established a settlement, to which he gave the name oC Cooperstown. In this (Vonlicr home, in the midst of a population of settlers, tra])i)ers and Indians, youiif^ Cooper imbibed that knowledge of backwoods lil'c and of the habits of the aborigines which afterwards served him so well in the construction of his romances. At the age of thirteen he entered Yale College, and after remaining there three years received an apof the bishop of Western New York. They settled in the village of Mamaroneck, in Westchester County, and not long after Cooper's mind was accidentally turned to the field of fiction. One day, after reading an English novel, he remarked to his wife that he believed he could write a better story himself. To test the matter he wrote " Precaution." He had not intended to publish the novel, but was induced to do so by his

])()intment as midshipman in the United States Navy. In the latter he obtained, during the si.x years of his service, a familiarity with nautical life which he utilized with splendid results in his famous sea-stories.

Ill 1811 Cooper resigned his commission in the navy and married Miss De Lancey, a member of the well-known New York family of that name and sister £7

wife and his friend, Charles Wilkes. The descriptions of English life and scenery gave it great popularity in England where it was re-published. The "Spy," which followed, was as thoroughly American, and obtained great success, not only iu this country, but abroad. It was almost immediately re-])ublished in all parts of l']urope. " The Pioneers" was the first of the series of frontier and Indian stories, on which