The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-11-18

/
rectly Mr.. Cooper came in; he greeted my
| friend, and upon hearing my name, he asked
if were of the family of statesman and the
poets Then he invited us into the library,
where we found CHEEKY fire, for although
1T was May, 1T was an Otsego May This Ii
brary was pleasant southwest room shaded
by fine old trees in summer and frightened
| by sunshine in the long cold winters OF that
region; charming old room with oak wains-
| cOtting grown dark with years. deep-seated
| windows looking out, then on pleasant gar
dens just green with spring-life, and books,
lining the walls in every direction; there
were odd, quaint things too from other coun-
tries i remember calabash from some
South sea island hanging from pair of ant
lers over bookcase, and in one corner there
was a screen made up of prints cards and
even letters, gathered by the family while
travelling and living in Europe; there was
too, q small black box much priced by Mr..
Cooper, which had been given him by some
of the gentlemen, / believe, in Newport,
where the story of the Red Rover opens. This
box was made from a bit of the ship in which
Captain Cook made his first voyage round
the world; and the lid was a silver plate
bearing sketch of the Royal Caroline, the
ship of the Red Rover which is one of Mr..
Cooper's most delightful tales.
To my surprise Mr.. Cooper placed me in
his own chair. by the library table-a cir
cumstance / still delight to recall and which
then gave me romantic pleasure; this
table was of black walnut and had been a
family possession for so many generations
that its beginning seemed to be shrouded in
mystery. A relative of the family says, sit
is fondly remembered by those who knew
the Hall in Judge Cooper's Mr.. Coopers
father) day, as the conservator OF the cake
basket-that excellent housekeeper, Mrs.
Cooper, having kept the legs so highly pol
ished that no mouse was ever known to run
up them.
felt strangely quiet as sat in that charm.
ing room. l remembered wondering how
they could chat and laugh aoout every day
things when ] knew such a company was
gathered there: Major Dunwodie, Cora,
Alice, Hawkeye and Uncas-the mysterious
| Pilot, Jasper Eau-douce, Pathfinder-they
were all there, for me.
Mr.. Cooper was man of fine presence,
with noble head, gray hair and gray eyes.
| He was tall and rather stout, with firm
step and proud bearing; slightly brusque in
manner, strangers sometimes thought him
naughty; he was in reality kind, frank and
genial. Few ever sought his help in vain,
but he was unsparing of those whom he
suspected of falsehOod or meanness.
He was fine talker. | remember him
/ sometimes maintaining his own side of an
animated discussion with considerable heat
| He had entire independence of thought and
| speech, and he has certainly spoken some
| plain truths TO his countrymen. He had a
| keen enjoyment of the ridiculous or humCr-
| Gus; and was told that anything amusing
| that he had met with through the day was
| always brought out in the family gathering
| at evening.
Mr. Cooper owned a farm on the eastern
| hillside above the lake, of which he was very
| fond; here he had built farmhouse some
| thing after the Swiss fashion and it was al
4 ways called 1.-THE Chalet" Almost every fine
| day he might be seen, in his buggy, accom-
L panied often by Mrs. Cooper or one of his
1 daughters, going up thither; and he was eX-
tremely proud of his early vegetables and
4 fruit and would frequently eXult over his
| less fortunate neighbors when his table was
/ supplied with these luXuries before theirs
| The live stock of the farm consisted of
4 four or five cows, at the most two YOKE of
| oxen and few pigs and fowls. From this
| ii Will he seen that the cash receipts could
not be very large, indeed Mr.. Cooper had
4 been heard To announce With considerable
satisfaction after the farm had been in his
| possession some ten years, that he believed,
i for this year tine farm would actually pay
i its expenses Although the pecuniary re-
suits were not large. yet the benefits to him
\ personally were incalculable, and with no
small degree of satisfaction would he
/ claim that his butter and pork were the
sweetest and his eggs the whitest and fresh
cit of any in the country; while his wood
| which was heaped upon the hearth with an
| sparing hand, sent its cheerful blaze up
| the capacious mouth of his ample chin
news.
Mr.. Cooper always drove an odd-looking,
i queerly-gOing sOrrel horse they had named
/ Pumpkin, because his first duty was after
entering the family had been drawing load
OF that estimable vegetable for the cOnsump-
| ton OF the COW, "Seraphina."
AprOpos of 1.-The far" / recall a little in
| ciuent OF that summer which has its interest
| in connection with the last of the Indian
| stories.
party of young people, of whom | was
| one, were out upon the lake one day, pull
ing leisurely along close under the eastern
hills. when our attention was attracted by
| the singular behavior OF a man in small
boat crossing, not far from us, from the
western side; he seemed uncertain where
he wanted to land, but finally ran his boat
ashore at the steepest, most inaccessible
part and climbed straight up over stumps
/ stones and great rocks in what we considered
| a very remarkable way. We became quite
excited over this mystery and suggested
| dozens of reasons for this extraordinary al
fair, one of us, brighter than the rest, sug
costing that he had undoubtedly murdered
somebody over at "Fenimore' one time
| the home of Judge Nelson OF Coopers
town-and and was fleeing for hi:
life; because il became quite thrilling, bu
| we soon heard that it was a bee-keeper, whC
| had lost a valuable swarm of bees and haC
traced them TO the Chalet farm; and tn,
| only mystery was. how he had done it, bu
| there he found and captured, in the wis
way they have. the little hy-aways. | wa
| quite delighted to find detailed account o
this in Miss Coopers charming Pictures anC
| pages, and to learn there that out of thi
little incident had grown the enjoyable tall
of Oak Openings, or the Bee-hunter
Mr.. Cooper never forgot any one whom
he had known we'll As pleasant instanc
| of this, give an anecdote told me by
gentleman who knew Mr.. Cooper intmatel,
| for several years.
The years he was at sea he was on yer,
friendly terms with an old sailor who too
| a liking for the young lad and taught him
| great deal of sailorcraft; they went severa
voyages together
Years after, when the novelist had game,
a worldwide reputation and Ned Myers ha,
found haven in sailors Snug Harbor" Of
Staten Island, Ned saw, one day, the nam
of james FenimOre Cooper among tn
| guests at the Globe Hotel In New York
Thoughts of old days warmed the old sail
or's heart and donning his best "toggery" h
started for 1.-The Glebe" to see il il might be
perchance, the Jim Cooper" he hal