameful condition in which they beheld him,
+notwithstanding he never intended to commit murder. He concluded his
+address with these words: "It appears to me that if you will not take
+warning at this affecting scene, you would not be warned though one
+should arise from the dead."
+
+At the conclusion of this speech the sheriff stepped forward and made
+ready for the hanging, finally adjusting the fatal cord, except for
+fastening it to the beam of the gallows.
+
+Near by was a palsied crone, so eager to witness the hanging that she
+had been carried to the scene in her rocking-chair, which was placed
+upon an improvised platform. Here she had rocked to and fro in her chair
+during the whole proceeding, until, when the hangman made ready his
+noose, the old hag rocked with such nervous violence that she toppled
+over backward, chair and all, her neck being broken by the fall.
+
+The prisoner remained apparently absorbed in meditation which was
+entirely abstracted from terrestrial objects. The thousands of
+spectators waited in silent and gloomy suspense for the final
+catastrophe. The sheriff stood forth and addressed to the condemned man
+a few remarks pertinent to the occasion.
+
+Having carried the proceedings to this crucial point, the sheriff,
+Solomon Martin, then changed his role, and produced from his pocket a
+letter from his excellency Morgan Lewis, Governor of the State of New
+York, containing directions for a respite of the execution until further
+orders, and announcing that a reprieve, in due form, would soon be
+forwarded.
+
+It was now long after noon, and the sheriff, having received this letter
+at nine o'clock in the morning, had kept it in his pocket during the
+entire proceedings, "conceiving it improper to divulge the respite until
+the crisis." The sheriff had acted with the advice of a few others who
+were let into the secret. Even the attending ministers of religion were
+uninformed of the respite until it was dramatically produced upon the
+stage. The thing, in fact, outdid all stagecraft, for while it is quite
+consistent with the traditions of theatrical art that an execution
+should be stayed at the critical moment by the appearance of a furiously
+galloping horseman waving a reprieve above his head, probably never
+elsewhere in the history of the drama or in the annals of the law has
+the official document been produced at the gallows, after the adjustment
+of the fatal noose, from the pocket of the hangman!
+
+In the judgment of the sheriff it appeared that since the order for a
+respite had arrived too late to forestall the gathering of great
+multitudes to witness the hanging, it was equally clear that it had come
+too early to be made public at once without causing unnecessary
+disappointment to thousands who were still enjoying the ecstasies of
+anticipation. So he carried out the original programme to the letter,
+going through with all the preliminaries and forms of the execution,
+stopping short only of the actual hanging.
+
+When the sheriff made his amazing announcement from the scaffold, the
+prisoner swooned, and the whole scene was changed. The prisoner was
+reconducted to the jail with the same pomp and bravery of troops and
+music that had brought him to the scaffold. The spectators slowly
+dispersed, and before sunset the village assumed its accustomed
+tranquility.
+
+The next issue of _The Otsego Herald_ asserted that "the proceedings of
+the day were opened, progressed, and closed in a manner which reflected
+honor on the judiciary, the executive, the clergy, the military, and the
+citizens of the county."
+
+Arnold was never hanged. The State legislature commuted his sentence to
+imprisonment for life.
+
+Another story of the gallows belongs to a later period. On Friday,
+August 24, 1827, the hanging of a man named Strang was witnessed in
+Albany by about thirty thousand spectators. Judging from contemporary
+accounts, the circumstances of the execution were not edifying. "We are
+more than ever convinced," said the _Albany Gazette_, "of the bad effect
+of public executions. Scenes of the most disgraceful drunkenness,
+gambling, profanity, and almost all kinds of debauchery, were exhibited
+in the vicinity of the gallows, and even at the time the culprit was
+suffering. We do most sincerely hope that some law may be enacted
+requiring that executions shall be performed in private." The _Albany
+Argus_ was more hopeful of some moral benefit from the execution.
+"Whilst we may question the utility," it said, "of such spectacles,
+tending as they do in general, to gratify a morbid curiosity, and to
+excite a sympathy for the criminal rather than an abhorrence, and
+consequently a prevention of crime; we trust none who were witnesses of
+the scene, will forget that this ignominious death was the consequence
+of an indulgence of vicious courses and criminal passions."
+
+Preliminary to the hanging there was the usual speech from the gallows.
+Addressing the multitude the condemned murderer said he hoped his
+execution would lead them to reflect upon the effects of sin and lust,
+and induce them to avoid those acts for which he was about to suffer a
+painful and ignominious death.
+
+Among the spectators at this hanging was Levi Kelley of Cooperstown,
+who, in order to witness the spectacle, had covered a distance of 75
+miles, drawn by his favorite team of black horses, a noble span, of
+which he was very proud. Kelley was much depressed in spirit by the
+dreadful scene at the gallows, and to a friend who accompanied him on
+the homeward journey remarked that no one who had ever witnessed such a
+melancholy spectacle could ever be guilty of the crime of murder.
+
+In Christ churchyard in Cooperstown, near the southern border of the
+burial ground, and about twenty paces from River Street, stands a
+tombstone which commemorates a former resident of the village, and is
+unusual for the precision of terms in which it records the date of his
+decease; for there is inscribed not merely the day, but the very hour,
+of death. The inscription reads:
+
+         IN MEMORY OF
+       ABRAHAM SPAFARD
+           WHO DIED
+       AT 8 O'CLOCK P. M.
+         3D. SEPT. 1827
+       IN THE 49TH YEAR OF
+            HIS AGE.
+       THE TRUMP SHALL SOUND
+     AND THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED.
+
+The passer-by who suspects a concealed significance in this desire to
+emphasize the exact hour of Abraham Spafard's death is not mistaken.
+Abraham Spafard was murdered, shot to the heart by Levi Kelley, and died
+almost instantly, at 8 o'clock in the evening, September 3, 1827, just
+ten days after Kelley had witnessed the hanging in Albany.
+
+The murderer is buried in the same churchyard with his victim. For
+Kelley, on the maternal side, was a connection of the Cooper family.
+During his imprisonment before and after the trial he was frequently
+visited at the jail by Mrs. George Pomeroy, daughter of William Cooper,
+a lady noted for her many works of Christian charity, and after Kelley
+had paid the penalty of his crime, she brought it about that his body
+was interred in the Cooper plot in Christ churchyard, although no stone
+was ever raised to mark the place of his burial, and the exact spot is
+now unknown.
+
+The murder occurred in the house of Levi Kelley, in which Abraham
+Spafard lived as tenant in Pierstown, about three miles north of
+Cooperstown. Kelley was noted for his furious outbursts of temper, while
+Spafard was of an amiable and peaceable disposition. Kelley violently
+attacked a lame boy who was employed about the place, and when Spafard
+interposed, Kelley's anger turned against Spafard, so that a struggle
+ensued. The evidence at the trial showed that Spafard struck no blow and
+committed no violence, using no more force than was necessary for his
+defence. He besought Kelley to desist, and at last, unclenching Kelley's
+hands from his throat, Spafard retired quietly into the house. Kelley
+then ran for his gun, and following Spafard into his room, shot him to
+the heart. Kelley's own wife, as well as the members of Spafard's
+family, were the terrified witnesses of the murder.
+
+Kelley's trial, which was held in Cooperstown, began on the twenty-first
+of November, and was concluded on the next day. The judge in the case
+was the Hon. Samuel Nelson, afterward associate justice of the Supreme
+Court of the United States. In passing sentence Judge Nelson addressed
+to the prisoner a homily which created a deep impression upon the
+crowded court room.
+
+The execution of Levi Kelley was attended by an immense concourse of
+people. The hanging of a murderer was still regarded by many, in that
+day, not only as fit method of punishment, but as offering a spectacle
+of great moral and educational value. It was at once a deterrent from
+crime and a vindication of the majesty of the law. When the day set for
+the execution of Kelley was come, there was many a home in which the
+father of the family announced at breakfast that the children must be
+duly washed and dressed in Sabbath array, to accompany him, as in duty
+bound, to the solemn spectacle. Nor were all attracted to the dreadful
+scene by a sense of duty only, perhaps, at a period when public shows
+were few.
+
+The gibbet was erected, amid the December snow, at a point about four
+hundred feet south of the site occupied by the present High School, very
+near, if not in the midst of, what is now Chestnut Street. Christmas Day
+was followed by a thaw, and on Friday, the day set for the execution, a
+torrent of rain fell during the morning hours. Yet before noon the
+village was thronged with a multitude of men, women and children, keenly
+anticipating the gruesome tragedy, until more than four thousand people
+were gathered about the gallows.
+
+The court-house and jail stood then not far from their present site. The
+procession from the jail to the place of execution was conducted with
+much military pomp. Two marshals, each mounted on a prancing steed, led
+a troop of cavalry, a corps of artillery, and four companies of
+infantry. This formidable array of forces, drawn up in a hollow square
+at the jail, having enclosed within its ranks the condemned man and the
+attending ministers of the Gospel, moved solemnly to the place of
+execution. The prisoner, apparently in a feeble state of health, lay
+upon a bed in a sleigh drawn by his favorite black horses, the same that
+he had driven to Albany to witness the execution of Strang. The
+ministers of religion, the Rev. Mr. Potter and the Rev. John Smith,
+pastor of the Presbyterian church, rode in state in the two sleighs that
+followed.
+
+Near the gallows there had been erected for the accommodation of
+spectators a staging one hundred feet in length and twelve feet in
+depth, the front being elevated six feet and the rear eight feet from
+the ground. From this structure about six hundred people commanded an
+excellent view of the gibbet, while some three thousand others, lacking
+this advantage, jostled each other, craning their necks, and standing on
+tiptoe, to see what was going forward.
+
+The procession from the jail had arrived upon the grounds, and the
+solemnities were about to commence, when the staging suddenly gave way
+and fell with a tremendous crash. The spectators upon it were plunged
+into a confused heap, struggling for freedom amid the broken timbers.
+The shrieks and groans that arose from the scrimmage terrified the
+assemblage, and the wild rush of anxious friends and relatives toward
+the scene of accident resulted almost in a riot. When order had been in
+some measure restored the work of rescue began. Between twenty and
+thirty persons were drawn forth from the wreckage severely injured.
+Elisha C. Tracy, an engraver, was found to be dead, the upper part of
+his face being crushed inward to the depth of more than an inch. Daniel
+Williams, an elderly man resident at Richfield, had a leg and arm
+broken, and died a few hours later. The dead and wounded were carried
+from the field, and some of the spectators, having had enough of
+tragedy, withdrew.
+
+The ceremonies of the execution then proceeded, although amid an
+atmosphere of intense nervous excitement. The condemned man was taken
+from his sleigh, and, because of his illness, required assistance in
+ascending the gallows. As he stood there, the centre of all eyes, he
+seemed a different man from the passionate murderer of Abraham Spafard.
+Weak and sick, he looked down upon the multitude assembled to see him
+die. His look was one of regretful sympathy because of the unexpected
+accident rather than of fear of his own impending fate. "Who are killed;
+and how many are injured?" he inquired.
+
+The rope was noosed about Kelley's neck. The Presbyterian minister
+stepped forward, and commended the convict's soul to the mercy of God in
+a prayer in which Kelley, with bowed head, seemed to participate. Then
+the drop fell. After a few twitchings of the limbs, the body quivered,
+and hung still. The show was over. The crowd dispersed.
+
+The effect of this exhibition was to give voice to a growing sentiment
+against public hangings. The next issue of the _Freeman's Journal_
+protested against such spectacles as demoralizing, and suggested a
+movement in the State legislature to amend the law. Kelley's was in
+fact the last public hanging in Cooperstown.
+
+The execution of Levi Kelley, with its unexpected accompanying
+catastrophe, was long the talk of the neighborhood. It was commemorated
+by Isaac Squire, an Otsego rhymester, in some verses that are of curious
+interest as a survival of the old ballad form in which events were wont
+to be celebrated. Many years afterward there were those who recalled
+that the doleful lines were committed to memory by some of the village
+children, and sung to a droning tune:
+
+     LINES ON THE EXECUTION OF LEVI KELLEY.
+
+
+     Part First
+
+     In eighteen hundred twenty seven
+     Poor Kelley broke the law of Heaven;
+     He murdered his poor tenant there,
+     Who took his place to work on share.
+
+     'Twas early on a Monday night
+     This horrid scene was brought to light;
+     He seized his loaded gun in hand,
+     And with malicious fury ran,
+
+     And when about four feet apart,
+     Alas! he shot him to the heart.
+     The expiring words, we understand,
+     Were, "O Lord, I'm a dying man!"
+
+     They quickly ran him to relieve,
+     But death could grant him no reprieve;
+     He expired almost instantly,
+     In his affrighted family.
+
+     Kelley's indicted for the crime;
+     Confined in prison for a time;
+     A murderer here can take no rest,
+     While guilt lies heavy on his breast.
+
+     November on the twenty-first,
+     For murder of a fellow dust,
+     He was arraigned before the bar,
+     And tried by his country there.
+
+     Full testimony did appear
+     That when the Jury came to hear
+     In verdict they were soon agreed
+     That he was guilty of this deed.
+
+     And in their verdict they did bring
+     That cause of death was found in him;
+     The Judge his sentence did declare,
+     And thus declared him guilty there:
+
+     "Your time is set, O do remember,
+     The twenty-eighth of December,
+     Between the hours of twelve and three,
+     Be launched into eternity.
+
+     "Your time is short on earth to stay;
+     Prepare for death without delay;
+     Though you no pity showed at all,
+     May God have mercy on your soul."
+
+
+     Part Second.
+
+     December on the twenty-eighth
+     Did Levi Kelley meet his fate;
+     This awful scene I now relate
+     Caused thousands there to fear and quake.
+
+     Though wet and rainy was the day,
+     The people thronged from every way;
+     With anxious thought each came to see
+     The unhappy fate of poor Kelley.
+
+     The day was come, the time drew near,
+     When the poor prisoner must appear;
+     The officers they did prepare,
+     And round him formed a hollow square,
+
+     That they with safety might convey
+     Him to the place of destiny;
+     The music made a solemn sound
+     While they marched slowly to the ground.
+
+     A scaffold was erected there,
+     And hundreds on it did repair,
+     That all thereon might plainly see
+     The unhappy fate of poor Kelley.
+
+     Before they bid this scene adieu,
+     An awful sight appeared in view.
+     See, hundreds with the scaffold fall!
+     And some to rise no more at all
+
+     Till the great day when all shall rise,
+     To their great joy or sad surprise,
+     And hear their sentence "Doomed to Hell,"
+     Or, "With the saints in glory dwell."
+
+     The wounded here in numbers lie,
+     And loud for help now some do cry
+     While others are too faint to speak,
+     And some in death's cold arms asleep.
+
+     The cry was heard once and again
+     That "Hundreds now we fear are slain!"
+     But God in this distressing hour
+     Revives again each withering flower.
+
+     Poor Kelley, in this trying time,
+     Was executed for his crime.
+     He hung an awful sight to see;
+     May this a solemn warning be.
+
+     A word to such, before we close,
+     That love the way poor Kelley chose;
+     Their vicious ways if you attend
+     Will bring you to some awful end.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 93: _Otsego Herald_, July 19, 1805.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+SOLID SURVIVALS
+
+
+The property which now includes Edgewater was inherited by Isaac Cooper,
+the second son of Judge Cooper, on the death of his father in 1809. In
+the following year he began the erection of the house, which took nearly
+four years in building. Aside from its now venerable aspect, this solid
+residence, constructed of old-fashioned brick, preserves much of its
+original appearance as one of the largest dwellings in the village. It
+was modeled after a colonial residence in Philadelphia well known to the
+Cooper family. The style of the entrance hall, with the balanced
+symmetry of semicircular stairways that ascend to the upper floor, is
+singularly effective, while the carved wood of the interior, as seen in
+the doorcaps and mouldings, displays skillful workmanship. No house in
+Cooperstown commands so fine a general view of Otsego Lake as that which
+is to be seen from the porch of Edgewater. The surrounding ground
+includes over two acres, and extends to the waters of the lake, although
+now traversed by Lake Street, which made its way, by long usage, across
+the original property. The house is approached through the paths of an
+old time garden, thickly grown with shrubs, and shaded by a variety of
+trees.
+
+[Illustration: EDGEWATER]
+
+Isaac Cooper had married Mary Ann, daughter of General Jacob Morris, of
+Morris, Otsego county, and took possession of Edgewater as his residence
+on December 4, 1813. It is not difficult to understand the feeling of
+satisfaction, on being established in this beautiful home, which
+prompted Isaac Cooper, at the age of thirty-two years, to record the
+event in his diary thus:
+
+     Moved--where I hope to end my Days--and I pray Heaven to allow
+     this House and this Lot--whereon I this day brought my Family,
+     to descend to my children and to my children's children, and
+     may they increase in virtue and respectability, and become
+     worthy of the blessings of Heaven.
+
+This diary is hardly more than a record of weather, with a single line
+of "general observations," under which head, from day to day, he makes
+brief mention of his doings, social engagements; births, marriages, and
+deaths among his friends; his own frequent illnesses: occasionally he
+moralizes, or indulges in a bit of self-criticism. A few entries
+selected from Isaac Cooper's diary will show its general character. It
+will be noticed that he refers to himself in the third person as "Mr.
+C." or "Mr. Cooper."
+
+     August 20, 1814--New waggon paraded, to the admiration of the
+     villagers.
+
+     August 30--Quilting party at Mrs. Pomeroy's--very pleasant.
+
+     January 4, 1815--Cate, Mr. Prentiss married.
+
+     February 7--Time passes heavily! Good reason why!
+
+     August 8--Laid corner brick of Morrell's & Prentiss' House.
+
+     July 30, 1816--Tea Party at Mrs. Poms. Also a party on the
+     Lake. Major Prevost fell overboard.
+
+     October 5--Done quilting, thank fortune.
+
+     October 25--Mr. C. set out plum trees in back yard.
+
+     October 28--Mr. C. fell down stairs last night. Don't feel so
+     well for it.
+
+     November 13--Took in some pork.
+
+     November 16--Mr. Phinney played backgammon with Mrs. Cooper
+     this evening.
+
+     November 27--A Milliner arrived with an assortment of elegant
+     cheap hats. (Sold a twelve dollar one! I wonder who to?)
+
+     November 28--A mystery dissolved. Mrs. Starkweather was the
+     purchaser of the hat.
+
+     December 4--Mrs. Cooper's neck washed--good!
+
+     December 5--A dinner party at Mr. J. Cooper's.
+
+     December 13--Dipped 700 candles.
+
+     December 16--Wine and Brandy tap't. Head combed.
+
+     February 7, 1817--Tea Party--30 besides us, viz; Mr. and Mrs.
+     Campbell, the Miss Starrs, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Pomeroys, Mr. and
+     Mrs. George Pomeroy, Mr. and Mrs. E. Phinney, Miss Tiffany,
+     Miss Talmage, Miss Shankland, the Misses Fuller, H. Phinney,
+     Mr. Aitchison, Mr. Lyman, Mr. Crafts, Mr. Stewart, Mr. and
+     Mrs. Morrell, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, Miss Edmonds, Miss Webb, Mrs.
+     Prentiss, Mrs. Dr. Webb, Mrs. Russell, Mrs. Williams.
+
+     February 17--72 loads of wood last week, making my supply for
+     1817, say 200 loads, exclusive of office.
+
+     February 22--Dr. Pomeroy, Mr. George Pomeroy, and Col. Seth
+     Pomeroy spent the eve. here.
+
+     April 1--A barrel of Pork, this day opened. Robins killed
+     yesterday by A. L. J., a _sin_.
+
+     May 9--Mr. Cooper feels for all mankind.
+
+     September 12--The Old Lady very ill.
+
+     September 13--Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper departed this life.
+
+     October 18--Mr. Gratz breakfasted here.
+
+Concerning some settlements in the region, much has been written of the
+spirit of democracy in which they were established, and it has been
+pointed out that all social distinctions were levelled in the common
+tasks of frontier life. It does not appear that this was the case in
+Cooperstown. From the time of the first settlement, apparently, an
+aristocratic group was formed in the orbit of the Cooper nucleus, and
+social climbing began before the wolves and bears had been quite driven
+from the forests of Otsego. The tea party of February 7, 1817, mentioned
+in the diary, probably names most of those who were at that time
+admitted to the inner circle of the socially elect; another entry, dated
+December 31, 1816, relates to a different social sphere, and
+unconsciously reveals the great gulf which had already been fixed
+between the one and the other, together with the aristocrat's
+supercilious astonishment that "that class of society" is in some
+respects quite as desirable as his own:
+
+     This New Year's eve there was a ball at the Hotel (Col.
+     Henry's), a very decently conducted and a very respectable
+     assemblage of the worthy mechanics and that class of society.
+     I was present, and would not wish to see better conduct,
+     better dress, and better looking Ladies!!! There was perfect
+     neatness of dress, without as much Indian finery as I have
+     seen where they suppose they know better.
+
+Another glimpse into the depth of the social gulf is obtained in the
+back pages of Isaac Cooper's diary, where he records his accounts for
+wages with the household servants. There is this entry, signed by the
+humble cross-mark of Betsey Wallby, who "came to work on March 20, 1815,
+at one dollar a week":
+
+     March 20, 1816--By one year's services, faithfully and orderly
+     performed--free from Yankee dignity, and ideas of
+     Liberty--which is insolence only. $52.00.
+
+On New Year's day, 1818, death came to Isaac Cooper at Edgewater, and he
+was laid at rest in Christ churchyard with the humblest pioneers of the
+hamlet. Only for a little more than four years had he enjoyed the home
+which he established at Edgewater.
+
+In Isaac Cooper's diary, by another hand, these words were added:
+
+     September, 1823--Sold our house. Necessity compelled us.
+
+Shortly before the house was vacated by the family of Isaac Cooper, the
+garden of Edgewater was the scene of a pretty romance. Isaac Cooper's
+second daughter, Elizabeth Fenimore, was a child of rare beauty, and as
+she began to grow toward womanhood became renowned for wit and
+loveliness. Strictly guarded by the conventional proprieties, Elizabeth
+made glorious excursions into the realm of fancy, where errant knights
+are ever in search of fair ladies to deliver them from castle dungeons.
+Edgewater, with the freedom of its garden, was a pleasant sort of
+prison, but Elizabeth was not less gratified when the knight of her
+dreams actually appeared in the person of a young college student who
+was spending his summer vacation in Cooperstown--Samuel Wootton Beall, a
+native of Maryland. Summer evenings in Edgewater garden passed quickly
+away, and there came a night of farewell, for on the next day young
+Beall must return to his college, and to long months of Greek, Latin,
+and mathematics. On that night the young man brought a Methodist
+minister into the garden with him. There was a mysterious signal.
+Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper glided out of the house, and joined the two in
+darkness. They stood beneath the locust tree which rose just east of the
+front steps, while in low voices the young lovers took their vows, and
+the parson pronounced them man and wife. The bride immediately crept
+back into the house, thrilling with her secret, while the bridegroom
+went his way, and on the next day was gone.
+
+Nothing was said of the wedding until Samuel Beall was graduated from
+college, and returned to Cooperstown to claim his wife. Beyond the
+extreme youth of the couple, there was really no objection to the match.
+Mrs. Cooper was astonished at the announcement, but gave her blessing to
+the union. Only one condition she exacted. Shocked at the informality of
+their wedding, she required them to be remarried with the full rites of
+the Church.
+
+Young Beall and his wife went West, where he prospered, and, returning
+to Cooperstown in 1836, purchased Woodside as their residence. After a
+few years at Woodside, they settled once more in the West.
+
+In Edgewater garden the locust that sheltered the secret marriage was
+long known as the Bridal Tree, and grew to lofty size. In the winter of
+1908 the first fall of snow came upon the wings of a great wind. During
+the night the big locust fell crashing to the ground, and in the morning
+was found covered with a mantle of virgin snow, gleaming white like a
+bridal veil.
+
+In 1828, Edgewater having passed into the hands of a company which had
+organized to establish a seminary for girls, the house was rearranged
+for such occupancy. The numerals which then marked the rooms of the
+students are still to be seen on the doorways of the top floor. The
+school was a financial failure, and in 1834 the trustees sold Edgewater
+as a summer residence to Theodore Keese of New York, who, eight years
+previously, had married the eldest daughter of George Pomeroy and Ann
+Cooper, sister of Isaac Cooper. Thus the property came back into the
+family of the original owner.
+
+In 1836 Mr. and Mrs. Keese came to Cooperstown to live, and their
+eight-year-old son, George Pomeroy Keese, then began a residence at
+Edgewater that continued for seventy-four years. In 1849, at the age of
+twenty-one years, he brought to Edgewater his bride, Caroline Adriance
+Foote, a daughter of Surgeon Lyman Foote, of the United States Army. In
+this house their eight children were born, and all of these, with the
+exception of one who died in infancy, lived to celebrate the sixtieth
+wedding anniversary which their parents commemorated with a notable
+gathering of friends at Edgewater in the autumn of 1909. Living to old
+age in perfect health of body and mind Mr. and Mrs. Keese made Edgewater
+a famous centre of hospitality.
+
+During this long residence in Cooperstown Pomeroy Keese stood in the
+forefront of its affairs, and came to occupy a unique position in the
+life of the village. In boyhood, as the grand-nephew of Fenimore Cooper,
+he was brought into close contact with the novelist, and at the
+beginning of the twentieth century was one of the few residents of the
+village who distinctly recalled the famous writer's personality. He was
+best known to the business world as president for nearly forty years of
+the Second National Bank of Cooperstown, but the qualities that made him
+so interesting a figure lay rather in the many avocations of his life.
+He was senior warden of Christ Church at the time of his death, and had
+been a member of its vestry for more than half a century. Of thirteen
+successive rectors of Christ Church he had known all but Father Nash,
+the first. For the old village church, surrounded with its quaint tombs
+and overshadowing pines, he had a love that seemed about to call forth
+the response of personality from things inanimate.
+
+On the streets of Cooperstown, in his later years, G. Pomeroy Keese was
+a picturesque and characteristic figure. His face seemed weather-beaten
+rather than old; his eye was like that of a sailor, with a focus for
+distant horizons; the style of thin side-whisker affected by a former
+generation gave full play to every expression of his countenance. It was
+a common sight, of a winter's day, to glimpse his slight and dapper
+form with quick step ambling to the post-office, while, quite innocent
+of overcoat, he compromised with the frosty air by clasping his hands,
+one over the other, across his chest, as a means of keeping warm!
+
+Pomeroy Keese was somewhat contemptuous toward mufflers, arctics, and
+other toggery which Otsego winters imposed upon his neighbors. He seemed
+immune against the assault of climatic rigors. His attitude toward the
+weather was confidential, for he was the most weatherwise of men. He
+kept a daily record of the weather, with accurate meteorological data,
+for more than half a century, and for many years furnished the local
+official figures for the United States weather bureau. From his
+experience he originated the theory that, while seasons from year to
+year appear to differ widely in their character, the temperature and
+precipitation within the compass of each year actually reach the same
+general average. It seemed to cause him real annoyance when a period of
+weather departed too widely from the usual average, yet if a cold snap
+or hot spell was generous enough to break all previous records his
+enthusiasm was boundless.
+
+An equally substantial though smaller house that antedated Edgewater by
+a few years was erected in the summer of 1802 by John Miller as a farm
+house. It was built of bricks, and was the second building in the place
+that was not constructed of wood. It stands at the southwest corner of
+Pine Street and Lake Street, facing the latter, and the dense evergreen
+hedge which surrounds the house seems to hold it aloof from the later
+growth of the village. It is said that the house is haunted, for not
+long after it was built a tenant of the place murdered his wife by
+smothering her with a pillow in her bedroom, and for many years it was
+rumored that occupants of the house occasionally were terrified by
+muffled sounds of moaning as of one in mortal agony.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM H. AVERELL AND JUDGE PRENTISS]
+
+The building referred to in Isaac Cooper's diary as "Morrell's and
+Prentiss' house" includes the two brick houses on Main Street which
+stand conjoined just east of the Village Club and Library. Judge
+Morrell went West, and his house, the more westerly of the two, became
+better known as the property of its later owner, William Holt Averell,
+whose descendants continued to occupy it a century after him. The
+adjoining house, built by Col. Prentiss, remained after his death in
+possession of his family, and his daughter, Mrs. Charlotte Prentiss
+Browning, lived to celebrate its centennial.
+
+Col. John H. Prentiss, for more than half a century a resident, and for
+forty years editor of the _Freeman's Journal_, was a notable figure in
+Cooperstown. Under his editorial management the _Freeman's Journal_
+became a strong political organ, and exercised an influence that made
+Otsego one of the stanchest Democratic counties in the State of New
+York. Col. Prentiss represented his district in Congress during the four
+years of Van Buren's administration, having been reelected at the
+expiration of his first term. It was at this time that his next door
+neighbor, William Holt Averell, was a candidate for Congress on the Whig
+ticket. The first returns indicated that Averell had been elected, and
+there was a noisy demonstration by Averell's supporters in front of his
+residence, bringing him forth for a speech which was received with great
+enthusiasm. The returns came in slowly in those days, and a day or two
+had passed before it was learned that Prentiss had been elected, and his
+doorstep became the scene of another jubilation. According to the
+recollections of some this seesawing of returns occurred more than once,
+and the two neighbors, whose friendship was not interrupted by their
+political antagonisms, each joined in the demonstration in honor of the
+other.
+
+A large part of the work of publishing his newspaper was done by Judge
+Prentiss himself. Besides being sole editor, he attended to the
+financial department, and for forty years, except while in Congress, he
+gave his personal attention in the printing office to the mechanical
+department. A later writer recalls often seeing Col. Prentiss in the
+press-room, with coat off, sleeves rolled up, either inking the type
+with two large soft balls, or pulling at the lever of the old Ramage
+press. He describes him as "an industrious, energetic man, a little
+inclined to aristocratic bearing, but open, frank and cordial with his
+friends."
+
+The last appearance of Col. Prentiss in public life, from which he had
+previously kept aloof for several years, was as a delegate to the
+Democratic State convention which was held in Albany on February 1,
+1861. In that body of distinguished and able men, of which he was one of
+the vice-presidents, he attracted much attention, and the question was
+frequently asked by those in attendance, referring to Col. Prentiss,
+"Who is that large, fine-looking old gentleman, with white, flowing
+hair?"[94]
+
+Colonel Prentiss's next door neighbor, William Holt Averell, son of
+James Averell, Jr., was for more than half a century one of the most
+prominent citizens of the village, who did more perhaps than any other
+for its financial development. He was one of the first directors and for
+many years president of the Otsego County Bank, the original of the
+present First National Bank, and for which the building across the way
+from his house, now used as the Clark Estate office, was erected in
+1831. As he issued every day from the doorway of this building with its
+portico of fluted columns, his figure was exactly such as the
+imagination might now devise as most in harmony with the surroundings;
+for in his youth Averell was extremely punctilious in his dress, being a
+very handsome man, and for many years it was his custom to wear a white
+beaver hat, and ruffled shirt, with ruffles at the cuffs that set off to
+good advantage his small and delicate hands. He did all his reading and
+work at night. Those who passed his windows at a late hour were sure to
+glimpse him bending over his desk, and nobody else in Cooperstown went
+to bed late enough to see his lamp extinguished, for the servants often
+found him still at work when they came to summon him to breakfast in the
+morning. He lived long enough to be regarded as a gentleman of the old
+school, positive and dogmatic in his opinions, which were usually those
+of a minority, but which he defended with the resourcefulness of a
+brilliant and well-trained mind.
+
+In 1813 Henry Phinney, one of the two sons of Elihu Phinney, began the
+construction of the large brick house on Chestnut street now known as
+"Willowbrook," and completed it three years later. In Cooper's
+_Chronicles of Cooperstown_ several houses "of respectable dimensions
+and of genteel finish" are mentioned as having been erected between the
+years of 1820 and 1835. Among these is the house of Elihu Phinney, the
+younger son of the pioneer, which still stands on Pioneer Street
+opposite to the Universalist church. It is of brick, partly surrounded
+by a veranda, and exquisite in many details of construction, much of the
+interior woodwork being notable in excellence of chaste design.
+
+During this same general period several houses of stone were erected
+that still remain among the most solid and attractive in Cooperstown.
+William Nichols built Greystone, the fine old residence that stands at
+the southwest corner of Fair and Lake streets; Ellory Cory erected the
+house on the west side of Pioneer Street near Lake Street; John Hannay
+set a new standard for the western part of the village when he put up on
+the north side of Main Street, not far from Chestnut Street, the
+dignified residence now occupied by the Mohican Club. In 1827 the low
+structures of stone which stand on the east side of Pioneer Street,
+between Main and Church street, were erected; and in 1828 the
+three-story stone building on the north side of Main Street, midway
+between Pioneer and Chestnut streets, was an important addition to the
+business section of the village.
