Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-10-15
JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER.

JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER.
The decease of this distinguished man, who
for a quarter of century has held such an en-
inent position in American Literature, took place
at l o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the l4th ut.,
at his residence in Cooperstown. For several
months past his health had been in condition
which awakened the anxiety of his friends, al
though with vigorous constitution and tempe
rate habits, they could not but anticipate his
attainment of ripe old age. He left the City
about the first Of June for his country resi-
dence; his strength was greatly impaired; he
hoped much from change of air and scene; but
as it has proved, he returned home only TO
breathe his last in the bosom of his family
His death will call forth an emotion of sadness
throughout the whole extent of our country,
for there are few who do not deem themselves
his debtors, for many hours of the purest intel
lectual qualification, while the most remarkable
features of American scenery have been inves-
ted with new charm by the magic touches of
his pen Nor in his native land alone will the
announcement of his decease strike tender
chord in the memory, and recall the delight with
which the imagination has reveled in the fresh
and glowing pictures Of nature and passion
his fame is not only coextensive with the Eng
lish language, but his words have become per-
manently incorporated with the literature of
every country. Without ceasing to be Ameri-
congenia home for the productions of his ge-
MUS in every order of society, and holding his
wizard spell over the back woOdsman, who
read the adventures of Leather Stocking by the
light of pine knot in the log cabin, as well as
oyar Tho ynt,r;oo nf cciapca in tho brilliant ga
looms of Paris and Vienna.
Mr.. Cooper was born in Burlington, N. j., on
the 18th of September, 1889, and had he lived
one day longer, he would have been sixty.two
years of age. His father the late Judge Coop
in this State, residing alternately at Burlington
and Cooperstown, and giving his name to the
latter township, which has since been distin-
guished as the residence of the world-renown-
ed author. He received the rudiments of a
classical education under a private instructor at
Burlington, continued his studies with an ac-
complished Episcopal clergyman at Albany, and
was prepared by him for Yale College, which
he entered in 1902. AT this early age, scarcely
turned Of thirteen, he was ill qualified for the
attainment of academic distinction; still he held
a respectable place in his class and in the de-
partment of ancient languages, is said to have
outstripped every competitor. 1t is certain,
however, that he had not yet manifested a voca-
ton for literary life. No one who then saw
the blooming and somewhat reckless youth,
who it is understood had already begun to de-
velop the spirit of sturdy independence, which
afterward took the shape Of wayward obstina-
cy, could have predicted or suspected the posi-
ton which he was destined to win among the
literary men of his country. A native passion
for the sea, and the unconquerable love for ad-
venture, led him, with other causes, to solicit
admission into the American Navy, at that time
in it's most imperfect infancy, and in 1905 he
entered the service as Midshipman. He remain
ed in the Navy for six years. The influence of
this period of his life is indelibly stamped up
on his subsequent productions. It enabled him
to describe the minutie Of nautical affairs with
that breadth and boldness of touch, which
could be commanded by no writer who had not
himself been rocked on the giddy mast, and to
whom the taste of salt water was not more ia
milar than the fountains Of Helicon. With
the vivid impressions of experience, obtained in
the fresh and wondering age of boyhood, with
a creative imagination singularly alive to the
impulses of external nature, and with free
dom and energy of delineation which is impart-
ed only by the possession of actual knowledge,
he had store of materials for the production
of tales of the sea-" which, had he written in
no other department of fiction, would have de-
cided his reputation as consummate master.
In the year 1910 Cooper resigned his post in
the Navy, was married to the lady who survives
to mourn his loss, and took up his residence in
Westchester, in the vicinity of New York. He
remained in this place but a short time, when he
removed to his patrimonial estate in Coopers-
town, and pursued in earnest his career as wr-
ter of fiction. He had previously published his
maiden novel, entitled Precaution,"a work
which gives little promise of the noble creations
with which his name has since been so honora-
bly, associated. Within fifteen years he success
fully issued The Spy" The Pioneers" y" The
Pilot" Lionel Lincoln" and The Last of the
Mohcans," triumphantly legitimating his claim
to the character Of an original and powerful nov