The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1886-07-01
PICTURESQUE OTsEGO LAKE.
COOPERsTOwN, N. Y.
Cooper and Scenes from his Books---Pop-
ular Interest in CoOper's Creations,
Better than Himself.

70 lover of the beautiful, a visit
20 .OtSego Lake would be delightful,
even if it had no associations. Coop
II bestowed upon it. in the "Deer-
slayer, the name of 1.-THE Glimmer
glass;" which we'll describes its
.oveliness. But to Cooper enthus
ia5t-and that teIm must include all
he readers of Cooper who have Il
Ieep sympathy with nature, and
ave not had all their love of ro-
uance rubbed off against the real
sm of the day-it is doubly delights
full. The visitor probably cares con-
.aratively little for the purely per
,onal associations of the LOCALITY
with Cooper himself. He goes to
Coopers grave, to he sure, but the
lght of 1t hardly arouses inter est.
lie knows Cooper ,simply as a chOler-
c, warm-hearted man, who died
.ome thirty years ago, after being
involved in many disputes and law
.uits with his neighbors and the rest
# IN ,nkind. The tourist goes. per
laps, to see the spot where Cooper's
.,ouse stood.
The house las burned down and
the p ace neglected. There are signs
everywhere of the honor in which
that novelist is held by the people of
chat town. The hotels are called
Cooper" and "Fenjm Jre." The lit
tie steamer that plies up and down
the lake bears the name of ''Natty
Bumppo." There is a Leather
stocking Falls" and everywhere the
nom enclature of the region is deriv-
ed from Cosper's pages. But tht
visitor is little doubtful in his own
mind how far this is due to Affection
ate remembrance and how far to a
speculative desire to utalize the AS
sociations of the past for the benefit
of the hotel keepers Of the present.
There is an impression that the PEG
pie of CocperStown are not Cooper
Enthusiasts. Possibly they have
grown tired Of the subject. This
would not be strange. TO be tired is
human. All this aside however, the
interest that the visitor finds Linn
self seeking for is not an interest
personal to Cooper. 1t is in his Gre
alton, which thus become greater
than their creator.
The traveller who comes here with
any knowledge of Cooper's stories
finds himself asking, not where
Cooper lived and died, nor what the
local traditions of him are, nor where
may be seen relics or remains that
will serve to recall his personality /;
but where the scenes of his forest
epics are laid; where the Deefslayer,
and the Big Serpent, Judith Hutter,
Col. bingham, and Hurry Harry,
and Ben Pump played their parts in
those exciting dramas that are the
delight of every boy, and of many
who are no longer boys. Cooper has
made the unreal real, and the real in
his person almost fades out of sight.
These men and women are so full OF
life and strength that the Cooper en-
thusiast. as he glides along the lake,
almost expects to sec the trees part
on the bank, and the figure of Deer
slayer or his friend, the faithful Del
ware. show itself.
The feeling is greatly stimulated
by the relations Of this eautiful
sheet of water and it's surroundings
to the Misunderstanding Tales in par
ticular. 1t is u favorite amusement
OF novel readers 10 seek to identify
character and scenes. This is not
always easy to do, because the chem
ical processes of fiction usually leave
little traced of the originals. Every.
body remembers Thackeray's within
steal sur. rise when enc day Cap
tain Ccstigan, true life and just
as large, walked in upon him. He
bad honestly supposed the Captain
to be a fictitious mixture of heel.taps
of incidents and characters innumer
able. The same is often true of tn.
scenes of fictioH. But Cooper $