Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Spy, a Tale of the Neutral Ground
In the literary work Of few men can we trace the in?uence Of early environment so clearly as in the novels Of Cooper. Otsego Hall, in his boyhood, was in the Wilderness. About him he saw civilization conquering with axe and plough virgin forests and rough fields, which, a generation before, had been unknown to white men. Pioneers with their families were constantly arriving from the east, some to settle in the rich valleys of the Susquehanna, others to move on farther west to the plains. In the dense woods, which extended from the shores Of the lake in all directions, were deer and wolves, the lynx and the bear. Everywhere lurked the silent, mysterious Indian, now peaceably visiting the little settlement to trade with the inhabitants, now on the war - path in paint and feathers, making it unsafe to pass beyond the limits Of the clearing. Many boys would have been little affected by such sur roundings as these. Upon Cooper's mind the wild grandeur Of nature about him, the struggles Of pioneers with hard ships and Indians, made a lasting impression. SO clearly did he see and hear everything that went on among the backwoodsmen Of Cooperstown, that twenty years later he turned to that early life for the material Of his most success ful novels. The five Leatherstocking Tales are thus the fruit Of the years at Otsego Hall; and apart from The Spy and The Pilot, Cooper's fame to-day rests almost entirely upon his five stories Of pioneer life.
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