+
+[Illustration: _Forrest D. Coleman_
+
+WOODSIDE HALL]
+
+A country-house of classic poise and symmetry was designed in 1829, when
+Eben B. Morehouse purchased a few acres from the Bowers estate, on the
+side of Mount Vision, at the point where the old state road made its
+first turn to ascend the mountain, and there erected the dwelling
+called Woodside Hall. For many years an Indian wigwam stood on the site
+now occupied by Woodside. This old stone house, set on the hillside
+against a background of dense pine forest, has an air of singular
+dignity and repose. Standing at the head of the ascending road which
+continues the main street of the village, Woodside, with its row of
+columns gleaming white amid the living green of the forest, may be seen
+from almost any point along the main thoroughfare of Cooperstown. It is
+approached from the highway by a rise of ground, where the Egyptian
+gate-tower adds a fanciful interest to the entrance, with glimpses of
+the terraced lawn and garden that climb toward the house. In summer, on
+gaining the porch, one looks back upon a mass of foliage beneath which
+Cooperstown lies concealed, except for a vista that traverses the length
+of the village and rises to the pines that crown the hills beyond; while
+a glance toward the north sweeps across the surface of the lake to its
+western shore. The woods that come down almost to the house are composed
+of pines and hemlocks of splendid proportions and great antiquity,
+lending a shadowy atmosphere of mystery to the environs of Woodside
+Hall.
+
+The charm and grace of this residence seem to reflect certain qualities
+in the character of Judge Eben B. Morehouse, who designed it as his
+home. For he is described as a man of rare personality and unusual
+culture, whose intellectual ability gave him exceptional rank in his
+profession. He was district attorney in 1829, member of Assembly in
+1831, and became a justice of the Supreme Court of the State in 1847.
+Mrs. Morehouse, a daughter of Dr. Fuller, one of the pioneer physicians
+of Cooperstown, was a woman of many social gifts, and established
+traditions of hospitality and festivity at Woodside.
+
+In 1836 Judge Morehouse suffered reverses of fortune, and when he had
+sold Woodside to Samuel W. Beall, took up his residence in a modest
+cottage in the village. It was said of Judge Morehouse that, during this
+period, in walking about the village streets, he was careful never to
+raise his eyes toward Woodside, and, if occasion brought him in the
+vicinity of his old home, he passed it with averted face. After a few
+years he was able, to his great joy, to buy Woodside back again, and he
+continued residence there until his death in 1849.
+
+[Illustration: _Walter C. Stokes_
+
+THE GATE-TOWER AT WOODSIDE]
+
+A President of the United States was once lost in the grounds of
+Woodside. It was in 1839, when Judge Morehouse gave a large evening
+reception for President Martin Van Buren. After the reception, when the
+guests were departed, Mr. Van Buren and a friend who accompanied him
+became separated from their companions, and lost their way in attempting
+to find the gate-tower. For a long time they wandered and groped about
+in the darkness of the grounds, finally returning to the house for a
+guide and a lantern, just as the family were going to bed.
+
+In 1856 Mrs. Morehouse sold Woodside to the Hon. Joseph L. White, whose
+family entertained generously and delightfully. White was a
+distinguished lawyer of New York, and one of the most famous stump
+orators of his time. He became identified with the early days of the
+Nicaragua Canal project. While at work on the isthmus he was killed by
+the bullet of an assassin.
+
+After the death of White, the place was bought by John F. Scott, whose
+family were among the earliest settlers in Springfield at the head of
+the lake.
+
+In 1895 Woodside was purchased by Walter C. Stokes of New York. Mr. and
+Mrs. Stokes, occupying Woodside as a summer home, gave it new
+embellishment, and revived the traditions of its hospitality.
+
+[Illustration: SWANSWICK]
+
+At the extreme northwest margin of the lake there is a little cove, with
+a landing, near which one ascends from the shore by means of a swaying
+board walk over swampy ground, where flags and forget-me-nots bloom
+luxuriantly during summer days, and fireflies hold carnival at night. At
+the top of the slope stands "Swanswick," a cottage-like and rambling
+house whose rear windows look down the lake, while the low veranda in
+front opens upon a lawn and quiet lily-padded pond, a mill-pond
+originally, for near at hand are the falls that operated Low's mills, in
+the days of the pioneers. Swanswick stands upon the site of a house
+erected in 1762, the first ever inhabited by a white man on the shore of
+Otsego Lake. The present house was built after the Revolution by Colonel
+Richard Cary, one of Washington's aides, and the place was called Rose
+Lawn. General Washington was a guest here when he made his visit in
+Otsego in 1783, and a ball was given in his honor. The daughter of the
+house was Anne Low Cary who married Richard Cooper, and after his death
+became the wife of George Hyde Clarke, who built Hyde Hall. She
+inherited Rose Lawn from her mother, and gave it to her son, Alfred
+Cooper Clarke. The latter was childless, and left the place to his
+nephew, Leslie Pell, who belonged to the well known Pell family of New
+York and Newport, and who assumed legally the name of Clarke.
+
+Leslie Pell-Clarke married the charming Henrietta Temple, a cousin of
+Henry James the novelist, and of William James, the psychologist. He
+changed the name of the place to Swanswick, and lived there from the
+early 'seventies until his death in 1904. The Pell-Clarkes made
+Swanswick known as a haven of good cheer for miles around. The old
+house, simple in its lines and modest in proportions, had an air of
+singular distinction. The library in the west wing, with its curious
+skylight, and bookcases well stocked with the classic favorites of an
+English country gentleman, was a revelation to the connoisseur of old
+volumes; and the whole house was full of quaintly delightful surprises.
+It was the master of the house himself who gave to the place its
+atmosphere. He was ideally the centre of things, especially when he sat
+in the library reading aloud from some favorite author, which he did
+always with perfect justice of expression, and in a voice of unrivalled
+melody. He was a lover of outdoor life, and laid out on his own property
+at the head of the lake the golf grounds now managed by the Otsego Golf
+Club, the oldest links of any in America that have been maintained on
+their original course. Mr. and Mrs. Pell-Clarke were reckoned and
+beloved as partly belonging to Cooperstown, for they drove down from the
+head of the lake almost daily, drawn by the whitish speckled horses,
+Pepper and Salt, that everybody came to know. Pell-Clarke had the frame
+and bearing of an athlete. Tall, with clean-cut features, he was one of
+the handsomest men of his time, a noble and brilliant soul, an exuberant
+and fascinating personality.
+
+A country-seat that may be described as unique in all America, Hyde
+Hall, lies nestled in the haunches of the Sleeping Lion, toward the head
+of Otsego Lake. "The Sleeping Lion" is Cooperstown's nickname for Mount
+Wellington, the wooded hill that stretches along the northern margin of
+the Glimmerglass. The formal name was given to Mount Wellington by the
+builder of Hyde Hall, in honor of his famous classmate at Eton, in
+England. When this mountain is viewed from Cooperstown the aptness of
+the more familiar, descriptive term--the Sleeping Lion--becomes evident.
+In spite of its distance from the village, Hyde Hall has its place not
+only in the view but in the story of Cooperstown, for its proprietors
+have been closely associated with the life at the southern end of the
+lake.
+
+[Illustration: _J. W. Tucker_
+
+SHADOW BROOK]
+
+The grounds of Hyde Hall lie toward the head of Otsego, on the eastern
+side, where Hyde Bay increases the width of the lake by a generous sweep
+of rounded shore. Into this bay from the east flows Shadow Brook, the
+most picturesque stream of water in the region, whose pellucid current
+reflects clear images of foliage and sky, and offers a favorite resort,
+in shaded nooks, to the drifting canoes of lovers. In a clearing of the
+woods farther northward along the shore, and at a good elevation, stands
+Hyde Hall, facing the southeast across the bay. It is massively
+constructed of large blocks of stone, and seems designed for a race of
+giants. The main part of the house, completed in 1815, is two stories
+high, in the colonial style, and over two hundred feet in length. In
+1832 the facade was added, in the Empire style, with two splendid rooms
+on either side of a large entrance hall. The doorways and windows, as
+well as the chambers into which they open, are planned on a big scale.
+Solidity of construction appears throughout the building, where even the
+partition walls are of brick or stone. The masons, carpenters, and
+mechanics who built Hyde Hall lived on the premises while the house was
+under construction. They quarried and cut the stone from adjacent beds
+of local limestone; they burnt the brick from clay found at the foot of
+the hill; they cut the timber in the neighboring forest, and
+manufactured all the windows, doors, and panel-work.
+
+The house commands a superb view of the lake, and is surrounded by
+beautiful old trees and forest land. Upwards of three thousand acres
+belonging to Hyde Hall enclose it on all sides, and the residence is
+approached by three private roads averaging over a mile in length.
+
+Within the house, as one tries to visualize its spirit, from Trumbull's
+portrait of the Duke of Wellington, which stands above the fireplace in
+the great drawing-room, through rambling passages with glimpses of a
+courtyard and alcoves and wings; up curved stairways to landings that
+present unexpected steps down and steps up; along halls that beckon amid
+dim lights to unrevealed recesses of space; down through kitchens where
+huge pots and cauldrons reflect the glow of living coals, while shadowy
+outlines of spits and cranes are lifted amid a smoke of savory odors;
+deeper down into the spacious wine-cellars darkly festooned with
+cobwebs, and chill as the family burying-vault where vines and snakes
+squirm through the bars of its iron gates beneath the hill,--out of
+these fleeting impressions rises the atmosphere of an old-world
+tradition strangely created amid the original wilds of Otsego at the
+beginning of the nineteenth century. It is a house that should be
+ashamed not to harbor romance, and mystery, and ghosts.
+
+Hyde Hall has the air of an English country-seat, with squire and
+tenantry, transplanted to the soil of an alien democracy. To comprehend
+its place in the life of Cooperstown it must be regarded as the symbol
+of certain ancestral traditions toward which good Americans are expected
+to be indifferent. George Clarke, who was colonial governor of New York
+from 1737 to 1744, came to America shortly after being graduated at
+Oxford, having received an appointment to colonial office from Walpole,
+then prime minister of England. He came from Swanswick, near Bath. After
+a few years' residence in New York he met and married Anne Hyde, the
+daughter of Edward Hyde, royal governor of North Carolina. She
+subsequently became the heiress of Hyde, in England, in her own right,
+and by the old English law of coverture, George Clarke became the owner
+of the estate. The lady died during his term of office as governor of
+the colony, and was buried, with a public funeral, in the vault of Lord
+Cornburg in Trinity church, New York.
+
+George Clarke, the builder of Hyde Hall on Otsego Lake, was a
+great-grandson of the colonial governor, a part of whose large estate of
+lands in America he inherited. He came to America in 1791, to comply
+with the statute requiring all English born subjects who were minors
+during the War for Independence, and who owned lands in this State
+subject to confiscation, to become American citizens. After several
+trips across the water George Clarke decided, in 1809, to make his abode
+in the New World, and leaving his home, Hyde Hall, at Hyde, in Cheshire,
+he came to America, married as his second wife Anne Cary, the widow of
+Richard Cooper, brother of James Fenimore Cooper, and in 1813 began the
+building of his new Hyde Hall.
+
+The property originally controlled from Hyde Hall was of vast extent. At
+an early day George Clarke encountered much opposition from his
+tenantry. The tenure by which they held their lands was not in
+accordance with the views of American settlers. The estates were leased
+out, some as durable leases, at a small rent, and others for three
+lives, or twenty-one years. The settlers disliked the relation of
+landlord and tenant, and Clarke was frequently annoyed by demands which
+his high English notions of strict right would not allow him to concede.
+His prejudices were strong, and if he believed anyone intended to wrong
+him, he was stubborn in resisting any invasion of his rights. Hence
+there were many collisions between landlord and tenant in the early days
+of Hyde Hall. The warm aspect of his nature, which disarmed the enmities
+of tenants, appeared in his social qualities. He was companionable, gave
+good dinners, conversed well, told a good story, delighted in a good
+one from others, and when in a gay mood would sing an excellent song,
+generally one that he had brought with him from Merrie England.
+
+In his habits and sentiments Clarke was thoroughly English. He delighted
+to have his dinner got up in old English style, with the best of roast
+beef and mutton, garnished with such delicacies as the lake and country
+afforded, and just such as his countrymen, who knew how to appreciate
+good things, would order, were they the caterers; and in these
+particulars he hardly ever failed to excel. Not only were his household
+arrangements in this style, but he was English in his religious views;
+unless those matters were held in conformity to the Anglican Church they
+were not acceptable.
+
+When Clarke's son George, who afterward succeeded to the estate, was
+baptized, in 1824, Father Nash officiated, and several other clergymen
+of the Episcopal Church were in attendance, besides some guests from
+Utica, and many from Cooperstown and the surrounding country who had
+come to Hyde Hall for the occasion. The christening was performed with
+suitable gravity, and in due time the dinner was announced, which was in
+the substantial excellent style that Clarke knew well how to order for
+such a festivity. The host was talkative and charming; as the dinner
+proceeded the guests became increasingly good-humored, exceedingly well
+satisfied with him and with themselves. "In due time the ladies and
+clergy retired," says Levi Beardsley,[95] who was present at the feast,
+"and then the guests were effectually plied with creature comforts."
+
+[Illustration: HYDE HALL]
+
+Nothing seemed more delightful to the first proprietor of Hyde Hall than
+thus to sit in company with congenial men at the flowing bowl; to begin
+in the enjoyment of rational conversation; to discuss literature and art
+and statecraft; to warm up to the telling of rare stories and the
+singing of good songs; and, in the end, to get his guests, or a portion
+of them, "under the table." On this occasion, after partaking of the
+viands and good cheer, the guests left the table in the early part of
+the evening, and repaired to the plateau in front of the house, where
+some of them ran foot-races in the dark, with no great credit to
+themselves as pedestrians. As they were going back into the house, one
+of the guests stumbled and fell into the hall, where he lay for some
+time, obstructing the closing of the outer door. One of the servants
+came to Clarke, who had retired for the night, and asked what he should
+do with the large gentleman who had fallen in the doorway, and was
+unable to rise. "Drag him in, and put him under the table" was the order
+which was immediately complied with, and under the table the fallen
+guest remained until morning.
+
+The builder of Hyde Hall died in 1835, and his only American born son,
+George Clarke, succeeded him in his American estate, thus becoming at
+the age of twenty-one years the largest landed proprietor in the State
+of New York. The patents which he held included 1,000 acres in Fulton
+county, 6,000 acres in Dutchess county, 7,000 acres in Oneida, 12,000 in
+Montgomery, besides 16,000 acres in Otsego county, and a valuable tract
+in Greene county including one-half of the village of Catskill. George
+Clarke married Anna Maria Gregory, daughter of Dudley S. Gregory, the
+wealthiest man in Jersey City, and their married life was begun in great
+prosperity, with a town house on Fifth Avenue in New York, in addition
+to the country-seat on Otsego Lake.
+
+Clarke had three span of fast horses, and was a familiar figure in
+Cooperstown when he drove to service at Christ Church every Sunday, and
+frequently came to the village for the transaction of business, or to
+meet his friends, making nothing of the seven mile drive from his home.
+
+In his younger days Clarke was quite celebrated as a beau and dandy, and
+at one time was said to be the best dressed man in New York; but in his
+later years he became notorious for his carelessness of attire, and few
+of his tenants wore a cheaper costume. In this matter he was indifferent
+to public opinion, and went about looking like an old-fashioned farmer.
+In winter he covered himself with a buffalo coat that had areas of bare
+hide worn through the fur; in summer his favorite habiliment was a linen
+duster. For Fifth Avenue in New York he dressed in the same clothes that
+served him in Cooperstown. When his friends ventured to remonstrate, he
+put them off by saying that dress was a matter of indifference alike in
+city or country. "In Cooperstown," said he, "everybody knows me; in New
+York nobody knows me." When he had become accustomed to a suit of
+clothes, he was as loath to change them as to alter his friendships or
+politics. As he was plain in dress, so he was simple and abstemious in
+habits of life. His bare living probably cost as little as that of any
+working-man in the country.
+
+George Clarke had an insatiable land-hunger. In looking after his wide
+estates he allowed the Hyde Hall Property to become dilapidated, and
+mortgaged the land that he owned to buy more. His land gave him great
+yields of hops at the height of that industry in Otsego, but he was
+always inclined to buy more hops rather than to sell. Little by little,
+mortgages were foreclosed; Hyde Hall fell into decay; and in 1889 George
+Clarke died insolvent.
+
+Mrs. Clarke, in her youth, was said to be one of the most beautiful
+women of her day. Those who knew her in later years can testify to an
+abiding charm of personality which time could never efface. Hyde Hall in
+summer she loved, but always the most perfect place in the world to her
+was Monte Carlo, and there for many years she passed the winter,
+becoming at last the oldest member of the American colony, having
+crossed the ocean thirty times from America to Southern France. An old
+lady tireless of life and all its activities, sprightly in manner,
+brilliant in conversation, graceful in gesture, gay in dress, decked in
+jewelry that scintillated with her quick motions, shod in tiny,
+high-heeled slippers that clicked the measure of an alert step, and
+sometimes permitted a flash of bright silk stockings; a lover of life
+and gaiety and beauty to whom Monte Carlo seemed the most homelike spot
+on earth--her reign as mistress in her younger days gave a color of its
+own to the story of Hyde Hall.
+
+When George Clarke died in 1889, his son, George Hyde Clarke, having
+been graduated at the Columbia Law School, had for several years made
+his home at Hyde Hall, and had restored the place to something like its
+original condition. He married Mary Gale Carter, granddaughter of
+William Holt Averell of Cooperstown, and it was through her inheritance
+that the old home was saved to the family.
+
+Hyde Clarke inherited some of the English traditions of his grandfather.
+He was sent to England at the age of fourteen years, and educated at the
+famous Harrow school. In spite of his later devotion to legal studies,
+and his admission to the bar of the State of New York, his real tastes
+inclined to agriculture. Having been trained as a scholar, he added
+farming to his accomplishments, and when he settled down at Hyde Hall it
+was as a son of the soil. For the rest of his life, being at once a
+gentleman and a farmer, he was the better in both characters for being
+so much in each. The combination of birth and practical aptitude gave
+him a position quite unique in Cooperstown and the surrounding country.
+He was a man of wide reading and culture, an exceedingly good talker,
+and a delightful social companion. He was at the same time respected as
+a farmer among farmers, who knew him well, and called him by his
+Christian name. It is related that shortly after her marriage to Hyde
+Clarke, the stately and distinguished Mrs. Clarke was complaining to her
+butcher in Cooperstown that he had sent her poor meat. "Very sorry, Mrs.
+Clarke," replied the butcher "but 'twas one of Hyde's own critters!"
+
+[Illustration: HYDE CLARKE
+
+From the portrait by Ellen G. Emmet]
+
+Hyde Clarke had certain mannerisms that added interest to his
+personality. He would sometimes sit silent in company, without the
+slightest effort to contribute to the conversation; but when he chose to
+talk, he talked well and informingly, and it was a delight to hear him.
+In a voice well-modulated and even, he selected his words with care,
+sometimes pausing for the precise expression, which he brought out with
+a quiet emphasis that made its exactness impressive. Repeatedly in
+conversation he seemed about to smile, or there was a movement behind
+the drooping moustache and in the eyes that suggested merriment, which
+quickly disappeared when one began to smile in return, leaving one with
+a foolish sense of having smiled at nothing. His deliberation of speech
+was significant of his carefulness of thought and judgment, and he was
+always leisurely in action. If he invited a guest to dine with him at
+seven o'clock, he was quite likely himself not to reach home until
+seven-thirty. A tall, calm man, he had the "British stare" to
+perfection, which in him was not an affectation, but arose from an
+entire lack of self-consciousness, and from moments of
+absent-mindedness. He could stare one out of countenance without
+intending rudeness; he could ignore the social amenities when he chose,
+without giving offense; while he was the only man in Otsego who could
+enter a lady's drawing-room in farming togs and with a hat on, without
+seeming less than well-bred.
+
+His arrival at the services of Christ Church on the Sunday mornings of
+winter became characteristic. Always late for the service, and often
+coming in after the sermon had begun, he walked deliberately forward up
+the main alley, clad in the great fur coat which had served him for the
+cold drive from Hyde Hall. Arrived at his pew, the front one at the
+left, he would stand there while he slowly removed his coat, meantime
+gazing curiously at the preacher, as if wondering what the text might
+have been. Still standing, his hand described circles over his head
+while he unreeled the long muffler wrapped about his throat. Then,
+turning about, he would give a wide stare at the congregation, produce
+his handkerchief, and with a trumpet-blast sit down to compose himself
+for the rest of the sermon.
+
+Hyde Clarke was exactly the man to have lived in what Levi Beardsley
+called the "Baronial establishment" of Hyde Hall, amid broad acres of
+wooded hill, and farm, and pasture. Besides being a practical farmer and
+hop-grower, he was a leader among politicians of the better sort in the
+Democratic party of the county and State. Through many avenues of
+interest he reached all sides of life, and gained experiences that saved
+his culture from dilettanteism, and made him a man among men, a true
+democrat. In his judgments of men, he was big enough to overlook the
+little imperfections that often conceal a fundamental soundness of
+character; he saw the good in all, and spoke evil of none. He had
+friendships among people of all sorts and conditions. Nor did he limit
+his friendship to the human race; he knew horses and cows and dogs. He
+loved all moods of nature, and faced all kinds of weather.
+
+Hyde Hall, in the first century of its existence, measured the lives of
+three men, passing from father to son, and leaving its traditions to the
+great-grandson of the builder, another George Hyde Clarke, who, in 1915,
+married Emily Borie Ryerson, a daughter of Arthur Ryerson of Chicago, a
+gentleman affectionately remembered as the host of "Ringwood" at the
+head of the lake, and mourned for his untimely death at sea, in the loss
+of the _Titanic_.
+
+[Illustration: A WEDDING-DAY AT HYDE]
+
+Hyde Hall is at its best as the centre of a function, crowded with
+guests, buzzing with conversation, while the company overflows from the
+house to the lawn, presenting a kaleidoscope of color in the shifting
+throng that moves to and fro in the spacious foreground of the venerable
+mansion. There are those to whom one scene stands out as typical of Hyde
+Hall in its glory: a brilliant autumn afternoon in 1907, the wedding day
+of the daughter of the house; a picturesque concourse of wedding guests
+upon the lawn before the doorway; a sudden lifting of all eyes to the
+balcony above the portico, where the bride appears, clad in her wedding
+gown, stands radiant, with her bridal bouquet poised aloft, and flings
+it to the bridesmaids grouped below.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 94: _History of Otsego County_, 1877, p. 285.]
+
+[Footnote 95: _Reminiscences_, from which the description of Clarke is
+taken.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE BIRTHPLACE OF BASE BALL
+
+
+The game of Base Ball was invented and first played in Cooperstown in
+1839. Few statements of historical fact can be supported by the decision
+of a commission of experts especially appointed to examine the evidence
+and render a verdict, but in fixing the origin of Base Ball it is
+exactly this solemn form of procedure that has placed the matter beyond
+doubt.
+
+In 1905 a friendly controversy arose, as to the origin of Base Ball,
+between A. G. Spalding, for many years famous as a patron of the sport,
+and Henry Chadwick, fondly known as the "Father of Base Ball." Chadwick
+had long contended that the game of Base Ball derived its origin from
+the old English pastime called "Rounders." Spalding took issue with him,
+asserting that Base Ball is distinctively American, not only in
+development, but in origin, and has no connection with "Rounders," nor
+any other imported game. Each view enlisted its champions, and, when no
+agreement could be reached, the contending forces decided to refer the
+whole matter to a special Base Ball commission for full consideration
+and final judgment.
+
+The members of the commission were well known in the Base Ball world,
+and some of them were men of national reputation in more serious fields
+of achievement. They were A. G. Mills of New York, an enthusiastic ball
+player before and during the Civil War; the Hon. Arthur P. Gorman,
+former United States Senator from Maryland; the Hon. Morgan G. Bulkeley,
+United States Senator from Connecticut, and formerly Governor of that
+State; N. E. Young of Washington, D. C., a veteran ball player, and the
+first secretary of the National Base Ball League; Alfred J. Reach of
+Philadelphia, and George Wright of Boston, both well known business men,
+and, in their day, famous ball players; James E. Sullivan of New York,
+president of the Amateur Athletic Union. The last named acted as
+secretary of the commission, and during three years conducted an
+extensive correspondence in collecting data, as well as following up
+various clues that might prove useful in the determination of the
+question at issue. When all available evidence had been gathered the
+whole matter was compiled and laid before the special commission, which
+spent several months in going over the mass of data and argument.
+
+Briefs were addressed to the commission, by Chadwick in support of his
+contention that Base Ball was developed from the English game of
+"Rounders," and by his opponents, who claimed a purely American origin
+for the national game.
+
+The similarity of the two games, Chadwick contended, was shown in the
+fact that "Rounders" was played by two opposing sides of contestants,
+on a special field of play, in which a ball was pitched or tossed to an
+opposing batsman, who endeavored to strike the ball out into the field,
+far enough to admit of his safely running the round of the bases before
+the ball could be returned, so as to enable him to score a run, the side
+scoring the most runs winning the game. This basic principle of
+"Rounders," Chadwick contended, is identical with the fundamental
+principle of Base Ball.
+
+[Illustration: BASE BALL ON NATIVE SOIL]
+
+Those who maintained the strictly American origin of Base Ball were
+unwilling to admit a connection with any game of any other country,
+except in so far as all games of ball have a certain similarity and
+family relationship. It was pointed out that if the mere tossing or
+handling of a ball, or striking it with some kind of stick, could be
+accepted as the origin of our game, it would carry it far back of
+Anglo-Saxon civilization--beyond Rome, beyond Greece, at least to the
+palmy days of the Chaldean Empire. It was urged that in the early
+'forties of the nineteenth century, when anti-British feeling still ran
+high, it is most unlikely that a sport of British origin would have been
+adopted in America. It was recalled that Col. James Lee, who was one of
+the moving spirits in the original effort to popularize Base Ball in New
+York City, and an organizer of the Knickerbocker Ball Club in 1845, had
+asserted that the game of Base Ball was chosen instead of and in
+opposition to Cricket on the very ground that the former was a purely
+American game, and because of the then existing prejudice against
+adopting any game of foreign invention. The champions of this theory of
+American origin further contended that those who would derive Base Ball
+from "Rounders" had totally ignored the earlier history of both games,
+and had been misled by certain modern developments of "Rounders," as
+more recently played in England, after many of the features of Base Ball
+had been appropriated by the English game.
+
+The American source of Base Ball is traced to the game of "One Old Cat,"
+which was a favorite among the boys in old colonial times. This was
+played by three boys--a thrower, a catcher, and a batsman. If the
+batsman after striking the ball could run to a goal about thirty feet
+distant, and return before the ball could be fielded, he counted one
+tally. This game was developed to include more players. "Two Old Cat"
+was played by four boys--two batsmen and two throwers--each alternating
+as catchers, and a "tally" was made by the batsman hitting the ball and
+exchanging places with the batsman at the opposite goal. In the same
+manner "Three Old Cat" was played by six, and "Four Old Cat" by eight
+boys. "Four Old Cat," with four batsmen and four throwers, each
+alternating as catchers, was played on a square-shaped field, each side
+of which was about forty feet long. All the batsmen were forced to run
+to the next corner, or "goal," of this square whenever any one of the
+batsmen struck the ball, but if the ball was caught on the fly or first
+bound, or any one of the four batsmen was hit by a thrown ball between
+goals, the runner was out, and his place was taken by the fielding
+player who put him out.
+
+From this game was developed "Town Ball," so called because it came to
+be the popular game at all town meetings. This game accommodated a
+greater number of players than "Four Old Cat," and resolved the
+individual players into two competing sides. It placed one thrower in
+the centre of the "Four Old Cat" square field, and had but one catcher.
+The corners of the field were called first, second, third, and fourth
+goals. The batsman's position was half way between first and fourth
+goals. The number of players on a side was at first unlimited, but
+"three out, all out," had already become the rule, allowing the fielding
+side to take their innings at bat.
+
+This method of alternating sides at bat was retained in the fully
+developed game of Base Ball, and marks the most radical difference in
+the ancestry of Base Ball and the English "Rounders." For the great
+feature of "Rounders," from which it derives its name, is the "rounder"
+itself, meaning that whenever one of the "in" side makes a complete
+continuous circuit of the bases, or, as it would be called in Base Ball,
+a "home run," he thereby reinstates the entire side; it then becomes
+necessary to begin over again to retire each one of the side at bat,
+until all of them have been put out. If Base Ball had been derived from
+Rounders, it would be likely to show in its history some trace of this
+distinctive feature of the English game. But no such feature has ever
+appeared in Base Ball or its antecedents.[96]
+
+All these considerations, with much else, entered into the discussions
+of the special Base Ball commission. The final decision of the
+commission was unanimous, and was published early in 1908.[97] The
+decision covered two points, the first rejecting the alleged connection
+with Rounders, the second fixing the time and place of the origin of
+Base Ball in America. Under the first head the commission decided "that
+Base Ball is of American origin, and has no traceable connection
+whatever with 'Rounders,' or any other foreign game."
+
+It was the second point in the decision, however, that added historic
+lustre to a village already famous in romance. The commission decided
+"that the first scheme for playing Base Ball, according to the best
+evidence obtainable to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday at
+Cooperstown, N. Y., in 1839."
+
+Up to the time of this investigation it had been supposed that the
+modern game of Base Ball originated in New York City, where the game was
+played in a desultory sort of way by the young business men as early as
+1842, although the first rules were not promulgated until the
+organization of the old Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1845. But Abner
+Graves, a mining engineer of Denver, convinced the commission that the
+real origin of the game must be sought elsewhere.
+
+Graves was a boy playfellow of Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown in 1839.
+He was present when Doubleday outlined with a stick in the dirt the
+present diamond-shaped Base Ball field, indicating the location of the
+players in the field; and afterward saw him make a diagram of the field
+on paper, with a crude pencil memorandum of the rules for his new game,
+which he named "Base Ball." Although sixty-eight years had passed since
+that time Graves distinctly remembered the incident, and recalled
+playing the game, with other boys, under Abner Doubleday's direction.
+
+Doubleday's game seems to have been an orderly and systematic
+development of "Town Ball," in which confusion and collision among
+players in attempting to catch the batted ball were frequent, and injury
+due to this cause, or to the practice of putting out the runner by
+hitting him with the ball, often occurred. Although Doubleday provided
+for eleven men on a side, instead of nine, using four outfielders
+instead of three, and stationing an extra shortstop between first and
+second bases, he had nevertheless invented fundamental principles that
+became characteristic of Base Ball. He had definitely limited the number
+of contestants on each side, and had fixed the position of players in
+the field, allotting certain territory to each, besides adding something
+like the present method of putting out the baserunner to the old one of
+"plugging" him with the ball. Under Doubleday's rules a runner not on
+base might be put out by being touched with the ball in the hand of an
+opposing player. From this was an easy step to the practice of throwing
+the ball to a baseman to anticipate the runner. The new importance thus
+given to the bases, in their relation to both fielders and batters,
+justified for the game the name of "Base Ball."
+
+"Abner Doubleday," writes Graves, "was several years older than I. In
+1838 and 1839 I was attending the 'Frog Hollow' school south of the
+Presbyterian church, while he was at school somewhere on the hill. I do
+not know, neither is it possible for anyone to know, on what spot the
+first game of Base Ball was played according to Doubleday's plan. He
+went diligently among the boys in the town, and in several schools,
+explaining the plan, and inducing them to play Base Ball in lieu of the
+other games. Doubleday's game was played in a good many places around
+town: sometimes in the old militia muster lot, or training ground, a
+couple of hundred yards southeasterly from the Court House,[98] where
+County Fairs were occasionally held; sometimes in Mr. Bennett's field
+south of Otsego Academy;[99] at other times over in the Miller's Bay
+neighborhood,[100] and up the lake.
+
+"I remember one dandy, fine, rollicking game where men and big boys from
+the Academy and other schools played up on Mr. Phinney's farm, a mile or
+two up the west side of the lake,[101] when Abner Doubleday and Prof.
+Green chose sides, and Doubleday's side beat Green's side badly.
+Doubleday was captain and catcher for his side, and I think John Graves
+and Elihu Phinney were the pitchers for the two sides. I wasn't in the
+game, but stood close by Doubleday, and wanted Prof. Green to win. In
+his first time at bat Prof. Green missed three consecutive balls. Abner
+caught all three, then pounded Mr. Green on the back with the ball,
+while they and all others were roaring with laughter, and yelling 'Prof.
+is out!'"
+
+It is of interest to recall that Abner Doubleday, the inventor of Base
+Ball went from his school in Cooperstown to West Point, where he was
+graduated in 1842, and served with distinction in the Civil War,
+attaining to the rank of Major General. Base Ball, indeed, owes much of
+its vogue to the United States Army, for it was played as a camp
+diversion by the soldiers of the Civil War, who, during the years of
+peace that followed, spread the fever of this pastime throughout the
+length and breadth of the United States, and thus gave to the game its
+national character.
