The New York herald., 1922-12-24

AT THIS period OF MS lie, from 16Zl TO
1925. Cooper had several different homes
in New York. When he first came down
from westchester county he rented o
house that was far up Broadway. and on
the edge of the town. From there he
moved to the fashionable neighborhood Of
ST. Johns Church. There, in the house at
Beach street, he wrote the first story
introducing the intrepid Natty Bumppo.
The Pioneer" Then. a year or so before
his departure for Europe. he moved to
345 Greenwich street, and there finished
The Last of the Mohicans."
The Years in Europe.
Then there were seven years in Europe
in the course Of which Cooper's disposition
seemed to change. and he acquired the
habit of stepping on other peoples toes
and the habit Of suspecting that other
people were trying to step on his. Perhaps
if he had stayed at home he would have
remained the hail fellow well met of the
Bread and Cheese Club, which, by the
way, was so dependent on his leadership
that It ceased to exist soon after his de-
parture. About Europe he moved with
family Of ten persons. including servants.
and taking care of party of that size in
foreign lands one hundred years ago was
enough to spoil any ones disposition. Then.
like many other Americans since his day.
he lost his temper because certain Euro
peans were so ignorant when they tried TO
talk about life in America. and so stubborn
in clingins to wrong ideas. There was
in h.
prised to find that the Cooper children
were not blacks. In England he had hot
dispute with scholar of his acquaintance
The Englishman pointed to a dictionary
definition of the verb TO 0oWge, ito squeeze
out mans eye with the thumb; a cruel
practice used by the Bostonians in Amer
lea" OF course Cooper argued that goug-
ing was not daily pastime in the best
Boston circles. and, Of course, the other
man Informed him that as the definition
had been written by an Englishman it
must be correct and that therefore Cooper
knew nothing whatever of his own country.
All of which did not make Cooper any more
amiable.
Yet Cooper made some very good friends
in Europe among them Lafayette and Sir
Walter Scott There is an amusing story
about the meeting of Scott and Cooper in
Paris. Both men had been in France for
some time. Scott began:
Est ce Monsieur Cooper que fai Phon-
neur de voir?"
Monsieur. je mappele Cooper"
"Eh bjen done. ie suis Walter Scott"
But then Sir Walter came to himself and
laughed We'll" he said here have 7
beensporleyUooin0 to you in way to sur
prise you, no doubt but these Frenchmen
have got my tongue so set to their lingo
that have half forgotten my own Ian
guage" The two became fast friends. and
Cooper, whom people had been calling the
american Scott" spoke of himself as
chip from the block of the great romancer.
and graciously referred to Sir Walter as
my sovereign"
But besides forming friendships. squab-
bling with Europeans who misunderstood
America and making occasional remarks
that carried back home. caused people in
the United States to abuse him as a bad
patriot. Cooper found time for good hard
work during the seven years abroad. In
these years he wrote The Prairie" ''The
Red Rover and The Water Witch" and
several other tales of less Importance. Also
he gathered the material for ten volumes
Of travel that were published after he re-
turned home.
With that Homecoming in 1882 began the
really irritable years The first thing
after his return the people of New York