e old Indian John as "Chingachgook"; Mr.
Grant, the missionary; and "Monsieur Le Quoi," the Frenchman. In
"Chronicles of Cooperstown" it appears that a real "Mr. Le Quoy excited
much interest in the place, in being superior to his occupation as a
country grocer." One day a Mr. Renouard, a seaman, entered his shop for
some tobacco, and returned in a few minutes agitated and pale, excitedly
asking, "Who is the man that sold me this tobacco?" At the answer, "Mr.
Le Quoy," he replied, "Yes, Mr. Le Quoy de Mesereau. When I went to
Martinique to be port-captain of St. Pierre, this man was civil governor
of the island, and refused to confirm my appointment." It was learned
later that the French Revolution drove Mr. Le Quoy with little money to
a New York friend,--a Mr. Murray,--who also knew well Judge Cooper, and
they both advised this country store until peaceful France could and
did invite its owner to return to his island home.

[Illustration: NATTY'S CAVE.]

An Indian alarm of the early-village period of 1794 formed the opening
chapter of the new book, but the incidents were mainly creations of
Cooper's fancy. Yet the pigeon-flights, Natty's cave, which sheltered
Elizabeth Temple from the forest fire, and each charming picture of the
Glimmerglass country, are true to life. The academy, court-house, jail,
inn; the "'Cricket'--that famous old cannon which sent its thunders
thousands of times over the Otsego hills on days of rejoicing--are
fairly given." The old gun was found when digging the cellar of Judge
Cooper's first house, and was said to have been buried by troops under
Gen. James Clinton, who marched from Albany against the Indians in 1779.
They cut their way through forests, brought their boats to Lake Otsego,
and their headquarters were in a log house built on the future site of
the first Hall. The place where was the old Clinton Dam is now marked by
the Daughters of the American Revolution as the _one_ Cooperstown,
connecting link with the War of Independence.

[Illustration: GENERAL JAMES CLINTON.]

[Illustration: CLINTON DAM.]

The outward appearance of the old Hall is fairly given by Cooper's pen,
but once within, all is a faithful record, "even to the severed nose of
Wolfe, and the urn that held the ashes of Queen Dido." The tale was of a
great landlord living among his settlers on property bearing his name.
The book was "The Pioneers, or, Sources of the Susquehanna," and
"thirty-five hundred copies sold