llage when a
young lad to be tutored by the rector of St. Peter's, Albany, and
thereafter spent little of his boyhood in Cooperstown. After his
uncompleted course at Yale, and a year's cruise at sea, he returned for
a time, in 1807, to his village home, being then a youth of eighteen
years. To this period belongs the incident of his participation in a
foot-race among some of his former companions in the village. The
racecourse agreed upon was around the central square, that is, beginning
at the intersection of Main and Pioneer streets, at the Red Lion Inn,
the runners were to go up Pioneer Street to Church Street, thence to
River Street, down River Street to Main, and so back to the place of
starting.

James Cooper was mentioned as one of the competitors, and his antagonist
was selected. The prize was a basket of fruit. Cooper accepted the
challenge, but not on even terms. It was not enough for the young sailor
to outrun the landsman; he would do more. Among many spectators Cooper
caught sight of a little girl. He caught her up in his arms, exclaiming,
"I'll carry her with me and beat you!" Thus the race began, the little
black-eyed girl clutching Cooper's shoulders. As the contestants rushed
up Pioneer Street, and turned the corner where the Universalist church
now stands, the amused and excited villagers saw with surprise that the
sailor with his burden was keeping pace with the other flying youth.
Around the square the runners turned the next two corners almost
abreast. After rounding the corner of the Old Stone House, as they came
up the main street toward the goal Cooper, bearing the little girl
aloft, gave a burst of speed, amid wild cheers, drew away from his
opponent, and won the race. The basket of fruit was his, which he
distributed among the spectators, and the little girl, afterward the
wife of Capt. William Wilson, long lived in the village to tell the
story of her ride upon James Cooper's shoulders.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 72: The _Otsego Herald_ of Jan. 14, 1796, contained a notice
of warning issued by Henry Bowers against persons who had been cutting
down trees "on my patent, in Newtown Martin."]

[Footnote 73: _The Women of the Revolution_, Elizabeth F. Ellet,
published in 1850, pp. 37-67.]

[Footnote 74: A skillful builder and noted character, commemorated by
Fenimore Cooper in _Wyandotte, or the Hutted Knoll_.]

CHAPTER VIII

THE PIONEER COURT ROOM

In the fore part of the nineteen