Charles Ledyard Norton

“ All his patriotic championship of the young republic in foreign lands counted for naught in the light of the criticisms pronounced at home. His self-assertive manner made him enemies among men who could not understand that he was merely in earnest, and even Bryant owned to having been at first somewhat startled by an “emphatic frankness,” which he afterward learned to estimate at its true value. A thorough democrat in his convictions, Cooper was still an aristocrat, and he often gave expression to views under different conditions that seemed alike contradictory and offensive. ”

“ This proud Americanism did not, however, after the first years of his celebrity, injure his standing in England. During his repeated and often protracted visits to England, his society was sought by the most distinguished men of the time, although it is said that he never presented letters of introduction. He very soon convinced those with whom he associated that, though an American, he was not an easy person to patronize. On the continent he was unwillingly led into a controversy to which he ascribed much of the unpopularity that he afterward incurred in the United States. ”

“ Encouraged by her, he made the attempt, with what ultimate success the world knows. “Precaution,” a novel in two volumes, was published anonymously in an inferior manner in New York in 1820. Of this first novel it need only be said that it dealt with high life in England, a subject with which the author was personally unfamiliar, save through the pages of fiction. The book was republished in better editions, both in this country and in England; and it is noteworthy that the English reviewers gave it a fairly favorable reception without suspecting its American origin. ”

“ The effect of the controversy was to embitter the last years of a life that should have ended serenely in the assurance of a well-earned and world-wide literary fame. Cooper died, in his home, Otsego Hall, and was buried in the Episcopal church-yard. A monument has been erected there, surmounted by a statue of “Leatherstocking,” and bearing as a sufficient inscription the author's name in full, with the dates of his birth and death. Six months after his death a public meeting was held, in honor of his memory, in the city of New York. ”

“ The affair, however, widened the breech between the author and the public, and the newspapers were not slow to present his actions to their readers in the most objectionable light. The novel entitled “Home as Found” was an outgrowth of this experience — a sequel, nominally, to “Homeward Bound,” but as different as possible in most of the qualities that go to make a successful novel. Cooper's indignation appears to have dulled his literary discrimination, and he made the characters in his novels express unpardonably offensive ideas in the most disagreeable way imaginable. ”

“ A dwelling-house was erected, and in the autumn of 1790 the formidable task was undertaken of transporting a company of fifteen persons, including servants, from the comparative civilization of New Jersey to the wilderness of central New York. The journey was accomplished on 10 Nov., and for six years the family lived in the log-house originally constructed for their domicile. In 1796 Mr. Cooper determined to make his home permanently in the town he had founded, which by that time promised to become a thriving settlement. ”

“ In furtherance of the work to which she has consecrated her later years, and which she terms her “life work,” during 1886 she established “The Friendly Society." Every lady on becoming a member of the society chooses one of the girls in the orphanage and makes her the object of her special care and solicitude. Her home is built mainly with bricks and materials from the ruins of Otsego Hall, of which a fine view is given on a previous page. Her published books are “Rural Hours” (New York, 1850) ; “The Journal of a Naturalist,” an English book, edited and annotated by Miss Cooper (1853) ”

“ He began the construction of a mansion, completed in 1799, which he named Otsego Hall, and which was for many years the manor-house of his own possessions, and by far the most spacious and stately private residence in central New York. To every reader that has fallen under the spell of Cooper's Indian romances, the surroundings of his boyhood days are significant. The American frontier prior to the 19th century was very different from that which exists at present. ”

“ The orphans are taken when quite young, are fed, clothed, and educated in the ordinary English branches, and when old enough positions are found for them in good Christian families. Some of them before leaving are taught to earn their own living. ”

“ Washington Irving was also present, with a large representation of the most cultivated people in the city. A few years after the novelist's death Otsego Hall was burned, and the surrounding property was sold by the heirs. In concluding a sketch of Cooper's life, it should be said that when about to die, and apparently in the full possession of his faculties, he enjoined his family never to allow the publication of an authorized account of his life. ”

“ Webb differed from the rest, in that it was a criminal proceeding, under an indictment from the grand jury of Otsego county. Probably Mr. Cooper failed to secure a verdict in this instance for the reason that, while the jury might probably have assessed damages, they could not agree to send the defendant to prison. Possibly, however, the reading aloud in open court by plaintiff's counsel of “Home as Found” had an unfortunate effect. In these suits Mr. Cooper acted as his own counsel, with regular professional assistance, and proved himself an able advocate and an excellent jury-lawyer. ”

“ Nearly two years passed, of which there is but scant record; but during this period he had become engaged to a daughter of John Peter De Lancey, of Westchester county, N. Y., and they were married on 1 Jan., 1811. Here again fate placed him under influences that shaped his future career. The De Lanceys were tories during the revolutionary war, and the family traditions naturally supplemented the teaching of the English tutor. ”