James Fenimore Cooper | Page 8

later President
of the United States.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 1800.]
OTSEGO HALL, COOPERSTOWN, February, 28, 1841.
I have made a great political discovery lately, which must not go any
further than Mrs. Shubrick and Mary. In 1799, when Congress sat in
Philadelphia, my father was a member, as was also General Harrison.
You know I had a sister killed by a fall from a horse in 1800. This
sister passed the Winter in Philadelphia with my father. Miss Anne
Cooper [the author's daughter] was lately in Philadelphia, where she
met Mr. Thomas Biddle, who asked if our family were not Harrison
men. The reason of so singular a question was asked, and Mr. Biddle
answered that in 1799 Mr. Harrison was dying with love for Miss
Cooper, that he (Mr. Biddle) was his confidant, and that he thinks but
does not know that he was refused. If not refused it was because he was
not encouraged to propose, so you see I stand on high grounds and am
ready to serve you on occasion. Don't let this go any further, however. I
confess to think all the better of the General for this discovery, for it
shows that he had forty years ago both taste and judgment in a matter in
which men so often fail. Mary will open her eyes at this somewhat
wider than ever, but she must not open her mouth until she gives her
allegiance to him who will know all her thoughts. With best regards
Yours as ever,
J. FENIMORE COOPER.

NOTE.--Later light on the subject reveals Mr. Harrison's "dying of
love" as a hearty admiration and esteem for the rare grace and charm of
character, mind, and person possessed by Judge Cooper's young
daughter.
[Illustration: TALLEYRAND.]
During 1795 many distinguished exiles came to this new-country home,
and among those who found their way to Otsego Hall was the Marquis
de Talleyrand, who was pleased to write an acrostic on Miss Cooper,
then seventeen. The famous Frenchman's record, in part, of this visit
was "_Otsego n'est pas gai_." Compared to the France of Talleyrand's
day this record was true. The _Otsego Herald's_ motto of that time was
Historic truth our Herald shall proclaim, The Law our guide, the public
good our aim.
In its issue of October 2, 1795, appeared the celebrated diplomat's
Acrostic.
Aimable philosophe au printemps de son âge, Ni les temps, ni les lieus
n'altèrent son esprit; Ne cèdent qu' à ses goûts simples et son étalage,
Au milieu des deserts, elle lit, pense, écrit.
Cultivez, belle Anna, votre goût pour l'étude; On ne saurait ici mieux
employer son temps; Otsego n'est pas gai--mais, tout est habitude; Paris
vous déplairait fort au premier moment; Et qui jouit de soi dans une
solitude, Rentrant au monde, est sur d'en faire I'ornement.
In affectionate remembrance of Miss Cooper the hill just northwest of
Cooperstown was named for her, and "Hannah's Hill" commands one
of the town's finest views. In the quiet shades of Christ's Church yard
"belle Anna" rests beneath a slab bearing some lines by her father, but
not her name.
The August before this sad event Judge Cooper gave the first of the
many "lake parties" that floated over Otsego--"which no waters can
rival." In the fairness of her youth Miss Hannah was there with her little

sister, later Mrs. Pomeroy; and also, among the gay "five and twenty
friends from Philadelphia," were their brothers. Indian canoes and
flat-bottomed skiffs conveyed them to the eastern shore, where, at
Two-Mile Point, a frightened fawn, startled from its forest home by the
dogs of Shipman the hunter,--who later outlined
"Leatherstocking,"--darted from the leafy thicket and plunged into the
lake. At once all were in motion to rescue the little creature now
swimming for life. It was successfully brought to land and became a
great pet with Judge Cooper's children; but one day, frightened by
strange, fierce dogs, it bounded into the forest depths for refuge, and
never returned.
The centennial anniversary of this first picnic was celebrated by the
third and fourth generation of Judge Cooper's descendants, who met at
Point Judith to honor the occasion. Of the verses written by Mr. George
Pomeroy Keese concerning this event two are:
[Illustration: POINT JUDITH.]
And one hundred years have come and gone Since our country then
was new, And now we keep in memory dear Our love for the good and
true. To one who came to his forest home And gave to our village its
name; To the son, the touch of whose magic pen Has lifted to
world-wide fame.
In this summer of 1800 Richard, Judge Cooper's eldest son, built his
house of frame on "Apple Hill." It was the second villa-like home in
the village. Its site, now known as "Fernleigh," is the