+
+[Illustration: THE ORIGINAL HOUSE AT APPLE HILL]
+
+In 1908, at the time of the Base Ball Commission's decision that the
+game originated at Cooperstown in 1839, there were several old residents
+of the village whose recollections included that early period. On the
+strength of their statements rests a probability that the Cooperstown
+Classical and Military Academy, which was flourishing in 1839 under
+Major William H. Duff, was the school attended by Doubleday. This would
+be in accord with the recollection of Abner Graves that, in 1839,
+Doubleday was "at school somewhere on the hill." This school was at
+"Apple Hill," as it was called, in the grounds of the present
+"Fernleigh," where the Clark residence was built and now stands. Owing
+to the number of trees and the abrupt slope to the river, it is not
+likely that a full-sized Base Ball game was ever played within these
+grounds. But it is pleasant to fancy young Doubleday standing here,
+surrounded by an eager crowd of boys, amid the golden sunlight and
+greenery of long ago, as he traces on the earth with a stick his famous
+diamond, and from these shades goes forth with his companions to begin
+the national game of America.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 96: Opinion of John M. Ward, a famous player, afterward a
+lawyer in New York City.]
+
+[Footnote 97: _Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide_, 1908, p. 48.]
+
+[Footnote 98: The Watkins place on Chestnut Street, opposite the Village
+Hall, occupies this training ground, which extended east and south to
+the rear of the buildings on Main Street, and included part of the
+Phinney lot.]
+
+[Footnote 99: The clergy house of St. Mary's Church occupies the site of
+the Otsego Academy.]
+
+[Footnote 100: The Country Club grounds.]
+
+[Footnote 101: The present "Brookwood."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+FENIMORE COOPER IN THE VILLAGE
+
+
+The childhood memories of James Fenimore Cooper were associated with the
+village which his father had settled at the foot of Otsego Lake, for
+hither he was brought a babe in arms, and remained until, at the age of
+nine years, he was sent to Albany to be tutored by the rector of St.
+Peter's Church. After his career at Yale and in the Navy, he was married
+in 1811 to Susan de Lancey, and brought his bride to Cooperstown on
+their honeymoon. Three years later they came back to take up their
+residence at "Fenimore" just out of the village, on Otsego Lake, but,
+after three seasons of farming, circumstances once more drew Fenimore
+Cooper away from Cooperstown.
+
+It was in 1834, when he had become a novelist of international fame, and
+had lived for seven years in Europe, that Cooper, at the age of
+forty-five years, took steps to make a permanent home in the village of
+his childhood. Otsego Hall, which his father had built upon the site now
+marked by the statue of the Indian Hunter, in the Cooper Grounds, was
+repaired and partly remodeled, and here Fenimore Cooper dwelt until his
+death in 1851.
+
+[Illustration: FENIMORE]
+
+Two names of later renown are connected with Fenimore Cooper's
+reconstruction of Otsego Hall. Among the artisans employed was a lad of
+seventeen years apprenticed as a joiner, Erastus D. Palmer, who already
+had begun to attract attention as a wood-carver, and afterward became
+famous as a sculptor. While the alterations were in progress Cooper had
+as his guest in Cooperstown Samuel F. B. Morse, who assisted him in
+carrying out his ideas for the reconstruction of the Hall, and drew the
+designs which gave it more the style of an English country house.[102]
+The local gossips said that Morse aspired to the hand of his friend's
+eldest daughter, Susan Augusta Fenimore, then twenty-one years of age,
+but that Cooper had no mind to yield so fair a prize to an impecunious
+painter, a widower, and already forty-three years old. Morse was at this
+time experimenting with the telegraph instrument which was afterward to
+bring him wealth and such fame as an inventor as to overshadow his
+reputation as an artist.
+
+[Illustration: OTSEGO HALL]
+
+The Cooper Grounds, now kept as a public park by the Clark Estate,
+include the property that belonged to Fenimore Cooper. Otsego Hall,
+which was destroyed by fire in 1852, after the novelist's death, must
+be imagined at the centre of the grounds, where its outward appearance,
+as well as the arrangement of its interior, may be reconstructed by the
+fancy from the wooden model made from a design by G. Pomeroy Keese, and
+now to be seen in the village museum. Cooper's favorite garden-seat
+exists in facsimile in its original situation at the southeast corner of
+the grounds.
+
+When in 1834 the old mansion of the founder of Cooperstown began once
+more to be occupied it was a matter of great interest to the people of
+the village. Many of them well remembered Fenimore Cooper and his bride
+when, twenty years before, they had lived at Fenimore. They recalled the
+former resident as James Cooper, for it was not until 1826 that he
+adopted the middle name, in compliance with a request which his mother
+had made that he should use her family name.[103] Twenty years had made
+many changes in Cooperstown, and there was a large proportion of
+residents who knew Fenimore Cooper only from his writings and by
+reputation. Therefore when he came back to dwell in the home of his
+youth he was regarded by many almost as a newcomer in the neighborhood,
+and to his family as well as to himself a rather cautious welcome was
+given. It had to be admitted at the outset that the changes which
+Fenimore Cooper made in Otsego Hall were disapproved by some of the
+villagers. They did not like the foreign air which the old house now
+began to give itself with its battlements and gothic elaborations. Here
+was the first muttering of the storm that clouded the later years of
+Fenimore Cooper.
+
+[Illustration: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER]
+
+Cooper's personal appearance was in accord with the strong individuality
+of his character. He was of massive, compact form, six feet in height,
+over two hundred pounds in weight and rather portly in later years, of
+firm and aristocratic bearing, a commanding figure: "a very castle of a
+man" was the phrase which Washington Irving applied to him. The
+bust[104] made by David d'Angers in Paris in 1828 gives to Cooper a
+classic splendor of head and countenance which is in agreement with the
+impression produced upon those who well remembered him. He had a full,
+expansive forehead, strong features, florid complexion, a mouth firm
+without harshness, and clear gray eyes. His head, which was set firmly
+and proudly upon giant shoulders, had a peculiar and incessant
+oscillating motion. His expressive eyes also were singularly volatile in
+their movement--seldom at perfect rest. He was always clean shaven, so
+that nothing was lost of the changes of expression which animated his
+mobile face in conversation. He had a hearty way of meeting men, a
+little bustling, and an emphatic frankness of manner which Bryant says
+startled him at first, but which he came at last to like and to admire.
+Cooper was a great talker. His voice was agreeably sonorous. He talked
+well, and with infinite resource. He could dash into animated
+conversation on almost any subject, and was not slow to express decided
+opinions, in which at times he almost demanded acquiescence. His
+earnestness was often mistaken for brusqueness and violence; "for," says
+Lounsbury,[105] "he was, in some measure, of that class of men who
+appear to be excited when they are only interested." He created a strong
+impression of vigor, intelligence, impulsiveness, vivacity, and
+manliness.
+
+When walking Cooper usually carried a stick, but never for support. In
+his last years he carried a small, slender walking stick of polished
+wood, having a curved handle, and too short for any purpose but to
+flourish in the hands. As he walked briskly along the village street,
+erect, and with expanded chest, this slender stick was often held
+horizontally across his back with his arms skewered behind it, while at
+his heels a pet dog trotted, a little black mongrel called "Frisk." In
+returning from the walk which proved to be his last he stopped at
+Edgewater, then the home of his niece, and, on leaving, forgot to take
+his stick. There it has remained, through the years that have passed
+since his death, just as he left it, hanging by its curved handle from a
+shelf of one of the bookcases in the library.
+
+During this residence in Cooperstown Fenimore Cooper wrote some twenty
+of his novels, his _Naval History_, the _Chronicles of Cooperstown_,
+besides many sketches of travel and articles contributed to magazines.
+This prodigious amount of writing, together with many other activities,
+made his life a full one. He rose early, and a considerable portion of
+his writing was accomplished before breakfast. In summer hardly a day
+passed without a visit to the Chalet farm, on the east side of the lake,
+where he sought relaxation from his mental labors. Accordingly, at
+about eleven o'clock he might be seen issuing from the gate of his
+residence in a wagon, driving a tall sorrel horse named Pumpkin. This
+animal was ill suited to the dignity of his driver. He had a singularity
+of gait which consisted in occasionally going on three legs, and at
+times elevating both hind legs in a manner rather amusing than alarming;
+often he persisted in backing when urged to go forward, and always his
+emotions were expressed by the switching of his very light wisp of a
+tail. Mrs. Cooper was most frequently Mr. Cooper's companion on these
+daily excursions, although often the eldest daughter took the place in
+the vehicle by her father's side.
+
+[Illustration: THE CHALET]
+
+In the late afternoon Cooper usually devoted some time to the
+composition of his novels, without touching pen to paper. It was his
+custom to work out the scenes of his stories while promenading the large
+hall of his home. Here he paced to and fro in the twilight of the
+afternoon, his hands crossed behind his back, his brow carrying the
+impression of deep thought. He nodded vigorously from time to time, and
+muttered to himself, inventing and carrying on the conversation of his
+various imaginary characters. After the evening meal he put work aside,
+and passed the time with the family, sometimes reading, often in a game
+of chess with Mrs. Cooper, whom, ever since their wedding day, when they
+played chess between the ceremony and supper, he had fondly called his
+"check-mate." He never smoked, and seldom drank beyond a glass of wine
+which he took with his dinner.
+
+[Illustration: THE NOVELIST'S LIBRARY
+
+From a drawing by G. Pomeroy Keese]
+
+In the early morning, when Cooper shut himself in the library, he set
+down on paper in its final form the portion of narrative that he had
+worked out while pacing the hall the previous afternoon. The library
+opened from the main hall, and occupied the southwestern corner of the
+house. It was lighted by tall, deeply-recessed windows, against which
+the branches of the evergreens outside flung their waving shadows. The
+wainscoting was of dark oak, and the sombre bookcases that lined the
+walls were of the same material. A large fireplace occupied the space
+between the two western windows. Across the room stood a folding
+screen[106] upon which had been pasted a collection of engravings
+representing scenes known to the family during their tour and residence
+in Europe, together with a number of notes and autographs from persons
+of distinction. Attached to the top of one of the bookcases was a huge
+pair of antlers[107] holding in their embrace a calabash from the
+southern seas.
+
+The table at which the novelist sat once belonged to his maternal
+grandfather, Richard Fenimore, and had been brought by Judge Cooper from
+Burlington at the settlement of Cooperstown. It was a plain one of
+English walnut, and the chair in which he sat was of the same material.
+Cooper wrote rapidly, in a fine, small, clear hand, upon large sheets of
+foolscap, and seldom made an erasure. No company was permitted in the
+room while he was writing except an Angora cat who was allowed to bound
+upon the desk without rebuke, or even to perch upon the author's
+shoulders. Here the cat settled down contentedly, and with half-shut
+eyes watched the steady driving of the quill across the paper.
+
+[Illustration: A PAGE OF COOPER'S MANUSCRIPT
+
+(Two-fifths of actual size)]
+
+Among the many books written in this library _The Deerslayer_ brought
+the greatest fame to Cooperstown, for it peopled the shores of Otsego
+Lake with the creatures of Cooper's fancy, and added to the natural
+beauty of its scenery the glamour of romance. The idea of writing this
+story came to Fenimore Cooper on a summer afternoon as he drove from the
+Chalet homeward in his farm wagon, with his favorite daughter by his
+side, along the shaded road on the east shore of the lake. He was
+singing cheerily, for, although no musician, often he sang snatches of
+familiar songs that had struck his fancy, and above the rumbling of the
+wagon his booming voice frequently was heard along the road in a sudden
+burst of "Scots, wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled!" or Moore's "Love's Young
+Dream"--always especial favorites with him. On this occasion, however,
+it was a political song that he was singing, a ditty then popular during
+the campaign of 1840 in the party opposed to his own. Suddenly he
+paused, as an opening in the woods revealed a charming view of the lake.
+His spirited gray eye rested a moment on the water, with an expression
+of abstracted poetical thought, familiar to those who lived with him;
+then, turning to the companion at his side, he exclaimed: "I must write
+one more book, dearie, about our little lake!" Again his eye rested on
+the water and wooded shores with the far-seeing look of one who already
+had a vision of living figures and dusky forms moving amid the quiet
+scene. A moment of silence followed. Then Fenimore Cooper cracked his
+whip, resumed his song, with some careless chat on incidents of the day,
+and drove homeward. Not long afterward he shut himself in his library,
+and the first pages of _The Deerslayer_ were written.[108]
+
+There were perhaps many in the village who felt honored in being
+neighbor to a novelist of international fame. But the general sentiment
+toward Fenimore Cooper in his home town was not altogether created by
+his success as a writer. It may be that the aged Miss Nancy Williams,
+who lived in the house which still stands on Main Street next east of
+the Second National Bank, was not alone in her estimate of this kind of
+success. Her favorite seat was at a front window where she was daily
+occupied in knitting, and watching all passers-by. Whenever Fenimore
+Cooper passed, whom she had known as a boy, Miss Williams called out to
+him: "James, why don't you stop wasting your time writing those silly
+novels, and try to make something of yourself!"
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+THE HOME OF NANCY WILLIAMS]
+
+Whatever may have been the village estimate of his fame as a novelist,
+there were certain personal traits in Cooper that went farther than
+anything he ever wrote to fix the esteem of his fellow citizens. Among
+acquaintances whom he admitted as his social equals he was universally
+beloved; to these he showed all the charm and fascination of a gracious
+personality and brilliant mind. The more intimately Cooper was
+approached the more unreservedly he was admired, and within his own
+family he was almost adored. In the humbler walks of life those who
+habitually recognized Cooper as a superior had nothing to complain of.
+But there were many in Cooperstown who had no warmth of feeling toward
+Fenimore Cooper. They were quick to detect in him an attitude of
+contemptuous superiority toward the villagers. Some of the neighbors
+felt that he willingly remained a stranger to them. When he passed along
+the street without seeing people who expected a greeting from him, his
+friends averred that it was because his mind, abstracted from present
+scenes and passers-by, was engaged in the dramatic development of some
+tale of sea or forest. But those who felt snubbed by his indifference
+were less charitable in their interpretation of his bearing toward them.
+Cooper had been for seven years a lion in Europe, splendidly entertained
+by the Princess Galitzin in Paris, where he was overwhelmed with
+invitations from counts and countesses; dining at Holland House in
+London with Lord and Lady Holland; a guest of honor at a ball given by a
+prince in Rome; presented at the brilliant Tuscan court at Florence, for
+which occasion he was decked in lace frills and ruff, with dress hat and
+sword;--such incidents of his foreign life began to be mentioned to
+account for Cooper's disinclination to encourage familiar acquaintance
+with the villagers of Cooperstown.
+
+Cooper himself was entirely unconscious of any arrogance in his
+attitude, and when, in connection with the later controversies, it came
+to his knowledge that some villagers accused him of posing as an
+aristocrat in Cooperstown, he resented the imputation with some
+bitterness. "In this part of the world," he said, "it is thought
+aristocratic not to frequent taverns, and lounge at corners, squirting
+tobacco juice."[109] Cooper was strongly democratic in his convictions,
+and was so far from having been a toady during his residence in Europe
+that he had made enemies in aristocratic circles abroad by his fearless
+championship of republican institutions. At the same time he was
+fastidiously undemocratic in many of his tastes. It is a keen
+observation of Lounsbury's that Cooper "was an aristocrat in feeling,
+and a democrat by conviction." His recognition of the worth of true
+manhood, entirely apart from rank and social refinement, is shown in the
+noble character of Leather-Stocking. Yet the manners and customs of
+uncultivated people in real life were most offensive to his squeamish
+taste, and much of his concern for the welfare of his countrymen had to
+do with their neglect of the decencies and amenities of social
+behaviour.
+
+More than half a century after his death there were some living in
+Cooperstown who frequently related their childhood memories of Fenimore
+Cooper. His tendency to lecture the neighbors on their manners was
+burned into the memory of a child who, as she sat on her doorstep, was
+engaged with the novelist in pleasant conversation, until he spied a
+ring that she was wearing upon the third finger of her left hand. This
+he made the text of a solemn declaration upon the impropriety of wearing
+falsely the symbol of a sacred relationship. The lesson intended was
+probably sensible and wholesome, but the effect produced upon the child
+was a terror of Fenimore Cooper which lasted as long as life. On the
+other hand, one who was a slip of a girl at the time used afterward to
+boast that Fenimore Cooper had opened a gate for her when she was riding
+horseback, and stood hat in hand while she passed through.
+
+Allowance must be made for a somewhat distorted perspective in the
+impression produced by Cooper upon the memories of not a few children,
+for, judging from their reminiscences, the Garden of Eden was not more
+inviting than his, nor its fruits more to be desired, nor was the angel
+with the flaming sword more terribly vigilant than Fenimore Cooper in
+guarding the trees from unholy hands. The glimpses of the novelist most
+vividly remembered by these youngsters relate to attempted invasions of
+the orchard near his house, and their furious repulse by the irascible
+owner, who charged upon the trespassers with loud objurgations and a
+flourishing stick. One who picked a rose without permission long
+remembered the "awful lecture" that Cooper gave her, and how he said,
+"It is just as bad to take my flowers as to steal my money."[110]
+
+Among the children of his own friends there was quite a different
+opinion of Cooper. Elihu Phinney, who was a playmate of the novelist's
+son Paul, and a frequent guest at Otsego Hall, had an intense admiration
+for the author of the _Leather-Stocking Tales_, although he long
+remembered a lesson in table manners, by which, on one of these visits,
+his host had startled him. At dinner young Elihu passed his plate with
+knife and fork upon it for a second supply, when from the head of the
+table came this reprimand: "My boy, never leave your implements on the
+plate. You might drop knife or fork in a lady's lap. Take them both
+firmly in your left hand, and hold them until your plate is returned."
+Half a century afterward Elihu Phinney declared that whatever the ruling
+of etiquette might be in this matter, he had never since failed to heed
+this bit of advice from Fenimore Cooper. Mrs. Stephen H. Synnott, wife
+of a one-time rector of Christ Church in Cooperstown, remembered Cooper
+as a genuine lover of children. She was Alice Trumbull Worthington, and
+during the novelist's latter years she lived as a child in the White
+House on Main Street, nearest neighbor to Otsego Hall. "To meet Fenimore
+Cooper on the street in the village was always a pleasure," says Mrs.
+Synnott. "His eye twinkled, his face beamed, and his cane pointed at
+you with a smile and a greeting of some forthcoming humor. When I
+happened to be passing the gates of the old Hall, and he and Mrs. Cooper
+were driving home from his farm, I often ran to open the gate for him,
+which trifling act he acknowledged with old-time courtesy. His fine
+garden joined my father's, and once, being in the vicinity of the fence,
+he tossed me several muskmelons to catch, which at that time were quite
+rare in the village gardens."
+
+To this same little girl, when she had sent him an appreciation of one
+of his novels, Fenimore Cooper wrote a letter that certainly shows a
+benignant attitude toward children. "I am so much accustomed to
+newspapers," he wrote, "that their censure and their praise pass but for
+little, but the attentions of a young lady of your tender years to an
+old man who is old enough to be her grandfather are not so easily
+overlooked.... I hope that you and I and John will have an opportunity
+of visiting the blackberry bushes, next summer, in company. I now invite
+you to select your party, to be composed of as many little girls, and
+little boys, too, if you can find those you like, to go to my farm next
+summer, and spend an hour or two in finding berries. It shall be your
+party, and the invitations must go out in your name, and you must speak
+to me about it, in order that I may not forget it, and you can have your
+school if you like or any one else. I shall ask only one guest myself,
+and that will be John,[111] who knows the road, having been there once
+already."
+
+Another child who found Fenimore Cooper a most genial friend was
+Caroline A. Foote, who afterward became Mrs. G. Pomeroy Keese. She was a
+frequent visitor at Otsego Hall, where the novelist made much of her,
+and when she was thirteen years old he wrote some original verses in her
+autograph album, at her request, concluding with these lines:
+
+     In after life, when thou shalt grow
+       To womanhood, and learn to feel
+     The tenderness the aged know
+       To guide their children's weal,
+     Then wilt thou bless with bended knee
+     Some smiling child as I bless thee.
+
+Encouraged by this success, Caroline Foote afterward asked Cooper to
+write some verses for her schoolmate, Julia Bryant, daughter of William
+Cullen Bryant, who was a warm friend of the novelist. With his young
+petitioner by his side Cooper sat at the old desk in the library of
+Otsego Hall and laughingly dashed off these lines:
+
+     Charming young lady, Miss Julia by name,
+       Your friend, little Cally, your wishes proclaim;
+     Read this, and you'll soon learn to know it,
+       I'm not your papa the great lyric poet.
+
+In order to understand the local controversy which divided village
+sentiment concerning Fenimore Cooper, and gave rise to the long series
+of libel suits, it is necessary to consider certain influences of more
+remote origin.
+
+In 1826, when Cooper began his seven years' residence in Europe, before
+making his home in Cooperstown, he had become the most widely read of
+American authors. No other American writer, in fact, during the
+nineteenth century, enjoyed so wide a contemporary popularity. His works
+appeared simultaneously in America, England, and France. They were
+speedily translated into German and Italian, and in most instances soon
+found their way into the other cultivated tongues of Europe.[112]
+Cooper's friend Morse said that his novels were published, as soon as he
+produced them, in thirty-four different places in Europe, and that they
+had been seen by American travelers in the languages of Turkey and
+Persia, in Constantinople, in Egypt, at Jerusalem, at Ispahan. At a
+dinner given in New York in Cooper's honor, just before his departure
+for Europe, Chancellor Kent, who presided, voiced the general feeling by
+toasting him as the "genius which has rendered our native soil classic
+ground, and given to our early history the enchantment of fiction."
+
+Patriotism in Cooper was almost a passion, and it burned in him with new
+ardor because of the misunderstanding and disparagement of America which
+he encountered almost everywhere in Europe. The praise which came to him
+from Europeans irritated him with its air of surprise that anything good
+could be expected from America or an American. Nor did he much
+ingratiate himself in British society, where, when the conversation
+turned upon matters discreditable to the United States, it became his
+custom to bring up other matters discreditable to Great Britain. On the
+Continent he pursued much the same course, and published his first
+"novels with a purpose," _The Bravo_, _The Heidenmauer_, and _The
+Headsman_, the object of which was to demonstrate the superiority of
+democratic institutions over the medieval inheritances of Europe. In his
+introduction to _The Heidenmauer_ he wrote a sentence that stirred the
+wrath of the newspaper press of his own country: "Each hour, as life
+advances," he asserted, "am I made to see how capricious and vulgar is
+the immortality conferred by a newspaper." This provoked at home the
+retort "The press has built him up; the press shall pull him down!" He
+began to be bitterly attacked in some American newspapers, which accused
+him of "flouting his Americanism throughout Europe."
+
+When Cooper returned to America in 1833 it was with a sore heart. He had
+tried to set Europe right about America, and the result had been only to
+arouse resentment abroad and antagonism at home. It is not surprising
+that he found America much changed in seven years, and not for the
+better. It had been a period of rapid growth. New men were beginning to
+push the "old families" to the wall, and social rank was beginning to
+wait on wealth, in utter indifference to the classifications of the
+elder aristocracy. To Cooper it seemed that while America had grown in
+his absence there had been a vast expansion of mediocrity. Manners were
+dying out; architecture had become debased; towns were larger but more
+tawdry. In these observations, although they were furiously resented at
+the time, Cooper was probably correct. There was a period of about fifty
+years in the nineteenth century, when, in the development of material
+resources, there was a large indifference to manners in America, and a
+decline in the love for beautiful things and in the power to create
+them. This period of neglect toward the refinements of life set in at
+just about the time of Cooper's residence abroad.
+
+But America, in this awkward age of its youthful growth, was in no mood
+either to profit by criticisms or to be indifferent to them. Cooper
+began to regard the attitude of Americans as pusillanimous. They toadied
+to foreign opinion, and dared not stand up for America abroad; while at
+home nothing American was ever to be criticised. When he expressed the
+opinion that the bay of Naples was more beautiful than the bay of New
+York, or complained that the streets of New York were ill-paved and
+poorly lighted as compared with those of foreign cities, he was informed
+by the hushed voices of friends that it would never do. His criticisms
+of America were received with deeper umbrage, as coming from an
+American, than the sarcasms of Dickens which, ten years later, aroused a
+tempest of indignation.
+
+It was in these circumstances that he returned to the village of his
+youth, and took up his residence at Otsego Hall, in Cooperstown. Here he
+wrote the _Letter to His Countrymen_ in which he set out to answer
+certain criticisms of his writings that had appeared in New York
+newspapers, and, in apparent disgust, publicly announced that he had
+made up his mind to abandon authorship. Into this letter he imported
+some remarks upon a political controversy which was then agitating the
+nation, and touched the political situation in such a way, at a time
+when feeling ran high, that he succeeded in enraging the adherents of
+both political parties.
+
+A storm of newspaper abuse then fell upon Cooper. He was not the man to
+realize that, in controversy, silence is sometimes the most effective
+weapon. He replied to every attack. Nor did he remain on the defensive.
+He began new hostilities. He abandoned his resolution to abandon
+authorship. _The Monikins_, a satirical novel in which men are
+burlesqued by monkeys, was published in 1835. In the ten volumes of
+travel published from 1836 to 1838 he dealt out occasional criticisms of
+both England and America with so impartial a hand that he drew down upon
+himself the savage vituperation of the press on both sides of the
+Atlantic. Then came the period during which, from being the most popular
+American author, he became the most unpopular man of letters to whom the
+nation has ever given birth. "For years," says Lounsbury, "a storm of
+abuse fell upon him, which for violence, for virulence, and even for
+malignity, surpassed anything in the history of American literature, if
+not in the history of literature itself."
+
+[Illustration: THREE-MILE POINT]
+
+On the western shore of Otsego Lake there is a low, wooded tongue of
+land which projects for a short distance into the water, and is called,
+in reference to its distance from Cooperstown, Three-Mile Point. This
+has been a favorite resort for picnics and other outings of villagers
+since 1822. When Fenimore Cooper took up his residence in the village in
+1834, after his return from Europe, he found that the free use of
+Three-Mile Point by the public had given rise to the notion that it was
+owned by the community. This impression he took pains to correct, saying
+that while he had no desire to prevent the public from resorting to the
+Point, he wished it clearly understood that it was owned by the
+descendants of Judge William Cooper, of whose will he was executor. A
+defiant attitude toward his claim, and the destruction of a tree at
+Three-Mile Point afterward led Cooper to publish in the _Freeman's
+Journal_ the following warning:
+
+     The public is warned against trespassing on the Three-Mile
+     Point, it being the intention of the subscriber rigidly to
+     enforce the title of the estate, of which he is the
+     representative, to the same. The public has not, nor has it
+     ever had any right to the same beyond what has been conceded
+     by the liberality of the owners. J. FENIMORE COOPER.
+
+Immediately upon the publication of this notice, a handbill was put into
+circulation, which, in sarcastic terms, called for a public meeting of
+protest. "The citizens of the Village of Cooperstown," it ran, "are
+requested to meet at the Inn of Isaac Lewis, in said Village, this
+evening, at 7 o'clock, to take means to meet, and defend against the
+arrogant pretensions of one James Fenimore Cooper, claiming title to the
+'Three-Mile Point,' and denying to the citizens the right of using the
+same, as they have been accustomed to from time immemorial, without
+being indebted to the LIBERALITY of any one man, whether native
+or foreigner."
+
+[Illustration: THE CALL FOR THE INDIGNATION MEETING
+
+From original printer's proof: one-half actual size.]
+
+The meeting was held, and stirring speeches were made. A series of
+resolutions was passed, following a preamble setting forth the facts as
+understood by the meeting of citizens:
+
+     Resolved, By the aforesaid citizens that we will wholly
+     disregard the notice given by James F. Cooper, forbidding the
+     public to frequent the Three-Mile Point.
+
+     Resolved, That inasmuch as it is well known that the late
+     William Cooper intended the use of the Point in question for
+     the citizens of this village and its vicinity, we deem it no
+     more than a proper respect for the memory and intentions of
+     the father, that the son should recognize the claim of the
+     citizens to the use of the premises, even had he the power to
+     deny it.
+
+     Resolved, That we will hold his threat to enforce title to the
+     premises, as we do his whole conduct in relation to the
+     matter, in perfect contempt.
+
+     Resolved, That the language and conduct of Cooper, in his
+     attempts to procure acknowledgments of "liberality," and his
+     attempt to force the citizens into asking his permission to
+     use the premises, has been such as to render himself odious to
+     a greater portion of the citizens of this community.
+
+     Resolved, That we do recommend and request the trustees of the
+     Franklin Library, in this village, to remove all books, of
+     which Cooper is the author, from said library.
+
+     Resolved also, That we will and do denounce any man as
+     sycophant, who has, or shall, ask permission of James F.
+     Cooper to visit the Point in question.
+
+It was said that the meeting resolved to take Cooper's books from the
+Library and burn them at a public bonfire, but if so, this proposal did
+not appear in the resolutions as finally drafted.
+
+The actual point at issue in this controversy was soon settled. In a
+letter to the _Freeman's Journal_ Cooper showed that his father's will,
+drawn up in 1808, made a particular devise of Three-Mile Point. The
+words of the document were explicit: "I give and bequeath my place,
+called Myrtle Grove [Three-Mile Point], on the west side of the Lake
+Otsego, to all my descendants in common until the year 1850; then to be
+inherited by the youngest thereof bearing my name."
+
+But the results of the controversy were far-reaching. The quarrel gave
+rise to Cooper's unfortunate book _Home as Found_, to new controversies,
+and to the long series of libel suits.
+
+_Home as Found_ was intended to set forth in the course of a story the
+principles involved in the dispute about Three-Mile Point. It gave the
+author an opportunity also to enlarge upon his criticisms of America,
+and particularly of New York City. For this purpose the story brought
+upon the scene an American family long resident in Europe whom the
+writer called the Effinghams. Against the vulgar background of American
+life the members of this family were intended to personify all the
+accomplishments of culture and social refinement.
+
+Cooper's own attitude was astonishing in his failure to realize that in
+the Effinghams he would be supposed to be representing himself and his
+own family. The intimation was sufficiently obvious. The family returned
+from residence abroad; the removal to the village of "Templeton," with
+direct reference to _The Pioneers_; the story of the Three-Mile Point
+controversy--the inference seemed to follow from the parallel that the
+Effinghams were the Coopers. But Cooper's general unwillingness to
+acknowledge that any of his characters were drawn from life was here
+carried to the last extreme. It was evident that he was honestly
+unconscious of any such inference; his purpose was to deal with
+principles, not persons. When the name of Effingham was derisively
+applied to him, he resented the imputation.
+
+The controversy between Cooper and his critics had now reached a degree
+of violence that was grotesque. To stand alone, as Cooper stood, against
+furious assaults that represented the sentiments of nearly the whole
+public was not conducive to playful moods of the spirit; yet the
+controversy had its humorous side, and if the novelist had had a keen
+sense of humor he would have been spared much trouble. Certain aspects
+of the ludicrous appealed to Cooper, and there was a range of absurdity
+within which his merriment was easily excited, as when he laughed until
+the tears ran down his cheeks because his man-of-all-work thought that
+boiled oil should be called "biled ile"; but his attempts to create and
+sustain humorous characters, such as the singing-master in _The Last of
+the Mohicans_, justify Balzac's comments on Cooper's "profound and
+radical impotence for the comic." Nothing could be more comic than his
+role of lecturer to the American people upon refinements of social usage
+and manners. The many who were guilty of the vulgarities which he wished
+to correct were precisely those who could not be made to see the
+impropriety of them, and most fiercely resented any attempt to improve
+their deportment. If Cooper had possessed an acute sense of humor he
+would never have written _Home as Found_, nor would he have dignified
+with a reply the attack of every scribbler who assailed him. But he took
+all criticisms seriously, and felt it a solemn duty, in justice to
+himself and to the principles for which he stood, to defend himself
+against all and sundry. There is no doubt that in standing alone against
+the whole world he believed himself to be performing a public service,
+and displayed a degree of courage which is too rare not to command
+extraordinary admiration. At the same time those of his friends who
+described him as borne down by the weight of his sorrow at the
+misunderstanding and ingratitude which he encountered had not taken the
+full measure of his character. So splendid a fighter as Fenimore Cooper
+usually finds some pleasure in fighting, especially if, as in his case,
+he is habitually victorious. He leaped into the fray of each controversy
+with such alacrity that it is difficult to avoid the belief that Cooper
+was animated not only by a sense of justice, but by a joy of battle.
