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The Cooper Gallery, Or, Pages and Pictures From the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper
The Cooper Gallery Or Pages and Pictures From the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper Author:James Fenimore Cooper General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1865 Original Publisher: J. Miller Subjects: Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / American / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edit... more »ion of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: VII. THE PRAIRIE. Ere " The Mohicans" was published, a second romance of Indian adventure had been already planned. But the scene was changed. The ground was no longer overshadowed by the boundless forest and timbered heights; the limpid lakes, the falling streams of the eastern, valleys, were no longer accessories in the picture. In the course of his inquiries regarding the habits and character of the red man, while writing " The Mohicans," Mr. Cooper was thrown repeatedly into temporary associations with parties of warriors from the tribes beyond the Mississippi, on their way to smoke the calumet at the council halls in Washington. He was much interested by some of the chiefs -- the anecdotes of their different deeds of wild prowess, told by the interpreters; of their singular fortitude and powers of physical endurance; of their wily cunning and fierce passions; the vein of poetry and laconic eloquence, if the expression may be used, marking their brief speeches; their natural dignity of manner and grace of gesture, blended with their strongly-marked savage mien and accoutrements, struck him very forcibly. Tales of great buffalo hunts; of battles between the mounted tribes, of vast tires sweeping over these boundless plains, were listened to with the vivid interest and sympathy and searching inquiry always aroused in him by narratives of adventure. The result was a determination to attempt a second Indian book, whose scenes should be laid on the wild Western plains, among the mounted t...« less