+
+The occasion of the libel suits was the publication in August, 1837, in
+the _Otsego Republican_, a Cooperstown newspaper, of an article copied
+from the _Norwich Telegraph_, in which Cooper was roundly abused in
+reference to the Three-Mile Point controversy, and to which the
+_Republican_ added comments of its own, repeating the disproved
+statement that the father of the novelist had reserved the Point for the
+use of the inhabitants of the village. Cooper promptly notified the
+editor of the _Republican_, Andrew M. Barber, that unless the statements
+were retracted he would enter suit for libel. Barber refused to retract;
+the suit was begun; and in May, 1839, at the final trial, the jury
+returned a verdict of four hundred dollars for the plaintiff. The
+editor sought to avoid the payment of the whole award, and a great
+outcry was raised against Cooper because the sheriff levied upon some
+money which Barber had laid away and locked up in a trunk. Cooper sued
+also the _Norwich Telegraph_, and when other newspapers took the side of
+their associates he entered suit promptly against any that published
+libelous statements. In this way one suit led to another, until Cooper
+was bringing action against the _Oneida Whig_, published at Utica; the
+_Courier and Enquirer_ of New York, edited by James Watson Webb; the
+_Evening Signal_ of New York, edited by Park Benjamin; the _Commercial
+Advertiser_ of New York, edited by Col. William L. Stone; the _Tribune_,
+edited by Horace Greeley; and the _Albany Evening Journal_, edited by
+Thurlow Weed. This list includes the leading Whig journals of the time
+in the State of New York, which were among the most influential in the
+whole country. Col. Stone, Thurlow Weed, and Watson Webb were former
+residents of Cooperstown, the two first named having each served an
+apprenticeship as printer in the office of the _Freeman's Journal_. Weed
+was recognized as the leader of the Whig party in the nation, and his
+newspaper was correspondingly important. He was Cooper's most persistent
+opponent, and in 1841 the novelist had commenced five suits against him
+for various articles published in the _Evening Journal_. It is a curious
+fact that Weed was noted as a bigoted admirer of his adversary's novels.
+Weed himself afterward related that when about to leave Albany by
+stage-coach to attend one of these trials, and inquiring at the
+booksellers for some late publication to read on the journey, he was
+informed that the only new book was _The Two Admirals_, which had just
+been issued. "I took the book," said Weed, "and soon became so absorbed
+that I had hardly any time or thought for the trial, through which the
+author who charmed me was trying to push me to the wall."
+
+The libel suits extended over the period from 1838 to 1844. Cooper acted
+almost wholly as his own lawyer, and argued his own cases in court. He
+was pitted against leaders of the bar in the greatest State in the
+Union. He had become personally unpopular, and was engaged in an
+unpopular cause. He won his verdicts from reluctant juries, but, in
+nearly every case, he won. The libel law of the State of New York was
+made, to a great extent, by the Fenimore Cooper cases.
+
+To complete the story, the final disposition of Three-Mile Point, the
+innocuous cause of all this controversy, must here be anticipated. In
+1899 Simon Uhlman, a wealthy hop merchant, purchased a summer home on
+the lakeside nearest to Three-Mile Point, and, desiring to acquire this
+tongue of land for his own use, made inquiries of Samuel M. Shaw, the
+veteran editor of the _Freeman's Journal_, to ascertain from whom the
+purchase might be made. Shaw learned from G. Pomeroy Keese that under
+the terms of Judge Cooper's will, the Point was then owned by William
+Cooper of Baltimore, and hastily arranged for the purchase at a
+moderate price, not for Uhlman, but for the village of Cooperstown. Thus
+Uhlman lost a desirable water front, and William Cooper a big price for
+his land, but the citizens of Cooperstown gained a playground, the
+denial of which to their forebears had nearly caused a riot. Uhlman
+afterward sold his place, Uncas Lodge, to Adolphus Busch of St. Louis.
+
+Cooper's reputation as an author suffered from his success as a litigant
+in an unpopular cause, and his prosecution of the libel suits injured
+the sale of his books, not only then, but for some years after his
+death. In 1844, just after Cooper had reduced the newspapers of the
+State to silence, Edward Everett Hale visited Cooperstown, and says that
+when he tried to buy a copy of _The Pioneers_ at a local bookseller's
+the dealer coolly declared that he had never heard of the book.[113]
+
+While public attention was engaged by the libel suits, Cooper was
+occupied with much else. It was during this period that he published his
+important _Naval History_, besides ten of his novels. Nor was there any
+loss of interest in his various avocations, among which, in 1840, he
+found time to plan and supervise extensive alterations in Christ Church,
+of which he had become a vestryman in 1835. With his mind full of the
+Gothic splendor of churches that he had seen in England, he set out to
+beautify the village church at home. The broad windows with rounded tops
+he caused to be somewhat narrowed, and pointed, in the fashion usually
+described as Gothic. Traces of this change still appear in the exterior
+brickwork of the church, for the outline of the original windows has
+never been obliterated. To this alteration Cooper added the buttresses
+all about the church, not for structural necessity, but as an
+architectural embellishment. The interior he caused to be entirely
+remodeled, and finished in native oak. Cooper especially prided himself
+upon an oaken screen which, as his gift to the church, he erected behind
+the altar. The alterations in the church are referred to in a letter
+dated "Hall, Cooperstown, April 22nd, 1840" and addressed to Harmanus
+Bleecker of Albany:
+
+     "I have just been revolutionizing Christ Church, Cooperstown,
+     not turning out a vestry, but converting its pine interior
+     into oak--_bona fide_ oak, and erecting a screen that I trust,
+     though it may have no influence on my soul, will carry my name
+     down to posterity. It is really a pretty thing--pure Gothic,
+     and is the wonder of the country round."
+
+This screen remained in the church, with some alteration, until 1891,
+when, at the time the chancel was built, it was unfortunately thrown out
+and not replaced. In 1910 the remnants of the old screen were
+reconstructed to fit the two archways that open into the church on
+either side of the chancel, and the panels of the original work were cut
+out, allowing a vista through the tracery. The screen that stands at the
+left hand as one faces the chancel is almost entirely of the original
+design and material.
+
+[Illustration: THE COOPER SCREENS IN CHRIST CHURCH]
+
+Amid his manifold interests, Fenimore Cooper at one time amused himself
+in the study of the so-called occult sciences. Having advocated with
+apparent enthusiasm a belief in animal magnetism and clairvoyance, he
+caused public meetings to be held in the old Court House in Cooperstown,
+where, evening after evening, the mysteries of hypnotism were discussed.
+On one of these occasions a negro, who had proved at several meetings to
+be an excellent subject, was hypnotized in the presence of the audience,
+and pronounced to be both clairvoyant and insensible to pain. While
+Cooper was descanting eloquently upon this strange phenomenon, the
+darkey, suddenly rolling up his eyeballs, and displaying all his ivory,
+sprung spasmodically into the air, and then tumbled back in his seat.
+This startling interruption of the lecture remained unexplained for many
+years, until Elihu Phinney, the young friend and neighbor of Fenimore
+Cooper, confessed to being responsible for it. It seems that, during the
+course of the lectures, Phinney had had an argument with Harvey Perkins
+concerning the possibility of a truly hypnotic state, which Perkins
+affirmed and Phinney denied. Perkins finally said:
+
+"So, you won't admit that the negro is rendered insensible to pain?"
+
+"Never, no, not for a moment," was the reply.
+
+"Well," said Perkins, "here is a darning needle four inches long. Take
+this with you to the lecture to-night, and at the first opportunity
+thrust it slyly for a full inch into his thigh. If he flinches, I will
+give up; if not, you will believe."
+
+"Most assuredly," said Phinney, and it was this test which caused the
+interruption of Fenimore Cooper's lecture on hypnotism.[114]
+
+In the summer of 1843, at about eleven o'clock every morning, Fenimore
+Cooper was seen coming forth from the gates of Otsego Hall escorting a
+strange-looking companion. The figures of the two men offered a singular
+contrast. Cooper, tall and portly, with the ruddy glow of health upon
+his countenance, was swinging a light whip of a cane more ornamental
+than useful, and stepped forward with a firm and elastic tread. The man
+by his side was a shriveled and weather-beaten hulk, hobbling, and with
+halting step pressing heavily upon a crooked stick that served for his
+support. Sometimes they walked the village streets together. At other
+times they came down upon the border of the lake for a sail upon its
+waters in a skiff which Cooper had rigged with a lug-sail in
+recollection of early Mediterranean days. Here the stranger was more at
+home, for the man was Ned Myers, an old sailor who had been Cooper's
+messmate on board the _Sterling_ nearly forty years before. The old
+salt, who had passed a lifetime on many seas, developed a great respect
+for Otsego Lake, which he found to be "a slippery place to navigate." "I
+thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw the Otsego," he
+afterward declared, "but on this lake it sometimes blew two or three
+different ways at the same time."
+
+It was a strange chance which renewed the acquaintance between Fenimore
+Cooper and Ned Myers. Their ways were long separated. Myers had
+continued to follow the sea, and became at last a derelict at the
+"Sailor's Snug Harbor" at the port of New York. Here it was that having
+read some of Cooper's sea tales it occurred to the old sailor that the
+author might be the young James Cooper whom he had known aboard the
+_Sterling_. Accordingly he wrote to the novelist at Cooperstown, seeking
+the desired information, and received in reply a cordial letter
+beginning with the words, "I am your old shipmate, Ned."
+
+On his next visit in New York, Cooper got into touch with Myers, and
+invited the old tar to spend several weeks of the summer as his guest at
+Otsego Hall in Cooperstown. The novelist had much in common with Ned
+Myers, for his own experience at sea was sufficient to qualify him as a
+sailor. "I have been myself," said Cooper, "one of eleven hands,
+officers included, to navigate a ship of three hundred tons across the
+Atlantic Ocean; and, what is more, we often reefed topsails with the
+watch." While in Cooperstown as the guest of the novelist the old sailor
+who had shipped on seventy-two different craft, and had passed a quarter
+of a century out of sight of land, spun the yarn of his experience which
+Cooper wove into the story of _Ned Myers_.
+
+It is remarkable that one whose writings evince so strong an orthodoxy
+of Christian faith, with a championship of churchly doctrines too rigid
+for many of his readers, did not himself become a communicant of the
+Church until the last year of his life. On Sunday, July 27, 1851, Bishop
+de Lancey visited Christ Church, Cooperstown, and among those to whom he
+administered the sacrament of Confirmation, in the presence of a large
+congregation, was his brother-in-law, James Fenimore Cooper. The
+novelist's family pew was one which stood sidelong at the right of the
+chancel. He had by this time become quite infirm, and the bishop, after
+receiving the other candidates at the sanctuary rail, left the chancel,
+and administered Confirmation to Fenimore Cooper kneeling in his own
+pew.
+
+[Illustration: _Alice Choate_
+
+AT FENIMORE COOPER'S GRAVE]
+
+Fenimore Cooper died less than two months later, on Sunday, September
+14, 1851, aged sixty-two years lacking one day. The body lay in state at
+Otsego Hall, and on Wednesday the funeral services were held in Christ
+Church, the interment being made in the Cooper plot in Christ
+churchyard. This grave, covered by the prostrate slab of marble marked
+by a cross, and bearing an inscription that sets forth nothing beyond
+the novelist's name, with dates of birth and death, has become a shrine
+of literary pilgrimage. The hurried tourist is disappointed in not being
+greeted by some conspicuous monument to beckon him at once to the famous
+tomb; but a more genuine tribute to the novelist's memory appears when
+the visitor's eye lights upon the path leading from the gate of the
+enclosure, and deeply worn in the sod by the feet of wayfarers in many a
+long journey, through the years, to Cooper's grave.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 102: _James Fenimore Cooper_, by Mary E. Phillips, p. 262.]
+
+[Footnote 103: In 1826 he applied to the legislature to change his name
+to James Cooper Fenimore, since there were no men of his mother's family
+to continue the name. The request was not granted, but the change was
+made to James Fenimore-Cooper. He soon dropped the hyphen.]
+
+[Footnote 104: Now in the hall at Fynmere, the home built in Cooperstown
+by the novelist's grandson, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany.]
+
+[Footnote 105: _James Fenimore Cooper_, by Thomas R. Lounsbury, American
+Men of Letters series, p. 80.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Now at Fynmere.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Now at Edgewater.]
+
+[Footnote 108: _Pages and Pictures_, Susan Fenimore Cooper, p. 322.]
+
+[Footnote 109: _James Fenimore Cooper_, W. B. Shubrick Clymer, p. 90.]
+
+[Footnote 110: Livermore, p. 204.]
+
+[Footnote 111: John Worthington, afterward United States Consul in
+Malta.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Lounsbury.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Cooperstown Centennial Book, p. 133.]
+
+[Footnote 114: _Reminiscences_, Elihu Phinney, 1890.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+MR. JUSTICE NELSON
+
+
+Samuel Nelson, LL.D., who became a resident of Cooperstown in 1824, made
+this village his home for nearly fifty years. At the time of his death
+in 1873, he had long been recognized not only as the first citizen of
+Cooperstown, but as a man of national reputation.
+
+Before taking up his residence in Cooperstown, Nelson had become judge
+of the Sixth circuit, which included Otsego county; in 1831 he was
+promoted to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, of which, six
+years later, he became chief justice. In 1845 he went upon the bench of
+the Supreme Court of the United States, and served with distinction
+until his voluntary retirement in 1872, which brought to a close the
+longest judicial career in history, covering a period of half a century.
+In 1871 Judge Nelson was one of five members representing the United
+States in the Joint High Commission appointed to devise means to settle
+differences between the American and British governments, and
+contributed not a little to bringing about the agreement which resulted
+in the Treaty of Washington.
+
+During this long public career, Judge Nelson retained his home in
+Cooperstown, where he was in residence much of the time. In that day the
+drift of successful men to the cities had not yet become a law of
+growth, and many a big man dwelt by choice in a small community. So it
+was with Judge Nelson, who, on retiring from the highest tribunal of the
+nation, could imagine nothing more grateful than to spend all his time
+in the village from which the pressure of judicial duty had kept him too
+much away.
+
+[Illustration: SAMUEL NELSON, LL.D.]
+
+Judge Nelson first became widely known in 1837, when he was appointed
+chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The court
+was then composed of three judges, whose principal duty it was to hear
+and decide questions of law. It was a judicial body of great dignity and
+learning, with a fame so illustrious that its decisions had long been
+cited as authority in Westminster Hall, and in all the States of the
+Union where the common law prevailed.
+
+In the Supreme Court of the United States, when he was promoted to that
+tribunal, and in the United States Circuit Courts, Judge Nelson was
+called upon to administer branches of law with which he was not in
+practice familiar, and some fears were expressed that these untried
+duties might cause him embarrassment. It was suggested that his long and
+severely critical administration of the common law, through its
+pleadings and practice, might have so educated him that he would fail in
+appreciating the more liberal and expansive systems of Equity, Maritime,
+Admiralty, and international jurisprudence administered in the national
+courts; and it was also thought improbable that a judge who had been
+early in professional life elevated to the bench of a common law court,
+would be able to explore and understand the complicated mechanical,
+chemical, and other scientific questions, which in Patent causes were
+constantly arising for exclusive adjudication in the federal courts.
+
+But these apprehensions were all disappointed. Judge Nelson had no
+sooner taken his seat on the bench of the Circuit Court in New York
+City,[115] than he perceived that the cases on the calendar, though few
+in number, were so complicated, and embraced so many intricate
+questions, that they must be mastered according to a method that his
+former experience did not furnish. He investigated every new question as
+it arose. He listened earnestly to the arguments of counsel, and ever
+seemed resolved, before they concluded, to understand the points on
+which the case must finally turn. Often he descended from the bench when
+complicated machinery, or specimens illustrative of science, or models
+of vessels intended to develop the relations of colliding ships, were
+before him, and by their close and repeated study strove to understand
+the real points in controversy.
+
+Thus Judge Nelson built up a sound knowledge of the principles and
+practice of every branch of law which he was called upon to administer.
+An appeal or writ of error from his decisions was seldom taken. So
+familiar did he become with the jurisprudence involved in the
+administration of the Patent laws of this country, so thoroughly did he
+investigate questions of science and mechanics, and so sound a judgment
+was he known to form on these subjects, that his opinions concerning
+them were by courts and counsel accepted as of greater authority than
+those of any other judge. For many years before the close of his labors
+at the Circuit, patentees felt that when he had judicially passed upon
+their rights they were substantially settled, and hence there came
+before him repeatedly from distant points cases involving the validity
+of the most valuable patents in the country, and to his decision the
+parties generally submitted without appeal. On questions of admiralty
+and maritime law also he came to be considered a great authority. In his
+later years he was so adept in reaching the essential points of
+complicated cases that he was generally credited with a marvellous
+faculty of intuition. He was not guided by any intuition, however, but
+by the results of his careful study and legal experience.
+
+In 1857 the Supreme Court of the United States rendered the famous Dred
+Scott decision, which became one of the contributory causes of the Civil
+War. Only two members of the court dissented. Justice Nelson concurred
+in the conclusion of Chief Justice Taney, who delivered the decision,
+dissenting on one point only, and adding that, in his opinion, the power
+of Congress could not be one-sided; if it existed to destroy slavery, it
+could also establish slavery.
+
+Judge Nelson had gained some acquaintance with slavery in his own home
+town, for, when first he took up his residence in Cooperstown, in 1824,
+there were a number of slaves in the village. Some of the earliest
+settlers had negroes in bondage. Among these was James Averell, Jr., who
+worked his tannery by slave labor. One of his slaves, known as Tom
+Bronk, was for many years well known in Cooperstown as the servant of
+the former owner's son, William Holt Averell, and lived to a great age.
+The clumsily written bill of sale by which Tom Bronk became the property
+of James Averell, Jr., is still in existence:
+
+     Know all men by these Presents, that I, George Henry
+     Livingston, of the town of Sharon, County of Schoharie and
+     State of New York, for and in Consideration of the Sum of
+     three hundred Dollars Lawful money of the State of New York to
+     me in hand paid by James Averill Jr of the town and County of
+     Otsego and State Aforesaid At or before the Sealing and
+     delivery of these Presents, the Receipt whereof, I the said
+     George Henry Livingston do hereby acknowledge, have granted,
+     bargained and sold, and by these presents, do grant, bargain
+     and sell, unto the said James Averill Jr, his Executors,
+     Administrators, and assigns, one negro man About thirty Six
+     years of age and known by the name of Tom to have and to hold
+     the said negro man Tom to the said James Averill Jr. his
+     Executors, Administrators, and assigns forever; and I the said
+     George Henry Livingston for myself, my heirs Executors, and
+     Administrators the Said negro man unto the said James Averill
+     Jr. his Executors, administrators, and assigns, against me the
+     said George Henry Livingston, my Executors, and
+     Administrators, and against all and every other person or
+     persons Whomsoever Shall and will warrent. And forever Defend
+     by these presents. And also warrent the said negro man to be
+     Sound and in health. According to the best of my knowledge in
+     witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seal the
+     Second Day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand
+     Eight hundred Fifteen.
+
+     Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
+       In Presence of
+     ZACHARIAH HUGER
+     KOERL VAN SCHAYCK
+     GEORGE X HENRY LIVINGSTON.
+         his mark
+
+A group of settlers who came from the Barbadoes brought with them
+slaves, who were afterward freed, and the tombstone of Joseph Stewart,
+in the Cooper family plot in Christ churchyard, emphasizes, in capital
+letters, the fact that, although born a slave, he was for twenty years a
+_free_ servant of Judge Cooper. These instances, and an advertisement in
+the _Otsego Herald_ in 1799, show that slavery was not uncommon here in
+the early days:
+
+     A YOUNG WENCH--_For Sale_--She is a good cook, and
+     ready at all kinds of housework. None can exceed her if she is
+     kept from liquor. She is 24 years of age--no husband nor
+     children. Price $200; inquire of the printer.
+
+The act which entirely abolished slavery in the State of New York did
+not take effect until July 4th, 1827, on which occasion about sixty
+Cooperstown negroes marched with a flying banner and martial music to
+the Presbyterian church, where Hayden Waters, a village darkey,
+delivered an address that was heard not only by his colored brethren,
+but by a large assemblage of white citizens.
+
+Justice Nelson's concurrence in the Dred Scott decision did not
+necessarily register his approval of slavery, but only his
+interpretation of the law as it then existed. He never owned any slaves,
+and was regarded by the negroes in Cooperstown as a powerful friend of
+their race. A favorite servant of his household for some years was a
+free negro named Jenny York, who had been a slave in her youth. She was
+a unique character, famous as a cook, having an unusually keen
+appreciation of a cook's perquisites. Choice provisions and delicacies
+disappeared through systematic dole at Judge Nelson's kitchen door, or
+sometimes being reserved against a holiday, reappeared to furnish a
+banquet in the servants' hall, to which Jenny's many dusky friends were
+bidden. The current story is that, when Jenny died, the negroes of the
+village chose for her grave an epitaph which, at their request, Judge
+Nelson caused to be inscribed upon her tomb exactly as they had worded
+it. This inscription may still be seen upon a tombstone that faces the
+street at the eastern end of Christ churchyard, in the part which was
+reserved for the burial of negroes. Jenny was sincerely mourned at the
+time of her death, but with the passing of the years no tears are shed
+at her grave but those of sympathetic laughter. A just appreciation of
+the delicate balance of mercy and justice in her unusual epitaph
+requires some definite knowledge of both the virtues and weaknesses of
+Jenny York. The enigmatical eulogy reads as follows:
+
+         JENNY YORK
+      DIED FEB. 22, 1837.
+        AET. 50 YEA.
+
+      *       *       *
+
+      SHE HAD HER FAULTS
+             BUT
+     WAS KIND TO THE POOR.
+
+When Nelson went upon the bench of the national Supreme Court he became
+acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas, who was then springing into
+prominence in Congress; and it was said that the "little giant" got much
+of the legal ammunition for his speeches from the new associate justice.
+More than once Justice Nelson was suggested as the Democratic candidate
+for President of the United States, and at the Democratic national
+convention held in Chicago during the Civil War Governor Horatio Seymour
+of New York attempted to carry his nomination. It was known, however,
+that Judge Nelson had declined to allow the use of his name, and had
+expressed the opinion that a justice of the federal supreme court never
+should be regarded as a possible candidate for political office. Nelson
+at this time was in many ways the strongest man on the bench of the
+Supreme Court, and Salmon P. Chase, who was appointed chief justice in
+1864, placed great reliance upon his advice and judgment. On one
+occasion at the table of John V. L. Pruyn in Albany, when his host
+addressed Chase as "Mr. Chief Justice," the latter pleasantly
+interrupted him--"Your friend Nelson is Chief Justice," he said.
+
+During the Civil War, although a member of the Democratic party, Justice
+Nelson won and retained the confidence of the party in power, and his
+loyalty was never questioned. He disapproved of what he held to be
+invasions of the rights of citizens which were made under military
+authority, but never by word or act obstructed the maintenance of the
+federal government. President Lincoln and Secretary Seward reposed
+great faith in Judge Nelson's wisdom, and in critical emergencies
+consulted him upon delicate questions of international law which arose
+during the progress of the war.
+
+An episode of the Civil War period in Cooperstown, although the truth of
+the matter was a state secret at the time, had a relation to Justice
+Nelson that is of interest in this connection. In a visit of the
+diplomatic corps from Washington the village enjoyed such memorable
+emotions of civic pride that the date of the event, the twenty-first of
+August, 1863, was long afterward referred to, by the oldest inhabitants,
+as "Cooperstown's great day."
+
+It was said that the entertainment of the legations at Cooperstown was
+included as part of an excursion through New York State which Secretary
+Seward had planned to impress upon foreign governments the strength and
+resources of the North.
+
+The party arrived from Sharon Springs, and had luncheon at the Inn at
+Five-Mile Point, on Otsego Lake. Secretary Seward's guests included Lord
+Lyons, of England; Baron Gerolt, of Prussia; M. Mercier, of France;
+Baron Stroeckel, of Russia; M. Tassara, of Spain; M. Molina, of
+Nicaragua; together with the representatives of Italy, Sweden, and
+Chili; and several secretaries and attaches of various legations. A few
+citizens of Cooperstown, including Judge Nelson, were invited to take
+luncheon with the visitors. The master of ceremonies was the Hon. Levi
+C. Turner of Cooperstown, who was at that time Judge advocate in the
+War Department, and had accompanied the party from Washington.
+
+The luncheon passed without incident, except that a weighty citizen of
+the village undertook to demonstrate, for the benefit of the foreigners,
+the American method of eating corn on the cob, to the great disgust of a
+dapper attache of the British legation, who was horrified by the
+performance. When the guests had left the table, which had been set
+beneath the trees, and were lounging about in peaceful enjoyment of the
+forest shade and lakeland view, there appeared upon the scene a person
+who impressed the foreigners as being a veritable pioneer. He was a
+tall, loose-jointed creature, bearded and long-haired; he wore a slouch
+hat and a hickory shirt, while one suspender supported blue jean
+overalls, which disappeared in a pair of cowhide boots of huge
+proportions. This uninvited guest calmly inspected the assembled
+company, drew near to the deserted tables, helped himself to a tumbler
+and a bottle of brandy, from which he poured out four fingers of the
+fiery liquid, and drank it raw. He seemed thoughtful for a moment; then
+repeated the dose. Thus agreeably stimulated the stranger made himself
+at home in the company, and became talkative.
+
+"I say," he said, bustling alongside the French minister, "you're goin'
+to stand right by us in this muss, ain't you?"
+
+The polite diplomat hastened to assure him that the French government
+desired nothing but the most friendly relations. The man drew nearer
+than was necessary for diplomatic intercourse:
+
+"Honor bright, now, and no foolin'?"
+
+The ambassador repeated his assurance of friendship, and edged away from
+the pioneer, whose gesticulations became alarming as he shouted,
+
+"You've got to, don't you see--"
+
+What he wanted the Frenchman to see was the power of the Union
+Government, and, as words failed him to describe it, the uninvited guest
+attempted to make visible, in his own person, the frightfulness of the
+god of War. He leaped into the air, flung his hat on the ground, struck
+a pugilistic attitude, and began to dance around the ambassador,
+squaring off with his fists, as though preparing a knockout blow for the
+French Republic. The two were quickly surrounded by a ring of diplomats
+and citizens of Cooperstown, the foreigners being doubtful whether the
+matter should be taken in jest or earnest, while the villagers were
+hesitating between enjoyment of the comedy and a sense of duty toward
+their guests. As for M. Mercier, he was aghast at the rudeness of the
+challenge. He folded his arms, drew himself up, shrugged his shoulders,
+puffed out his cheeks, and stared at the adversary with eyes aflame.
+
+Before the pugilistic stranger could execute his threats Judge Hezekiah
+Sturges of Cooperstown interposed his burly form; at a nod from him two
+muscular citizens of the village seized the invader by the back of the
+neck and the seat of his overalls, made him "walk Spanish" quickly to
+the shore, and heaved him into the lake.
+
+In the late afternoon the party of diplomats were conveyed by carriages
+to Cooperstown, where they became severally the guests of various
+citizens. The distinguished visitors were greeted by a salute of guns;
+while fireworks and bonfires were the order of the evening. The Fly
+Creek Band, accompanied by a large crowd of villagers, under the
+leadership of James I. Hendryx, serenaded the foreign ministers at their
+various places of sojourn, and speeches were called for, which were
+loudly applauded. Judge Turner's house, the old Campbell homestead,
+which stands on Lake Street, facing Chestnut Street, was first visited,
+for there William H. Seward, Secretary of State, was the guest of honor.
+The band played a waltz, and the crowd cheered. Judge Turner soon
+appeared, and introduced the Secretary of State, who made a brief
+speech. He said that the weather in Washington had become exasperatingly
+hot; matters of complex nature and of international importance had to be
+discussed; there was danger that he and the foreign minsters might
+become fretful and peevish; and so he had asked the entire diplomatic
+corps to take a vacation, and meanwhile affairs of State might go hang.
+
+The speech pleased the crowd. The band played another waltz, to the tune
+of which the procession marched through the main street and across the
+river to Woodside, where Lord Lyons, the British minister, was the guest
+of John F. Scott. Here the band played a third waltz, while hundreds of
+cheering men clambered up the terraced slope of the garden. Some one
+called for Lord Lyons, and the whole crowd took up the cry, "Lord Lyons!
+Lord Lyons!" This soon became "Lyons! Lyons!" although one enthusiastic
+Irishman of great vocal power kept crying, "Misther Lynes! Misther
+Lynes!"
+
+At this point the leader of the band was instructed to play "God Save
+the Queen," as a compliment to the guest of Woodside.
+
+"My heaven!" he whined, "we can't play nothing but three waltzes!"
+
+One of the waltzes was then repeated, and the host of Woodside appeared.
+He explained that Lord Lyons had been paying a visit across the river,
+but was expected to return at any moment. Just then Lord Lyons himself
+came hopping up the steps of the terrace, short, fat, lively, a man of
+talent, who soon recovered his breath, and made a speech that elicited
+hearty cheers.
+
+The Russian ambassador was the guest of Edward Clark at Apple Hill,
+where Fernleigh now stands. The diplomat had retired when the crowd of
+serenaders arrived, and was awakened by the blare of the band and loud
+demands for "a speech from the great Roosian bear!" The guest was
+assisted by his host to crawl through the window over the porch, in
+scanty raiment, to speak to the assembled citizens. At the residence of
+Jedediah P. Sill, which stands on Chestnut Street next to the Methodist
+parsonage, the Italian ambassador received the crowd with bows and
+smiles.
+
+Similar visits were paid at the places of sojourn of the other
+representatives of foreign powers; but the most uproarious assembly was
+that which gathered before the home of George L. Bowne, where the
+Spanish ambassador was being entertained. This house stands on the west
+side of Chestnut Street, next south of Willow Brook, which here ducks
+beneath a culvert to cross the highway.
+
+The representative of the Queen of Spain had only a limited knowledge of
+the English language, but what he lacked in vocabulary he made up in
+gestures, shrugging his shoulders up to his ears.
+
+"Gentlemen," he began, "you will excuse me from a speech. In my country,
+we, the nobility, do not make speeches to the common people."--(Vigorous
+cheers greeted this statement, and Judge Turner, who stood near the
+speaker, remarked, "True, every word.") "I the English language not well
+do speak,"--("Go on, go on; you're a daisy, that's what you are," cried
+voices from the crowd, while Judge Turner kept saying with judicial
+gravity, "Every word true.") At this point the Spaniard became
+incoherent, but, although nobody could understand a word, wild cheers
+greeted him at every pause in his discourse. He let loose a flood of
+eloquence, which being consistently endorsed by Judge Turner, was
+applauded until the speaker stopped from sheer exhaustion.[116]
+
+It was long after midnight when the last speech had been made and the
+crowds dispersed.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOME OF JUSTICE NELSON]
+
+A pair of small boys, who had made the occasion an excuse for staying
+out a good part of the warm summer night, passed Justice Nelson's
+residence on Main Street, as they strolled homeward, and noticed that
+here a light was still burning. The deserted street was feebly lit by a
+few gas lamps, but the other houses in the neighborhood were dark, and
+the boys were attracted as moths to a flame by the glimmering through
+the blinds of Judge Nelson's windows. The lighted room was the one on
+the ground floor at the right of the doorway. Because of the warmth of
+the night, the window-sashes had been raised, and the curtains drawn
+back, so that the interior of the room was screened from passers-by only
+by the closed slats of the blinds. These were temptingly near to the
+sidewalk, and the young imps, standing on tiptoe, did not hesitate, when
+they had discovered a chink between the slats, to peek into the
+apartment.
+
+They saw a room lined with rows of books bound in law-calf, for it was
+Judge Nelson's library. In the midst a student's lamp shed a mellow
+light upon the usual paraphernalia of a lawyer's desk, and dimly
+illuminated the features of two men who sat facing each other across the
+table. The large form, massive head, and long gray hair of Judge Nelson,
+who sat with his back to the fireplace, were instantly recognized by the
+peering eyes at the window. The man who faced him was of a different
+type, a rather small figure, with nothing commanding in his appearance;
+he had a shock of sandy hair, blue eyes, and a smoothly shaven mouth and
+chin somewhat receding from a finely chiseled nose. He was speaking
+earnestly, and in a tone of conviction. His voice was harsh, but his
+manner was suave, agreeable, and persuasive.
+
+"Who's he?" whispered one of the boys.
+
+"That's Mr. Seward from Washington," replied the other, "I heard him
+make a speech in front of Judge Turner's house."
+
+The eavesdroppers continued to listen, but the conversation between
+Judge Nelson and Mr. Seward was carried on in such low tones that they
+could make little of it. Now and again they caught a phrase--"more
+troops"--"President Lincoln"--"save the Union,"--but the purport of the
+matter was beyond them.
+
+The spying youngsters crept into their beds that night laden with a
+sense of mystery in this weird consultation, of which they had been
+witnesses, between the senior justice of the Supreme Court of the United
+States and the Secretary of State of the United States. Next day they
+boasted among their comrades of having discovered some secret affair of
+state.
+
+Years afterward, through Justice Nelson's son, Judge R. R. Nelson of St.
+Paul, Minnesota, it came out that these young spies had rightly divined
+the truth. The conference which the Secretary of State held with Justice
+Nelson during the small hours of the morning of August 22nd, 1863, was
+had at the instance of President Lincoln, and was importantly related to
+the conduct of the Civil War. The conference itself, in fact, was the
+secret motive of the diplomatic excursion, which had been designed
+especially to divert attention from it.
+
+It seems that the administration at Washington had become greatly
+worried over a situation that had developed concerning the drafting of
+troops. A heavy draft had been ordered,--Otsego county had been called
+upon to furnish nearly a thousand men,--and there was great excitement
+throughout the northern states. At this critical juncture one of
+Justice Nelson's associates on the bench, who was sitting in the United
+States Circuit in Pennsylvania, had granted a writ of _habeas corpus_
+directing a certain drafted man to be brought before him, and the
+position taken by counsel was that the draft was unconstitutional and
+illegal. This justice, like Nelson, belonged to the Democratic party,
+and was therefore in many ways opposed to the Lincoln administration. He
+was known to entertain opinions which might lead him to decide that the
+draft was unconstitutional.
+
+President Lincoln became apprehensive, and sent for Secretary Seward.
+
+"We must have more troops," said the President, "and we can get them in
+only one way. Now if this draft should be declared unconstitutional, it
+would create a most serious state of affairs at the North, and would
+greatly encourage the South; it might even defeat our efforts to save
+the Union. In some way, if possible, this situation of affairs must be
+prevented."
+
+"I know of but one man who can prevent it," replied Seward. "He is a
+strong personal friend of the Pennsylvania justice, and of the same
+political party, though more loyal to the Union. I think he can
+influence him. I refer to Justice Nelson of the Supreme Court, who is
+now at his home in Cooperstown."
+
+When the President urged the Secretary to confer with Judge Nelson
+without delay, Seward was somewhat taken aback. To summon Nelson to
+Washington in order to ask of him so delicate a favor was not to be
+thought of. On the other hand for the Secretary of State to go to
+Cooperstown to confer with the Democratic justice would be certain to
+provoke political gossip and newspaper speculation, at the risk of
+defeating the object desired.
+
+But President Lincoln was determined.
+
+"In some way it must be done," he said. "You must see Justice Nelson."
+
+The upshot of the matter was that the fertile brain of the Secretary
+evolved and carried out the plan that brought the diplomatic corps from
+Washington to Cooperstown on an excursion, under color of which he had
+his interview with Justice Nelson.
+
+The result was all that the Secretary of State had hoped for. Judge
+Nelson held that the draft was not unconstitutional, and promptly so
+informed his friend in Pennsylvania, whose opinion was soon given in
+accordance with the views of his learned associate.
+
+Thus "Cooperstown's great day" turned out to be of wider import than the
+cheering crowds of villagers imagined.
+
+Justice Nelson's appointment by President Grant in 1871 as one of the
+five American members of the Joint High Commission to negotiate a treaty
+with Great Britain was a just tribute to his personal character as well
+as to his knowledge of international law. The matters in dispute
+concerned British possessions in North America, as well as the so-called
+Alabama claims arising out of the Civil War. Justice Nelson was already
+known by reputation to the British members of the commission, and they
+accorded him the fullest respect and confidence. In this controversy,
+which rankled in the hearts and affected the judgment of millions of
+people, Judge Nelson brought to the solution such wisdom and acuteness,
+accompanied by persuasive manners, frankness, conscientiousness, and
+learning, that all accorded to him the highest consideration and regard.
+His brilliant and successful service in the Joint High Commission during
+the seventy days of its sessions was regarded as a fitting culmination
+of half a century of public office. For his signature of the Treaty of
+Washington turned out to be his last official act. During the final
+hours of the session the chill of the rooms in which the commissioners
+sat was the cause of an illness from which Justice Nelson never fully
+recovered, and which occasioned his resignation from the bench of the
+Supreme Court in 1872. In commenting upon his resignation, the _New York
+Tribune_ said, "It would be difficult to exaggerate the respect and
+regard which will follow this able and incorruptible jurist from the
+post he has so long filled with honor to himself and profit to the
+commonwealth, when he retires to the well-earned repose which his gifts
+of mind and heart will enable him so perfectly to enjoy."
+
+In the village of Cooperstown the street called Nelson Avenue is named
+in honor of the distinguished jurist, and three different places of
+residence are associated with his memory. When in 1825 he married, as
+his second wife, Catharine A. Russell, daughter of Judge John Russell
+of Cooperstown, they began housekeeping at Apple Hill, on the site now
+occupied by Fernleigh. In 1829 they removed to Fenimore, which still
+stands just outside of the village, near the western shore of the lake,
+and lived there until 1838, when they took up their residence at Mrs.
+Nelson's homestead, the large brick house on the north side of Main
+Street near the corner of Pioneer Street, and made it their home for the
+rest of their lives.
+
+[Illustration: NELSON AVENUE]
+
+Although Judge Nelson survived Fenimore Cooper by more than twenty
+years, he was only three years his junior, and the two men became
+intimate personal friends in Cooperstown. They were often seen together
+on the street, and in fine personal presence and noble bearing they
+bore some resemblance to each other. In the old stone Cory building on
+Main Street, when the lower part was conducted as a hardware store,
+Judge Nelson and Fenimore Cooper used often to spend an evening, sitting
+about the stove in a circle of admiring auditors gathered to hear the
+great men talk. It was shortly after Fenimore Cooper's return to
+Cooperstown to live at Otsego Hall that Judge Nelson was appointed Chief
+Justice of the State, and Cooper ever thereafter spoke of his friend as
+"the Chief." The novelist had a good deal of the lawyer in his
+composition, and he often discussed legal matters with Judge Nelson, as
+well as political affairs of state. Both were fond of farming and rural
+pursuits, and as their farms lay on opposite sides of the lake, Judge
+Nelson's at Fenimore, and Cooper's at the Chalet, they were able
+frequently to compare notes of their success as agriculturists, perhaps
+with the more interest because Cooper himself had formerly owned the
+farm at Fenimore.
+
+Judge Nelson was not seldom seen on horseback in Cooperstown, and
+continued this form of exercise long after he had passed the limit of
+three score years and ten. In his later years he was described as a
+broad-shouldered and magnificent figure, with a massive head crowned
+with a wealth of gray hair. He was simple and unaffected in his manners,
+and never assumed any magniloquence because of his exalted position. On
+returning from Washington to Cooperstown for the summer, he seemed to
+delight in holding a kind of indiscriminate levee in the main street of
+the village, greeting old neighbors, shopkeepers, and farmers alike,
+and remembering most of them by their Christian names. In those days the
+merchants were accustomed to leave their empty packing-boxes on the
+sidewalk in front of their shops, and it was no uncommon sight to see
+this Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States seated carelessly
+on a dry-goods box, while he chatted with a group of admiring villagers.
+His conversation was always entertaining, not only because of his wealth
+of mind, but on account of his prodigious memory of men and events. His
+gift of memory was undoubtedly of great use to him on the bench, for he
+could restate complicated facts in cases so long since heard by him that
+the issues had been forgotten by the counsel concerned in them.
+
+Judge Nelson was for many years a vestryman, and later a warden, of
+Christ Church in Cooperstown. In his day there was no thoroughfare
+through the Cooper Grounds, and he walked to church by way of River
+Street. Above the stone wall on the west side of River Street was an
+abundant growth of tansy. It was Judge Nelson's invariable habit to pick
+a sprig of tansy on his way to Sunday morning service, and he entered
+the church absently holding the pungent herb to his nostrils, as he made
+his way to the pew now marked by a tablet in the north transept.
+
+On February 13, 1873, the honors paid to Judge Nelson on his retirement
+from the bench of the United States Supreme Court were of a character
+never before known in America, and not in England since Lord Mansfield
+was the recipient of similar honors at the hands of Erskine and the
+other lights of the British bar. A committee which included several of
+the foremost lawyers in New York City, and officially representing the
+Bar of the Third District, came in a special car from New York to
+Cooperstown to present to Judge Nelson an address expressive of
+appreciation of his long service on the bench, and of regret at his
+retirement, in sympathy with similar resolutions adopted in Albany and
+Washington.
+
+It was a gala day in Cooperstown when its most distinguished citizen was
+so honored. The streets, glistening with snow, were filled with people
+careering about in sleighs. The American flag flapped in the breeze from
+the tall liberty-pole which then stood at the midst of the cross-roads
+where Main and Pioneer streets intersect. A horse-race upon the frozen
+lake had been arranged for the entertainment of the visitors, and some
+of the young people had bob-sleds ready, prepared to give the
+distinguished metropolitan lawyers a thrilling ride down the slope of
+Mt. Vision when the ceremonies should be over.
+
+In the early afternoon the legal and judicial delegation walked quietly
+two by two to the residence of Judge Nelson, which, although now invaded
+by the business requirements of the village, still holds its place on
+Main Street. In the procession were three federal judges, and a dozen
+chosen members of the bar of New York. The door of the old house, at
+which nobody stops to knock any more, was thrown open to receive the
+distinguished delegation. The villagers had gathered in the
+drawing-room, at the left of the entrance, to take part in the
+ceremonies. Among many ladies who graced the scene the three daughters
+of Fenimore Cooper were particularly noted by the visitors. The retired
+judge sat in his armchair, arrayed in black, wearing a high choker
+necktie, while Mrs. Nelson, a lovely old lady with a face as fresh at
+seventy as a summer rain, supported herself on the arm of the chair. The
+judicial delegation came into the parlor led by Judge Woodruff, E. W.
+Stoughton, Judge Benedict, and Judge Blatchford, while Clarence A.
+Seward, Sidney Webster and others followed. Judge Nelson retained his
+seat, and the most impressive silence prevailed. Then Stoughton,
+chairman of the committee, after some introductory remarks, read the
+address which had been prepared by the Bar of New York.
+
+At the conclusion of this address Judge Nelson drew out his spectacles
+and read his reply, in a voice that trembled with emotion. Then he rose
+slowly and received the personal congratulations of the delegation and
+of the village friends assembled.
+
+When, a few months later, Samuel Nelson was dead, and the press of the
+nation was printing lengthy eulogies of his career as a jurist, a few
+lines in the little weekly newspaper of his own home town gave the
+highest estimate of his life that can be accorded to any man:
+
+"In his home Judge Nelson was a great man. The almost extreme modesty
+which characterized his public life had its counterpart in thoroughly
+developed domestic virtues, which not only made him beloved to devotion
+by all the members of his family, but endeared him to all with whom he
+was brought into contact. There was in his disposition a placidness of
+temper which made him always easy of approach, and rendered intercourse
+with him a permanent spring of pure enjoyment."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 115: From the beginning justices of the Supreme Court of the
+United States sat, from time to time, as circuit judges. (Stuart v.
+Laird, 1 Cranch, p. 308.) Justice Nelson was assigned to the Second
+Circuit, which includes New York.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Perry P. Rogers.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+CHRIST CHURCHYARD
+
+
+When in 1856 Frederick A. Lee and Dorr Russell formed the Lakewood
+Cemetery Association, and purchased the beautiful tract that lies along
+the hill on the east side of the lake, a half-mile from the village, the
+older burying-grounds within the town began gradually to be disused.
+Christ churchyard, which contains the oldest graves of the original
+settlement, has long since ceased to be used for burials, beyond those
+occasionally permitted, for special reasons, by act of the Vestry of the
+parish. This disuse has secured to the churchyard the right to grow old
+gracefully, without the too frequent intrusion of recent death, and to
+acquire the picturesque charm of antiquity which in cemeteries seems to
+dispel all the terrors of mortality.
+
+The love of old burial-grounds belongs to a distinct type of mind and
+temperament. To some minds all cemeteries are equally devoid of
+interest. Among visitors in Christ churchyard, of whom there are
+thousands during every summer, the classification of sightseers is
+automatic. Some glance at Cooper's grave, peep into the church to
+glimpse the memorials of the novelist, and hurry away with an air of
+duty done. The lovers of churchyards linger, and stroll thoughtfully
+among the tombs. They find a charm in the most obscure memorials of the
+dead. They read aloud to each other the quaint inscriptions. Now and
+again they pause, note-book in hand, to copy some chiseled epitaph that
+strikes the fancy. They kneel or lie prone upon the turf before a
+crumbling tomb to decipher its doleful couplets, thrusting aside the
+concealing grasses, lest a word be missed. They wander here and there
+beneath the shadow of the venerable elms and pines, and, before
+departing, enter the old church, to rest and pray within the stillness
+of its fane.
+
+[Illustration: _Alice Choate_
+
+A GLIMPSE FROM THE RECTORY]
+
+Aside from the part of the churchyard reserved for the burials of the
+Cooper family, the only enclosed plot is the small one just south of it,
+squared in by a low fence of rusty iron. This belonged to the family of
+the Rev. Frederick T. Tiffany, who succeeded Father Nash as rector of
+Christ Church, and afterward became a chaplain in Congress.
+
+The oldest tomb in the churchyard holds an inconspicuous place two tiers
+east of the Tiffany enclosure. It is the grave of Samuel Griffin, the
+inn-keeper's child, who died at the Red Lion Tavern. The gravestone is
+dated 1792, which is ancient for this part of the country.
+
+In the first burials within these grounds, it was the intention to
+regard the old Christian tradition in accord with which the dead are
+buried with the feet toward the east. Yet, since the graves naturally
+follow the parallel of the enclosure, which is not exactly east and
+west, but conforms to the general bent of the village, they fall short,
+by a few points of the compass, of facing due east.
+
+Among the early settlers of Cooperstown there was one family not to be
+put off with any vagueness of orientation. It was that of Joshua Starr,
+a potter, whom Fenimore Cooper describes as "a respectable inhabitant of
+the village." To the mind of Joshua Starr, who survived the other
+members of his family, it was plain that if a proper grave should face
+east, it should face the east, and not east by south. Accordingly, the
+graves of the Starr family, a few steps northward from Samuel Griffin's,
+are notable among the tombs of Christ churchyard in being set with the
+foot due east, as by a mariner's compass. The wide headstones split the
+plane of the meridian; their edges cleave the noonday sun and the polar
+star. To the casual observer these three tombstones, as compared with
+all others in the churchyard, seem quite awry. In reality they alone are
+meticulously correct, a standing tribute to the exact eye of Joshua
+Starr, the potter.
+
+Southward from Samuel Griffin's grave, in the next tier to the east, a
+curious use of verse appears upon two stones, whereby Capt. Joseph Jones
+and his wife Keziah, both dying in 1799, seem to converse in responsive
+couplets. Mrs. Jones avers, majestically,
+
+     Within this Silent grave I ly.
+
+To which the hero of the Revolution quite meekly replies,
+
+     This space is all I occupy.
+
+The crudeness of some epitaphs gives them a grotesque touch of realism.
+Here is one just south of the squared-in Tiffany plot:
+
+     Mourn not since freed from
+        human ills,
+     My dearest friends & two
+        Infants still,
+     My consumptive pains God
+        semed well,
+     My soul to prepair with
+        him to dwell.
+
+Northward of this tomb is a sarcophagus that shows a well laid plan in a
+state of perpetual incompletion. Besides serving as a monument of the
+dead, the tomb was intended to be a kind of family record. The names of
+children and grandchildren were inscribed, and as they departed this
+life their names were marked with a chiseled asterisk referring to a
+foot-note which pronounced them "dead." Four deaths were so recorded;
+then the sculptured enrollment was discontinued. Written still among the
+living there remain four names, of those who have been long dead, while
+the name of one born after the monument was erected, and survivor of all
+the others, was never included in the memorial.
+
+Near the orientated tombs of the Starrs the grave of an infant who died
+in 1794 bears this epitaph:
+
+     Sleep on sweet babe; injoy thy rest:
+     God call'd the soon, he saw it best.
+
+A more severe view of the Deity appears upon a gravestone six rows east
+of this, commemorating James and Tamson Eaton, who died in 1846. Tamson
+was fifteen years old, and, as the verse reveals, was a girl:
+
+     This youth cut down in all her bloom,
+     Sent by her God to an early doom
+
+Tamson's brother James was killed by lightning a few months later, and
+the event is thus versified:
+
+     What voice is that? 'Tis God,
+     He speaketh from the clouds;
+     In thunder is concealed the rod
+     That smites him to the ground.
+
+Near the driveway and toward the church is the tombstone of Mary
+Olendorf, which bears these feeling lines:
+
+     Tread softly o'er this sacred mound
+     For Mary lies beneath this ground
+     May garlands deck and myrtles rise
+     To guard the Tomb where Mary lies.
+
+A short distance eastward from the centre of the churchyard, and nearly
+abreast of the obelisk commemorating Father Nash, stands somewhat apart
+the rugged tombstone of Scipio, an old slave. Aside from the graves of
+Fenimore Cooper and his father, the founder of the village, not
+forgetting the grave of Jenny York,[117] which is the joy of the
+churchyard, no tomb in the enclosure receives more attention from
+strangers than that of Scipio, with its quaint verses descriptive of the
+aged slave.
+
+North of this stone, after passing three intervening tombs, one comes
+upon an odd inscription that marks the grave of a fourteen-year-old
+boy, who was drowned December 3, 1810:
+
+     Thus were Parents bereavd
+     of a dutiful son and community
+     of a promising youth, while
+     pursuing with assiduity the
+     act of industry.
+
+What this act of industry was that cost the life of young Garrett
+Bissell is not related.
+
+A number of those buried in Christ churchyard died violent deaths; one
+was murdered, and another was hanged, but that story has been already
+told.
+
+"Joe Tom," a negro whose tomb fronts the east end of the churchyard,
+where the members of his race were buried apart from the whites, was for
+more than a score of years sexton of Christ Church, and when he died, in
+1881, had been for a half a century a unique figure in the life of the
+village. "Joe Tom" was always the general factotum at public
+entertainments, and had won a title as "the politest negro in the
+world." Music of a lively sort he scraped from the fiddle or beat upon
+the triangle. He was head usher at meetings, chief cook at picnics, a
+stentorian prompter at dances, and chief oar at lake excursions.
+
+On one occasion there was to be a burial in the churchyard in the
+afternoon, for which Joe had made no preparation before escorting a
+picnic party to Three-Mile Point in the morning. Suddenly he remembered
+the funeral. Seizing a boat he rowed hastily back to the village,
+commenced digging the grave, tolled the bell, and, while the funeral
+service was being held in the church, completed his task, standing ready
+with solemn visage to perform the final duty of casting the earth upon
+the coffin. He then went back to the Point, and finished the day by
+escorting his party home. Not infrequently his day's work was protracted
+far into the night. If there was a midnight country dance the tinkle of
+his triangle could be heard until near sunrise, and often he was seen
+returning by daylight from some nocturnal festivity, fast asleep in a
+farmer's wagon.[118]
+
+If his versatile life rendered him somewhat uncertain at times in the
+discharge of his duties as sexton of Christ Church, he never failed to
+disarm criticism by his plausible and polite excuses. In his day the
+bell rope was operated from the vestibule of the church, and Joe Tom,
+arrayed in Sunday finery, was a familiar figure to church-goers, as he
+stood in the church porch tolling the bell with measured stroke, and
+inclining his woolly head with each motion to the entrance of every
+worshipper.
+
+Joe was born in slavery in the island of Barbadoes, and was brought,
+when quite young, to Cooperstown, by Joseph D. Husbands. Few persons in
+his day were better known than Joe Tom, yet, in his latter years, ill
+health withdrew him from public notice, and at his funeral he was laid
+away in the churchyard, unsung, if not unwept. A contemporary expressed
+a hope that the dead can have no knowledge of their own obsequies, for
+"poor Joe, who was the very soul of music, would hardly have been
+satisfied with a service in which not a key was struck, or note raised
+for one who had so often tuned his harp for others."
+
+[Illustration: THE COOPER PLOT, CHRIST CHURCHYARD]
+
+Within the Cooper enclosure in Christ churchyard, the grave of Susan
+Fenimore Cooper attracts the attention of all who are familiar with
+local history. A daughter of the novelist, Miss Cooper's memory is
+revered in Cooperstown for qualities all her own. After her father's
+death her home was at Byberry Cottage. She gained more than local fame,
+in her time, as a graceful writer, and was distinguished for her
+knowledge of the birds and flowers of Otsego hills. But her life-work
+was given to the Orphan House of the Holy Saviour, which she established
+in 1870, where homeless and destitute children were cared for and
+educated, and where now, on the broader basis of the Susan Fenimore
+Cooper Foundation, unusual opportunities for vocational training are
+extended to boys and girls. Nor shall it be forgotten that, while others
+gave more largely of funds, the Thanksgiving Hospital, founded in
+gratitude for the close of the Civil War, originated in Miss Cooper's
+heart and mind.
+
+A memorial window in Christ Church idealizes in form and color the
+spirit of this noble woman, without attempting portraiture. A real
+likeness of Miss Cooper, as she appeared in her ripest years, would
+recall a sweet face framed in dangling curls, a manner somewhat prim,
+but always gentle and placid, a figure slight and spare, with a bonnet
+and Paisley shawl that are all but essential to the resemblance. She
+would best be represented in the midst of orphan children whom she
+catechises for the benefit of some visiting dignitary, while the little
+rascals, taking advantage of her growing deafness, titter forth the most
+palpable absurdities in reply, sure of her benignant smile and
+commendatory "Very good; very good indeed!"
+
+One of Miss Cooper's most devoted helpers in the early days of the
+Orphan House was Dr. Wilson T. Bassett, who for many years gave his
+professional services without charge, and greatly interested himself in
+the welfare of the children. Dr. Bassett was for a long time the most
+widely known physician and surgeon of the region, while his wife, who
+followed the same profession, was the pioneer woman physician of Otsego
+county, and did much to allay the popular prejudice against women in the
+field of medicine. Dr. Wilson Bassett became noted as an expert witness
+in medical cases that were carried to court, and in murder trials when
+insanity had been set up as a defence. The resourcefulness which he
+displayed on such occasions led to his being described as "the most
+accomplished witness that has ever been placed upon the stand in Otsego
+county." Dr. Bassett's personal appearance marked him as belonging to
+the old school. He was the last man in Cooperstown to wear a black stock
+about his collar. His face suggested both firmness and a sense of humor.
+The quality of decision appeared in the mouth which the smooth-shaven
+upper lip displayed above the white chin-whisker, while the tousled
+shock of white hair and twinkling blue eyes were indicative of the
+whimsical turn of mind that manifested itself in witty and sententious
+sayings. His long experience in the court-room made him alive to the
+vast expense which the trial and punishment of criminals imposes upon
+the State, and led to his belief that criminality is usually to be
+attributed to lack of proper training in youth. His favorite plea for
+the support of the children in Miss Cooper's orphanage was "It's cheaper
+to educate 'em than to hang 'em!" The daughter of the two physicians,
+Dr. Mary Imogene Bassett, inherited the talent of both parents, and
+later enjoyed the singular distinction, while still in active practice,
+of having a monument erected to commemorate her professional career,
+when, in 1917, Edward Severin Clark began to build the Mary Imogene
+Bassett Hospital and Pathological Laboratory, merging with it the
+traditions of the older Thanksgiving Hospital.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+A FUNERAL IN CHRIST CHURCHYARD]
+
+Christ churchyard has been the scene of many impressive funerals, when,
+as in olden times, the unity of design in the order for Burial has been
+carried out, so that the outdoor function appears as a natural sequence
+to the service of the sanctuary, and is connected with it by an orderly
+processional from the church to the churchyard. Here, in the glory of
+summer foliage, is a superb setting for such a service; and the rare
+occasions of interments within this quaint God's acre are long
+remembered by those who witness them. After the service in the church
+the procession of choir and clergy, headed by the crucifer, issues from
+the doorway, followed by stalwart men carrying the bier upon their
+shoulders. The mourners and congregation come reverently after, and with
+the thrilling chorus of some hymn of triumph over death the procession
+moves slowly to the grave. The sunshine sifts through the foliage of the
+over-arching trees, glitters upon the processional cross, gleams upon
+the white robes of the choristers, and transforms into a mantle of glory
+the pall that drapes the body of the dead. A solemn hush falls upon the
+company as the priest steps forward for the formal act of burial. The
+dust flashes in the sunbeams as it falls from his hand into the open
+grave, while the rhythmic phrases of the committal float once again over
+the consecrated ground. No words in the English tongue have vibrated
+more deeply in human hearts than the majestic and exultant avowal of
+faith with which the Church consigns to the grave the bodies of her
+dead.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 117: See p. 306.]
+
+[Footnote 118: _A Few Omitted Leaves_, G. P. Keese.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+FROM APPLE HILL TO FERNLEIGH
+
+
+Cooperstown had its representation in the Civil War, for, aside from the
+soldiers who enlisted from the village, it was a former schoolboy of
+Apple Hill, Captain Abner Doubleday, in command of the batteries at Fort
+Sumter, who aimed the first big gun fired in defence of the Union.
+Another officer from Cooperstown, Lieut. Marmaduke Cooper, died at
+Fortress Monroe; a third, Lieut. Morris Foote, was taken prisoner, and
+escaped, with thrilling experiences, from a detention camp in South
+Carolina; while his brother, Lieut. Frank Foote, lost a leg in the
+battle of the Wilderness, for three months was mourned as dead by his
+family, and had the pleasure, on his return to Cooperstown, of reading
+his own obituary.
+
+Among the citizens who stayed at home during the war were some who did
+much to stir up Union sentiment in Cooperstown, where the political
+opinions of not a few had taken the form of opposition to the Northern
+cause. Among these enthusiasts was John Worthington, who was cashier in
+the bank established by his father, John R. Worthington, in a building
+which stood on the north side of Main Street not far west of Fair
+Street. There were then two divisions of the Democratic party, known as
+"War Democrats" and "Peace Democrats." The motto of the latter, as
+applied to the Southern States, was "Erring sisters, go in peace." This
+was too much for Worthington, who caused a large banner to be stretched
+across the entire front of the Worthington Bank, surmounted by the Stars
+and Stripes, and the words, "Victory will bring Peace."
+
+Worthington had a strong spirit of adventure in his composition, and,
+just before the war, had astonished the village by one of his
+characteristic exploits. In July a traveling aeronaut had appeared on
+the Fair Grounds, which were then in the region of the village south of
+Christ Church, proposing to make a series of flights for the
+entertainment of the public. He had an enormous balloon which was
+floated by being filled with heated air and smoke. The first ascension
+was a great success, and the aeronaut landed safely beyond the top of
+Mount Vision. When the next flight was to be made, just as the inflation
+was completed, John Worthington stepped out of the crowd, and asked to
+take the place of the aeronaut, who readily consented. There was a
+southerly breeze, and the balloon, as it sailed over the village, barely
+escaped the top of Christ Church spire. It then rose straight upward
+and, as the air within it cooled, began rapidly to descend. By a strange
+coincidence the balloon dropped in the main street, within a short
+distance of the Worthington Bank, at the very moment when its
+proprietor was descending the steps. The street was agog at the sudden
+appearance of the balloon, but none was more amazed than the elder
+Worthington when he saw his own son extricating himself from the folds
+of smoking cloth.
+
+"John," he called out in astonishment, "Did you go up in that balloon?"
+
+"I came down in it," said John, and would admit no more.
+
+John Worthington was many years afterward included as a belated member
+of the Shakespeare Reading Club, an organization which began in 1877,
+and held regular meetings, with reading of the plays and of original
+papers by the members, during a period of thirty years. This
+organization, with the Cooperstown Literary Association, kept up the
+intellectual traditions of the village during the latter part of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+The Shakespeare Club included the choice minds of the town, and the
+study of the master poet was undertaken with becoming reverence. While
+Worthington's sisters were already members of the club, and Worthington
+himself was second to none in the village in keenness of literary
+appreciation, he was notorious for eccentricities of whimsical wit and
+humor, and it was only after long deliberation that it was finally
+decided to elect him to membership. His first appearance at a meeting of
+the club gave rise to an unforeseen situation, for the order in which
+the members sat about the table had become fixed by traditions of
+precedence, and the attempt to place another chair caused a flutter of
+debate in politely subdued voices. Worthington was kept standing while
+this discussion was going on, and suddenly astounded the company by
+gravely seating himself upon the floor.
+
+John Worthington was appointed United States consul in Malta under
+President Arthur, and continued in office under Cleveland's first
+administration. This was the heyday of his life. In Malta he made
+friends in the army and navy and diplomatic service of many nations. His
+conversational gifts and capricious drollery gave him great social
+popularity in the brilliant shifting throng that passed through the
+gates of the Mediterranean, and his wife, who was Cora Lull, of New
+Berlin, was charmingly adapted by nature and acquirements to the graces
+of diplomatic life. During his term of service at Malta in 1883
+Worthington was instrumental in removing the body of John Howard Payne,
+author of "Home, Sweet Home," from the cemetery in Carthage, Tunis, to
+the United States. He made a stubborn effort to procure a band to play
+Payne's song as the remains left Tunis aboard the ship homeward bound,
+but not anyone could play "Home, Sweet Home," although Worthington had
+brought the notes with him. However, after the disinterment, of which
+Worthington was a witness, the body was placed in the chapel of the
+little English church, and a few Americans and English reverently
+gathered there, while Mrs. Worthington, who was known as "Cooperstown's
+sweetest singer," sang touchingly the famous song of home, written by
+the man who had no home during the last forty years of his life, and
+whose body, thirty years after his death, was going home at last to be
+interred in its native soil.
+
+While traveling in Egypt, Worthington had an audience with the Khedive,
+Tewfik Pasha Mohammed, in his palace on the Nile. The conversation was
+formal and perfunctory, until, in reply to an amiable inquiry,
+Worthington stated that his home was in a village, in New York State,
+named Cooperstown. At the mention of this name the Khedive exhibited
+genuine interest.
+
+"Cooperstown," he repeated, "Is not Cooperstown the home of Fenimore
+Cooper, the great author?"
+
+It was now Worthington's turn to exhibit interest, for in boyhood he had
+been next door neighbor to Cooper; and he asked if his Highness was
+acquainted with the writings of the novelist. The Khedive had read all
+of Cooper's books. Some of them he cared little for, but those he did
+care for he loved. _The Leather-Stocking Tales_ had opened a new world
+to him, and he was charmed. _The Deerslayer_ he "adored." The sublime
+and shadowy forests, the silent lakes high up in evergreen hills, the
+cool rivers--how they captivated his imagination! how they invited his
+soul! He would, he exclaimed, give a year of his life if he might view
+the Glimmerglass, if he might tread a forest trail. In his library the
+Khedive showed to his visitor, with evident satisfaction, his three
+magnificent sets of Cooper's works, in French, in German, and in
+English.
+
+John Worthington's later days were passed in Cooperstown, where he lived
+to be the village man of letters, delighting his contemporaries with
+contributions of picturesque prose and graceful verse that would have
+given him a wider renown had he written otherwise than, as it seemed,
+for the mere pleasure of writing for the entertainment of his friends.
+His twelve years of service at Malta, with many excursions in the
+ancient world, developed in him an oriental color of mind, and gave even
+to the Otsego of his childhood, when he returned hither to live, the
+dreamy glamour of the mystic East. At home he lived altogether among
+books, and in the companionship of poetic imagination passed the years
+of almost exile from Malta, his fondest retrospect. A winning soul was
+John Worthington, widely beloved for what he was, and mourned for all
+that he might have been.
+
+During the Civil War a girl of extraordinary beauty and vivacity,
+skilled as a musician, drew many suitors to her home, the house which
+still stands at the southwest corner of Pioneer and Elm streets. Her
+name was Elizabeth Davis, and her happy disposition made her a universal
+favorite in the community. Toward the close of the war she suffered a
+disappointment in love, the exact nature of which was not made known,
+but so seriously affecting her attitude toward life that she registered
+a solemn vow never again to be seen in public. From this time forth she
+kept to the house, although it was said that she sometimes walked about
+at night. Years passed. Father, mother, brother, and sister, followed
+one another to the grave, until Elizabeth Davis became the only
+inhabitant of the old house. Nobody ever saw her except a negro who
+brought her supplies. In the village there grew up a new generation to
+which she was a stranger. The windows of the house showed an abundance
+of the choicest plants, always carefully tended. Passers-by often
+arrested their steps to listen to the sound of a piano splendidly played
+within. But nobody ever caught a glimpse of a face or form. The most
+that the nearest neighbors saw was a hand and arm that were stretched
+forth from the windows every evening to close the blinds. Thus Elizabeth
+Davis lived for more than thirty years after the close of the war, and
+carried her secret to the grave.
+
+In the time of the Civil War the favorite reading matter of the soldiers
+in camp and hospital throughout the northern armies was supplied by the
+enterprise of Erastus F. Beadle, who had learned the publishing business
+in the employment of the Phinneys in Cooperstown, himself being a native
+of Pierstown, just over the hill. He became known throughout the United
+States as the publisher of "Beadle's Dime Novels," and on his retirement
+from business in 1889 purchased "Glimmerview," the residence which
+overlooks the lake next east of the O-te-sa-ga. Here he died in 1894.
+This inventor of the "dime novel" made an amazing success of publishing
+paper-covered books adapted to the popular taste on a scale of cheapness
+and in quantities which had never before been dreamed of. After leaving
+Cooperstown, he began business for himself in Buffalo, publishing
+magazines, and on his removal to New York, in 1858, discovered, in the
+publication of "The Dime Song Book," the field which he afterward made
+so profitable. To the song books were added, in rapid succession, the
+"Household Manual," the "Letter Writer," and the "Book of Etiquette." In
+the summer of 1860 the Dime Novels were started. These little
+salmon-covered books became immediately popular all over the country,
+and the business grew to vast proportions, until Beadle had about
+twenty-five writers employed in the composition of stories for his
+imprint. The business was afterward expanded to include the publication
+of popular "Libraries,"--the Dime Library, the Boy's Library, the Pocket
+Library, and the Half-Dime Library. After his retirement from business,
+as a resident of Cooperstown, Beadle did much for the development of the
+village.
+
+[Illustration: MAIN STREET
+
+Looking west from Fair Street, 1861. The Clark Gymnasium displaces the
+two buildings at the left.]
+
+The village had troubles of its own during the progress of the war. In
+the spring of 1862, a disastrous fire, the largest conflagration in the
+history of Cooperstown, destroyed at least a third of the business
+district. The fire started near the Cory stone building, which alone
+survived of the stores and shops in the path of the flames that spread
+on the north side of Main Street, and extended from the building next to
+the present Mohican Club as far east as Pioneer Street. The fire then
+crossed to the south side of Main Street, destroying the old Eagle
+Tavern, originally the Red Lion, and burning westward as far as the
+present Carr's Hotel. Up Pioneer Street, on the west side the flames ate
+their way as far south as the Phinney residence. The buildings at the
+eastern corners of Main and Pioneer streets were several times on fire,
+and were saved only by supreme efforts of the village firemen. The
+survival of the Cory building was due in part to its solid stone
+construction, but chiefly to the efforts of two plucky men, David P.
+House and George Newell, who stationed themselves on the roof, and while
+the fire worked its way around the rear of the building, succeeded in
+defending their position, although so terribly scorched that for weeks
+afterward they went about swathed in bandages.
+
+A few nights later the Otsego Hotel and adjacent buildings, which stood
+on the site of the present Village Library, were also destroyed by fire.
+At this conflagration, which seemed about to complete the destruction of
+Main Street, a woman appeared, who equalled the courage of the firemen
+in her defiance of the flames. She was Susan Hewes, a maiden lady who
+kept a milliner's shop in the little one-story building that stands on
+the north side of the Main Street, a short distance west of the corner
+of Fair Street. Emulating the example of the men who saved the Cory
+building, she appeared on the roof of her little shop, and presented a
+dramatic spectacle as she stood forth in the glare of the flames, crying
+out that she would save her property at the cost of her life.
+Fortunately the flames were checked without any such sacrifice, and
+Susan Hewes lived to become, more than half a century afterward, the
+oldest native inhabitant of the village, famous for the old-fashioned
+tangled garden on Pine Street, where she dwelt so long among her
+favorite flowers. During the Civil War period she was a marked figure in
+the village, for her outspoken independence in expressing sympathy for
+the Southern cause led to a visit of remonstrance with which a committee
+of leading citizens honored her in her little milliner's shop; while her
+refusal to submit to the dictates of fashion when the huge hoop-skirts
+came into vogue caused her to be gazed upon as a marvel of
+incompleteness in dress.
+
+For a time Cooperstown was much depressed by the ruin which fire had
+wrought in the village, but, before long, a new business section began
+slowly to rise from the ashes of the old. West of Pioneer Street, where
+the Eagle Tavern had narrowed the width of the main thoroughfare to the
+dimensions of a mere lane, the street was now made of uniform width, and
+new business blocks were erected. By the close of the Civil War all
+signs of destruction had disappeared, and the Main street of
+Cooperstown, if far less picturesque than before, had assumed the
+appearance of brand new prosperity.
+
+This period, in fact, marks the beginning of a gradual change in the
+character of Cooperstown, by which an elderly village, typical in its
+inherited traditions, has taken on the airs of a summer resort, and has
+become the residence, for a part of each year, of wealthy families whose
+chief interests lie elsewhere, and to whom Otsego is a playground. While
+much of the older character of the village remains, the contact with the
+outer world has had a far-reaching effect upon its inhabitants.
+
+Some of the old-fashioned merchants were at first inclined to resent the
+demands made by city folk in excess of the time-honored customs of trade
+in Cooperstown. Seth Doubleday kept a store at the northwest corner of
+Main and Pioneer streets. One day a lady from the city came in airily,
+ordered a mackerel delivered at her summer home in the village, and was
+out again before Doubleday could recover his breath. At that period all
+villagers went to market with a basket, and carried their own goods
+home. Nobody thought of having purchases delivered by the merchant.
+Doubleday was enraged at what seemed to him an insolent demand, and the
+longer he reflected on the matter the more furious did he become. At
+last, leaving his shop unattended, he went in person to the customer's
+house to deliver the mackerel. The lady herself opened the door.
+Doubleday took the fish by the tail, and slapped it down vigorously upon
+the doorstep, exclaiming, "There, madam, is your damned three-cent
+mackerel, and _delivered_!"
+
+The new phase of village life may perhaps be dated from the purchase of
+the Apple Hill property by Edward Clark of New York, who, in 1856, made
+his summer home here, and after the close of the Civil War erected his
+mansion. The establishment of this country-seat was but the beginning of
+the extension of Edward Clark's estate in this region, and created a
+relationship to the village which his descendants have ever since
+continued.
+
+"Apple Hill," as the place was called before Edward Clark's purchase, or
+"Fernleigh," as he renamed it, is thus a connecting link between the old
+and the new in Cooperstown. It has a story that brings the elder
+traditions of the village into touch with the newer spirit of modern
+enterprise.
+
+Apple Hill was originally the property of Richard Fenimore Cooper,
+eldest son of the founder of the village. In the summer of 1800 he built
+the house which stood until displaced by Fernleigh House in 1869.
+Fenimore Cooper described the site as "much the best within the limits
+of the village," no doubt with reference to the superb view of the
+Susquehanna which the veranda at the rear of the house commands. Richard
+Cooper planted the black walnut and locust trees, some of which are yet
+standing in front of the house at Fernleigh. To the home at Apple Hill
+he brought from the head of the lake as a bride, Anne Cary, who after
+his death became the wife of George Clarke of Hyde Hall.
+
+From 1825 to 1828 Apple Hill was the residence of the afterward
+distinguished Judge Samuel Nelson, and during the next five years was
+owned and occupied by General John A. Dix, who had resigned from the
+army, and settled down in Cooperstown to practise law. His first cases
+were prepared in a little office that stood near the gate of the Apple
+Hill property. At that time it is said that he made a poor impression as
+a public speaker, and gave small promise of his later fame. In 1833 he
+became secretary of state of New York, and afterward was United States
+Senator. During the Civil War he raised seventeen regiments, and as
+Secretary of the Treasury at the outbreak of the war issued the famous
+order which first convinced the country that the executive government at
+Washington was really determined to meet force with force: "If anyone
+attempts to pull down the American flag, shoot him on the spot!" After
+the war General Dix was minister to France, and in 1872 was elected
+Governor of the State of New York. Among the children of General Dix
+who played hide-and-seek amid the trees of Apple Hill was Morgan Dix,
+afterward the distinguished rector of Trinity parish, New York, who in
+later years passed many summers in Cooperstown. It was remembered of Dr.
+Dix's childhood that when his mother sent him away from Cooperstown to
+school, being apprehensive of his safe conduct on the journey, she put
+him into the stage-coach completely enveloped in a green baize bag that
+she had made for the purpose, with nothing but the boy's head emerging
+from the opening which was snugly tied around his neck. Dr. Dix's last
+visit to Cooperstown was in 1891 when he was a guest at the Cooper
+House, and was driven forth, with two hundred and fifty other guests, by
+the fire which burned it to the ground in the early dawn of the eighth
+of August. This summer hotel stood within the grounds occupied by the
+Present High School. Its burning was a calamity to Cooperstown, for
+under the management of Simeon E. Crittenden it had become widely
+famous, and drew guests from every part of the country.
+
+From 1833 to 1839 Apple Hill was the home of Levi C. Turner, who married
+the daughter of Robert Campbell, and afterward was for some years county
+judge. During the Civil War Turner was Judge Advocate in the War
+Department under President Lincoln, concerning whom he had many intimate
+reminiscences.
+
+In early days, before the common school system was developed, there were
+many attempts to establish private schools in Cooperstown, with more or
+less success. John Burroughs, the famous naturalist, received the last
+of his schooling in the spring and summer of 1856 at the Cooperstown
+Seminary, afterward converted into the summer hotel known as the Cooper
+House.
+
+But of all the private schools in the village the most noted was
+established at Apple Hill in 1839 by William H. Duff, a former officer
+of the British Army, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. Duff had
+a romantic history, involved in a good deal of mystery. He had emigrated
+from England to Canada, bringing with him a beautiful young wife,--an
+elopement, it was said. Mrs. Duff was evidently of gentle birth, while
+her husband was of commanding presence, military bearing, and
+captivating manners. Whether he was entitled to the rank of Major, which
+he assumed, was always doubted.
+
+Duff was well informed in all branches of army tactics, and the school
+that he established was well known as a military academy. The
+institution became popular, and the boys in their uniforms gave a new
+and welcome touch of color to the life of the village. The afternoon
+drills were witnessed by many spectators, and when the school increased
+until a mounted field-piece, drawn by four horses, was added to the
+equipment, the exhibit became quite sensational. Few pupils of that day
+could ever forget the winter drills on the frozen lake, with the
+thermometer near zero, as requiring an endurance worthy of hardier
+veterans.
+
+One incident connected with the school made a sensation at the time.
+During the winter of 1840 a strong party of Indians found their way to
+the village, and remained for several days. One of them got into a
+drunken bout, and died quite suddenly. Shortly after the departure of
+the band the rumor was circulated among the loungers in the streets that
+the friends of the dead Indian suspected foul play, and were coming from
+their encampment on the following night to wreak vengeance upon the
+village. These flying rumors came to the ears of some of the pupils of
+Duff's Academy, who hastened to communicate the alarming intelligence to
+their principal. Whether Duff really accepted the truth of the reports,
+or wished to test the military efficiency and courage of his pupils, he
+promptly called his troops together, delivered an impressive harangue on
+the danger of the situation and the glory to be won by rallying to the
+defence of the village against a savage foe. Plans were soon made to
+repel the attack. Muskets were made ready for service. Some boys were
+sent into the village for powder, others for lead from which they were
+soon actively engaged in moulding bullets. A detachment was sent to
+remove to the house all effects from the schoolroom which stood near the
+gate, and the doors and windows of the house were strongly barricaded.
+Preparations were made to patrol the village at night, and the school
+was detailed into squads, who were to protect the principal streets.
+Sentries paced from the house to the gate, and from Christ churchyard
+to the corner of Main Street, while outposts were stationed across the
+river who were to give warning of the enemy's approach by the discharge
+of a musket. The younger boys were left at home on guard at the doors
+and windows of the house. As the midnight hour approached Major Duff
+sallied forth and inspected the disposal of his forces. During the long
+winter darkness of that night the boys marched up and down the village
+streets, with imaginations so fearfully wrought up as to deny the need
+of sleep which lay heavy upon them. If any of the inhabitants of the
+village sympathized in this watchfulness in their behalf, or kept awake
+to see what was going on, there was no evidence of it. The boys were
+left to their vigil. They passed the night in anxious watching. No
+Indians appeared, and all danger was dispelled by the rays of the rising
+sun.
+
+Too much prosperity was the ruin of Duff's school. It became so
+successful that the principal neglected duty for pleasure, leaving the
+school in charge of subordinates. Then, in less than five years from its
+beginning, it failed. At the outbreak of the Mexican War, Duff obtained
+a captain's commission in the United States Army, and when last seen by
+his old friends he presented an imposing appearance as he rode down
+Broadway in New York at the head of his company, with martial music and
+flying colors, to embark for Vera Cruz.[119]
+
+George A. Starkweather purchased Apple Hill in 1847, and lived there
+until he sold it in 1856 to Edward Clark. The latter had been attracted
+to Cooperstown as at one time the home of his distinguished
+father-in-law, and law-partner, Ambrose L. Jordan. Mrs. Clark, who was
+Jordan's eldest child, was born while the Jordans were resident in
+Cooperstown in the house which still stands at the northwest corner of
+Main and Chestnut streets, and after they removed to Hudson the daughter
+was sent back to Cooperstown to attend the boarding school which was
+conducted for a time in Isaac Cooper's old house at Edgewater. It was
+through these associations that Edward Clark and his bride, after their
+marriage in 1836, began to be frequent visitors in Cooperstown.
+
+In the year 1848 Isaac M. Singer had become a client of Jordan & Clark
+in New York City. He was an erratic genius, and had taken up various
+occupations without much success, besides having invented valuable
+mechanical devices which had brought him no profit. The form of
+sewing-machine that he invented, and which has ever since been
+associated with his name, was not profitable at first, and under
+Singer's management the title to the invention became involved, and was
+likely to be lost. In this emergency the inventor applied to his legal
+adviser, Clark, to advance the means to redeem an interest of one-third
+in the sewing-machine invention and business, and to hold that share as
+security for money advanced. Afterward was formed the co-partnership of
+I. M. Singer & Co., in which Clark was the legal adviser and half
+owner. The business was carried on by this firm with great success from
+1851 to 1863, during which period Edward Clark established his residence
+in Cooperstown. After Singer's death Clark became president of the
+Singer Manufacturing Company.
+
+[Illustration: FERNLEIGH]
+
+Edward Clark spent many winters in Europe, residing at different times
+in Paris and in Rome, but his summers were usually devoted to
+Cooperstown, and the present stone house at Fernleigh was his summer
+home for twenty-three years. When this house was erected it was regarded
+as a wonder. It took four years in building, and was indeed of
+remarkable workmanship, with substantial masonry and the most exquisite
+elaborations of woodwork. But it had the misfortune to be built in the
+"black walnut period," when taste in domestic architecture was at a low
+ebb, so that much of the interior, and some of the exterior, has since
+been altered. The stone building southwest of the house was built as a
+Turkish bath.
+
+In 1873, Edward Clark purchased Fernleigh-Over from the Bowers estate,
+and from time to time added to his property in Cooperstown, notably in
+the purchase of farms on either side of the lake. He became much
+identified with the interests of the village, and built the Hotel
+Fenimore.
+
+Edward Clark was entranced by Otsego Lake, upon which he spent much time
+in sailing. His _Nina_ and _Elise_ were beautiful sailing yachts, and
+would have been an ornament to any waters. Clark was described by
+village contemporaries as a man of somewhat peculiar temperament. He was
+naturally reticent, and seemed to be most highly appreciated by his
+intimates. In educational matters he was greatly interested, having
+given largely to Williams College, of which he was a graduate and Doctor
+of Laws. He contributed generously to the welfare of the schools of
+Cooperstown, in which he established the Clark Punctuality prizes. In
+Cooperstown, and elsewhere, he did much charitable work in a quiet way.
+
+In 1876 Kingfisher Tower was completed, which Edward Clark had caused
+to be erected at Point Judith, about two miles from Cooperstown, on the
+eastern shore of Otsego Lake. It was said that Clark's motive in
+building the tower was to furnish work for many in the community who
+were out of employment. Scoffers referred to the building derisively as
+"Clark's folly." At the request of a village newspaper, Clark himself
+wrote an account of it which was published anonymously.
+
+[Illustration: _M. Antoinette Abrams_
+
+KINGFISHER TOWER]
+
+"Kingfisher Tower," he wrote, "consists of a miniature castle, after
+the style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, standing upon the
+extremity of the Point and rising out of the water to a height of nearly
+sixty feet. It forms an objective point in the scene presented by the
+lake and surrounding hills; it adds solemnity to the landscape, seeming
+to stand guard over the vicinity, while it gives a character of
+antiquity to the lake, a charm by which we cannot help being impressed
+in such scenes. The effect of the structure is that of a picture from
+medieval times, and its value to the lake is very great. Mr. Clark has
+been led to erect it simply by a desire to beautify the lake and add an
+attraction which must be seen by all who traverse the lake or drive
+along its shores. They whose minds can rise above simple notions of
+utility to an appreciation of art joined to nature, will thank him for
+it."
+
+When Edward Clark died, in 1882, his youngest and only surviving son,
+Alfred Corning Clark, much of whose life had been spent abroad,
+inherited the greater part of his father's property, and became
+proprietor of Fernleigh.
+
+Alfred Corning Clark possessed in a magnified degree certain qualities
+which had distinguished his father. He was more retiring, more reticent,
+more inclined to find the full joy of life only among intimates. He
+became a patron of art and music, and himself an amateur in singing. He
+built Mendelssohn Hall, in New York, for the use of a musical
+organization to which he belonged. Of books he was not only a lover, but
+a student, devoted to the classics, and well versed in modern
+languages. In the village of Cooperstown he was known as a bookworm. He
+enjoyed walking about his own grounds, but hardly ever went into the
+village, and there were many residents of Cooperstown who had never seen
+his face. The proprietor of the corner book store in his day remarked
+that he had never but once seen Alfred Corning Clark in the village
+street, and this was when he had an errand at the book store to make an
+inquiry concerning a newly published volume.
+
+In the use of his great fortune Clark was extremely liberal in charities
+and toward such other objects as commended themselves to his judgment;
+while he was correspondingly powerful in opposition to whatever involved
+a principle with which he disagreed.
+
+Mrs. Clark, who was Elizabeth Scriven, was a woman of exceptional gifts
+of mind and benignance of character, well qualified to assume the
+responsibilities which fell upon her when Alfred Corning Clark died, at
+the age of fifty-three years, in 1896. With cultivated tastes, she had
+also a practical talent for business, and, although well served by
+agents in the management of her large interests, was always thoroughly
+informed and full of initiative. In New York, among men of affairs, she
+was regarded as one of the most far-seeing judges of real estate values
+in the city. In the management of her domestic and other concerns she
+had an extraordinary faculty for administration, which failed of
+attaining genius only through the effort which she put forth to give
+personal attention to details. This amiable weakness nevertheless added
+the interest of her personality to undertakings that might have failed
+for the lack of such a spirit as hers; and in her many charities the
+personal touch which she took the trouble to give added infinitely to
+the happiness and self-respect of those to whom her kindness, as in
+neighborly thoughtfulness, was extended.
+
+In Cooperstown Mrs. Clark became an arbiter of the social and moral
+virtues, and the things that she frowned upon were usually not done. She
+had a wholesome influence in resisting certain excesses which not seldom
+appear in communities partly given over to the pursuit of pleasure. In
+some innovations against which she protested, Mrs. Clark at last
+gracefully yielded to the inevitable. This was the case with
+automobiles, which, when they first appeared upon the country roads, she
+regarded with the alarm and disgust of one devoted to a carriage and
+horses, and would have banished them from Otsego if she had had the
+power. In that period of transition few country roads were adapted to
+the use of motors, and to meet one of the new machines while driving in
+a carriage along the lake shore was to suffer the apprehension of
+imminent death from the fury of plunging horses, and to be nearly choked
+in a cloud of dust.
+
+Mrs. Clark was fond of walking, and she was a familiar figure in the
+residence streets of the village in summer, usually dressed in white,
+without a bonnet, and carrying a white parasol above her head, as she
+moved with quick step upon some errand.
+
+The homestead at Fernleigh represents much that has contributed to the
+development of Cooperstown. The greater part of the industry controlled
+by the Clark estates is managed from the offices of the Singer Building
+in New York, which when it was erected in 1909 was the tallest office
+building in the world. But a large part of the interests of the estates
+is centered in the picturesque old building, originally built for a
+bank, which stands near the entrance of the Cooper Grounds in
+Cooperstown. The Cooper Grounds themselves were rescued from a condition
+of desolation in which they had lain for many years after the death of
+Fenimore Cooper, and are maintained by the Clark estates for the benefit
+of the public. The Village Club and Library across the way is a creation
+of the Clark estates. On the hills east and west of the village, and
+along the eastern shore of the lake for a stretch of nearly six miles,
+the same ownership has preserved for all lovers of nature the noble
+forests that lend a charm of wildness to the region.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 119: _A Few Omitted Leaves_, Keese, p. 12; _History of
+Cooperstown_, Livermore, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE LAKE OF ROMANCE AND FISHERMEN
+
+
+The period from 1870 to 1880 was one of rapid growth and development in
+Cooperstown. The permanent population increased to over two thousand
+souls, and a number of fine summer residences were erected. Almost all
+of its natural advantages Cooperstown owes to Otsego Lake. These had
+been long appreciated by residents of the village, and now began to be
+generally sought by visitors from afar. In summer, the shores of the
+lake come to be dotted with the camp-houses and tents of those who
+sought relief from the swelter of cities in the cool forests of Otsego,
+and found delight in the sailing and fishing for which the Glimmerglass
+is famous.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+THE LAKE FROM THE O-TE-SA-GA]
+
+In the summer of 1870 Capt. Daniel B. Boden began regular steam
+navigation of Otsego Lake by means of a small steamboat which he had
+brought to Cooperstown by railroad, and which had been used as a gunboat
+in Southern waters during the Civil War. The boat was renamed the _Mary
+Boden_. In the following summer a rival steamboat was launched, much
+larger than the former, called the _Natty Bumppo_, and owned principally
+by A. H. Watkins and Elihu Phinney. At the beginning of the next season
+the conservative folk of the village were scandalized by the _Mary
+Boden_, which then commenced to make lake trips on Sunday, a breach of
+ancient custom in which the owners of the _Natty Bumppo_ indignantly
+declined to compete. On a night early in July there was an alarm of
+fire, a great blaze at the lake front, and villagers running to the
+scene found that one of the steamboats was in flames and beyond hope of
+salvage. A small child at a front window of Edgewater, watching the
+fire, clapped her hands, and cried out, "It's the wicker [wicked] boat!
+It's the wicker boat!" But it was not the wicked boat that was ablaze.
+It was the _Natty Bumppo_, which burned to the water's edge a total
+loss, the boat that had never left its dock on Sunday. The event was
+long recalled by some in the village as an instance of grave error in
+the usually correct dispensations of Providence. The _Natty Bumppo_ was
+replaced, in the next season, by a new steamboat bearing the same name.
+The new _Natty Bumppo_ and the old _Mary Boden_ were the famous boats of
+the lake until they were succeeded by the _Pioneer_ and the _Cyclone_,
+and later by the _Deerslayer_, the _Pathfinder_, and the _Mohican_.
+
+Aside from the use of canoes, the first general navigation of the lake
+was undertaken in 1794 by a man known as Admiral Hassy, who in his day
+was the most celebrated fisherman of Otsego. He had a large flat boat
+which he called the ship _Jay_, and upon which he used boards for sails.
+This craft was safe, but not speedy.
+
+Some thirty years later a group of enterprising individuals built a
+horse-boat as a means of transporting lake parties. The boat had at each
+end a high cabin topped by a platform. These excrescences caught
+whatever breeze was blowing, and made the craft unmanageable. The
+struggles of the two poor horses who were expected to propel the boat
+were not equal to a gale of Pierstown trade-winds. More than once a lake
+party starting for Three-Mile Point, aboard this vessel, found itself
+stranded on the opposite shore.
+
+During the first half of the century a "general lake party" in the
+summer corresponded to the "select ball" of each winter as constituting
+one of the two great social events of the year in Cooperstown. It ought
+to be said that the term "lake party" had a distinct social
+significance, and the word "picnic," which came later to be used to
+describe the same thing, meant to the elder inhabitants an affair that
+had quite lost the flavor of the older custom, and the use of the word
+was regarded as one of the signs of social decadence.
+
+The means of navigation most often used by the lake parties was a huge
+scow propelled by long oars. A typical lake party was given in July of
+1840, when Governor Seward visited Cooperstown. On the way home upon the
+lake the old scow, according to custom, was stopped opposite to the
+Echo, and several persons tried their voices to show off the wonderfully
+clear reverberations that would be flung back from the eastern hillside.
+But the master of this art was "Joe Tom," the negro who had been chief
+cook of the lake party, and was now at one of the long oars of the scow.
+On being asked to awaken the famous echo, Joe Tom shouted, "Hurrah for
+Governor Steward!" and when the echo came back, "You've got it to a 't,'
+Joe!" exclaimed Governor Seward.
+
+At this period the authority in aquatic affairs, and the most renowned
+fisherman of the lake, was Commodore Boden. Miss Cooper says of her
+father's novel _Home as Found_ that the one character in it "avowedly
+and minutely drawn from life" was that of the Commodore, "a figure long
+familiar to those living on the lake shores--a venerable figure, tall
+and upright, to be seen for some three score years moving to and fro
+over the water, trolling for pickerel or angling for perch, almost any
+day in the year, excepting when the waters were icebound in
+winter."[120] The commodore was of quite imposing appearance, handsome
+alike in form and figure, straight as an arrow, and lithe as an Indian,
+with silvery locks that hung gracefully down upon his shoulders. His
+method of fishing was fascinating to watch. Standing erect in his boat,
+the commodore would paddle from the outlet of the lake to some inviting
+patch of weeds, and there, in quite shallow water, noiselessly drop his
+anchor. Then, wielding a rod nearly twenty feet in length, he would
+"skip" his tempting bait--generally the side of a small perch--with
+amazing vigor and marvellous dexterity, oftentimes taking fifteen or
+twenty pickerel in less than an hour. To see him strike, manipulate and
+land a fish weighing three or four pounds, his pliant rod bending nearly
+to a semicircle, was a spectacle not to be forgotten.[121]
+
+In 1850 Peter P. Cooper brought from the Lake Ontario a little schooner,
+and became so famous as a boatman and fisherman that he was regarded as
+the successor of Admiral Hassy and Commodore Boden. Capt. Cooper
+established a boat livery which included five sailboats and twenty
+rowboats. He developed the fisheries of Otsego Lake on a big scale,
+having introduced the gill net as a means of catching bass. In the
+spring of 1851 there were taken from the lake 25,000 bass. The gill net
+which Capt. Cooper introduced is made of the best kind of linen thread,
+with meshes from two to two and a half inches square. The net is about
+three feet wide, having leads attached to one edge, and corks fastened
+to the other. The leaded edge is carried to the bottom of the lake,
+while the other is buoyed up by the corks, making a complete fence
+across the lake at its bottom, even where it is very deep. The fish swim
+against the fence, which at once yields to their force, but as it
+yields, forms a sack whose meshes gather about their fins and tail,
+making it impossible to back out or otherwise escape. Their efforts
+serve only to entangle the fish more deeply in the net. Elihu Phinney,
+the most expert amateur fisherman of the period, denounced Capt.
+Cooper's gill net as the "most deadly and abominable of all devices."
+
+The Otsego bass never exceed about six pounds in weight, the average
+being much smaller. Occasionally a lake trout of larger size is caught.
+With hook and line trout of great size are not often taken. On Friday,
+August 21, 1908, Alexander S. Phinney caught with hook and line, near
+Kingfisher Tower, a trout thirty-six inches long and weighing twenty
+pounds. He tussled with this trout for an hour, with six hundred feet of
+line, before he succeeded in landing him in the boat. In the next season
+the same fisherman caught a trout weighing eighteen pounds. So far as
+authentic records go, these two trout are the largest fish ever caught
+in the lake with hook and line.
+
+The conditions in Otsego Lake are favorable for the artificial
+propagation of fish, and many plantings have been made, at first by
+private enterprise, and afterward by the State. The lake extends in a
+direction from N. N. East to S. S. West about nine miles, varying in
+width from about three quarters of a mile to a mile and a half. The
+surface of the lake is 1,194 feet above tide-water. The average depth is
+about fifty feet, although about two miles north of the village
+soundings have been taken to a depth of one hundred and fifty feet,
+while toward the midst of the lake the depths are greater. In many
+places the water deepens gradually from the shore, but along the eastern
+bank there are points at which, Fenimore Cooper declared, "a large ship
+might float with her yards in the forest." The lake is chiefly supplied
+from cold bottom springs. Its only constant tributaries are two small
+streams, whose entire volume is not half that of its outlet, the
+Susquehanna River, which here begins its long journey to Chesapeake Bay.
+The upper and lower portions of the lake, being shallow and weedy,
+afford ample pickerel grounds, while the middle portion and whole
+eastern shore are admirably adapted, by deep water and soft marl bottom,
+to the coregoni and salmon trout, and nearer shore, by rocky bottom and
+sharp ledges, to the rock bass, black bass, and yellow perch. Large fish
+find an abundant food supply in the "lake shiner," an exquisitely
+beautiful creature and dainty morsel, about four inches long.
+
+The fish for which the lake has become famous among epicures is the
+"Otsego bass." In _The Pioneers_, published in 1823, Fenimore Cooper
+expressed the general opinion when he put into the mouth of one of his
+characters this eulogy of the Otsego bass: "These fish are of a quality
+and flavor that in other countries would make them esteemed a luxury on
+the tables of princes. The world has no better fish than the bass of
+Otsego; it unites the richness of the shad to the firmness of the
+salmon." More than sixty years later much the same opinion prevailed,
+when Elihu Phinney described Otsego bass as "beyond all peradventure the
+very finest fresh water fish that swims."
+
+There has long been a difference of opinion as to whether the so-called
+Otsego bass is to be regarded as a distinct species. Louis Agassiz, the
+highest authority of his time, after careful analysis pronounced the
+Otsego bass to be "in its organic structure a distinct fish, not found
+in any other waters of the world." In 1915 Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the New
+York State fish culturist, declared that the so-called Otsego bass "is
+merely the common Labrador whitefish which has become dwarfed in size by
+some peculiarities of its habitat." De Witt Clinton, a former governor
+of New York, wrote the first scientific description, accompanied by a
+drawing, of this fish, which he called "the Salmo Otsego, or the Otsego
+Basse."[122] At the time when Clinton wrote, the whitefishes were
+placed in the genus Salmo. In 1911, in the bulletin of the United States
+bureau of fisheries,[123] Dr. Evermann asserted concerning Clinton's
+drawing of Otsego bass, which he had examined, that "the cut, although
+crude, plainly shows _Coregonus clupeaformis_. The form is elliptical,
+and the back shows the dark streaks along the rows of scales usually
+characteristic of that species." The same author, in collaboration with
+Dr. Jordan,[124] says concerning the common whitefish: "This species,
+like others of wide distribution, is subject to considerable variations,
+dependent upon food, waters, etc. One of these is the so-called Otsego
+bass, var Otsego (Clinton), a form landlocked in Otsego Lake at the head
+of the Susquehanna River."
+
+There are Otsego fishermen who are not impressed by this array of
+learning, and still insist that the Otsego bass is quite different from
+any other fish in the world. The _Otsego Farmer_ in 1915 summed up the
+matter thus: "Otsego bass is not what is ordinarily termed whitefish,
+but is probably a species of the same family. As a matter of fact,
+Otsego Lake has been stocked with whitefish fry from the Great Lakes,
+and now the nets of fishermen are always filled with a mixture of
+whitefish and Otsego bass. Whatever Dr. Bean may think about it, any
+Otsego Lake fisherman can tell the difference, and any epicure having
+once tasted Otsego bass is never again deceived by whitefish."
+
+A view which seems to reconcile these diverse opinions is that of
+Alexander S. Phinney, the most famous amateur fisherman of Otsego at the
+beginning of the twentieth century. He holds that Otsego bass is quite
+distinct from whitefish, but believes that the true Otsego bass has
+disappeared, giving place to a hybrid fish, now called Otsego bass, but
+really a cross between that variety and the whitefish with which Otsego
+has been stocked from the Great Lakes.
+
+As many as five thousand Otsego bass have been taken with one draught of
+the seine, but in view of the great difficulty of catching any with hook
+and line, the following suggestion from an old authority, Seth Green, is
+still of interest: "The Otsego bass can be taken with small minnows or
+red angle worms. I think if your tackle is very fine, and you do not
+twitch when they bite, they will swallow the bait. Put five or ten hooks
+(O'Shaunessy 8's, forged) on a fine snell, and loop them five feet
+apart; with a small sinker at the end. Bait some with small minnows (an
+inch or so in length) and some with worms. Cast out as far as you can
+from the boat, and let it lie half or three quarters of an hour on the
+bottom, feeling now and then to see if you have one on. The best way is
+to let them hook themselves. The angle worms, if used for bait, should
+be strung on to the hook with both ends left dangling. A light stroke
+must be made and the fish handled very carefully."
+
+[Illustration: FISHERMEN'S SHANTIES ON THE FROZEN LAKE]
+
+Many fishermen are successful in taking Otsego bass with hook and line
+in winter, by fishing through the ice. No sooner has the lake become
+frozen from shore to shore, usually after Christmas, than the whole
+surface becomes dotted with the shanties of fishermen, which remain
+until the ice begins to weaken in the spring. The typical fisherman's
+shanty on the ice-bound lake is about five by six feet in floor space,
+and six feet high. It has a window, and the floor is so arranged that it
+can be raised to keep the fisherman above the water that sometimes
+floods the surface of the ice. Holes are cut through the floor, and
+through the ice beneath, for the admission of the fishing lines. The
+shanty is warmed by a small stove, with its stove-pipe sticking out
+through the roof. A chair and a coal box complete the furniture.
+
+Two methods of fishing through the ice for Otsego bass are used by the
+occupants of the shanties. According to one method the hook is dropped
+to the bottom of the lake, and the fish are attracted to its vicinity by
+bait strewn on the bottom. The other method is used nearer shore, where
+the baited hook is let down part way toward the bottom, to tempt the
+fish that move amid the grass and weeds.
+
+There are others besides fishermen to whom the frozen surface of Otsego
+Lake offers the means of pleasure and occupation. In some seasons the
+freezing of the lake occurs within a few hours, after a great and sudden
+fall in temperature, during a night of calm and intense cold. At such
+times, before snow has fallen upon the surface, the lake presents a
+scene of splendor. The ice is quite transparent, and has the effect of a
+great sheet of glass spread out amid the hills. This offers a perfect
+surface for skating, and attracts not only the boys and girls of the
+village, but a large number of their elders. The lake grows lively with
+the gracefully gliding promenade of skaters, with here and there a group
+playing at hockey, while others disport themselves at "crack the whip."
+The friction of so many gliding feet imparts to the frozen surface a low
+and weirdly humming sound, and the droning note is echoed by the hills,
+until the valley resounds with monotonous music. There are times when
+the lake is so well frozen that skaters traverse the entire length. In
+some seasons ice-boats have been used, slanting from end to end of the
+lake with prodigious speed. As the winter advances and the ice grows
+stronger, driving upon the lake becomes common, and horse-races upon the
+ice have sometimes been included among the winter sports.
+
+At about five miles above the foot of the lake, and extending across it
+from shore to shore, a large fissure in the ice usually appears during
+the winter. This fissure is sometimes so wide that a team cannot cross
+it, and many years ago a span of horses was accidentally driven into it.
+The crevice in the ice has caused much speculation. The lake is narrow
+at the place where the crack appears, and the fissure is supposed to be
+created by expansion from the north and from the south, causing the ice
+to rise several feet in gable-like form until the ridge cracks, for
+fragments of ice are found on each side of the crevice.[125]
+
+The tremendous forces exerted by the expansion of the freezing lake cry
+aloud on still winter nights, whenever, after a period of thawing
+weather, the mercury suddenly drops to a point far below zero. On such
+nights, while the trees of the surrounding forest here and there begin
+to be so penetrated with the fierce cold that they crack like
+rifle-shots, the ice-bound lake sets up an unearthly groaning, and the
+cavernous sound of its bellowing echoes dismally over the sleeping
+village, like the trumpetings of some huge leviathan in agony.
+
+Cooperstown has a winter harvest-time, in January or February, when ice
+is cut from the lake for the summer supply. This industry occupies a
+large force of men, with plows, saws, hooks, crowbars, horses and
+bob-sleds, for several weeks. The ice taken from Otsego Lake, from ten
+to twenty inches thick, according to the severity of the winter, is
+always pure as mountain dew, and clear as crystal.
+
+The midsummer view of Otsego Lake at one time included, in the clearings
+along the western shore and hillsides, a great luxuriance of hop-vines.
+The golden wreaths of hops, as they hang ripening in the August
+sunshine, sweeping in graceful clusters from the tall poles, or swinging
+in the breeze in umbrella-like canopies, add a more picturesque feature
+to the landscape than any other growing crop.
+
+Hops have a part in the story of Cooperstown, which was at one time the
+centre of the most important hop-growing industry in America. Hop
+culture was introduced into Otsego county about the year 1830. In 1845
+only 168,605 pounds were produced. In 1885, within a radial distance of
+forty miles from Cooperstown was included more than half of the
+hop-producing region of the United States.
+
+[Illustration: _Elizabeth Hudson_
+
+HOP PICKING]
+
+The hop-picking season, during the latter part of August, has given a
+picturesque character of its own to the life of the village and
+environs. In the primitive days of the industry, when the harvesting of
+the crop did not require any additional help from outside of the
+immediate region, the task of hop-picking was lightened by the enjoyment
+of social pleasures and romantic excitements that came to be associated
+with it by the young people of Otsego. At the beginning of the picking
+season, in those days, anyone passing through the country would meet
+wagon after wagon, of the style known as a "democrat," loaded down with
+gay and lively maidens, with one or two young men to each load. On
+reaching the hop-yard to which they were assigned, these frolicsome
+parties exchanged their holiday attire for broad-rimmed hats and
+working dresses. Boxes were placed about the hop-yard, four pickers to
+each, the boxes being divided into four sections holding ten bushels
+apiece, and into these were dropped the clusters picked from the vines
+by nimble fingers. Experienced hands can fill two or more boxes in a
+day, for which as much as fifty cents a box used to be paid.
+
+The midday lunch was taken beneath the shade of the nearest tree, or, in
+case the pickers were boarded by the grower, all adjourned to the
+largest room in an out-building, where a rural feast was spread with no
+niggard hand. Hop-pickers expect to live on the fat of the farmer's
+land, and as a rule they are not disappointed. Whole sheep and beeves
+vanish like manna before the Israelites in the short three weeks of the
+picking season, while gallons of coffee, firkins of butter, barrels of
+flour, and sugar by the hundred weight are swallowed up in the capacious
+maw of the small army. The nightly hop-dance used to be an indispensable
+adjunct of the picking season, much counted upon by the gay throng, but
+rather frowned upon, as an occasion of scandal, by staid and proper
+seniors.
+
+With the great increase in hop-production during the early 'eighties,
+the romance of hop-picking, on many farms, gave place to a picturesque
+but undesirable invasion of vagabondage from the large cities. Some
+farmers continued to choose their pickers from among the better sort of
+young men and maidens of the neighborhood, but many large growers,
+requiring a great number of hands for a short season, resorted to the
+unemployed of neighboring cities, and the result was an annual
+immigration from Albany, Troy, Binghamton, and other cities farther
+north, which taxed the capacity of the railways. Among these workers
+many were honest and capable, but a large part of them were attracted by
+the prospect of three weeks of board and lodging, with an amount of pay
+which, if small, was sufficient for a glorious spree. It became the
+custom in Cooperstown to augment the village police force during the
+hop-picking season, for city thugs were likely to be abroad, and when
+the pickers were paid off their revels were apt to become both obnoxious
+and dangerous.
+
+Hops will be seen growing in the summer along the shores and hillsides
+of Otsego Lake, so long as beer is made; for, aside from the very
+limited amount required to leaven bread, and the comparatively small
+amount used in druggists' preparations, there is no use for hops except
+in the making of beer. But never again will there be in Otsego such
+luxuriance of hop-culture as that which developed in the 'eighties
+before the Pacific coast learned to compete successfully with the
+hop-growers of New York State.
+
+Hop-culture is a gamble which in Otsego county has made fortunes for
+some farmers and brought ruin to others. The growth of the product is
+singularly at the mercy of freaks of weather, and its preparation for
+the market is beset by many possibilities of failure. It is a crop of
+which it is most difficult to count the final cost, or to predict the
+market price. It has varied in price more than any other product of the
+soil. In 1878 the entire crop was marketed at from five to twelve cents
+a pound. But for many years every farmer in Otsego remembered the season
+of 1882-83, when the average cost of producing a pound of hops was ten
+cents, and hops were selling at a dollar a pound, so that, as was said
+at the time, "five pounds of hops could be exchanged for a barrel of
+flour."[126] Many farmers made money at this time, but some held their
+hops for an even higher price, and lost. One farmer held thousands of
+pounds of hops in his great barn, and kept buying in the crops of other
+farmers, awaiting a price of $1.20, at which he had resolved to sell.
+Two years later the hops were still in the barn, and nine-tenths of
+their value was lost. There were other tragedies of this sort, yet for
+years afterward, while some continued to grow hops at a fair profit,
+many a farmer in the vicinity of Cooperstown, lured by the hope of a
+dollar-a-pound season, was kept on the verge of poverty by his faith in
+the golden vine.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF OTSEGO LAKE]
+
+Otsego Lake is chiefly famous as the scene of events in two of Cooper's
+_Leather-Stocking Tales_. There are glimpses of it in _The Pioneers_,
+while in _The Deerslayer_ the whole action revolves about this lake,
+which throughout the story is called the "Glimmerglass." The scenes of
+incidents in these two tales are still pointed out on Otsego Lake, and
+have become as much a part of its history as of its romance.
+
+[Illustration: THE SUSQUEHANNA, near its source]
+
+To begin with points described in _The Deerslayer_, the beehive-shaped
+rock where the youthful Leather-Stocking had his rendezvous with
+Chingachgook is that now known as Council Rock, and still juts above the
+water at the outlet of the lake, near the western shore of the
+Susquehanna's source. Here it was that exactly at sunset, to keep his
+appointment with Leather-Stocking, the tall, handsome, and athletic
+young Delaware Indian suddenly appeared in full war-paint, standing upon
+the rock, having escaped his lurking foes. Not far from this point, at a
+short distance down the river, Deerslayer got his first glimpse of the
+beautiful Judith Hutter, as she peered from the window of the "ark,"
+which had been moored beneath the screening foliage of overhanging
+trees. It was through these waters, and through the outlet, soon
+afterward, that Floating Tom Hutter and Hurry Harry, aided by
+Deerslayer, drew the ark back into the lake in the nick of time to
+escape a band of hostile Iroquois.
+
+On the western side of the lake, just beyond the O-te-sa-ga as one
+travels northward, the first little bay that indents the shore, now
+called Blackbird Bay, and somewhat changed in shape and aspect by
+fillings of soil and other improvements at the Country Club, is the
+"Rat's Cove," where Floating Tom Hutter was fond of keeping his ark
+anchored behind the trees that covered the narrow strip of jutting land.
+Here it was, at the beginning of the story, that Deerslayer and Hurry
+Harry sought Tom in vain, and on this margin of the lake the buck
+appeared at which Hurry took the shot that awakened the echoes of the
+Glimmerglass. Adjacent to this bay, in the midst of the stretch of land
+between the O-te-sa-ga and the Country Club house, was the Huron camp in
+which Hutter and Hurry were captured by the redskins; and the quantities
+of arrowheads found here in later times suggest that it actually was a
+favorite place of Indian encampment.
+
+North of Blackbird Bay and the Country Club, and beyond Fenimore Farm,
+are Glimmerglen Cove and Brookwood Point, where charming residences that
+overlook the lake add their own attractions to the names of
+"Glimmerglen" and "Brookwood," by which they are known. The stream that
+gushes into the lake from Brookwood is the one in which Hetty Hutter
+made her ablutions, and from which she drank, while on her lonely way
+southward to the Huron camp, in her simple-minded scheme for the rescue
+of her father and Hurry Harry.
+
+A short distance north of Brookwood there empties into the lake a stream
+which is worth tracing toward its source as far as the hillside beyond
+the road that skirts the lake, for here the water comes tumbling down
+from the height in the beautiful Leatherstocking Falls. A shady glen is
+here, a favorite resort of small picnic parties, and while nothing of
+Cooper's romance has been added to the scene except the name, some
+interest may be found in the traces of an old mill which once got its
+power from Leatherstocking Falls.
+
+[Illustration: _Arthur J. Telfer_
+
+LEATHERSTOCKING FALLS]
+
+Some tense situations in the story of the _Deerslayer_ are associated
+with Three-Mile Point, the present picnic resort of Cooperstown; and a
+full understanding of the events described as having taken place on this
+spot almost depends upon some reference to the actual conformation of
+the land. It was on the northern side of the projecting point that Hetty
+had landed on the errand just referred to, setting her canoe adrift.
+Wah-ta-wah promised to meet her Delaware lover, Chingachgook, at the
+same landing-place, on the next night, at the moment when the planet
+Jupiter should top the pines of the eastern shore. Here came
+Chingachgook and Deerslayer in their canoe, at the appointed time, to
+steal the maiden from the Hurons, but found that she could not keep the
+tryst. Around this point Deerslayer gently propelled his canoe southward
+until he gained a view of the fire-lit camp, which the Hurons had moved
+from the region of Blackbird Bay to the southern slope of Three-Mile
+Point. Back again to its northern side he paddled softly, and having
+joined Chingachgook, they left the canoe on the beach near the point,
+and made their stealthy detour, approaching the camp from the west, in
+the shadow of the trees, informing Wah-ta-wah of their presence by
+Chingachgook's squirrel-signal. The spring that still bubbles for the
+refreshment of picnickers on the northern shore of the Point was the one
+which Wah-ta-wah made a pretext to draw away from the camp the old squaw
+who guarded her, and here Deerslayer throttled the vigilant hag, while
+Chingachgook and his Indian sweetheart raced for the canoe. Here, when
+Deerslayer released his grip to follow them, the squaw alarmed the camp.
+Along the stretch of beach he ran eastward to the place where the lovers
+were already in the canoe awaiting him, and from this point Deerslayer
+pushed their canoe to safety, yielding himself to capture.
+
+It was at Five-Mile Point that the Hurons were afterward encamped when
+Deerslayer, whom they had released on parole, returned at the appointed
+hour to redeem his plighted word. Back of Five-Mile Point is a
+picturesque rocky gorge called Mohican Canyon, through which a brook
+ripples, with clumps of fern and rose peeping from the crevices of its
+rugged walls. Having fulfilled his pledge, Deerslayer soon ventured the
+dash for liberty that so nearly succeeded; and, after making a circuit
+of the slope, it was along the ridge of Mohican Canyon that he ran at
+top speed to try a plunge for the lake, with the whole band of Indians
+in pursuit.
+
+[Illustration: FIVE-MILE POINT]
+
+In the open area of Five-Mile Point, after his recapture, Deerslayer was
+bound to a tree, and became a target for the hairbreadth marksmanship of
+Huron tomahawks, preliminary to being put to torture.
+
+North of this spot, and along the shore, Hutter's Point is of interest
+to the reader of the _Leather-Stocking Tales_, for here is the path by
+which Deerslayer reached the lake at the beginning of his romantic
+history, and gained his first view of the Glimmerglass. In the second
+chapter of the _Deerslayer_, Cooper's famous description of the lake as
+it was when the first white man came, based upon his own recollection of
+it when nine-tenths of its shores were in virgin forest, was conceived
+from the angle of Hutter's Point.
+
+[Illustration: _M. Antoinette Abrams_
+
+MOHICAN CANYON]
+
+Not far from the northern end of the lake a faint discoloration of the
+water, with a few reeds projecting above the surface, reveals the
+location of the so-called "sunken island," where the waters of the lake
+shoal from a great depth, and offer the site upon which, at the southern
+end of the shoal, Cooper's imagination built the "Muskrat Castle" of Tom
+Hutter, at which the terrific struggle with the Indians occurred when
+Hutter was killed. At the northern end of the sunken island was the
+watery grave in which the mother of Judith and Hetty lay, and which
+afterward became the grave of Hutter, and finally of Hetty herself.[127]
+
+Across the lake, on its eastern shore, south of Hyde Bay, is Gravelly
+Point, to which Hutter's lost canoe drifted, and where Deerslayer killed
+his first Indian. Farther south is Point Judith, now marked by
+Kingfisher Tower, where Deerslayer, returning to the Glimmerglass
+fifteen years after the events described in the story, found the
+stranded wreck of the ark, and saw fluttering from a log a ribbon that
+had been worn by the lovely Judith Hutter. Here "he tore away the ribbon
+and knotted it to the stock of Killdeer, which had been the gift of the
+girl herself."
+
+Toward the foot of the lake the eastern hills and shore belong to scenes
+of Leather-Stocking's elder days, as described in _The Pioneers_. North
+of Lakewood Cemetery a climb up the precipitous mountainside leads to
+Natty Bumppo's Cave, which, with some poetic license in his treatment
+of its dimensions, the novelist employs as a setting for the final
+climax of his story. To the platform of rock over the cave, as a refuge
+from the forest fire, Leather-Stocking guided Elizabeth Temple and
+Edwards, and carried the dying Chingachgook. On this spot, with his
+glazing eyes fixed upon the western hills, the last of the Mohicans
+yielded up his spirit. Here was the scene of Captain Hollister's charge
+at the head of the Templeton Light Infantry, so swiftly followed by the
+revelation of the mystery which the cave concealed.
+
+[Illustration: GRAVELLY POINT]
+
+Not far from the spot upon which the Leather-Stocking monument now
+stands, near the main entrance of Lakewood cemetery, the log hut of
+Leather-Stocking stood, and afterward, according to the story,
+Chingachgook was buried there. Farther southward, the road that branches
+off to ascend Mount Vision is the one by which Judge Temple and his
+daughter approached the village in the opening scene of the story, and
+it was during their descent from the upper level of this road that the
+buck was shot by Edwards and Leather-Stocking, when Judge Temple's
+marksmanship had failed. Near the branching of this road a stairway
+climbs the mountain, and reaches the pathway of Prospect Rock, where
+Elizabeth found the old Mohican, and was trapped by the forest fire.
+Upon this natural terrace a rustic observatory now stands, which offers
+a superb view of the lake and village.
+
+It was on the summit of Mount Vision, overlooking the village, that
+Elizabeth Temple was faced by a panther crouching to spring upon her,
+and had resigned herself to a cruel death, when she heard the quiet
+voice of old Leather-Stocking, followed by the crack of the rifle that
+saved her life, as he said:
+
+"Hist! hist! Stoop lower, gal; your bonnet hides the creatur's head!"
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 120: _Pages and Pictures_, 301.]
+
+[Footnote 121: Elihu Phinney in Shaw's _History of Cooperstown_.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Letter to John W. Francis, 1822.]
+
+[Footnote 123: Vol xxix, p. 35.]
+
+[Footnote 124: U.S. National Museum, Bulletin 47, p. 465.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Livermore, _History of Cooperstown_, p. 133.]
+
+[Footnote 126: G. P. Keese, _Harper's Magazine_, October, 1885.]
+
+[Footnote 127: For the purpose of the story, as he explains in the
+preface of _The Deerslayer_, Cooper places the "sunken island" farther
+south, nearly opposite to Hutter's Point, and at a greater distance from
+the shore than its real situation.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+TWENTIETH CENTURY BEGINNINGS
+
+
+A man of national reputation made Cooperstown his summer home in 1903,
+when the Rt. Rev. Dr. Henry C. Potter, seventh Bishop of New York, who
+had married Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, took up his residence at
+Fernleigh. In his administration of the most populous diocese in
+America, Bishop Potter had gained wide renown as an ecclesiastic; added
+to which his prominence in civic affairs, and in matters of national
+importance, together with a public championship of workingmen's rights
+at which many wealthy churchpeople stood aghast, made him one of the
+most notable figures in American life. He passed his summers in
+Cooperstown until his death at Fernleigh in July, 1908, and the near
+view of his big personality caused him to be as greatly beloved in the
+village as he was honored in the city. He entered with zest into the
+interests of the village, gave a new impetus to many of its activities,
+and made friends in all walks of life.
+
+When Bishop Potter came to dwell in Cooperstown, the village had already
+made up its mind that he was a rather austere and distant man, an
+official person, the quintessence of ecclesiastical
+statesmanship,--urbane, but unyielding. He looked the part. Tall, erect,
+and of splendid figure, his countenance had the aristocratic beauty of a
+family noted for its handsome men. The noble head and the poutingly
+compressed lips of a wide mouth gave an impression of power, while a
+slight droop of the left eyelid, and a thin rim of white around the iris
+of the eyes, imparted a veiled and filmy coldness to his glance. The
+personal dignity of the Bishop, his commanding presence, a certain
+picturesque magnificence, the rich and well-modulated voice, the
+incisiveness of his manner of speech, with the clear-cut value given to
+every word and syllable, were characteristics that marked him as a
+leader of men.
+
+[Illustration: _A. F. Bradley_
+
+BISHOP POTTER]
+
+But Cooperstown soon came to realize the lovable traits and real
+simplicity of its most distinguished resident. He placed many villagers
+in his debt by personal acts of kindness, and charmed all by his genial
+friendliness. In any company he was the chief source of entertainment.
+Although he applied himself intensely to official work during certain
+hours of every day in the summer, when the hour of relaxation came he
+laid aside his task. With all his cares, he was never the grim man
+forcing himself to be gay. His contribution to the pleasure of a company
+was spontaneous and contagious. Not the least highly developed of his
+qualities was the Bishop's sense of humor. He was an incomparable
+raconteur, and many an incident of village life gave him material for a
+story which, with certain poetic license of embellishment that he
+sometimes allowed himself, set his hearers in a roar. He was as ready
+to hear a good story as to tell one, and his ringing laugh was a
+delight. The Bishop talked much and well. His use of the pause in
+speaking, with a momentary compression of the lips now and then between
+clauses, heightened the effect of crispness in his felicitously chosen
+phrases. He was a good listener if one had anything to say, but he was
+not averse to presiding in monologue over a number of people, and often
+did so, for his fund of talk was so rich that others, in his presence,
+were sometimes slow to offer any contribution of their own. He was most
+adroit at this sort of entertainment, and had a way of apparently
+bringing others of the company into the conversation--usually those who
+seemed rather shy and overawed,--without requiring them to utter so much
+as a word. In the midst of his talk the Bishop would interject such a
+remark as, "You will understand me, Mr. So-and-So, when I say"., or
+"Mrs. Blank, you will be particularly interested to know"., turning
+earnestly toward the person addressed. Of course Mr. So-and-So and Mrs.
+Blank brightened up at being singled out by the great man, and beamed
+with pleasure at having thus contributed to the conversation.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+THE RECTORY]
+
+In the morning of every week-day, just as the village clock struck nine,
+the Bishop could be seen issuing from Fernleigh, whence, after passing
+the Rectory, he pursued a slow and stately course down the curved path
+of the Cooper Grounds to the Clark Estate building, where he had an
+office on the upper floor at the southwest corner. On warm summer days,
+he discarded broadcloth, and was dressed in flannels of spotless white.
+He walked with a stick, and there was a slight limp of the left leg, due
+to an injury received in riding. So strong and erect was his bearing,
+however, in spite of his more than three score years and ten, that the
+slow gait seemed to be caused rather by preference than necessity, and
+the limp really appeared to add to the majesty of his measured pace.
+Anyone who joined him was obliged to walk as slowly as the Bishop, who
+never hastened his steps, but conversed affably; now and then, as some
+thought struck him forcibly, he paused abruptly in his walk, and stood
+still to utter what was in his mind, moving forward again, by way of
+emphasis, at the end of a sentence. In these walks through the Cooper
+Grounds, and about the village, the Bishop assumed acquaintance with
+everyone, and frequently stopped to enter into conversation with a
+neighbor, a passing tourist, or some workman toiling in a ditch. It was
+because of his genuine interest in everyone that the village came to
+regard Bishop Potter no longer as a distinguished metropolitan, but as a
+genial neighbor. A stable-boy who at this period drove the village
+rector to a country funeral expressed the sentiment of many when he
+said: "I used to think the Bishop was stuck up; but he is really just as
+common as me or you!"
+
+Bishop Potter took great delight in amusing occurrences in which he
+shared as he went about the village. In fact he seemed deliberately to
+invite them, and afterward described the incidents with contagious
+merriment. One day as he was about to enter a car of the trolley road on
+Main Street, an enormously fat countrywoman was standing on the
+platform, bidding farewell to her her friends. She had much to say, and
+completely blocked the entrance to the car. After waiting patiently for
+some moments the Bishop addressed the woman in his most gracious manner.
+"Madam," said he, "I don't wish to interfere with your conversation, but
+if you will kindly move either one way or the other, so that I may enter
+the car, I shall be greatly obliged." The woman glared at him. "Are you
+the conductor of this car?" she snapped, "Because if you be, you're the
+sassiest conductor that ever _I_ see!"
+
+In the late summer of 1904, "Doc" Brady, a lovable old Irish heart, who
+used to peddle portraits of the Pope, corn salve, and various trifles,
+encountered Bishop Potter in front of the Village Library, and invited a
+purchase of his wares, which at this time included campaign buttons of
+Col. Roosevelt and Judge Parker, attached to packages of chewing-gum.
+"Here ye are, Bishop," he cried; "Get a button for your favorite
+candidate!" The Bishop impartially selected a button of each kind, and
+pushed the chewing-gum aside. "Take your goom, Bishop, take your goom,"
+urged Brady, as the Bishop moved away. "No, certainly not," was the firm
+reply. But Doc Brady was insistent, and hurrying after the Bishop forced
+the gum upon him. "There," said he, "if you don't chew it yourself, take
+it home to Mrs. Potter!" The Bishop's laugh rang aloud through the
+Cooper Grounds as he slowly ascended the path, taking home the
+chewing-gum to Fernleigh.
+
+The Bishop usually left his office in the Clark Estate building toward
+one o'clock, and Mrs. Potter often walked down to join him on the way
+home. Sometimes, as she passed the office, she hailed the Bishop, and
+conversed with him as he stood at the open window above. On one
+occasion, when Mrs. Potter had several ladies as guests, they all
+chatted with the Bishop through the window on their way to Fernleigh. A
+moment later, recalling something that he had neglected to mention, he
+summoned a gardener who was at work close at hand, and asked him to
+request the ladies kindly to step back to the window, as the Bishop had
+something to say to them. Shortly afterward, in response to the
+gardener's summons, there was lined up beneath the window a happy group
+of female excursionists carrying lunch-baskets, entire strangers to the
+Bishop, and in a quite a flutter of anticipation of what the
+distinguished prelate might have to communicate. The Bishop was equal to
+the situation. He gave them some information concerning points of
+interest in and about Cooperstown, with a brief summary of the history
+of the Cooper Grounds in which they then stood, and sent them away
+rejoicing in knowledge that added greatly to the pleasure of their
+visit.
+
+A frequent guest at Fernleigh at this time was the Rev. Dr. W. W. Lord,
+formerly rector of Christ Church, and for many years one of the most
+beloved friends of the Clark family. This aged clergyman and poet was a
+scholar of the old-fashioned type, well-versed in the elder
+philosophies, and fond of quoting Greek, Latin, and Hebrew authors in
+the original tongues. Dr. Lord admired Bishop Potter, but the two men
+were of different schools, and the old priest was inclined to stir up
+good-humored controversies in which he pitted his scholasticism against
+the Bishop's more facile and modern if less profound learning. The New
+York prelate entered with great zest into the contest of wits, and let
+slip no opportunity to score a point on Dr. Lord.
+
+Although usually numbered among the evangelicals, Bishop Potter in his
+latter years was sympathetic with certain aspects of Catholic
+ceremonial. He believed in the enrichment of the services of the Church
+by light, color, and symbolism, so far as might be consistent with the
+law of the Anglican communion in America. Dr. Lord belonged to the
+school of churchmanship which abhorred anything beyond the most severe
+simplicity in the services of the Church, and had a large contempt for
+the badges and symbols of ritualism.
+
+On the festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1903, Bishop Potter and Dr.
+Lord were the chief figures at a service held in Christ Church to which
+the Masonic lodges of Cooperstown and vicinity were invited. Both the
+Bishop and Dr. Lord were thirty-third degree Masons. Dr. Lord, because
+of the infirmities of age, at that period seldom officiated in church,
+but for this occasion was to have a place of honor in the chancel, and
+to pronounce the benediction. Bishop Potter was to deliver the sermon.
+
+Dr. Lord came early to the sacristy of the church, and, having vested in
+his long flowing surplice and black stole, seated himself to await
+service time. In conversation with the rector, Dr. Lord recalled the
+days when more of the clergy were simple in their apparel, and he
+deplored the tendency to adopt brilliant vestments, colored stoles, and
+academic hoods. A hood, said Dr. Lord, echoing the sentiments of a witty
+English prelate, was often a falsehood. Any man could wear a red bag
+dangling down his back, but nothing except sound scholarship could
+really make a Doctor of Divinity. For his part, said Dr. Lord, he was
+content to be a Doctor of Divinity, by virtue of scholastic learning,
+without wearing a hood to proclaim it.
+
+At this moment the Bishop appeared, having walked from Fernleigh to the
+church fully arrayed in his vestments. He was a resplendent figure. In
+addition to the episcopal robes of his office, he wore an Oxford cap,
+and a hood of flaming crimson, which an expert in such matters would
+have identified as belonging to Union College, or Yale, or Harvard, or
+Oxford, or Cambridge, or St. Andrew's, all of which institutions of
+learning had conferred the doctorate on Bishop Potter.
+
+It still lacked a few moments of service time, and when the Bishop was
+seated in the bright light of the sacristy, another feature of
+decoration in his dress appeared. Depending from a chain about the neck
+there glittered upon his breast what the Masons call a "jewel." To the
+non-Masonic eye it was more than a jewel. It suggested rather a shooting
+star, emitting a shower of scintillations from the facets of a hundred
+jewels. When the coruscations of this Masonic emblem caught the eye of
+Dr. Lord, he became uneasy, and began to finger an imaginary token of
+rank upon his own breast. "I ought to have a jewel to wear to-night," he
+said musingly, and muttered of the splendid jewel that he had forgotten
+to bring, given to him years before by the Grand Lodge. By this time the
+hour of service had come; the aproned Masons had marched to their seats
+in the nave of the church, and all available space was thronged by an
+expectant congregation. Nevertheless Dr. Lord requested the rector to go
+forth from the sacristy, and ask the master of the Lodge whether any of
+the brethren present had a jewel to lend for the occasion. This was
+done, but no jewel was forthcoming. The Bishop seemed absorbed in his
+own thoughts.
+
+The choir and clergy entered the chancel, and the service began. Dr.
+Lord had a seat of honor in the sanctuary at the right of the altar.
+When evensong was finished, Bishop Potter preached the sermon, after
+which he returned to the sanctuary, and stood at the left of the altar
+opposite to Dr. Lord. Just before the benediction, which Dr. Lord was to
+pronounce, the Bishop caught the rector's eye, and beckoned. When the
+rector came near, the Bishop removed the Masonic jewel, with its chain,
+and handed it to him.
+
+"Put it around the old man's neck," the Bishop whispered.
+
+This was done, and the venerable clergyman, decorated with the flashing
+symbol, seemed to grow in stature beyond his usual great height, as he
+ascended the steps of the altar, where he uplifted his hands, and in an
+age-worn but magnificent and sonorous voice pronounced the solemn
+blessing.
+
+In the early autumn of 1904 the Rt. Hon. and Most Rev. Dr. Randall T.
+Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England, the first
+occupant of the chair of St. Augustine to visit America, was a guest at
+Fernleigh. The Archbishop and Mrs. Davidson, with the Archbishop's two
+chaplains, were met at the station by Bishop Potter together with a
+delegation of Cooperstown citizens. The first carriage that left the
+station contained the English and American bishops; the second carried
+the two chaplains, escorted by the village rector. As this carriage left
+the station, David H. Gregory, the perennial wit of the summer colony,
+called out,
+
+"Don't forget to show the gentlemen the Indian in the Cooper Grounds."
+
+The chaplains of the Archbishop exchanged glances of pleased
+anticipation. What they had heard suggested that Cooperstown kept a live
+Indian on view as a symbol of its history and romance, just as Rome
+maintains always its pair of wolves at the Capitoline hill. The rector
+tried in vain to divert their thoughts toward other objects. When the
+carriage rolled through the Cooper Grounds the chaplains insisted upon
+seeing the Indian. There was nothing to do but to point out J. Q. A.
+Ward's sculptured Indian which stands in the midst of the park, a
+replica of the one in Central Park, New York, and better mounted,
+altogether a fine work of art, but--
+
+"Oh, I say," exclaimed one of the chaplains, as they looked at one
+another in deep disappointment, "Not alive; not alive!"
+
+During the Archbishop's stay in Cooperstown he attended daily services
+in Christ Church, and enjoyed visiting points of interest on the lake
+and in the village. That a souvenir of the visit might be preserved the
+Archbishop and the Bishop were photographed together on the front porch
+of Fernleigh. Apparently some prosaic adviser had represented to the
+Archbishop that his usual costume would make him undesirably conspicuous
+in America, for during his tour of this country the Primate of all
+England abandoned the picturesque every-day dress of an English bishop,
+with its knickerbockers and gaiters, in favor of the international
+hideousness of pantaloons. At the time of the photograph Bishop Potter
+was wearing leggings, having just returned from riding, so that the two
+bishops appeared to have exchanged costumes.
+
+[Illustration: THE ARCHBISHOP WITH BISHOP POTTER]
+
+The Archbishop desired not to have anything like a public reception, but
+it was intimated to a few neighbors that they would be welcomed at
+Fernleigh on a certain evening. At this gathering the most regal figure,
+who, in the ancient finery of her apparel, wearing a headdress topped
+with an ostrich plume, may be said to have eclipsed the most
+distinguished guests, was Susan Augusta Cooper, granddaughter of the
+novelist, representing, as it were, the very foundation of the village.
+Miss Cooper was one of the most characteristic survivals of the old
+regime in Cooperstown. She lived next door to Fernleigh in Byberry
+Cottage, which had been built as a home for the two unmarried daughters
+of the novelist shortly after the burning of Otsego Hall, and largely
+out of material rescued from it, including the oaken doors, the
+balusters of the stairway, and two bookcases from Cooper's library which
+were transferred to the cottage. Susan Augusta Cooper took up her
+residence there with her mother and aunts in 1875, and when she died in
+1915 had been the sole occupant of the cottage for many years. She was a
+type of old-fashioned neighborliness, and made a specialty of
+ministration to the needs of sick and poor throughout the village. One
+frequently met her on some errand of mercy; the basket on her arm
+contained good things prepared with her own hands for the needy; the
+large and stately figure had grown rather mountainous with advancing
+years, and the dignity of her slow and measured pace suggested the
+steady progress of a ship moving in calm waters. The solemnity of her
+countenance, and the grave manner of her carefully chosen words, were
+lovably familiar to those who knew her warm and generous heart.
+
+When Miss Cooper's health failed she was obliged to undergo an operation
+which left her a cripple, unable to get about except in a wheel-chair
+propelled by an attendant. Always a faithful communicant of Christ
+Church, her disability occasioned what came to be almost a parochial
+ceremony, for when Miss Cooper made her communion she was wheeled to the
+chancel steps, and the priest came forward to administer to her, while
+the other communicants respectfully waited until she had withdrawn.
+
+[Illustration: _C. A. Schneider_
+
+BYBERRY COTTAGE as originally built]
+
+Added to her other infirmities, an affection of the eyes gradually
+darkened her vision until she became totally blind. In a condition of
+helplessness which would seem to make existence unendurable, Miss Cooper
+found much to make her happy, and life was sweet to her to the end. She
+enjoyed the society of friends, and it gave her keen pleasure, blind and
+crippled as she was, to be seated in state at large social functions.
+Such was her habitual solemnity of manner that few gave her credit for
+the sense of humor which lightened many of her dark days. She uttered
+her jests with so much gravity that they were often taken in earnest.
+Now and again she made sport of her own infirmities. Meeting her one
+day in her wheel-chair, after her eyesight had begun to fail, a neighbor
+inquired for her health. "Quite comfortable," replied Miss Cooper, in
+solemn tones, "except for my eyes. They tell me it is a fine day, with
+beautiful blue sky. The sky is blue, but to my eyes it is shrunk to the
+size of a bachelor's-button!" Miss Cooper was very reluctant in
+consenting to the amputation which prolonged her life for several years.
+Even after the surgeons stood ready in the operating-room she for a time
+declined to submit to the ordeal. There was a prolonged discussion which
+resulted at last, on the advice of friends, in obtaining her consent.
+The chief surgeon entering the room approached the bedside rubbing his
+hands and, grasping at something to say to reassure the patient,
+remarked in silken tones, "Well, Miss Cooper, I'm glad to hear that you
+prefer to have the amputation." The situation seemed desperate, and
+nerves were at a high tension among Miss Cooper's friends. "Well,
+doctor," was her tart rejoinder, "I must say that 'prefer' is hardly the
+word that I should use!" With this she gave a chuckle that proved her
+spirit undaunted, and relieved the strain.
+
+Miss Cooper had great respect for the clergy, and for a bishop her
+reverence was unbounded. When Bishop Potter dedicated the monument at
+the grave of Leslie Pell-Clarke, in Lakewood Cemetery, a terrific
+thunderstorm arose during the ceremonies, and Miss Cooper was taken home
+in the carriage with the distinguished prelate to escape the deluge. The
+various conveyances plunged down the hillside post-haste, with
+lightning crashing on every side. Some of the ladies in the party became
+hysterical. Miss Cooper alone was perfectly calm. "With a bishop by my
+side," she exclaimed, "I am not in the least afraid to die!"
+
+[Illustration: THE CLARK ESTATE OFFICE]
+
+In the summer of 1904 Bishop Potter unwittingly acted as the accomplice
+of a burglar who robbed the safe of the Clark Estate office in
+Cooperstown, and escaped with a quantity of jewels. The newspapers
+estimated the value of the stolen jewels at from $20,000 to $100,000,
+and the robbery became a celebrated case in police annals. The burglary
+was unusual in having taken place in broad daylight, with Bishop Potter
+calmly at work at his desk on the second floor of the small building.
+When the clerks left the office for luncheon at noon they locked the
+outside door, but did not close the vault in which the papers and
+valuables were kept. It was a brilliant summer day, the seventh of July;
+villagers and tourists were passing and repassing through the adjacent
+Cooper Grounds; the clerks were to return within an hour, and in the
+mean time the Bishop was there. Nobody dreamed of the possibility of a
+burglary, but it was the unexpected that happened. When the vault was to
+be closed and locked at the end of the day, a tin box containing a
+casket of jewels was missing. In the basement of the building the tin
+box which had contained the jewel-case was found empty, and near by was
+a hatchet usually kept in the basement, and with which the box had been
+pried open.
+
+The news of the robbery caused intense excitement in the community. The
+village policeman together with the county sheriff and his deputies met
+in conference at the Clark Estate office; knots of people gathered upon
+the streets in earnest discussion; the village press was busy turning
+out handbills announcing the robbery and offering a large reward for the
+apprehension of the thief; the telegraph wires hummed with messages to
+the police of the state and nation. Next morning Pinkerton detectives
+arrived under the leadership of George S. Dougherty, afterward deputy
+police commissioner of the city of New York.
+
+The clues discovered by the detectives were not encouraging. In the
+office nothing appeared beyond the fact that the box of jewels had been
+removed from the safe. In the basement the discarded tin box that had
+contained the casket of jewels lay upon the floor not far from the
+hatchet with which it had been opened, and the only remarkable
+circumstance was that the floor all about the empty box was bespattered
+with blood. The detectives said also that they noticed the frequent
+appearance of a woman's footprints which were well defined and seemed to
+encircle the spot where the empty jewel-box lay.
+
+The blood-stains appeared to offer the most serviceable clue, and to
+account for them three theories were suggested. First: The robber had
+been caught in the act by someone who had disappeared in pursuit, after
+one or the other had been wounded in the struggle. Second: There was
+more than one robber, and there had been a bloody quarrel over the
+division of the booty. Third: In opening the tin box containing the
+jewels the robber had cut himself either with the hatchet or with the
+jagged tin. Since the Bishop, who had been in the building during the
+robbery, heard no sound of any struggle, the first two theories were
+abandoned, and the third alone seemed probable. Advices were accordingly
+telegraphed to the police of various cities to look out for a man with a
+bandaged hand. For several days thereafter suspicious-looking men in
+remote parts of the country who had had the misfortune to injure a hand
+suffered the added misfortune of being detained by the police; but
+nothing came of it.
+
+In order to aid in the recovery of the property, and to make it
+difficult for the thief to dispose of it, a description of the stolen
+jewelry was given out, and summarized as follows: a pearl collar; a
+diamond bow-knot with pear-shaped pearl pendant; a ring set with two
+diamonds and a ruby; a ring set with diamond and ruby; a small diamond
+ring; a solitaire diamond ring; a diamond marquise ring; a ring set with
+two diamonds crosswise; a diamond bracelet; a diamond and pearl
+bracelet.
+
+Dougherty the detective had another method of procedure in reserve. He
+had brought with him to Cooperstown an album containing photographs of
+the most noted bank-sneaks and yegg-men. After studying the "job" at the
+Clark Estate office he came to the conclusion that it was the work of a
+professional, and began to run over in his mind the various crooks who
+might have planned and carried out a robbery of this particular sort.
+Many of these were gradually eliminated for one reason or another, until
+he had narrowed the field to a few suspects. Dougherty then began to
+make inquiries about the village to learn whether anyone had noticed a
+stranger loitering in the neighborhood of the Clark Estate offices on
+the day of the robbery. His search was rewarded by finding several
+persons who remembered such a stranger. One of them described the
+loiterer as a man about sixty years old, with "pleasant, laughing eyes."
+Dougherty already had in mind Billy Coleman, alias Hoyt, alias Grant,
+alias Holton, alias Houston, a man with an international police record.
+He produced Coleman's photograph, and the likeness was promptly
+identified as that of the loiterer. Another who remembered seeing the
+stranger picked out from the entire gallery of rogues the likeness of
+Coleman.
+
+Although he had no real evidence against him the detective was now sure
+of his man, and felt certain that, somewhere in the mazes of New York
+City, Coleman and the missing jewels would be found. Returning to New
+York, Dougherty roamed the streets of the city, day and night, looking
+for Coleman. After two weeks of fruitless search he met one of Coleman's
+"pals" coming up Eighth Avenue. Acting on the theory that this man would
+ultimately get in touch with Coleman, the detective determined to keep
+him in sight. He shadowed him all night, following him from haunt to
+haunt. The next morning, when Coleman's friend retired to a
+rooming-house, and asked for a bed, Dougherty put two subordinates on
+guard, while he himself snatched a few hours of sleep. The detective
+proved to be upon the right track, for within thirty-six hours the
+shadowed man joined Billy Coleman.
+
+The suspected thief occupied a flat at 271 West 154th Street. From this
+time Dougherty or one of his deputies followed every movement of Billy
+Coleman. Day after day they tracked him through the city from one resort
+to another. In the evening they followed him home, and kept a watchful
+eye on the premises. Coleman's actions were provokingly innocent. At
+nightfall he frequently left home, accompanied by his wife, but only to
+take their little dog out for an airing. On a Sunday evening while
+Dougherty was shadowing Coleman and his wife, hoping that they might
+lead him to some clue to the robbery, he was amazed to see them enter an
+Episcopal church, where they remained throughout the service. Bishop
+Potter, to whom Dougherty had confided his suspicions of Coleman,
+laughed heartily when the detective mentioned this incident.
+
+"Surely, Dougherty, you don't want me to believe that one good churchman
+would rob another, do you?" the Bishop exclaimed.
+
+Dougherty felt that as the case stood he was making no headway. Coleman,
+who perhaps realized that he might be under suspicion, made no false
+moves. The detective resolved upon another plan of action. He decided to
+have Coleman charged with the robbery and arrested, after which he was
+certain to be released for lack of evidence. He calculated that an
+official discharge from any complicity in the stealing of the jewels
+would so reassure Coleman that he might afterward betray himself,
+through lack of caution, to watchful detectives. Coleman was accordingly
+arrested, and held for the grand jury in Cooperstown. The case against
+him was too weak to stand. The grand jurors were much absorbed in
+conclusions drawn from the blood-stains found on the floor of the
+basement of the Clark Estate office, and when it was shown that Coleman
+bore no sign of scratch or scar they promptly discharged him. Coleman
+left Cooperstown a free man, and chatted amicably with Dougherty as they
+rode together on the train to New York. On reaching the city they parted
+company at the Christopher Street elevated station, and Coleman rode on
+up town to his home, serenely confident of Dougherty's failure and of
+his own security.
+
+This was in October. From the moment of his arrival in the city Coleman
+was shadowed day and night. Detectives rented a room in a house across
+the street from Coleman's flat. Whenever he left his home they
+cautiously followed him. For a time he seemed to be making tests to
+learn whether or not he was being followed. Sometimes he would enter a
+large department-store, mingle with the crowds, and suddenly find his
+way out of a side door into a little-frequented street. But the
+detectives were equally wily. They adopted various disguises, and never
+let him out of their sight. After about two months they observed that
+Coleman began to make frequent trips toward Morningside Park. He made
+always for the same region, where he appeared to walk aimlessly about,
+but with his eyes fixed on the ground, as though counting his steps. On
+the morning of the third of January, during a heavy snowstorm, Coleman
+was followed to West 155th Street and Eighth Avenue, where, in a little
+open space near an iron-foundry, he scraped aside the snow, and began a
+small excavation of the earth. For some reason he failed to find the
+object of his search, and returned home with an air of dejection. One
+detective shadowed him homeward; the others did not wait for the falling
+snow to obliterate the traces of his excavation. They began digging in
+the same spot on a more generous scale, and eighteen inches below the
+surface unearthed a glass fruit-jar. The jar, on being lifted to the
+light, dazzled the eyes of the detectives, for it contained the missing
+jewels, which for six months had lain there in the earth where thousands
+of people had daily passed them by.
+
+The detectives, having removed the jewels, placed in the jar a note
+addressed to Billy Coleman, signed by Dougherty and his assistants,
+McDonals and Wade, stating that they had the jewels, and would call upon
+him at the earliest opportunity. They reburied the jar, and restored the
+surroundings to their former condition. Coleman, as had been foreseen,
+afterward returned to the spot, and dug up the jar. The detectives were
+near enough to witness the wretched man's distress when, on reading the
+note, he realized that the fortune had escaped him and that the prison
+awaited him. He was immediately placed under arrest, and confessed all.
+Concerning a few pieces of jewelry that were missing from those found in
+the jar he gave information that led to their recovery. Coleman was once
+more taken to Cooperstown, and, with the additional evidence, was easily
+convicted of the robbery.
+
+Coleman was a man of such remarkable intelligence and engaging
+personality that Bishop Potter, whose near presence at the time of the
+robbery the burglar little suspected, became much interested in him.
+There is no doubt that Coleman was really touched by the kindness which
+Bishop and Mrs. Potter showed to him and to his wife, and his resolution
+to reform was quite sincere.
+
+"There is nothing in being a crook," he said. "I am sixty years old, and
+have been in prison half my life. My advice to young men is 'Don't
+steal.'"
+
+At Bishop Potter's request the sentence of the court was lighter than
+Coleman's record might have warranted, and he was sent to Auburn prison
+for six years and five months, a term which discounts for good behaviour
+reduced to four years and four months.
+
+Coleman's explanation of the blood-stains which had played so important
+a part in the various theories of the robbery was one that nobody had
+thought to venture. He said that before he opened the jewel-casket in
+the basement he really had no idea what it contained, and when he saw
+the fortune in gems that had come into his possession his great
+excitement brought on a nose-bleed.[128] His clothes were so
+blood-stained that he was in mortal fear of being arrested on that
+account, but, as he wore a black suit, the stains were not conspicuous.
+As to the woman's footprints, which the detectives said they found, no
+explanation was ever made.
+
+Ten years later an elderly man was arrested in New York, charged with
+robbing a Wells-Fargo Express wagon on Broadway. With the aid of an
+umbrella handle he had drawn from the rear of the wagon a package
+containing $100,000 in cancelled cheques--not a very successful haul.
+His age and apparent harmlessness so much impressed the justices in
+Special Sessions that he would undoubtedly have been released on
+suspended sentence had not a detective who had been engaged in the Clark
+robbery case passed his cell in the Tombs. The detective recognized the
+famous Billy Coleman, whose police record dated back to 1869, showing
+thirteen arrests and a total period of twenty-eight years in prison.
+
+Bishop Potter's last notable public appearance in Cooperstown was at the
+Village Centennial Celebration in August of 1907. He was the most
+picturesque figure in a scene rich in kaleidoscopic color and historic
+significance when, on the Sunday afternoon which began the week's
+festivities, multitudes listened beneath the sunlit trees upon the green
+of the Cooper Grounds, while the Bishop, mantled in an academic gown of
+crimson, described his vision of the future of religion in America.
+
+The Cooperstown Centennial celebration was remarkable for its great
+success in calm defiance of the fact that the year of its observance was
+not really the centennial of anything worth commemorating in the history
+of the village. The psychological moment seemed to have arrived when the
+people of the village were resolved to devote themselves to some high
+effort in praise of Cooperstown, and so they gloriously celebrated, in
+1907, the centennial which a former generation had neglected, and which
+succeeding generations might indolently ignore. A disused act of village
+incorporation passed in 1807 was seized upon as suggesting a convenient
+antiquity, but there was no slavish conformity to mere accidents of
+date, and the whole history of Cooperstown was included in this elastic
+centenary. The entire community was united in the desire and effort to
+make the celebration a success, and the sticklers for historical
+propriety became quite as enthusiastic as the others. The commemoration
+was planned and carried out on a really dignified scale, with an
+avoidance of tawdriness; and the elements of the celebration, with
+religious, historical, literary exercises, and pageantry, were well
+proportioned in their appeal to the mind, to the romantic emotions, and
+to the love of the spectacular. Some of the addresses such as that of
+Brander Matthews on Fenimore Cooper, were valuable contributions to the
+literary annals of America. Throngs of spectators were attracted to
+Cooperstown by the celebration, and in one day there were at least
+15,000 people in the village which included only about 2,500 in its
+normal population. The old village and lake offered an effective
+background to the scenes of carnival. Natty Bumppo at home in his log
+cabin, Chingachgook with his canoe, appeared in living representation in
+the line of floats that paraded the village to set forth the historic
+and romantic memories of the place. A chorus of village schoolgirls
+dressed in white, and with flowing hair, presented an exquisite scene
+at Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard, bringing their tribute of
+flowers, and singing the lyric written by Andrew B. Saxton to the music
+of Andrew Allez. Otsego Lake offered a superb spectacle in the calm
+summer night, reflecting the glare of rockets and the bursting into
+bloom of aerial gardens of flame. There were moments of utter darkness
+suddenly dispelled by dazzling cataracts of fire that made one aware of
+thousands of pallid faces thronging the shore, while the effulgence set
+the waters ablaze from Council Rock to the Sleeping Lion, and flung a
+weird splendor upon the forests of the surrounding hills.
+
+[Illustration: _J. B. Slote_
+
+THE LYRIC AT COOPER'S GRAVE]
+
+A lovable patriarch of the village was Samuel M. Shaw, well known
+throughout the state as editor of the _Freeman's Journal_. He had once
+been an editor of the _Argus_, in Albany, and became editor and
+proprietor of the _Freeman's Journal_ in Cooperstown in 1851. In this
+position he continued more than half a century, and had a history almost
+unique in village journalism. When he began his work Shaw was regarded
+as an innovator, for he was one of the first editors in the country to
+introduce columns of local news and personal items, a practice which, at
+a time when newspapers were wholly devoted to politics, speeches,
+foreign affairs and literary miscellany, was widely ridiculed. He
+survived long enough to be regarded as an exemplar of conservative and
+old-fashioned journalism, and became the Nestor of Cooperstown. In the
+office of the _Freeman's Journal_, with its clutter of old machinery,
+piles of grimy books, its floor littered with newspapers, its wall
+streaked with cobwebs, the aged editor seemed exactly to fit into the
+surroundings. Here he received his friends, for the bed-ridden wife at
+Carr's Hotel, where he had rooms, was unequal to much social duty. The
+printing-office was his kingdom, and here, at the battered desk, he
+reigned supreme, a benevolent-looking man, with white beard closely
+enough trimmed to show a firm mouth, while the bald head shone above the
+desk as he bent his eyes closely to the pen in writing, and the left
+hand occasionally stroked the cluster of silvery locks that overhung the
+back of his collar. Late every afternoon he put aside his pen and
+proof-sheets, and with a coat held capewise about his bent shoulders,
+toddled to the Mohican Club to play bottle-pool with his old friend, G.
+Pomeroy Keese. Every Sunday the editor's venerable figure was
+conspicuous in a front pew of the Baptist church, in which he was a
+pillar, and always held up as an example to the youth of the village.
+
+When Samuel Shaw died, in 1907, occurred a dramatic episode which only a
+village community can produce. During his long career Shaw had
+accumulated a fair amount of property, and in his will had made kindly
+bequests to certain friends. Not until his death did it become generally
+known that his means had been dissipated by unfortunate speculations in
+the stock market, which was then in a depressed condition, and that
+margins upon which he had made purchases had been wiped out, hastening
+his death by financial worry, and leaving his estate almost bankrupt.
+
+At his funeral the Baptist church was crowded by a congregation which
+represented the tribute of a whole village to a man who had been a
+leader in its affairs for more than fifty years. The pastor of the
+church, the Rev. Cyrus W. Negus, had not been long in the village, but
+already was known for his earnestness and sincerity. To deliver a
+funeral sermon over the body of so distinguished a member of his church
+offered an opportunity to make an impression upon the entire community.
+He began his sermon with the usual expressions of Christian faith in the
+presence of death, and passed to a commendation of Samuel Shaw's many
+good deeds in public service and private life during his long career.
+Then he changed his tone, and, to the amazement of every hearer,
+expressed his deep disapproval of the speculations in the stock market
+which had brought the veteran editor in sorrow to the grave, and
+declared that he was unable to indorse the qualities in the character of
+a man so prominent in religious and civic life which permitted him to
+resort to slippery methods of financial gain. In this respect Samuel
+Shaw was to be held up not as an example, but as a warning to the youth
+of the village.
+
+Never was a congregation more astonished than when the speaker proceeded
+to develop such a theme in the face of the mourning friends of the dead.
+Probably the great majority of the congregation felt that the pastor's
+view of the iniquity of such stock speculations was utterly mistaken.
+Certainly all the friends of the dead editor were too indignant to
+realize in that hour that they were witnesses of an unusual exhibition
+of moral courage on the part of a preacher. It was some months later,
+when the Rev. Cyrus W. Negus himself lay dead, and all the bells of the
+village rang his requiem, that a friend and admirer of Samuel Shaw could
+also fairly recognize the mettle of this preacher who had the pluck to
+speak out what he believed to be his message, with every worldly reason
+to be silent. He had dared to defy the conventions of indiscriminate
+eulogy at funerals, to stand practically alone against public opinion,
+and to turn an opportunity of winning popular applause into an occasion
+for speaking out the necessary truth as he saw it. Some of his best
+friends felt that he had blundered, but no one who saw and heard this
+frail and pale-faced Baptist minister, as he stood by the coffin of
+Samuel Shaw uttering the quiet words that fell like lead upon the tense
+and breathless audience, may honestly deny his courage.
+
+In some respects the most remarkable man in Cooperstown at this period
+was Dr. Henry D. Sill. It is perhaps a singular distinction in a
+Christian community that Dr. Sill should have been chiefly renowned for
+being a Christian. It was not that the Christianity of the village was
+below the average of Christian communities. It was rather that Dr. Sill
+so strikingly personified the Christian virtues as to become a saint
+among Christians. By common consent he was put in a class by himself.
+Christians were exhorted to imitate him, but nobody was expected really
+to equal him. He was at this time only forty years old, but was revered
+not only by the young, but by the aged, as wise unto salvation. He was
+the son of Jedediah P. Sill, a respected and influential business man of
+Cooperstown, and after graduation at Princeton and at the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons, he settled down to practise in his own village.
+Dr. Sill lived with his sister at "The Maples," in the spacious house
+which stands on Chestnut Street, with sculptured lions guarding the
+doorway, next to the Methodist parsonage. His office occupied the little
+wing at the north. Unlike some who pass for philanthropists in the
+outer world, Henry Sill was regarded as a saint in his own household.
+Mrs. Robe, the aged aunt who made one of the family, and cultivated the
+art of growing old beautifully and gracefully, herself a Unitarian, used
+always to conclude her frequent arguments against Calvinistic theology
+by saying, "Well, Henry wouldn't treat people so, and I believe that God
+is as good as Henry!"
+
+Dr. Sill was a man of some means, but spent very little on himself. It
+had been his ambition to be a missionary, but since circumstances made
+it impossible to carry out this design, he annually contributed the
+entire salary of a foreign missionary whom he called his "substitute."
+He spent large sums of money in the improvement of Thanksgiving
+Hospital, in which he was deeply interested, and the equipment of that
+institution, especially of the operating-room, which gave it a rank far
+above the hospitals in many larger towns, was chiefly owing to his
+generosity.
+
+Dr. Sill was a physician, but specialized in surgery, and, while he
+never developed any spectacular rapidity of technique, became known as
+one of the most capable and conscientious surgeons in central New York.
+He always told patients what he believed to be the exact truth, and
+without the untoward results which some practitioners apprehend from
+such a policy. A surgeon who prayed with patients just before resorting
+to the knife was sometimes rather disconcerting to the irreligious, but
+his attitude was a comfort to many in the dire distress of illness, and
+in all it inspired confidence in the man himself. In many an isolated
+farm house of Otsego the only religious ministrations came with Dr.
+Sill's medical attendance, and there were unnumbered cases in which his
+call to heal the body resulted in the regeneration of a soul.
+
+Where patients were able to pay, Dr. Sill charged a good price for his
+services, but the fees were adjusted upon a sliding scale, and the
+amount of his professional service without pay is incalculable. In this
+respect he was not unlike his colleagues in a profession which probably
+gives more for nothing than any other, but, having independent means, he
+was able to go farther in this direction than most practitioners, and he
+counted it a pleasure to give away his time and skill without reward.
+
+There was a tinge of Puritanism in Dr. Sill's Christianity which to some
+minds imported an unnecessary strictness of view, but none could quarrel
+with it, for he practised his austerities upon himself, not toward
+others. Certain precepts of the Sermon on the Mount usually interpreted
+in a figurative sense he took literally as rules of action. "Give to him
+that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou
+away" was one of these. His literal fidelity to this precept afforded
+him the deep satisfaction of giving aid to honest neighbors in distress;
+it enabled him to come to the rescue in the emergencies which sometimes
+face the most industrious and deserving. But also it gave him the pain
+of learning how many plausible persons are eager to make fair promises
+that mean nothing, and taught him that there are human beings to whom
+acts of loving-kindness are as pearls before swine. The honest man in
+trouble came to Dr. Sill, the drunkard to take the pledge, the sorrowful
+to be comforted, the desperate to be advised. But so came also the
+rogue, and the wheedling hypocrite, and all such as desired to obtain
+something for nothing. The doctor had a large acquaintance among
+unfortunate outcasts, for he regularly visited the county jail to talk
+and pray with its inmates. The extent to which Dr. Sill aided the
+worthless was a cause of grief to the judicious, but he was not really,
+as some supposed, the dupe of impostors. He was well aware of the
+probably unworthy character of many to whom he gave assistance, but
+there was always an element of doubt in such cases, and his theory was
+that it was better to aid ninety-nine humbugs than to take the risk of
+closing the door against one who was deserving of help.
+
+Dr. Sill was much consulted in relation to the civic and religious
+welfare of the community. His conscientious habit of deciding in all
+things, great and small, upon the absolutely right course of action gave
+him an air of slowness and hesitation in manner. He would stand
+listening intently, without comment, to violent arguments for and
+against a project, turning toward each speaker the frank dark eyes that
+illumined his pale countenance. When it came to his decision he had a
+way of planting his right heel forward, and compressing his lips, which
+he then opened with a slight smack of determination, giving quiet
+utterance to his judgment. It was usually quite impossible to move him
+from a decision thus made, and those who misinterpreted the mildness of
+his manner soon learned that the man himself was adamant.
+
+The first years of the twentieth century included an era of new
+buildings. Just above Leatherstocking Falls, in 1908, William E. Guy of
+St. Louis built and established the beautiful summer home at
+Leatherstocking Farm. The remains of the old grist mill at the falls
+were torn down, and the stones from the foundation were used in the new
+building.
+
+In 1910, James Fenimore Cooper of Albany, grandson of the novelist,
+built Fynmere (the name being an old form of the word Fenimore) as a
+country residence. Its site on the hillside above the road that curves
+about the southern end of Mount Vision commands a superb view down the
+Susquehanna Valley, while the eastern windows of the house look into the
+heart of the ascending forest. The use of native field stone in the
+construction of this house is most effective, and at once gave to the
+residence, when fresh from the builder's hands, the air of being long
+habituated to the spot, and quite in harmony with the antiquities that
+abound in the appointments and ornamentation of the place. Within a
+niche of the main hall of the house is the bust of Fenimore Cooper which
+David d'Angers made in Paris in 1828; and embedded in the foundation of
+the building is the corner-stone with the original marking that Cooper
+carved in 1813 for the house that he built, but which was burned before
+he could move into it, at Fenimore. Fynmere has contributed to the
+revival of pleasures that belonged to an elder day in Cooperstown, for
+it has drawn hither large house-parties of young people to enjoy the
+holidays of Christmastide, to join in winter sports, and to appreciate
+the splendors of snow and ice in a region usually renowned only for the
+charm of its summer season.
+
+From the beginning of Cooperstown's celebrity as a watering-place the
+hope was cherished, among the residents, that the village might include
+a suitable hotel overlooking the lake, and attracting visitors to linger
+on its shores. This dream was realized in 1909 when the O-te-sa-ga
+opened, having been built by Edward S. Clark and his brother Stephen C.
+Clark. The hotel was planned to accommodate three hundred guests, and
+occupies the old site of Holt-Averell, commanding a magnificent view of
+the full length of the lake.
+
+Cooperstown is a village of incomparable charm. There is not the like of
+it in all America. It has a character of its own sufficiently
+distinctive to prevent it from becoming the leech-like community into
+which, through the slow commercializing of native self-respect, a summer
+resort sometimes degenerates, stupidly enduring the winter in order to
+batten upon the pleasures of the rich in summer. Cooperstown is old
+enough and wise enough to have a juster appreciation of lasting values.
+It has tradition and atmosphere. It is a village that rejoices in the
+simple virtues of life peculiar to a small community, while its fame as
+a summer resort annually brings its residents within reach of far
+influences and wide horizons.
+
+[Illustration: COOPERSTOWN FROM MT. VISION]
+
+All lovers of Cooperstown know a favorite summer walk that passes from
+the village up the hill on the eastern border of the lake, rises beyond
+Prospect Rock, winds over a wooded summit, descends, turns westerly
+through a shady grove, crosses a farm, then threads a stretch of densest
+foliage, when suddenly one emerges upon a clearing, and unexpectedly
+beholds, glittering far below, the waters of the Glimmerglass, with the
+homes and spires of the village gleaming amidst the green leafage of the
+valley.
+
+It is impossible not to idealize the village when one views it from this
+height. To the tourist, who comes merely to admire, it is a view that
+possesses the glamour of enchantment. How happy should be the people who
+dwell in this peaceful village, surrounded by such charming scenery! How
+lofty should be their ideals, and how pure their lives, who abide amid
+such glories of nature!
+
+But for residents of Cooperstown this view is one that has more than
+beauty. It grips the heart. As the resident looks down upon the streets
+and houses amongst the trees it is with a sympathetic knowledge of the
+dwellers there, and of the joys that delight them, of the sorrows that
+crush them, of the sins that dog them, and of the hopes that inspire
+them.
+
+The drama of life has been many times enacted amid the scenes of this
+village, and here is the prologue and epilogue of many a romance and
+tragedy.
+
+Boys and girls are at play in the streets, and are skylarking along the
+shore of lake and river. Ambitious youngsters go out into the wider
+world to seek their fortunes. But there is always a homecoming. Youth
+has its day.
+
+There are two aged men from different quarters of the village who daily
+resort in summer to the Cooper Grounds, and sit in the sunshine upon the
+same bench. Either is visibly uneasy until the other arrives. But
+together they are happy. On this spot where the history of the village
+began they take turns at being narrator and listener, while each relates
+to the other the story of his life, and describes his triumphs in days
+that are gone. They give no heed to passers-by, or to the traffic of
+neighboring streets. But a village church bell tolls, and they fall
+silent, lifting their heads to watch the funeral train as it passes the
+Cooper Grounds and winds slowly upward from the main street to the quiet
+garden by the lake, on the slope of the eastern hills.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 128: George S. Dougherty, in _Chicago Saturday Blade_, January
+8, 1916.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE MAP OF COOPERSTOWN]
+
+VISITORS' GUIDE
+
+
+Chief points of interest are indicated on the village map, in the order
+most convenient for a short tour, by letters from A to M.
+
+A--Cooper Grounds. Site of Fenimore Cooper's residence.
+
+B--Cooper's grave in Christ churchyard. Christ Church, erected 1807, in
+which he worshipped.
+
+C--Fernleigh, the Clark residence, where Bishop Potter died.
+
+D--Byberry Cottage, built for the daughters of Fenimore Cooper, 1852.
+
+E--Pomeroy Place, "the old stone house," 1804.
+
+F--Indian Mound, in the northeast corner of Fernleigh-Over.
+
+G--Oldest house in the village, 1790.
+
+H--Edgewater, 1810.
+
+I--Council Rock, mentioned in _The Deerslayer_ as the meeting-place of
+the Indians.
+
+J--Mortar marking site of Clinton's Dam, during the Revolution, 1779.
+
+K--Village Library and Museum.
+
+L--Clark Estate Offices, 1831.
+
+M--Public Boat Landings.
+
+N--Mill Island.
+
+O--Former residence of Justice Nelson, U.S. Supreme Court.
+
+P--Universalist church.
+
+Q--Presbyterian church, 1805.
+
+R--Baptist church.
+
+S--Church of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Lake.
+
+T--Methodist church.
+
+U--Grounds upon which the first game of Base Ball was played.
+
+V--O-te-sa-ga.
+
+W--Riverbrink.
+
+X--Lakelands, 1804.
+
+Y--Woodside, 1829.
+
+Z--Fynmere, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Cooperstown, by Ralph Birdsall
+
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